Chapter 34

The plume of smoke billowed through the air in the intentionally bare room. The glow of the dying star cast strange shadows on the floor and she could only make out his silhouette from where he stood. This was the worst part of the job so far; taking orders from him. His whole demeanour got her back up and it irritated her how she had never yet laid eyes on him in person yet he pulled all the puppet strings. A standard hologram conversation did not do for him; he had to envelope the supplicant into his space and make her a tolerated nuisance within his realm. He carried himself with the ease of someone who did not give a fuck about what she thought and knew that she knew it.

Circumstance had created strange allies indeed and it troubled her that she could never be sure of his, and by extension, Cerberus's intentions. He tasked himself with securing human survival in the galaxy, but she highly doubted he lost sleep over the missing colonists. He had spent billions of credits to ensure her lungs would once again draw breath, even forgoing the control chip Miranda had touted, but Shepard highly suspected that once her usefulness to him had been exhausted, he would not hesitate to put her down. The ship no doubt, was an effort to appease her, to stop her from clawing at the collar around her neck a little longer: The vast amount of credits presently sitting in her bank account, all the tech and weapons she could ever imagine, the sympathetic crew, Joker et al; all an effort to keep her comfortable and focus her on the task at hand. And it was working, though she hated to admit it. What was the alternative? Scowling at everything in abject suspicion had not been working for anyone involved, least of all her. The Galaxy was at stake.

"Shepard we caught a break." he had said, stubbing out his cigarette as he sat upon his throne at the edge of the universe. She detected the barest hint of excitement in his voice as he relayed the information about the immobilised Collector vessel. She too felt excited about the news but she felt the shadows begin to creep behind her eyes. It just seemed too easy and the logical theories he presented for this sudden windfall did not quell the uneasy feeling in her gut.

"Send me the coordinates." She had replied. They had been drifting around for months building up the team and this was the first solid lead they had had in a long time. There was no doubt they were going.

She had briefed the team of the upcoming mission and decided on a ground team consisting of Mordin, Thane, Zaeed and Miranda. She had told them all what equipment to bring and what was required of them and checked and rechecked the clasps on her armour. The Illusive Man had not mentioned anything about survivors but she hoped, maybe foolishly, that they would find some. The colonist she had been unable to save on Horizon still pressed heavily on her mind. She had notified Chakwas and they had packed as many medical supplies as was practicable despite Miranda's faithless gaze.

Now she watched intently as Joker drew closer to the sleeping vessel hanging in the inky sky. It was just like the termite mound shaped ship they had blown away on Horizon and just like the ship she had seen retreating above her as she gasped in vain for air. A chill settled in her gut and she could feel the unspoken tension radiating from Joker.

"That thing is massive!" Joker exclaimed, "How the hell did the Turians take it out?"

Shepard frowned. The Illusive Man had said they could be initiating repairs, but there were no signs of recent workmanship. There were no signs of the Turians and there seemed to be no external signs of battle on the immense ship.

"Ladar scans do not detect any hull breaches on the side facing us. I detect no mass effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline." EDI interjected helpfully, confirming her thoughts.

"Stand by to hail any cargo ships in case we need to coordinate an evacuation of survivors."

Joker nodded resolutely in response "Aye aye, Ma'am". He turned to watch her depart knowing he wanted to say something, to communicate something about the ship drifting ominously above them that he believed they both felt, but not knowing what.
"Commander?" She turned to face him from the bottom of the steps "Good luck."

She made her way to the armoury and found Garrus there perusing the racks of explosives in their stasis chambers. Though he had not been selected for the mission it did not preclude him from being prepared, In addition his latest actions gave him an impetus to look as helpful and prepared as he could be.

"I don't like this Shepard." he muttered without taking his cold blue eyes from the rack. She inclined her head in acknowledgement of his statement and took a seat by the door giving her hard-suit the once over yet again.

"Me neither."

These Collectors really were something else. He found them a lot more unnerving than the other enemies he had fought before. The Geth and even the Thorian Creepers had at least some air of familiarity by now. With the Collectors they still didn't really know what they were up against.

He still felt a sense of uneasiness around her and was not yet assured whether everything was really resolved between them since Sidonis and it showed. He had thought that maybe she would have taken him or Tali with her on the mission seeing as they had been there when the first Normandy went down. But then again Shepard had an uncanny knack of compartmentalising her personal feelings at times. He had no clue whether that had any bearing on her decision making. Maybe, he thought to himself, it was really his misplaced desire to have her back whenever she needed it that made him want to be on the ground team. That and proving that he really wasn't so much of an idiot he had made himself out to be.

She walked past him over to the weapons rack and her fingers ghosted over the weapons. After a pensive pause she made a pick and carried her selections one by one to the workbench. With all the weapons assembled she leaned over the table her hands gripping its edge as she considered her choices. He cast her a glance as she clipped her pistol to her hip.

It was one of the many ways he could tell that Shepard was truly Shepard. She always 'advised' everyone on what to bring, but left her own selections up to the last precious minutes before ETA. It was her time to reflect on the mission ahead and what she could expect. The weapons she chose reflected her mood and how she predicted the mission to pan out. He and Wrex used to take bets on what she would bring or even make up hypothetical situations to guess what she would pick under those circumstances.

"It's our first opportunity to get this much intel." She said leaning against the workbench and folding her arms beneath her chest. It was an unavoidable risk, and an opportunity they could ill afford to pass up.

"What do you think you'll find?" he enquired tentatively.

She sighed, picking up the Mattock assault rifle and attaching it the magnetised holster on her back "I don't know."

He considered that.

"Miranda thinks it's a waste of time anticipating survivors." She picked up the Black Widow sniper rifle and cradled it in her arms for a moment.

"Maybe she's right."

"Maybe, but I'd rather be prepared than caught out." She responded making her mind up about the sniper rifle and attaching it alongside the Mattock. She added some frag grenades to her belt and brought her palms to the small of her back.

"Did he say anything about what class of ship took down the Collectors, where they were from?" He watched her eyes drift to the Arc Projector still hanging in the rack.

"No"

She reached over, her hands circling around the heavy weapon. "The information is pretty sparse on details all round."

He huffed.

"We don't have information from any other source, it's the best lead we've had so far."

Her fingers loosened a little but did not withdraw from the weapon.

"Well I have a bad feeling; I don't like this one bit. As you humans say, I feel it in my gut"

Her fingers curled decisively around the gun this time and she lifted it from its latch, attaching it to her hard-suit with the others. She had always told him to go with his gut, and it was important that she went with hers.

"EDI tell Mordin, Thane, Zaeed and Miranda to get ready by the shuttle."

Garrus smiled after her retreating form, uneasiness aside, they were going to be just fine. He almost felt sorry for the Collectors.

A/N: Short chapter again, I didn't want to leave it too long for me to make another update. Also many thanks to MammonDaughter for the review :)