Horizon

I had Joker set the Normandy on a course for the Citadel where we were hoping to find the elusive Kasumi Goto. A master thief by trade; her skills in breaching security systems and all areas of technical work would be an invaluable asset to our growing force. There had been little mentioned in her dossier about combat abilities; but I reasoned that anyone who had become so successful and adept in such an art would know how to take care of themselves. While we were on the Citadel, I also had another plan to get some aid, or at the very least some Intel. I went into Miranda's Office and sat across from her at her desk,

"Miranda, when we get to the Citadel, I need to contact Councillor Anderson."

"That's not a good idea, Commander. The galaxy, including the Council, believes you're dead. And even if they were happy to have you back, they might disapprove of your allegiance with Cerberus."

"My "Allegiance" with Cerberus is to protect the lives of millions, unlike a lot of their previous endeavours."

"What you saw in the base you destroyed in Nepheron was to save Human lives in the future."

It was useless to try and convince Miranda that Cerberus was wrong; our friendship was slowly growing after her initial indifference, but her loyalty to the organisation was far stronger than what it was for me. I returned to the matter at hand,

"Anyway; Anderson was my Captain and my friend before and he won't have forgotten that. And the Council owes me for getting the Alliance Fleet to save their lives at the Battle of the Citadel. They have to listen to me."

"True, but remember it's been two years since you died. Things have changed. The Galaxy has changed. And there's another problem…" she looked at me, "everyone believes you're gone; people seeing you strolling around the Citadel out of the blue could cause uproar."

Miranda, as usual, was right. My sudden reappearance could have a few repercussions; people could see it as a betrayal by the Council and the Alliance who had declared me dead for so long. They would be angered and conspiracies would begin flying about, blown all out of proportion. Questions that could not be answered would appear in abundance and people of every species would lose faith in those they looked to for leadership.

"What would you suggest?" I asked Miranda with a grin, "I don't suppose a mask would work?"

"I don't think that would fool the Citadel's upgraded security screens, Commander. They can even get DNA from dead skin cells. As soon as you passed through the screens you'll be flagged on C-Sec's systems and your cover would be blown. And you aren't the only thing that people would be confused about; the Normandy was a famous, recognisable ship and the news of its destruction was hardly what I'd call a secret."

More questions, more confusion, more distrust. My return was going to cause a storm if I was not careful.

"I need to think how we're going to do this without causing too much harm," I said and took my leave of Miranda. However, the door to her office had barely closed when it opened again and Miranda came chasing after me,

"Commander, update from the Illusive Man. He wants to speak with you in the comm room."

"Hope he's got something on the Collectors!" I said as I rushed to the comm room. The door locked behind me and the room went dark as I was connected to the Illusive Man, his lit-up eyes narrow and serious as they stared at me.

"Gardner, we have them," he began urgently, "Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems just went dark. If they aren't under attack already, they soon will be."

"I'll stop them," I said confidently.

"I can't tell you what you'll face once you get planet-side. Has Mordin delivered a counter to the Seeker Swarms?"

"Not yet."

"Then let's hope he works well under pressure," Illusive Man lit up a new cigarette, "find out what you can about the Collector's operations; how they're doing this, what they're doing with the colonists."

"Anything I can do to fight them. I'll find something."

"Glad to hear it. This is the most warning we've ever had Gardner; good luck."

The Normandy shot through space on a heading for Horizon and I went to visit Mordin as he worked away in his lab as feverishly as ever.

"We're on our way to a possible Collector attack, you got something for me?"

Mordin stood thoughtfully before speaking at his customary light-speed,

"Am working on counter for the Seeker Swarms. Upgrade armour to block Seeker active scans, remain undetected."

"Sounds good. Is it ready to go?"

"Not yet, needs a few more adjustments. Don't worry Commander, will be ready soon."

"I believe in you Mordin, but we need the counter ASAP. We'll be ground-side in less than a day. Just to give you a time-scale."

"Excellent; challenge encourages more productive thinking and action. Overcome limitations."

"I'll let you work."

"Good, need quiet to concentrate. Also, will be coming with you when we reach attack site; need to see if countermeasure works first-hand."

"Looking forward to seeing those STG skills in action Doctor."

I gathered the rest of the team and briefed them on what we had to do when we reached Horizon. We all watched the limited footage that we had acquired from Freedom's Progress so that everyone had a chance to see the Collectors. We knew that they came heavily armed despite the fact that they were attacking settlements of paralyzed Humans who could in no way defend themselves. At one point in the viewing, Jack suddenly pointed to the bottom left-hand side of the screen where another Collector had just walked into sight,

"Is that one on fire or some shit? Look at it."

She was right; the Collector seemed to have an internal glow of some sort and during its brief time on screen it ordered one of its drones to drag away one of the colonists.

"Their leader possibly?" I speculated, "what's making it burn like that?"

"Can't say," Miranda said, "but clearly a figure we should watch out for."

"Agreed. Other than their standard weaponry we have no other details about their offensive and defensive capabilities; unsure whether or not they possess biotic abilities. If they do then I need you, Jack, to focus on defending us from their attacks. On the other hand, if they don't then we know we have at least one advantage."

"What about the Seekers Sir?" Jacob asked, "Has Mordin got a way to neutralise the threat?"

"He's close," I made myself sound confident for them all, "he's assured me that he has a working counter-measure and he'll have it ready for when we hit the ground. Everyone get some food, rest and be ready to go."

The team had bonded well and I hoped that together they would be an effective enough fighting force. Jack and Miranda kept away from each other but I knew that I could rely on Miranda's professional nature, but with Jack I was less sure. Grunt was absolutely dying to get into a fight and after guzzling down another horse-sized meal he ventured down to the shuttle hanger where he waited the entire time with his selection of favoured shotguns. When we were a mere hour from landing, I stood on the bridge with Joker and spoke with EDI,

"What have your scans picked up EDI?"

"The Collector vessel has landed outside of a large farming community on the outskirts of the capital city. I have detected several thousand heat signatures that seem to be immobile. This indicates that the Collectors have not yet completed the abduction."

"We need to save as many of them as we can!" I said for all to hear, "take us into the farming compounds so we can cut off the foot-soldiers from their own ship. Are there any signs of resistance on the surface EDI?"

"No," came the depressing answer, "However, as part of an outreach program to the Terminus colonies the Alliance has installed defence turrets to protect the colony from such an attack. If a direct link were to be set up between the defence systems and myself, they could be used against the ship."

"Brilliant EDI! Will they be enough to disable the ship?"

"Unlikely. The ship is more heavily shielded and armoured than any Human ship of comparable size."

"Reaper tech no doubt," I decided, "Take us in and be on hand for picking us up again. There might be Alliance forces on the ground that we can link up with so keep me informed."

I headed down to the shuttle bay where Mordin was fitting everyone's suits of armour with his counter-measure for the Seeker Swarms. Jack had been reluctant to wear armour but had been convinced when Mordin had told her that it would be better than being paralyzed and loaded onto the Collector ship.

"Will make us invisible to Seeker scans and prevent us from becoming a target," the genius scientist explained as I arrived and everyone started embarking on one of the shuttles. Mordin moved to me when I approached and he fitted the chip into one of the ports on the back panel of my armour,

"Good job Mordin. You sure about this?"

"As I understand; is rarely safe for people to join you, Commander," Mordin joked, "but am confident in own work."

"Then that's good enough for me."

I raised a foot to get onboard the shuttle when a voice suddenly called out from the elevator,

"Wait! You think you're going without me?"

I looked back with delight to see Garrus jogging over with assault rifle and sniper rifle ready to go,

"Give me one of those chips Doc," he said enthusiastically to Mordin, "I'm coming with you. Someone needs to remind Scott which end of the gun to point at the enemy."

Garrus was given a very quick run-down of what our mission was and who we were up against. As expected, he was more than up for the challenge and my moral soared to have him with me. Once in atmosphere, I stood at the open door of the shuttle as EDI flew it to the collection of farming compounds that the enormous Collector ship had landed beside. It stretched almost a kilometre into the air, almost half the size of Sovereign, and there was a great amount of electrical charge and interference emitting from it. Down on the ground I could see the figures of the Human colonists who still remained motionless, but among them there were others moving around the buildings quite casually. From the city there was an endless stream of Collectors escorting a convoy of the strange containers that we had seen in the footage from Freedom's Progress.

I struggled to think of them as anything else than coffins; a dismal and mile-long procession of coffins with their doomed prisoners trapped inside. The power grid for the entire defence network that extended from the compound to the budding city had been built in an underground complex beneath the compounds. From the central control unit there was a pylon that extended above ground from where we could link in EDI and activate the defences. If we could succeed in driving off the Collectors, then we could focus on helping the colonists.

My feet hit the ground and my team followed me. It felt good to have Garrus by my side again; there was comfort in familiarity. Garrus, Miranda, Jacob, Jack, Mordin, Grunt, Zaeed and I moved swiftly around the Southern side of the farming town, hoping to keep contact with the Collectors to a minimum until we were prepared to hit them hard. We had turned to head towards the centre of the town, where the defence control unit was located, when Garrus suddenly put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me down at the side of the street,

"Seekers," he said as they began to whizz overhead. A cloud of them zipped and swirled past us and for a moment I thought I saw them bending around towards us, but they continued on their way and around the corner. I sent a look at Mordin and gave him a thankful nod; he had a gleeful smile on his face as the Seekers completely ignored us.

"Let's move on," I ordered. When we turned a corner, less than three blocks from the control unit, we saw our first colonists. They were stuck in a variety of different poses and all of them had the most terrified and confused expressions on their faces. It was clear that they had been running away from the Collector attack and the Seekers, but they had been stung and now appeared to be frozen in time, halfway through taking a panicked stride or bending over to pick up a fallen friend, family member or loved one. One man held a metal pipe in his hands and had obviously been trying to swipe at the Seekers as they infested the very air around him to protect his wife who lay on the ground behind him. As I approached him, I noticed that his eyes flickered a little, as if he was trying to see who I was.

"They're still aware!" I said in disbelief. Mordin scanned them with his Omni tool and said,

"Trapped in stasis. Still aware of their surroundings. Horrible experience."

I moved around so that the man could hopefully see that we were here to help him and the thousands of others who would be stuck in exactly the same situation,

"We'll get you out of this! I promise."

Between us and the control unit for the turrets sat the communications hub for the colony which appeared to be a semi-fortified bunker. The Southern access was sealed and locked and I saw at least twenty Collectors gathered at the door. They were so strange looking, mysterious and unknown. Their patched and sinewy skin looked almost artificial to my eyes and their sickly green eyes were empty and soulless. One of the creatures was tampering with the door controls and I prepared my team to attack them,

"There must be survivors still inside. We hit them hard and fast and make sure the colonists remain safe."

"We'll blow our cover, Commander," Jacob argued.

"We're close enough to the defence controls that we can still get there before the Collectors arrive in force. Get in position."

We silently formed a perimeter around our enemies, Grunt itching to get at them. I raised my Mattock and aimed straight for the Collector trying to hack into the bunker. With a pull of the trigger the back of the Collector's head opened up and purple blood spat all over the door. My team let fly with all their weapons and when they turned to fire back Miranda lifted one into the air with her biotics and threw it into another crowd, knocking them aside. However, just as the Collector hit the ground, another one of the aliens threw its own biotic blast back and almost wiped-out Garrus' cover.

"Collector biotics confirmed!" I warned the team as I shot another to the ground. Ten of them still stood when I ordered the squad to advance from their various directions, gunning the Collectors down as we went.

I activated the Omni-blade that Tali had retrieved from Prazza's body back on Freedom's Progress and prepared to get in close, but all of a sudden I heard the most terrible cry of rage. The gargantuan form of Grunt burst out from behind his cover and he slammed into the flank of the remaining Collectors. One Collector had its chest torn open by Grunt's shotgun before another took a blast to its shoulder. It tried to stay on its feet but Grunt leapt on it and tore the partially severed arm right off of it. Grunt knocked a third to the ground and stomped on its head while tearing a fourth in half with his gun.

While the Krogan onslaught was occurring, I dropped the furthest away Collector with a few well-placed shots and Garrus took out the last of the enemy in mid-run with a headshot from his Viper rifle. My Turian friend was back to his good old self again, except for the vicious scarring that dominated the better part of the right-hand side of his face. The fight was over and I wasted no time in hooking EDI up to the door controls. Double and triple checking that there were no more Collectors or Seekers, I opened the door and ushered my team inside before locking the large steel door again.

The room was almost in complete darkness and only the gentle hum of the communication hubs being powered could be heard. Though I had suspected that there was something in here that the Collectors wanted, hopefully survivors, I kept my rifle ready and when I heard a shuffle of feet come from the corner of the room, I sighted down the target. There was a group of five Humans huddled together in the darkest part of the room; a single female Alliance soldier was protecting them with her rifle trained directly at me. The woman's face that stared back at me was a mix of pure horror, delight and anger,

"Scott?" she sounded confused.

"You know this Human?" Grunt rumbled. I lowered my rifle and looked at the Alliance soldier that stepped uneasily out into the dim light.

"Sophie? What are you doing here?" I asked my sister. She lowered her rifle as well, but her expression did not become any warmer,

"What am I doing here? What about you? You're dead!"

"It's a long story, Sophie. If I can save the colony and we all get out of here then we can talk. For now, we need to focus on the Collector attack. Tell me what happened."

"Those things are Collectors? I thought they were just a myth."

"They're real enough," Garrus backed me up. Sophie looked at him,

"Garrus Vakarian? You're supposed to be missing. How did you get those scars?" she looked over to my own burning scars and eyes, "why are your eyes glowing? What have you guys been doing?"

"Sophie, please," I implored, "what happened? Why are you here?"

"I was sent with Gunnery Chief Williams as part of the outreach program."

"Wait, Ashley's here?"

Sophie winced a little,

"Yeah, but we lost contact when the attack started. I couldn't find her so I just tried to help as many people as I could."

"You did the right thing," I reassured her, "Ash can take care of herself. What happened when the Collectors attacked?"

"The comms went down," my sister motioned towards the other colonists, "the engineers came down here to try and fix the problem, then we heard screaming. We saw the ship arrive and those bug things start swarming around people. Delan locked the doors down to stop them getting us, but when I heard those things at the door, I thought we were dead."

Mordin approached me and said quietly in my ear,

"Your sister appears traumatised by attack, and hurt by your reappearance. Recommend giving her time."

"We don't have time Mordin, every second we wait the Collectors are loading more colonists onto the ship. We have to get what information we can, and now."

I put a hand on Sophie's shoulder and I looked at my sister as she fought back the tears and tried to contain the stress of what she was going through,

"I'm sorry you had to find out about me this way, but we need to go now."

"What are they doing with the people they take?" she asked.

"We don't know yet," Miranda answered, "but we intend to find out."

My little sister looked back at me,

"Are these things involved with those Reapers you were fighting against before you… before…" she could not say it.

"We think so," I told her, "that's why this is so important."

Sophie wiped a tear away and nodded her head,

"Ok, then let me help."

"I can't," I hated putting her down again, "those Seeker Swarms are still out there and they'll get you as soon as you step out there. Mordin," I motioned to the Salarian genius, "developed a counter-measure which stops us appearing on their scans, but you aren't protected. I need you to stay here. Stay safe!"

We locked down the bunker when we left the North-side door and ventured forward to the control unit. It was in a wide-open square which the colonists had used as a park and leisure area. There were swings for the children and wooden benches and picnic areas. The small fence around the control pylon had been brightly decorated and did a good job of hiding the steel, out-of-place antennae. It would have been a perfect scene if not for the Collectors that now patrolled the park, alerted by our brief but deadly ambush. We infiltrated the park using the hedges and walls for cover before slaughtering the guards with highly effective cross-fires and a great deal of individual marksmanship skill. When the Collectors had been dealt with, I raced to the control unit and used my Omni tool to give EDI access.

"Errors in targeting software are easily rectified. However, it will take some time to sufficiently power up the defence turrets. Collector forces are in-bound to your location, I recommend you take up defensive positions."

EDI's warning came not a moment too soon and even as my team hunkered down and formed a perimeter around the pylon, the Collectors arrived in force and the bullets started screaming around us, turning the picturesque little park into a scene that closely resembled a World War 2 battlefield. The walls were chipped to pieces and the hedges were shredded in a matter of seconds and we returned fire as best we could. However, we were under fire from three directions and it was intensifying all the time. We would shift positions and cover each other as often as possible to stop the enemy honing their fire on our position, together we focused on kill-zones and took advantage of how the buildings were funnelling the Collectors to us.

"EDI! How long until the turrets are up?" I yelled as I shot a Collector three times in the chest.

"Defensive systems power level at sixty-three percent."

"Make it faster EDI! We're facing an army here."

Garrus slotted a Collector as it tried to vault over one of the far walls and Jack lifted two into the air at the same time. While they stayed suspended in the air, she drew her shotgun on them and annihilated both of them one after the other as if she was clay-pigeon shooting. My squad were fighting hard and were succeeding in holding back the superior number of enemy forces.

Out of nowhere one of the houses had one of its walls completely destroyed and a horde of Collector troops spilled out and began attacking us, taking away our advantage of bottle-necking the enemy. From inside the cabin a Collector emerged, its body glowing with an internal fire and its eyes burning like that of a demon.

"It's the Collector leader," I told everyone as they turned their guns to concentrate on the new influx of enemy soldiers. I fired at the enemy leader but its biotic barrier seemed to be far more powerful than that of the few other Collectors that possessed any similar capabilities. The Collector captain threw an immense biotic blast at my location and ripped half of the wall away and blowing me to the ground. Then a menacing and machine-like voice called out,

"Your resistance is futile. I will destroy you, Gardner."

While I crawled to another position, another blast tore away the ground just next to me and when Miranda tried to come over and help she was knocked back by the force of another biotic attack. Jacob took aim and poured an entire clip onto the Collector that had spoken, but apart from forcing the enemy to stop and hold his shield it seemed to have little effect. I reached over for my Widow and scoped out the captain.

I fired all three of the shots from the clip, nearly shattering my shoulder with the accumulating force, and watched with relief as the captain's barrier was broken and the last two shots tore the body to pieces. With the incoming barrage of biotics somewhat lessened, I picked off several more Collectors with the Widow before I was forced by the increasingly close quarters combat to draw my pistol. A Collector jumped over the wall right next to me and I shoved my Omni blade right up through the bottom of its jaw and out the top of its head. Kicking the body away I sighted down the next target and four rounds slammed into it. Enemy numbers were beginning to get the better of us when EDI's voice delivered the news I had been so desperate to hear,

"The guns are online and locked onto the target vessel, Commander."

As one the guns all rotated around and began hammering the Collector ship with their mass-accelerated rounds. The noise from the gun batteries as they fired in unison was nigh-on deafening and I could feel each impact as a shell hurtled into the enemy ship. The Seeker Swarms dispersed and clouds of them could be seen heading back to the ship. The Collector ground troops fell back immediately and I gave the order,

"Pursue them to the ship! Kill as many of them as you can."

My team and I leapt into action and we chased them through the network of streets that separated the compounds as the ground shook from the onslaught from the guns. There was a great roar as the Collector ship powered. Dust and dirt was blown into the sky and covered all the lands around it for at least a couple of miles.

The Collectors were hidden from us by the screen of dirt and I halted the team. We had forced them out of the farming town and we held a defensive posture at the town's edge, watching for them attempting to attack again. However, when it became easier to see through the murk, I saw hundreds of Humanoid forms running towards us. For a moment, I thought that the colonists had been able to break free from their coffins and flee. Then I saw the ghoulish blue streaks of their eyes and the bodies laced with cybernetics and criss-crossed with wires.

"Husks!" I shouted to my friends and allies, "gun them down."

I aimed through my scope and took down several Husks with my Widow while my team kicked up the land with bullets and sent dozens of the creatures crumbling to the ground. Behind the mass of Husk monstrosities, the Collector ship blasted off and soared up through the sky and into orbit. The defence guns kept shooting the entire time and I could see with my own eyes that the enemy ship had suffered a tremendous amount of damage; the outer hull was bent, buckled and holed in many places. However, the Collectors were soon gone and the guns stopped firing,

"EDI, can you turn the guns on the Husks? We need fire-support on our position."

"The guns are not designed to engage infantry class units. I will not be able to gain a lock."

"Then free-hand it!" I told the AI.

The Husks were only about a hundred metres away and all eight of us were firing everything we had at the tightly clustered freaks. Just then I heard the first boom of the defence turrets firing. The first volley was quickly followed by a few more and the field that the Husks were crossing was suddenly turned into a vision of hell as our improvised artillery ripped the enemy troops to shreds. Arms and legs were blown this way and that as the shells slammed into the enemy formations. While there were still a good few in sight for us to shoot, we immediately felt the pressure ease off slightly.

A thunderous and climactic minute later and the bombardment ceased. The Husks were little more than broken pieces splattered across the earth and we sat for a moment and took in the scene.

"Did the Collectors turn the colonists into Husks that quickly?" Garrus asked out loud.

"No. They must have already had them on their ship. They must just use them as fodder against any resistance that they come up against."

"I bet they haven't had resistance like that before," Jacob said and I saw Grunt grin with satisfaction.

"This confirms the Reapers' involvement, Commander," Miranda told me, "Saren and the Geth must have gotten the technology from Sovereign to create their own."

It was not good news, but it was proof that our true enemy was once again at work in our galaxy and so I had to find a small victory in all of this. However, when I turned back to look at the city and the town all I saw was devastation and evidence that thousands of lives had been taken or ruined.

We wandered back into the town and told EDI to have the shuttle come for us. There were still colonists present in the village, stuck in stasis and helpless.

"Is there anything we can do for them?" I asked Miranda and Mordin.

Mordin shook his head slowly but still with a relatively positive look on his face,

"Stasis will wear off in a matter of hours now that Seekers are not here to keep stinging them. Not sure what they will do after."

"Their home and lives have been destroyed," I said sadly, "and we couldn't save all of them."

"I'm sure you did the best you could Commander," a voice called from a side-street. I looked around and saw Ashley Williams coming out and walking over to me. She held out a hand,

"I thought you were dead," she said in a low tone, "we all did."

"Ashley, it's been too long. How've you been?" I said gladly, happy to see another familiar face of someone I trusted.

However, that familiar face suddenly turned to one of open hostility.

"Is that all you have to say?" Ashley scowled, "you were our Commander, our friend and now you show up after all this time and you have nothing to say? Why didn't you try to contact me? You know I would have come with you."

I looked at my hurting friend with pity,

"You'd moved on with your life Ash, I didn't want to reopen old wounds."

"For two years?"

"I've been dead," I tried to show her reason, "Cerberus only brought me back to life a week ago."

Ashley stepped back from me, the same way that Tali had back on Freedom's Progress, and she shook her head in shock,

"You're with Cerberus now? The reports were right?"

"Reports? You mean you knew?" Jacob said in surprise.

"The Alliance thought that Cerberus was behind the abductions; the outreach program is just a cover to keep an eye and find out for sure. But I didn't believe the rumours that you were back, or that you'd been seen with them… I couldn't."

My old team-mate then spotted Garrus among my crew,

"Garrus too? How did they get you?"

"Ashley," Garrus replied softly, "this is bigger than just Cerberus or the Alliance. You've seen it yourself; the Collectors are abducting thousands of Human colonists and they're working for the Reapers. There's no way I was going to turn my back on this. And neither should you, Ash."

She pointed an accusing finger at her former Turian friend,

"I'll never work for Cerberus! I'm no fan of aliens messing with Humanity, but Cerberus have a history of being extreme," her eyes turned back to me, "I'm an Alliance soldier; and I still know my duty."

"Damn it Ashley," I exclaimed, "you're so hung up on Cerberus that you're missing the point! The Reapers are at work again. You know that I'm all about stopping them, and if I have to ally myself with Cerberus to beat them then I'll do it."

Ashley closed in, enraged at my words,

"Or maybe you just feel like you owe them one for bringing you back! And what about your family? Do they know you're alive?"

"Sophie does, we've already helped her. And she knows what I have to do."

Ashley looked to be on the brink of tears, but true to her nature she held them back and sighed heavily,

"I need to report back to the citadel; tell Anderson about all of this." She began to walk away but I moved forward and gently grabbed her arm,

"Wait. Ashley, I could use someone like you on my team; you know what I'm up against."

She shook free of me immediately and looked at with eyes that appeared more fiery than my own must have,

"I'm not a traitor Scott!"

Her words stung like a blade to the heart and I found myself unable to say anything back. Ashley stormed off, but after a few paces she stopped and looked down at the ground before saying to me,

"Good luck Commander."

Ashley vanished around a corner and I stood dumbstruck. Garrus put a hand on my shoulder,

"It's ok Scott, she's just angry. She knows that you're fighting on the right side."

"Am I?" I said, "everyone that I called my friend from before can't bear the sight of me, apart from you. Ashley and Tali just saw a stranger," I traced one of the hideous scars along my jaw line with a finger, "or a machine."

"We should go, Commander," Miranda suggested, "we need to report to the Illusive Man so we can plan our next move."

My team of tired but invigorated Commandos walked back through the compounds, taking in the devastation of our battle as we went. There were still dozens of colonists in stasis and around them lay the bodies of the Collectors we had killed. However, they seemed rather diminished and decayed compared to when they had been alive and shooting at us.

"They're degrading," I said to anyone who was listening, "and fast."

Mordin did a few scans and concurred,

"Accelerated decomposition, Commander. Cybernetic induced protocol upon death of Collector. Useful for hiding bodies from investigators."

"Anybody hungry?" Grunt asked as he glared at the rotting enemy soldier.

I told my team to go and wait by the shuttle while I went back to the communication hub where we had left Sophie and the few others in relative safety. EDI unlocked the doors and I peered inside. I was glad to see that my sister was still vigilant as her rifle once again zoned in on my head, but when she saw it was me, she lowered it and came over,

"Did you do it? Are they gone?"

"Yeah, we activated the defence turrets and forced them to retreat. But… they still took most of the colony with them."

"Did you find Chief Williams?" She asked.

"We talked," I tried to hide the sadness in my voice, "she's on her way back to the city to report back to Anderson and the Council. If you go now you'll catch up with her."

Sophie looked me up and down; seeing the blood of the Collectors that had coalesced with the heavy coating of dirt that had been blown all over us. She looked at my scarred face, the scrapings and chippings out of my armour.

"I want to come with you and your team," she announced. That was exactly what I had not wanted to hear,

"Sophie… no. What we're up against is way beyond you. I couldn't put you in that sort of danger."

"Why not? I'm a soldier and I want to fight to protect the galaxy."

"There's other ways to help," I explained, "go back to the Citadel with Ashley, make the Council believe that the Reapers are coming for us all. Make them take action."

My idea did not appeal to her in the slightest and my sister took a resolute stance,

"Scott, I went to university to study and get the chance to meet the other species of the galaxy. I loved what I was doing; but then the Geth attack on the Citadel happened and I saw that the galaxy was a dangerous place. After you… died," she felt strange saying it, "I joined the Alliance so that, maybe, I could help the races that we share this galaxy with in the same way you did. Don't stop me taking that chance!"

My sister meant every bit of what she said; she had always been a determined person and, at no other point in her life, more than then. Not being able to help but admire her spirit I asked,

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes."

"Then come on; our shuttle's waiting."