Chapter 10:

The Collector ship powered up, leaving the planet before we could do anything about it.

"They've got half the colony in there!" The man from earlier shouted, running from his shelter toward us.

I looked over at him. He was glaring at me, specifically, as if the colonists being taken was my fault.

"What more could I have done?" I asked, keeping his gaze. "I did what I could."

"More than most, Shepard." Garrus spoke up quietly.

The man froze for a moment, before his eyes narrowed. "Shepard? I know that name." The glare intensified. "Sure, I remember you. You're some type of big Alliance hero."

Footsteps crunched grass as someone else approached us. He looked familiar, but I couldn't place him.

"Commander Shepard. Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel." When he reached us, he glanced at the man. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan." Eyes turned back to me. "And a ghost."

"All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures." Delan threw his arms in the air, before walking away. "Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types."

The new man stepped closer to me. "I thought you were dead, Commander. We all did."

He held out a hand, and we shook.

"Kaidan." Garrus greeted, when I didn't verbally respond right away.

I made a mental note to thank him later.

"It's... been a while." I had to work to keep my face blank- from what I knew of Kaidan, he'd been as close to being the old me's right-hand man as you could get. "How have you been?"

"That's all you have to say?" A deep frown. "You show up after two years and just... act like nothing happened?" He got in my face. "I would've followed you anywhere, Commander. Thinking you were gone... it was like losing a limb." A shake of his head as people shifted behind me, and he moved back a couple steps. "Why didn't you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"

I couldn't help it- I snorted, bringing a surprised look to his face. "It's not like I had a choice. I was dead for two years, Kaidan. And when I did come around, Anderson said you were on a classified mission. I figured it would be best to not send a message from Cerberus channels to an Alliance soldier who was on a top secret mission." I raised an eyebrow. "Tell me I'm wrong."

He stepped back, eyes widening a bit. "You're with Cerberus now?" Eyes flicked to someone behind me. "Garrus, too?" A shake of his head as he looked at me again. "I can't believe the reports were right."

"Reports?" Garrus asked. "You mean you already knew?"

Which meant he should understand why I hadn't reached out. So, why was he giving me shit?

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

I stepped toward him, his eyes tracking me. "Let me make one thing clear- I do not work for Cerberus. They work for me. They are providing me with resources and a ship, whereas the Alliance wanted nothing to do with me. The Council said they couldn't help, though they did restore my Spectre status. It was have Cerberus work for me, or the colonists keep being taken. I think I chose the lesser evil, in this situation."

"You've turned your back on everything we stood for!" In my face again.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He wasn't listening to me.

I tried to steer the conversation away from me. "You just saw it yourself. The Collectors are taking whole colonies of humans." I paused, hoping this would affect him, if nothing else, considering his history with old me. "And they're working with the Reapers."

"I want to believe you, Shepard. But I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you. What if they're behind it? What if they're working with the Collectors?"

"Damn it, Kaidan! You're so focused on Cerberus, that you're ignoring the real threat!"

I held up a hand, stopping Garrus from continuing. "I think it's clear where we stand. You don't want to listen to me, because it would challenge your views and where your loyalties lie. And that's fine. But don't stand there, on your high horse, and claim that you know what I and my people are doing. Don't stand there and berate me for choosing my path, when there weren't other options available. Don't stand there and judge me for something that you would never be able to bring yourself to do, for the greater good."

With that, I turned on my heel and started walking away.

Kaidan called out after me. "Goodbye, Shepard. And be careful."

"You, too." I responded, tone clipped, before radioing Joker for a pickup.

...

Tim gave me an "atta boy", saying he was pleased with our efforts on Horizon. And then, he wanted to know if I was focused on the mission now.

"I thought so." I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms. "You sent the tip to the Alliance, to have us meet."

"I released a few carefully disguised rumors that you might be alive and working for Cerberus."

Something about him caught my attention, and I looked closer at his face.

"And?"

"I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain."

The Collectors attacked Horizon... because Kaidan was there, working on the defense towers? Fucking hell. They were after anything that had to do with me.

"Well, now that it's confirmed, we can hopefully work out something so we can stop them from abducting anymore colonists." I said after a couple minutes.

"That's why we're doing this, Shepard. I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 relay. We have to hit them where they live." He adjusted in his seat, before taking a drag of his cigarette. "Your team will need to be strong... as will their resolve. There's no looking back." A stern look. "Once we find a way through the Omega 4 relay to the Collector homeworld... there's no guarantee you'll return. To have any hope of surviving, you- and your entire team- must be fully committed to this."

"You put me in charge of them. Don't worry, I'll get it done."

He nodded, flicking some ashes. "I've forwarded another dossier. Keep building your team, while I find a way through the relay. And be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you."

Ominous.

...

The door opened, and I held up my datapad. "Come take a look at this."

Garrus walked over, taking it from me as he sat beside me. "Tali? He wants Tali to come work with Cerberus? Is he crazy?"

The thing I'd noticed about him flashed through my mind. His eyes. They had changed, taking on a more synthetic appearance.

"He might be." I muttered. "But so am I, I guess. Joker is taking us to Haestrom as we speak."

He shook his head. "Crazy. And you think she'll say yes?"

"We came across her before, right after I woke up. She was more than willing to work with me to reach a quarian who was in danger. I can only hope she'll be up for this, as well."

He handed my datapad back to me, and I got to work filling out a mission report.

"Just out of curiosity... When was the last time you got a decent night's sleep? We've been at this for almost three months, but you always seem to be busy doing something." A pause. "And don't think I don't notice that you get up in the middle of the night to do something, coming back to bed an hour or two before we need to wake up."

I opened my mouth, but EDI interrupted me.

"She has not slept more than four hours a night during the duration of this mission."

"Thanks, traitor." I grumbled, glaring at the ceiling.

A sigh. "That's not healthy. You can't keep that up and still expect to be at your best."

"It hasn't been a problem yet." I waved away his words. "I'll sleep when we're done."

He clearly wasn't happy with that, but it wasn't like I could do much. There really was always something to be done. Either someone to speak with or a report to fill out. A mission to do. There wasn't much downtime.

After a few minutes, he took my datapad and moved his own in front of my face. It was a site detailing all the reasons why humans should get the recommended six to eight hours of sleep a night.

"Garrus..." I looked up at him, a soft smile on my face. "There's a lot to do. I know I need to take care of myself, but I also need to take care of the crew and make sure things are running smoothly, that everyone has whatever they need. I need to fill out reports for everything we need. I need to help our team do what they need to do to feel like they're committed to our cause. And if that means missing some sleep here or there, then I'm okay with that."

"Shouldn't Miranda be-"

I shook my head. "She's got her own stuff she's doing. I don't want to add to her plate, just because I want a few hours. It wouldn't be fair to her."

"What about me? I can help out." He offered.

"You've got enough going on, keeping the cannons calibrated." I reminded him.

"I still get some time to myself." Arguing. "More than what it takes to sleep. Let me help you."

I chewed on my lip, my eyes searching his face for any hint that he didn't actually want to. When I didn't find any, I smiled again, nodding.

"Okay. I think I can do that."

He handed me back my datapad, and I transferred over some of the requisition forms I'd been filling out.

"They all have what we need in the top line. They just need a reason and description of why filled out. And the estimations on how much it'll be. If you don't know, you can look it up. If you can't find it online, just leave it blank." I instructed as he nodded along, immediately getting to work. "And... Thanks."

"Of course." He murmured.

...

"You two, stay with him." I ordered Thane and Garrus, pointing to Kal'Reegar.

Both of their eyes narrowed, but they didn't argue outright.

"Keep him alive."

With that, I ran out of cover, darting from wall to wall until I reached the side ramp. It kept me out of the colossus' view, preventing it from attacking me. When I was close enough, I surrounded it with a biotic barrier, keeping its attacks contained.

"Now!" I shouted.

Gunfire sounded, nearly deafening in the echoey space, and the large geth blew up. After that, it was just a matter of picking off the remaining, regular sized geth.

I went ahead and entered the building Tali was in, and we conversed for a bit, before she said she wanted to go with me- without me bringing it up first. She was elated to see that her friend had survived, and he offered to take the information back to the fleet for her.

So, she was free to join us.

We waited for Kal'Reegar to leave, before we returned to the Normandy, and I walked her down to engineering. She said she'd be more comfortable there.

From there, I went around the ship, asking everyone if there was anything they needed- again- and came away with a few items written down in a list. There were several things the engineers thought would be better for the ship, so I added those, as well.

Upon walking out of the engine room, Jack called out to me. Wanted to know if we could head to Pragia, to blow up the base she'd grown up in. I readily agreed and told Joker to set course for there immediately. She thanked me, before retreating.

...

I took only Jack with me- I knew this had the potential to be emotional for her, maybe mentally taxing, and I didn't want her to feel like she needed to be strong around everyone else.

And it was a good thing, too, because it was. She was visibly having a hard time keeping it together, especially when we came across Aresh, and he said he wanted to restart the program.

I somehow convinced her to let him go, and she did. Surprising both of us with her decision, I think.

Once the bomb was planted, we went back to the shuttle and, when we were far enough away, she pressed the trigger. It went up in a ball of fire. Honestly, it was liberating to witness.

Before we reached the ship, she thanked me again, saying that she was focused on our mission. On the ship, we parted, heading to our separate spaces.

...

"There's a call for you from Admiral Hackett, Shepard." Joker's voice filtered in from the speakers.

I frowned. Admiral Hackett?

Garrus quickly explained who he was, and that only made me more curious.

"Patch him through to my quarters." I glanced at the turian. "You stay put and quiet."

I went to my desk, opening the call on my computer. The man's image appeared on the screen.

We didn't speak for long- he wanted me to do a favor for him. Rescue a scientist from the batarians- a prison- and find out what she knew about the Reapers. And he wanted me to go alone. I agreed, saying it would be next on the agenda. He sent me the coordinates, and I told EDI to have Joker set us toward there. The call ended shortly after.

Garrus and I exchanged glances. Something told me that this was going to be more than what I'd signed up for.