9/26/2211
Not even waiting for the taxi to finish pulling up docking platform, Shepard threw the door open and hopped into the driver's seat. He tapped at the controls to deactivate the autopilot while Tali and Garrus climbed into the backseat a moment later.
"Liara, we found a taxi." Shepard announced into his comms. "Any luck yet?
"I'm working on it, Shepard. Locating someone amongst thousands of surveillance feeds isn't exactly easy," Liara snapped, frustration all too clear in the asari's voice.
"Why didn't you put a tracking unit on Farak in case something like this happened?" Shepard asked.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I did have a tracker placed on his person," Liara countered. "Its still reading his position as being inside the safe house, so clearly they removed it before abducting him."
"Right... sorry," Shepard conceded, releasing his own pent up breath. "It's just not easy sitting here doing nothing. We're losing time, and we can't afford to let another lead get away."
"I understand your frustration, Shepard, but until I get a hit there is nothing we can do," the information broker replied. A sigh crackled over the comms, Liara falling silent for a long moment. "It doesn't make sense, I should have found something by now. They aren't anywhere on my feeds..."
"Then why not check everywhere else?" Tali asked, speaking up then. "There can't be too many places on Omega that you don't have some way to spy on."
"Places I don't... Tali, that's it!" Liara exclaimed. The faint sound of synthesized clicks could be heard through the comms, signaling that the asari was now furiously typing. "I'm overlaying a map of the city with the regions with deactivated or non-existent camera coverage. That should... there, looks like there is a route they could have taken right to the warehouse district without me seeing them. Sending you the data now."
An instant later Shepard's omni-tool beeped, a map appearing in the corner of his head's up display. A green highlight marked an long winding route through the station. Without wasting a second Shepard slammed his foot down on the petal, the sky-taxi rocketing away from the landing pad with a screech and a violent burst of acceleration.
"Many of the normally operable surveillance devices along that route were either shut off or broken within the past twenty-four hours, meaning-"
"-That the skullheads already had their escape route planned from the start," Garrus finished for the asari.
The silence from the other end of the comms was all the answer that was needed to know that Liara agreed with the turian's assessment. "I am reactivating thermal camera's in the region, I should... there! There's activity in one of the abandoned warehouses, analysis on the footage shows weapons and armor matching those you encountered before."
"We never doubted you, Liara. Leave it to us now," Shepard replied before closing his comms. "Alright gang, its time we payed our terrorist friends a little visit."
. . . . .
"Locked." Tali announced, her omni-tool flashing red as it completed its scan. It had only taken them a couple of minutes to reach the warehouse. So far there had been no sign of activity inside, it was possible their enemies had not expected them to find their hideout this quickly. However, a trap was an equally likely explanation for the silence.
"Give me one moment and I'll—" Tali continued, raising her omni-tool up to the lock.
Stepping forward before Tali could finish, Shepard stuck an explosive charge against the warehouse's entrance. With a wave of his omni-tool he armed it and turned around to yank Tali and Garrus behind him.
An instant later there was a blinding flash of light, an echoing boom tearing through the air around them. Smoke billowed and heat licked around the edges Shepard's omni-shield, which he'd activated an instant earlier to shield himself and his team from the explosion.
"No time. Move. Now!" he snapped, striding forwards through the cloud of dust and smoke. Stepping over the twisted slab of steel that had once been a door, he snapped his rifle up and fired.
The first burst caught the throat of an black-garbed soldier standing just inside, the man not even having a chance to scream. The Spectre spun to his left, firing twice more, disruptor rounds shredding the shields of another skullhead. The third shot struck the man in the thigh, toppling him to the ground to lay in growing pool of blood.
For all their efficiency and planning, the skullheads could not have prepared themselves for the shock of his explosive entrance. Shell shock, disorientation, these were things that even the best training could never fully do away with.
Another of the black armored men went for the gun holstered at his side, only to stagger back with an agonized cry, his wrist erupting into a scarlett spray.
"Nice shot," Shepard complemented, not even missing a beat as he unloaded his rifle into another foe.
"Thanks," Garrus replied, an unseen smirk carried in his voice. "A little warning would have been nice, though." Another shot rang out, finishing off the already wounded skullhead.
"Wouldn't be fun if I didn't keep you guessing. We- Hold that thought," Shepard replied, sidestepping a sword thrust aimed at his neck. Whirling to face the man that had charged in on their left, he managed to bring his rifle down and shatter the enemy soldier's forearm with a wet snap. Catching movement in the corner of his eye, Shepard kicked the crippled assassin from him and spun around just in time to see a rifle leveled at his head.
There was a loud bang, his would-be killer collapsing lifelessly to the floor with a bloody hole in his chest.
"Thanks," Shepard breathed, lowering his weapon as Tali stepped into view, the quarian ejecting a spent clip from her shotgun.
"Don't mention it," Tali replied, a smile in her voice. "Someone has to keep you from dying."
"I am pretty bad at not doing that," he deadpanned, taking a chance to reload now that all immediate threats had been dealt with.
Turning away, Shepard strode over to the skullhead who'd been shot in the leg, still writhing in a pool of blood. Raising his rifle, the Spectre calmly put a bullet between his eyes, ending his suffering. "We need to keep moving, and I doubt he would have answered our questions anyways" he explained to Tali and Garrus' momentary looks of surprise.
Falling into a quickened march, Shepard hurried to the other side of the empty warehouse. Dust covered the floor everywhere but for a single stretch that had been disturbed by many feet, leading to a closed door at the rear of the building.
"Wait John, it might be a—" Tali started to warn him.
Raising his gun, Shepard fired, the control panel exploding in a burst of sparks. With a heave of cybernetically enhanced strength he tore the door open. The room inside was completely dark, there was no sign of-
A faint pop of a cloak deactivating was the only warning Shepard got before the attack fell. Leaning onto his back foot he narrowly dodged a blade that passed through the space his head had occupied an instant before, its tip missing his face by a hair's breadth.
Grabbing the door's rim to steady himself, he had only a second's reprieve before throwing himself into a roll to avoid a second sword slash, the white-hot glowing edge burying itself into the steel wall.
Coming out of his roll in a low crouch, Shepard threw himself into the man before he could wrench his sword free, knocking him off balance. Grabbing him by the shoulder, the Spectre spun back around, redirecting the staggering skullhead towards the doorway, counting on Tali and Garrus to deal with him while he focused on the remaining assassin.
He darted to one side, a round grazing his shields. Rather than press the attack in close range his foe had gone for his pistol, backing off as he opened fire.
Weaving side to side as he foe emptied his clip, Shepard closed the gap between them. Skidding to a stop he opened fire at point blank range— his shots passing through thin air as his foe reactivated his cloak, vanishing into the surrounding darkness.
Whirling around, Shepard lunged to his left, his arm burning as the tip of the assassin's white-hot blade opened a shallow gash on his arm. Hissing with pain, he fired a burst, again hitting nothing but empty space as the black-garbed man vanished a second time.
The assassin was smart, he'd give him that. His foe knew he could not hope to match him in a fair fight, instead using the surrounding darkness to keep Shepard from being able to land a counter attack. It was likely that he was one of their elite agents, like those that had ambushed him and Ria back on Ilium.
With a fizzling pop the assassin materialized behind him, blade coming down in an blinding arc. Shepard threw himself back, managing to get himself out of the way just in time. However, the move cost him his balance, forcing him to stagger back to keep his footing.
The assassin lunged, evidently seeing his victory assured. There was a clang of metal, Shepard's rifle falling away in two pieces. A muffled laugh echoed out from the depth's of his foe's skull-shaped mask, his blade glinting as it darted for Shepard's exposed throat.
Shepard smirked. That was the last thing the assassin should have done. Letting himself lose his balance, Shepard landed on his back, the blade passing harmlessly overhead. With a sweeping kick he knocked the assassin's legs out from under him, forcing him to land hard on his back.
Rolling to his feet, Shepard lunged before his foe could recover, slamming his shoulder into the black-armored man just as he'd managed to regain his own footing. He sidestepped a clumsy slash, closing the distance. In a single fluid motion he drew his pistol, pressing it against the underside of the assassin's jaw. A bang split the darkness, brain matter splattering the floor and his foe falling lifelessly to the ground.
A shotgun blast barked somewhere behind him, followed by a dull thump. Glancing behind him he spied Tali and Garrus standing over the other black-garbed assassin, a pool of blood spreading out from the man's mangled corpse.
"No, its alright guys. I didn't need the help," Shepard let his sarcasm show while he holstered his pistol.
"Says the one who charged in without thinking," Tali countered. "I tried to warn you it could have been an ambush."
"I knew we could handle it, and we did," Shepard explained. "It was a risk, but I took it because we were running out of time. I will apologize for being reckless later, right now we have business to attend to."
Tali nodded, accepting his words. "We will talk about this later."
"Yes, Dear," Shepard sighed. Stepping over to the wall to flick the light switch, a small control panel blinking green as he waved his hand over it.
A faint click and a crackle of electricity accompanied the sudden brilliance that drove away the darkness. Sparks flew from several of the still dark panels set into the ceiling, casting a shifting orange glow against the cold fluorescent white of the isolated functional light.
Dragging his gaze across the empty room, Shepard came to a sudden stop as his eyes fell upon the very person that was the subject of their desperate search.
Farak sat slumped in a chair at the center of the room, his hands and feet bound, his skin covered in dark bruises. Dry blood caked his jaw from a split lip, a dozen other scrapes and cuts dotted his face and hands. From where he stood Shepard couldn't see motion, the batarian having remained still even through the commotion just moments before.
Fearing the worst, Shepard dared not even breath as he approached the likely dead slaver. Dammit, we're too late. Another damned dead end... He gritted his teeth, biting back the stream of curses burning in his throat. If only he'd been faster, than they might have-
A wheezing cough filled the air, so faint it could barely be heard. Shepard froze, standing as still as a statue as Farak stirred, raising his head weakly. Sweat beaded the batarian's brow, his four eyes glazed over as though with fever.
"Ha... Shepard, its funny... never thought I'd see the... see the day where someone like you would fight to save my life..." Farak laughed, or as least Shepard thought it was laughter. It sounded just as much like pained coughing as it did laughter. "The big hero... saving a slaver..."
"Save it, if it wasn't for the information you have I'd be content to leave you to die," Shepard spat, stepping forward to stand over the critically wounded batarian.
This seemed to amuse Farak even more, his body racked by more wheezing laughter. "You'll get your wish then... human... hope you... enjoy it..." He doubled over suddenly, or at least as much as he could while bound to the chair, blood dripping from his mouth as he wretched.
Tali, Garrus, keep him conscious. We need him alive," Shepard ordered, his focus completely upon the batarian as his team moved to administer medical aid.
"Something's wrong. His vitals are all over the place," Tali announced, gazing at her omni-tool. "His temperature is fluctuating, and his heart rate is irregular. None of his wounds are life threatening, it doesn't make any sense."
"They injected me with something... told me... told me they had an antidote... would give it to me if I talked... the lying bastards..." the batarian wheezed, his words broken up by fits of violent coughing.
Swearing under his breath, Shepard raised a hand to his ear, speaking into his comms. "Liara, Farak has been poisoned. Where is the nearest medical facility?"
"Ten minutes away, but its just a small clinic. It's unlikely to have the equipment necessary to determine what they gave him, let alone an antidote," Liara replied. "Even those further away might not be able to help."
Dammit. I miss Mordin. If he was the one running a clinic here, he could have done something. Shepard grimaced, weighing his options. They had to do something, or they'd be back to square one if Farak died before giving them the answers they needed. "Liara, keep looking. There has to be some-"
"Listen... I don't have... much time," Farak interrupted. "I don't know... what they did with the 'cattle' I brought them... I don't know anything about what they were doing... or why. But they always used the same drop off point... every damn time..." He laughed, sound pained. "That I can give you."
"Why are you helping us? You don't exactly have anything to gain at this point," Shepard asked, part of him expecting the slaver's forthrightness to be hiding some sort of trick.
"That's where you're wrong, human..." the batarian chuckled again, the sound mixing with more coughing. "I don't want to die... but if I have to... I can die knowing the bastards won't be alive much longer. If even half... the stories about you, Shepard, are... are true then helping you will make sure of that..." He trailed off, his shoulders heaving with another spasm of choking coughs. He spat up more blood, his skin becoming pale.
"Where did you bring the slaves to? Where?" Shepard demanded, seeing that the batarian's time was running out. Inwardly he cursed himself for questioning the dying slaver's motives, having eaten up precious seconds that could have instead been spent on getting answers.
"I brought them to... to an old human colony... abandoned years ago..." Farak wheezed out, his breathing becoming shallow. "Called... Hope's Folly ..." With a sigh, the batarian breathed his last breath, his eyes glazing over as he fell still.
Shepard took a step back, his head swimming as the batarian's final words echoed through his mind. It can't be a coincidence. The chances of them choosing it if they hadn't... Shepard clenched his fists shut, so tightly that he was sure that his knuckles had gone white.
"We need to get back to the ship, now," he ordered, spinning around. He brushed past Tali and Garrus, giving neither of them so much as a glance in his haste. They had to hurry, now that their enemy knew it was compromised it was only a matter of time before they pulled out.
"John, what's wrong? What was it that he said?" Tali called out from behind him, her footsteps falling in a step behind him.
"That colony, I recognized its name," he explained. He grimaced, fighting to keep the unpleasant memories at bay. "I've been there before. Six years ago."
. . . . .
Shepard tapped his fingers against the surface of the small table in the center of the ship's small mess. To his left Tali sat silently. Neither of them had spoken much since they'd returned to the ship, though not even the mask covering her face could hide her evident concern.
"I set a course to the colony just like you asked," Garrus announced, stepping out from the shp's helm to join them. Moving around the table he took the empty seat across from him. "However, I'd prefer to actually know what we're getting into here, Shepard."
Shepard frowned, mulling over his words carefully for several long moments. "Do you remember the mission I was sent on six years ago? He asked, breaking the silence that had once again fallen over over them.
"The one with the crazy ex-Cerberus scientist, the dead reaper, and a whole lot of husks? Yeah, I think I remember something about that," Garrus replied, a dash of snark creeping into his otherwise serious tone.
"Hope's Folly was one of the colonies whose people were abducted to be used as test subjects for Doctor Centrich's experiments," Shepard answered simply. "It was one of the first ones I investigated. Small, remote, out of the way. Even before the abductions the place was barely managing to scrape by through mining: after what happened no one really saw the need to repopulate the place."
"You don't think this is connected do you?" Tali asked, speaking up for the first time. She glanced his way, the silver glow of her eyes wavering uncertainly. "Perhaps its just merely a coincidence, an abandoned colony out in the middle of no where would be the perfect spot to put a secret headquarters."
Shepard shook his head. "Normally I'd agree, but... there's another connection I hadn't put together until now. Doctor Centrich wasn't working alone: he had too many resources for one deranged scientist out in the terminus systems. Someone was supplying him, funding his experiments." He sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. "When Cerberus returned last year I figured they had been behind it, that our ex-Cerberus scientist hadn't been as much 'ex' as we'd thought. But a few days after the destruction of the Darkforge I asked EDI to go through the files we recovered from the Omega 4 Relay base, hoping to confirm my suspicions. Of course it was my luck to just find more questions..."
He trailed off, waiting until it was clear that no reply was forthcoming before continuing. "The Illusive Man wasn't behind Centrich's experiments, nor was another part of Cerberus still under his command. He'd investigated it too, sending agents to retrace Centrich's steps. The dead Cerberus we found on the reaper? They were a team the Illusive Man had sent to recover anything they could related to the modified husks developed there."
"And ol' 'Tim' didn't know anything about it?" Garrus asked, the plates on his forehead shifting in the turian equivalent of a raised eyebrow.
"No," Shepard answered, shaking his head slowly. "I can't say for certain, but it looked like the Illusive Man was scared: someone was continuing the research he started back during the Reaper War and he had nothing to do with it. While his own investigations turned up nothing, his files show that he was convinced that Centrich couldn't have been working alone. That there was someone else out there, working from the shadows."
Pausing, Shepard tapped a finger against the table, considering out best to put his growing suspicions into words. "The more I think about it, the more I am drawn back to the people Centrich had working for him. Slavers, mercenaries, criminals, all of them the the worst filth the galaxy could churn up... and yet they were far too organized and loyal for just hired thugs. They fought like fanatics, throwing down their lives without hesitation. Taking their own lives rather than allow themselves to be captured."
As he finished, Shepard saw Garrus's eyes widen in sudden realization to what he was getting at.
"Spirits..." the turian muttered. "Shepard, if you're right... if the same group we're fighting now were behind what happened six years ago... the slaves they hired Farak for, they could be..."
"Continuing Centrich's work," Shepard finished for him. He grimaced, flashes of unbidden memories filling his mind's eye. Obsidian claws and fangs glinting in dim light, the stench of blood and decaying flesh. The agonized expressions of the victims, conscious to their actions even as they were driven against their will. "They would have had six years to refine his research. To perfect the modified husks he'd been creating."
"John," Tali interrupted, her eyes meeting the depths of the silvery orbs glinting from behind her mask, Shepard caught a flicker of fear. "All this... this means they were planning this for years, decades even. With six years since you killed Doctor Centrich, they could have done more than just finish what he started. By now they could have an army of those things. When we arrive at Hope's Folly... we may be walking right into a trap."