Terminus Systems.
Freedom's Progress.
Prefab Housing.
The nauseating stench of something rotting hit Shepard's nose as soon as she entered the prefab house. Lights came on within seconds, allowing the investigation team to see the dining tables with a glass filled with water and plates of uneaten food that appeared to have been rotting for several days. Documents for recently delivered supplies from cargo ships were laid upon a table. The person responsible for filling out and archiving these valuable documents was nowhere to be seen. It was like the people staying here just up and left in a hurry without caring for their possessions.
Jacob stared at the tables with curiosity. "Looks like everyone just got up and left-right in the middle of dinner." The Cerberus soldier's nose flared with disgust as the rotting smell of food registered. A Drone walked to the table, and much to the disbelief of the human member of the investigation party, picked up a piece of decomposing food and took a large bite out of it, slowly chewing to properly taste the flavour and then swallowed without showing any signs of disgust.
"The meal has been rotting for four days," the Drone informed the others whilst kneeling down to check the floor. "The food also does not possess any sedatives that I know of." The Drone analysed the flooring surrounding the table yet annoyingly saw no clues that might tell them what happened to the colonists.
"Wait, you can tell what's inside that rotting crap?" Jacob asked with amazement while gesturing to the tables holding the decomposing meals of Freedom's Progress missing Colonists. Miranda also stared at the Drone with surprise at its ability to know what comprised the uneaten meal.
The Drone raised from the floor. "Of course, I can tell what's inside the decomposing material," the Drone's eyes swept the prefab house as more of his brethren entered. "Drones have a highly developed sense of taste which grants us the ability to tell if any poisonous substances are hidden within our food." The Drone watched as its kin rushed to the exit and set up defensive positions, ready to fire upon anything that might be hostile on the other side. Savage was escorting the Queen to the exit alongside another squad of heavily armed Drones.
"Doesn't it taste bad to you?" Miranda questioned with a curious tone wondering how the Drone could stomach what it had just eaten.
The Drone grunted whilst moving away from the table. "I've had worse at the Lazarus facility." The Drone explained further when it saw the confused expressions of the humans. "The one named Dr Wilson cared more about nutrition rather than flavour when it came to feeding us." Honestly, food that's been rotting for days was far more palatable than the stuff Dr Wilson gave the Locust Drones during their captivity. Rage had often told the others that he'd force Wilson to eat the same crap if ever the ill-tempered Drone got his hands on the mad scientist.
The Cerberus operatives accepted the explanation and went to join up with Shepard. Once everyone was ready, Savage opened the door; two Drones dashed out of the prefab structure and performed a sweep of the walkway. When no enemies were sighted, they gave the all-clear for the others to join them. An eerie silence greeted Shepard as she, the Drones and Cerberus operatives walked across the walkway and into the area where the cargo would be sorted and then transported to the settlement warehouses for storage.
Miranda frowned as she analysed the surrounding structures. "Strange. No, bodies. No structural damage." She brushed a hand against an empty container and felt no damage or unusual markings on its surface. "No signs of battle." It was unsettling for there to be no signs of battle when Miranda knew that an attack happened here not too long ago.
Savage studied a locked prefab house next to the cargo bay door. "The lack of harm done to the structures and zero signs of struggle indicate that whoever attacked this settlement had done so using an unknown method that prevented resistance from the local population." Savage's eyes narrowed as he scanned the area for any signs of an enemy or perhaps survivors that might've somehow escaped the unknown foe's attack. Yet, all that greeted the Drone leader was the eerie silence of an abandoned colony.
"Perhaps it was nerve gas designed to paralyse the colonists," Rage suggested as everyone gathered together at the cargo bay door after giving the area a thorough once over. "Once the colonists were left helpless, the abductors took them away to wherever their base is located." A specially designed nerve gas would explain why the humans on Freedom's Progress didn't fight back against the abductors.
Miranda moved her head negatively at Rage's suggestion. "No, the other colonies held zero traces of any nerve toxins or anything that might cause paralyses within the air." She read the reports from the Alliance military that were sent to investigate the silent colonies. A few Alliance ships got there within a day or two, and their analysing equipment was state of the art. Each time the soldiers scanned a colony's atmosphere, the results always came back negative for engineered substances that could be used to harm or paralyse humans.
"Then what caused the humans to be unable to fight back?" Rage didn't like the mystery behind the missing colonists. An enemy that could paralyse their foes without needing to endanger themselves was dangerous not only to his brethren but also to the Queen.
"That's what we're here to find out," Shepard answered in Miranda's place while activating her Omni-tool. "Whoever abducted the colonists must've left something behind." No race or sentient beings of the galaxy could strike against colonies and leave without a single trace every time; it just wasn't possible, and the Commander was hoping that Freedom's Progress was the colony that the unknown abductors finally screwed up.
Shepard waved her hand, operating the Omni-tool at the cargo bay door, causing the massive metal construct to slide into the earth and granted the Commander and those underneath her command access to the main areas of the settlement. Shepard went through the massive doorway next, followed by Savage, Rage, Miranda, Jacob and a rearguard of shotgun-wielding Drones. Drones raced past Shepard and took defensive positions at the metallic crates at the front of the cargo bay entrance. Jacob scanned the surrounding prefab houses only to pause when a strange sound hit his ears.
"Hear that?" Jacob asked his companions as the sound of metal scraping against metal echoed throughout the area. "Sounds like FENRIS mechs." As if merely mentioning their name was enough to summon them, the robotic dogs came rushing towards their location. FENRIS mechs weren't that deadly when compared to the firepower of the Loki or YMIR class mechs. However, the FENRIS wasn't made to compete with those mechs destructive capabilities. Instead, the dog robots were created as scouts or, if allowed close enough to the enemy, as a way to disable shields as the FENRIS had a built-in E.M.P blaster.
"Light 'em up!" Shepard ordered whilst taking cover behind a metallic crate. Rage roared a battle cry as he and other Drones fired on the charging FENRIS mechs. However, the robotic dogs hadn't come alone as Loki mechs walked into view, and these ones seemed more armoured than those found on the now destroyed Lazarus space station. Savage glared and fired a few shots at the humanoid mechs, only to growl moments later when the Lokis armour protected the robots and allowed them to come closer.
Miranda and Jacob saw the problem and used a Biotic Throw each to send the Lokis flying into the wall of a prefab house. Without covering fire provided by the Lokis, the Drones raised out of their cover and fired a hail of bullets at the FENRIS. The robotic dogs simple programming didn't allow them to realise that it would've been a better idea to retreat from the battlefield and wait for the thrown Lokis to rejoin the fight, thus sealing their fate. Mass accelerator rounds smashed through the FENRIS mechs thin armour and turned the robots to scrap metal.
From the corner of her vision, Shepard saw more Lokis on a prefab house balcony become active. The humanoid mechs were next to them and could cause serious harm if not taken care of quickly. However, before Shepard could warn the others to the threat, several sniper shots roared across the area and blasted the heads of the awakened Lokis clean off. The thrown Loki mechs rejoined the battle firing at the Drones and humans that returned to cover. The Commander saw Mourn and his sniper team sitting on a prefab house before disappearing via the tactical clock.
With the elimination of the balcony Lokis, the only threat remaining was the Lokis walking towards their position. The approaching mechs were dealt with swiftly, thanks to Miranda and Jacob using Biotic Pull to draw the Lokis closer and into the range of Rage and the other Drones shotguns. The Lokis tried to order Shepard's team and Drone escort to surrender, only to be met with a storm of shotgun rounds that shortly sent the mechs to oblivion.
"What the hell," Jacob marched over to the nearby remains of a Loki mech. "I can understand these security mechs attacking the Drones as they'd register as non-human to their sensors, yet they should've recognised Shepard, Miranda and myself as human." The male Cerberus operative gave the Loki mech a once over, not noticing anything wrong with it, at least not on the outside.
Shepard and Miranda joined the Cerberus solder while the latter used her Omni-tool to scan the Loki mech's computer brain, which was thankfully still intact. "Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here." That was perhaps the best news Shepard had heard all day, as this meant that whoever reprogrammed the mechs saw what happened to the colonists now. It was just a matter of finding this person and convincing them to reveal what attacked Freedom's Progress.
Savage growled at the news. "The survivor must've feared that the abductors would return for them and thus, in a paranoid attempt to protect themselves, reprogrammed the security mechs to attack anything that wasn't a part of the colony." It would be difficult to get past the security mechs and convince the survivor that they're not the unknown enemy that abducted the colonists. It's been approximately five days since the abduction, and being isolated for that long whilst fearing for your life was going to make the survivor a paranoid wreck.
Shepard's eyes shined with determination as she began walking to the next prefab house. "Regardless of the risks, the survivor is our only chance to learn what happened here." If they lose the only witness to the Freedom Progress abduction, the abductors could continue their twisted work until Shepard found another led to their base. "We'll search the entire settlement; the survivor has got to be hiding somewhere nearby." There was little chance the survivor to have run for the wilderness as Thresher Maws lived on this planet, and the other wildlife wasn't so friendly either.
Savage bowed to Shepard. "As you command, my Queen." The Drone leader barked commands to the other Drones to take the survivor alive at any cost and eliminate any security mechs that get in their way. Drones that were wounded during the previous battle applied Medi-gel to their injuries and then returned to formation around their Queen. The next prefab house the investigative team entire was just as silently eerie as the last one. However, during the search Shepard found some Credits and other valuable items to take back to the Cerberus facility once the mission was over.
The area outside the prefab was a small courtyard with some picnic tables scattered around for families to use. The courtyard wasn't empty as Loki and FENRIS mechs were waiting for them and fired the moment the vanguard of Drones stepped into the view of the robots. Although with such a small number of them, the security mechs were quickly taken care of by the combined firepower of the Cerberus biotics and Drone weaponry, allowing Shepard and the rest to dash to the only prefab door that wasn't locked.
Shepard gestured to the holo-lock. Savage, understanding what his Queen wanted, opened the prefab's entrance allowing for several Drones to rush inside where a group of Quarians could be seen analysing something with their Omni-tools. However, once the Quarians saw the Drones, they abandoned whatever they're doing and raised their weapons against the unexpected newcomers. Shepard came inside a moment later, completely caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a squad of Quarian marines.
"Stop right there!" The Quarian leading the others demanded, though, by the way, his eyes glanced between the Drones; he was well aware that his group was outnumbered and outgunned yet still chose to raise his weapon against them. Shepard was about to demand that they lower their weapons, only to pause when a familiar Quarian walked through the marines. Judging by the body language, she wasn't happy with the current situation.
"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this!" Tali forcefully moved Prazza's weapon down whilst pointing a hand towards the investigation team as a sign to wait. "Wait…Shepard?" However, Tali's eyes widened in shock as she gazed at the person that the Normandy crew believed to be dead for the past two years. Shepard glanced at Miranda, who seemed just as surprised as the Commander was to see Tali here.
Prazza, however, wasn't so pleased to see the Drones nor Cerberus operatives. "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" He knew how dangerous Cerberus was, and the leader Quarian marine wouldn't allow his men or charge to get themselves killed by the human terrorist organisation.
Tali glared at the marine. "Put those weapons down!" Prazza glared back for a moment before obeying the command. Once she was sure that Prazza would behave himself, Tali turned towards Shepard with hope filling her tone. "Shepard? Is that….your alive?"
Shepard smiled calmly at her friend. "Remember when I gave you that Geth data, Tali?" Tali's eyes shined with joy as any a handful of people knew about the Commander's Geth data gift to her. "Did it help you complete your Pilgrimage?"
"Yes, it did." Tali turned to Prazza. "Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard." The Quarian marine appeared to be inwardly thinking about it for a moment before holstering his rifle behind his back. Unseen by all, Savage removed his finger from the trigger. If the Quarian had fired, then he'd have been the first to die by the leader Drone's hands.
"Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?" Prazza asked as they may not be fighting but the fact Cerberus was here, and it was Commander Shepard leading them was a cause for concern.
Tali deadpanned at Prazza. "I don't know," annoyance could be heard from Tali's tone. "Maybe we should ask." The female Quarian gazed towards her friend, hoping that there actually was a good reason for the Commander to be running around with Cerberus and a species that she's never seen before today.
"Tali, believe me, I'm not taking their orders." Shepard stepped closer to her friend while Savage and the vanguard followed closely in case of violence from the Quarian marines. "We can discuss the specifics once I know why you're here." Neither Tali nor the marines could possible be here for the colonists as the Migrant Fleet had enough troubles to deal with without adding a random human colony to the mix.
Tali sighed. "One of our people was here on Pilgrimage." She revealed this to the investigation team. "His name was Veetor. We came to find him."
Shepard's eyebrow raised at the newfound information. "Isn't that a little strange? A Quarian visiting a remote human colony?" From past talks with Tali and extranet research, Quarians preferred to explore planets or space stations that could contain a suitable Pilgrimage gift for the Migrant Fleet.
"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage." Tali and, surprisingly enough, the other Quarians showed signs of emotional tiredness. "Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always nervous around crowds." The tone told Shepard that Tali knew Veetor quite well; the missing Qaurian was possibly a good friend Tali made whilst the Locust Queen was hibernating for the past two years.
Prazza scoffed and walked forward. "She means that he was unstable," Prazza must've also known Veetor as his tone conveyed a particular dislike of the missing Quarian. "Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious." The Drones subtly glanced at each other a delirious target was going to be more challenging to capture as there was no telling what Veetor might do in his unstable state.
Tali explained further. "When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the other side of town." Well, at least they now had a location on Veetor's whereabouts. "We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved." That matched up with what Shepard saw so far and would explain who reprogrammed the security mech to attack anything that wasn't part of the colony.
"Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here." The nervous Quarian was Shepard's only chance to learn who abducted the colonists of Freedom's Progress. "We should work together to find him." The time to get to Veetor could be significantly shortened if both groups worked together to get past the security mechs.
"Good idea." Tali agreed while Prazza glared at her back. "You'll need everyone here to get past the swarm of mechs protecting Veetor."
"Now we're working with Cerberus and those monsters?" The Drones snarled at the Quarian. It was only the Queen's orders that were keeping them from firing at the disrespectful marine.
"No, Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship." Tali's tone conveyed that she wasn't going to take Prazza's shit for much longer, and the marine seemed to realise that as he backed down. Satisfied that she put Prazza in his place Tali continued to inform her old friend about Veetor's location. "Head for the warehouse through the centre of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path." The plan sounded pretty good, yet there was one question that Shepard wanted to be answered.
"Your people really don't like Cerberus. What did I miss?" Miranda nervously glanced at Jacob, which was noticed by Rage, who gazed with suspicion at the two Cerberus operatives. A growl escaped Prazza as he happily explains what Cerberus had done to his people.
"They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla, and tried to blow up one of our ships!" Shepard nor the Drones were too surprised by this revelation as Cerberus was, after all, a terrorist organisation.
Miranda, however, was quick to defend Cerberus's actions. "That's not how I'd have explained it, exactly." The tone used by Miranda conveyed that she didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about what Cerberus had done. "It was nothing personal." Jacob withheld the urge to facepalm and quickly got things back on the mission before the Quarians or the Drones started to think that shooting them was a great idea.
"We can argue over who killed who later." Jacob gazed at the exit to the prefab house with determination. "Right now, we've got a job to do."
Shepard stared at her teammates for a moment. "He's right." The galactic heroine gazed at her old friend with a mixture of happiness and worry. "Tali, make sure to keep radio contact." That way, she could rush over to help Tali if anything went wrong during the march to Veetor's hideout.
Tali nodded. "Will do. Good luck, Shepard. Whatever happens." Tali smiled at her old commander. "It's good to have you back." The Quarians raced out of the prefab house, leaving only Shepard, the Cerberus operatives and Drones as the sole occupants.
"Just so you know," Shepard glared at Miranda, who stared blankly at the Commander. "We'll be having a little talk about the Migrant Fleet once this is over." The Quarian tech expert had become a little sister to Shepard. There was zero chance that she'll let Cerberus get away with harming Tali's home. If Miranda or Jacob threatened Tali, then the Saviour of the Council will unleash hell upon Cerberus; their help and resources be damned.
"As you wish, Commander," Miranda replied. After waiting a few minutes, the investigation team left the prefab house, leading to a staircase connected to another prefab house. However, as they marched down the stairs, Shepard heard the sound of weak mass effect engines fill the air.
Suddenly Tali's voice came out from their communication systems. "Be careful, Shepard. There's a squad of security drones up ahead." The aforementioned drones soared past the investigation team and headed for the other side of the prefab house, no doubt to set up a defensive position that favoured them.
"Thanks for the warning." Jacob pressed himself against the house exit. "We'll take care of them." The Cerberus soldier nodded to Savage, who opened the door. A walkway that led to two houses greeted them. Unfortunately, the drone squad landed nearby and started to fire at Shepard and her team. The Drones took cover and returned fire; from a distance, Mourn and his Sniper Drones took out the ones with built-in rocket launchers as those were the main threats to the Queen. Jacob and Miranda used their biotics to distract the security drone long enough for the Locust Drones to fill the security drones' weak forms with mass accelerator rounds.
Another security drone squad soared to their location. However, one of the security drones' got its head destroyed by Shepard, the Mantis Sniper rifle in her hands still having some smoke coming off the barrel. Savage took down another by throwing a grenade he had stored on his combat belt. The rest were taken out by the combined firepower of the Cerberus operatives and Drones soldiers. Although, once the threat of the security drones was taken care of, Tali's voice returned, and this time she sounded frustrated and panicked.
"Shepard! Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen!" Gunfire and explosions could be heard over the radio. "They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!" The connection cut off a moment later, bathing the walkway in silence.
Savage growled with barely contained fury. "Those insolent dogs! How dare they try to betray our Queen." The other Drones growled their own agreements. The Quarian marines will pay for this betray, and Prazza shall be the first to experience their wrath.
"Come on!" Jacob raced towards the sounds of fighting, and surprisingly some of the Drones flanked the Cerberus soldier acting as a rearguard. "We can still catch them!" Everyone dashed through another prefab house and onto a staircase that led to a large area that possessed another cargo bay door. The warehouse where Veetor was hiding must be on the other side, yet before they could get to the massive door, more security drones came to attack the investigation team. The cover was taken, and just like before, the Drones and Cerberus operatives worked together to eliminate the obstacle preventing them from getting to their target.
"Hurry, Shepard! We're inside the loading docks!" Tali warned while more explosions could be heard from the radio. "Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech! It's tearing Prazza's squad apart!"
Miranda smirked upon hearing what was happening to Prazza and his little team of traitors. "They did want to get to Veetor first." The smugness was dripping from Miranda's tone. The Drones also smiled at the grim fate that those who betrayed the Queen were facing.
Tali's gave instructions from the radio. "Get your squad and those creatures that came with you into cover, and I'll open the loading bay doors." Shepard didn't need to be told twice and ordered everyone into a position that could give protection from the YMIR class heavy mech. Once everyone was in place, Shepard radioed Tali and told her to open the loading bat doors.
Warehouse Docking Area.
Upon receiving the approval to open the loading bay doors, Tali typed a command into her Omni-tool causing the doors to open and not a moment too soon as the survivors of Prazza'a squad came running into the main section of the docking area. They were firing at the YMIR, which was tanking everything that the marines were throwing at it. A marine tried to run away but fell over and got crushed underneath the metallic foot of the heavy mech, and to add insult to a painful injury; the YMIR shot the downed marine in the head. Once it was sure that the marine was dead, the YMIR fired a rocket at the other marines causing them to scatter.
Shepard, the two Cerberus operatives and a squad of Drones led by Savage raced into the docking area and took cover behind some cargo containers that didn't seem to be that strong. Shepard made a mental note to run to a nearby prefab building if the YMIR fired a rocket in their direction as the containers wouldn't offer that much in the way of protection.
Jacob grimaced when a nearby Quarian marine was shredded into pieces. "That mech's got heavy armour plating." He took a shot at the YMIR only to hide when its kinetic shield took the damage. "Those Qaurians never stood a chance." Quarian soldiers weren't frontline fighters, thanks to their weak immune systems. Quarian marines were more at home with stealth tactics and ambushes; Prazza going for a full-frontal assault was the worst thing the now dead Quarian marine could've ever done in this situation.
"This is going to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to take down," Miranda added her own opinion to the matter as she fired a Biotic Throw at the YMIR, causing it to stumble at the sudden force slightly.
"Good! I relish the challenge to slay such a powerful foe! For the Queen!" Rage roared whilst firing at the YMIR, causing it to turn towards the ill-tempered Drone, who ducked back behind the metallic container that he was using for cover.
Shepard took out her grenade launcher. "Miranda, Jacob, you'll help me take out that YMIR's kinetic barriers!" The Cerberus operatives nodded while biotic energy covered their forms. "Rage! You and the Drones that wield shotguns switch to Armour Piercing rounds!" The ill-tempered Drone obeyed and switched to the proper ammunition; his brethren were quick to copy the action. The YMIR fired another rocket that hit the area outside the loading dock, which managed to hit some Drones, causing major wounds, yet thankfully none were killed by the blast.
Shepard cursed at the sight of injured Drones. "Savage, prepare to fire at the YMIR's head once we've taken out the shields and armour plating!" Savage growled his understanding of his Queen's orders. Now that everyone knew their assigned tasks, Shepard raised out of cover and fired a grenade at the heavy mech, causing it to stumble backwards from the force of the blast. Miranda joined the fight by using Overload on the kinetic barriers. Jacob fired Phasic rounds at the mech, which did far more damage than an ordinary mass accelerator round could ever do to kinetic shields.
Within seconds the heavy mech's shields deactivated, allowing Rage and his fellow shotgun-wielding brothers to charged and fired their Armour Piercing ammunition at the YMIR, which tried to fight back but was halted by Mourn and the Sniper Drones. Who shot the YMIR's arms, preventing it from using the built-in rocket launcher. The sounds of armour plating being destroyed filled the docking area as the mech's armour was being blasted to oblivion. The YMIR tried to crush the Drones like it did the Quarian marine. Unfortunately, the Drones were too fast and cautious about being hit by the heavy mech.
Once the armour was gone, Savage charged at the Ymir. The YMIR Mech saw Savage coming and tried to smash him with its arm, yet Savage dodged backwards, allowing the YMIR's arm to get trapped in the ground, which he planned to happen, and this permitted Savager to race up the arm and get to his real target the YMIR's head!
"For Queen Shepard!"
Savage bellowed as he grabbed the mech's head and, with a grand display of strength, proceeded to pull the metallic head from its body. The sound of metal groaning filled the air before Savage ripped off the YMIR's head; from the ground, Savager appeared like the predator would after it removes the skull from a human victim. Needless to say, that it was indeed a badass moment for the Drone leader. The other Locust cheered for their brother as he held up the severed head of the mech for everyone to see.
"Remind me to never get into an arm-wrestling match with Savage," Jacob told his teammates after a moment of just gazing with awe at the Drone standing on top of the YMIR. Miranda nodded in agreement as getting into a physical competition with Savage, or any other Drone was a bad idea. If what they'd just seen was any indication of the Locust Drone's physical strength.
"I'll make sure to keep that in mind, Jacob," Shepard replied while holstering her grenade launcher. "Now, let's go check on Tali and the other Quarians." The Commander went to the prefab building on the right side of the docks and was soon greeted with Tali administrating Medi-gel and first aid to the surviving Quarian marines.
Tali paused in her work and turned to gaze tiredly at Shepard. "This is your chance to go find Veetor while I tend to the wounded, Shepard." The heroine of the galaxy nodded silently before moving to the warehouse that Veetor was located. Savage joined them a moment later, and the YMIR's head was tied to his belt like it was some kind of trophy. Shepard used the Omni-tool to override the locking mechanism causing the warehouse to open and darkness to greet the Locust Queen and her team.
It was time to find out who attacked Freedom's Progress.
Freedom's Progress Warehouse.
"Monsters coming. Mechs will protect." Shepard stared at the back of Veetor as he muttered fearfully whilst gazing at the monitors, which acted as the sole source of light within the warehouse. "Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no." The surroundings had food containers and blankets, showing that Veetor hadn't left the warehouse for days and probably only left recently to gather more supplies.
"Veetor?" Shepard asked gently as she didn't want to scare Veetor, who's probably suffered enough over these past few days since the colony was attacked.
Veetor twitched upon hearing his name and typed faster into the holo-keyboard. "No, Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide." Shepard felt sorry for Veetor since he acted like slaves freed from slaver bases would behave after they were rescued.
"Nobody's going to hurt you anymore, Veetor." Shepard tried again to convince the panicked Quarian to calm down, only to be met with more frantic muttering.
"I don't think he can hear you, Commander," Jacob informed with a sad tone as he's seen people act like Veetor after they've gone through something genuinely traumatic. Shepard agreed and knew that the only way to get Veetor to listen was to take away what he was focusing on. So she used her Omni-tool to shut down the warehouse monitors causing Veetor to snap out of his frenzied state and turn to face the investigation team.
"You're human." Veetor slowly stated in surprise while ignoring Savage and the Drone honour guard. "Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?"
Miranda's eyes grew curious at Veetor's words. "Who didn't find us?"
Veetor shivered at the question, clearly afraid yet still had the strength to answer. "The…the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone." Veetor whimpered as he recalled what happened to the colonists and how lucky he was to have escaped their fate.
"Why didn't the colonists fight back, Veetor?" Shepard asked gently as not to stress Veetor any further than necessary. "What happened?" Veetor stared at them with indecision for a moment before turning back to the monitors.
"You don't know. You don't see. But I see everything." Veetor pressed a button on the holo-keyboard, causing security footage from the settlements surveillance systems to play on the monitors. Shepard watched in shock as insect humanoids took the colonists and put them inside strange containers whilst swarms of unknown tiny bugs soared through the air, searching for more victims.
Miranda gazed at the footage with interest. "Looks like security footage. He must've pieced it together manually." Miranda was impressed as the Alliance top tech experts that visited the other abducted colonies couldn't do what Veetor has done.
Jacob, however, stared at the humanoid insects with disgust. "What the hell is that?" He questioned as the footage froze as one of the humanoids walked away with a filled container.
"My god. I think it's a Collector!" Miranda's eyes widen in disbelief as she stared at the frozen image of a genuine Collector.
Shepard frowned at the image. "Is that some kind of alien?" She'd never heard of Collectors during her time within Council space or the hunt for Saren.
Luckily Jacob explained. "They're species from somewhere beyond the Omega 4 relay." The Cerberus operative gazed at the unmoving image. "Only a few people have ever seen one in person." Miranda took control of the topic a moment later as she knew more about the Collectors than Jacob.
"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries." Shepard's eyes narrowed with disdain at the mention of slavers. "If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonists." The footage started playing again, showing two Collectors throwing a body into a container without caring what happened to the person now trapped inside it.
"The Collectors have advanced technology." Jacob's expression turned thoughtful. "They could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once."
Veetor nodded rapidly whilst gesturing at the monitors. "The seeker swarms," Veetor pointed at the tiny bugs flying on the security footage. "No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away." The frightened Quarian whimpered at the image of the seeker swarms as memories of the bugs attacking the colonists flashed through his mind.
"Why didn't the Collectors take you?" Shepard knew no survivors were found in the other colonies, so why could Veetor escape the Collectors.
Veetor shivered. "Swarms didn't find me. Monsters don't know I was here." Savage stared at Veetor with interest wondering how such a scared creature avoided being taken by the Collectors.
"The Collectors aren't known for being careless." Jacob studied Veetor's suit. "Maybe his enviro-suit kept him from showing up on their sensors."
"Or they were using technology specifically designed to detect humans. Only human colonies have been hit." Miranda added her thoughts on the matter. Shepard agreed as it was far more likely that the Collectors believed that only humans were on Freedom's Progress and had thus missed Veetor when they abducted the colonists.
Shepard asked another question. "Tell me more about these swarms." If anyone had helpful info about these freezing insects, then it was Veetor.
"It's how they find you. Seeker clouds. Machines like tiny insects." Veetor pointed at a seeker swarm on the footage. "They go everywhere. They find you. Then they sting you. Freeze you." Veetor explained as the footage continued to play.
"Sounds like miniature probes, maybe." Miranda analysed the image of a seeker insect. "Find victims, then immobilise them with a stasis field or nerve toxin." It was impressive, yet countermeasures can be created once they know how the seekers paralysed human colonists.
"What happened next?" Veetor stared at the monitors with sadness.
"The monsters took the people onto the ship, and then they left." Veetor shivered as he turned back to them. "The ship flew away. But they'll be back for me. No one escapes!" Veetor became a muttering mess after that, just staring at the footage as if he could feel the Collectors glaring back at him.
Jacob sighed at Veetor's terrified state. "I think that's probably all we're getting out of him, Commander," Savage grunted in agreement as the Qaurian was far too out of it to give any more valuable information about the Collectors.
Shepard nodded to Jacob and then smiled softly at Veetor. "We appreciate what you told us. You were very helpful." She meant that, without Veetor's help, they'd have never known that it was the Collectors that were abducting the colonists.
Veetor seemed to snap out of his fearful state upon hearing those words of encouragement. "I studied them. The mobsters. The swarms." Veetor activated his Omni-tool and showed data recordings. "I recorded them with my Omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electro-magnetic. Dark energy."
Miranda's eyes shined with greed when Veetor told them about his studies on the Collectors. "We need to get this data to the Illusive Man." Her tone turned bossy whilst the Drones started to growl in warning as they didn't the way Miranda was addressing their Queen. "Grab the Quarian and call the shuttles to come to pick us up." Shepard was about to tell Miranda to shut the hell up. However, the warehouse entrance opened, and Tali stormed inside, clearly furious at what Miranda had just said.
"What? Veetor is injured!" Tali stormed past the Drones and stood protectively in front of Veetor. "He needs treatment, not an interrogation!" Miranda glared at Tali, unaware that Savage was aiming his pistol at her back, ready to fire if the Cerberus operative tried anything against the Queen ally.
"Jacob raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. "We won't hurt him. We just need to see if he knows anything else." Jacob was honest when he said he didn't want to hurt Veetor, yet the man forgot that a Cerberus interrogator might not feel the same way. "He'll be returned unharmed."
Miranda chose that moment to add her opinion on the matter. "Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."
Tali glared with frustration at Miranda. "Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it." Shepard wasn't going to argue on the former marine leader's intelligence or lack thereof. "You're welcome to take Veetor's Omni-tool data, but please." Tai's tone turned pleading. "Just let me take him," Shepard asked to work together again like old times, but Tali reluctantly refused as she had a more important mission in Geth space. However. Tali admitted that if she survived the mission, then she'd joined Shepard in stopping the Collectors. With the option of working together not available, Shepard did the one thing she knew was right.
"He's traumatised, and he needs medical care." Miranda knew what Shepard was about to say and tried to protest, yet that idea died when Savage glared at her with a clear threat of violence shining within his eyes. "Tali will give us the Omni-tool data and take him to the flotilla."
"Understood, Commander." Miranda bowed her head to Shepard, knowing that any other response would get the Drones even madder than they already are at the moment.
As for Tali, she smiled in gratitude. "Thank you, Shepard. I'm glad you're still the one giving orders." She bowed her head slightly. "Good luck out there. If I find anything that can help you, I'll let you know." Tali promised whilst gesturing for Veetor to follow her outside. Once the two Quarians were gone, Jacob radioed the Drones guarding the shuttles to come to pick them up. As for Shepard, both she and Savage stared one last time at the Collector on the footage, and the Locust Queen and her loyal Drone knew that this was the start of a much bigger battle than they've ever fought before.
The Collectors were now the enemy of the Locust Horde.