Chapter 10

New Horizon

Part 1

So, here is part 10! Had to split it up in two otherwise it would have been too long.

As always I do not possess etc. etc. etc. you know the drill at this point.

Have a good reading!

Normandy SR 2, midnight, 17 march 2185, captain's quarters.

A small light flicked inside commander Shepard's room despite being already midnight. Nothing fancy or big, just a small yellow lamp illuminating the desk placed inside the room where Shepard was currently working. Few knew about this but Odin Shepard loved assembling miniature ships during his free time along with trying to not kill his fishes inside his personal tank, and right now his mind was busy putting together a freshly bought asari cruiser, a challenge for Shepard because of all the smooth and curve lines that their race loved to put everywhere in their designs.

Still, it was almost finished after days of meticulous work. Just some minor pieces.

-Here- thought Shepard while grabbing a small piece of the model with a plier, the last one. -Almost done, just a moment.-

Right in that moment a loud beeping sound invaded his personal quarters, loud enough to make Shepard's reflexes jump in full alert and destroy the small ship in the process with both his hands.

Shepard looked at the pile of broken pieces at his feet all while the beeping refused to stop, a second before a fully functional albeit unfinished model of the Destiny Ascension, and started blinking, repeatedly.

-Ok Shepard, count until ten. One, two, three…- thought Shepard while restraining the anger.

After some seconds he finally slammed the button of his omni-tool.

"This is better be important EDI" grumbled Shepard.

"It is. The Illusive man just sent me a message. He says that he know where the Collector will attack next and wish to speak with you. He also said that we do not have much time before they strike."

Every trace of rage immediately disappeared from Shepard's eyes, replaced by pure adrenaline.

"I will be in the briefing room in a second. Patch him through and warn all the operatives. I want all of them ready in the briefing room in less than ten minutes!"

"As you wish Shepard."

After less than one minute Shepard was already dressed and sprinting toward the briefing room. The ship, woken up by EDI was in total motion; ensigns were scrambling on their post and light flashed on the walls.

It was an emergency, and all knew that emergency for this mission meant only one thing: Collectors

"Patch him through EDI" said Shepard the moment he entered inside the briefing room, and without even awaiting an answer he stepped on the communication platform.

Thankfully the Illusive Man was already here.

"Shepard, glad to see you." said the Illusive man with his usual, calm voice.

"Cut the chit chat! Where are they going to attack?" asked Shepard skipping the pleasantries.

The Illusive man waited until he finished smoking his cigar, something that annoyed Shepard to no end, before answering.

"My network of spies and informants warned me that the Collector's next target is the colony of New horizon."

"How can they be so sure?" inquired Shepard

"Because they saw the Collector's ship exiting from the Omega-4 relay one hour ago, and the only human colony in their actual course is New horizon. They should arrive" the Illusive man checked on his watch "in less than five minutes."

"And you are telling me this only now?!" Roared Shepard furious "New Horizon is at least two hours away from my current position! How are we supposed to" then it finally ticked inside Shepard's brain; the reason for the Illusive man's withholding of informations.

"You want them to arrive on New Horizon unscathed. You want them to subdue the colony so that we can test the anti collector's measures and gather datas without having the Alliance tampering the proofs. You condemned twenty thousand people to death only because you do not want the authority on your head!"

The Illusive man accused the attack without breaking a sweat.

"This is a necessary act, Shepard: warning the Alliance will only bring in the best case scenario a space battle, a total loss of a potential goldmine of information in the worst. We need informations about the Collectors and scouring a colony under attack is the perfect occasion. The loss of those people is unfortunate but you are a soldier Shepard, you should know better than me that sometimes you need to make sacrifices if you want to win a war."

"Easy words to say when you are not the one making the sacrifice." spat Shepard disgusted "I still have friends among the Alliance despite all your attempts at framing my reputation. We could have prepared a trap, destroyed the ship and gathered all the intel from the wreckage."

"Maybe" conceded The illusive man "But still too risky. Anyway these discussions are useless at this point: the Collector are almost here, we have not the time to warn the Alliance and my plan is the only one feasible. I am sure you will do a great work."

Shepard seethed in anger but refused to engage a sterile controversy

"Is there something else that I should know?" he simply asked

"Just one thing. On New Horizon there is an old friend of yours: lieutenant Ashley Williams. Please try to not reveal too many Cerberus secrets when you shall meet her."

That was the last straw for Shepard, and he simply left the platform seething with rage.

-Fucking scheming bastard!- he raged -Him and his end justifies the means bullshit!-

"Joker! Set a course to New Horizon, maximum speed!" barked Shepard to his inter-com "I do not care if you have to punch your way through an army of pissed off Krogans, I want to be near the mass relay in less than five!"

"Aye aye Shepard" chirped Joker. The ship immediately drummed with life and the commander could feel his beloved Normandy sprinting with all her speed. It still felt not enough.

"EDI, all agents of a meeting room now! We have a lot to discuss."

"Yes Shepard."

-Ashley, hold on.- though Shepard while catching his breath.

-Please, hold on!-

New Horizon, 12 37 local hour, colony's outskirts

New Horizon, a small planet placed somewhere in the Terminus system and the perfect candidate for a colonization effort: green ample fields, abundant mineral veins and breathable atmosphere for every known species in the galaxy. A paradise by all accounts, but a paradise placed near the infamous Terminus Systems, and so infested by pirates and slavers, something that dissuaded most governments from trying to establish a colony inside this verdant place.

Until now.

Year 2185. A small group of human settlers, mostly ex soldiers, petitioned the Alliance government and the Council for the right of creating a small settlement on New Horizon. After some debating both the governments granted this small bands of people the rights of colonizing the planet and the Alliance, after seeing that the colony had somehow managed to avoid total annihilation, decided to send to the colonists one of their officer, lieutenant Ashley Williams, along with a sophisticated Gardian system. An insurance against pirate raids.

A great idea, if not for the fact that the colonists were quite jealous of their independence and saw the lieutenant's intrusion and brash attitude as an affront.

"Is the Gardian laser system ready?"

"Not yet. We are still busy calibrating it. Most of ours technicians are still busy repairing the automated harvesting system."

"We would have already be done if not for your stubbornness! A defense system is more important than filling some granaries! What would you do if a pirate war band attacked your colony right now?"

"Chill out will ya? There is nothing on the sensors."

"You say this because you are not one of us! We need those silos full!" and so on and so on.

The second lieutenant Williams descend on the planet was the same second she and half of the colony started arguing about priorities: one wanted to immediately install the Gardian laser system, the others wanted to deal with everything but that.

Ashley sighted loudly and decided to let it drop for this time. The Gardian was important but not that important after all.

-Focus Ash, and remember your assignment. Find Shepard.-

Three weeks ago the Alliance received a message from their informants, a message about commander Shepard and his possible whereabouts. According to the source New Horizon was have about to receive a visit from the infamous commander and the Alliance brass decided to send lieutenant Williams with the order of detaining him for questioning.

Ashley could still not believe it: Shepard a Cerberus agent. Shepard, the same man that befriended a Turian policeman, a Krogan warlord and an Asari archeologist. The same man that stood firm against an entire army of Terra Firma supporters. The same man that loved Tali with a burning passion.

How the fuck was all of this possible?!

Ashley tried to find a plausible explanation for months, all her hypothesis ranging from an Alliance's secret operation to a clone of her former commander, but nothing; the more she managed to dig out about Shepard, the more her theories were debunked: a Cerberus sleeper agent? Shepard destroy one of their cells and send dozens of documents to the Alliance, genuine documents. A mission for the Alliance? He attack the house of a rich art smuggler for no apparent reason. Some kind of deranged crusade for justice? He befriend the infamous Aria T'Loack, queen of Omega.

It was like trying to compose a puzzle that constantly change shape! And the brass's orders were not helping.

The reason why the brass chose her as the officer for this mission was quite obvious for the young lieutenant: they hoped to use Ashley's previous friendship as a weapon, a way to force Shepard to surrender without a fight. They knew that Shepard would have at least hesitated when placed in such a situation and decided to use this vantage. Ashley was no fool, she knew this, and she knew that the brass was right on this account: with all her respect for her former commander Ashley was still a soldier to the bone. Her orders were to detain Shepard? Then the moment Ashley shall meet Shepard she shall point a gun at him.

"Lieutenant" said another colonist now approaching the distracted Ashley. A twenty years old girl called Maia.

"We are receiving a strange signal from orbit. It is not Turian, Batarian, Asari, Salarian or Human. Santiago asked for your presence in the command center."

"Thanks Maia." answered Ashley curtly "Here Williams, I am coming to the command center" she said to her Omni-tool.

No one answered

"The hell!?" she silently cursed. Ashley tried to activate her Omni-too once again but all she managed to gain was some static interference.

-Ok this is not good.- muttered Ashley. Her Omni-tool was a state of the art military piece, designed to work even under the heaviest pressures.

"Something is blocking the signal. Is there some kind of planetary storm incoming?"

"Not for what I know." said Maia now slightly worried

"Then what the hell is happening?"

The answer arrived some seconds later in the form of a nightmare.

At first it appeared as a cloud, a black cloud swirling and moving inside the blue sky like an ominous omen. Then it started descending towards them, against the wind, and too fast.

The moment Ashley recognized the danger was the moment all her blood froze inside her body. They were insects, giant bio-mechanical insects all coming for them.

"Run Maia! Run and warn the others, quickly!" shouted Ashley while grabbing her assault gun. The girl quickly obeyed and started a mad dash toward the colony, all while Ashley tried to cover them with a continuos salvo of bullets, but it was like trying to stop the sea with a bucket. The insect, unfazed by the hail of bullets, simply detached a small contingent of the swarm against the first intruders while the rest of them moved against the colony. One died, shredded by the bullets, then two, three, four. Not enough.

In less than a second they were upon Ashley, a swarming mass of chitin and small claws. The lieutenant tried to ward them off with the butt of the gun but they were too many and soon one of the insect managed to bite her.

The effect were immediate: Ashley's body frozen on the spot, her brain still working but unable to compute. Ashley emitted a silent scream of pain and frustration while her gun collapsed on the ground, her fingers weak and wobbling. She did not collapsed on the grass, the poison acting both as a crippling agent and stasis field; she simply remained on the spot, motionless and conscious, a prisoner inside her own body. All she could do was watching Meia's futile escape attempt while the swarm invaded the colony.


Two hours later

"There is no answer Shepard. We can safely assume that the Collector have already subdued the colony and moving the prisoners on board their ship now resting on the outskirts of the colony."

"Fucking great!" muttered Shepard. Right now he and all his squad were inside the briefing room, all battle ready and carefully listening. They were all more than ready to bring the battle to the Collectors

"How many Collectors down here EDI?" asked Shepard

"Less than we thought." answered the IA "Most of them appear deactivated or hibernated inside the ship. Only a handful of guards is still moving. I theorize that the Collector work as a swarm and are activated by a higher intelligence only in case of impending danger. The Anti Collector's measures created by Doctor Solus should prevent their awakening."

"How so?" asked Garrus skeptical

"It is simple. Mordin's countermeasures works like a shroud. It will not last forever but it should make us invisible for some time, enough for our mission in theory." answered Shepard

A deafening silence collapsed inside the room

"….In theory?" asked tentatively Lena

"Experimental technology. Impossible to know certain outcome without field test. Curios to see if we shall survive." chirped Mordin

"They shall work Lena. Have some faith." quickly added Shepard.

"And the ship?" asked Miranda

"Inoperative." answered Shepard "they are still busy arranging their cargo."

"When do we descend!? I itch for a fight!" roared Grunt

"Soon. Ok team, we shall split in two squad: first squad will be composed by me, Lena, Jack and Grunt. Second squad will be led by Garrus and will contain Miranda, Kasumi, Mordin, Zaeed and Jacob." They all grimly nodded

"I will not lie to you. This mission will not be easy: the enemy is brutal, advanced and unending, but we have to do something! The Collector think that we are easy prey? Lambs to the slaughter? Let's show them the error of their ways!"


Five minutes later. New Horizon's outskirts

"First squad here. We are moving to position, no resistance met. Start advancing. Over." Said Shepard on his inter-comm and Garrus quickly told him the same.

-Let's hope it keeps that way.- thought Shepard

"Enemy movements?" asked Shepard to Jack

"Nothing but the scanners are jammed. They cannot see shit after five meters. On the bright side Mr "i cannot keep my shit hole shut for a second"'s work is actually working" commented Jack with a shrug "Those giant ass mosquitos are ignoring us."

"You doubted it."

"Of course I did. You cannot never trust some stupid Salarian techno-bullshit."

Shepard simply rolled his eyes.

The squad kept moving for some minutes, moving through the small sea of white rectangular houses in perfect silence, fingers ready on the trigger (or pommel in one case) and completely silent, their footsteps muffled by the grass under them. During their trip they find no bodies, only empty houses and many strange sarcophagus containing people of various age, all locked in some kind of stasis; they tried to crack open one of the boxes but they were quickly dissuaded by Mordin. Apparently they were ready to self destruct in case of a hasty tampering and time was a luxury that they could not afford right now.

"There should be more boxes like that" muttered Jacob in the inter comm "New Horizon's population number the twenty thousand souls."

"These are the last one." commented Jack grimly "Most of the abducted colonists are already inside."

"Focus on the mission team, we must"

"Shepard, wait." all of a sudden said Lena in an urgent voice. Shepard turned toward her and looked at the girl. Her face was strained and beads of sweat were falling down from her front.

Something was very wrong about her.

"Lena, is there something wrong?" asked Shepard

"Lena, is there something wrong?" Oh, many things were wrong in Lena's opinion, from the eerie atmosphere to the complete lack of bodies, but what really hit the Claymore like a truck the moment her feet touched this accursed planet was the fact that, for the first time in two years, she was feeling yoki energies.

The feeling was unmistakable: Lena could feel them, small splinters of yoki inhabiting dozens of misshapen bodies, all answering to a superior power residing inside the enemy ship. At the same time these yoki energies were unlike any ever meet during her long career as Claymore. Most of the yoki signatures were….Lena was not so sure how to call them. Turned off? Dull? They were not like the yoma from her planet, alive and ravenous. They were silent, subdued.

It was like seeing a yoma guided as a puppet by something else, a sensation that Lena had never felt before, and for some mysterious reason the yoki energies she was sensing were wrong, unnatural; not right.

Assuming you could call something like the yoki "natural" in the first place.

-Just what the hell is going on in this goddesses forsaken place?- she asked to herself.

"Ehi Lady Oscar! You bumped your head or something?" asked Jack smugly. Lena scowled and prepared to reply when her mind sensed some of the yoki energies coming back to life and suddenly moving against them at great speed. They were so sudden, so violent, that for a second Lena lost her focus and started looking fearfully at the sky

"Well?" insisted Jack

"GET DOWN!" shouted Lena. She immediately grabbed a surprised Jack and dragged her away from away from her place, just a second later a salvo of bullets coming from the sky hit the place where she was a second ago. Jack cursed loudly while Shepard and Grunt went to cover behind some walls. Lena looked at where the yoki energies where coming, and for the first time she saw a Collector in the flesh.

They were five of them and they were disgusting: far taller than the average human, their flesh was covered by a thick, chitinous brownish hide. Their heads were long and elongated. Six eyes, all placed on the sides and all gleaming with a yellow light, looked at them with a quiet fury. Her misshapen hands gripped some strange kind of fleshy gun and one strong pair of wings vigorously flapped on their back. The monsters quickly dived in the sky when they noticed that their attack had been unsuccessful, hoping to get a better angle, but Shepard and Grunt immediately reacted with a barrage of bullets that managed to kill one of them and destroy the shield of the other.

"Aah, fuck off!" snarled Jack. She violently kicked Lena away from her and started channeling her biotic energies. A second later another Collector simply exploded, his body torn to shred by a wave of biotic energies.

The three remaining Collectors fired against the group with renewed vigor, one of them even used some kind of biotic attack against Grunt that fortunately bounced against his armor and thick hide. Lena grabbed her newly acquired machine gun and fired against the enemies, her yoki sensing abilities allowing them to follow the Collector's movements. After some seconds of heated firing the battle finally ended, and the last Collector collapsed from the sky, his body a mess of bullets hole. Shepard and the others, thankfully, were mostly unscathed.

"What the fuck was that you asshole!" shouted Jack at Lena the second the skies were clear "Those fuckers moved without a sound and our scanners are shit! How you managed to see them? You have a fucking third eye glued on the sky or something?"

"I am also curios Lena" added Shepard "You were not looking at the sky."

"Is..." tried to say Lena but words failed completely to arrive for a second "It is complicate to explain. I do not know how, but I can feel the Collectors moving inside the city, the ones still active at least. I should not be able to do this, I never met a Collector in the flesh before now, but I can! I sensed those five creatures diving toward us just some seconds ago and I reacted on instinct."

"Just like that?!" said Grunt unconvinced "You simply sensed them?"

"Yes I did you cursed lizard!" snapped Lena annoyed "I do not know how but I can!"

"Quiet now!" Ordered Shepard "We will get to the bottom of that later. Now, can you tell me how many active enemies do we have and where are they right now?"

"I can try." answered Lena "Give me a second."

The Claymore stopped moving for a second and closed her eyes

-Focus- she thought -Breathe in, breathe out. Just like you have learned years ago.-

"I sense…." said the girl after some second of silence "Hundreds of creatures, but most of them are spent, lifeless, although not for long. They are everywhere inside the city, but divided in small groups. Some of them are insane, wrong even when compared to a Collector. There is also something else; a mind, far more ancient and complex that the ones of the Collectors. It is watching us, judging us, but it is still unsure about what to do. He is like the queen of the entire swarm, but he is so….far from here. What I am sensing is just an echo, and it is enough to make me shiver."

She quietly returned to her silent state, all while Shepard digested the information he had just received and changed his battle plan accordingly. Some seconds later Lena reopened her eyes and assumed a tired expression

"That is all Shepard. Cannot feel anything else."

"But you can still sense the Collectors moving, right?"

"That is correct."

"Then change of tactic" he pointed at the road with his gun "You stay on point. The moment one Collector start moving against us or the second squad you warn me. Do not bother about fighting unless I order to say so, just act as our spotter."

"Understood."

"And now Lady Oscar is a bitch-sniffing antenna." muttered Jack "As if this mission was not strange enough already."

"I can hear you Jack!" huffed Lena while moving. Shepard simply smirked.

And so they continued their mission with Lena at the head, guiding them like strand of thread inside a labyrinth, turning left or right all of a sudden with the sole purpose of avoiding the biggest clusters of enemies, quietly warning Shepard when the second squadron was on the verge of meeting heavy resistance, allowing them to surprise small groups of isolated enemies, all while their Omni-tool scanned, analyzed and checked every possible piece of Collector technology left by their masters (Their bodies always self destructed themselves after being killed).

They quickly discovered what Lena meant with the -insane even by Collector's standards- when they met some Husks, slaves of the Reapers half machines half human that always charged them like a pack of rabid hounds. They were so disgusting that even Lena retched with rage at the mere sight of them.

Thanks to this unexpected boon both the squads managed to gain a substantial amount of information while avoiding most of the enemies, a good notice quickly followed by another one from EDI

"Shepard, there is a Gardian system placed inside the colony. It is still inactive and need a complete recalibration but it could be used against the Collector's ship. I can repair it if you link me inside the system. Sending coordinates now."

"Now this is a good news." chirped Jack

"Yes but Shepard, our exploration is unnerving the Collectors." warned them Lena "I sense more and more of them awakening from their slumber. I will not be able to avoid them soon. I think that we overstayed our welcome."

"I see." muttered Shepard "Still we have entire terabytes of datas already stored inside our omni-tools and some of their weapons, and the second squad just told me that their hunt was also successful. I think we can immediately go for the laser."

"But I still want to kill Collectors!" lamented Grunt "They are the best enemies! They never run and they are so powerful."

"I am sure some of them will try to stop us big guy" chirped Jack

"Wait." this time it was Lena "A patrol is coming this way, but one is different. It is like..." all of a sudden started wheezing in pain, her eyes filling with tears.

"Lena, what it is?" asked Shepard worried

"One of them...is the echo….to cover!" Lena half shouted half murmured, and just in time. Another patrol of ten Collectors and three Husks reached them and immediately started firing. They were all the same like the others previously fought, all armed with guns and covered in thick carapace of glowing shields, but this quickly changed. One Collector started glowing from the inside, changing in front of their eyes. Its skin cracked while artificial veins compared on his skin, its eyes flashed like a burning bonfire and its energy signature sky rocked, something that gave to Lena one hell of a headache. The creature flied upward and started firing powerful biotic attack against the squad and, more importantly than that, it spoke.

"Shepard, you cannot win! Your species will be harvested, just like thousands of them have been harvested before. You keep delaying the inevitable, and for this you mast be destroyed."

Shepard was unfazed by the threat and simply continued firing at the Collectors

"You are a Reaper, aren't you? You are possessing that Collector's body just like the Sovereign possessed Saren." All around him bullets flied and Collectors died under the relentless assault of biotics, weapons and attack from his squad. The Husks fared no better, discovering that Lena was more than a match against them in close quarters.

"Your destiny is already written. We shall be your salvation through your destruction. The one you called Sovereign was the vanguard. I am the Herald."

The creature was tough. Shepard had to give it that. Dozens of bullets hit it square in the chest, but his barriers held, and when that barrier finally collapsed the armor proved to be quite formidable. Thankfully the small flies had already been killed by his squad, although Grunt took a heavy hit to the chest and was now slightly limping.

-Will have to apply medi-gel later- Shepard thought to himself all while avoiding another biotic attack

The Herald, seeing that he was now alone, began flying at impossible speed, always firing biotic attack to everyone in sight and making the task of hitting it an arduous one.

Until it saw Lena.

The creature stopped abruptly, and pointed a finger at the Claymore, only to speak with a voice laced with surprise and outrage

"You...you cannot exist! The creators are long gone and forgotten, and yet I sense something in you. Is something about them, but warped, corrupted. You are a mistake, and mistakes must be rectified!"

It was such an insane accuse that for a second almost everyone stopped firing, but not Lena.

Something inside the girl snapped: for years the girl had been called with dozens of horrible names by the people she was supposed to protect. Waste of oxygen, monster, abomination, and she always endured, well knowing the punishment for attacking a human being. Now finally, after becoming Raina's mother and working with Shepard the Claymore managed to reach what people called a modicum of Human dignity, something that the Claymore was ready to defend with fangs and claws if necessary.

And now a disgusting fucked up insect had the gust to call her a mistake?!

"Do not dare, you disgusting freak!" said Lena with voice trembling with rage and coming out of her cover. A biotic bullet grazed her cheek but she simply not cared.

"Lena, go back to cover!" shouted Shepard but she ignored him

"Don't you dare. Who are you to judge me, to define me?!" Her right arm bulged with muscles while yoki freely flowed inside her. The girl abruptly stopped and moved her mutated arm backward. Even the Herald stopped firing, his face a mask of curiosity.

"I am Lena, silver haired warrior and mother of Raina." Her arm dashed upward, like a bowstring now sprung, and her heavy Claymore flied toward the Herald at impossible speed.

"I AM NOT A FUCKING MISTAKE!" shouted Lena to the top of her lungs.

The Herald was caught completely off guard by this action and took the heavy projective square in the chest. For a second it appeared that the Herald's armor was powerful enough to withstand the attack, but it proved to be only an illusion. The sword's momentum shattered the Herald's defenses and skewered the Collector like a chicken on a split. The creature stopped flying, and remained still on the air for a second. Then it started pulverizing.

First the hands, then the legs, finally all its body disappeared like dust to the wind, freeing the heavy sword that dislodged itself from the air and tumbled down of the ground, just near the Claymore.

A deadly silence enveloped the city.

"Lena, are you okay?" Shepard was the first one breaking the silence, worried about her comrade.

"I am not a mistake." He heard her murmuring, more to herself this time. Small tears were falling down from her cheek and her body was still trembling. Shepard put one reassuring hand of her shoulder.

"Lena, it is all alright." he said soothingly

"...My excuses commander." she finally said quietly "I let my emotions take the better of me."

"I will let it slide, for this time." Answered Shepard with a smile "Come on, we still have some lasers to activate, and I still need my best warriors for this." He left her alone, moving toward the objective, but slowly. He gave her time to catch up and to digest his words.

Jack also arrived next to Lena. In her hands rested the Claymore's sword and her expression was one of sadness and understanding.

"Ehi Lady Oscar. Here." Said Jack. Lena gracefully accepted the sword

"Do not listen to that asshole. It was only trying to mess with your head. You are a fucking juggernaut and you should be proud of it. I am sure that after killing another dozen fo those bitches you will feel much better." a genuine offer of sympathy, the last thing she expected from the brash girl.

She clearly meant every word of it and Lena silently thanked her for this.

"Yes...they are right." She muttered Lena in the end "I am a warrior, not a mistake."

She quickly holstered her sword and reached her squad. Now it was not the time to cry.

Aaaand done! I am really sorry for this giant delay but university hit me hard, like super hard! At least the first part ended up well so now I have some time left for writing (emphasis on some)

So Lena meet the Collectors and discover that there is something about them similar to the yoma, but at the same time totally different, and that this difference can be sensed by the Reapers.

Why? Little clue: it involves project Leviathan.

I seriously hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for part two

P.S. about the Collectors being quite big: I used the cartoon that show James Vega's first meeting with the Collectors as a template, and the bastards here are big.

P.P.S. I still cannot give when I shall upload the next part but I assure you, I am not dead.