A/N: I must confess being over the moon about the nice reception of the last chapter. Sadly, this one doesn't have anything smutty in it. It has plenty of Collectors, though. And yes, I think anyone using words 'smut' and 'Collectors' in the same sentence probably deserves to be shot.
So yeah, time for the Collector ship. I tried to add a bit more banter to make it slightly less boring. Oh, and for anyone wondering, we're not just going to forget about Liara on Hagalaz. Expect her and Shepard to maintain contact often. There might even be visits further down the road. :)
Chapter 24 - The Collector Trap
Tim looks very agitated when Shepard finally gets down to the debriefing room and establishes the connection. "Shepard," he says, taking another whiff of his cigarette. "We've caught a break. We've intercepted a transmission from a turian scout frigate that ran into a Collector ship beyond the Korlus System. They were wiped out but not before managing to disable the Collector vessel."
Shepard blinks in surprise. "What the... a turian frigate was able to take out a Collector ship? How?" she asks with disbelief.
"I have no data available on that, Shepard," The Illusive Man says impatiently. "I only know that we need to board that ship and get some hard data on the Collectors, something that will help us get through the Omega-4 relay. We do not have a lot of time, I can only feed false messages to the turian fleet for so long, I won't be able to stall them forever."
"It does sound urgent," Shepard admits reluctantly. "Very well, we'll get right on it."
Tim wishes her best of luck, reminding her to establish uplink with EDI once aboard the Collector ship. Then he terminates the connection, at the same time as Shepard reaches out to Joker over the comms to send him the coordinates only to find out that they are already well on their way to the Korlus System.
As they approach the given coordinates, the visual that opens before their eyes is rather disturbing, even scary. The Collector ship looms massively large, looking particularly menacing when dark, with most systems offline and emissions at minimum. Next to the Collector ship they can see the debris of the unfortunate turian frigate, or what little remains of it. It looks so tiny compared to the Collector vessel that Shepard finds herself deeply puzzled, wondering just how it was able to make a dent into their formidable opponents.
Shepard decides against bringing a large squad onto the Collector ship, believing a small scouting party to be more effective and able to stay undetected just in case there are still some living Collectors onboard. Together with Garrus, Tali and Mordin they depart Normandy in a shuttle, heading for the nearest docking bay which at first glance reminds her of a natural cave. The winding tunnels beyond the docking bay are very unbecoming of what Shepard expects to see on a spaceship. "It's like a giant insect hive," Tali remarks, and Shepard is forced to glumly nod in agreement, taking into account how the Collectors themselves appear very much insect like.
"Shepard," EDI's voice reaches her through the established connection. "I have run the scans and can confirm that this is the same vessel that we encountered on Horizon."
"Figures," Shepard says, leading the team through the empty, alien tunnels. "I was wondering about that."
"Maybe those GARDIAN lasers softened up the Collector ship," Garrus remarks thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's how that turian frigate was able to take them out?"
"Weapons systems on the turian frigate inconsistent with marks on the Collector ship hull," Mordin shakes his head. "Chances of turians harming even a crippled Collector ship... problematic."
"If this is the ship from Horizon, do you think some of the colonists might still be onboard?" Tali asks in a slightly trembling voice, just before they come across the first storage pods. They are all empty.
"I don't know, Tali," Morgan replies. "But the sad truth is... we would not be able to evacuate many of them on Normandy."
"Keelah," Tali suddenly turns around sharply, bumping right into Garrus' chest, the turian walking behind her. "There, ahead..."
Tali stays slightly behind as the rest of them approach a large pile of what turns out to be human remains. Shepard feels bile rising up in her throat and she has difficulty looking upon the bodies, or what has left of them. It is like something processed in a slaughterhouse, various human limbs discarded randomly, arm separated above the elbow, part of someone's foot, eyeless face with skin crudely torn off, it is too much to bear and she turns away, forcing the anger back down into the pit of her stomach.
"Genetic experiments?" Mordin muses, the last one to remain standing over the corpses, seemingly unaffected. "Remains of a disposed control group? A likely hypothesis."
"Let's keep moving. I don't want to stay here for longer than necessary," Shepard says, Tali vehemently agreeing with a nod of her head. Shortly after, they come across some sort of a Collector terminal and EDI establishes uplink with the recovered data node, mining it for all information she can get access to, as Shepard and her crew examine their close surroundings.
"Would you look at that," Garrus says, poking at one of the opened pods. To their surprise, the one inside is not a human. "These sick bastards are even experimenting on their own."
EDI's voice once again appears on the comms. "My analysis shows that the Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between themselves and humanity," Normandy's AI explains.
"Any idea why?" Shepard asks.
"I can offer no extrapolation on their motives," EDI speaks. "But the results reveal something remarkable. Collector genetic structure is identical to only one known race in the galaxy." They all wait for EDI's explanation with bated breath, but even so, all as one they are shocked and stunned by the revelation. "The Protheans."
Morgan Shepard nearly drops her rifle from surprise. "The Protheans? Oh my god... the Collectors... are Protheans? Liara will flip out when she hears this..."
"Protheans defeated. Then genetically repurposed by Reapers," Mordin states quietly. "Brilliant strategy. Likely employed many cycles before by Reapers. Monstrous, but brilliant."
"Good thing you added the part about it being monstrous," Tali says, turning her head towards the salarian doctor. "I would have started to wonder if salarians even have hearts, Mordin."
"Shocked at implication. Realize Collectors evil. Realize must be destroyed," Mordin looks hurt and affronted. "Insulted at the insinuated ignorance of ethics and morality."
"She didn't mean it like that, Mordin," Shepard offers conciliatory. "It's just your scientist way at being fascinated by things most would find abhorrent and inexcusable."
The tunnels eventually widen out and seem to be all leading out to some kind of central chamber. More and more pods come into their view, but EDI detects no life signs in them. Maybe for the best, Shepard thinks grimly.
"Shepard," EDI calls out on the comms again. "Joker asked me to compare the data of this ship with the scans of the one that attacked the original Normandy two years ago. There is no doubt, Shepard. This is the same ship."
Morgan feels her blood running cold from the implication. The same ship chasing her for more than two years, not stopping even after her death, trying to retrieve her corpse, perhaps to hand it over to the Reapers. It is the Reapers who are after her, their attention likely drawn by her being so instrumental in dismantling Sovereign. The Reapers themselves have made me their target. I think I now know what the Harbinger is... it is a Reaper, it must be!
"This can't be a coincidence, Shepard," Garrus warns her. "Something about all this just feels plain wrong. I think we might be walking into a..."
"Evidence of trap compelling," Mordin agrees. "Still, need Collector data. Must discover ways to navigate Omega-4 relay. No option but to continue."
"Sometimes I hate logic," Tali sighs deeply.
"How about... all the time?" Shepard grins, trying to remain upbeat despite the worrying news. She acutely realizes that if this is a trap, then their lives are in mortal danger.
Finally, they reach the central chamber, standing at the exit of the corridor, feeling disturbed, but also in strange awe as they watch the ceiling of the massive cavern. There are what must be millions of these storage pods, designed to holding incapacitated humans. "They could... probably store big part of Earth's population inside those..." Shepard says quietly.
"A likely intention, Shepard," Mordin agrees. "Following the pattern, colony abductions not yielding the required quota. Ship intended for storing larger quantities."
"I'm sure that's all very interesting, but I have to wonder about something else... if the Collectors have been attacked by the turian frigate, where are some of the Collector corpses?" Garrus wonders as they move on, seeing another Collector terminal at the end of the walkway around the central chamber.
"That's just one more sign we're about to get ambushed," Tali says, looking around carefully, pistol at the ready.
"Let's just hope this terminal has something about the Omega-4 relay," Shepard says hopefully, establishing another uplink with EDI. "Then we can quickly get out before-"
Suddenly, everything around them goes pitch black for a moment, as a major power surge sweeps through the entire ship, disabling every system, including the Collector terminal. A while later, the lights slowly return and the terminal shows signs of coming back online. Shepard quickly restores EDI's link, but the Normandy AI has worrying news for them. "Shepard, my readings show that some of the Collector ship systems are starting to power up. Ready yourself, this might be-"
"Ambush!" Garrus shouts as suddenly there are Collector drones, swarming all over them, flying in from all sides, catching them exposed on the walkway. Without much thinking they abandon the terminal, hoping that now that EDI is in, she will be able to mine all the info she needs, and they can begin to make their unlikely escape, trying to flee back to the relative safety of the narrow tunnels.
With Garrus and Shepard providing covering fire, Tali and Mordin reach the tunnels first and then use their tech abilities to slow the Collectors down, allowing the others to escape in turn. "Shepard, submit now," she can hear the droning voice of the Harbinger, pulsating in her head like a jackhammer. "We are the Harbinger of your perfection."
"I have discovered data that can help us find a way through the Omega-4 relay," EDI reports, allowing Shepard to breathe a sigh of relief, even if they are still under heavy fire from the approaching Collector forces, led and directed by the Harbinger.
"You only damage the vessel, you cannot hurt me," Shepard hears Harbingers voice, as with combined weapons fire they manage to bring down the drone that the Reaper is controlling. In a matter of moments, it has already gained possession of another drone, raining deadly attacks upon Shepard and her squad. "Assuming control of this form," it speaks, launching its biotics at them.
"Move! Move faster!" Shepard shouts, trying her best to slow down the Collector assault, while making sure their retreat does not become a disorganized fleeing ruled by blind panic.
"Shepard, I have also discovered that the turian signal was a lure sent by the Collectors," EDI confirms what they have suspected for a good while now. "The turians never succeeded at disabling the Collector ship. But the signal is... unusual. It would have been impossible for The Illusive Man not to notice that it was a fake."
"How do you figure that, EDI?" Shepard almost stops from surprise.
"Because he wrote the signal detection protocols himself," EDI explains calmly.
"Well... everyone who didn't expect Tim to betray us at some point, raise their hand," Shepard says bitterly. Nobody raises their hand, possibly also because they are too busy shooting at the Collectors, by now supported by Reaper ground forces, husks and the heavy hitting abominations.
"Lied to us. Used us," Mordin says, shattering a couple of husks reaching for him with a cryo blast. "But a necessary risk. Needed the data."
"Still, it's just stupid. We would have rushed to investigate this even if we knew it was a trap," Shepard remarks. "Why lie to us? Why piss off allies after spending so much effort to play nice? It doesn't make sense to me."
"Uh, Commander... I hate to rush you," now it is Joker on the comms. "But the Collector ship is powering up its weapons. I'm not losing another Normandy!"
"Relax Joker, we're nearly there," Shepard exclaims, as they break through the final husk ranks on the way to their shuttle and jump in, taking off and quickly speeding back to the Normandy, the ship already starting to get ready for evasive maneuvers. They crash into the docking bay without much caring for safe landing procedures, the beam of the Collector ship's main gun is already licking at Normandy's armor, threatening to cut through. Joker is doing all he can to evade the deadly attacks, pulling off some physically near-impossible moves to get them clear from their attackers. Only when they successfully make an FTL jump, Shepard dares to open the shuttle doors, the four of them toppling out, feeling winded.
The first thing that Shepard does is to stride towards the debriefing room with heavy, determined steps, ready to rip into The Illusive Man and his backhanded tactics. Tim appears to her view all businesslike, congratulating her on a job well done, not even raising an eyebrow when she threatens him, calls him a damned traitor.
"You knowing about the trap beforehand could have tipped off the Collectors in a number of ways," Tim explains.
Shepard doesn't believe a word. "How?" she asks. "They would have noticed me sweating less profusely or measured my heart rate to find it lower than expected?"
"Regardless of whether you agree with my methods, our goal is the same," Tim then says, growing a little weary when she doesn't appear willing to let the matter drop. "We now know that the Collector and Reaper ships use an advanced Identify Friend/Foe detection system to safely navigate through the Omega-4 relay. We need to get our hands on one of those Reaper IFF's, Shepard."
"Yeah, I just know where we can find a 'disabled' Collector vessel," Shepard snarls angrily.
"These altercations gain us nothing," Tim says, displeased. "I will keep looking for ways to find the IFF, but we need to work together if we want to defeat the Collectors, Shepard. So I suggest you go and tell your team that I did not risk their lives for nothing."
Shepard faces him with an icy glare. "I will tell my team the truth, and only the truth. What they will make of it... that will be up to each of them," she says, turning around and walking out of the debriefing room.