VIII

Horizon: Purgation

"What the fuck?" Jack demanded.

"We are Harbinger," the disembodied voice announced as if to answer her question. The possessed Collector hurled his orb of energy toward her. Shepard flicked her wrist and threw herself bodily in the path of the arc, depleting a Collector shield to fuel her own as it burned away.

"A Reaper's got him!" she cried through grit teeth as she squinted against the blaze and clenched her fist. "Shoot that thing down!"

Garrus's visor read the aura around Harbinger's puppet as heavy armor. "Burn it," he yelled.

"On it," Grunt said. He flicked a switch on the side of his shotgun, and three other Collectors targeted him. He yelled in frustration and dove behind a stairway railing right as the first beam hit his shields with a hiss.

Shepard had darted in beside him, while Jack was across the walkway from Garrus behind the opposite planter. "They've got us pinned down!" she yelled. "What the fuck do we do?"

Shepard ejected a heat sink. Her face was drawn with pain, but her eyes were bright. "I thought we'd kill the bastards," she called back. She made a fist over her head, jerked her thumb over her right shoulder toward the right flank, and then moved both arms horizontally in front of her throat. Garrus made a circle with his thumb and first finger, and she nodded and went dark.

Garrus edged along the planter to the right. Keeping low to the ground, he aimed high. It was a bad angle, but the cover was enough. Barely. His first shot hit the railing in front of the Collectors on the right-hand balcony, and he swore as another Mantis cracked in an alley off to the left. Jack had seen what he was doing, though, and keeping low herself to avoid fire from the Collectors in the yard, she dragged the Collector to the left of Garrus's mark off the balcony. He dropped to the stone yard with a crunch. As Garrus's mark turned to look, Garrus caught him under the chin. His jaw broke upward and he fell back into someone's apartment. Now the angle was better, and Garrus rose to his knees to aim at the third soldier up on the second level off to the right. It was a solid hit this time, and clear across the field, an omni-tool burst through a Collector's chest in the back left corner behind the enemy. Shepard pushed her mark over the railing, knelt behind it, and pulled out her rifle again.

"Now we're talking!" Grunt roared. He leaned out from cover and fired at the Reaper's Collector-puppet. His tech armor went up in flames, and Shepard and Garrus fired at him from two different directions, caving in skull and chest at once. Grunt charged the line, Jack behind him.

Another of the Collectors lit up inside like a beacon. Harbinger's voice carried farther than the Collector's larynx could explain. "You will know pain, Shepard."

"Another one?" Grunt demanded, breaking a Collector's leg with his shotgun, then hurling him into another. Jack shot them both, one after the other, alight with biotics, panting heavily.

"The Reaper's not here!" Shepard explained. "It's using them! They're wired up and indoctrinated so Harbinger can take control at any moment, but its puppets are three times as dangerous as the drones!" Another Collector was attempting to retake the alley she had cleared to flank the field. She swiveled and shot him down.

"Ha! Nothing can stop me!" Jack boasted. Grunt blasted a hole in the back of a Collector taking aim at Jack's unarmed torso.

"You want a bet?" Garrus shot the one that had been hiding in the building over Grunt's head, coming up to join the party now. The gunshot, sounding in his general direction, made Grunt look over at him, blue eyes narrowed and fierce. Then he looked up, growled, spotted one last Collector behind a planter in the far right corner, and charged that way.

Too late. The last Collector went down to the sound of a Mantis, and Shepard reappeared right next to Grunt. He started when he saw her. "Ugh. Cloaking technology. There's no honor in that."

"Maybe not, but at the end of the day, I'd rather be alive than honorable," Shepard told him. "They had control of the battlefield; my dishonorable cloaking technology let us take it back. Lesson One in life outside the tank: in a real battle, you use whatever you can to your advantage. Learn how or die."

Grunt regarded her a moment, then he snorted something like a laugh. "You're a powerful warrior, Shepard. You signaled the turian before the fight. How did it tell him the plan?"

"The turian has a name, you know," Garrus said, not really very annoyed. "Garrus Vakarian. We've met."

"Garrus, then," Grunt agreed, without taking his eyes off Shepard.

Jack scanned the perimeter. "Wouldn't mind knowing that secret sign language myself," she said.

"You mean Alliance standard combat signals?" Shepard said. "You can look them up on the extranet. We'll run drills during rounds until you get it right."

"I still say they're discriminatory against most sentient species," Garrus joked. "Asari, humans, and batarians can still use turian hand signals to count the enemy, but in the Alliance, species with less than ten fingers are just S.O.L."

"You realize you just used an expression that only exists in a single human dialect," Shepard pointed out, amused.

"Canadian?" Garrus asked, faking ignorance.

Shepard shoved past him, unnecessarily so, as the courtyard was plenty wide enough for all of them, even given the Collector corpses all around. "You're not funny," she muttered, trying and failing to keep a straight face. Given the empty buildings all around, the Reaper somewhere out there that seemed to personally want them dead—Garrus considered it a coup. She was still wincing slightly as she picked up one of the Collector beam weapons that had been left leaning against a planter.

"The energy that thing threw," Garrus said in a low voice. "Some of it got through your shields?"

"Not the most pleasant experience," she said casually. She grit her teeth and ground them together twice. "Energy attacks. Don't think they're supposed to be lethal. Well, you heard the thing—'you will know pain, Shepard.' My shields kept off the worst of it. I'll be fine."

"You know, when you say that, it had better be true," Jack mocked her. "If it's not, you put all of us at risk."

Shepard looked at Jack, brought the beam weapon to her shoulder, sighted down the barrel, and fired directly over Jack's shoulder into one of the buildings they had just left behind. The glass in the window turned orange and melted, and a scent of burning carpet came on the air. She hummed. "No recoil. Weird. But I could get used to this."

Jack had frozen, staring at Shepard. But Grunt laughed, and then, so did she. "You're alright, Shepard," she said.

"Let's move," Shepard said, raising her left fist over her head, then opening it to wave them forward.

"That's 'move out;' 'advance,'" Garrus translated helpfully.

"No!" Jack said, voice heavy with sarcasm, taking her place in the line. Garrus smiled.

The only way forward was through a choke point on the other side of the field, a building that ran through to the other side of the colony. Judging by the panels and dish array on the roof, Garrus guessed it was the power grid for the colony, the center of the settlement.

The door was locked. Shepard hacked it while Jack and Garrus guarded the rear. She jerked her head at the corpses on either side. "May be someone in here. They were trying to get in," she said. The door opened. Everything was dark, powered down, but a boot squealed on the floor—someone around the corner, trying to be quiet. "Company!" Shepard warned. "Get out here!" she ordered. "Now!"

Slowly, a balding human male in coveralls peeked around the corner. He was unarmed, and Garrus's visor didn't flag any biotics or offensive tech on him—though he was a bit greasy. Garrus and Shepard both immediately lowered their weapons, and Jack and Grunt followed suit—albeit reluctantly.

The man's gaze cut between Shepard and the door. "You're a—you're human. What are you doing out here?" he demanded, angry now. "You'll lead them right here!"

Shepard's brows lowered. "We shot them, thank you very much," she said mildly. "They knew you were in here. Seems like it's hard to hide from the Collectors."

The man stared at the door, seeing the attack all over again. "Those things are Collectors? You mean, they're real? I thought they were just made up, you know, propaganda to keep us in Alliance space. No!" he looked back at Shepard, frantic. "They got Lilith! I saw her go down. Sten, too. They got damn near everybody!"

"Not everybody," Shepard said sharply. "We've secured dozens of your neighbors on the south side of the colony, and we aren't done yet. What's your name? What do you do here?"

The man sat down on a nearby workbench. He rubbed his scalp. "Name's Delan. Mechanic. I came down to check on the main grid after we lost our com signals, and I heard screaming. I looked outside, and there were swarms of . . . bugs, and everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors." His jaw went tight. "Damn it, it's the Alliance's fault!" he cried. "They stationed that Commander Alenko here and built those defense towers! It made us a target!"

Some people responded to trauma with paralysis. Some people broke down. Others got angry. Garrus had seen all types on the Citadel. They didn't have time to calm this guy down, but he seemed to have some information they could use. And sure enough, Shepard had straightened. "Commander Alenko?" she said, trying to sound casual. It wasn't the best effort. Commander Shepard—a much better commando than she is an interrogator or a crisis counselor. "Tell me about him."

Delan scowled. "What'd you want to know about him for? I heard he was some kind of hero or something. Didn't mean nothing to me though. I'd rather he'd stayed back in Council space."

Unfortunately, that's usually the healthiest response to heroes for civilians. You only ever see them when things are going to hell. Better not to get involved. But how were things going to hell before Kaidan showed up?

Shepard seemed to be thinking along similar lines. "Any idea what he was doing on Horizon?"

"Supposed to be helping us get the defense towers up and running. I got the feeling he was here for something else," Delan said darkly. "Spying on us, maybe."

Maybe it wasn't so surprising that the Terminus colonies attracted more than their fair share of paranoid conspiracy theorists, people eager to escape the dominant culture and make it on their own, but that had never made interacting with them any more appealing. Not that there was much call for it on Palaven or the Citadel. Garrus saw some empathy in Jack's posture, but Shepard looked about as irritated as he was. They weren't going to change this man's mind, though. "Tell me about the colony defense towers."

Delan waved a hand, eyes narrowed. "A 'gift' from the Alliance," he sneered. "High-powered GARDIAN lasers. 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."

Unfortunately, they'd reached the end of Shepard's endurance for idiots—short on most days anyway, Garrus reflected. "Why do you think this is the Alliance's fault?" she demanded.

"We're just a small colony," Delan explained. "Nobody bothered us before we started building those damn defense towers and drew attention to ourselves. I left Council space to get away from the Alliance. Nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them!"

"The Alliance knew the Collectors were targeting remote colonies," Shepard retorted, jerking her chin outside. "They were trying to help."

Delan folded his arms. "I don't need their help," he said. "Too many strings attached. That rep said he was just here to get the towers online, but mark my word: there's more to it."

"Forget the Alliance for a moment!" Shepard snapped. "If you have defenses, we can use them against the Collector ship."

Delan looked skeptical. "You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first. It's never worked right."

It was time to cut the conversation short. "One of us should be able to figure it out. We just need the location."

Delan pointed out the opposite door. "Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base."

Shepard nodded. "Thanks. Stay here. Stay safe. We'll take care of it."

Delan went to the controls. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you," he warned. "I'm not taking any chances. Good luck. I think you're going to need it."

He wasn't kidding, Garrus thought. The transmitter wasn't far—just past the next group of buildings. They could see the spire behind the rooftops, but they'd lost the element of surprise. Not only did the Collectors know they were in the colony, Harbinger knew, and it was fixated on Shepard. There didn't seem to be a limit to the number of drones it could seize—every single drone was wired up with the tech. The only bright side was it didn't seem to be able to seize more than one of them at a time.

Massani and Goto were taking some fire too. "A squad's peeled off," Kasumi called in over the radio. "They're trying to get through to this side again. Some of the colonists are waking up, and the seekers are retreating, but if the colonists panic, things could get hairy." Garrus shot a Collector peering around the corner of an alley. To the side, Grunt took down his friend with his Carnifex at range. Not just a one-trick krogan. Good to know, Garrus thought.

"Hold the choke point, but keep an eye on the perimeter," Shepard warned them. "I'm not sure how far these things can fly. Don't let them flank you!"

"If the colonists have guns, tell 'em to help out. Kick some buggy ass!" Jack suggested. "Eeaaggh!" She pulled a Collector down from the second story. Shepard lit him up inside the biotic field with her incendiary tech.

Kasumi continued. "They're sluggish, disoriented. Scared—"

"Unless they're trained, better keep them out of it," Shepard warned Kasumi and Zaeed. "Panicked civilians with guns can do more damage than an enemy."

"Wait—there's a guy here. Alliance-grade weaponry—"Kasumi reported. Gunfire echoed over the link.

"Help me hold it!" Massani yelled. "Goto, check the perimeter!"

"We've got this, Shep!" Kasumi yelled. "Just get them out of here! Signing off."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Schwick-hisssss! Heavy weapon, plasma-based. The sickly blue discharge hit the planter in front of Shepard, melting the concrete and shaking the ground. The wailing from the buildings up above sounded like husks, but these husks had been augmented even more than the others. Their backs were distended and swollen to accommodate more tech, blue-veined and metal-spined. Their heads hung at grotesque angles, and they carried enormous guns hooked up to enormous power packs. There were two of them, and from the lights pulsing on one of their packs, it was about to fire again.

Bang! Bang! Shepard appeared to roll into nothingness as she activated her tactical cloak mid-somersault. The planter that had been covering her broke apart with a crack this time. The grass behind it, still bent from where Shepard had knelt, withered like it had been scorched by acid.

Garrus sized up the new ones. Unlike the common husks, these new ones were big and slow-moving. Their weapons were powerful, designed to take out enemies in a large column, keep them from running back or very close to the side, but they fired in a straight line, and they weren't precise. To make up for these husks' lack of mobility, the Reapers had armored these ones heavily.

"We should take them down from two sides," he called. "Bounce their attention so they don't know which way to shoot." One of the guns swiveled toward his voice. He rolled out of the fire trajectory. Sure enough, the thing was too slow. He came up kneeling, took aim, and unsure where the thing's weak point was, fired toward the center of its mass.

From the other side of the field, a fireball came down in an arc that hit it in its other side. It staggered, roaring, and its buddy fired toward the source. Garrus fired at that one. Three heavy pistol shots cracked from slightly right of where Shepard had been last—Grunt. He'd caught on quick enough, employing incendiary ammunition to burn the husk from the inside out. It fell to its knees, wailing and sparking as it died.

The original target fired at Grunt, but he'd moved on, focusing on a couple of Collectors off to the left. Garrus took aim again, and a second rifle shot echoed along with his from the opposite direction.

"Your attack is an insult," Harbinger was hissing up ahead. "My attacks will tear you apart."

Jack pulled her arm back and let loose, throwing the latest puppet back into the corner of one of the buildings. She leveled a shotgun blast at it before it could recover, and Shepard took another shot through its head. It disintegrated as Harbinger's tech burned out the corpse.

Garrus looked at the smoking, stinking field. Collector corpses littered the ground, but there wasn't a colonist to be seen. Shepard had noticed too. "Come on," she said grimly.

"How come we don't see more frozen people around?" Grunt asked.

"The Collectors were ahead of us," Garrus said. "The ones that were on this side of the colony are probably loaded onto the Collector ship by now. We should hurry." It was easy to get caught up in the nonessential missions with Shepard, he thought. We take out a few mercs here, some slavers there, start thinking we're big, damn heroes. Then you get to Virmire and you realize Saren's ship is sentient, and he's helped it brainwash dozens before you got there and started on the enslavement of an entire species. Williams dies. You get through the Conduit too late and find out a third of the Citadel's been torched, and twenty-eight cruisers go down in flames. All the other fights we fight are just dressing—this is the war. And we're losing.

Silently, he set his visor to record, taking in the plasma scorch patterns, the dead Collectors, the empty buildings, the seeker swarms above streaming back toward the ship as he followed Shepard toward the colony defense tower transmitter.

They crossed into the yard where the Alliance had set up the transmitter. Crates and trolleys were haphazardly strewn over the space—it looked like this was their cargo yard as well—the place shuttles would routinely drop off supplies and pick up shipments for other worlds. They didn't have a lot of time to admire the scenery, though. Husks came out screaming from the other side of the yard.

"I'll take them down!" Grunt told them.

"Not alone, you won't! Come here!" Jack crowed, pulling one husk into another toward the left. Bang! Bang!

Pure gut instinct had Garrus flipping the switch on his rifle as soon as he heard the distinctive blast pattern start sounding. "By the tower!" he yelled. Bang! There was no time to line up something pretty. The concussive blast was quick, messy, and didn't even hit its target.

Instead of hitting the heavy husk firing toward Jack and Grunt, he hit its partner in the leg. But Shepard had had the same idea and acted in the same moment, and her attack hit the one firing beneath the rib cage and knocked it back, burning. Its last two shots went off in the air, and its partner, only tripped up by Garrus's shot, swiveled to fire on him. He ran right, opening fire as he went on the one Shepard had hit, climbing to its feet again now.

The shriek of a beam weapon firing sounded behind him, and Garrus tensed, thinking the Collectors had flanked them, waited on the rooftops and landed behind them, but it was Shepard, with the beam weapon she'd taken from the Collectors on the other side of the colony.

It hit the other heavy, melting it down into a gray puddle of rotting flesh and Reaper tech as Grunt and Jack finished with the husks to their left.

Shepard straightened and walked over to the tower as if nothing had happened. Already the beam weapon was back on her back and she had her Locust out in case any trouble came up quick. She was grim, alert, and absolutely in her element. In a ravaged, half-empty colony, with abominations no one had any names for everywhere and the Reapers returning, at the dawn of a war the galaxy was completely unprepared to survive—he didn't think there was a more comforting sight.

He took up position at her flank as Grunt and Jack came up to join them in the shadow of the defense tower transmitter. The guns were positioned on either side of the field, one almost directly beneath the hovering Collector dreadnaught. Shepard looked down at the screen. An error message was scrolling across the top, and a bunch of numbers was flashing beneath it. "One of us should be able to figure it out, huh?" she muttered under her breath. She bit her lip, then pushed to broadcast to the Normandy. "Normandy, do you copy?"

"Joker here!" came the pilot's voice, eager to help however he could. The pilot never said, but Garrus knew he was always happiest when he could join in the fight. Sending the ground party down, waiting for them to save the day—or maybe get killed—well, he was a soldier through and through, for all the brittle bone disease. He hadn't been fond of waiting around on the SR-1, but it was worse now. Since Alchera. "Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you."

"EDI, can you get the colony's defense towers online?" Shepard asked.

The AI's cool voice came through the radio. "Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, 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."

Jack looked up at the sky. Collectors were visible in the distance, already flying in. "Great. We play piggy in the middle while she sorts out the batteries."

Shepard's mouth twisted down. "Got any other helpful tips?"

"Just one," EDI said gravely. When even the AI sounds worried, you know it's bad. "Enemy reinforcements are closing in. I suggest you ready weapons."

The shrieking bouncing off the walls of the cargo yard warned them ahead of time. Shepard sprinted across the open field and bounded on top of a cargo trolley, equipping her Locust as she went. Garrus went after her and kept going, taking up position in an open window flanking the field. He kept his eyes on Jack. She would stay in the open field, where her shotgun and her biotics worked best, but she didn't have Grunt's armor or natural defenses. But as three or four husks ran out from the buildings on the other side of the field, he saw it was a distraction. The Collectors were all landing to the right—pinning down Shepard in cover, and one of them was already burning from within.

"Assuming control of this form."

Jack and Grunt, reacting instinctively to the situation, closed ranks behind Shepard. Their shotguns rang out in counterpoint, blasting the husks back as they faced away from Shepard, protecting her rear. Shepard's incendiaries sizzled and hit. The smell of burnt carapace rose on the air.

The Collectors were trying to flank. They edged around the perimeter of the field, trying to get a better angle—but Garrus had had them flanked from the start. He shot one, two, three of them before the others noticed. Two or three more of them set up their tech barriers to face him and knelt to fire.

"Focus on Shepard," Harbinger hissed. He hurled a globe of dark energy toward her. "You will obey, Shepard."

She ducked, and it hit above her shoulder, melting the hardened plastic of the crate. The acrid smell burned as Garrus breathed it in, but Shepard was already reacting. "Want a bet?"

She raised her chin, Jack grunted, and Harbinger's latest drone flew over the field. Shepard ignited the biotic field, and even as he burned to ashes she put a shot through him for good measure.

"Bypassing failsafes and attempting emergency power-up," EDI reported. "Please hold the defense tower."

"You think?" Garrus muttered, shooting a Collector trying to approach it from the right. Another drone lit up gold—Harbinger seizing control again.

"This body's pain is irrelevant," it hissed. It cast a black, crackling net of energy at Shepard. This time, one filament touched her arm behind cover. Her eyes sparked, reflecting the energy, and a groan of pain forced its way past her grit teeth. "I know you feel this," Harbinger taunted her.

Garrus retargeted and hit Harbinger's puppet with a concussive blast that knocked him on his ass and took down about half of his barrier. Seizing the opportunity, Shepard clenched her fist around her omni-tool, taking down the other half. She sent a dozen bullets into his throat. "Stay out of my head," she spat.

The trouble with Reaper puppets, though, was that they weren't the real thing. Reapers had unfathomable amounts of power and energy. They could wear them down by proxy, expending as many Collectors as there were to spend, giving them all the abilities Saren had had two years ago.

We don't have that luxury.

Grunt had destroyed the husks, and he roared, charging the diminishing line and scattering the remaining Collectors left and right. Shepard cloaked, and Garrus tracked her heat signature to a new position on the Collector flank, and focused his efforts on the other side of the field, cleaning up the Collector Jack had obligingly lifted into the air for him. Shepard's pistol rang out—she'd taken advantage of Grunt's distraction to switch to her Carnifex, slower than her Locust but a bit more accurate with a hell of a lot more punch. Her shot buried itself in the last Collector throat as Grunt looked down at the enemy he'd just rushed and blasted.

"No way is that all," he said. "There's got to be more. There's always more."

Shepard nodded wearily. "Recycle the heat sinks. We may need them."

"Sequential power-up initiated," EDI reported. "GARDIAN antiship batteries at 40 percent."

On the other side of the field, from the northeast corner of the colony, other Collectors were flying in to defend their ship. Garrus had been following Shepard's orders, picking discarded heat sinks up off the field so he could keep firing. He jogged to a position opposite the incoming formation. "There's your reinforcements, Grunt. It's good to be noticed."

Grunt raised his shotgun over his head and roared, the image of a krogan in complete and utter bliss. Four Collector bullets impacted against his shield. He doubled over, already running, and Shepard snapped, "Get in cover! These drones aren't husks! They'll take you out at range!"

Jack, on Shepard's right flank on the perimeter of the field, sent a shockwave ahead, disrupting the enemy fire. Shepard melted their tech shields like plastic. She rolled to avoid an attack from another one of Harbinger's puppets. "Your form is fragile," it told her. She came up on her knees in cover, pistol at the ready, and fired six shots into the puppet's skull.

"What's going on?" Kasumi called over the radio. "They're retreating, heading back toward the ship."

"We're firing up the lasers, preparing to tear that dreadnaught apart," Garrus told her, putting a shot into a Collector forehead. "They're pulling out before that can happen. Shoot them down! Don't let them get away!"

"The colonists are in there, Shepard! If we fire on the Collector ship, they'll die, too!" Kasumi cried.

"Better that than they escape to abduct some other bastards," Zaeed growled.

"GARDIAN antiship batteries at 60 percent," EDI reported. "Syncing targeting protocols to Normandy's systems. Continue to protect the tower."

Shepard was crouched in cover, ducking another puppet's attacks while another two drones tried to flank her. She shot at one, freezing it solid with cryogenic ammunition. Garrus shattered it with a shot to the torso, sending frozen, fleshy shrapnel ricocheting outward. The other drone raised an arm to shield itself, and Jack fired underneath it, tearing a hole through its carapace.

"EDI can direct the lasers to disable the ship, but if they get away half this colony's lost!" Shepard told Kasumi.

"If I must tear you apart, Shepard, I will. You cannot resist," Harbinger intoned.

"God, this guy is getting annoying!" Shepard cried. She reached behind her and pulled out the beam weapon, holstering her Locust in the same movement, threw a fireball into the drone's face over her shoulder, stood, turned, and disintegrated it.

The field was abandoned—for now. "Get ready. Gotta be more soon," Garrus warned. If they aren't all circling back to the ship.

"EDI, we need that system online," Shepard snapped over the radio.

A shadow fell across the field, and Garrus and the others looked up. An enormous construct, the size of a shuttle, was descending toward them. Its mandible gaped open, revealing no less than twenty husk heads inside, maybe more. Its wings vibrated rapidly—unlike the drones, this thing was made to hover, heavy air support. A particle beam, five times as wide as the one Shepard carried, came down from its maw, cracking the earth and turning the grass black in its path. It headed straight for Shepard. She took one look at it and cloaked.

"A new one! Whatever it is, don't get too close," Garrus warned.

Other husks came shrieking from the other side of the battlefield—the Collectors had withdrawn—they were sending this thing and their suicide troops to make one last effort to stop or slow the lasers to give them time to escape.

"GARDIAN antiship batteries at 100 percent," EDI said coolly. "I have control."

The Collector particle beam weapon fired at the Reaper hover drone from the left. Garrus's visor registered its barrier going down as it slowly turned toward Shepard. He brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired once, ejected a heat sink, fired again, repeated the motion. Suddenly, it lit up with the energy field that surrounded the husks when they attacked or broke apart, magnified to ten, twenty, thirty times the power. The thing slammed into the ground, shaking the earth. Garrus tripped and stumbled. Lightning arced out from the thing, charging the air with a spicy taste, stinging under his fringe and at the neck of his armor where the ions came into contact with his skin. A wooden crate by the transmitter caught fire. So did some of the grass.

But it wasn't dead—beating its wings, it flew up again—barrier fully recharged. Garrus swore, retreating as the abomination pressed forward. Overhead, he saw the green light of the colony's GARDIAN lasers firing at the Collector dreadnaught—but it was already beginning to pull away. "Firing antiship batteries at Collector vessel," EDI announced.

Garrus skirted the perimeter, pulling back into the alleys, avoiding the overhangs. He fired a concussive blast at the thing. Shepard's particle beam came from behind the creature now, taking down its barrier again, working at its armor—but the husks were pouring out from that quarter. Grunt ran behind her, keeping them off her, blasting at them with his shotgun left and right as Jack tried to deal with a knot left back toward the area they'd come from—but even though the abomination was turning toward Shepard again, focused on her with an intensity that had to mean Harbinger was directing its targeting systems, it had drifted dangerously close to Jack's position.

"Get moving, Jack!" Shepard ordered. "It's programmed to—"

It slammed to the ground three meters away from Jack, knocking her and the two husks she was fighting to the ground. Jack scrambled to her feet, firing at the creature's underside, running back as it began arcing lightning, but Garrus's visor tracked the bullets as they slowed and vaporized in the creature's electric field. Wide-eyed and sweating, Jack lit up blue. She grabbed a trolley and hurled herself away just as the husks she had been fighting were torn apart in the creature's electric field. She propelled herself backward hard into the steps leading up to the transmission tower. She hit and slid with a pained cry, but she was out of range.

"What'll take this bitch down?!" she shouted, staggering to her feet.

"Just hold on!" Shepard yelled. Her particle beam stopped firing. She slung it back over her back and pulled out the Locust. Is that really what we need right now?! Garrus thought furiously, firing off another two concussive blasts, stooping to scoop up the heat sinks he'd ejected seconds ago, still glowing with heat that was uncomfortable even through his gauntlets, but he pushed them back into the base of his gun anyway.

Shepard flipped a switch on her Locust, continuing to move around the perimeter, toward him so he wouldn't get caught in her crossfire. She concentrated fire on the creature, and it began crackling with a different electricity—disruptor ammo, working at its barrier. She fired off an incendiary. Grunt, to her right, had finished with the husks and began firing on the creature with his heavy pistol, roaring with fury.

It lit up a third time. This time everyone was prepared and crouched down, bracing themselves for its impact on the ground. Shepard rolled back toward Grunt, away from Garrus, leading it away so he could continue to fire on its renewed barriers.

"Fuck this shit!" Jack screamed, hurling a massive ball of biotic energy at the hovering monster. It hit, taking the barriers down in less than two seconds. Jack collapsed on the steps of the transmission tower, white and shaking. In a split second, Shepard holstered her Locust and drew her rifle. She aimed and fired at the same time as Garrus. His shot hit the underside and went up under the jaw—hers went straight down the gaping throat with its dozen gruesome husk heads. It lit up inside with a blue energy and vaporized midair.

Shepard didn't even stop to breathe. She crossed the field and reached down, pulling Jack up by the arm. Jack tore away from her, pulling her canteen out of her pocket. "I'm fine!" she snapped. Shepard stepped back at once—not too far. She looked Jack in the eye for a long moment.

"Work on your endurance," she said.

Garrus was more interested in the sky. EDI was still firing, but she was firing into empty air. "The ship! It's pulling out!"

"No!" Kasumi came running up from the other side of the colony. "We chased them here—we tried to hold them—they got away." She sounded desperate, scared, in way over head and far too aware of it.

Shepard looked at her. "Never mind them. The colonists?"

"They're pulling it together," Zaeed reported, walking into the field, assault rifle still at the ready. "The ones that are left, anyway." He looked over the field, the shattered, blackened stonework, the burning crates. "What the hell happened here?"

Garrus stared up at the sky. Before, he'd been on the Normandy for Shepard and only for Shepard. Now he'd seen what they were up against. Two years ago, they'd stopped the Reapers from invading through the Citadel, but they hadn't stopped the Reapers. They were here in the Terminus. If they couldn't take the galaxy by surprise with overwhelming force, they'd begin with the thousands out here alone, isolated, the ones they thought no one else cared about.

They're wrong. Harbinger, whatever you are, wherever you are, you got away this time. You took dozens of people, but we're coming for you, and you fought us so hard today, I think you know what that means. We chased Sovereign across the galaxy and brought it down. We'll do the same to you.

"There's no reason to stay," he said. "They got what they came for."

The cargo yard was the place to be now, it seemed. The mechanic they'd met earlier, Delan, ran out onto the field, looking up at the lasers and the empty sky, clearing to a sullen gray. "No! They got away?!" he demanded.

"There's nothing we can do," Shepard said, her voice tight with controlled rage. "They're gone."

"Half the colony was in there!" Delan yelled. "They took Egan and Sam and . . . and Lilith! Do something!"

Shepard rounded on him, eyes blazing. "You think I wanted it to end this way?" she cried. "I did what I could."

Kasumi came up behind her. She gripped Shepard's shoulder. "We all did, Shep," she said quietly.

"It was a good fight," Grunt observed.

Delan's eyes were narrowed. "Shep," he repeated. "Shepard? I know that name," he said slowly. His face twisted in disappointment and scorn. "Sure, I remember you. You're some type of big Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard," a familiar voice said. "Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre, savior of the Citadel." Kaidan walked into the yard. He looked older, tired. A little sick from the seeker paralytic, maybe. Then again, after two years, you're not looking your best, either. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan," he said, without taking his eyes from Shepard for a moment. "And a ghost."

Delan's jaw was hard, but his eyes shone. "All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures," he muttered. "Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types." He walked away, and annoying as he was, Garrus felt bad for the guy. He may be an idiot, but even idiots have friends.

Kaidan glanced at Goto and Massani. "I didn't believe you, but here she is." He walked toward Shepard like a man in a dream. He stuck out his hand, and Shepard shook it. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did." But Garrus saw the line between his eyebrows, the tightness in his jaw.

I have a bad feeling about this . . .

"Your friend here was a big help back there," Massani said. "Considering he's Alliance."

Shepard's eyes ran over Kaidan, checking him for injury, noting the deeper lines on his face, the stripes on his uniform. "I'm not surprised," she replied. "Kaidan's one of the best. All right, Commander?"

Garrus saw Alenko snap. "All right?" he repeated. "That's all you have to say to me? It's been two years, Commander! Where have you been? I would have followed you anywhere! 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?!"

Kaidan always had been wound pretty tight—now it was like a dam in him had broken, and two years of grief and rage were pouring out at once. On the one hand, it was a reasonable assumption—that Shepard had never died. People usually only come back from the dead in myth and legend.

But it's also Shepard. Shepard would have never left them all to think she'd died like that, and she didn't react well to the accusation that she had after everything that had happened here.

"Because I wasn't!" she retorted. "Cerberus brought me back. I spent the last two years in some kind of coma while they rebuilt me. I wasn't even awake until a few weeks ago."

Kaidan looked back at Massani, the Blue Suns symbol on his neck. He took in Jack's prison tattoos, the merc-level weaponry. He caught sight of Garrus, and his eyes did the now-familiar flick-and-hover over his scars. But instead of asking questions, he just turned colder. "You're with Cerberus now," he said. "Garrus, too. I can't believe the reports were right."

That was interesting. From what Shepard had said, the Council and the Alliance were trying to keep Shepard's freak resurrection and association with Cerberus quiet. So where's the leak? "Reports," Garrus repeated. "You mean you already knew?"

"Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonists," Kaidan explained. "We got a tip this colony might be the next one to get hit. Anderson stonewalled me, but there were rumors that you weren't dead, that you were working for the enemy."

Hot anger coiled in Garrus's stomach and curled around his throat as he understood the big picture here. Cerberus. Tip off the Alliance, and since you're right that Shepard caught the Reapers' attention, you both bait the enemy and ensure Shepard looks like the bad guy, making sure she can't jump ship. Top-notch strategy, if dozens of colonists hadn't got caught in the crossfire.

"They're right and wrong," Shepard told Kaidan. "I'm working with Cerberus, but in this one instance, they aren't the enemy. They're the only ones that are willing to act on the Reaper threat, and they want to protect the humans out here. They sent me to save the colonists, not kidnap them. And you—"she realized. "You were looking for me. Building the defense towers was just a cover story. The Alliance sent you here to investigate me, didn't they?"

Kaidan's fists clenched. "I was here for Cerberus! You were just a rumor. I wanted to believe you were alive, but I never expected anything like this." He gestured at her in a wordless expression of contempt and disbelief. "You've turned your back on everything we stood for!"

He was being an idiot. Less angry she was back Cerberus than that he'd grieved her for two years, but since she was back Cerberus, he was using it to push the pain away and blame her for it. But they didn't have time for Kaidan's personal crisis right now.

Shepard flung her arms out. "That's it? Not even going to listen to what I've got to say? Kaidan, you know me better than that! You saw it yourself: the Collectors are targeting human colonies, and they're working with the Reapers."

Kaidan folded his arms. "I want to believe you, Shepard, but I don't trust Cerberus," he said flatly. "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?"

Shepard was shaking. "Damn it, Kaidan!" Garrus snapped. "You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat! Just look at the husks on the other side of the colony!" He was deliberately twisting the facts to suit the story he wanted to write here, the one that would let him keep Shepard gone instead of absorbing everything her death had meant. Couldn't he see what she'd been through? What they still had to do?

Shepard's arms were wrapped around her torso. Her every muscle was tight, and her mouth had a bitter, self-mocking twist Garrus had never seen before but hated on sight. "Hell, just standing here, look at the fact that attacking Horizon then sending me to stop the attack would be a spectacular waste of resources," she muttered. "I hate them as much as you do, but you're letting your feelings get in the way of what's really going on here."

"Am I?" Kaidan asked. "Maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you. Maybe you're the one who's not thinking straight." He shook his head. "You've changed, but I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. Always will be. I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not." He turned on his heel and started to stalk away.

Shepard dropped her arms and took one, three steps after him. "Kaidan—"she called. He paused. "Please," she said simply, and the Shepard he'd seen when he'd first joined up was there again. I don't trust Cerberus, and I don't trust me either right now, but I trust you. "I could use you on my crew."

She was begging him, or as close as Shepard got to begging anyone, but Kaidan wasn't listening. His eyes were hard. "I'll never work with Cerberus."

She swallowed, looking like he'd hit her, but raised her chin anyway to make one last effort. "So work with me instead."

He hesitated, and Garrus saw a shadow of regret pass over his face. Then he sighed. "Goodbye, Shepard," he said wearily. "Be careful."

She watched him go. After he had passed out of sight, she looked around at all the empty buildings. On the other side of the colony, people were beginning to call out for their friends and neighbors in desperate, fearful voices. Enough of them had started to cry that their sobs were carrying. But on this side of the colony, the silence pressed and beat at Garrus, Shepard, and the others, carrying its own accusations.

Shepard stood like a statue. Most of the scars she'd had on Omega had faded by now, but her jaw was tight enough you could just see where they had been. Finally, she spoke into the radio. "Jeff, send the shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony."