Second Life

Chapter Fifty - A Soldier's Poem

I.

Councilor Sparatus walked briskly through the lobby of the Citadel Tower towards his office. His aide met him by the elevator and handed him a few datapads. "Here are the guidelines on the new Citadel defense Councilor Tevos sent over for you to look at, we have to get our part done this week. And here's the data on the mission that the Primarch signed off directly for a cadre of turian soldiers and operatives to join Commander Shepard on a hunt for the Collectors."

Sparatus tapped on the datapad immediately. "Where's Mathis Kryik?"

The aide answered, "He's waiting for you in your office."

Sparatus stepped in the elevator and glanced briefly at the other datapads his aide gave him and then returned his full attention back to the one on the Collector ship. Something must've happened to Tevos that made the asari Councilor change her entire political agenda overnight. She dropped the aqueduct project she'd been dedicating months of her efforts on and was pushing full speed for not only an iron clad Citadel defense but a comprehensive package from all species' representatives for preparation for an all out war. Has Shepard finally gotten to her? He wondered. He could care less about the rumored abductions on human colonies, but seeing Tevos' proposals gaining strong attraction, Sparatus couldn't just sit on his ass. He knew if he didn't comply, Tevos might go to Quentius who'd been eyeing his seat as the top turian representative in the Council for years, and that kind of alliance could end his own career in a hurry. But dropping everything he was working on and changing his own political course? He'd need more than Shepard's words and Tevos' overreaction. He closed his eyes and sighed as the elevator reached his office.

Mathis Kryik ignored the aide's offer to sit in the chair across from the Councilor's desk and stood waiting in a military stance. Growing up in a remote colony, Mathis sported extensive white facial paint that looked unlike the patterns on his older brother Nihlus' face. In fact, people often mistook him for Nihlus when they both joined the military at their mother's insistence. Only Nihlus carried himself with confidence and even sometimes with a flare of arrogance while Mathis was always quiet and tried to fade into background when he could, especially in the presence of his brother. But he never stopped watching and learning. Their father died when he was very young, and Nihlus had been both a brother and at times, a father to him and Mathis always looked where Nihlus stepped before moving his own feet.

For nearly three years, that spot had been empty. The spot where Mathis placed his brother, in front of him, whose footsteps he followed to the tee. Next month was the third anniversary of Nihlus' death, and Mathis had been composing a poem to read at his brother's grave back on the colony, to not only express how much his brother was missed but also what an inauspicious event it was when Nihlus stepped on Eden Prime to find the traitor Saren had left Mathis out there in the galaxy, utterly alone. "Between tide and tide," He hadn't gone too far with the poem, but he still had time to finish it before he saw his brother's resting place again. He stood at perfect parade rest with his back straight, hands back and eyes ahead, Mathis repeated silently, "Between tide and tide, in a sea of bones…"

"Mathis," Sparatus walked in and interrupted the young turian's thoughts. "I hear that the Primarch is sending you on the mission with Commander Shepard."

Mathis stood at attention. "Yes, Councilor. We're to have a joint recon mission on a ship that one of our patrol ships disabled. The Hierarchy believes it's a Collector ship."

Sparatus put down the datapads and stood in front of the young soldier. "I'm aware of the order and I want you to push up the operation and get to the ship before Commander Shepard does."

Mathis turned his eyes finally to meet the Councilor's. "But the Primarch's orders…"

Sparatus cut him off. "I'll handle the Primarch. This is bigger than just us, Mathis. The Council is moving towards gaining mandate to prepare for an all out war. If I'm to throw my support behind that, I'll need more than Shepard's words to justify my decisions. I want you to gather as much information as you can on that ship and send the data straight to me."

Mathis looked at the hand Sparatus rested on his shoulder and then darted his eyes to stare straight ahead again. After the Battle of the Citadel, he gained no consolation from the knowledge that his brother's killers, Saren and Sovereign were dead, but he knew his brother would've been proud that it was Shepard who brought that justice to his family. Very few people knew how much Nihlus admired Shepard for what she did on Elysium and on her N7 missions and how he planned to guide Shepard to rise in the Spectre's ranks by partnering with her on her Spectre assignments. Though it brought a sense of envy to the young turian who worshiped his older brother, Mathis wanted to honor his brother's wishes and his memory by helping Shepard in his own way. That was one of the reasons he wanted to lead this mission and the other reason, he wanted to follow Nihlus' footsteps and become a Spectre. He looked at the Councilor, "What about Shepard? We were supposed to help her on this mission."

Sparatus walked to the large window and tapped his chin lightly with a talon. "First she came back from the dead and then she gained lots of support around her. If what she's telling us is true, that the Collectors did abduct all the humans, we need to know what their intentions are. They might not stop at just one species. But if Shepard is using these unfortunate events to play the hero and regain her place back in the Council space, then I need you to gather data that will expose her. You see, either way, we need to get there first before any data might be tainted."

Mathis wished his brother were here with him. Nihlus was good at making the right decisions regardless of rank and political motivations. If he were to jeopardize his military career, Mathis wanted at least to do it for the right reason.

Sparatus turned to the young turian once again. "I know you've been trying to get into the Armiger Legion, but if you can prove yourself on this mission, it'll go a long way in considering you as the next turian Spectre. I know that it'd make your brother very proud if you can follow his footsteps."

Mathis lowered his gaze and nodded. "I'll get it done, Councilor." As he walked towards the elevator, the young turian repeated his poem for his brother, as though it'd provide the confirmation that he'd made the right decision. "Between tide and tide, a sea of bones, rows of graves, each life's endless ripples…"

II.

As the dormant ship appeared on the Normandy's sensors, Joker breathed in. "That thing is massive. How the hell did the turians take it out?"

Garrus chimed in behind him. "I'm hoping it was their cannons because I'm calibrating ours just like theirs."

EDI reported. "Very low emissions. Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are offline. Thrusters are cold."

Shepard asked, "What about the turian ship?"

EDI replied, "Cold as well. But our scans show that there're turian life signatures onboard. It's possible they're unconscious and can't respond to our hails."

Shepard spoke to her comm. "Well, they may pose no threat, but I'm not taking any chances. Jacob, take Kasumi, Thane and Zaeed, and board the turian ship. Stay stealthy for as long as you can until you find out what happened to the turian crew."

Jacob sent his acknowledgment and Joker reported. "Commander, we're getting a hail from inside the Collector ship. It seems to have Council security encryption."

Shepard turned her attention back to Joker's screen. "EDI?"

EDI replied, "It passed the authentication of Council security encryption, the Spectre branch."

"Another Spectre?" Shepard knitted her brow. "Open the channel, Joker."

Joker brought up an audio feed and gave Shepard a nod. Shepard spoke to the console. "This is Commander Shepard, a Council Spectre. Please identify yourself."

After a brief moment of static, an audio transmission came through. "If you are looking for new armor for cheap, Commander, I've got some great pieces for a tenth of the price you'll pay on the Citadel."

Shepard's eyes widened, "Lonar Maerun? Is that you?" She turned to Garrus who raised his arms to say 'I didn't invite him'.

"The one and only, Commander Shepard. But I'd feel a lot better to chat in person than giving information over audio. Would you join me on the ship? I'll send you my coordinates."

The minute they stepped off their shuttle, Jack wished she had worn her helmet instead of a breathing mask. The egg sac looking things provided the only illumination in the pitch-black hulls as they moved closer and closer to the bowels of the giant ship. The smell of decaying flesh mixed with chemicals that she couldn't identify. Jack strained her hearing to catch anything other than combat boots hitting the rock-like declining floor and the sound of their gear rattling.

EDI's voice came on the broadband comm. "The air is circulating and regulating the temperature but no movement is detected on our sensors."

Garrus looked through his sniper scope at the faint orange light up ahead. "I like what they've done to the place."

Mordin followed behind him. "It's structured like an insect hive."

Jack shushed them. "Shhh… did you hear that? It sounded like wings fluttering." Everyone stopped and listened. Only wind blew through the tunnels above their heads eerily, and the group resumed in darkness.

Shepard aimed the flashlight built into her assault rifle at the broken bio pods up ahead, "EDI, are you seeing this?"

EDI responded, "Scans show that the pods on the lower level have already been spent and there're no life signs or corpses in them. But the ones on the upper level contain more mass, though they're too far for the short range scanner on your armor to determine if they have life forms in them or if they're dead or alive."

"Are you talking about the pods up there?" Shepard stepped onto an opening from the tunnel and looked up at the ceiling. Countless bio pods were hanging straight up from the vaulted ceiling, orange lights emanating from each pod. "Wonderful. Now we've got to check out if there's anyone still alive in those pods and get them out. EDI, see if you can find us a route to the upper level."

Behind Shepard, in the tunnel, Jack stepped on something sticky. "Wait a minute! I think I found something here." She turned her shotgun's flashlight up at a ridge above her head, and drew everyone's attention to it. A bio pod lay sideways on a ledge and the clear cover was broken. Slimy liquid dripped down from the empty pod. Jack lifted her foot and saw the streaks of slime sticking on the bottom of her boot, "Fuck!" She set her foot down and bent over to check the color of the slime, and then she felt something drip on her neck and she jumped. "Fucking shit got on me!" She barked, her voice echoed in the dark hull.

Garrus walked to the pod and touched the dripping liquid. "It's clear." He turned to Jack, "Good thing you're in armor. I wouldn't want this stuff all over my naked body."

"Jerk off, Garrus." Jack wiped the liquid off of her neck.

"Not in this place." Garrus aimed his sniper rifle at a pile of bodies in the corner just below the ledge. Jack saw where Garrus pointed, and she moved closer to Samara.

Miranda spoke from behind. "Keep the chatter down and keep moving."

The group reached the opening and joined Shepard. Jack stared at the hanging pods on the ceiling, "They're like fucking coffins hanging up there."

Mordin did his quick calculation. "So many pods. They can depopulate the entire Terminus Systems or Earth."

Shepard replied. "Not if we stop them." She waved Miranda over. "EDI found us a path to the upper level. You take Mordin, Samara and Jack and check to see if anyone still alive in those pods. I'll take Garrus, Tali and Grunt to meet up with Lonar. Maybe he has some valuable information on what this is all about."

Miranda waved her team to follow her without a word and Jack moaned and stuck closer to Samara.

III.

Lonar Maerun stepped out from cover when he saw Shepard's party and extended a hand. Shepard shook it, "What no grand entrance or clever disguise this time?"

Lonar smiled. "I thought about it but couldn't come up with anything that tops this very ship we're on." He gave a nod to Garrus.

Shepard looked behind Lonar. "Where's your partner, you know, the salarian who helped you bust that weapon smuggling ring back on the Citadel?"

Lonar gave Shepard a long gaze and then he sighed, "He's no longer with us."

Shepard nodded slowly. "Working with you is that dangerous?"

Garrus let out a chuckle. "This from the woman who takes us into impossible situations or certain death twice a day."

Tali added. "And if we survive these dangerous days, don't forget there's that suicide run through the Omega 4 Relay still waiting for us."

Grunt didn't want to be left out. "That's what I like about you, Shepard. You bring danger to my life that most krogan warriors would envy."

Lonar couldn't help but laugh. Shepard looked at her own people. "Okay, point taken." And then she turned her attention back to Lonar. "Tell me why you're here."

Lonar answered. "Councilor Sparatus sent me. He was in contact with Mathis Kryik after the turians boarded this ship. When the distress call came and he lost contact with Mathis, Sparatus was up his cloaca. I was in the neighborhood, so I was called to look into it."

Shepard gave Garrus a quick glance. "So Sparatus doesn't trust me. I'm guessing he's the reason we're late to the party."

Lonar smacked his lips. "Sharp as ever, Commander. Under the circumstances, can you blame the Councilor for wanting to get his own intel?"

Garrus asked, "Wait a minute. Is Mathis Kryik related to Nihlus Kryik?"

Lonar answered. "Mathis is Nihlus' younger brother." He tapped on his omni-tool, "I've only gotten here not long ago, and on a hunch I scanned an old audio frequency used by remote turian colonies that nobody is using anymore because it isn't secure. Here's the response I received. The voice is definitely that of Mathis Kryik."

"It talked to me, it asked me, no, it commanded me to step into it, and open my mind to it. At first it felt a little tingly, at the fringes of my mind, like soft whispers, I liked it. I once dated an asari, and it felt like talking to her mind at first. And then it got darker, much darker and colder. It showed me things, horrible things, and told me to bring Commander Shepard to them. If I don't, those horrible things will happen to me, to all of us."

The voice trailed off into static but the sound of heavy breathing continued. Shepard took in a deep breath. "What did he step into? And who are them?"

Lonar tapped on his omni-tool again. "I can't tell you who they are, but I know Mathis stepped into a bio pod."

"The pod is connected to a central database. It contains too much information for me to remember or understand. The only thing I know is that these people were once Protheans. They serve one master now. A Reaper. Not just any Reaper, but a specific master they call Cthulhu, and they want to bring Shepard to their master. I have to get a message to Shepard and tell her not to come to this ship. I don't trust these ancient Protheans, if they really are Protheans. Shepard, if you get this message, don't step on this ship!"

Shepard's face turned dark. "Well, it's a little too late for that."

Lonar asked. "Any idea why they want you?"

Shepard opened her arms. "What? You forget that I have a target on my back? Have you scanned to see where they're keeping Mathis?"

Lonar shook his head. "Everything is jammed on this ship. It was a lucky guess to scan on a dead frequency when I got Mathis' transmission. I think you might have to hack into a terminal to do a ship-wide scan. I didn't bring large equipment like that, I came in on a shuttle."

Before Shepard spoke, EDI announced. "I've hacked into the central database and traced the audio transmission to its source. Sending the coordinates to your PDAs."

Shepard undocked her assault rifle. "Let's go and find him."

Lonar tapped on his omni-tool one more time. "Here's the last transmission before you showed up."

"Then far away to the south uprose
A little feather of snow-white smoke,"

Shepard looked at Lonar. "Is he quoting poetry?"

Lonar shrugged. "They must've drugged him."

Garrus pulled out his sniper rifle. "With a poetry drug?"

Lonar ignored Garrus' comment and tapped the comm button on his omni-tool. "Mathis, talk to me. Are you drugged? If so, can you say the code word?"

After more static and an answer came.

"And we knew that the iron ship of our foes
Was steadily steering its course"

Everyone looked at Lonar, and the Spectre shook his head. "No, no code word. He isn't lucid."

Garrus said. "Yup. Definitely a poetry drug. If Mathis makes through this, we should introduce him to Ashley and they can have a… What do you call it? A poetry smack down and drag out?"

Tali and Grunt followed in steps, and Tali commented. "Not as exciting as skating but a human soldier and a turian soldier on stage spewing out lethal words? I'm down with that."

Grunt asked in his deep voice. "Do you think we have to drug him again?"

Lonar took point on the route EDI directed them on. "Perhaps we should rescue the poor fellow first before planning his social calendar for the season?"

Shepard followed behind Lonar. "Keep that old turian colony channel open."

IV.

Miranda raised a fist and her team halted behind her on her signal. They stopped at the base of a narrow arched bridge and Miranda looked down into the chasm below. It seemed to drop as far as the bowels of the ship, though it was too dark to see the bottom. Across and above the bridge, she could see hive-like structures where bio pods lined each comb. She scanned the bridge with her omni-tool. "EDI, is this bridge structurally sound for us to cross?"

After analyzing Miranda's scan EDI replied. "Questionable. Based on the weight of each member of the team plus the weight of weapons and armor, my calculation shows that the bridge could only support Jack without her armor and weapons safely."

Miranda turned to where Jack stood by the edge of a cliff. Jack waved her arms. "What? Fuck no! I won't strip for anybody, not even for Shepard, certainly not for the Cerberus Cheerleader. Forget about it!"

Seeing the young biotic working herself up with flares of blue energy around her body, Miranda moved closer to Jack, "You think you're so special. I've got news for you. You're not. We're all a small part of a big picture. We're here to make history, but we've only got a chance if we work together. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can redeem yourself."

Jack's eyes turned fiery and her biotic energy brightened. "Redeem myself? For being fucking experimented on by your sick Cerberus bastards? Fucking getting off of my face! Or I swear! I'm going to fucking kill you!" She turned and ran off the ramp and disappeared into the tunnel they came in from.

Samara made a move to chase after Jack, Miranda signaled her to stop. The asari walked to Miranda and looked the human in the eye. "I respect your position and what you said, Miranda. But Jack lashes out when she feels cornered. She's been violated before. Asking her to strip…"

Miranda interrupted. "I wasn't. I was looking at the ledge behind her that could lead us across. Leaving our armor and weapons behind to cross the bridge isn't an option." Miranda pointed at a narrow path protruded from a windy hull across the chasm just below the cliff where Jack was standing on. "But I've wanted to say those words to Jack for a long while. I'm not ignoring what she's been through but she needs to grow up and grow up fast. We're running out of time here."

Samara listened to Miranda's cool voice and looked at her unwavering stare, and she bowed her head slightly. "I shall help her as much as I can."

Miranda turned to Mordin. "Get EDI to help you cross on the ledge and check the pods. Gather as much information as you can." And she turned to Samara, "Watch his back."

Mordin nodded and went on his comm with EDI. Samara asked. "Where are you going?"

Miranda looked at the dark tunnel, "I'm going after Jack. We'll join you shortly."

Jack stomped her way to the edge of the tunnel and stood in front of a web-like hull above a sharp drop. That Cerberus bitch had the balls! After she'd blown up the Teltin facility, they had gotten into a fight and Miranda's words still rang in her mind every night. "Clearly you were a mistake." Jack kicked the webbing. Why does Shepard have to be such a pussy and have a Cerberus Cheerleader on her team? She kicked it again and the webbing swayed. "They're all fucking bitches including Garrus!" She shouted and sent a biotic wave that ripped through the webbing. The branch of the bottom part gave way and took a part of the floor with it, the part of the floor that Jack stood on. She felt her body tip over and she slid down with chunks of broken hull pieces deep into darkness. "Ah!"

Miranda turned the corner in the tunnel just in time to hear Jack's desperate scream. She raced to the broken hull and got on her knees and shouted. "Jack!" All she could see was the dust of broken pieces of the webbing and debris. When everything stilled and quieted, Miranda couldn't see Jack or anything in the dark chasm. "Jack!" She called again but didn't get any response. Miranda called up her biotics and sent a small flare down and saw a short ledge below. She jumped down and landed softly on the ledge with the help of her biotics, and slowly she made her way to the bottom.

Jack spit out the grime in her mouth and adjusted her breathing mask back over her face. She looked up at the narrow opening at the top where she fell. Judging from how long she'd slid, she knew she'd fallen very far. "Fuck!" She cursed and tried to get up but her right foot was caught under something heavy. She flared her biotics and gasped at what she saw around her.

It wasn't another non-descriptive hull but a junkyard. Broken equipment and bio pods littered the place every which way, and broken glass and bones, lots of bones, had created layers of foundation for this dumping ground. Jack's fall took some large pieces of metal and broken bio pods on the upper levels down and a large piece of bronze that looked like the base of a bio pod wedged across Jack's leg. She moved the muscle and found nothing broken but she couldn't pull her foot out.

Jack screamed, "Fuuuck!" as she pushed the broken pod with her free foot but her effort was in vain. She wrapped the heavy metal piece with her biotic energy and tried to lift it, it still didn't move. Frantically, she felt around the junk beneath her, trying to find a rod to pry the metal that jammed her foot. She grabbed something in darkness and when she flared her biotics, she saw she was holding a long thin bone. It didn't look like a human bone, she cursed and tossed it back. With dim biotic light, she saw something glowing below a stack of broken glass; she reached over and grabbed it. It was a clear tube and greenish blue colored liquid flowed inside when she tilted it. She looked back at the broken glass pile again and saw a crystal piece shaped like a small honeycomb and when she touched it, it glowed orange. She stored both pieces in her armor compartments and looked for anything she could use as a crowbar but found nothing that strong. She lay back on the pile of junk and bones, and hazarded a few blind grabs as she reached her arms out. Still she found nothing. Jack kicked her free foot in frustration.

"Jack!" A voice shouted in the darkness above her, a real voice, not a voice in her head, and it sounded like…

"Miranda!" Jack couldn't say why she felt relieved that it was the Cerberus Cheerleader who'd see her in the jam not her biotics teacher. "My foot is stuck."

Miranda took out her SMG and turned on the flashlight and shone it on the squalid surroundings. "A dumping yard." She commented and then she propped her gun by a piece of metal to aim the light at Jack, and flared her biotics and tried to lift the broken pod to free Jack's foot. It moved only slightly. She moved to the other side of the bronze metal piece and instructed. "Use your biotics to push while I pull. Together, on three. One, two, three!"

With the force of two strong biotics working together, the heavy metal slab broke free, but it didn't stop where it should have. Instead, it flew into Miranda with such force that she only had enough time to stop the pull and enclose herself in a weak biotic field before it slammed into her body and pinned her to the bulkhead behind.

"Miranda!" For the second time, Jack used the Cerberus operative's name and it was in a panicked tone. Miranda didn't answer, and Jack picked up the flashlight and raced deeper into the dark hull. "Miranda!" The third time was a charm, Jack heard Miranda cough and followed her voice.

Miranda was wedged between a short wall and the metal sheet, and she coughed again. As she heard Jack's manic shouts for her, she calmly said. "I'm okay, Jack. It just knocked the wind out of me. I'm not injured. Just help me get this thing off."

Jack readied her biotics on the other side of the metal but Miranda shook her head. "Get behind me and push with me. We don't want it to pin you again. We're not foosballs here."

Jack surprised Miranda with a chuckle. "I didn't know you played foosball." She moved behind the short wall and readied her biotics for a strong push.

Miranda couldn't help but smile. "I don't but my sister does. I've seen her demonstrate it over vidcom. Are you ready? On three again."

Jack reached the mouth of the cave-like dumping yard and waited for Miranda to catch up. Miranda saw the younger human stood at the opening of the cave, looking back at her. "What is it, Jack?"

Jack picked up a piece of junk and threw it at the far side hull. "Nothing. You just seem different."

Miranda climbed up to the opening. "How am I different?"

"Towards me, I mean. Why would you want to go after someone you don't deem worthy to be alive?"

Miranda snaked her way around the detritus on the ground and walked to where Jack was standing. She leaned against the bulkhead to catch her breath and then she stared at the orange coffins on the ceiling far above them for a while, and then said, "It was Shepard." She turned to Jack, "Shepard said it could've been Oriana in Teltin. My father worked with Cerberus, and I don't doubt for a minute that if it could advance his research he'd put my sister or me in a research facility just like it. The reason I rescued Oriana was because I didn't want my father to dictate her life or experiment on her. Shepard asked me, what if it were my sister in that facility, being drugged out of her mind and taunted by other kids and the guards, and spending her entire youth in ugliness with no hope that anyone was going to rescue her or wondering if anyone even cared about her."

Jack huffed a few times, "What did you say all that for? You don't know what you're talking about, okay?" She walked to the opposite side of the junkyard opening and crossed her arms in front of her pointedly.

Miranda continued. "It broke my heart when I thought about it, putting Oriana in your place. I know it's different when it's your sister or daughter or mother, but you, Jack, you're someone's daughter and maybe even a sister. You have just as much right to be alive as Oriana and deserve as much happiness and protection as anyone on this team."

Jack pointed a finger at Miranda. "Are you trying to screw with my head? Cause if you're, you can just stop talking!"

Miranda knew she was cornering Jack but she didn't back down. "Jack, I'm trying to apologize."

"For what?"

"For what I said to you after we came back from Pragia. I couldn't face the fact that the man whom I work for did all that. There're better ways to help human biotic kids, I've seen reports of success stories from Grissom Academy. They help kids with biotics mature by providing a safe environment and help them integrate with kids with no biotic powers. Teltin was a failure, not you, Jack. I just couldn't accept a failure. It's one of my faults."

"You have faults?" Jack swiped her gaze up and down on Miranda's combat suit. Somehow after they crawled out from a junkyard, the black haired woman's suit was still immaculate.

Miranda turned back to the ceiling, "Nobody is perfect. You don't have to accept my apology but it's important that I said it."

Jack lowered her arms and kicked a piece of trash with her boot. "Then what do you mean by redeeming myself?"

Miranda wanted to move closer to Jack and see her face when she spoke but decided to give the younger human her space. "Jack, I know it's unfair what happened to you when you were a child. But what you've done since have been the actions of someone who views herself as a victim and who tries to escape. You're free now and you're in a league with the most extraordinary people this galaxy has to offer. Shepard and Samara have stood by you when everyone doubted you. And now I'm willing to stand on your side. Isn't it time you stop ascribing your life entirely to Teltin and take charge of your future and make it for the better?"

Jack wanted to offer Miranda a defiant rejoinder but couldn't find anything to say. EDI's voice saved Jack, "Mordin just finished the scans of the bio pods on the upper level. None of them have life signs but some of them have bodies. Mordin wants to open one and determine the functions of these pods. It may tell us what the Collectors are doing to the colonists they abducted. I've mapped a route for Mordin and Samara to rendezvous with you on a level just above you after they're done. You need to cross the bottom level and find a way to climb up. This ship doesn't seem to have elevators."

Miranda started moving towards the bottom level. "Copy that EDI. On our way."

Jack complained behind her. "No fucking elevators because those bastards can fly."

"With Tinker Bell wings." Miranda grinned to herself.

"What the hell is a Tinker Bell?" Jack asked behind her.

Miranda's grin disappeared when she realized nobody had read Jack bedtime stories and Teltin wiped her memory from before her abduction. She replied without looking back. "I'll send you a copy of the story when we get back."

As soon as they reached the bottom level, they heard a loud crack above. They looked at the ceiling and saw a bio pod falling from its nest. A streak of blue energy grabbed the pod and dragged it out of the view. Miranda assumed it was Samara who trapped the pod and lowered her head and continued her track through the bottom of the ship. Jack didn't move her eyes from the ceiling. The pods connected to the one that just broke free from the honeycomb-looking nest were wavering in aftershock, and as she watched, the comb structure collapsed and another bio pod dropped from the nest. Samara wasn't there to catch it this time and it hit the arched bridge they'd been detoured from and broke a piece of the bridge off. "Hey!" Jack only had the time to yell a word before a large chunk of the bridge fell next to her and the shockwave pushed her off her feet.

"Jack!" Miranda looked up and what she saw froze her. With one nest caved in, the neighboring cluster started to sway, dragging more nests with them. Bio pods hit each other as the webbings of the combs flapped in suddenly added weight and as they broke off, more bio pods fell and hit the bridge structure. The clear covers on the bio pods shattered along the way, liquid rained down freely once the containment was gone. But the liquid in these pods was acidic since the process of the bio pods was still active.

A loud boom pushed Miranda into action. In the rain of bio pods, broken bridge pieces and acid, Miranda found Jack on the floor and dragged her up. She pushed the smaller woman into a shallow alcove and squeezed in behind her while extending a hand to raise a biotic shield. The acid dropped on her arm before the shield came up and it ate through her armor quickly and burned the skin. The pain made her gasp but she held her arm shakily out, and the biotic shield held its strength. What happened next was nothing short of spectacular. As more bio pods' covers popped open, half-mutilated bodies, acid and entire clusters of bio pods dropped from above, when Miranda barely had time to breathe out a "bloody hell", a large biotic dome covered her as a flash of red armor slipped down across the raining doom, and bright biotic energy streamed from Samara's hands to the dome.

"Get in the dome and follow me!" The asari reached the humans and shouted over the booming sound of large objects hitting the floor. With her brows knitted and her knees bent, Samara pushed the dome towards the exit as though she was pushing a giant rock. Miranda let out a sigh of relief for having finally had the chance to lower her burning arm and grabbed Jack's armor and dragged her into the dome.

Having been pushed into the dark and damp alcove and squeezed against the slimy wall, Jack didn't see the acid rain or the dropping coffins and bodies until she was inside the dome. When she looked up at the giant bio pods hitting Samara's biotic dome like Thanix cannons hitting a defense shield, she shouted over the loud crackling noise generated by fallen objects hitting the mass effect field. "You're not going to last long. Let me help you!" Before she finished, Miranda tripped and fell down on the ground with her burned arm breaking the fall. The dark haired woman rolled on the ground in pain, holding her arm. Jack dragged Miranda up by her good arm and threw it over her shoulders and supported her following Samara's lead.

The walk across the bottom level seemed like an eternity or in Jack's mind, like the endless track in her hellish nightmares. When they finally reached the ledge that would take them to the tunnel and out of the dumping ground where bio pods and half dried up bodies were still falling, Samara stopped and with a loud grunt, she waved the hand that was generating the mass effect shield and sent out a bright light. The dome exploded outwards like a starburst and pushed everything within their radius clear off. And then with a low whimper, the asari dropped to the ground.

Miranda took her arm off of Jack and stumbled to get the unconscious asari off the ground and push her over the ledge. Jack jumped over first and dragged Samara and Miranda over, both humans lay on the ground exhausted and trying to catch their breath. Jack sat up first, "What happened to Samara?"

Miranda suppressed a grimace from the pain on her arm as she sat up. "She must've spent all of her energy on that dome and the explosion at the end." She turned her head at the graveyard below them. The raining coffins had stopped. Miranda tapped on her comm. "Mordin, come in! We're ready for exaction and we could use some help." When they didn't receive an answer, Miranda signaled Jack to help her get Samara up and together they carried the asari to climb to the upper level.

At the rendezvous point, Jack shouted into her comm. "Mordin! Where the fuck are you? You bastard! Did you kick us to the curb and leave us to die in this shit hole?"

Miranda dropped down on her knees while lowering Samara with her. She yelled into her own comm breathlessly, her voice no longer cool. "EDI, how in the bloody hell can we get out of here with the locked door?"

Before EDI answered, a flying platform swooshed in from beyond the large opening above the bio pod hives. Jack pulled out her shotgun and Miranda put down Samara and stood up, holding her SMG with her good hand.

The platform stopped right above them and then slowly it lowered to their level. Mordin smiled a big smile as he cut the thruster. "Commandeered a moving platform."

Jack jumped up and down when she saw it was Mordin at the helm of the platform and then she hopped on it quickly. "Mordin, you wonderful sick bastard! You had us worried for a while back there. I was going to tell you that I'll kill you if you left us to die. How did you get your paws on this baby?" She brushed her palm on the shiny console.

"Told them I was their god. They believed me and provided transportation." Mordin replied with a serious look.

"What? Oh, you're joking again." Miranda shook her head and docked her gun without waiting for Mordin's answer and she carefully lifted Samara and asked Jack to help her get the asari on to the platform.

"Not funny? Need more practice with Joker." Mordin shifted the controls and the platform started to fly off. "The real answer, STG training as infiltrator. Hacked the controls, EDI helped."

V.

Shepard's group on the other side of the ship felt the shakes and Shepard pushed her earpiece. "Miranda, report!"

EDI replied instead, "Shepard, Miranda's team dislodged a sizable cluster of bio pods and they're on their way to the shuttle. Both Samara and Miranda require medical attention. What are your orders?"

Shepard asked. "Did they find anyone alive in those pods?"

EDI replied, "Negative. They found bodies in some pods. They appeared to be 'processed'. Mordin did full scans and I'm running analysis now."

Shepard nodded. "Tell them to take the shuttle and head back to the Normandy. We're almost at our objective. We'll take Lonar's shuttle back after retrieval. Shepard out."

Shepard waved her party forward and wondered out loud. "If there's nobody home, who's drugging Mathis?"

Lonar signaled the group to stop and pointed up ahead. "I'm guessing it's them."

Shepard joined him at the point and saw a clearing a level below. A bio pod that flashed bright orange light stood in the center of the clearing and at least four Collector soldiers were patrolling the area. Lonar whispered, "It smells like a trap. They look like they're waiting for something."

Garrus whispered, "Or for someone."

Shepard backed away from the ledge that overlooked the clearing. "It creeps me out to say this, but they could be waiting for me though I don't know why. It's very likely that Mathis is in that pod. So we need a distraction. I'll take Grunt to the lower level and mount an attack and draw these guys away from the pod. Tali, see if you can hack the controls there to open the pod. Lonar and Garrus, you watch her back. When you have Mathis, we move to Lonar's shuttle. Copy that?"

Grunt took off towards the path behind them without a word and Shepard followed behind. Lonar waved his arm like a gentleman for Tali to get into her position behind a short wall. "After you, my lady."

Garrus snorted. "Lonar, behave yourself."

Lonar flared him a glance, "What? Still souring on our last round of target practice?"

Tali couldn't pass up good gossip. "What happened to your target practice?"

Lonar softened his voice when he spoke to Tali. "Garrus insisted on using his sniper rifle in our flying drone shooting competition. One usually uses a pistol."

Garrus sneered. "Right, how did you put it? Oh, 'with this demon gaze, who needs a sniper rifle?'"

"A demon gaze?" Tali laughed. "You two know each other for long?"

Lonar answered first, "We grew up together and even went to the same military school. But my calling is the Council Spectre services."

Garrus didn't offer a comeback, but Tali nudged him with her arm. "Garrus, your calling is Shepard. It's more important than being a Spectre." She didn't care if Lonar heard it.

Two ramps below the chatting turians and quarian, Shepard and Grunt settled in at a good vantage point. Shepard looked over at the young krogan behind a short wall across a narrow path. "Hey, Grunt! Are you okay?"

"We're about to do some killing. I'm great." Grunt flashed Shepard an easy smile. "And don't worry about these worms, as long as I'm here, nothing's going happen to you."

Shepard couldn't help but chuckle. "Who made you my chaperone?"

"My clan leader made me swear a blood oath to stand by you." The young krogan couldn't hide the pride in his voice.

"Of course. Wrex asked me to look out for you too." Shepard sighed. "I wish Wrex were here."

"I don't. I get more kills if he isn't. When I get back to Tuchanka and compare my kill tally with the Blades Brothers and my clan brothers, I bet I'll make a real dent at catching up to them." The smile on his face spread wider.

Shepard couldn't help but smile back, "Well, they did have a few hundred years of killing on you, but I'm rooting for you, Grunt." She peeked over the short wall and asked. "Are you ready to make some noise?"

Grunt pulled out a flash bang grenade, "Say the word."

The firefight didn't last very long before Garrus reported, "Shepard, we got Mathis out and are heading your way. We'll sandwich our targets and wipe them out. And then let's get out of this place. It creeps Tali out."

Shepard replied, "You got it, Garrus!" Before she continued, the entire ship started to tremble and loud gear shifting shook the floor. Shepard hit her comm, "What's happening EDI?"

EDI replied, "The ship is powering up and its massive containment field has trapped both the Normandy and the turian ship within its shield. It's moving and it's taking us with it."

Shepard signaled Grunt to race to the rendezvous point with the others while shouting into her comm. "Joker, can you break free?"

Joker answered, "Ah, Commander, their containment field is too strong, I'm not sure if the Normandy can survive the pull. There's more. On a hunch I asked EDI to do an analysis on the ship and she found something weird."

EDI spoke. "I compared the EM profile against the data collected by the original Normandy two years ago. They're an exact match."

Shepard breathed out. "The same ship dogging me for two years? Way beyond a coincidence."

Joker answered nervously. "Seeing that it's taking us for a ride, I'd agree with you, Commander. I hate not having control of my own ship."

Shepard asked. "Where is it taking us?"

Joker replied. "Beats me."

As two groups met up at the door EDI led them to, the console by the door buzzed and an orange Collector Captain's image came to life. "I am Harbinger."

Grunt raised his shotgun reflexively and then lowered it. "Not you again! Didn't we kill you on Horizon?"

Harbinger's voice continued. "You can't kill me. We are the harbinger of your perfection. You face annihilation. But you, Shepard, you can have a place by our side. It'll serve you well to know your place."

"Oh yeah? Where might that be?" Shepard scanned the area and found no enemies in sight.

"Submit to us. Serve us as our slave."

"Not in your empyrean heaven? In that case I'm not interested."

"Then face your doom!" The possessed Collector's image disappeared and in its place, an image of a Reaper took form.

Mathis who was supported by Lonar murmured in his shaky voice. "An ill-omened augury."

Shepard stared at the avatar and her entire team let out a collective, "Shit!"


A/N: If you're interested in checking out Shepard and Lonar's first meeting, you can find it in chapter 12 of In Love and War: s/8295194/12/In-Love-and-War