"All team members are at their stations, Commander," EDI said.
"Alright Joker," Shepard spoke while squeezing the back of his chair and squinting against the light of the relay shining through the viewport.
The pilot nodded while typing on his console. "God, I hope this works, or it's going to be a real quick trip."
The relay grabbed the ship, and stars turned into lines. Shepard felt the familiar floating gut of a successful warp overriding the inertial dampeners for a second - before debris filled the viewfinder.
"Holy shit, hang on!" Joker called over his shoulder. He led the Normandy bucking and rolling around the massive fragments of wreckage while smaller debris impacted the hull and shields, creating a deafening racket throughout the ship. The violent dodging pushed the dampers to their limits, and Shepard threw herself into the co-pilot seat and strapped in just before the bucking sent everyone and everything not tied down on a wild ride.
Seconds seemed like millennia, but they finally exited the debris into open space safely. Joker exhaled loudly.
A bipedal body floated past the nose of the Normandy,too crystallized to tell what kind of being it had been.
"Jesus Christ," Shepard murmured. "This must be all the vessels that never made it back through the relay."
The pilot pointed out the left viewport. "Look at that… some of these ships are… ancient."
"What in the bloody hell was that?!" Miranda stomped up from the CIC. She gasped as she too gazed across the littered scape of all the destroyed ships, back-lit by the light from the black hole's accretion disk.
"EDI, any estimates of the number of people dead here?" Shepard unbuckled and stood from the seat.
The AI was silent for a few beats. "I have identified some ship IDs listed as missing, but many vessels are significantly older than our records. If an estimate had to be made - thousands."
The Commander nodded. "Send a probe to take detailed scans. If any of those are Prothean, Liara will shit herself."
"Yes, Commander." There was a vague reverberation through the cockpit from the probe launch. "There is a strong energy signature from the edge of the accretion disk, Commander."
"Roger. Get us there Joker, that's gotta be the base. All scanners up, full power EDI. How are we doing down there, Tali?"
The Quarian's filtered speech filled the bridge. "Fine Shepard, With the upgrades we are nominal."
"Keep your fingers hovered over diversions to the Thannix. Garrus, you awake for on-the-flies, Mr. Math?"
"Absolutely. I prefer genius though," the turian's deep, flanging tone answered.
A blinking warning on RADAR popped up on the controls. "Shit, we've got company!" Joker yelled.
Shepard grabbed Miranda's arm and spun her into the co-pilot's seat just as Joker forced them into a hard nosedive that sent the Commander across the cockpit and into a bulkhead. A holo scan lit up on Joker's console showing a spherical machine.
Shepard stood up as they leveled out. "What are they?"
"Not sure, but I'll lose them in the wreckage," the pilot said.
"Commander, a drone has cut through our plating and is in the cargo hold." Did EDI's cool tone sound a bit frazzled?
"Shit. Zaeed, Grunt, Jack -" Shepard called.
"We see 'em," the mercenary's gruff reply interrupted her. "Already on the way."
"I'll meet you there!" The soldier took off, sprinting down the gangway.
"Grunt! Give me a lift!" Shepard shouted.
The krogan turned to her and crouched before giving a thumbs up. She dashed the remaining seven feet between them and planted a foot on his shoulder. He stood, her other foot in his hand, and he launched her airborne over stacks of supply pallets. Shepard tucked her legs to shift her trajectory and charged the large red ocular of the drone. It took a pot shot that arced over her shoulder as she moved, biotics powering her dash. The concussive impact sent the machine back through the bulkhead of the ship.
The hull buckled as the drone tore through, causing metallic screeching to fill the bay for a split second before it was drowned out by the roar of the Normandy's atmosphere being sucked out into the vacuum of space. Shepard was dragged mercilessly towards the breach, screaming and scrabbling along the deck to find purchase. Crates pelted her as they were pulled to the hole, overloading her shields to bash along her ablative plates. It only took seconds for the reactive shielding to plug the tear, but Shepard had nearly been pulled into space before it closed. She ricocheted painfully off of the shield with a yelp, then laid still.
"Christ! You are fucking daft, woman!" Zaeed's voice boomed in the suddenly quiet hanger.
"Oh, lay the fuck off old man. She got the job done, and she's alive!" Jack yelled back as she trotted over to the Commander and bent over her. The biotic grabbed her shoulder and Shepard hissed in a pained breath as she was turned.
"Come on, Butcher. Get up, you'll be fine." Jack held out a hand to help her up.
Shepard took it gratefully and stood, testing her weight on her tender knee. In the background, Grunt was laughing with glee.
"Shepard, you need to get back up here!" Joker's voice rang through the cargo bay.
Heavy bootfalls up the gangway signaled the Commander's return to the cockpit. "What is it, Joker?"
"We've got an old friend coming to greet us." He pointed to a signature on his console before flicking it up onto the viewscreen. "Magnify, EDI."
Pulling away from the large silhouette of the Collector base was the ever-familiar destroyer of the Normandy SR1.
"EDI, any scans you can do to determine if the crew is on there?" Shepard dug her fingers into the soft back of Joker's chair.
"Comparing scans from the last time you were aboard that ship, life signs are drastically fewer. This would suggest most or all kidnapped subjects are either dead, or now aboard the station."
"Alright… I'm running with that. No more caught off guard bullshit for us, mother fuckers. Let's show them our new teeth. Tali? Garrus? Ready the Thannix!" Shepard spoke with an edge of pure glee undisguised in her voice. Both team mates called back in the affirmative. "EDI, Joker, ready us!"
They weren't fast enough though, the Collector ship fired on the Normandy - the white of the beam was blinding as it filled the cockpit. Somehow Joker swooped them to the side just as the laser curved off the nose, and put large pieces of wreckage between them and the other ship. Shepard's pulse pounded in her neck as she held a white-knuckled grip on the back of the pilot's chair. The brightness of the beam set off flashbacks of her death, and for a few moments it felt as if her throat was closing. The ship paused in its firing and Joker pulled the Normandy away from the debris to set them careening straight towards the vessel.
"Trajectory locked," EDI said.
"Let 'em have it, Joker!" Shepard rasped.
"Gladly, time for payback assholes!" he yelled. The deep thrum of the Thannix powering and firing vibrated through the hull of the Normandy. The blue radiation of the cannon's shot sizzled through the space between them, cutting clear through a section of the Collector ship. Shepard and Joker both whooped.
"Hit 'em again!" the Commander called. Another beam burned through the void, tearing a vast swath of twisted metal off the other vessel. It shuddered to a standstill and arced a long gnarl of energy out of its new hole.
"Shit-" he didn't even get to finish the sentence before the vessel ripped apart violently, sending massive chunks in every direction, fire filling the holo for long moments.
Alarms blared in the cockpit while Joker hurriedly fiddled with controls, but despite his efforts the immense base careened closer as they spun away from the blast. Shepard lost sight of the screen as she was jarred back and forth, losing her grip on the pilot's chair. There was an ear-splitting screech of metal on metal that raised every hair on her body as she was abruptly thrown to the floor, and everything went black.
Shepard groaned. With monumental effort, she dragged both eyelids open and rolled to her stomach and pushed herself up. "Joker… are you okay?" All she could see was the back of his walked around the seat to gauge his injuries
He sucked in a loud, pained breath. "I think I broke another rib… or all of them." Joker was curled with an arm around his left side.
"Are we safe here, EDI?" She looked out the viewport at what seemed to be the interior of the Collector base.
"No internal alarms or security systems seem to have been triggered by our landing. It's possible the Collectors never expected anyone to infiltrate their home. There are no ships or drones on scans," the AI responded.
The Commander hit the console coms. "Everyone alive? Sound off."
Each member of the ground team answered back. Shepard rubbed a palm across the back of her head and glanced at her hand. Good, no blood.
"Come on Joker, let's get you to the Professor." She cautiously wound an arm behind him and lifted him up.
"Ah, ahh, careful. I don't need another broken arm," he whined.
She snorted. "I can be gentle, you know."
Joker groaned dramatically as they made their way to the lift. "Please don't make me laugh right now."
"Commander? What about you?" Joker asked. Mordin turned towards her with his eyes narrowed.
"It was just a minor bump on the noggin, we've got bigger fish to fry." Shepard waved a dismissive hand.
"Bump? You were unconscious for a minute there." Joker laid back under the machine they affectionately referred to as 'the mender.'
The Professor sighed and flicked open the tissue scanner on his omni-tool to wave it over her head. "Go ahead, rousing speech time. Will continue. Please, don't say 'hold the line' though," he said with a smirk.
Shepard smiled at him and turned towards her small gathering of misfits and murderers. Tali and Jack were propped against a shared cot, Miranda was just to the Commander's right side, arms folded. Thane was behind the operative, blinking calmly with his hands behind his back. Garrus stood stoically in the middle of the room with Grunt shuffling about next to him. Zaeed and Jacob were flanked like mirrors on either side of the turian, arms crossed. Samara and Kasumi were further behind them, the Justicar leaned against the wall near the med bay door with the thief pacing in front of her. Legion stood unmoving on her left, only the occasional twitch of eye shutter kept him from being part of the scenery.
"Tali, EDI, where are we with the Normandy?" the Commander asked.
"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash," EDI answered first.
"And the mass generators aren't working. Everything can be restored, but it will take time, Shepard," Tali's accented voice finished.
Miranda shifted her weight to one hip. "Well, we always knew this was likely a one-way trip."
"Screw that. I'll do whatever it takes to stop these bugs, but I'm going to live to tell about it. This is just step one for Reapers and I'll be damned if they get to step two while I'm around," Shepard stated.
Joker sighed over the sound of the machine. "Glad you're the one in charge."
"This certainly isn't how we planned this. But this is where we are. We can't worry if the Normandy can get us home or not at this point." She turned towards Tali. "As much as I'd like to leave you, Legion, and Mordin here to repair everything - and everyone," she nodded her head towards Joker. "The scale of this thing and the amount of bad guys in it means we need all the firepower we can get. We are here to stop the Collectors. That means destroying this station is priority one." Shepard nodded to her XO, who pulled up a holo projection of the base on her omni-tool. The ground team crowded in closer to get a clear view of the map.
The AI highlighted a section of the base. "You should be able to overload their critical systems from the primary control station in this area."
Jacob stepped forward and pointed. "That'll lead us right past this massive heat signature."
The Commander squinted at the hologram. "That's got to be the central chamber. If our crew are still alive, that's probably where they'll be."
Thane's gravelly tone cut in. "It looks like there are two main routes there. It would be a good idea to split into two groups to keep the Collectors off-balance. One group can draw fire and keep the other protected. We can regroup in the central chamber."
Miranda shook her head and tapped on her tool to highlight two intersections. "No good - both routes are blocked. See these two doors? The only way past those is to get someone to open them from the other side."
Kasumi moved to the holo map. "There - a shaft, probably ventilation. Someone could fit through it to open this door, then we can circle to open the other."
Taylor scoffed. "Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer."
Miranda snapped her head towards him. "I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you wouldn't be able to shut down the security systems in time."
Jacob nodded at Shepard. "It's your call, Commander."
She glanced back and forth over her team members. "Someone lightning fast at hacking, who can resist whatever conditions those vents might have - Legion, it's best to send you."
"Acknowledged, Shepard-Commander." He bobbed his head.
"Meanwhile, the rest of us will split into two teams and fight down the corridors." The N7 leaned into the holo with a hand on her chin.
"I will lead the second fire team, Shepard. We can meet up with you on the other side of the doors," Miranda declared.
Jack hopped off her cot immediately. "Not so fast, cheerleader. Nobody wants to take orders from you." She didn't even try to hide the disdain in her words.
Behind her, Garrus shook his head and rubbed two fingers on a brow plate.
Miranda closed her tool, killing the projection. "This isn't a popularity contest! Lives are at stake, we need someone who knows how to lead, who commands loyalty through experience!" the operative snapped back.
Shepard stepped between them, cutting off their line of sight, and held up a hand to each woman.
"Garrus," She said his name quietly, but he flinched like he'd been hit.
He turned his head up to stare at her, and she stared right back, trying to convey comfort and support through her gaze. He could do it, she knew it. Now he just needed to know it. He tilted his chin down once in affirmation but said nothing.
Miranda let out a breath. "Well, at least he knows what he's doing," she murmured.
Garrus's brow plates lifted at her praise.
Shepard couldn't restrain the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Garrus, you take the main fire team. You'll need the heavy hitters with you. Grunt, Zaeed, Samara, Thane, Jacob, Miranda. Tali, go with him too, I already know you two are a good team and we will each need a tech expert. Kasumi, Jack, and Mordin, you're with me. We will stay quick, and as quiet as possible."
Krios very uncharacteristically frowned and shifted his weight.
"He'll need long range support more than me, Thane," she said. Smartly, he remained quiet, only turning to share a cryptic look with Garrus. "EDI, we will connect you to any console we find. Mine any information you can get."
"Yes, Shepard."
The Commander stood straight. "Once we're in, they are going to throw everything they have at us. If we're weak, if we hesitate, we're dead. These bastards have terrorized the Terminus for years, doing the dirty work of the Reapers. But they got cocky. They think they can just board our ship and take our crew, our friends! I don't fucking think so. They started this war. Make them regret Freedom's Progress, Ferris Fields, and Horizon!"
Her boots hit the ground with a resounding thwack that echoed down the expansive corridor they'd crashed through. It was a small boon that her knee took the drop from the airlock so well. This was going to work, Shepard told herself and tried to muster belief into it. She turned to look past the Normandy's curved back at the hole it had left in the station. The emergency barrier shimmered here and there but was otherwise invisible. Glancing around the hall, the place looked damned familiar though. Exactly like the inside of the Collector ship - an unsettling mix of technical and organic… like the bugs had seen old alien Earth movies a few too many times. Shepard shook her head. At least they didn't leak acidic goo.
It was too quiet though, their presence still went uncontested. Not even by a single scout bug. By some miracle the Collectors either thought they'd died on impact, or didn't realize they'd hit the station at all. A wave of… something crawled over her skin, raising hair follicles as it moved, and a cold bead of sweat inched down her neck as her teammates dropped out of the airlock behind her one by one. Shepard revolved slowly, ears straining to pick up any noise other than the footfalls of her squad.
A hand on her shoulder stopped her motion. Shepard spun to lock gazes with her sniper.
"You okay?" The familiar oscillation of his voice was instantly calming. Looking up into his blue eyes gave her a few moments to gather her racing thoughts.
She smiled. "Yeah, we've got this big guy." She pointed to the rounded pack sitting at the small of her back, just below the Cain. "I've got enough ordinance to blow this place straight into that black hole. Harbinger is going to rue the day he ever heard the name Shepard."
Garrus chuckled for a beat, but then his mandible pulled in tight. As they looked at one another, she knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"If he is here… and anything like Sovereign-"
She leaned into his chest to speak quietly as she watched their team checking their weapons. "I know. I've been thinking about it too. No sense in alarming everyone, though. We don't have the firepower for a ship sized techno squid. I lost almost a whole damn fleet to Sovereign, but all we can do is cross that bridge if we come to it."
He gave a slow nod. Shepard twisted her head to stare down the hall in front of them - it ramped down sharply and split off in two different directions.
She had her hair in its customary ponytail, her helmet tucked under one arm. His gaze followed the strands, casually spread across one shoulder. It wasn't until her eyes were on him again that he realized he'd reached out to touch the orange cascade.
He dropped his hand from her. The unexpected, out-of-character action made her chest constrict and pushed thoughts she never let herself entertain directly to the front of her mind. This could be the last time they ever saw each other.
She opened her mouth - to tell him what? Behind Garrus, she caught Miranda looking away from them and whatever thought she'd had was lost. Shepard cleared her throat and reached out to clasp his forearm.
"Don't worry. I picked you for a reason. I have no doubt you can handle them just fine. You've been on missions with each one of them. You know their styles, you know tactics, you have experience leading, and they respect you."
Garrus sighed. "I got my whole team killed, and you show up like nothing ever changed, still believing in me when you shouldn't."
She cocked her head. "If your worst quality is to trust too much, you're already better than me. You've never let me down, big guy, so I never stop believing." She stepped around him as Grunt walked up.
The krogan brought a broad hand down on her shoulder. "Don't kill anything fun until we meet back up."
She grinned. "You'll be the one having all the fun, I'm sure. Take care of them, Grunt."
Shepard turned to address the group. "Everyone ready to move out?"
There was a chorus of affirmatives. Garrus rallied his team, and they began their descent down the left tunnel. She tried to swallow the foreboding lump in her throat as she and her small group watched them go.
"Shepard-Commander, vent conditions are such that our platform is at risk," Legion spoke over com.
"I know, I know, it's hot - we've got you Legion! I can see a console ahead." She paused to send the head off a drone, but another two dropped down in its place. "Agh, I can't get to it - Kasumi?"
"I'm on it!" the thief answered. Shepard couldn't see where she was, but Legion's affirmation that he could move forward in the vents proved that she'd been successful.
"Thanks Kasumi, you're a doll!" She jumped back with a surprised yelp as the Collector in front of her burst into flames. "Whoa!"
"Still a few tricks left up these sleeves," Mordin said with a chuckle. The Commander turned to see his white coat fluttering behind him as he lept over an outcropping.
Jack hoisted herself up onto a crate next to her. "You ready?!"
She nodded. "Lift one up, I'll give it a truck," she spoke in sing-song.
The biotic laughed maniacally as she dragged drones out of their cover, perfectly lined up in the blue glow of her powers. "99 bottles of Collector piss on the wall!"
Mordin tutted over the com. "There must be better songs out there."
Shepard kicked off the crate and smashed into all three, sending them careening into the wall where they crumpled. She twisted in the air after rebounding off of them and managed to land on her feet.
Jack stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly over the hail of gunfire and unsettling noises the drones made. "Oh my god, are you finally getting good at this? We're gonna make a vanguard out of you yet, Shepard!"
The Commander snorted, weaving in and out of drone pot shots, "I can see the doors, Garrus, how you guys doing over there?"
"Taking a massive amount of fire, but holding our own. We are in position at the doors," he answered.
"Shit. Double time it everyone!" She sprinted toward the doors, taking down drone after drone as they approached.
"You are nothing but bacteria, Shepard. Why do you resist your destiny?" Harbinger. His voice sent chills down her vertebrae.
Where had it spoken from? She twisted this way and that, searching for him. Something slammed into her from behind, smashing her into the ground, bouncing her head painfully off the floor and causing cracks to spider out on the edge of her visor. She tried to jump back up her head and shoulders were held down. All three of her team gasped her name in alarm. Must have been Harbinger sitting on top of her.
"Eat lead, bastard," Kasumi's voice echoed in stereo inside and outside Shepard's helmet just before the thief unloaded an entire SMG clip. The weight slid off of her and the thief's hand entered her line of sight. "Sorry about that, I was further behind him than I thought, Shep."
She grabbed the offered hand and pulled herself to stand. "No apologies, thanks for that. Let's get through that door. Legion?"
"Affirmative, hacking security systems now," the geth answered.
No sooner had he stopped talking the door screeched open and let them through into the central chamber. They dashed through together, weapons raised.
Shepard could hear a hail of gunfire coming from behind the parallel door. She pushed Legion towards the glowing red security panel. "Hurry!" His three very quarian-like fingers set to work immediately, opening the metal door within seconds, allowing the fire team to pour into the room one after another.
Garrus was the last one through. "Close it, close it!" he barked. The door snapped back shut, leaving them all gasping for breath in the stillness of the colossal central chamber.
Shepard moved to Grunt, who had what looked like blood but was... something else? Splattered across his great heaving chest - she quickly discovered that whatever it was wasn't from him when she wiped her hand through it.
"Blech, what the hell is this Grunt?" She shook the goo from her gauntlet.
He tilted his head back and just laughed loudly.
Thane walked up to them and put a hand under her elbow. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, she's fine. I didn't let your girlfriend get hurt, Krios." Kasumi said, a wide smirk plastered on her face.
Shepard rolled her eyes before realizing no one could see it through the helmet. Thane didn't dignify the thief with a response - which of course made her smile even wider.
"Commander, you should see this," Miranda said. She'd walked down the nearest wall, which was covered in pods. She beckoned her with a hand, so Shepard trotted over. There was a woman inside, seemingly unconscious. Miranda tapped on the enclosure. She didn't stir.
"She's a colonist." Shepard waved her hands around the lid, trying to find holo controls, while the Cerberus operative continued walking along the pods. Footsteps sounded behind her as the rest of the team approached.
Suddenly the woman's skin began to look patchy and red. As Shepard watched, the red turned to sores and her eyes sprang open. The colonist screamed, the sound muffled by the pod.
"Holy shit, they're alive!" Shepard shrieked. "Get them out!"
The Commander pounded on the pod as the woman wailed, leaving bloody handprints all over the inside, desperately trying to claw her way out. The glass was completely covered in blood as Shepard bent to try to find a readout, a control panel, anything. Nothing. She grabbed her shotgun off her back and bashed the butt of it against the pod lid - but the woman inside gurgled horribly before letting out one last hair raising wail.
"Shit, shit shit!" the soldier breathed.
Bloody goo was sucked loudly out of the pod through a clear tube that went up over their heads and out of the room. Shepard held her breath as the viscous fluid was transported out of sight… it was enough to explain the now empty pod.
"There's a seam on the sides!" Miranda yelled, her voice snapping the Commander from her thoughts.
"Look, it's Kelly!" Kasumi pointed at a row of pods above the ones at ground level.
Shepard had no time to process the grisly reality of the colonists fates. She stood and ran down the line to where the thief stood. "Thane!" she called. He scrambled up with impressive speed to extract the yeoman. The Commander kept running down the line of pods as the ground team fanned out, calling out names, and tearing open those that contained their crewmen.
Finally, Shepard spotted the familiar head of grey she'd been looking for. "Chakwas!"
To the doctor's left was Patel. Grunt and Garrus both ran up behind the Commander.
"Garrus, lift me! Grunt, hold your arms out." Her sniper bent to a knee and held a forearm out for her to get a foot up and crawl up his collar.
He stood, pushing her up by a thigh and foot until she got a handhold on a row of tubing and wires. Shepard shimmied carefully across Chakwas's pod and stabbed her blade inside the seam of Patel's. She grunted with effort and sprung the lid open faster than she expected, dropping the crewman and nearly herself.
"GRUNT!" she blurted.
Bless him, he was already right there under her. He caught Patel with ease and set her down gently on the ground. Shepard scrambled for purchase, but found a decent foot hold to pry Chakwas's pod door open with her fingers. Thankfully it popped open much slower, and the smaller, older woman fell forward into Shepard's outstretched arms. She cradled the unconscious doctor with one arm and turned to peer over her shoulder. Her sniper was standing below her with his arms open, ready. Of course. She tipped backwards. Her guts clenched in the split second fall, but he grabbed them both deftly.
The gentle doctor was already blinking awake as Garrus set them both on the ground. "Shep… Shepard?" she rasped from the Commander's arms, looking up at her.
"You got it, Doc." She smiled.
Chakwas turned to look around confusedly. "You all came for us?"
Tali crouched to inspect the elderly doctor with her omni-tool. "Of course! We wouldn't leave any of you behind."
Shepard got up on her knees as a three fingered hand reached out to her. She took it and let Garrus haul her to her feet. She regarded both him and Grunt. "Thanks, both of you. That was great catching. We should all play baseball sometime."
Zaeed was a few feet away with his arms crossed and several dazed crewmen around him. "Psh, that's only part of the game. I've got a mean curveball - like to see either alien catch that."
Both Grunt and Garrus looked confused at his words. Shepard chuckled.
"Are you all alright?" Jacob asked their little crowd. There was a resounding murmur from the crew that sounded like a 'yes'.
Chakwas held a hand out to Tali, who pulled her up. "When they brought us in, we watched the colonists… be liquified. They turned them into a soup that they pump out of the pods with the tubes." She pointed up at the massive tubing that ran the length of the chamber.
Yeah. Unfortunately Shepard had seen it first hand. "What the hell purpose do they have with us? Raw genetic material? For what?"
The doctor shook her head. "I didn't see anything else, so I don't know. I'm just glad you got here before it happened to us."
Miranda walked up to stand by Tali. "So are we, but we still have a job to do."
Shepard held a finger to her com. "EDI? Joker? Do you guys have a lock on our position?"
"Affirmative Commander," the pilot answered. "Those tubes make a turn into the main control room above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there is another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."
EDI interjected. "I cannot recommend that. Thermal emissions suggest that the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure will not work against so many at once."
"I could create a biotic field that would repel them. I wouldn't be able to protect everyone, but I could get a few people through if they stay close," Samara suggested.
Shepard nodded. "That'll be fine."
"What about the rest of us, Commander?" Chakwas asked. "We are in no shape to fight."
Joker came back on the com. "Shepard, we've got enough systems back up to pull off a short pick up, but we'd need to land back from your position."
"We can't afford to go back - not now!" Miranda's voice rose with desperation.
The Commander held up a hand. "Relax." She turned to lock eyes with Mordin, who was standing at the edge of the group. "They'll never make it without an escort, Professor, can you take them? They will need you once you all get back."
"Of course." The old salarian popped the heat sink on his pistol and jammed in a new one.
"And Tali? You should go too and see what you can do to help Joker and EDI get the Normandy running. We've got to at least survive one more trip through that relay, and maybe a limp to Omega for drinks." Shepard added the last part in a mumble.
The quarian giggled. "Yes, Shepard. I'm sure we can manage it. First round's on you though."
The Commander smiled and clasped her friend's forearm. Tali's laugh always pulled at her heartstrings. "Good luck."
Chakwas moved up to wind her arms around Shepard's shoulders in a tight hug. Mordin too, briefly rested a hand on her. They shared a meaningful glance, no goodbyes needed, eye contact said it all. The crewmen straightened, and all saluted the ground team members before trudging out of sight with Tali and Mordin.
As they trailed away, Shepard turned towards her team. "Okay. Jack and Thane, switch out. We'll need to keep everything as long range from Samara as possible." She pulled the assault rifle off her back.
"We'll keep the defenders busy as a diversion. That way you can slip around." Garrus said.
"Perfect. We'll open the door for you once we get to the other side. Take care of each other over there and give them hell!" Shepard declared.
Jack let out a whoop, and Grunt brought his fists together with glee.
Trying to stay inside Samara's biotic bubble while murdering everything in a thirty-foot radius was slow going and agonizing. They'd ploughed through a multitude of husks down the completely dark route, shooting into the black when they heard the creatures' familiar moaning. Although, hearing the husks over the constant buzzing of the seekers bouncing loudly off of Samara's shield was near impossible. Kasumi stayed in front of the asari, killing husks that got too close with her SMG, leaving the range to Shepard and Thane.
If it had just been husks it wouldn't have been so bad, but there were scions here too, along with the occasional Harbinger-ized drone flying in to taunt her. On top of that, they'd lost communication with Garrus's team almost instantly when the swarms descended on them, so by the time they got within eyesight of the door, Shepard's nerves were ragged.
Samara was bowing with exertion, trying desperately to keep her shaking arms up. The barrier was shrinking by the minute, forcing them all closer together.
"I can see the door Samara, you can do it!" Shepard inwardly cursed her lack of skill - she should have practiced barriers a lot harder. If she had, she could have helped the Justicar.
"I can make it, Commander," the biotic strained to say.
The Collectors had begun rallying, employing tactics and shields against them now that the station knew they were there. And here they were with no space to move or take cover while trapped inside a biotic bubble. God, she hoped the other team was alive - if the few drones here had gotten this smart, the fire team was in a massive amount of danger.
Shepard hopped over a barricade that had been set up in front of them and buried her blade in a drone's hard triangular head. It screeched like they always did, a bit like a bug and a bit like a machine. Thane was felling Collectors as they were flying in, causing bodies to rain around them. Kasumi darted to the door panel as soon as Samara got them in range.
Shepard kicked a husk back over the ledge it had crawled up. "Kasumi? They're pushing us!"
"I've got it, Shepard!"
Sure enough, the metal door retracted into the ceiling, revealing a mercifully clear corridor beyond. The Justicar backed them up to it, and let the three of them through before steadying herself. She sucked in a great breath and let out a yell, gathering up the power of the shield and blowing the energy back into the chasm full of drones. The wave was bright white, all-encompassing, and pulverized everything it came into contact with.
The door snapped closed between them and the dark chamber. Shepard didn't even get a second to close her gaping mouth at Samara's powerful display before Garrus's voice crackled back to life over the coms.
"..do you copy? COME ON SHEPARD! Where are you!?" he yelled desperately.
Her stomach plummeted to her feet the instant she heard his tone. "I copy! What's your position?!"
"We're pinned down at the door, taking heavy fire!" There was an explosion that overloaded the coms for a second, drowning him out.
"We're coming!" She took off across the room to the other doorway, though Kasumi was well ahead of her and much faster.
The thief hit the controls first and knelt, pulling up her omni-tool to crack the security panel. Shepard and Thane skidded to a halt in front of the doorway, weapons drawn. The door whined and lifted only a few inches. Kasumi banged on the console in frustration.
"There's something mechanically wrong with it, it's jammed!" She pried a panel off the frame and stuck her hands into the wiring.
Shepard reared back and took a run at the metal, kicking off with her biotics and flinging herself bodily into it. It screeched and jerked up unsteadily.
"Well, that's one way to do it," Kasumi commented.
The Commander charged through, assault rifle singing. She biotically grabbed a drone that darted at Jacob, and threw it fifty feet, letting it crash into a trio of its fellows.
"Pull back!" Garrus commanded. He didn't have to say it twice - the ground team backed through the open door with cohesion, the biotic users keeping a barrier up against the wall of gunfire.
An abhorrent screeching wail filled the cavern - Shepard jerked her head up to see a huge mechanical buglike monstrosity hurtling toward them. Same as the one they fought on Horizon… Christ, had they been fighting this thing the whole time they'd been in the seeker swarm? She yanked Garrus through the doorway.
"Close it!" she screamed.
The creature came down nearly on top of both of them, blowing out their shields. The cacophony of gunfire trading back and forth continued until the door slammed shut.
Garrus's gun clattered to the ground as he stumbled against the wall, doubled over, clutching his abdomen.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Shepard mumbled as she moved to him.
Cobalt blood leaked rapidly from in-between his fingers, but he waved a palm at her as he gasped in a pained breath. "It's okay, nothing a little medi-gel can't fix. Did everyone make it through?"
"Yes, everyone made it, now move." Shepard tugged his hand away. Shit. He'd taken a round after his shields fell. The hole in his gut was just about the size of her finger. She quickly shucked her gauntlet. "It's bleeding too fast for the gel to get a foothold. Forgive me." She shoved a digit into his wound.
Garrus let out a dual toned cry she'd never heard a turian make before. It made her sweat turn cold, like a draft had caught her.
"Hold still." She reached up and brought up his suit readout to dispense the gel. A few tense moments passed while the medication worked its magic. There was only the indistinct murmurs and reloading of the ground team behind them in the quiet.
Garrus's breathing evened after a few minutes, one hand clutched her shoulder as he leaned against the wall with his eyes closed.
"You okay, big guy?" she murmured.
He nodded. The wound was tightening, so she gently pulled her finger out. "Spirits," he groaned.
She'd never been more thankful that they were made of different aminos - the medi-gel didn't fuse them like it would two levos or two dextros.
"Okay, crisis averted. Any other major wounds for me to stick a finger in?" Shepard asked.
Zaeed smirked. "I've got somewhere you could stick a hand,"
"Don't even finish that sentence, you old bastard," she sighed.
Jack laughed loudly, and a few smiles spread among the ground team. It was a good sign - they were grimy and tired, but spirits were still up. They were still holding out hope.
Shepard hit the button on her helmet for the com. "Joker, did the crew make it back okay?"
"Aye, Commander. Everyone is in one piece… more or less. Tali and I have already got a few more systems up," the pilot responded.
"Good." Shepard revolved on her heel to take everyone in.
The team was passing out meal bars and hydro pods. No other major injuries, it seemed. She weaved a path through them, checking in with each person individually. She shared a few of her shotgun thermal clips with Grunt and took a few meal bars and hyropods from Jacob. Kasumi and Jack were trading barbs back and forth while Garrus held his arms up and was turning and stretching at the waist, making sure his range of movement was okay.
There was only one face she didn't see. Shepard trotted over to where Samara still sat, just inside the door that separated them from the seeker swarms. "Are you alright, Samara?"
The Justicar had her usual serene, unaffected face on. "Yes, just resting before the next phase."
Shepard held out a bar and two pods to her. Samara accepted with a short incline of her head.
"Commander, you've got a problem down there. Thermals show a horde of hostiles massing behind the door. Won't be long before they bust through," Joker said.
"Thanks Joker." The soldier inhaled her own hydro pods and quickly shoved the majority of a meal bar into her mouth.
"EDI, what's our next step?" Miranda asked.
"There should be some platforms nearby - similar to ones on the Collector ship, which will take you to the main control console. From there you can overload systems and destroy the base," the AI responded.
Further in the room there was an elevated section that Shepard hopped up on. No stairs since the drones could all fly - that explained a lot about their design choices. Sure enough, docked at the end of the room were the same floating saucers, hanging over a wide section of piping and ductwork that trailed off into a dark passage.
"Yeah, these are the platforms," Shepard called to her XO. "A rear guard will need to stay here and take up a defensive position to keep them from overwhelming us."
Miranda waved an arm. "Pick who you want to go with you, Shepard. The rest of us will hold here."
The Commander put her chin in her hand. It'd be nice to have a techie and some biotic support… the most efficient pick would be Garrus - her triple threat for tech, midrange, and long range. If he came along it would be fewer guns gone from the front, but unfortunately he was one of the best guns. Shepard sighed. No telling what her little team would be up against, but all the heavy hitter biotics needed to stay here for defense, so that left Miranda, Jacob, and Thane. Thane understood her battle rhythm the best of the three.
"Garrus, Thane, you're with me. The rest of you… don't take any unnecessary risks." She looked pointedly at Jack and Grunt, who shared a fist bump. "Protect each other and stay the hell away from those big mechanical bastards. Bait them into ring-around-the-rosy with your cover so your mates can down them from behind. We will be back as fast as we can." Her two snipers hopped up next to her. She took one last glance at the ground team's determined faces before turning and lighting up the platform's interface. It shuddered as it detached from the dock and ferried them down the dark, cavernous hall.
The saucers probably indicated that Collectors didn't fly long distances. Shepard decided that was a small silver lining. She swung a leg over the railing to lean out as it floated them along, and Thane came to peek over the ledge as well. Below them enormous tubes ran across the bottom of the corridor.
"All these lines are converging where we are going. EDI, what have you found in their systems?" the Commander asked.
The AI's voice came over the com, "The tubes are feeding into a superstructure that is emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures." They were quickly approaching a yawning opening into an even bigger area. EDI's tone dropped, almost whispering. "Shepard, if my calculations are correct… the super structure… might be a Reaper."
It was Garrus who gasped first, up at the front of the disc. "Spirits," he breathed into his com as the platform carried them through the opening.
She could barely make out the outline of something hanging in the middle of the room, back lit vaguely by gray light coming from somewhere further in the cavern. The only sound was the high-pitched whine of the platform's small mass effect core. She squinted as the platform moved them further into the room - and out of the darkness came a mammoth, metallic, human skull. She and Thane both sucked in audible breaths at the same time.
"Oh, my fucking God," she murmured. "It's a Reaper alright EDI… a fucking human one!"
Joker and Miranda's exclamations over the com were lost to her as the saucer slowed nd descend to a dock just in front of the cursed thing, giving the trio a long, up close look at the creature. Shepard fumbled to turn on her helmet cam and light.
It hung by its arms, suspended by huge tubes and cables from the ceiling. Its head was lolled to the side, resting on its own shoulder as if it were asleep with its jaw open. The Collectors were still in the process of building it, so its rib cage was only partially finished, and there was a great, elongated spinal cord that emerged from the structure and disappeared into the darkness below their platform.
Shepard could do little more than stand and gape up at it for a few moments. "Are you guys seeing this feed?"
"It appears the Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans. They will need significantly more to complete the Reaper." EDI said quietly over the com.
That snapped her out of it somewhat. "What the hell do they gain from this! What good does a giant human do for them?!"
"They may be facilitating the Reaper equivalent of reproduction, or it may serve another purpose." EDI replied, "I do not have the data to speculate further."
Suddenly, it struck her. "Infighting," Shepard gasped.
"What?" Garrus turned his helmet towards her.
She cleared her throat. "Infighting. If the Reapers unleashed this abomination on the galaxy, all the other races would think we made it. That it was us killing everyone. We'd all turn on one another - the Reapers wouldn't even need to be here."
"Shepard," Garrus murmured, the tone of it hard to decipher.
"It is clear that the Collectors are merely pawns. The technology and ability to create this Reaper is far beyond their own. It is likely that different species have constructed each Reaper. In this case, the Collectors have provided the labor," the AI continued.
"So what the hell was Sovereign based on? He looked like a huge… squid... bug… thing. Ah, and so did Harbinger. I saw his hologram at Aratoht." Shepard walked off the platform to the catwalk below the creature to get a better angle to show its size.
EDI's voice came on again. "There are extensive archives on this base full of many species unknown to the Galaxy, likely previous victims of the Reapers. It is possible that whatever species Harbinger and Sovereign are based on is contained in their records."
The Commander froze in her tracks. "Garrus, what did he say about you? On Horizon?"
He huffed. "What, we're analyzing Harbinger's insults now?"
She crossed her arms and stuck a hip out.
He sighed and did his best mocking impression of Harbinger's booming, digitized voice. "Turian: you are considered too… primitive."
She snorted. "And earlier he told Thane, 'Drell: useless. Insufficient numbers'. Back on the Collector ship he said, 'Human: viable possibility. Impressive genetic malleability, great biotic potential.'"
Thane turned towards her. "So he was talking about this. That suggests the Reapers cannot create a Reaper out of just any species."
"Why do they need to do this at all, though? They are machines." Shepard walked over to the main console and pulled up her tool to hack into it.
"Incorrect. Sovereign wreckage analysis proved Reapers are sapient constructs, a hybrid of organic and inorganic," EDI said.
"Well, whatever you want to call them, I'm going to blow this thing to hell. Any suggestions on destroying it, EDI?"
"The large tubes injecting the fluid are a weak structural link. Destroying them should cause the support structure to collapse and the Reaper to fall," the AI answered.
"Great. Let's set the charges and then take this thing out. We need to get out of here so I can stand in front of the fucking Council and show them this footage." She typed furiously on her tool. "I need to see the look on Sparatus's face when he figures out how right I was all this time."
Garrus snorted and shook his head.
Thane watched as Shepard got locked out of the console, and kicked the lower panel in irritation. Luckily, inside his mask, he didn't have to hide his smile.
Her crack program shrilling loudly prompted the turian to trod over and bend over her with his own tool out. He had the interface up and running within a few minutes. Shepard ducked out from under his arms and was speaking to him off coms, her hands moving expressively.
As they interacted Thane wondered if they knew how they were together. They shared an untouchable closeness - something that seemed, from the outside, almost religious or sacred. Something that made you feel unworthy to witness, because the only worthy ones were them. He was dragged from his thoughts when Garrus snapped his head up from the interface suddenly.
The turian tilted his head and stood stock still.
Shepard glanced around. "What is it?"
Garrus turned towards the Reaper. "We've got incoming."
