Chapter 12: First Contact with Enemies and Friends
I love new tech. I hate prototypes. And no, that's not a contradiction.
New tech means new toys. Or tools. Sometimes that's not a good thing. New tech that has been rushed out before the wrinkles are ironed out can cause more problems than they solve. New tech that's sensitive and finicky enough to shut down if you look at it funny is more a hindrance than a help. New tech that no one uses because it's ridiculously complicated winds up being nothing more than an expensive paperweight.
But usually new tech is the equivalent of an ace up the proverbial sleeve. It could be something as simple as an improvement on an earlier model. Or something that makes such a quantum leap beyond the current tech, it changes the game entirely. Point is, it gives whoever possesses it an advantage. On a tactical level, it gives you a tool that the enemy isn't familiar with and thus can't prepare for. On a grander scale, it represents change. Improvement. Progress. Without new tech, we'd be trying to fight off turians and krogan and worse with clubs, rock and equally crude language.
Unfortunately, you can't get new tech without prototypes. Prototypes which usually haven't had all the wrinkles ironed out. Prototypes which are more likely to be too sensitive and finicky. Prototypes which are more likely to be ridiculously complicated. While there's no way to resolve those problems without actually field-testing those prototypes, there's no denying that they might act up at the worst possible time—and that's for average schmucks with average luck. With my luck, it's not so much a question of 'might' as it is 'when.' That goes double when you're lugging around more than one prototype.
For starters, TIMmy had delivered a shipment of weapons to us. New heavy pistols, new assault rifles—well, technically they were heavy assault rifles that packed a punch, even if they were made way back when—and some sort of plasma shotgun retrieved from the geth. Having the option of playing around with new toys and upgrades is great, don't get me wrong. The fact that we got them just before our latest mission was... less than ideal, to say the least.
The other prototype was the countermeasure against the seeker swarms. The only test we had time to do before hitting Horizon was crowding into Mordin's lab and releasing the seeker he'd constructed. Which wasn't exactly a resounding success. First, while the seeker ignored us, it did make a bee-line (no pun intended) for the door. The one we'd forgotten to lock. If it had gotten out, it would have started attacking everyone in the Combat Information Centre (thankfully, the seeker was too small to activate the motion-sensitive door-release). Second, that was one lone seeker. There were tons of them buzzing around on Horizon. We had no way of knowing for sure that Mordin's countermeasure would work in the field.
That didn't stop me from asking Mordin anyway. "Mordin, you sure these armour upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?" I asked.
Mordin's reply wasn't exactly reassuring. "Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should confuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory."
"In theory?" Miranda echoed.
"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Hence initial test with seeker on Normandy. Have to test them in person to know for sure," Mordin replied brightly. "If successful, seeker swarms will ignore us. If unsuccessful, will be paralyzed. And subsequently captured. Should be exciting. Look forward to seeing if we survive."
Oh I felt so much better.
We went around a rocky outcrop and saw a bunch of buildings, with a small artificial courtyard full of debris in the middle. More seekers buzzing overhead. They seemed to be ignoring us so far. Guess Mordin's countermeasure was working. Still, I kept a paranoid eye on them.
It was a good thing I was so paranoid. Otherwise, I might have missed the Collectors flying down towards us. Up until now, I didn't realize that Collectors could fly. They actually had wings on their backs, like a bunch of bipedal mutant insects, which they used to swoop down into the courtyard. Team One—me, Miranda, Grunt and Kasumi—took cover behind a building to the left while Team Two—Garrus, Jacob, Jack, Zaeed and Mordin found a hiding spot to the right.
Despite the mottled brown carapace that covered each Collector, it didn't seem to provide any more protection than a standard hardsuit. In fact, they seemed to rely on biotic barriers for protection rather than shields or armour, according to what my sensors were telling me. That meant EMPs wouldn't work. Biotic tricks would, however. So would high-yield concussive rounds—guess organics had trouble concentrating on keeping their barriers up when something slammed against them at high velocity. (1) Which reminded me...
...cloaking, I ran out and sighted down on one of the Collectors. I focused between its four yellow eyes, breathed out and fired. Perfect headshot!
As we continued, I noticed something else. Some of the Collectors seemed to be able to generate some kind of protective shield in front of them. Some yellow, two-dimensional half-circle with a hexagonal pattern over it. Quite effective at guarding it until it could restore its barriers. I passed my observations to my squad between plasma bolts, as well as the conclusion that these 'Guardians' would have to be taken down as soon, and we quickly started to gain the upper hand. The Collectors clearly noted this, judging by the way their communication—some sort of guttural chittering—increased dramatically.
And that was the other thing. The Collectors were more, well, more alien than any other non-human I'd encountered. Yes, they had two legs, two arms and a roughly symmetrical body, but their differences made them so much more unfathomable than turians or batarians. Their unintelligible—by my ears, anyway—speech didn't help matters. At least with mercs or aliens you can sort of understand, thanks to the glories of translation programs. With the Collectors, there was no way of understanding them. They just seemed so... other.
While I was pondering that, the squad was taking up the slack and eliminating Collectors. After a while, there was only one left. None of us could see it, though. I motioned for everybody to stay put while I scouted ahead. Didn't take long to see it, hiding behind some crates. Before it could do anything, I cloaked and sniped it in the head.
After pausing long enough to scrounge up any clips or loot, we moved ahead. We didn't bump into anyone. At all. No one was out running errands. Clocking in or clocking out after a day's work. Wondering who the heck these mysterious armed guys and gals were. Greeting us as we entered one empty building after another. We didn't see any sign of life except those damned seeker swarms. The only thing that made it bearable was the sun. Otherwise, it was just really creepy. Creepier than it should have been. For me, that is, since I'd already experienced this at Freedom's Progress. Then again, it was too late for Freedom's Progress. There was still a chance to change things here. To thwart the Big Bad. To make a difference. No pressure.
"Commande... –tting all kinds... ference," Joker suddenly broke in over the comm. I could barely make him out over all the static. "We can't maintain..."
That was all we heard before the comm cut out completely.
"The Collectors are disrupting communications," Miranda confirmed, consulting her sensors. "Thankfully, short-range communications are still operational."
"We're on our own now," I concluded. "Eyes open and ears sharp, everyone."
We entered another courtyard a minute later, just in time to see a Collector pass behind a building. It was escorting a floating coffin-shaped pod, no doubt holding some paralyzed civvie. I tried to fire a headshot to drop it so we could retrieve the pod and rescue the captive inside.
It didn't work. The Collector didn't die, but I did draw its attention. As it advanced towards me, the pod continued on its way, thanks to some pre-programmed protocol or remote control. Miranda and Garrus popped its barrier like a bubble, and I prepared to follow suit with a fireball. Just as I was launching the plasma, though, the Collector raised its weapon and fired at me.
To my astonishment, the weapon fired some sort of yellow particle beam, lancing out at me with a harsh whine. The beam hit me and quickly ate through my shields. As I ran, the Collector tried to follow me. I could feel its weapon hitting my back, but it didn't actually penetrate my hardsuit for some reason.
Then an alert popped up on my HUD. **Grenade launcher overheating. Detonation imminent.**
Aw, crap.
I quickly dropped my sniper rifle, took out my grenade launcher and ejected its power cells. Having removed the ammo, I blindly tossed it at the Collector who had been dogging me earlier. Judging by the explosion and the sudden shriek I heard—which was quickly cut off—I got the sucker.
At that moment, I felt a tingling on the back of my neck. Groaning, I looked around for the bad guys who had triggered my paranoia. They obligingly showed up a second later.
Husks.
Yep, those glowing circuitry-laden zombies with a penchant for charging towards you, zapping you with some kind of internally-generated EMP and clawing you to bits. The first two made a bee-line for the closest squadmate.
That was Grunt, who had already seen them coming and fired off a round from his shotgun. It made a good dent in whatever armour was protecting one of the husks, but they kept going. Mordin managed to burn the armour off of both of them, but by then they were in combat. Oddly enough, they didn't try generating any EMPs. They just clawed at him. Grunt cocked his head curiously, casually taking their punishment while returning the favour with gunfire and the odd headbutt. Checking my omni-tool, I saw that enough plasma had been generated, so I set the husks ablaze. Grunt kicked them over, where they continued to burn on the ground. Looking back at me, he nodded his thanks, apparently none the worse for wear.
A bright flash exploded in the distance, courtesy of Kasumi and her flashbang grenades. The Collectors who had the poor luck to be at ground zero staggered back, shaking their heads vigorously. Rather than wait until their eyesight had been restored, Team Two quickly knocked them on their butts with some concussive rounds, set them on fire and then finished them off with bullets. Meanwhile, my team entertained ourselves with killing another husk.
We quickly scrounged for supplies. It was that process of looking and swiping that led us to a dead husk hiding behind a building.
Grunt poked it with his shotgun. "Sort of looks human," he offered. "This one of the colonists?"
"Those things look like the husks used by the geth on Eden Prime," Jacob said, reminding me that he was stationed there when Saren hit the colony two years ago.
Garrus shook his head. "But the geth impaled their victims on giant spikes to turn them into husks. But we haven't seen the geth or the spikes."
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," Miranda frowned. "The geth got that technology from Sovereign."
"They did?" I asked. "You sure?"
"Cerberus did a thorough analysis after your... first encounter with the Collectors," she explained to me. "We found certain energy signatures and chemical markers that had only been recorded during our... studies of the husks. Granted, that might have indicated that either the Collectors or the geth developed the technology to create husks. Furthermore, one of our cells also discovered a series of geth data logs. The logs indicated that the knowledge of how to create husks was sudden, starting shortly before your encounter on Eden Prime. The logs was no indication of experimentation, research or development. Nothing that would indicate a point of origin. One day, the geth had no idea of how to create husks, or any reference to husks at all. The next, there was a fully thought-out process on geth creation, with frequent references to Sovereign.
Mordin nodded. "Would have to analyze data myself to verify. Still, summary does suggest husk technology came from Reapers, not geth. If so, presence of husks here indicates collaboration between Collectors and Reapers."
"We haven't seen any Dragon's Teeth or any other tech that looks out of place on a human colony. Which suggests the Collectors must have already had the husks and brought them here," Miranda deduced. "If so, did the Collectors attack Horizon—and the other human colonies—simply for... for raw material to create more husks? Or do they want them for something else?"
"My bet's on the latter," I guessed. "Judging by their reputation, the Collectors must be experimenting on the colonists. "The question is, what are they up to?"
"Fascinating question. Answer... probably unpleasant," Mordin offered.
"The only way to find out is to stop them," Miranda said.
I crouched down and took a good look at them. "They don't look like the same guys I fought on Eden Prime," I frowned. "Or at any time during my hunt for Saren. They almost look more advanced. Evolved."
"Maybe the Reapers only gave Saren and the geth the blueprints to create primitive husks," Kasumi suggested. "I mean, why bring an omni-tool if a lock pick will suffice? The Reapers could have been holding the more advanced models in reserve. Or maybe they started developing better husks once they found out the old ones weren't up to snuff."
"Doesn't matter. They still die when you shoot 'em," Zaeed drawled, slamming another thermal clip in his assault rifle.
"True. And we're not going to let them or the Collectors get away with more victims," I said, standing up. "Let's move out."
The sight of the ghost town—colony, whatever—didn't get any easier. Not for me. Not for anybody else.
"Everyone's... gone," Kasumi whispered.
"Just like Freedom's Progress," Jacob agreed.
"No signs of resistance," Garrus said grimly. "It must have happened quickly, before anyone could prepare a defence of some kind."
"Speaking of resistance," I warned. "We've got company." I raised my sniper rifle, aimed at a Collector and fired. My shot smashed through its barrier and severely injured it. Grunt happily finished it off. Noting that Garrus had already found shelter along with his team, I motioned that we'd head through one of the buildings to try and flank them. He nodded his understanding and ordered his team to lay down covering fire.
I quickly moved through the building, Team One hot on my heels. For once, I didn't bother to loot anything, instead mentally noting anything of interest. When we popped out the other side, my HUD indicated that there were only three threats left. Team Two must have done an exceptionally good job. Noting a possible target, I zoomed in with my sniper rifle.
It wasn't a Collector. It was one of the colonists. Frozen, with some kind of orange-yellow energy field flickering over him. Black smoke seemed to billow from him, as if he was on fire. His hands were up as if he had been trying to wave something off. His mouth gaping wide open in a helpless cry, eyes filled with desperation.
I saw two targets to our left, both occupied with Team One. I selected one target for me and Miranda; the other for everyone else. On the count of three, we opened fire on their rear. They never stood a chance.
Staying at our position, we monitored for any approaching Collectors while Team Two moved up. Then we leapfrogged ahead. Naturally, two more Collectors showed up. Thankfully, they were eliminated quickly.
Doubling back just long enough to bypass a couple safes and grab some creds, I rejoined the others, who had gathered around another frozen civvie.
"Definitely some sort of stasis field," Miranda confirmed. I remembered her speculating that the seeker swarms incapacitated their victims either by nerve toxin or stasis field. Looked like it was the latter.
"Victim appears conscious," Mordin observed. "Fully aware. Trapped in stasis. Fascinating."
Somehow, I managed to repress a shudder. In some ways, this was worse than a ghost colony. At least, the traditional definition of a ghost colony, which implied that no one was there. But now we knew that there were people here. People who had been paralyzed against their will. They couldn't speak. They couldn't touch anything. They were trapped within their bodies, helpless to resist or intervene. All they could do was watch what was happening around them with no ability whatsoever to affect things. Watch with looks of horror in their eyes. Or a silent plea for help. They were ghosts in every way that mattered, doomed to haunt the colony until the Collectors picked them up. "It isn't fascinating," I said at last. "It's hell. I don't care if it just happened or if it happened an hour ago. From their standpoint, it's been an eternity. Let's make sure they don't stay trapped like that any longer than they have t—ooh, what's that?"
My musings had been interrupted by the sight of the Collector lying face down on a path below us, between the building we were in and an adjacent one. Or rather, it had been interrupted by the sight of the exotic weapon next to it, similar to the particle beam weapon another Collector had fired at me earlier.
Making sure no one was in the neighbourhood, I crept out and scooped it up. It had several overlapping grey plates that lay like organic protrusions over the mechanical structure of a rifle. The triggering mechanism was situated about a third of the way from the butt of the rifle. Curious, I pointed it at a crate and pulled the trigger. Nothing. Maybe it was busted. I fiddled with it and one of the plates retracted, exposing a small cavity. Some kind of ammo slot. I tried putting a thermal clip in, but it was too small. Power cells, maybe? I pulled a couple out, thanking my foresight for retrieving them before my grenade launcher went boom, and pushed them into the cavity. The click I heard, along with the humming sound that came from this new weapon, told me I had succeeded. Aiming again, I saw a stream of yellow energy shoot out from the barrel, carving right through the crate.
Point-and-click. Didn't seem finicky or complicated. This is what I was talking about when I said I loved new tech. New in the sense that the Collectors wouldn't expect us to turn it against them, anyway. "I'll take it," I decided, inserting the rest of my power cells.
"Commander," Garrus called out, a tense undertone to his otherwise calm voice. "Targets inbound to our position."
More Collectors. We quickly took cover and braced ourselves for another assault. Most of them found cover of their own. All but one. That one looked around, assessing all of us.
It focused on me.
I suddenly felt the back of my neck tingling again.
Aw, crap.
"I am assuming direct control," it uttered in a deep, booming voice.
That did not sound good.
It suddenly rose into the air. I thought it was flying away at first, before realizing that its wings weren't buzzing. Instead, it appeared to be levitating. As I watched, its carapace seemed to crack open, revealing orange-yellow lines underneath that glowed like lava. Those lines seemed to erupt or ignite, blazing like a fire.
That did not look good.
The Collector landed on its feet. Flames seemed to burn from those glowing lines, as if something inside had ignited and its carapace was all keeping that energy from consuming it. Hunching over, it gathered some of that energy into a small ball—reminiscent of how some biotics focused mass effect fields—and hurled it from its hands. Now I was mostly in cover so the ball only glanced my shoulder. But that was enough to severely damage my shields and send me flying back a couple metres.
That certainly did not feel good.
"I am the harbinger of your perfection," the glowing Collector said.
All right, I decided grimly. Enough gawking. Time to kill this sucker. I signalled the squad to level everything they had at it. After a minute of biotic onslaught and a nice little sniper round, we managed to take down the barriers protecting this 'Harbinger.' My sensors noticed that whatever changes had occurred included altering its carapace, which was now registering more like some sort of organic armour.
Mordin and I sent twin bolts of plasma at the guy. We cheered as the sucker burned to cinders. Now time to deal with the other Collectors. Garrus was already directing his team to work on one of the Collectors, so I focused Team One's fire on another. My team had almost finished off 'our' guy when...
"Assuming direct control."
Aw, crap.
Yep. You guessed it. The guy lifted up in the air and started glowing. Before it could do any funny business, Miranda sent a biotic blast at its newly reformed barriers while I cloaked and gave the sucker a headshot.
It suddenly occurred to me that this Harbinger was glowing the same way my implants were glowing when I first woke up, before my skin gradually healed over them. Or the way Saren had glowed when Sovereign had kicked his implants into overdrive and reanimated his corpse in a last-ditch attempt to take us down. Did that mean the Collectors were all implanted as well? That would explain how Harbinger could trigger the same reaction each time it was 'possessing' them. (2) I quickly reminded myself that this was hardly the time or place for such analysis.
"Listen up, everyone," I said over the comm. "This 'Harbinger' guy seems to like possessing or upgrading weakened Collectors but, for whatever reason, can only do so one at a time. Team One will tackle Harbinger. Team Two start picking off any other Collectors. Once Harbinger's down—"
Harbinger's barriers were down, so I sent some plasma fire its way before finishing "—resume firing on the Collectors, and make damn sure your target's dead."
With these revised tactics, we ignored Harbinger, unless we had a perfect opportunity to deal some damage, and focused on taking out the other Collectors. As I'd determined earlier, the fewer of them left alive, the fewer 'vessels' Harbinger could use. Before you could say "Where's the flyswatter," the Collectors were all dead. Then we took care of Lava Boy—Jack delivered the coup de grâce with an explosive burst of biotics.
Naturally, reinforcements arrived a minute later.
Slowly but surely, we took them out. My shields took quite a few hits, as I was trying to ensure that the teams were focusing on one Collector at a time, and not let any weakened ones last long enough for Harbinger to pop up again. As a result, I exposed myself more often than not. When the last one went down for good, I breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
Then I winced and rolled my shoulders. Apparently I had been so freaked out by these guys, I had been clenching my muscles throughout the entire fight. Boy, were they sore.
Now it was time to indulge in my favourite activity: scrounging for loot. Easy enough since most of the buildings were unlocked.
All except the garage. There were lots of scratches and a deep groove on the door. Looked like someone had been trying to get in. Took me a few seconds to bypass the lock and get inside. It was dark and quiet. Well, it was until someone knocked something on the floor.
"Company," I warned. We all lifted our weapons and pointed it in the direction of the noise. "Get out," I ordered. "Now!"
After a few seconds, a head cautiously poked out from behind a large cargo container. I lowered my pistol and motioned for him to step forward. "You're... you're human!" he realized, somehow skipping over Garrus, Mordin and Grunt. "What're you doing out here? You'll lead them right here!"
"They were already trying to get in," I replied. "You must've heard them. Seems like it's hard to hide from the Collectors."
"Those things are Collectors?" he gawked. "You mean... they're real? I thought they was just made up. You know—propaganda. To keep us in Alliance space."
Grammar issues aside, it was nice to see Horizon was living up to its reputation. (3)
"Oh god, no! They got Lilith," he cried out suddenly. "I saw her go down. Sten, too. They got damn near everybody!"
Guess his anti-Alliance sentiments had caused a lag in his memories. Hopefully I'd be able to get some intel from him. "What's your name?" I asked. "What do you do here?"
"Name's Delan. Mechanic. I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our comm signals. Then I heard screamin'. I looked outside and there was... bugs. Swarms of them. Everyone they touched just froze. I... I sealed the doors.
"Damn it—it... it's the Alliance's fault! They stationed that Commander Alenko here and built their defence towers. It made us a target!"
"Tell me more about this Alliance rep," I said, as if I had never met him. Not that that was true, of course.
"Commander Alenko? Heard he was some kind of hero or something. Didn't mean nothin' to me, though. Would've rather he just stayed back in Citadel space."
"Any idea what he was doing on Horizon?"
"Supposed to be helping us get the defence towers up and running," he sniffed. "I got the feeling he was here for something else. Spying on us, maybe."
I suddenly remembered my conversation with Anderson. He'd said something about Kaidan being assigned to some 'special mission.' Maybe it was Horizon, or colonies like it. But what was he doing, exactly? It must've been more than just setting up defences. Even Delan picked up on it, though he probably figured it was part of some sinister Alliance conspiracy.
"What's with those defences," I moved on.
"A gift from the Alliance," he sneered. "High powered GARDIAN lasers. (4) Supposed to keep hostile ships from landing near the colony. Had to build a massive underground generator just to give it enough juice. Only we couldn't get the targeting systems online. So the Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight. Stupid sons-of-bitches."
"Why do you think this is the Alliance's fault?" I asked, half-suspecting the answer.
"We're just a small colony," he shrugged. "Nobody bothered us before we started building those damn defence towers and drew attention to ourselves. I left Citadel space to get away from the Alliance. Nothing good evercomes from getting mixed up with them."
"The Collectors are targeting remote colonies," I told him. "Maybe the Alliance was just trying to help."
"I don't need their help," he waved me off. "Too many strings attached. That rep said he was just here to get the towers online, but mark my words—there's more to it."
I was of two minds about this guy. On the one hand, his constant 'Everything's the Alliance's fault' was getting a bit annoying. (5) On the other hand, given everything he'd seen, it wasn't entirely unreasonable. Besides, he hadn't started whining that it was the Alliance's fault that he had to get up in the morning. "Where are the controls for the defence towers? If we can get them online, we can use them against the Collector ship."
Delan shook his head. "You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first. It's never worked right. Typical Alliance cr—"
"One of us should be able to figure it out," Garrus interrupted, much to my relief. "We just need the location."
"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony," Delan directed us. "It's by the starport. Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at its base."
Got it. Now, about Delan. I wasn't sure whether he'd be any use or not, but the Collectors were proving to be quite a handful. The last thing we needed was some civvie slowing us down. Or worse, knowing my luck. "That's where we'll go, then," I said. "It's probably better if you stay out of the way."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," he nodded. He lifted up his omni-tool and tapped it. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances."
Can't blame him. I would've told him the same thing.
"Good luck," Delan offered. "I think you're gonna need it."
You and me both, I thought to myself.
We left the garage as soon as I'd had a minute to swipe anything that wasn't nailed down. As soon as we rounded the corner, we saw more bad guys. At first I thought it was raining Collectors. Then I saw it was a couple Collectors flying towards us while a bunch of husks dropped down from the roof of a nearby building and charged us.
I signalled for Team Two to fend off the husks for now while my team tackled the Collectors. Grunt blasted through the biotic barriers of a Collector with a single concussive round. I quickly followed up with a headshot before Harbinger could get any ideas. Miranda and Kasumi took down another. That left three more. They had been completely unscathed by our assault, so neither one would be loaning out its body to Harbinger any time soon.
"I am assuming direct control."
Aw, crap. So much for that theory.
"Ignore Harbinger for now," I called out, belatedly realizing something. "Concentrate fire on the husks!"
Garrus and his team had eliminated most of them, but there were still two of them that were close enough to cause some serious problems. I quickly melted the armour off one of them. Garrus finished that one off with a concussive round. The second husk had already absorbed a lot of punishment, so Miranda managed to kill it without any trouble.
Looking quickly around, I counted only three targets. Some Collector with a particle beam weapon, like the one I'd 'liberated.' An injured Collector drone hiding near the side.
"You prolong the inevitable. This delay is pointless."
And Harbinger, of course.
"Team One, focus on the Collector with the laser gun; Team Two goes for the other Collector," I decided. "Leave Harbinger for now."
Miranda immediately launched a volley of biotics. Kasumi fired a quick burst from her submachine gun. Grunt...
...Grunt had been knocked out. Either that, or he had picked a really inconvenient time for a nap. Biting my lip, I cloaked and peered through the scope of my sniper rifle. One gentle tap on the trigger sent a round through the remnants of its barriers and into its head.
As the Collector collapsed, I noted that Team Two had eliminated their Collector as well. Now we just had to deal with Harbinger and—
What the heck was that?
At first I thought it was a giant hunchback. As it got closer, I realized it was a husk... or some obscenely mutated offspring of a husk. One toting a giant membranous tumour, pulsing and throbbing as if possessed with some kind of life. Or the weird blue substance glowing inside. The mass seemed to engulf its left arm, at least enough to make it look more like a weapon than a limb. I would later learn that that weapon was used at close range. For anything else, the... 'scion,' for lack of a better name, used something else. (6)
A bunch of blue explosions burst out from the scion towards us, bypassing any obstacles or cover in its way that it didn't rip to shreds. It suddenly occurred to me that getting out of the way might be a good idea—
—too late. The wave hit me, instantly shorting out my shields. My sensors helpfully told me that I had been hit with some sort of biotic shockwave. Come to think of it, Jack had pulled a similar trick with the last wave of Collectors we'd encountered. This shockwave, though, was much more powerful.
A brief cry drew my attention to Team Two. Jacob had been knocked to the ground and was sporting a nasty cut. Mordin seemed to be trying to treat him while patching up one of his own wounds. Team Two was frantically trying to take down Harbinger.
Good idea, I decided. I signalled Miranda and Kasumi to focus on Harbinger. It took a depressingly long time, and Miranda suffered a severe burn thanks to Harbinger's biotics, but we managed to finally eliminate Harbinger.
Then I heard a tortured moan. Sounded like a husk. I looked over.
Nope. It was that weird mutated scion thing.
And it was right on top of me.
Aw, crap.
I instinctively shot a bolt of plasma at it, got to my feet and ran like hell. I headed straight for a nearby cargo container, then jinked to the side. That dodge saved my life, as I heard as much as saw a series of biotic explosions follow my original trajectory. I ran around to the other side of the container. By that point, my omni-tool had recharged and I could launch another fireball. As the plasma flew away, I noticed that everyone else had found new places to hide, areas that surrounded the scion. Nice to know I don't have to hold their hand all the time.
The scion may have been powerful, but it was very slow, lumbering slowly from place to place. And my squad's tactics of surrounding it had another benefit—the damn thing couldn't decide who to go after. It kept moving towards one person, changing its mind, moving towards someone else, changing its mind again, firing off a biotic wave at yet another person...
Still, the thing seriously creeped me out, so I wasn't complaining when it finally collapsed. Then we could spare time to check on everybody, get them back to fighting form and loot for anything useful along the way to the starport.
"How come we don't see more frozen people around?" Grunt wondered.
"Yeah," Jack scowled. "Where the hell is everybody?"
"The Collectors have already loaded them onto their ship," Miranda realized. "We're running out of time."
Aw, crap. I hadn't realized it—having been distracted with saving my ass, checking on the squad and scrounging for goodies—but they were right. There were plenty of stasis pods lying around, but no more paralyzed colonists. If we didn't get our asses in gear, it would be too late.
We double-timed it to the starport. The gate leading to it was sealed shut, but I managed to bypass the lock and get us inside.
First thing I noted—a courtyard with crates, stacks of tires, large containers and other knick-knacks. Second, the Collector ship looming in the background. It was huge. Even all the way over here, I could see how large it was, and how it blended organic and mechanical elements like the particle beam weapon I'd picked up. Third, the transmitter was dead centre in the middle of the courtyard.
Last and most importantly: my HUD was practically screaming with all the targets it was picking up. Two scions dead ahead. A pack of husks to the left. And another pack of husks to the right.
Oh, and the doors had sealed behind me. We were trapped.
"Team One goes left, Team Two goes right," I immediately ordered. "Stay mobile. Weapons free."
The mobility part was particularly critical in our case. Our enemies were popping up all over the place and could easily get the drop on us. Especially since the husks loved suicide charges. As much as I wanted to bunker down and eliminate targets one by one, that just wouldn't cut it. Our only option was to run like hell, never stay in one spot for long and try to take out anyone who got in our way.
First up were the husks we were running towards. Between Miranda's biotics and my plasma, we managed to punch through their armour. Then we could shoot them. Or, in Grunt's case, charge towards them and knock them over. Scattered them like bowling pins, which made finishing them off a lot easier. Maybe there was something to this kamikaze charge thing.
Then one of the scions scored a direct hit on Grunt. He fell to one knee and shook his head before scrambling for cover.
Never mind.
Leaning around a corner, I saw a scion plod towards Team Two. They were pouring fire into the thing. So I did the same. Literally. Bolt of plasma right in the back.
What? It's safer that way.
I stayed out of cover for a second, just long enough to see the plasma splash over the scion. That was a second too long, as the other scion blew out the remnants of my shields with its attack, with enough leftover energy to make a very loud crack. Hopefully that was my hardsuit and not my ribs. Time to get moving—
Aw, crap. Husk dead ahead. Maybe I should retreat inst—
Nope, another husk over there. And a second husk behind it. Oh man, these things were everywhere. Groaning and moaning, swiping with their clawed hands, staring at us with their creepy eyes—and how could they be so alive with that unholy glowing blaze and yet so damn dead and empty? Why couldn't they be nothing more than some sick guy's imagination brought to life in some cheesy vid? Why did it have to be real?
Somehow, I got the team to move straight ahead, issuing orders on the fly. Grunt took out one of the husks who were behind us. Miranda cleared the way in front of us by generating a biotic pulse that detonated the husk in front. I tried to launch another fireball, but Kasumi was in the way. I started to drift to the side so I could get a clear shot...
...and then the last husk hit Kasumi. One swipe sent her flying into a nearby container with an audible thud.
Ulp.
The only bright side was that now I had a clear line of sight to the husk, which was now focused on the three of us. One bolt of plasma melted through its armour, and a single shotgun round from Grunt blew off its head.
By silent consent, we kept going. If the last husk was any indication, no one would go after Kasumi while she was unconscious. And it was simply too dangerous to go back and get her. I suppose I could have remotely triggered her hardsuit's medical systems to inject a pack's worth of medi-gel and get her back on her feet, but each squad member only had a couple packs. Those packs might be needed later on, when it was literally a matter of life or death, as opposed to life or probable death. It really depended on how the others were doing and what the battlefield was like.
That reminded me to dart around the transmitter and see how Team Two was doing. Not well as it turned out. They were backed into a corner, with another pack of husks charging towards them on one side and both scions heading their way on the other. I quickly motioned for Team One to draw the scions away. Miranda and I tag-teamed the weaker scion while Grunt switched to his assault rifle and fired a burst into the second.
Sure enough, that attracted their attention. We quickly started to retreat, jogging backward to keep an eye on the scions while looking over our shoulders to see if the coast was clear.
Gah—more husks. Oh wait. There were only two of them. Phew. I quickly led Miranda and Grunt between some crates. We just had to buy some more time until my omni-tool generated some more plasma.
As soon as it was ready, I sent it flying. Grunt was waiting for the fireball and let off a concussive round, timing things so it hit just after the fire splashed over the husk. The husk was knocked off its feet, tripping up its zombie partner. By the time husk number two was on its feet, we were waiting for it.
Now that that was done, it was time to deal with the scions. Consulting the HUD, I saw that Team Two had moved from their original position. They were near the transmitter, right between us and the scions.
"We'll double round to the starport doors and get the drop on the scions," I told Miranda and Grunt. "Keep your eyes peeled so any husks or whatnot don't do the same to us."
"Right," Miranda said.
Thankfully, there were no more husks. For now. All we had to do was play peek-a-boo with the scions and whittle their defences down one at a time.
Then it was over. No more bad guys for now. All we had to do was patch up our wounded, grab any spare ammo and limp our way to the transmitter.
As we got Kasumi back to her feet, I activated the comm. "Garrus, what's the sitrep?"
"Zaeed got mauled by the second batch of husks we encountered. Or third. Hard to keep track. He's not in the best of shape, but he says he'll be fine. Jacob got knocked out when we got pinned down—thanks for drawing the scions off, by the way. No way we could have dealt with them and the husks. He's all right now. How about you?"
"Kasumi took a few blows that knocked her out, but she'll be fine. Other than that, we're in good shape. Gather whatever clips you can find and meet me at the transmitter."
"Understood."
We congregated by the transmitter within five minutes. The squad members were either excited—Jack and Grunt—or riding the fine line between adrenaline-fuelled excitement and battle fatigue—everyone else.
"You're doing good, people," I told them. "Just keep it up."
"Right behind you," Jacob nodded, snapping off a quick salute.
"Good." Time to try and contact the Normandy again, I decided. "Normandy, come in. Do you copy?"
"Joker here," our pilot responded over a low hiss of static. "Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you."
"EDI, can you get the colony's defence towers online?" I asked. If we could cripple the ship, maybe we could rescue all the abductees.
"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified," EDI confirmed, "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."
"The Collectors will try to stop it," Grunt smiled, a feral light in his eyes. "Good."
Kasumi and Jacob exchanged a look and groaned. Zaeed gripped his assault rifle tightly and muttered something under his breath.
"Wonderful," I sighed. "Got any other helpful tips?"
"Just one—enemy reinforcements are closing in. I suggest you ready weapons."
Aw, crap.
Sure enough, company came knocking within seconds. A bunch of Collectors led the way, one of them transforming into Harbinger before it even touched down.
"Everyone follow me," I ordered. "Team One on point; Team Two cover our six." (7) Maybe this would help keep everyone conscious a little longer.
I led the squad back and forth through every bit of cover I could find. Team One dashed ahead. We gritted our teeth as the Collectors stood up and took pot shots at us. While they were distracted, Team Two concentrated their fire on one of the stronger Collectors, taking it out before it could raise any shields.
More running.
Team Two was hiding behind some crates, which were absorbing a hideous amount of punishment from Harbinger. A couple Collectors were taking advantage of the opportunity to try and circle around the crates. Before they got too far, we popped out of corner, quickly taking out the weakest Collector. Grunt fired a concussive round at the surviving Collector before we hastily retreated.
Still more running. Hit-and-run attacks were the name of the game.
"Bypassing failsafes and attempting emergency power-up," EDI reported. "Please hold the defence towers."
Oh was that all I had to do?
We dashed past the transmitter for what must have been the umpteenth time, just in time for a Collector to graze my shields with its particle beam weapon. I hastily ordered a retreat, only to see a trio of husks heading our way—
—and Harbinger right on top of us!
I quickly cloaked, pulled out my sniper rifle and fired a shot. Harbinger collapsed in a heap, and I signalled everyone via my HUD to head for some cover at the far corner. As we ran, we threw plasma fire, biotics, gunfire and foul language at the husks. By the time we'd taken cover, there was only one husk left. I was about to open fire on it when Jack launched a biotic wave from her fingertips, sending the husk soaring through the air to land on top of another Collector. The Collector pushed the now dead husk aside, levitated up into the air and transformed into Harbinger. Again.
"You will know pain, Shepard."
Sometimes, I think my life really sucks.
We couldn't get to the other Collectors from our current position, so we had to run towards a better vantage point. Yes, more running. Hit-and-run attacks were the name of the game.
That is, when we weren't playing the other game called 'Being pinned down.' Which I had to play, simply because my shields were gone. Again. I cloaked, leaned out and fired my sniper rifle. Didn't quite take out that Collector, but it was down to a sliver of health. Someone finished it off with a concussive round. Either Garrus or Zaeed, judging by the distance.
Now it was only Harbinger. Everyone was in hiding at this point, so we took turns popping out of cover to fire on it. No one else arrived to back it up, so it was seven on one. And yet, no one felt guilty when it bit the dust. Again.
"Get ready," Miranda said grimly. "There's got to be more."
"There's always more," Grunt agreed merrily, a disturbing glint in his eyes.
"Isn't it great?" Jack grinned.
"Try not to sound so happy," Garrus said dryly.
Sure enough, a bunch of husks reared their ugly, moaning faces on our right, with a Collector right behind them.
As we fired back, EDI gave us another sitrep: "Sequential power-up initiated. GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 40%."
Well it's about time!
"Reinforcements," Jacob said, pointing out some more Collectors. "We've got their attention now."
Ya think?
Good news: no more husks. Bad news: lots of Collectors all around us. Spying some cover in the form of a wall near one of the buildings, I signalled everyone to head that way. We barrelled behind cover, Jack taking a hit from Harbinger that sent her flying headfirst into the wall. Garrus quickly lunged out, grabbed her by the... straps, I guess, and hauled her back. Thankfully, there was a pack of medi-gel nearby, so we cracked it open and administered it.
As Jack opened her eyes, EDI chimed in again. "GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 60%. Syncing targeting protocols to Normandy's systems. Continue to protect the tower."
Only four Collectors, thank goodness. One of them was Harbinger, boldly striding towards us. I wasn't sure whether it was trying to get up close and personal. Normally that would be suicide. But normally, bad guys can't possess and upgrade new bodies on the fly. Not wanting to take a chance, I set him on fire, burning him to ashes.
Three Collectors to go. Zaeed and Grunt took out the barriers on one of the Collector's barriers with concussive rounds, leaving it open for Mordin to burn the sucker. Another Collector was running around without barriers. Jacob surrounded it in a biotic field and lifted him up in the air, exposing it for Miranda, who detonated Jacob's biotic field.
That left one more. Could we finish it off before Harbinger hacked its body? Three concussive rounds drilled into it, each one landing with a dull explosion. Jack yanked it skyward, making it easy for me to burn the sucker.
You'd think that would be it. I was done for the day, to be honest.
Naturally, Harbinger had other plans.
At first I thought it was another Collector flying towards us. I soon realized it was way too big to be a Collector. As it got closer, I got a better look. It seemed that the husks were sending another grossly mutated cousin to crash the party.
And boy was it ugly. And huge. Its head was similar in shape to a Collector, only with glowing blue eyes and dark armour plating like a husk. A large body was grafted underneath, without any trace of a neck. Several legs dangled beneath it, each ending in an enormous, sharp blade. As it landed, I saw it had its mouth full. Literally—it looked like a bunch of husk heads were stuffed inside its jaws. It glared at us and let out a high-pitched metallic shriek.
"EDI, we need that system online!" I called out.
"Whatever that is, don't get too close!" Miranda yelled at the same time. Sage advice, as we'd soon find out.
It took a lot of work to bust through its barriers—they were really strong—and start chipping away at its armour. I launched a fireball, ducked and waited for my omni-tool to recharge.
Something else recharged first. The... whatever it was dropped to the ground, landing with enough force to make the ground shake. A huge burst of biotic energy swept out, shaking everything in its path. I was still monitoring it with my sensors, so I saw its barrier recharge, bathing it in some kind of blue-tinged field. We fired again, but nothing we did stuck. It was like its biotic attack had simultaneously recharged its barrier and rendered it invulnerable.
"GARDIAN anti-ship batteries at 100%," EDI said. "I have control."
Finally. Some good news.
The thing took off again. The blue field went away. Grunt fired a couple shots at it immediately. We could all see its barriers dip accordingly.
Then the thing—I really had to come up with a better name for it—floated our way. (8) With the height it had, our current cover would be rendered useless in seconds. Time to move.
And not a second too soon—beams of energy blasted out from it, lancing towards us. They touched on me, and my shields disintegrated beneath the onslaught.
"Firing anti-ship batteries at Collector vessel," EDI reported as we ran like hell.
As I sprinted for the closest piece of cover that was tall enough to block that thing from seeing me, I checked my sensor readings. What I saw prompted me to activate the comm. "Miranda, Garrus, Grunt, Zaeed—take out the barrier. Mordin and I will handle its armour. Everyone else... use your discretion."
You see, while the barrier had been fully restored, the armour had not. This meant that as soon as we took down the barrier, we would have a brief window of opportunity to deal as much damage as possible before the barriers were recharged again. The longer we could drag this fight out, the more the odds would shift in our favour. As long as we didn't do something stupid and got ourselves killed, of course.
Miranda and the others I'd designated immediately launched their biotics and various abilities. Kasumi and a couple others followed suit with their submachine guns, the rapid fire of those weapons well suited for that kind of defence. In the distance, we could see the GARDIAN towers fire at the Collector ship, their shots sending ripples through its shields.
Mordin and I launched twin streams of plasma fire as soon as the barriers went down. Jacob joined in with an overcharged blast from his geth shotgun, weakening the enemy's armour to about 50% integrity. In response, it slammed down on the ground and emitted a biotic pulse from its body—both of which failed to hit us—and regenerated its barrier.
"Everyone ready to hit its barrier again?" I asked over the comm. Several affirmatives chimed in. "Then as soon as that thing's up in the air, we repeat the same drill. Weapons free!"
So we repeated the same trick a few more times. Well, almost—during the last one, I kinda took a wrong turn. Went right when I should've gone left and wound up face to face—to face to face to face to... well, you get the idea—with the monstrosity. Noting that its barriers were gone—again—and it barely had any armour, I grabbed my pistol and fired a couple shots. To my delight, the thing exploded into miniscule pieces. Didn't even get drenched in goop. I automatically looked around for the next wave of bad guys.
But I guess the Collectors had enough. A rumbling crescendo was the only warning we got before rockets ignited at the base of the Collector ship.
Crap.
"They're pulling out," Jacob observed, as the ship lifted off.
"There's no reason to stay," Miranda said. "Most of the colonists must be onboard. They got what they came for."
Crap.
"No! Don't let them get away!"
It was Delan, the mechanic we met earlier. He ran into the courtyard, slowly stopping as the ship disappeared into the clouds.
"There's nothing we can do," I told him. "They're gone."
"Half the colony's in there," he protested. "They took Egan and Sam and... and Lilith! Do something!"
"I didn't want it to end this way," I said. "I did what I could."
"It was a good fight, Shepard," Grunt approved.
That got his attention. "Shepard? Wait... I know that name."
"Sure, I remember you. You're some type of big Alliance hero."
"Commander Shepard," a voice said softly. "Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel."
It was Kaidan. Talk about a sight for sore eyes.
"You're in the presence of a legend, Delan," he told the mechanic. "And a ghost."
"All the good people we lost and youget left behind," Delan spat in disgust. "Figures. Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types."
I think he stormed away at that point. I barely noticed, too focused on my old squad mate. Kaidan walked up to me and, after a pause, shook my hand. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did."
"It's been too long, Kaidan," I smiled. "How have you been?"
"That's all you have to say?" he asked incredulously. "You show up after two years and just act like nothing happened?"
I had a feeling I was missing something.
"I would've followed you anywhere, Commander," he snapped at me. "Thinking you were gone... it was like losing a limb. Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"
Okay. Not knowing all the facts, I guess he felt left out by whatever he thought I was doing. "It's a little hard to keep in touch when you're on an operating table. I basically died when the Normandy went down. Spent the last two years in some kind of coma while I was being healed. Operated on. Whatever. Even after I got out, I had no idea where you were. All I knew was that you were on some kind of secret mission, in which case you probably wouldn't be checking your official e-mail."
"But where were you?" Kaidan persisted. "It would be pretty hard for any hospital to keep news of your admittance a secret, especially if it was for that long."
I braced myself. This was gonna be interesting: "It's easier when the medical facility and its staff are all run by Cerberus."
Kaidan took a few steps back, his face stiffening. "You're with Cerberus now? Garrus too? I can't believe the reports were right."
"Reports?" Garrus asked. "You mean you already knew?"
"So much for security," Miranda muttered.
"Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. They got a tip this colony might be the next one to get hit. Anderson stonewalled me, but there were rumours that you weren't dead. That you were working for the enemy."
So this whole defence tower thing was just a cover to determine whether Cerberus was behind the attacks—and confirm that I had joined them. Well ain't that peachy?
"Alliance Intel needs to get their facts straight," I snapped, "and so do you, apparently. All I did was wake up after a two-year nap, fight my way out of a research station and investigate one colony. After that, I made a beeline for the Citadel. Upon Anderson's request."
That last part was added to appeal to Kaidan's respect for our former CO. It didn't take a genius to see that his view of me had been tainted by the belief that I was now working for the enemy. Hopefully, his opinion of Anderson hadn't been similarly affected.
"And?" was all he said coldly.
"Anderson—and the Council—summoned me regarding some of those rumours you heard, about me working for Cerberus. Which I'm not, by the way. I told them that the Collectors were abducting human colonists out in the Terminus Systems—and they said they couldn't do anything since it was outside Citadel space. I also told them that they were working with the Reapers—and they said they thought the whole Reaper thing was a myth. Again. But they were willing to reinstate me as a Spectre and investigate it. Anderson can give you all the details."
"And what about Cerberus?" he persisted. "I wanted to believe the rumours that you were alive, but I never expected anything like this. You turned your back on everything I've ever stood for."
I raised a finger before he could go any further. "Last I checked, the things you stood for were the same things I stood for—protecting and safeguarding humanity and the galactic community. My status as a Spectre authorizes me to preserve galactic stability any way I see fit. So technically I'm not turning my back on anything. Second, I'm investigating these abductions because the Collectors and the Reapers have taken a real keen interest in humanity. Given where these colonies are located, the Council and the Alliance can't do anything without setting off a political minefield. I, on the other hand, have a bit more latitude. Finally, neither the Council nor the Alliance was willing to give me any resources to investigate all the abductions. Probably because it was too politically inconvenient to deal with the Reaper threat. Cerberus was the only group who provided any assistance."
"You know," I added. "It wouldn't surprise me if someone in Cerberus leaked those rumours to make me a pariah in the eyes of the Council and the Alliance. To force me to accept their help because no one else is offering. I don't like it. But the only other choice is to sit by and—"
"And join the enemy?" Kaidan interrupted.
"And do nothing," I continued, pretending I hadn't been interrupted or felt hurt. "Come on, Kaidan. You know me. You know I'd only do this for the right reason. You saw it yourself. The Collectors are targeting human colonies. And they're working with the Reapers."
"I want to believe you, Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus," Kaidan insisted. "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?"
"Typical Alliance attitude," Miranda sniffed, crossing her arms. "You're so focused on Cerberus that you're blind to the real threat."
Ignoring her, I focused on Kaidan. "All the more reason to see what they're up to," I shrugged. "If they're on the up-and-up, then we'll squash the Collectors. If they're trying to manipulate me into doing something that isn't in the best interests of the Alliance and the Council, then they've got another thingcoming."
"Look," I continued, taking a few steps toward Kaidan—and conveniently getting out of earshot of the rest of the squad. "You once warned me about the wisdom of always leaving a way out and the perils of cutting corners. Right now, somebody's been cutting my options, so the only way out involves me hitching a ride on passenger transports or freighters to continue my investigation. Or I could lounge around doing absolutely squat, while colonies go dark and people like Egan and Sam and Lilith and, oh let me think, you disappear.
"Or I can grit my teeth and work with someone who's actually gathering resources and personnel to deal with this threat. Even though they are the same guys who wanted to play with rachni and husks and sacrifice good men and women. It might not sit well. It might not be ideal, but it's better than waiting for something more convenient to come along. Because I haven't changed.
"I'm not doing it because I've suddenly reconsidered my past decisions and think that selling secrets to the Shadow Broker is okay. Or sacrificing the Council is fine. Or because it's the popular thing to do. Or to get back in the Alliance's good books. Or to curry favour with the Council. And I'm certainly not doing it because Cerberus said so. I'm doing it because the only alternative is to stand around and watching everything go to hell! I'M DOING IT BECAUSE IT'S RIGHT, GODDAMNIT!"
That last part was delivered at a pretty high volume, negating any privacy I might have tried to establish. Frankly, I didn't care. I spent two years dead, got ignored or worse by a bunch of REMFs and politicians who didn't know any better and had enough trouble grappling with existential questions that are way above my pay grade. This mission wasn't bad when it came to getting loot, but absolutely suckedwhen it came to saving the colonists. And now someone I used to trust with my life was calling me a traitor. Yeah, that hurt. Under the circumstances, I think I had a right to be a bit peeved. Asshole was lucky I didn't punch his lights out. (9)
Kaidan didn't say anything for a while, perhaps trying to process what I'd just said and not blurt anything else out that he might regret. I hoped so—that would be more in line with the Kaidan I used to know.
"You sure that's what it is?" he finally asked. "Not the fact that maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you?"
"I didn't ask for anybody to bring me back from the dead. I'm working with them, not for them, and only out of reluctance," I replied. "Besides, I already caught the guy who likes to call himself boss holding things back. And their idea of trusting me involves bugging my quarters six ways to Sunday. Seriously, they've got no sense of privacy whatsoever."
For the first time, he let a slight smile slip through. Maybe I was onto something.
"If you want, I can go back and visit Anderson and the Council again," I offered. "But I'm pretty sure it'll go something like this: 'Shepard. Nice to see you again. We have dismissed your claims of Reapers as false. If you really think there's something big with these abductions, you have the authority as a Spectre to deal with it as you see fit. We hope to a quick resolution to that and your relationship with Cerberus."
"What about the Alliance?" he asked. "Internal Affairs could sort things out."
"Or they could lock me up and subject me to rounds of questions and interrogations for the next several months," I snorted. "Or years. Anything to keep me quiet and out of the way. We both know how pervasive politics can be," I added before Kaidan could open his mouth. "IA is no exception."
Kaidan grudgingly nodded. "I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not."
Nice. Carefully phrasing things without indicating whether he believed me. Which probably meant he didn't.
He started to walk away. I couldn't let him go like that. Not after everything I'd been through. "I could use someone like you in my crew, Kaidan," I tried. "It'll be just like old times."
"No, it won't," he said, turning back. "I'll never work for Cerberus."
"With them," I corrected.
"If you say so."
Okay. That really hurt. "Look, I've been recording everything I saw or detected since I landed on Horizon. Take my sensor logs," I offered, copying them on an OSD and handing it to him. "Maybe the Alliance and the Council can get something useful from them."
"Maybe." Kaidan carefully took it, handling it like a live grenade rather than a data storage device, and stowed it in a side pocket. "Goodbye, Shepard. Be careful."
No thanks. No wishes of good luck. Just 'Goodbye.' I guess that went well.
"Joker—send the shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony."
Or maybe I was still a bit bitter.
I would have liked some time to unwind. Alone, maybe with some jazz. Certainly the squad picked up enough of my mood to keep silent for the entire trip back. TIMmy wasn't so understanding. He insisted on talking with me. Even locked out the controls again. So I had no choice but to chat with him.
"Shepard. Good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony."
"It's not a victory," I corrected. "We interrupted the Collectors, but they still abducted half the colony."
"That's better than an entire colony and more than we've accomplished since the abductions began," TIMmy replied. "The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in."
And there was the confirmation. "Kaidan said the Alliance got a tip about me and Cerberus. Was that you?"
He took a puff of his cigarette before answering. "I may have let it slip that you were alive. And with Cerberus."
"You risked the lives of my friend, my crew and that entire colony? Just to lure the Collectors there?" I demanded.
"A calculated risk," TIMmy said coolly. "I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain. I told you I wouldn't sit and wait while the Reapers and Collectors gather strength. Besides, they would've hit another colony eventually. And without a way to predict which one, they would've abducted everyone."
"Instead, they abducted every other person. That's not good enough," I said firmly. "We have to make sure they don't abduct anyone else."
"I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason," he assured me. "That's why we're doing this, Shepard. I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live.
"Your squad will need to be strong... as will their resolve. There's no looking back. The same goes for you. Can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"
"None of your damn business!" I snapped.
I was still a bit touchy about my less-than-friendly reunion with Kaidan, and I hadn't had an opportunity to give anyone a headshot since. So I might have been a little tense.
TIMmy took it well, casually tapping some ash off his cigarette. "If it affects the mission, better you should leave it behind. That goes for the rest of your squad. Shepard, once we find a way through the Omega 4 relay to the Collector homeworld... there's no guarantee you'll return. To have any hope of surviving, you—and your entire squad—must be fully committed to this."
Thank you, TIMmy, for pointing out the patently obvious. "Let me worry about them," I told him. "You just find us a way to the Collector homeworld."
"I just want to be up front about your odds. You'll need everyone at their best." TIMmy moved on to the last topic on his agenda. "I've forwarded three more dossiers. Keep building your squad while I find a way through the relay. And be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you."
With that, he ended the communication. As the hologram flickered away and the table lifted back into place, I turned around. Jacob was there. "I guess we're really gonna do it," he said. "Hit the Omega 4 relay, take the fight to the Collectors in person."
"Looks like," I nodded.
"Looking forward to the action. After seeing what those bastards did on Horizon, though... makes you think."
"They're powerful," I admitted, "but we've got a few tricks for them. If anyone can stop them, we can."
"No argument there, Commander. Horizon just made it hit home." Jacob looked at his feet for a moment before continuing. "What we're doing, what we're up against."
Yeah. It was sobering, I had to admit.
"Gonna go take care of a little unfinished business. I imagine everyone else is, too—getting some closure, you know?"
He was definitely still processing, as evidenced by the fact that he gave a brief nod before departing instead of his usual salute.
A lot of other people were still processing everything that happened on Horizon, thanks to the efficiency of the ol' grapevine.
"I saw the reports on Horizon, Commander," Kelly greeted me. "What you did was amazing. The report mentioned that Kaidan Alenko was there. How did that go?"
I found myself wondering whether she was really asking out of concern or because she was trying to see whether she could push some Cerberus agenda. Probably the former, I decided. She was a bit too open for any shenanigans. "It was good to see him," I simply said.
"That's good to hear," she replied.
Joker was a bit more hesitant. Afraid I might take any frustrations I had on the resolution of the mission outon him—and his relatively brittle bones. "Hey, Commander. That's, uh, it's pretty crazy who you can run into out here, huh? I mean, it was probably a setup, but it was still good to see Kaidan. Staff Commander Alenko, wasn't it?"
Right. His promotion. It was a good thing that never came up. Given how things turned out, I might not have saluted him. "He moved on," I said after a moment. "Can't blame him."
"He was front line with you against a Reaper and I'mthe one roped back into saving the galaxy? Did someone switch our files or something?" he joked.
"You're the force that holds us all together, Joker," I told him lightly. "The fate of the galaxy depends on your presence and voice urging us on."
"Yeah, this sucks, I'll give you that."
I wasn't sure whether he was trying to commiserate with me or shove things aside with bad jokes like me. Maybe both. Either way, I quickly moved on.
I finished my rounds, but more for the sake of old habits. Didn't really have the stomach for it. Aside from overhearing that one of the crew—Goldstein—was originally stationed on Horizon, so he could have been abducted if he hadn't been recruited by Cerberus, there wasn't much news. So I went back to my quarters. As usual, I searched the room for bugs—perhaps with more fervour than usual. Out of habit, I checked my e-mail. Aside from the usual spam, I got this message:
From: Robyn Reeve
Commander,
The Alliance soldier here gave me this contact information—I hope this reaches you.
You said you were trying to stop those Collectors. They took my son and my brother. Have you found them? Do you know where they are? I know you're looking, but so many people are just gone. Every family lost someone. The children are the worst. Empty desks at the schools, winter clothes that never got worn.
Please. The Alliance isn't doing anything. The Council isn't doing anything. If you can find our people, I'm begging you to do something. Tell me something I can do.
Tell me anything,
Robyn Reeve
I really hate this kind of message. I mean, what am I supposed to say? I'm sorry for your loss? Yes, I know where they are, but I'm not going to get them yet because I'm not ready? Going now would just be suicide, whereas going later will only be probable suicide? Or should I just type out something useless like "Thank you for your message. We thank you for your interest. Rest assured we're doing everything possible to bring matters to a satisfactory conclusion."
Suddenly sick with anything having to do with this mission, I shut down my computer and turned to the new dossiers on my desk. Before, I had half a mind to ignore them. Or delete them. Some little gesture to show that I wasn't a two-bit traitor. That I was still, well, me. Whatever that was.
Now? Now I really needed a distraction. So I opened the dossiers. Drell assassin. Nice. Likely found on Illium. Asari justicar. Whatever that was. Also found on Illium.
Two pickups on the same planet. Definite contender.
And...
Tali.
Hello.
Maybe this day wasn't a complete disaster.
(1): Despite the Council's assurances that reports were not necessary, Shepard continued to compose his personal logs and sent them to me via data bursts. His intelligence on foes such as the Collectors was invaluable, particularly as there had been no recorded encounter with them before.
(2): Subsequent analysis from Cerberus personnel revealed that each Collector had an extensive network of cybernetic implants, particularly in their cerebellum, each keyed to a specific signal. They theorized that a singular entity—who they dubbed 'the Collector General'—used those implants to override their motor and sensory functions, much like a biological version of a hack or a cybernetic version of daemonic possession. This process had the added effect of enhancing their minimal biotic abilities to an impressive degree. They were at a loss, however, to explain how this process occurred, or why the Collector General gave itself the human designation of 'Harbinger.'
(3): Whether intentional or not, Horizon was known for its colonial culture and status as a sanctuary for those trying to flee from the increasing restrictions of Citadel-governed space, which the Alliance had adopted. As a result, it tended to attract a variety of dissidents and fringe-dwellers.
(4): General ARea Defence Integration Anti-spacecraft Network—a system of anti-missile and anti-fighter laser turrets under computer control. Typically placed on the exterior hull of frigates.
(5): A statement that indicated Shepard's loyalties had not been compromised, no matter what other individuals might think or say.
(6): Subsequent analysis determined the 'scion' was composed of three husks. The mass Shepard described contained redundant organs and element zero sources to power its biotic abilities.
(7): Shepard ordered Team One to go first, while Team Two keep an eye on the rear to protect the squad from surprise attacks.
(8): Shepard would eventually designate this new husk as a 'Praetorian,' after the ancient human elite guard of the Roman Empire, a fitting name for this new threat.
(9): For the record, I have never heard Shepard use such labels for Commander Alenko, in public or in private. Under the circumstances, though, his frustrations are understandable—and his restraint is quite commendable. For Alenko's part, he may have suffered from some lingering traces of survivor's guilt.