Samantha Traynor hesitated as she stood on the threshold of Shepard's private quarters. If I'm wrong, she's going to kick my butt off this ship, she thought before sighing and pressing her hand on the holographic lock imprinted at the center of the door.
On the Normandy, just like on any other ship or space structure, the doors looked more like hatches one would find on a submarine rather than a simple rectangular piece of wood that obstructed the entryway of a house on a planet.
Once pressed, the door emitted a depressurizing noise as it split in the middle into eight equivalent parts, the atmospheres between the two rooms adjusting – and each part disappeared into the surrounding walls. The process was reversed upon closure.
In Samantha's case, the holographic lock was green which meant the door wasn't locked. Any pressure on the image and the door would flip open which was what happened when she did so.
"Commander!" She exclaimed when her eyes took sight of Shepard's form lying on her cabin's floor a few feet away from her.
Samantha rushed to her side and rolled the woman onto her back. Shepard seemed to be out cold, her mouth left open as if in shock. "Commander!" The yeoman insisted in concern, shaking Shepard by her shoulder.
Her commanding officer's eyes flew open and gasped for breath, moving into a sitting position in the blink of an eye. Samantha let out a sigh of relief. "You're okay, Shepard. You're okay." she soothed her.
Shepard stared at Samantha through wide eyes, her body racked by heaving breaths. "Traynor." she gasped.
"You're fine, Shepard. You're in no danger, do you hear?" Samantha told her, mindful of using a stronger tone than usual. She needed Shepard to feel safe in order to calm down.
"What-" Shepard touched her throat. "What happened?"
"You've experienced an anxiety attack, commander." Samantha explained. "It's alright, nothing life-threatening."
Her commander was started to regain her senses. "Didn't feel like it." she croaked. "Anxiety? How do you know?"
"Well..." Samantha smiled. "I'm not actually your yeoman, not officially at least. I'm the Normandy's comm engineer, I analyze our radio communications, manage the probes we send out and also, I make sure EDI's running correctly – just in case. This is my main role on the ship but I also manage your messages as a side-job so you don't lose any time." She shook her head. "But that's beside the point. I studied psychology on Earth, at Oxford but I never got to finish my degree so I'm not a pro but I'm still good at sensing when people are having issues. That was your case, Commander."
Shepard tried to stand up but found her head was spinning. Samantha offered her a hand. "You sent me up here, didn't you?"
"Yes," Samantha replied, tugging the commander to her feet. "I recognized the signs of anxiety in you while we were talking. Your unfocused eyes, confusion, the way you forgot my name and even your breathing... It was obvious you were in panic."
Shepard closed her eyes and ran a hand over her face.
"Is it the first time something like this happened?" Samantha dared to inquire.
"Yeah."
The yeoman licked her lips. "Do you... want to talk about it?"
Shepard locked eyes with her and for a moment, Samantha was afraid she would get yelled at. However, the steel in the commander's eyes disappeared. "No. Not now at least."
"I understand, commander. But if I ever want to talk about it, or anything else... I'm here. You should know I have a bit of experience with anxiety myself." she explained with a small laugh. "I know how it's like."
Shepard nodded. "Thank you, Traynor. I'll... think about it."
"Please," the engineer smiled and went for the door. "call me Samantha."
"Oh hum... Samantha." Shepard called after her. "I would appreciate it if we kept this between us."
"You don't need to worry commander." Samantha assured her, a smile in her voice as she boarded the elevator. "I may not be an official psychologist but I value the doctor-patient confidentiality principle."
"Good." was all Shepard could muster.
"In the meantime, commander, try not to beat yourself up. Anxiety happens to the best of us. There's no shame to be had." Samantha said. "There is still time before we get to Freedom's Progress. Try to relax. I suggest a hot shower." She added with a wink before the elevator's doors engulfed her.
Groaning, Shepard took a deep breath to relax. A shower? She thought. All of a sudden it sounded like a great idea. It even surprised her when she found a personal bathroom in her quarters, hidden behind a plain-looking panel that looked like a closet at first sight.
She rid herself of her clothes and approached the showering tower fixated on the bathroom's wall. There was a tank level indicator encrusted into the metallic column. It marked a full tank of twenty liters which seemed to be the maximum volume designated for one person's shower per twenty-four hour cycle.
Water was a rare resource. Even more so in space. The Normandy may have been state-of-the-art, it didn't have a bottomless reserve of drinkable water on board.
This, however, didn't put off Shepard. She had been in the Alliance military for eight years before her imprisonment, she was used to short and cold showers. The five years in Akoba weren't much better either. It seemed even planetside, the Alliance didn't change its protocols.
The last hot shower she remembered having was on Mindoir which was the reason why a moan of appreciation escaped her when the warm water flowed down onto her in that moment. Her muscles relaxed under the gentle treatment of the water and Shepard's mind drifted away.
Anxiety... me? She mulled over Samantha's words. The butcher of Torfan panicking over the idea of having more people under her command? A lot of people would enjoy that if they knew.
She froze.
What if it happens during combat? No. She shook her head. No, no, no. That was just a one time thing. I'm fine.
"Fine. I'm fine." she repeated under her breath as she turned the water off and proceeded to dry herself off. There was no point in keeping harping on about something that wouldn't happen again.
Discarding the old sleeveless tee-shirt and military fatigues she had worn when she left Akoba, Shepard donned the Cerberus uniform she found in the closet by the bed. Once again, it was very much like the standard Alliance uniforms reserved for a ship's crew but it got the job done.
After tying up her boots, Shepard rose from the queen-sized bed when her eye was caught by the holographic image projected on the side-wall beside a long aquarium encrusted into the structure. She realized she hadn't even taken the time to look around her cabin. However, her attention was piqued and she realized the hologram was directly linked to the armory of the ship, allowing her to select her own equipment.
"Now that is new." she muttered.
Browsing around on the console, Shepard realized there already was quite an extensive supply of equipment ready in the armory. Many pieces of equipment interested her but she paused when the screen showed a full Kestrel armor. Quality-wise any Kestrel equipment was top-notch and also very expensive. The Alliance reserved such apparels for its special units, the rest of the military had to use the standard armor which was good enough on its own but paled compared to any piece of Kestrel fabrication.
"Very well-funded..." Shepard chuckled, remembering the Illusive Man's words. She shook her head and proceeded in customizing her armor. A dark gold paint with some white patterns should do, she thought over her choice before confirming it. She'd never been one for discretion in the battlefield. She needed to stand out from the others and inspire fear through confidence and blunt-force.
Back in the armory one level down, a machine absorbed a Kestrel armor and started painting it.
"Hey commander, we've arrived at Freedom's Progress but the atmosphere's too dense for the Normandy to land. You'll have to take the shuttle."
Shepard was in the armory, choosing her weapons and clad in her new armor when she received the message.
"Got it." she replied, knowing EDI's microphones would pick up her voice and relay it to the pilot in the cockpit. "Tell Miranda to meet me in the Shuttle Bay."
"Aye aye, commander." Joker acquiesced and closed the communication line.
Meanwhile Shepard returned to her preparations. It seemed Cerberus hadn't been as meticulous with the weapons as they had been with the rest of the equipment. Most rifles laying before her were sub-par but that wouldn't stop them from picking up spare parts and buy new ones on the ground. She shrugged and chose a first generation Mattock rifle – a reliable assault weapon – that would go well with the grenade launcher strapped to her back.
She put on a full-head helmet that would allow her a direct connection with EDI who would supply her with real-time information on the ground and augment her vision through the visor. Shepard knew a helmet wasn't necessary considering most projectiles would bounce off her kinetic barriers – small invisible shields that were generated by a device in her armor using a mass effect field around her – but she refused to take any chances.
The adrenaline was already pumping in her veins when she walked into the elevator, passing the CIC and Samantha Traynor in the way. The two women locked eyes and nodded at each other before Shepard disappeared into the cage and went down to the lowest deck, the Shuttle Bay.
It had been a long time since she'd donned an armor and taken part in a battle and the anticipation she felt was quite intoxicating. She couldn't wait to get to Freedom's Progress.
The elevator came to a stop and Shepard stepped foot on deck level five. Operative Gomes was waiting for her, clad in a Cerberus armor. He rose from his spot by the shuttle and saluted her.
"Shuttle's ready, ma'am." he said and she easily recognized the Alliance training in his voice and posture. "We can go in whenever you want."
"Good." she replied. "Let's wait for Miranda and Zaeed then we're going. You take the wheel?"
He nodded. "Yes, commander. I'm assigned to the Normandy as the shuttle pilot."
"Perfect. When we hit the ground, you stay back and protect the shuttle while we go investigate. Questions?"
"None, ma'am."
At this moment the elevator's doors swished open again. "Ready whenever you are, Shepard." Miranda said as she approached them.
Shepard had to do a double take at her. "You've got to be kidding." she mumbled.
"What?" The woman asked when she saw the look on the commander's face through her visor.
"You must think you can jerk me around," Shepard started, taking deliberate steps towards her. "You think this is a joke, Lawson?"
"What are you talking about, Shepard?" Miranda's tone was weaker than she'd have liked. She knew of Shepard's reputation but the cold, seething anger of the commander was something she had not been prepared for and even for a woman like her, it was terrifying.
"I'm talking about this!" Shepard roared, pushing Miranda's shoulder. "Where's your armor Lawson? Are you suicidal or just fucking stupid?! You think your shield's gonna protect you? One burst and it shatters then you're on your own, Miranda! Spandex's not going to save you then!"
Miranda opened her mouth but the commander leaned forward, approaching her helmet towards her face.
"Enough!" Shepard shouted. "I won't have anyone disobeying my orders, nor will I tolerate any incompetence! So you listen to me Miranda," she gripped the woman's collar and jerked her closer. "You either go back there and fit yourself in an armor or you don't bother coming back here at all. Do you hear?"
"Fine! Okay, okay!" Miranda raised her hands in surrender, her eyes wide.
Shepard grunted and let her go. "Gomes, go with her and make sure she doesn't mess something up."
"Of course, ma'am!" Gomes stiffened in respect and trotted towards the elevator, grabbing Miranda's arm in the process to drag her out of Shepard's vision. He knew better than to linger and do anything to piss off the commander even more.
"You've got two minutes!" Shepard yelled after them before they disappeared into the elevator.
A moment later, it came back and Zaeed emerged from the cage. She was glad to see him clad in a full Cerberus armor, holding a helmet at his side as he walked up to her. At least one of them looks like he knows what he's doing. She thought.
"I ran into Miranda and Gomes on the way down there." Zaeed pointed behind himself, amused. "They looked pretty flustered."
Shepard pursed her lips. "They should be. Miranda wanted to go on the field without armor, that's not going to fly with me."
Zaeed laughed. "Ha! I'm not surprised. That girl's fantastic at what she does but sometimes it goes straight to her head and she thinks she's invincible."
"How long've you known her?"
He shrugged. "As long as she's been with us. I'm Cerberus' oldest employee, Shepard. I know a lot about them. Used to be a cleaner for the Illusive Man before he assigned me to you."
"Cleaner?"
"Wrapping up old operations, removing any trace of an experiment gone rogue. That type of stuff." He explained.
"You must have seen a lot."
He looked down. "That I did. I wasn't always happy with what I was seeing."
"Really?" Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Why are you still with Cerberus, then?"
He frowned. "Because I believe in our goals. Helping humanity? I'm all for it, it's the methods I don't always agree with." he said.
Shepard folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the shuttle. "How did you end up working for Cerberus?"
"Heh, I've been around this galaxy since the beginning." He tapped against the helmet he held against his hip. "I was a Corporal in the Alliance when we butted heads with the Turians."
Despite her mood, his words drew a smile from her. "You were part of the Alliance?"
"Yeah. Like I said, it was a long damn time ago. Twenty-six years." He cursed. "I still remember it like it was yesterday though. Feels like it was another era back then. Humanity had just discovered the relay, people were settling on new worlds. Every day there were thousands of people leaving Earth for the colonies. It was like the Far West in the old America. You know? The gold rush and all that. Happy times."
Shepard saw a glint in his eyes as he continued his story. "At that time, I was still a civilian. A kid trying to make a quick buck on the new colonies by taking part in the mining of alien resources. We all felt like everything was possible."
Zaeed's face hardened. "And then the Turians came. Took'em nine years but when they came, everything changed. When they surrounded Shanxi it was all over the news. People were going crazy." He gave her a mirthless chuckle. "You know, kid, I've been all over Earth before '48 and I never saw a religious person until then. On my colony I saw people praying to the Christian or Islamic god – or even good old Vishnu! Who the hell remembered that relic?"
He shook his head and Shepard could see the disbelief still marring his face after all these years. It looked like the man was relieving his story and she couldn't help but be captivated by his words. The First Contact war had happened three decades earlier but the people who lived through that time rarely talked about it.
"Nothing good came out of that, I tell you." Zaeed continued. "Didn't stop the Turians from attacking the colony I was on. Good thing the Alliance was around, they probably prevented another siege."
"That was when you enlisted?"
He stared at her for a moment. "Yeah. I was young and stupid, they needed the canon fodder so I joined. By that time Shanxi had already surrendered. It didn't stop the Alliance from sending us there to retake the planet. I remember being on that shuttle with the rest of my squad on the way there. We couldn't hear it of course but we knew the aliens were shooting at us, destroying ships around us. We were all shaking and pissing ourselves, waiting to land and shoot them dead. None of us had even seen a damn Turian in person before!"
"So what happened then?"
He laughed. "Nothing. Our shuttle dropped in a clear spot. We never had to fire a shot. The Special Forces – the N7; They were the ones to take the brunt of the attack. Pushed back the Turians the way they came from. That was the end of it."
Shepard grinned and despite herself, there was a hint of pride in her chest. The N7 program was the most famous and most prestigious one of the Alliance military. Only the best elements were given a chance to endure the training and even then, barely one out of ten managed to complete their training. She had been N7 herself, the best of her class. Despite being stripped of all her credentials and status after Torfan, Shepard felt like she belonged with them.
As her CO told her class when she started training, 'Once you get to N7, you stay N7 till the day you die'.
"So it was a happy ending, after all." She concluded.
He smirked. "You could say that. Not long after, I got myself kicked out of the Alliance. Turns out I ain't got much love for authority."
Shepard mimicked his expression and shook her head but remained silent as he kept on.
"For a while I started doing freelance jobs but pointing guns at civilians really isn't my thing. In the end, I heard about that lunatic and his 'Cerberus manifesto'. I read the thing and found it good enough so I joined them. That's all there is to it."
He hesitated for a moment before adding something else. "Just so you know, Shepard: The years have been good to me. I ain't the same hothead I was back then. I can take orders just fine now."
She nodded and tapped his armored shoulder. "That's good to hear, but I figured as much already. I think we're going to get along just fine, Zaeed."
He gave her the full grin of a soldier. "I think so too, Commander."
The elevator's door swished open and two armor-clad figures strolled out into the Shuttle Bay towards them. Zaeed let out a chuckle at the sight of Miranda's grimace before boarding the shuttle. Shepard's face remained neutral when the woman approached but the ice between them was clear when Miranda passed by her and followed Zaeed inside.
Shepard rolled her eyes, closing the lateral door behind herself once Gomes had taken his seat in the cockpit and the engine roared just as the Normandy's bay gate slid open to reveal the void of space.
The ride to Freedom's Progress was a tense one. Zaeed had zoned out as a way to prepare for the mission while Shepard and Miranda were determined to ignore each other's presence for as long as they could.
Miranda had donned one of the few armors on the Normandy that allowed her to use her biotic abilities.
Human biotics were reason being the lack of element zero presence in the solar system. This element was key to mass effect fields and allowed individuals exposed to it to create small fields with their bodies.
Exposure to element zero was an hazardous task for human beings and often resulted in horrifying health issues or death. However, if an irradiated human managed to avoids any health problem, they could be fitted with a biotic implant – generally right under the skin at the back of the skull – which helped them master their biotic powers.
"Touching down in thirty seconds, commander." The pilot's voice grizzled in their communication links.
"Copy." Shepard replied, rising to her feet and getting her weapon ready. At her side, Miranda and Zaeed were doing the same thing. The commander glanced over to them. "Remember what I said: Gomes you stay back. Miranda, Zaeed, you're with me and expect hostiles. Understood?"
"Yes, Shepard." came her companion's voice.
"Here we go," Shepard said as the shuttle's lateral door slid open.
Setting foot on the planet was an experience. The first thing she noticed was the silence. Everything was so still and quiet, only the faint whistle of the wind broke through at times and it send an uncomfortable shiver down her body.
Freedom's Progress had been a young human colony dedicated to mining. Almost all of the twelve thousand people living there were working as miners. It was difficult to imagine how such a population could disappear without leaving a trace. Yet, as Shepard looked over the area, she saw nothing standing out. Not even the small layer of snow seemed to hold any print of footsteps.
Either Cerberus got noticed of the attack much later than they thought or they had to face masters of stealth as opponents.
"This is creepy." Miranda muttered, the microphone of her Cerberus armor picking up her voice and transmitting it to Shepard. "It's like everyone just got up and left right in the middle of their meal."
The commander approached her at a slow pace. Miranda was looking at the plates still full of food on a table like many others in an open and empty temporary house like many others on the planet.
"Come on," Shepard's quiet tone caught the operative's attention and broke into her reverie.
Zaeed had taken point and led them through the prefab. They proceeded into a large open place surrounded by more temporary houses. The group had stopped their thorough investigation after the tenth one, preferring a quick glance now as they realized anything else would be a waste of time.
As Shepard crossed the area to join a large gate, she noticed the large moon that seemed to loom over the colony and add to its nightly mystery. There was a second moon in the sky as a small bright point behind the first one.
She slowed down and glanced over Freedom's Progress horizon, taking in the scenery. There was no mistaking the purpose of the place. Everything was clear cut, impersonal and cold. The grey hues of the rectangular rocks that seemed to make the place along with the concrete cylinders and the occasional pieces of old computers betrayed the colony's industrial goal.
It seemed the type of environment where one would expect to always hear a machine whirring in the background – even during the night – except this time, there was none.
"Shepard?"
"It's strange, isn't it?"
She heard the other woman stop by her side. "Yes. It's so empty." Miranda admitted. "No bodies, no structural damage, no signs of battle..."
Shepard turned to look at her. "Is this the first time you investigate a missing colony?"
"Me? Yeah." she nodded.
Zaeed came up to their position, his gun hanging low in his hands. "Cerberus just sent one agent the last times. We got notified too late. Official investigators got there first. And I'm not counting the looters and salvage teams that always manage to beat them to the punch."
She grunted. "Let's move before all that happens here."
"Right behind you, Shepard."
They activated the gate which vanished slowly into the ground, revealing more of the same scenery before them. Miranda gasped when a faint whizzing noise could be heard somewhere in front of them. Shepard looked over to the patio of a temporary house and noticed movement.
[HOSTILES DETECTED]
Shepard leaped behind a small wall for cover. "Get down!"
"Mechs!" Miranda breathed as she crouched at her side and the first bullets started bouncing off the wall.
[HOSTILE FORCES HAVE ENGAGED]
Dead ahead, two robotic humanoids were aiming handguns at them and fired at a regular pace preventing the two women from poking out of cover to fire back. Fortunately for them, there was a deep gap filled with water separating them from their opponents, the mechs would not try to cross over.
Shepard timed the shots and waited for the right moment. When the last bullet flew over her, she leaped to her feet and unleashed a burst of her assault rifle into one of the security robots.
"Take them out!" she barked.
"Goddamn bots!" Zaeed shouted. He drew his assault rifle in their direction and started spraying the drones with mass accelerated rounds.
[REROUTING POWER]
The mech was unfazed when one of its arms got shot off. It kept firing at them and Shepard heard her shield take the bullets. She knew a couple more of them and it would burst off. She grit her teeth and aimed for the head – a difficult task with a first generation Mattock rifle at this distance. The bullet flew over the gap and bit the robot's head off, the rest of its body hitting the ground in the following instant.
Miranda was having just as much trouble with her own target. The commander noticed her emptying her magazines without much success while the mech was firing slow but precise shots at her, weakening the shields around her.
"Get to cover, Lawson!" Shepard ordered while delivering a couple of well-placed shots into the mech's chest, taking it down for good.
"I'm sorry, commander, rifles really aren't my thing."
"You're gonna have to adapt, kid." Zaeed left his cover and switched to his shotgun.
Shepard sighed. "Use your gun then. And stay alert."
Shepard led the two of them up a ramp and into another set of temporary houses. She was careful to look out for anymore security robots on the way, unwilling to relive their previous encounter under the fire of surprise.
"I wasn't expecting mechs to shoot at us." she said.
"Someone must have reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here." Miranda replied.
The houses formed a bridge over the gap and gave way to a small court. The only way forward was through another house. Shepard slowed down however when she noticed the door was closed. Unlocked, according to the holographic image but still closed. Every other house they'd encountered had been wide open.
She motioned for Zaeed and Miranda to freeze and decided to take a few quiet steps forward to stick the auditory emulator of her helmet against the metal of the house. Faint clanking noises followed by the rubble of voices filled her ears. There definitely was somebody inside.
With a single gesture, Shepard ordered them to position on the other end of the door. She held her fist over the holographic lock and stared at the operative. At her nod, Shepard punched the door and the three of them stormed inside.
Five armed people jumped at their sudden entrance and lost little time drawing their weapons on them. Shepard noticed they yielded military-grade assault rifles and seemed to know how to use them.
"Stop right there!" one of them barked. His voice held an accent she couldn't quite place.
"Prazza!" A sixth person appeared behind them and trotted up to the chief. "You said you'd let me handle this!" It was a young feminine voice and she seemed to hold authority over them because Prazza let her draw his weapon down.
She turned around to face them. Her face – just as the ones of the other soldiers – was hidden behind a large opaque visor and there was a blinking dot at the level of her mouth every time she talked.
"Wait..." Shepard noticed the woman turn her head to Miranda's armor. "Cerberus?"
Behind her, Prazza was getting restless. "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!"
"Hm, quarians." Miranda muttered.
Shepard raised an eyebrow, keeping her gun focused on Prazza. Quarians, of course, she thought. These people looked like slim humans in hermetic suits at first glance but the three-fingered hands and two-toed feet gave them away. She was unfamiliar with aliens and Quarians were the last species she thought she would meet considering they were famous for living amongst themselves on a large nomadic fleet of space vessels.
"We don't have to fight, Cerberus." the female leader addressed her. Her voice was soft and Shepard could see two silver dots staring at her through the alien's visor.
"Indeed we don't." Shepard agreed but remained still. "We're not here for you anyway."
"Neither are we." The alien assured her.
"Here's the deal: We're all going to lower our weapons and we'll talk. Try to figure this out. Alright?"
Prazza wasn't getting any of it. "We can't trust Cerberus!"
Shepard cocked her rifle in his direction. "Don't try to cross me, Quarians. I'm willing to let this end without bloodshed but if I'm going down I'm taking all of you with me." The steel in her voice chilled the atmosphere.
"You listen to her, chief." Zaeed added, his fist tightly holding onto his shotgun. "There's no need for bloodshed."
"That's three against six, Cerberus." Prazza ignored Zaeed and challenged her. "The odds aren't looking good for you."
Shepard narrowed her eyes. "Maybe so. But if you pull the trigger you'll be the first one to go."
"Stop! Stop!" The female quarian shouted, putting herself between them. "Put those weapons down! All of you!"
"Tali, we can't-"
"I said put those weapons down, Prazza!"
Shepard realized it was a good thing she was here and that the translating devices of both species were working otherwise, the outcome of this confrontation would have been much less pleasant. In the meantime, Prazza and his squad had backed down, although the grip on their rifles was still firm.
Zaeed was the first one to stand down. Shepard nodded at Miranda, both humans lowering their weapons together. The Quarians looked relieved all of a sudden.
"What's Cerberus doing here?" Prazza asked.
"This is a human colony." Miranda said. "We're investigating what happened here."
Zaeed shot her a glance. "Miri!"
Her cold tone wasn't going to help the Quarians open up. Shepard shook her head. "I'm Commander Shepard. We're just here to figure out the abduction of the colonists."
The female quarian nodded and pointed at herself. "Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Do you know what happened, exactly?"
"We were hoping you would tell us. You got here before us, after all." Shepard replied.
"One of our people was here on pilgrimage." Tali explained. "His name was Veetor. We came to find him."
Miranda wasn't convinced. "Why would the quarians send a team of six to find only one person? And how did you know that Veetor was in trouble?"
"We look out for our own." Shepard couldn't see Tali's face but her body language and her tone were enough to feel her scorn. "He sent a distress signal to the flotilla and we were ordered to get him out of here."
"What would a quarian do on a remote human colony?" Shepard asked.
"He chose this planet for his pilgrimage – it's a rite of passage we have." Tali said. "Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always... nervous in crowds."
"She means that he was unstable." Prazza corrected. "Combine that with the damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure and he's likely delirious."
Quarians were known to have crippled immune systems. That was the reason they spent almost their entire lives inside hermetic suits. Any contact with a foreign contaminant could trigger an allergic reaction and kill them. There were only seventeen million quarians in the galaxy. Most of them lived away from prying eyes on their flotilla but it was common knowledge they were an endangered species.
Tali looked down at Prazza's words. "When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."
"Hang on." Zaeed fixated the alien with a stare. "You saw him?"
Shepard looked at the man. "He's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We need to find him."
"I'm not letting Cerberus operatives take Veetor!" Prazza rebelled. "After what you've done to the Flotilla, I won't let you get your hands on another Quarian!"
Tali didn't try to talk him down and Miranda was holding her hand dangerously close to the weapon on her hip. "Hold on!" Shepard raised a hand. "We can work together to find him. We just need to question Veetor."
"I agree," Tali's accented voice cut through the argument. "We'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway."
Prazza shifted on his feet. "Now we're working with Cerberus?"
"No, Prazza. You're working for me." Tali retorted back. "If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship." She turned back to Shepard. "Head for the warehouse through the center of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."
"Fine by me." Shepard answered. "Let's keep radio contact." she said, typing on the holographic console that appeared on her forearm. "Here, I opened a channel with your omni-tools." It was a standard computer that everyone in the galaxy carried. It also was translating their languages in real-time.
"Will do." Tali replied, looking down at the orange image glowing on her own arm. "Good luck, Commander Shepard."
Prazza and his team retreated slowly out of the room, all the while keeping an eye on the humans until they were out of sight. Tali was a little more trusting it seemed, she stared at them in silence for a moment before turning her back on the two humans and walking away to leave the Cerberus operatives on their own.
Zaeed chuckled. "Good thing you're here, Shepard. It's your first mission and you've already found more than we ever did."
Miranda grunted. "The quarians are an unexpected variable. They could help us, but I'd hoped to keep an eye on them."
"Yeah, I bet they're saying the same thing about us." Shepard replied in a dry tone. "They talked about Cerberus attacking their flotilla. What was that about?"
"I'm not the Illusive Man, Shepard. I don't know everything we do." Miranda shrugged. "But I'm sure that if Cerberus attacked them, we had a legitimate reason to do so."
Under his commander's gaze, Zaeed put his hands up as if to defend himself. "I'm just a cleaner, remember? It's gonna be a cold day in hell before the old man tells me all about his plans. Especially ones like those."
Shepard pursed her lips but remained silent, opting to nod instead as a signal to move out.
They encountered no resistance on the way through towards the heart of Freedom's Progress only town until a handful of glowing dots appeared over the skyline, agitating themselves over the ground.
The security drones, Shepard thought. The machines seemed to be following something or someone a couple hundred meters west of their position. When shots started echoing, she knew the quarians had fulfilled their part of the job.
"Look out!"
Shepard whirled around just as two drones hovered above them and bullets started raining down on their position. Miranda sent a surge of biotic energy towards them, destabilizing one of the machines. The commander used the momentum to fill the drone with lead and the machine plummeted to a certain destruction.
However, a ball of fire narrowly missed her when she dove behind a barrier. The second drone had Shepard pinned down, vomiting grenades on her and approaching the soldier at a dangerous rate. Her ears started to ring from the repeated explosion and she could feel her heart beating fast in her chest just as the drone's head started poking above her barrier, she gripped the handgun at her hip and cocked it.
Zaeed tried to draw its attention by firing at the machine but ended up receiving a similar treatment. One of the rocket exploded right beside him, sending the human straight into the wall.
On the verge of rising up and risking herself to a direct hit, the machine seized into a burst of electric current and fell out of her sight. Shepard whirled towards Miranda whose gun was still fuming.
"Overloading bullets." She explained, not without a hint of smugness in her voice. "They get into their systems and fry everything there." Miranda didn't draw the moment any longer, preferring to help her older colleague up to his feet.
The long-time Cerberus operative shook his head to regain his spirits and grinned at her. "Thanks kid. See? You've adapted. Good thing you finally started listening to me."
Miranda rolled her eyes but there was the hint of a smile on her face.
The commander let out a breath and got to her feet. "Good job, Lawson. Now let's get going." she said before turning back and continuing down a set of stairs. She was almost hitting the last step when her communication link sizzled.
"Shepard!" It was Tali's voice. "Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait but they wouldn't listen! They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here."
Miranda shook her head. "We should have expected this." Somehow, Shepard felt the 'we' was more of a 'you' when she heard her words.
Grunting, Shepard upped her pace and crossed an empty place to go for the gate she hoped led to their destination. "Come on! We can still catch them."
"Hurry, Shepard!" Tali demanded over the radio. "We are inside the loading docks. Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech! It's tearing Prazza's squad apart!"
"They did want to get to Veetor first." Miranda slipped to her.
Shepard came to a stop before the gate. "Tali'Zorah we're blocked behind a gate – I assume it leads to the loading bay. It's either jammed or locked, can you do anything?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "I'll open it for you. Get to cover, the mech is firing at everything in sight!"
"Get ready!" Zaeed barked.
They were ready to rush the loading bay when the gate creaked open and the sound of gunfire filled their ears. The Cerberus operatives arrived just in time to find cover behind large crate and watch as a mechanical robot the size of a tank crushed a quarian with its foot and finished it point-blank with the machine gun that was its arm.
Two more quarians laid unmoving in pools of blood a few feet ahead and the remaining soldiers were covered from shots of the deafening rhythm of the mech's weapon when its other arm extended and a missile fired through to explode at the alien's position, throwing them around like ragdolls.
"That's a YMIR." Zaeed said, taking a peek at the mech behind his crate. "I've met a few of those in my time. Always been a pain in the ass to take down."
The robot had frozen, having run out of targets, its head surveillance the area. "Got any more overload bullets, Lawson?"
Miranda looked at her and retrieved a magazine. "I do."
"Good. I'll draw its attention. Zaeed you take the other side and get the wounded to cover." Shepard said before jumping out of cover, evading the machine's shots by running into the closest house and firing at it through the windows.
The robot's heavy steps could be felt as small tremors through the ground as it approached. Its large caliber bullets punched dents on the walls and Shepard dove to the side when she heard the mech preparing a missile and shooting through the window.
They were almost face to face when the massive robot froze, electric sparks flying all around him. The machine turned its head towards Miranda who was emptying her gun into it, a look of despair taking over her face when she saw it moving on her.
"Damn it! How much armor does this thing have?" she lamented before jumping behind her crate just in time to avoid getting shot.
Seeing Miranda in trouble, Shepard profited of having the mech's back to her and leaped out of the window, rushing towards it. She knew that if it turned around now, she would be shot dead in an instant but she also knew that it was an opening which might not happen again.
Sliding a long knife out of the holster on the back of her armor, Shepard pushed on her feet, grabbing on the mech's shoulders to hold onto it. The machine noticed her presence immediately and tried with its heavy hands to grab her. She did her best avoid getting caught, knowing the hydraulic systems in its arms would crush her armor and bones if it gripped her.
Holding onto the machine's neck with one hand, Shepard held her knife with the other and plunged the blade at the base of its head. Sharp sparks erupted out of the wound and she squinted through the blinding lights to pursue her work, cutting with method deeper and deeper until the machine seized and fell to its knees.
Its head was getting loose when Shepard heard the machine's self-destruct sequence being engaged. Cutting off the remaining wires, she grabbed the robot's head and jumped down, dashing away from the subsequent explosion that tore apart the mech's body and sent pieces of metal flying everywhere.
Shepard was sprawled on her back and cradled the mech's head in her hands as the world around her spun. She let out a small laugh and blinked the blur out of her vision before trying to get up.
"Shepard!"
It was Miranda who had left her cover and looked over the churned remains of the mechs to pin her with a wide-eyed stare. The commander smirked and ignored her, looking down at the robot's head in her hands. I'm definitely keeping that one.
Adrenaline was still pumping in her veins when she put down the object in her hands and approached the casualties lying on the ground behind her. One of the quarians – a female in a red suit, had her body torn in half at the waist and her head had been blown apart, blood and brain matter stained the ground in a gruesome sight.
Shepard should have felt shocked, horrified even, but she couldn't bring herself to. Everything about the aftermath of the fight reminded her of the many battlefields she'd walked on. It just felt like home. One she had been away from for five years.
On the other side of the area, Zaeed and Tali'Zorah appeared walking out of a temporary house and crouched at the spot of one of her wounded companions. Shepard walked past another dead body to join them.
Zaeed looked impressed when he got to her level. "I meant it when I said they were a pain in the ass but that didn't mean you had to take its damn head off with your hands."
Shepard smirked. "I saw an opportunity, I grabbed it."
He barked out a laugh. "You're something else, Shepard. You know that?"
Tali had remained at the side of her fellow soldiers. She glanced up when she heard the humans talking. Her attention soon went back to her previous task and the wounded soldier did his best to stay still as she applied a dose of medigel on him.
"Now is your chance to go find Veetor while I tend to the wounded, Shepard." Tali said in a quiet tone after a moment. "He's probably somewhere in the back of the loading bay.
The commander remained silent, noting the quarian's troubled tone before they walked back to meet up with Miranda who seemed quite taken with the sight of the disembodied girl. Zaeed put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't stare at it, Miri. It only gets worse the longer you look, believe me."
"Yeah." she replied in a quiet voice. "You're right."
"Come on, people." Shepard broke the moment and went up the stairs of yet another prefab unit with a locked door.
Miranda cradled the side of her helmet before shaking her head and doing as ordered. The three humans met at the threshold, weapons ready when the door vanished into the wall and offered them the sight of a dark room. The only source of light was the bank of computer monitors on the outer wall. A lone quarian shape could be made out of the screens' glow sitting on a chair. The alien's stare was glued ahead of him as he typed at a frenetic pace on a keyboard.
"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms." They could hear him mumble in their approach. "Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no!'
Shepard holstered her weapon and took off her helmet. "Veetor?"
The quarian kept focusing on his task. "No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide."
Annoyed, she raised her voice. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" No effect, Veetor ignored her.
"Great." said Miranda at her side. "We come all this way and our only witness is a babbling idiot."
"He's in shock." Zaeed said.
"Swarms coming. Storm coming!" Veetor continued his incoherent ramblings. "Storms of swarms. Mechs will protect. Have to hide. Have to hide!"
Shepard rolled her eyes and drew her handgun firing one bullet into the monitor at his side. Veetor flinched and raised his hands up to protect himself, stealing a glance back. He slowly rose from his seat to face them.
Zaeed turned to glare at her. "Shepard!"
The commander returned his look but their oncoming argument was broken when Veetor's voice broke through the silence.
"You're... not one of them." He said, staring at her. "You're human. They... they didn't find you?"
"Who didn't find us?" Miranda demanded.
"The... the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone."
Monsters, swarms... is that all he can say? "Why didn't the colonists fight back, Veetor? What happened?"
"You don't know." He seemed to realize. "You didn't see. But I see everything." He pushed on a keystroke and the screens flickered to present them with images taken from the video cameras.
Zaeed leaned forward to get a better look. "Looks like security footage. He must've pieced it together on his own."
Shepard watched the screen with attention. It showed a set of barrack from the town and there was movement. There were some quick flickers at times and she realized it was some kind of insects who were flying close to the cameras.
It was harder to decipher the orange hues of the footage in the background. There were people pushing what looked like... Shepard squinted... strangely-shaped coffins. "What the hell is that?"
Veetor zoomed on one of the persons and paused the video. The pixelated figure of a dark humanoid holding some kind of weapon filled the screens.
"My god." Miranda whispered. "I think it's a collector!"
Shepard stared at the collector. It looked to be about the size of a human being with deep dark skin and its most identifiable feature, the back of its head was elongated. Or maybe it's hair? Hard to say with this quality. She mused.
"Is that some kind of alien?"
"They're a species from somewhere beyond the Omega four relay." Miranda explained. "Only a few people have ever seen one in person. They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries. I don't know what they're doing here but it's not good."
"If they're involved, it's gotta be something nasty waiting for the colonists on the other end." Zaeed muttered.
The footage resumed. They watched a couple of collectors throw a body into one of their coffins.
"The Collectors have advanced technology, Shepard. They could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once." Miranda said.
Veetor nodded empathically. "The seeker swarms! No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away."
Shepard glanced at him. "These insects we see." she pointed at the screens. "That might be their weapon. We need one of those."
Veetor covered his visor with his hands. "Monsters will be back! They took people onto the ship, and then they left. The ship flew away but they'll be back for me. More swarms! More monsters! No one escapes!"
Miranda sighed. "That's probably all we're getting out of him, Commander."
Shepard tries to calm him down. "We appreciate what you told us. You were very helpful."
"Nice of you to finally realize that." Zaeed told her.
The quarian looked up at her. "I studied them. The monsters. The swarms. Found one... seeker caught in a barrel. I scanned it with my omni-tool. Lots of readings... electro-magnetic, mass effects."
"What?" Miranda exclaimed.
"Hold on!" Shepard tried to pacify him. "You said you got one of their insects?"
He nodded. "It's there." he pointed at a barrel at the side of the desk. "I sealed it as soon as I found it. Can't let it escape. It stings you, freezes you! And then the monsters come back."
Both women shared a look before Shepard moved closer to the barrel and tapped on its side gently. In the same instant, a buzzing noise echoed inside followed with the sound of something hitting the material.
"He's not joking." Shepard said.
"Goddamn, good job Veetor." Zaeed smirked at the quarian.
"This is great news." Miranda told her. "We need to get this on the Normandy and the Illusive Man will want Veetor's data. We should grab the quarian and call Gomes to pick us up with the shuttle."
At this instant, the door swept open, letting Tali'Zorah walk up to them. The alien heard their last bit of conversation and frowned. "What? Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!"
"He'll be returned unharmed" Miranda assured her. "Your people betrayed us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."
Tali raised her head in a scowling gesture at the tall woman. "Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it. You're welcome to take Veetor's data but please... just let me take him."
"We don't need him, Miranda." Zaeed warned her through gritted teeth. "He's just a kid. Been roughened up enough for one day, don't you think?"
Shepard looked at him and Tali for a moment before turning back to Miranda. "He's traumatized and he needs medical care. Tali'Zorah will give us the omni-tool data we need and take him to the flotilla."
Miranda was nonplussed. "Understood, Commander."
"Good."
"Thank you, and thank you sir as well." Tali revered Zaeed. "I'm glad your people listen to you, Shepard. Unlike mine." she joined her hands together and looked down before perking up, the moment gone in the blink of an eye. "Good luck, out there. I'm glad that not all of Cerberus seems as bad as I thought."
Shepard nodded at her and took hold of the barrel as Miranda retrieved the data from Veetor and followed her out without another glance at any of the two quarians. Zaeed remained behind for a little while, exchanging a few words with the aliens.
"She couldn't have stopped us if we tried to take Veetor." Miranda muttered to her. "Why did you do it?"
The commander glanced at her. "He's been babbling the same things over and over again. He was clearly in shock like Zaeed said. Interrogating him would have been a waste of time."
The answer seemed to please Miranda, a small smirk appearing at the corner of her mouth before she called Gomes to fly the shuttle on their position. They had what they came here looking for and more.
On the Normandy's second deck, both the armory and the laboratory behind the CIC were joined in a corridor that ran right behind the elevator cage. It was the only passage that allowed access to the communications room. The ship was linked to the Illusive Man through a quantum entanglement communicator device which allowed real-time communication through space without having to use the mass relay buoys – which the Council controlled.
It was the reason Shepard was standing in the middle of the room – the large table at the center, having descended into the floor to allow her access to the platform which projected her into the Illusive Man's office.
"Shepard. Good work on Freedom's Progress." Cerberus' leader greeted her when she materialized in front of his eyes. The ever-present star was still glowing brightly in the background. "The quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch given our history."
"Yeah, I heard about your attack on their flotilla." Shepard replied, crossing her arms.
"Not our smartest move in retrospect but we had no other option at the time." he explained. "I'm glad it didn't have any long-lasting negative effects for you, commander." The Illusive Man didn't seem to want to expand on the matter so she let it go. She didn't really care either way if she wanted to be honest.
"But more importantly," he continued. "You confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."
Shepard let out a small laugh. "Oh so you knew about them already?"
"I had my suspicions but I needed proof. The Collectors are enigmatic at best." he replied.
"So what can you tell me about them?"
"They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens. Usually in exchange for their technology." The Illusive Man explained. "When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrived: back beyond the unmapped Omega four relay in the Sahrabarik system. Until now we've had no evidence of direct aggression by the Collectors."
"Hold on." Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What are the Collectors getting from these deals?"
He took a drag of his cigarette before answering. "They aren't very forthcoming about their motives. Generally they seek out species with rare genetic mutations or abnormalities. They pay slavers and merc groups exorbitant sums to obtain these specimens. And then they leave. But they've never targeted a single species before. And the previous sample sizes were in the dozens, not in the tens of thousands."
"Any ideas why they shifted their focus to humans?
The Illusive Man breathed out a cloud of smoke. "None. What really concerns me is why they bother abducting the colonists. Once the humans are paralyzed, why not just kill them?"
"We'll find out but before we do that, I need to look over these dossiers you sent me and build up my team." Shepard said. "Then we'll take the fight to the Collectors."
He smirked. "Agreed. But you have to know the Omega four relay is unmapped for a reason, Shepard. No ship passing through it has ever returned. Our best guess is that the relay reacts differently to Collector vessels, allowing them safe passage."
"I won't go in until we know more about the relay and the Collectors." Shepard agreed.
He tapped his cigarette onto the ashtray. "Good. One thing before you go: Head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. He will be needed to counteract the Collectors' paralyzing seeker swarms."
"Sounds good."
"Good luck, Commander Shepard."