Shepard crossed the grassy court yard and mounted the platform. A few long strides took her over to the terminal. She activated her omni-tool and hacked bypass routines to power it up. Kryik positioned himself next to her, his assault rifle resting in the crook of his arm. Vakarian took up a similar position opposite him, effectively flanking Shepard. They could have been steel plated hawks on watch, as they stood guard at Shepard's back. Her fingers moved quickly over the keys to try and initialize the communications array. The signal should bolster her own frequencies. If she could re-establish a link, EDI could get the GAURDIAN guns up much faster.
"Normandy, do you copy?" Shepard spoke into her com.
At first there was only static. Shepard looked the controls over again to make sure she didn't miss anything. Suddenly Joker's voice burst through the white noise.
"Joker here. Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you!"
"Good, it's time to kick these ass holes off our planet" Shepard shouted. "EDI, get the colony's defense towers online."
"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power. I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output." EDI warned, almost as an apology.
"They're gonna know we're here." Garrus noted.
"Garrus, take to higher ground," Shepard nodded to the half loaded transport on the far end of the court yard. "Snipe anything that gets too close to the controls. Kryik,"
The Spectre gave her a side long look with a cocked brow. She may be in charge of the mission, but no one was in charge of him. Shepard didn't need to be told what he was thinking.
"I've got your back, Shepard." He said.
She nodded firmly with a bit of a smirk as she ran back across the field and took cover behind a boxed in row of barriers. Garrus took his position the crates near on the truck, resting his rifle on top of one of the boxes. Kryik jumped up and caught the lip of a window to one of the prefabs lining the court yard walls. He pulled himself up and climbed in, providing himself with excellent cover and a clear shot at anything that tried to tamper with the controls. Across the field both Shepard and Vakarian were impressed. Who knew he could jump so high?
"That's hardly fair," Shepard teased over the com.
"War isn't fair. Besides, I can take out anything from here." Kryik replied.
"Here they come!" Shepard warned into her com.
Collectors converged in on their position from the sky, dropping off abominations and husks like organic bombs. With all the experience of his last few days on Omega, Garrus took down the first two husks that were moving in on on Shepard's position. The comforting pop of the rounds as they left the camber focused him mind like a sharped razor. Another shot from the window of prefab punctured through the chest of a Collector threatening Vakarian's flank. Three successive rounds made swiss cheese of the head of a Collector that landed on the terminal platform. Kryik dropped down below the sill to reload his rifle.
Garrus fired on the Collectors as they landed. His turian eyes locking on to them with fierce precision. Those that did not die by gun fire, soon met their end in a blue blaze of biotic fire. But Shepard was becoming restless, hiding behind steel and concrete. She rose from cover and shot a Collector in the face, distracting him. Blue flames encompassed her and she charged toward her enemy with critical speed and power, crushing it's face with her armored head.
"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 60%. Synching targeting protocols to Normandy's systems. Continue to protect the tower."
Shepard grinned as she smashed her the butt of her rifle into the vacant face of a husk that ran at her, shooing it in the head as it lay convulsing on the ground.
"Shepard, get to cover!" Kryik demanded over the com.
"There will be more!" Garrus yelled as he blasted the last Collector near his transport cubby.
"Good. Let them come." Shepard spat.
"This is not the time to be reckless." Kryik warned.
"I'm sick of hiding from these bastards!" Shepard shouted.
A warning shot pinged off her shields. She turned sharply to the source peeking out of a prefab window. Kryik pointed to the sky. More Collectors were flying in on the buzzing hum of paper thin wings.
"Please, Shepard!"
She had never heard him say 'please' for anything. 'Thank you', and 'I'm sorry', but never 'please'. It shook her from her battle rage enough to get her moving to cover. She climbed the short stair to the walk that connected the two prefabs, crouching down and slamming her back against the gravity guard.
Nothing stood a chance in their cross fire. Between incendiaries, shredders, and biotic shock waves the court yard became a killing ground.
"They're pulling out!" Garrus shouted into the com.
A ceased fire settled an eerie calm over the blood splattered field. SDA and Vakarian the coming storm. Cautiously, Shepard descended the star to meet Garrus at the platform. Kryik stayed in his window. It had been too easy. Something else was coming. Kryik looked intensely at the Collector ship. His turian sight keenly searching for the threat he knew was pressing in on them.
Garrus shook his head in disbelief. "Get ready…I don't know what they're planning but…"
A deep humming filtered down to them on the sweet smelling breeze. Above them and a dark shadow like a black speck left the Collector ship and closed in on the small square of green.
"Move!" Shepard ordered as she ducked into the cover of a nearby stack of crates.
Garrus fell in beside her. Nihlus would never forgive him, or himself if something happened to Shepard, again. He wouldn't leave her side. They needed better cover. Damn Nihlus for being a good jumper.
The thing that dropped down to the ground where they had been standing was an atrocity. It was huge, and black with a mouth full of husks. It reminded Kryik of the horned beetles he used to torment as a child. A violet wave of dark energy rippled out from its body like tossing a stone in a puddle. The bands hit Vakarian and Shepard as the fled fro better cover. Their shields collapsed grunted as he hit the ground. Shepard cried out in agony as searing pain shot through her body.
"Shepard!" Kryik yelled from his protected perch. His features were a mash of fear and rage.
"I'm okay!" She shouted, "Just take that fucking thing out!"
"I picked up one of the Collector particle guns." Kryik told her over the com. "I think I can use it."
Shepard didn't need to know more than that. The monster rose into the air, tracking Shepard's movements as she and Vakarian split up to divide the thing's attention. Garrus dropped to the ground as two powerful particle beams shot out from the orbital eyes, blasting small craters beyond him. Shepard fired on the thing from behind a stack of crates, bringing it closer to Kryik and away from Vakarian. She took a second to contact the Normandy.
"EDI, any time now would be good!"
"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 80%, Shepard." EDI replied.
Kryik did what he did best, take a risk and hope his intuition was still reliable. Reaching over his shoulder for the Collector rifle on his back, he unclipped the strange weapon. The rock like surface casing slid open, humming with power. Kryik took aim at the open mouth full of glowing shells that had once been people and pulled the trigger fashioned for a there fingered hand. Light leapt from the weapon in the all to familiar yellow of destruction long passed. The barrier of the atrocity eroded away in seconds. With it's shields down, Vakarian and Shepard fired on it as well. Slowly, the thing turned from it's pursuit of Shepard to the turian that fired native weaponry upon it. It seemed to scream at him from all the glowing faces in it's mouth. It's eyes glowed, preparing to fire, but it would not get the chance.
Kryik didn't let up on the trigger, keeping a steady pulse on the creation. The barrel grew hot in his palm, even through his armor. Just a few more seconds, that's all he needed. He was sure of it. There was a brilliant flash that seemed contained to the surface of the monster. Then, as if it were trapped in a single moment in time, the thing that reminded him of beetles began to crack with fractures of light and simply fizzled to nothingness.
"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 100%. I have control!"
EDI's computerized voice heralded the rumbling boom of the defense towers coming to life and firing on the invading ship. The deep resonating sound had never been so comforting to his ears.
Alliance lasers blasted into the stony exterior of the alien vessel. Kryik dropped down from the window and ran over to join Shepard in a triumphant smirk at the fleeing ship. Vakarian came up behind him at took to the other side of the Commander. Their victory was tainted with the knowledge that not all the colonists had been saved. The ship's engines shook the ground as it took off for space, appearing as a bright falling star in reverse. As the rumble of the Collector engines faded, leaving an empty silence in it's wake, a reminder of their failure came running across the court yard.
"No! Don't let them get away!"
The mechanic from the bunker, Delan, ran toward the departing ship and waving his arms as if he would take off in flight after the Collectors.
"It's too late." Shepard sighed, frustrated and exhausted. "We did everything we could."
She thought of the Illusive Man, and wondered how true her words really were.
"Half the colony's in there!" Delan shouted at her.
His dull green eyes glared at her from beneath the brim of his cap. He didn't hide his rage or anguish from his face. "They took Egan and Sam and...Lilith! Do something!"
"What do you want me to do? I didn't want it to end this way!" Shepard protested. "Their ship has superior weapons and armor, and it's huge. How are we supposed to catch it? You're lucky they're leaving! It's not like you helped us fight!"
"You did good, Shepard." Garrus offered.
Delan turned and looked at her with a raised brow. He took a few steps toward them, intently examining her face.
"Shepard? Wait...I know that name. Sure I remember you…you're some type of big Alliance hero!" Delan said dismissively, and crossed his arms.
"Commander Shepard. Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre and member of the first SDA. Saviour of the Citadel."
The voice sounded all to familiar as the face that the words belonged to emerged from the main entry and crossed the field to stand little more than a meter from her.
"You're in the presence of a legend, Delan…and a ghost."
"All the good people we lost and you get left behind? Figures…screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types."
Delan threw his hands up and stalked off. Shepard ignored the colonist, staring in disbelief at the almost unfamiliar face of Kaiden Alenko. He still looked like himself, but something had changed in him. He seemed stronger, and not physically. There was an air of assurance and confidence that she did not remember being there before. It was good to see he'd grown.
"I thought you were dead, Shepard." Kaiden said. "We all did."
He grasped her offered hand and shook it as he might an old friend or respected officer, friendly and professional. But something in his eyes said much more. Almost as much as the volumes of unarticulateable feeling she saw in Nihlus' eyes every day.
"Kaiden. It's good to see you." Shepard smiled, waiting for the questions she knew would come. "How have you been?"
"That's all you have to say? You show up after two years and just act like nothing happened?"
Kaiden's dark brows knitted on his tanned face. Confusion settled in after the shock left his eyes. The questions bubbled up to the surface like boiling water.
"Where have you been? Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"
Shepard glanced up and Kryik as he stepped up beside her, then back to Alenko. There was no way to answer Alenko's questions that wouldn't end the conversation in a disagreement, and she was too tired to play games. It would be faster to just lay it all out there, Cerberus and all.
"I was died, Kaiden. You were there, you know what happened. I've been in a coma, or worse, for the last two years while Cerberus rebuilt me."
"You're with Cerberus now?"
Kaiden recoiled as if she'd just back handed him, then glanced over Kryik and Vakarian behind her. His face almost became a sneer of disbelief.
"Garrus? Nihlus? You too? I can't believe the reports were right!"
"Reports? You mean you already knew?" Garrus asked, stepping up beside Shepard.
"Why doesn't that surprise me." Shepard mumbled. Beside her Kryik's mandibles twitched. He was probably thinking the same thing she was.
"Alliance Intelligence thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. They got a tip this colony might be the next one to get hit."
Alenko crossed his arms, eyeing the three of them angrily before he addressed Shepard again.
"Anderson stone walled me, but there were rumors that you weren't dead…that you were working for the enemy."
"I understand your feelings on Cerberus." Shepard huffed, growing impatient with fatigue. "I don't trust them, either. But right now they're the only one's looking into the abductions."
"Do you really believe that…or is that just what Cerberus wants you to think?" Kaiden scowled at her. "I wanted to believe the rumors that you were alive, but I never expected anything like this! You turned your back on everything we believed in! You betrayed the Alliance! You betrayed..."
"Lieutenant Alenko!" She'd had enough. "I didn't betray a goddamned thing! If anything, the Alliance betrayed me, and you and everyone who served on the Normandy!The Collectors are targeting human colonies. They are working with the Reapers! Whether the Council wants to believe it or not, the threat is real. These people didn't even believe that the Collectors were real, and look what happened!" Shepard gestured to the colony around them. "Cerberus is doing the right thing, this time. The issue is bigger than humanity and if Cerberus can see that, why can't you see past Cerberus?"
"I want to believe you Shepard, but I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you! What if they're behind it? What if they're working with the Collectors?" Alenko offered his logic.
"Damn it, Alenko!" Nihlus spoke up, taking a stand next to Sonya. "You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the truth!"
Nihlus knew too well the doubts in her heart, seeded there by the Illusive Man, the Council... His support, as well as that of Garrus and Anderson, was what helped keep her resolve strong. He would not allow Kaiden to damage that. The galaxy depended on their mission. He would shoot the man himself if he threatened that.
Shepard glanced up at the turian, surprised to hear anger in his voice, shocked that he'd cursed at the Lieutenant. She'd never known him to let his frustration enrage him.
"Okay, Alenko," Shepard said, turning back to her old crewman, "I can see that you're not going to listen to reason…"
"You show up after two years and tell me you're working with Cerberus! Where does reason figure into any of this? You've changed," He accused her, "but I still know where my loyalties lie, I'm an Alliance soldier…always will be."
Kaiden paused, looking at his old team mates, his commander. They had been a family, of sorts. It was like loosing a part of himself all over again.
"I've got to report back to the Citadel." Alenko said softly. "They can decide if they believe your story or not."
"They won't, Kaiden." Shepard spoke with steel in her voice. "They want to blame the geth, or Cerberus...I already tried. What few seem to realize is you don't have to believe something for it to be true."
"A leopard can't change its spots, Cerberus can't be trusted." He retorted bitterly, then turned away. "Goodbye Shepard…and be careful."
Shepard and her boys watched Alenko walk away. She was done. Done with Alenko, with this colony... for the day. She just wanted a shower, a meal and sleep. She tapped her com and hailed the Normandy.
"Joker, send the shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony."
"Sending the Kodiak to your position now, Commander." Joker replied.
Shepard walked over to a line of crates, marred by gun shots and laser fire, and sat down. Kryik followed, taking a seat next to her. She let his slip his arm around her shoulders. He nuzzled her forehead, then they looked off toward the horizon as the sun arced over head and passed into the first stages of twilight.
Garrus leaned against the wall of the AA gun terminal. It wasn't the first time he'd felt lonely, but he wasn't exactly jealous. He simply longed for his own companion, something he never really thought he wanted until he saw what Nihlus shared with Shepard. He just wanted a good, turian female to fight along side him during the day, and lay along side him at night. Or maybe an asari...