IV - The Name of Our Enemy

As the Cerberus shuttle landed near one of the abandoned prefab areas of the sizable colony, farther inside the settlement was a group of people here for an entirely unrelated reason. True, they may be related incidentally, but that was to help pick up a Pilgrim from a colony they believed was in danger; incidentally, they were right as hours before arrival the comms went dark and their entry was mostly uneventful.

The team was made up of Quarians, most of them a mix of engineers, techs and fire support. They were originally conscripted to join a much larger scale operation that was covert in nature, but seeing an opportunity to assist a fellow Quarian in danger, Tali got confirmation to make a run for him.

Once they touched down, they spotted the young hopeful screaming erratic at the sight of them and hobbled deeper inside. Trying to follow, they were unfortunately pushed back by a veritable maze of mechs, drones and traps throughout the compound. Exchanging fire, thankfully no casualties and just a few scathing close calls pushed them into a larger prefab structure they sealed off to give them time to regroup.

After gaining some limited access to the schematics of the colony through an intact console, four of the nine Quarians huddled around the holo-display of the compound while others took casual looks at the doors they sealed to ensure they weren't being breached.

"I knew coming for him was a bad idea-"

"Quiet, Prazza," Tali'Zorah Vas Neema said in a brusque, irritated tone. Pointing her right forefinger at the red lights highlighting the gold line within, she gestured around it while speaking with as much authority as she could while keeping her nerves in check. "Looks like Veetor's locked down the central compound. It doesn't seem like he left anything to chance given the drones that are patrolling the area between here and the gate."

"Not to mention mechs could activate on motion sensor, like we found out earlier," A female Quarian, Fana'Teer, their tech expert said as she pointed at clusters of areas around the prefabs. "We have no idea how many will activate or come to the drones' aid. A colony this size could have over a hundred if not more."

"Perhaps if we deploy some well timed overloads and drones of our own we can get through carefully enough without drawing attention to ourselves," Tali spoke suggestively, looking to the other pair - excluding Prazza - for validation.

"As long as we take it slow, sure-"

"Or while we wait, Veetor could sic mechs on us directly and we'll be overwhelmed in minutes," Another male Quarian, Derna'Reev, spoke with clear paranoia of being jumped after their last scuffle with drones and mechs. "We have no idea how far gone he is. He could be hallucinating from a breach or worse, having an episode."

"Which is why we should just flank them, hit them with what we got and storm the barrier," Prazza sighed out exasperatedly, waving his rifle around while getting looks from his peers ranging from caution to visible anger. "These mechs are slow and ill equipped to deal with an actual fighting unit. Just give us the order, Tali, and we can scrap these walking rust buckets!"

"Prazza, do not let your attempt of disregard for this colony's defenses fool you. If these things can fend off Batarians I think we should be careful with whatever is on the other side of that gate than what's between us and it," Tali argued, one of the many times she had heated vocal exchanges with the man.

She knew in his heart of hearts, he just wants to rally with the others and do the important mission rather than this 'side quest' she delegated in pursuing. But given she was given rank over him has done nothing to cool his ire, and they could not go five steps without him questioning any of her motives. At this rate, she wish she left him back at the ship instead of bringing his bickering bucket head around for her to be annoyed to no end.

"The only thing there is a hysterical pilgrim, wetting his suit!" Prazza rebuked.

"Wouldn't you? Whatever took the humans here was so quick they might as well be ghosts," Fana countered, visibly shuttering with her arms wrapped around her middle. "By the Ancestors, the food was still warm in some of these prefabs!"

"Who or whatever did this could still be around, watching," Derna added, looking over both shoulders as if checking to see if the patrolling others were still there. If anything their conversation lured them closer, backs turned from the doors and spectating what the four most opinionated members of their op had to say. "We should get Veetor quickly, before they come back!"

"Exactly, we are wasting time," Prazza spoke, gesturing impatiently to Tali. "Ditch the caution, but use your suggested tact. We can get there just as quickly without outing ourselves to whatever VI runs these things."

Before Tali could give an affirmation one way or another, the door on the far side of the prefab opened. So wrapped up in what to do without checking her surroundings, she rose up as a trio of armed figures rushed in with weapons drawn on their ill prepared squad. Prazza, and a handful of others raised weapons in return; miracuously this didn't cause a firefight to ensue immediately and the intruders began shouting at them.

One of them was...eerily familiar...almost as if…

"Drop your weapons!" A dark man said in black-grey uniform with a shotgun in hand.

"Do it now!" A black haired woman in a curvaceously hugging uniform of black-&-white with a pistol aimed at the armed Quarians.

"I know those markings...you're Cerberus!" Prazza crowed out defiantly, gun tightly held as he aimed at the black armored one who looked to be in charge. "Drop your weapons if you don't want me to vent your skull!"

"Go ahead," The armored woman replied, unaffected by the threat as she held her rifle towards him. "I'll make sure you regret every pull of that trigger finger-"

Oh Keelah no!

"Prazza!" Tali cried out, strutting past him and forcefully yanking his rifle down with one hand, glaring at him before turning to the armored leader. "I told you I would handle this-...wait, Shepard?!"

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus-!" He angrily spoke, though his lowered rifle caused the others to withdraw aim at the humans as they seemed to do in return.

"I said drop it!" She shouted, turning to stare at the face behind the N7 helmet. It was like staring at a ghost. The woman she remembered going down with the Normandy, the person who took her in and treated her no human had up to that point. And after she attended the funeral, parted ways with friends and returned to the Flotilla, she felt a part of that woman went with her no matter how much distance she put behind that place she disappeared.

"Shepard...you're alive?" Tali asked, her voice quivering with emotional turmoil. Surprise, fear, confusion, anger and most of all, hope this was who she thought it was and not something...else.

"It is me, Tali, and I'll prove it," Shepard began to say, pointing at herself and then at the Quarian herself with a barely contained smile that reached her twinkling starlight eyes. "Did the data I gave you help with your pilgrimage?"

"Yes," Tali sighed with relief, then firmly nodding at the human woman. "It did."

Turning to Prazza, she spoke with more confidence at the Quarian man, "Stand down, Prazza. This is definitely Commander Shepard."

A flash of confusion could faintly beneath his visor. Exchanging looks with the other nearby and farther Quarians, he collapsed the rifle in hand to lock magnetically on his enviro-suit's lower back. "What is your old commander doing with Cerberus?"

"I don't know," She slowly spoke, turning to look Shepard dead in the eyes. "Let's ask her why."

"I was clinically dead, Tali," Celes bluntly spoke, not wanting to hold anything back to someone she trusted from the old Normandy. "Anywhere else they woud have put me in a morgue. Cerberus spent the last two years bringing me back to help stop whoever is abducting human colonies."

"Cerberus resurrected you?" Derna asked incredulously with a swivel of his head to Veetor and the others. "They can do that?"

"Impossible!" Prazza refuted with a shake of his head. "No one organization would dedicate that much resources for one soldier!"

"You haven't seen the Commander in action," Tali countered smoothly, turning to give a strange look to Shepard as she spoke aloud in a suggestive voice. "Trust me. It was money well spent."

Shepard raised a hand to awkwardly rub her neck, Tali was more convinced this was the real deal. However, in the dim lighting of the prefab, she saw reddish-orange scars behind her helmet marring an otherwise beautiful face.

That must be where they...no, I can't think about that right now! I have a mission that I have to complete.

"I knew we had our scuffles with Cerberus in the past, Tali, but the Quarians too?" She heard Shepard say as the Commander look pointedly at Prazza, shrugging as she looked around even at her own colleagues. "What did I miss?"

As she stewed in her thoughts, Tali heard Prazza begin to spit venomously at Shepard what he knew of the villainous organization.

"They infiltrated our flotilla, killed some of our people and tried to blow up one of our ships!"

"I wasn't a part of cell and it isn't how I'd explain it," Miranda smoothly dismissed as she felt eyes upon her - including Shepard's. "It wasn't anything personal."

'Personal'? How cold can she be to talk about the murder of other people?

"Look, we can argue whose in the blame later," Shepard reined in, giving Tali some much needed respite as she questioned them directly. "Why are all of you here? A human colony doesn't seem to be a place I'd find so many Quarians all at once."

Deciding to leave out the part of their true goal, and the need to get authority to verify the search of a potential victim of the string of abducted human colonies, she decided to paint this as what it was: a rescue operation.

"We came to find a Pilgrim here we knew was located on this colony. His name is Veetor," Tali began to explain.

Shepard's eyes widened and Tali could see the gears turn in the Commander's head just as the words quickly raced out of her mouth, "If Veetor was here when the attack happened, he could give us information on who was responsible."

"That's an idea," Tali said, though nervous how that may have sounded to her kin around her. Still, she kept her voice as stoic as she could as she corroborated what info she had. "We've seen him, but with how he acted he may be injured. He was also always, ah, nervous too-"

"She means he's unstable," Prazza cut in, waving angrily as he spoke in frustration.

"Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

"He saw us when we land, but ran when we approached him. We found out he hid himself in a warehouse on the far side of the colony and as you probably have seen for yourself, he reprogrammed the mechs to shoot at anything on sight," She added.

"We need Veetor to find out what happened here. I suggest we coordinate together to find Veetor," Shepard diplomatically suggested with a pointed hand.

"Agreed, from what we have seen, we'll need two teams to get past the drones anyways," Tali nodded with ready acceptance.

"Hold on," Prazza raised a hand of rebuke, looking at Tali then Shepard incredulously. "Now we're working with Cerberus?"

"No, Prazza, you're working for me," Tali heatedly snapped, nodding at him with no-nonsense at him. "If you don't like this, go back to the ship."

Feeling him glare back in return, she chose to bear it in stride, knowing if she belabored her point she would lose more credibility as a leader than she already has. At this point, just getting the mission done so she could leave this place was something she felt was the only way to clear people's heads like Prazza.

Turning back to Shepard, she spoke to her former commander as if nothing happened.

"We'll keep in touch on the radio."

"Okay," Shepard turned to leave with the others.

Then Tali spoke up, stopping the formerly deceased Spectre in her tracks.

"Shepard. No matter what happens from this point on...it's good to have you back," She confessed, seeing a glint of light etched into Shepard's eyes.

"Yeah," Shepard admitted quietly, turning to the nearest exit forward and opening the door with her Cerberus team in tow.

Waiting for a few more seconds till the black armored figure was out of sight, Tali unpacked her shotgun and gestured with renewed vigor to her fellow Quarians. They all shifted uneasily but fell in line to the silent motion, with Prazza practically stomping after her with rifle back in hand.

Once they exited their own way, the nine suited individuals watched their backs and looked for the faintest signs of synthetic life. Despite having in-built motion trackers in their suits, inactive or motionless machines could deceive what predictions they could come up with. This defect didn't entirely prevent them from acting, it was just another flaw in thinking organics could completely surpass machines; even limited intelligent ones.

Tali looked quietly around a corner, seeing snow covered mechs in collapsed positions. Holding her hand up, and gesturing at the corner, she proceeded to sign the threat they were facing and how many. It was something she learned from Shepard, and only continued using after spending quality time training under Kal Reager with the Migrant Marines.

Fana and another tech helped their engineer leader deploy omni-tool deployed floating drones composited of mass effect fields. The floating orbs - once they floated up to the inactive Lokis - and unleashed a torrent of electrical discharge. The bots activated and then sparked in frantic alarm as their systems overloaded before they could even draw weapons, leaving them falling into the snow as a collective fiery scrap heap.

"One less firefight to worry about," Tali sighed aloud with relief.

Distant gunfire alerted them to Shepard's team engaging with other deterrents of mechs. Reminding her of a deadline, she was spurred on to order her people to follow in her wake.

Moving past a city block, by block, they continued to ambush more deactivated bundles of security machines left to hamper their progress. Due to their knowledge of them and with their numbers, they rarely had to fire more than a clip when the Overloads and Drones were finished doing their part.

Once they were in line of sight of the warehouse's barrier, they saw around three drones and two rocket drones. Alone, they were easily dealt with. Multiple of them? If they weren't careful they could inflict nasty damage…

"Fana, you and I will launch our own Drones to distract the rocket bots. Derna, you and the rest lay down as much firepower on them while us techs draw away the others from converging," She spoke, laying out her orders in a quick yet concise manner. The only person she refused to address was-

"I hope you don't plan on letting Cerberus into the warehouse first," Prazza sneered, the troops already in motion just moved into cover as he laid out that comment.

Tali ignored him, choosing to dispose of the lethal obstacle first then chat later back at the ship. Ducking behind a half-wall leading to another prefab staircase, she looked to Fana and the other tech, before giving the signal, and unleashed the Overload.

Bright flashes of sparking light with arcing electrical currents snapped and popped around the pair of rocket drones; drained of their shields, a volley of mass accelerated slugs tore into them till they exploded in the air.

This alerted the drones into action, floating high up to get aerial angles on their targets. Quarians felt the rain of fire pelt their kinetic barriers, flinching and taking further cover while returning shots at their strafing patterns.

Tali took this opportunity to unleash an Overload on a left pair of drones, firing her shotgun as they spazzed overhead. Her third shot managed to shatter their flimsy armor after the last of their formidable shields winked out of view. Derna took out a drone of his own from around a prefab's corner and Prazza finished off his own as the rest of the group downed the drones with little further effort.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned to speak to the others, "Great work, now we just-"

"Hurry!" Prazza crowed, he and nearly her whole squad ran past her; sans Fana. "We can't let Cerberus get to Veetor! To the warehouse!"

"Wait! Everyone, stop!" Tali cried out, completely aghast at the brazen insubordination that transpired. Gritting her unseen teeth and glaring at their backs, she witnessed the turncoat tech easily bypass the simple lock of the warehouse exterior gate's console.

Quickly, she radioed Shepard, watching them open the gate before her eyes, "Shepard, Prazza and the others ran ahead! They want to get to Veetor before you do!"

"Dammit!" She heard Celes curse on the other side of the comm.

"We should have expected this," The Cerberus woman said - the one she saw accompanying Shepard before - causing her to bite her tongue from lashing out.

"C'mon, double time!"

As she heard the former Spectre say that, a sudden distant cacophony of gunfire and explosions flashed ahead of Tali. Beyond her purple lens of the world, she witnessed a complete route of the seven other enviro-suited troops under her command. Dramatically loud thuds akin to echoing footsteps brought her horror of a distant lumbering frame appear firing after the retreating Quarians.

"Keelah...Shepard, Veetor had a heavy mech reprogrammed. It's tearing Prazza and the others apart!"

"They did say they wanted to get to him first," She heard the Cerberus woman say.

"We're almost there!" Celes exclaimed, and sure enough she saw the black armored figure sprinting with the two other Cerberus officers following close behind.

"C'mon," Tali she beckoned, ushering her other two stationary subordinates to follow. After hesitating for a moment, they followed behind her in tow, rushing up with Shepard's team beyond the open gateway to the warehouse area of the colony.

There it was, a gruesome scene that reminded her all too much of what happened when she found the Geth data. Mangled corpses of her kin were strewn across the not too distant floor of the building aligned courtyard. What was left of Prazza's followers were shooting back as they kept running away from the stomping YMIR heavy mech.

One wounded female Quarian was crushed underneath its mechanical foot, then finished off by point blank mass accelerator rounds that shredded her head off. Its other arm blossomed like a metallic flower, priming with audible beeps and fired in what looked like a badly aimed shot at the other racing mech; only for the fired rocket spiral in the air and slammed into her, exploding as she screamed past a malfunctioning voice mod.

The other three wounded but alive Quarians ran to Tali, clinging to bloodied arms or sides. Telling the others to help them along, she saw Shepard immediately take the mech's attention away. A hail of bullets from one stack of crates followed by a pair of warps at its shields, earning a slew of gunfire back at her. The other two agents spread out, one hefting a grenade launcher and blasted away at its armor while the other fired bluish rounds that shaved off the rest of its shields.

In a streak of bluish-purple, Shepard landed a biotic tackle on the mech as it was adjusting its aim. The blast of mass effect fields shaved past its armor, cracking its chest cavity and sparking its internal circuitry. Firing off point blank fiery rounds from her shotgun, the mech fell backwards as the three's combined power destroyed the overwhelmed YMIR.

Tali watched in amazement as the thing that annihilated her unit was easily handled by the woman she thought was dead.

Shepard really is back, She thought with a smile behind her mask.

"T-Tali," She stopped, turning to look at the wounded trio of survivors. Nivema, one of the other engineers to have survived was clutching her side. "Don't let them take Veetor."

"I never was going to," Tali sighed, scrounging for Medi-gel to administer to the Quarian woman. She thanked the ancestors she stowed so much, otherwise this could end far worse for the remaining squad.

"I'm sorry, but Prazza is right. If we let Cerberus take a Pilgrim, and one as feeble minded as Veetor, it would break him," She muttered out, hissing as gel was activated over the opened part of her waist. "Damn, that hurts."

"First time to get hit?" Talk proffered in query.

"Being an engineer, I should be used to pain. A broken wrist here, a burn there. But being deployed like this is so much different," She rattled off, watching Tali move on to the other two survivors. "How did you do it, Tali? You fought more than most Pilgrims ever fear or dream of doing. And doing so under a hero like the Commander…"

"Being an Admiral's daughter helped," Tali grimly admitted. "Especially if he's as hard headed and distant as home is. Kal Reager had already gave me pointers before I left, so I knew how to take care of myself. But things are different with the Commander."

"How so?"

"Tali, I got the rest of them," Fana cut in, the bule hooded Quarian nodding to her and gestured to the warehouse the Cerberus squad entered. "Get inside of there. I don't like how quiet it is."

She understood. Trust with Shepard is one thing, but she's working with Cerberus now. A feeling of unease crept up her back.

"Working with the Commander felt like I got to see the world, not as a Pilgrim, but as a member of his crew," She confessed to Nivema, stepping around, her voice trailing off as she strode quickly to the warehouse. "He's family to me."

It didn't take long to get there. Walking up a set of snow covered stairs trodden by armored boots, she adeptly quieted her feet to sneak close to the door. It no longer being sealed, she could make out their conversation.

"-have data. Dark energy. More footage. Should help you."

The voice belonged to Veetor, rattling off quick and nervously.

"This should help us," She heard the Cerberus man, the dark one, speak aloud in relief. "Let's grab the Quarian and bring him back to base for a full debrief."

Tali's temper flared.

"Like Hell you will!" Tali shouted, opening the door and striding in with an unseen glare through her visor.

The Cerberus woman sighed with a shaking head, barely surprised she came in unannounced. The dark man raised his hands, looking a bit off guard but held back any surprise away from his face. A screen showed a morbid scene of creepy bipedal bugs behind a nervous Veetor, looking back and forth at the others with confusion.

And Commander Shepard stepped towards her, making sure the two were arm's length before the others.

"Tali, we've only scratched the surface of what happened here," The Commander uttered, gesturing to the screen behind her. "We have a lead thanks to Veetor. But I don't know how much that helps."

"I trust you, Commander, but Veetor needs medical attention," Tali implored, staring over at the Cerberus personnal behind her formed superior. "And Cerberus isn't qualified to handle that kind of procedure."

"Veetor will be cared for and won't be harmed," The man tried to placate calmly. "You have my word."

"Trusting you is pointless," The woman replied condescendingly. "You can't even control your own people."

"Prazza was an idiot, and he paid the price with everyone following him blindly with him," She spouted with exasperation, gesturing for emphasis as custom of a speaking Quarian. Looking to her formed Commander. "Shepard, I know you owe a great deal to these people, but don't allow this. Just please let me take him."

"It doesn't have to be like this," The Commander replied with a forced smile. "You can join back up with me. It can be like old times."

Dammit, Shepard. Why are you making this so difficult?

She closed her eyes, momentarily swearing under her breath. Reopening them, she shook her head slowly, watching the smile on Celes's face disappear.

"I've got a mission of my own. I want to serve with you, but its too important to abandon. Even for you."

"Must be serious," Celes intoned, her eyes a hint of red to Tali's eyes. "Is this about the Migrant Fleet."

"Yes, and it has to do about the Geth," She confessed, shrugging her shoulders in addendum. "Given our history with them, you know now why I have to be so secretive."

"Understood," Celes took a step back, swinging her upper body around to look at her two colleagues. "Veetor is traumatized and is in need of medical attention. Let him send his Omni-Tool data to us, Tali can extract him from here."

"Understood, Commander," The woman icily spoke with narrowing eyes at her Commander.

"Thank you, Shepard," Tali sighed with relief, smiling behind her visor up at him. "It's good to see you're still the one giving out orders."

Veetor hesitantly approached Tali, allowing her to cradle an arm around him and shepherd him out of the warehouse. As he stepped down the stairs, he shivered; not for the cold, but of what he saw.

"Are we leaving?"

"Yes, Veetor," Tali affirmed.

"Good," He nodded. "I like that woman. The Shepard one."

"She's a good one," She echoed.

"I hope she doesn't get taken by the swarms too."

"She better not," Tali grumbled, looking wistfully back at the warehouse. "The Bosh'tet better not."

The Illusive Man stroked his chin pensively. He had just gotten the report from Miranda, an abridged analysis of their findings and a few things for them to hold onto for testing. Once certain specialists are brought on board, he knew that the Commander will begin the true mission in haste.

Only a few hours later, he saw the familiar flickering of an N7 armored individual. She had her helmet on, showing she just got back from her mission. Apart from a few scuffs on the paint job, she looked no worse for wear.

Smiling, he brusquely grasped a glass of gin to toast to her, "Shepard, glad to see you back. I already got a report from Miranda and have begun work on our next steps in locating the Collectors' next target, as well as a way to their homeworld. The olive branch of data from the Quarian was a surprise, though, given our shared history."

"Ever thought of playing nice? It'd do wonders for your optics," She sarcastically spat.

"It only works when no one already perceives you as a threat to begin with," He rebuked.

"Doesn't help when you have a dirty laundry list so big it could sink a cruiser," The Commander parried.

"It seems you're holding onto a bit of a grudge, Commander," He pointed, swiveling the contents of his glass as he spoke. "Let's shelve that for now, and speak of the present issues at hand."

Shepard snorted, but nodded with agreement.

"What you discovered on Freedom's Progress confirmed my suspicions of potential threats who have been responsible for the abductions. Now we have concrete proof, we can move forward to what we should do next."

"Suspicions? It seemed like you planned it from the start," Celes pointed with a reddish glint peering past her visor. "My formed crewmate being there from the start? That's too wild of a coincidence for me to believe."

"Believe what you will," The Illusive Man responded with an unwavering tone. "I'm more surprised that the Quarian was left alive. So far there haven't been any witnesses at these abducted colonies. Seeing a Pilgrim there has born an unexpected but welcome boon."

"Then we bring this footage to the Council," Shepard said with initiative, gesturing with an upraised hand. "This is proof that they need to take action."

"If you think you can convince the Council to act, you are free to do as you please," He replied, adjusting his posture to cross one leg over the other, taking a sip of his gin as he did. "Just know you've been gone a long time. Things have changed."

"Okay, Council's probably not going to help," She sighed in exaggeration. "What's next?"

"We've found some useful test samples after you've done your sweep of hostiles. We're studying them now but so far have come up empty. In the meantime, I've assembled a list of dossiers.

He gestured a hand, floating screens of texts within enclosed boxes of orange appeared in the by his left and right.

"Mercs, pirates, scientists, all the very best at what they do. You'll need them if your mission is to stand a chance against the Collectors. If what we've been told about them is linked to the Reapers, then they're going to be even more dangerous than the Geth were under Saren."

"Keep your list," Shepard pushed a hand forward, smiling confidently as she nodded his way. "I have a team, and a damn good one."

"You'll find it next to impossible to assemble them this time around," He coolly replied, setting his glass down before reaching for a cigarette. Lighting it in hand, he inhaled, lighting his face briefly before dimming with an exhale of smoke. "I can provide any information about them to assure you of the difficulty in gathering them on short notice."

"Lieutenant Alenko," Celes spoke without hesitation.

"Lieutenant Alenko is now Captain Alenko, his dossier is quite classified. Even someone with my connections can't determine exactly what he's up to other than he's on a discrete mission for the Alliance," He spoke with a matter-of-fact tone.

Eyeing the Illusive Man suspiciously, she let it slide for now. She planned on contacting all of her Alliance contacts as soon as she was free of this briefing.

"Why not Tali'Zorah? She's got something going on but I'd want her on board. She's an exceptional engineer and I could use her on the field with me too."

"That was unexpected," The Cerberus Chief frowned, shaking his head as he waved a cigarette in dismissal. "I'll need more data before I can commit to her recruitment."

"Just keep her on tap, it's what you're good at," Celes pointed, though it was unclear if it was a compliment or a slant.

"Noted," He responded crisply, taking another drag of his cig.

"What about Garrus Vakarian?" She inquired next.

"He returned to join C-Sec. He stayed for a few months until major changes began to be made to their rules. He left for the Terminus Systems some time after and disappeared off the grid," He paused, exhaling smoke as he stared at her thoughtfully. "I've no current trace on his whereabouts."

Celes felt bothered by that. She couldn't imagine what it was like to live through the Normandy exploding and her own death. But leaving C-Sec for the Terminus Systems?

She hoped he wasn't doing anything reckless. But, knowing him, it seemed very likely.

Shaking her head, she inclined it and asked straightforwardly, "What about Urdnot Wrex?"

"He went to Tuchunka," He nodded, as if it came to his mind just now. "I believe he's there trying to rally the Krogan Clans there under his banned."

Celes formed a smile. After all she went through with the battle hardened, elder Krogan she felt happy he's giving his people another chance. So far it sounds like he's on the right track.

Returning her gaze to the Illusive Man, she asked about another companion, "Liara T'Soni. What about her?"

"She can't be trusted," The Illusive Man warned with narrow eyes. "She's entangled herself with the Shadow Broker. Whether it's to work for him or to spite him, I'm unsure which is worse. Best to leave that one alone."

"The Shadow Broker?" Celes asked, her eyes wide with alarm. "What would she have to do with him?"

"I am unsure. Perhaps if you cross paths when it's possible, you should ask her yourself," He proffered.

"Understood," Celes mirthfully sighed. "Guess that means everyone is out of reach or unavailable."

"You're a good leader, Shepard. You'll manage without them," The Illusive Man said with certainty.

"Alright, I think I'm done with all this for now. What am I using to get around the galaxy?" She asked, anxious to leave.

"I have a ship ready, but more importantly a pilot. One of the best. I believe you know him," He ended with a smile, turning off the communications between them.

Celes stopped, hearing faint limping footsteps behind her.

"Hey, Shepard," She whirled around, eyes wide with shock. The man standing there, in white-black regalia of a ball cap, short sleeved uniform shirt and pants down to a military issue boots. A man with a scruffy beard in his youth smiled past the shadow of the room to look at the Commander a few feet away. "Long time no see."

Celes had to resist the urge to tackle the Vrolik's Syndromed man in a hug, knowing full well it would hurt him. Instead, she swung her arms out, and excitedly patted him on the shoulders. He chuckled, the pair walking out of the hall and away from the main lobby, down a corridor she hasn't been led down before.

"Can't believe you're here, Joker," Celes Shepard spoke with glee. "I was about to go insane by how alone I felt here, what with it being a Cerberus base."

Jeff "Joker" Monreau replied in a more bitter tone, walking upwards with a wince but did little to stop him. "You have no idea, Commander. The moment you died, Council swept all of what you did under the rug. No matter what we said, it didn't make a difference."

"So they all left?" Celes asked with a more somber tone, recognizing how Joker held himself differently than before.

"All of them," He shook his head. "Alenko, Garrus, Wrex, Tali. The ground team just split up, and and the rest us who wanted to keep our careers had to keep our mouths shut. Alliance grounded me after I lost my baby," he paused, growling out with emphasis. "Fuck yeah, I joined Cerberus! To Hell with them if they're just going to screw over everyone who saved their cushy asses!"

"You do remember how much we battled them in the past though, right?" Celes asked with a dubious sound in her voice.

Stopping in front of a viewing port, the glass dark and a silhouette of something lying beyond the non-reflective barrier, Joker smiled, "Well they're not all bad. Brought you back, didn't they? Allowed me to fly, and this."

He gestured, and as if on command, large lights illuminating a massive avian shaped vessel. Two arching fins lied near the back of a pointed body, with four massive engines lying in the back. Black paint trimmed about a white frame with the golden-black octagon symbol of Cerberus enamored on it.

The Normandy SR-2

"They told me about it this morning," Joker spoke in a hushed tone.

Celes felt her jaw nearly hit the floor. She didn't expect to see her ship again. Bigger, sleeker and in grey-black. But there she is, waiting for her in the dock this station held her in.

Swallowing hard, she rasped out in a whisper, "Cerberus is giving me my life and my ship back. They're doing a damn good job trying to bribe me into their ranks."

"I know, it's crazy isn't it?" He grinned as he asked.

"Race you to it!"

"Yeah, sure," Joker turned, suddenly seeing Shepard take off down the hall towards the boarding bay. "Hey, Shepard! Wait up, dammit!

As he hobbled after her, he heard her crow with laughter.

She's really back, He thought with a twinkle in his eyes. Those crazy bastards really brought you back!

A/N: And that's it. I decided to forgo the usual replay of events from Shepard's sole POV. Instead I decided to give Tali some time to shine, and to show how much trouble she has trying to rein people in. Between her own distrust of Cerberus and the miracle of Shepard being alive, too much happens too quickly for her to leave right away.

Of all the crewmates, it makes the most sense she took time fulfilling her duties to the fleet before rejoining. I'll be addressing other old crew recruiting in the future and share my thoughts on it here.

I really want to say sorry for forgetting the difference between Vrolik and Kepral Syndrome. It was embarrassing and I hope everyone forgives me for that.