Hey pals!

As some of you may have noticed, the picture for the story has been updated. I took it upon myself to commission an artist to draw Mads Romanov for me. The artist did a great job! It is however, not the full picture. If you are interested, you can find the full version on my deviantart (KanisRussell) or search for Mads Romanov on deviantart.

We move closer towards the romance part of the story. I'm well aware that it has been slow... sorry... extremely slow. But good times ahead!

Kind regards

KanisRussell

5/7 2185

Turian prison ship Purgatory

A chance came, an opportunity, and Conrad was never one to pass up an opportunity. The freeing of one prisoner had set of a chain-reaction. Everyone was now free; the doors that had held them back for so long was now opened.

And in that moment, it became clear to Conrad who had started the chain-reaction. Mads Romanov. He wished to kill him, for all that he has done. But... He came Conrad the chance to be free once more, even if it was not intentional. He would spare him... For now.

There was more pressing matter to attend to. Many believed the Blue Suns to be the best mercenary group out there, this is also why they were hired as security on this vessel. But Conrad knew the truth. They were weak and undisciplined. Their leader, Vido Santiago, was weak and corrupted by greed. He chose to hire Batarians….

Conrad lost his entire family to those vile creatures. And therefore he had no problem snapping the neck of a Batarian guard in order to seize the opportunity. It was a better fate than the Batarian deserved, but Conrad needed to make sure the uniform was intact, so that he could escape the station.

He knew how they operated, so no one looked twice. He realized that Mads, and subject Zero had left the station. In their escape, they left a path of destruction. The station was doomed, everyone could see that. Now, it was about survival, something Conrad was very good at.

In the end, he found a small escape pod that could get him out. Once again, he never passed up a chance when he got it. He set a course for Omega, there was a special person waiting for him there. Not many people knew it, but he and Aria had a small affair going... well it was more than an affair, but neither side would ever admit to that.

7/7 2185

FP Glory, 'Outer Heaven' vessel

The fight against Cerberus was a never ending one. There was always a new target, always another crime against the galaxy that needed to be corrected. The attacks against human colonies was a good example, there were many different explanations to it. Pirates, Slavers and so on. But Outer Heaven believed it to be Cerberus; it made a lot more sense.

So when the rumor that Cerberus would attack the human colony of Horizon, Outer Heaven was quick to fly there. William Sheridan was going to expose the plot, show Cerberus as the real threat to not just Humanity, but the Galaxy as a whole.

They flew there with a cover story, an excuse to be there. The alliance personal stationed there was skeptical, especially that Staff Commander... what was his name? Kaiden or something like that. Not that it mattered, they were cleared. They would watch and observe.

9/7 2185

Normandy SR-2

Mads sitting down in his quarters. Kelly was currently giving him a haircut. "Remember, short in the sides; leave a little to work with on the top." Mads ordered.

"Of course!" She replied as she began to work. His hair had grown quite a bit, as had his beard. He decided to keep the beard for now.

Kelly noticed the large scar on the right side of his head. Now she had the time to study it. It was a bullet wound, that much she could tell. It was long, but well healed. As far as she could see, he had always had it. Information of the captain was vague at best. Cerberus and Alliance top leaders were the only one to really know about it.

"Chakwas can make that scar go away, if you want." Kelly suggested as she continued her work on him.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I like to keep it. It's a... Reminder." Mads replied.

"Of what?" She asked, trying to dig a little.

"I'll like to keep that personal, if you don't mind." Mads answered.

"Of course." She ceased her questioning and went on with her work. Then, out of nowhere, her omni-tool beeped, telling her she had a message. She was startled by the sudden noise, so she accidentally cut Mads by the left side of his skull. It was a small wound. But Mads grabbed her by the wrist in that very moment, making her drop the scissors on the ground. She yelped as she realized what was going on.

He had a firm grip on her hand. "Are you trying to kill me?" He joked, but in the moment it was hard for her to understand that it was a joke.

"Of course not! I'm so sorry!" She replied with, very real, sadness in her voice.

He let go of her hand. "Well... See what the message is." Mads ordered.

She did as much, and quickly discovered it was from the Illusive man. He had ordered Mads down to the comm room and with haste. She was supposed to tell Mads that. "The Illusive man wishes for you to speak with him down in the comm room." She said.

"Really? Guess I better go then" Mads replied as he stood up. He looked at himself the mirror. Despite the small injury, Kelly had done a fine job. "Thanks for the haircut." Mads said.

"You're welcome." She replied.

Mads went down to the comm room as fast as he could. He wondered what the Cerberus leader had in store for him. He didn't have to wait long to find out. Once again, the illusive man was seating. Smoking and drinking, while his unnatural eyes stared at him.

"There is news, Romanov. We believe it to be collectors." The Illusive man stated

"How come?" Mads asked.

"One of our colonies, Horizon, just went dark. If it isn't under attack, it soon will be. What is the status on the Dr. Mordin's counter measure for the Seeker Swarms?" The Illusive man asked back.

"I'm afraid it is not finished yet..." Mads replied.

"Then we must hope we can get it done in record time." The Illusive man commented.

"I have faith in Dr. Mordin." Mads replied.

"There is another issue we need to discuss. Your former crew member, Kaiden Alenko, has been posted to Horizon."

"Kaiden? He is alliance, why would he be posted to the Terminus system?" Mads asked confused.

"I'm not sure, officially it's an outreach program, but I believe that something isn't right. If the sent Alenko, it could be serious." The Illusive man explained.

"Then there is no time to waste. We'll head for Horizon right away."

"Good, this is the most warning we ever had. Be careful."

"Don't worry about me."

The call ended, Mads wasted no time to getting to the Lab, where Mordin was doing his thing. He was already hard at work, when Mads ran in. "Mordin! Please tell me you got something against seeker swarms."

All Mordin did was nod his head, with a smug smile. He showed Mads what he had cooked up. They were ready, now it was time for war.

9/7 2185

Horizon.

Tension and distrust between the Alliance and the terminus colonies was only a minor issue on paper. But in reality, it was a real challenge. Kaiden knew that, ever since stepping foot on the colony, he had been the scapegoat for everything that went wrong, even when the alliance tried to help them.

Kaiden had come there to defend the colony, rumors were spreading like wildfire that it was the next target. It was, however, a tightly held secret for now. It was only branded as an outreach program. Strange things was happening, the defense towers didn't seem to work, a strange vessel had landed on the colony with some even stranger people on it.

It had started out as a clear summer day, the birds were chipping. Then, the sun became black. A ship blocked the view. A huge ship, unlike anything Kaiden had ever seen before, and he had seen a lot of shit. He used his rifle to get a better look at the ship, and soon he realized it wasn't good.

"Get everyone underground, right now!" He ordered. The colonists hesitated at first, but as the saw the danger first hand, they quickly picked up the pace.

Kaiden tried his hardest, he really did. But the bullets from his rifle simply didn't do a good job against the swarms. Soon, it was even too late for him. A bug bit him, it stings like hell. Then, he couldn't move, frozen in place as he could only watch in horror as the same treatment was applied to everyone else.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

9/7 2185

Normandy shuttle

Steeping out of the shuttle, it was clear that the colony was used for farming. Not a note-worthy colony, expect for a single detail: The giant ship that had docked in the middle of the colony. It looked odd, almost like a rock or something like that. Mads had brought all his team members with him, the fight might get tough. Mordin was almost certain that the counter measure would work, but he needed to do a field-test.

Oh boy... would he get a field test. It was their first time fighting the collectors, and they were a dangerous foe. They were smart, fast and tough. They didn't buckle as easy under from the heavy caliber weapons Mads carried as other species, but they were mortal. That was all that ever mattered. What was the saying? If it bleeds, you can kill it. That seemed fitting.

Mads made sure to spread out the team, so that they could flank the enemy. It didn't take long before they lost signal with the Normandy, so they were really on their own. That didn't matter, they were professionals... Or they could at least pass for professionals.

The enemies flew in, making them almost a never ending horde. Once you had killed a couple, you could understand their weakness. They also used husks, but they were almost unworthy of being mentioned. They fell as easily as they did 2 years ago. Garrus and Mads made for a good team, they knew how each other operated, the others did fine as well.

They came across several colonists that were frozen in place. They were... conscious, able to see everything happening around them, yet unable to do anything. What a horrible fate. As they pressed on, they came across a collector that was tougher than the rest of them: faster, better and superior in every way. It spoke to them in a deep voice.

Yet it was as mortal as the rest of them, unable to stop them, able only slow them down. Mads managed to secure one of their weapons, it could be studied and used against them... Hopefully. They came to a building, one that was locked tight. It had to be hacked.

"Garrus, get it open." Mads ordered.

"Right away." Garrus replied as he went to work.

Mads changed his mag. The barrel was already steaming hot. It had been fired a lot of times today. Mads might just have to make another purchase from Sergei to keep up the war. This was probably only the first of many battles. Garrus had the door opened in record time, and they stormed in, but not before checking every corner.

The noise was what gave him away. If he tried to hide, he was doing a damn poor job of it. "Show yourself, now!" Mads ordered.

The man appeared from behind one of the giant boxes in the room. He slowly made his way towards them, when he realized they were human. "You're... You're humans! What are you doing? You just blew my hiding spot!" He proclaimed and ranted.

"Didn't you hear the knocking? They knew you were here, and it was only a matter of time before the cracked the code and took you. Collectors are a hard foe to hide from" Mads replied.

"Wait... They are collectors? I thought that was just alliance propaganda... To keep us in alliance space."

"Yeah? Well they are real enough. What's your name?"

"I¨m Dalan, a Mechanic. I was doing repairing work down here, and then I heard screaming... And I saw everything, and I sealed the door... Ohh God, they got Lilith!" He remembered.

"It's the alliance's fault! That damn Kaiden Alenko and his project made us a target!" Dalan ranted.

"Hmmmm... yes... Never your fault, is it? Where is Kaiden now?" Mads asked.

"I don't know..."

"Where is the calibrating system located then?"

"There is a transmitter on the other side of the colony, it's at the base."

"Good. Now stay down and lock yourself in." Mads ordered.

"Okay..." He replied.

The defense tower could be the key. If they could get it to fire on the ship, the collectors would withdraw as fast as they could. But now, it was a race against time (Like so many other times). The collectors were already busy loading up as many colonists as possible.

A battleground presented itself, so many possibilities. They spread out, each taking their own route and doing a good job at the same time. Mads shot a collector in its leg, and while it was still on the ground, he smashed its head in with his boot. There was a lot of brutal killing going on. After a lengthy battle, they got a small breathing room, just enough to establish communication with the Normandy.

"Joker! Are you there?" Mads asked through his ear piece.

"Yes, I'm here captain! Signal is a little weak, what are your orders?" Joker asked back.

"I need those towers online, and I need them online as soon as possible! Edi, is that possible?" Mads asked.

"Yes, but it will take a little while for them to power up."

"Do it!" Mads ordered.

They slowly began to power up, gaining more and more power. "Let's get ready." Mads ordered. The team slowly found the best spots to hold out while it powered up. The collectors would be sure to try and take it down.

And they did. Oh boy did they try. They threw everything at them, new and old enemies alike. They came in waves, offering very little breathing time. Nonstop fighting for so long. They team worked hard to achieve their goal of defending the tower. One of the collectors pinned Garrus to the ground, he managed to kill it, but it was replaced by a Husk that almost seemed like it was going to eat him. Mads ran to his aid and stabbed the Husk in the skull with his knife. Its dried blood fell upon Garrus as Mads removed the knife.

That was also the end of the fight; Mads helped Garrus up as the Towers began to open fire on the ship. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Like they thought, the fire forced the ship to abandon its mission and set its wings for the dark galaxy. As they watched the ship take off, Dalan came running. "Don't let them get away!" He yelled as he dropped to his knees.

"I'm sorry. There is nothing we can do." Mads tried to calm him down, it didn't go very well.

"Half the colony is gone! Everyone I know!" He argued.

"I know! We'll free them at some point." Mads fired back.

"You did well, Romanov. There is nothing more we can do." Garrus said as he padded Mads on the back.

"Romanov? Aren't you some alliance hero or something?"

"Captain Romanov." Kaiden corrected as he appeared from behind cover. "The first human Spectre, the man who saved the council and the citadel and stopped Saren. You are speaking to legend, Dalan. And a ghost as well."

"Of course you survived, I should have known. Fuck the both of you! I'm done with the alliance." Dalan remarked as he left.

"I thought you were dead, Captain." Kaiden said as he closed the distance between Mads and him. He went in for a handshake, but Mads grabbed the back of Kaiden's head and brought him closer till their foreheads touched.

"Kaiden... My brother. It is so good to see you again. How have you been?" Mads replied with closed eyes.

"How can you be so casual about this?" Kaiden said as he broke away from Mads. "You act like you never were dead…. Like you never left us! I would have been behind you every step of the way!"

"Kaiden! I was dead! Gone! You understand? I only just came back. Cerberus brought me back"

"Ohh... I see, you switched sides, huh? Garrus too... So the reports really were right..."

"Reports? You already knew?" Garrus jumped in and asked.

"There was a tip this colony was the next to be hit and that Cerberus would be behind it. Rumors were that you-" Kaiden pointed to Mads "-Was alive and working for them."

"The collectors are stealing humans and paralyzing human colonies! I can see that! You can see that! Say what you want about me, Kaiden. But I chose to act, and God forgive for siding with the one group that gave a shit." Mads replied.

"You can't believe that! We both saw what Cerberus did! I prayed to God that you were alive... But I never expected this from you..."

"Don't you call me a traitor! We are brothers! And you do this to me? You saw what was going on here, yet you seem so blind! You know I am doing this to protect the galaxy!"

"I really want to believe you. But what if Cerberus is playing you for a fool, using the reapers to mislead you?"

"Funny, I heard the same thing come out of a Turian councilor's mouth 2 years ago. You are too worked up, you are ignoring the facts here."

"Maybe.. Or maybe you are the one who is blinded. You probably believe you owe Cerberus. You are someone different. I got to report back, they will decide how truthful your story is." Kaiden began to walk away.

"KAIDEN! DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME!" Mads yelled at him. Garrus had to hold Mads back, so he didn't go running after him. Kaiden didn't say a word as he left.

"Let him go." Garrus said to Mads. After a few more moments, Mads calmed down and fell to his knees. "KAIDEN!" he yelled into the sky. The thought of losing such a dear friend was hard on him. After a few more moment, Mads got up. "Joker. Get the Normandy to pick us up." He ordered.

As they awaited the shuttle to come, someone cleared their throat. Mads looked around to see who it was. And he was quite surprised.

"Captain Romanov." William Sheridan greeted.

"William." Mads acknowledged.

"I wanted to apologize for my words on Omega. It seems Cerberus is not behind these attacks." William said.

"Yeah, glad you were enlightened." Mads replied mockingly.

"I want to propose a cease-fire. We both need to focus on the bigger threat here. We will cease our attacks on Cerberus, for the time being."

Mads thought about it for a little while, until he finally agreed. "Fine, we can honor that." He said. The two shook hands. For now it was only a verbal agreement, so who knows how long it would last, and who would break it.

"Great. I will see you around, Captain Romanov." William said as he went back to his ship. Right on que, their shuttle arrived, taking them off the Colony.

Mads spent a long time arguing back and forth with the Illusive man about what had happened that day. They simply didn't see eye-to-eye on many things, that much was certain. The Illusive man began to speak about the Omega 4 relay, that was where the Collectors lived, and that was where they were going. As soon as they had the right technology and the right people.

He also spoke about 3 more team members that were to be added. Mads was eager to see what he had cooked up for this round. One named jumped at him... It was Tali. Mads was overjoyed to see her name there. He didn't even waste time to plan a course for her location. He was going to get her back on his team, and he needed to speak with her, on a lot of things.