Resurrection and Old Friends
"Wake up, Commander." a female voice yelled via comm above her head.
"Shepard, do you hear me? Get out of that bed - now this facility is under attack." The voice continued.
Emily blinked her eyes open, her hand flying to her jaw to rub the phantom pain.
"Oh god..." She groaned as she came to.
"Your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack!" The voice continued to yell at her.
She looked around and realized she was in a lab, laying on a bed. She sat up quickly, her hand going to her side where pain still radiated.
"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room. Hurry!" The voice called out.
Emily dropped her feet to the floor and quickly made her way across the room towards the locker. Pulling out a pistol that lacked a clip and armor which she donned quickly. Her hand went to the back of her head, feeling something strange under her skin.
'Implant?' She asked herself.
"Yes, you have a implant! Now get moving!" The voice called out.
Emily let out a growl as she dove under cover, watching as a door exploded and the voice ordering her to keep moving. She grabbed a thermal clip on the ground and quickly loaded the weapon before diving under cover again as mechs began to shoot at her.
'What the fuck is going on?' She thought to herself as she slowly started clearing the way in front of her, using the pistol and her new found biotic powers. She also picked up the data on something called "Lazarus Project" She continued on, coming across a man shooting at mechs across the way.
"Shepard?! What are you doing here? I thought you were still a work in progress!" The man exclaimed, shock on his face.
Emily quirked her brow at him and shrugged.
"Are you with the intercom lady?" She asked him, noting the military bearing.
"Yeah, Miranda...sorry, I forgot this is all new to you right now. I'm Jacob Taylor... I've been stationed here for-" He was suddenly interrupted.
"Tell you what, let's get out of here first and we can play twenty questions all day." He continued as he began shooting mechs.
"Fine" Emily said her voice hard as she tried to contain her anger. They moved quickly, luckily Jacob knew what he was doing and they made short work of the mechs in their way. Along the way Jacob admitted that the "Lazarus Project" was funded by none other than Cerberus. They managed to pick up a man named Wilson, someone Emily remembered from the first time she woke up, who seemed reluctant to find Miranda.
"Look, I'm not leaving without Miranda, I don't trust anyone but she's the one that woke me up and guided me so I don't get killed." Emily growled out as she slammed the med-gel on Wilson's leg, "And right now, I trust her more than I trust you."
"Fine" He growled out as the three of them made their way down the corridors.
Reaching a door, Wilson quickly opened it only to be shot point blank in the face by a woman in a catsuit.
"Miranda?" Emily gave a perplexed look at the woman.
"He betrayed us. We have no time for this, we have to get out of here now. The Illusive Man wants to speak to you." She said with a slight accent in her voice.
"The Illusive Man?" Her face naturally blank.
"Cerberus." Jacob commented while Miranda gave him an angry glare. "Hey, she has a right to know."
"Right, I don't care, lets just get out of here." Emily said as she climbed into the shuttle.
"I've been dead for two fucking years!?" She said as she stared at Miranda and Jacob.
"Where is my crew? What happened?" She asked as she struggled to come to terms of the new information given to her.
She placed her face in her armored hands as Miranda asked her a slew of questions, about things she remembered. Virmire, the Council and her skills which Jacob defended.
They arrived at the base, and soon she was talking to the Illusive Man and all of her questions were answered. Her old crew was scattered and untraceable, which caused a pang of sadness in her heart. Collectors started attacking human Colonies and the Alliance was doing nothing about it. The Illusive Man, had rebuilt her to find out why, and to put a stop to them. He also suggested she visit a colony that was just under attack.
She let out a quiet sigh as she studied both Miranda and Jacob, noting the way they moved in sync but avoided looking at each other. She wasn't sure what to find on the colony but she knew she had to find out why.
They landed on the colony and quickly made their way in and out of the buildings, noting how eerily quiet it was aside from the mech's attacking them. She ordered Miranda to use Overload on the mechs while she would charge and shockwave them away from her while blasting away at them with her new shotgun.
She hacked open a door and saw three quarians leaning over a datapad.
"Stop right there!" One of them shouted, guns aimed at Emily's chest.
"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this!" A familiar voice called out as she pushed the quarian's arm down.
"Tali?!" Emily asked as shock filled her voice and eyes.
"Emily...?" Tali said as the glowing eyes behind the faceplate narrowed. She took another step closer and placed her hand on Emily's cheek.
"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" Prazza yelled as he continued to aim his assault rifle at Emily.
"Put the weapon down now" Tali ordered, her voice hard and angry, "Emily? Is that... you're alive?"
"Remember? I gave you geth data to take back with you to your fleet?" Emily said as she leaned her face into Tali's hand.
"Put your weapons away!" Tali barked out as she turned her attention to her crew. Emily's eyes widened at Tali's tone, gone was the sweet innocent girl that Emily knew. She gestured towards Miranda and Jacob to give her space while she went with Tali and talked to her. Finding out one of their quarians was somewhere on the colony and had activated the defense mechs. Emily agreed to help them find him so she would be able to talk to Tali more freely.
They broke up into two groups, Tali stayed with her crew while Emily took Jacob and Miranda with her. They moved quickly, keeping contact with Tali via comm, they found out that they had narrowed down the location of their missing quarian and he had activated a heavy mech which was making short work of Tali's team.
"Open the gate!" Emily yelled out as she got into position behind cover.
Brown eyes narrowed she flickered her biotics and smirked as she charged into the heavy mech's side and blasted it with her shotgun. She rolled away and tossed a shockwave before charging in again with her shotgun. Her body moved like a well oiled machine, moving with familiar steps of a dance ingrained into her being after years of training.
The mech was destroyed, sparks shooting out randomly at Emily's feet as she gave it one small kick and smiled at Miranda and Jacob.
"That was fun" She said with a toss of her head, her long hair cascaded down her back in small waves.
Miranda and Jacob shared a look as they gestured to the door in front of them.
"He should be in there" Jacob pointed out as he knelt in front of the lock and began to hack it.
"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no" A panicked voice whimpered from in front of a bunch of monitors.
"Veetor?" Emily asked softly, not wanting to startle the quarian.
"No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide." Veetor continued.
Emily bit her lip as she felt a wave of pity for the poor traumatized quarian. She brought up her hand and pushed a few buttons, waving them in front of the monitors. Veetor turned his attention to Emily and stared at her in shock.
"No one is going to hurt you anymore" Emily said softly.
"You're human. Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?" Veetor asked as he rubbed his hands together nervously.
"What monsters?" Emily asked curiously and watched as Veetor turned back to the screens, and pushed a few buttons on his tool, showing strange creatures taking paralyzed humans into pods. Fear spiked down her back as Miranda confirmed the creatures to be Collectors.
Tali soon came in, and demanded Veetor come back with her, much to Miranda's annoyance Emily agreed on the condition Tali give her the information Veetor had collected. She felt tears prick her eyes as she watched her friend walk away after turning down her offer to join her.
They returned back to the base, she watched The Illusive Man took a drag from his cigarette as he reviewed the data from Freedom's Progress.
"Shepard...Good work." He said as he studied the woman in front of him, "You confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."
"Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?" Emily asked, her arms crossed her chest as she cocked a hip.
"I had my suspicions, but I needed proof. The Collectors are enigmatic at best. They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems, looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens. Usually in exchange for their technology. When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrived; back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we've had no evidence of direct aggression by the Collectors." He said as he flicked the ash of his cigarette into an ash tray.
"So you pretty much brought me back to find out why and stop the Collectors from taking more humans?" Emily asked a small smirk playing on her lips.
"We both know that the Alliance and the Council believe the Reaper threat ended with Sovereign. But you and I both know better. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them." He answered evasively.
"If this is a war, I'll need an army. Or a really good team." Emily said, standing at parade rest.
"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them. Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready." He said while he sent the information to Emily's Omni-Tool.
"Keep your list, I want people I trust - the ones who helped me stop Saren and the geth." Emily said smoothly.
"That was two years ago, Commander. Most of them have moved on...or their allegiances have changed." He said.
Emily let out a soft sigh as The Illusive Man updated her on where everyone was. Kaidan had been promoted and was on a top secret priority mission, Wrex had went back to his homeworld, Liara was working as an information broker and Garrus had dropped off the face of the galaxy shortly after her death.
"Okay, I get it. They're unreachable" Emily said sadly.
"You're a leader, Shepard. You'll get who you need." he said dismissively.
"You worry about the Collectors, I'll make sure my team's ready." Emily said as she rolled her shoulders forward.
"Good. Two things before you go: First, head to Omega to find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counteract the Collectors paralyzing seeker swarms" He said casually taking another drag from his cigarette.
"Sounds good, and what else?" Emily asked.
"I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best. Someone you can trust." He said dismissively as he waved his hand over the console.
Emily quirked her eyebrow at what she was told and watched as the terminal disconnected.
"Hey, Commander. Just like old times, huh?" Joker's voice came from right behind her.
"Joker?!" Emily exclaimed as shock and joy danced on her face. She moved to quickly give him a hug despite his protests about his bones.
"I can't believe it's you, Joker" Emily asked with a smile on her face.
"Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced" Joker said sadly.
"Got lucky, with a lot of strings attached. How'd you get here?" Emily asked as she followed Joker through some rooms, heading towards the docking bay.
"Well, it all fell apart without you, Emily. Everything you stirred up the Council just wanted it gone. Team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah I joined Cerberus" Joker continued then gestured to his body.
"They even fixed my legs. Sure not as good as they fixed you up, but I don't need crutches anymore." He continued with a smirk on his face.
"So you really trust the Illusive Man?" Emily asked.
"I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly- And there is this..." Joker said while he held his hands out towards the docking bay. Where a bigger version of the Normandy floated into view.
"They only told me last night" He said crossing his arms in glee as his eyes lit up, "It's good to be home, huh, Commander?"
"I guess we'll have to give her a name" Emily said with a smirk on her face.
"Only one name I can think off" he answered with a smile on his face. They watched as the ship's name was painted on the side, "Normandy SR2."