Aboard the CSSU Odysseus en-route to Freedom's Progress

"We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?"

Huh. She seemed to have recovered from her earlier mind break well enough. So was the Illusive Man her Daddy? Did that mean any of Timmy boy's orders would supersede his if push came to shove? Would Jacob be the same, or would his whimsical-as-fuck moral compass pick the right magnetic North in the end? These scenarios required further investigation; perhaps an accommodating facade to test the waters?

"What can you tell me about this colony we're going to?"

Miranda answered, "Freedom's Progress? It's a typical human settlement in the Terminus Systems. They had a small military force for protection supplemented by mechs and security drones. Average in almost every way really. Completely unremarkable…. Until the disappearance. Apart from the empty buildings and the giant mystery, I'm not expecting much out there."

"Are you sure you'll be comfortable following my orders?"

That should give them enough confidence to reveal a glimpse of their base selves.

"We didn't bring you back from the dead just to second-guess you, Commander."

Ooh, snarky. Always delightful to hear from his soldiers, ones that he trusted, anyway. Jacob did not fall in that category. This attitude of Jacob's would be corrected in due course. Even if he did rediscover his moral compass, he wouldn't be trusted for a while. Shepard didn't get this far by being naive about the goodness of his fellow man. Quite the contrary, actually.

"If the Illusive Man says you're in charge, you're in charge."

Well that simply wouldn't do. It seemed that the Confused Corsair would be shuffling his mortal coil soon, courtesy of an unfortunate and unexpected accident. Unless he could redeem himself, of course.

Still, Shepard needed to know more about what he was working with.

"What did you find in the other colonies?"

"Nothing. No signs of attack, no corpses. Not even a trace of unusual genetic material to give us a clue. They just disappear, and we've got no target to go after."

.

'Why the heck did they go straight to genetic material? '

'Have these morons never heard of CCTV footage?'

.

"I find it hard to believe that there is no footage of the attack, There must have been some cameras operational? What about sensor data from any orbital scanners?"

.

'If no footage or data exists, that means it must have been deleted. Whether remotely or manually remains to be seen.'

The silence was deafening.

Shepard sighed.

"Please tell me you checked for that."

The silence was such that the shuttle's air conditioning unit felt self-conscious about the noise it was making.

.

'Is it too late to go back on ice again?'

.

Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He could see a never ending loop of migraines already.

"So what makes you think this investigation will turn up anything new?"

'I swear to whatever you believe in, if you give me an answer that sounds like you've been suckling at Timmy boy's ball sack, I'm booting you out of the airlock first chance I get.'

"At other colonies, official investigators got there first. Sometimes looters or salvage teams as well. We're hoping to be the first ones there this time. Maybe find clues before somebody else disturbs the scene."

Shepard's eyebrow had been climbing upwards steadily throughout Jacob's responses.

.

Shepard slowly breathed out.

"Alright lets dissect this; First off, you're telling me Cerberus can't get their hands on official records on the disappearances of the colonies?"

"Second, you can bring me back to life, but not get your hands on official records?"

"Third, looters and salvage teams get here before you do? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Shepard paused and scrutinized the increasingly nervous pair.

"You claim to be specialists, but you seem to be absolute shit in the areas that really matter. What is the point of your existence then?"

At this point, Shepard was seriously worried about the fate of Humanity if these dumbshits claimed to be the ones 'safeguarding' Humanity from the rest of the universe.

"Also, 'Disturbs the scene'? I had no idea Cerberus terrorists were that well versed in the investigative arts. What other hidden skills do Cerberus operatives have? Flower Arrangement? Meditation, Origami, something like that?"

Shepard's words were positively drenched in sarcasm; which actually made the Dummkopf Duo flinch.

Any responses they could have come up with died after being hit with Shepard's Look Of Withering Disdain™

.

"Our first priority is to look for survivors."

"That's unlikely, Commander. No one was was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted."

Of course Miranda had to butt in with her brand of obnoxious.

'Note to self: Break them completely. There will be no independent thinking from terrorists.'

.

"I just went through a list of your fuck-ups. Let me explain how little your opinion matters right now. I would prioritise reading a 'Theory of the Universe' thesis written by an amoeba that spent it's life in the Turian councilor's asshole over your drivel."

.

While Miranda struggled to come to terms with that, Jacob hesitantly put forth his own opinion.

"Be nice to find somebody though. Anything's better than another ghost town."

Deciding that the conversation was now finished, Shepard went back to staring out of the window, unknowingly continuing his impression of an emo anime protagonist.

.

Some time later…. At Freedom's Progress

Snow crunched under Shepard's boots as he disembarked from the Odysseus, Jacob and Miranda following him.

'Well this is rather depressing' thought Shepard, as he observed the dismal and barely lighted landing area. The cold and silence began to feel ominous as he looked around for any sign of activity that usually accompanied the sight of a shuttle landing.

A cold breeze hit his uncovered face, and he breathed in deeply. This was the first fresh air he'd breathed in since he woke up.

Miranda shivered slightly. Shepard was going to mention something about grabbing the right gear for the occasion, but she seemed to have gotten the point. Two of them, in fact. As did Jacob, he just crossed his arms to play it off. He should have worn armour to a potentially dangerous investigation instead of a somewhat looser bodysuit thing. Shepard rolled his eyes, machismo was overrated, in his humble opinion.

It was a pity that Miranda was a terrorist though. That booty really was unreal.

.

Turning towards what looked like the start of the settlement's housing area, Shepard switched gears.

Time to go to work.

"Lawson, start local scans of the area. Hack together a map of entry and exit points for Buildings of Interest. I don't think I need to tell you this, but pay extra attention to thermal scans as we continue ahead. Include all known life form body temperatures as your primary parameters."

"Understood Commander."

"Taylor, set up a channel with the shuttle pilot. I want the shuttle ready to either provide covering fire or exfil us within a minute of signaling."

"Yes Commander."

Thankfully they seemed to know enough to not question orders or give him attitude when he was serious.

Shepard detached his pistol and looked at it scathingly.

'The morons that pushed this change must have been indoctrinated like Saren. More people that need to be dealt with, I suppose.'

"Map ready Commander. Sending it to your omnitool."

"Be ready with your thermal scans. I want updates before and after we breach spaces."

"Yes Commander."

"Commander, the shuttle pilot is on standby to assist or extract, like you ordered."

.

'Goddamnit, we should have another member for the squad as a rearguard, especially while heading into unfamiliar and potentially hostile environments. Or another squad as overwatch. I guess the shuttle will have to do for now.'

"Weapons at the ready, wedge formation. Move out."

Advancing towards the first door, Shepard signed them to take positions, hopefully they knew door breach protocols.

They did.

"Looks like everybody just got up and left, right in the middle of dinner."

Unfortunately, they didn't know silent operational protocols. Not letting your emotions control you until the mission was complete was usually helped along by not discussing it immediately.

As they cleared the structure and came upon an open area, Miranda added her thoughts.

"Strange. No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle."

They were coming up on a larger door, more like a separator between parts of the colony. Miranda indicated that her thermal scans were normal, and they went through.

However, right as the doors opened, mechanical sounds were audible, droid-like sounds. Accompanied by gunfire.

"Hear that? Sounds like FENRIS mechs."

'Thank you Captain Obvious, I would never have noticed them shooting at me.'

- One skirmish later -

"That's strange. Security systems were disabled at the other colonies.", Miranda frowned as she tried to recall more information from the dossiers she had read.

"Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile. They should have recognized us as human."

Shepard paid close attention to Jacob's statement, the 'as human' part making him a bit wary. Was he being paranoid? Probably. Was it a good idea with Cerberus around? Abso-fuckin-lutely.

"Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here." Miranda's accent was making itself known.

- Some more dead mechs later -

Shepard was ready to breach the next door, when Miranda signaled him about thermal signatures inside, very faint though.

"On my mark. Hold fire unless I order otherwise."

He received twin nods as a response.

"3….2…...1….. Mark."

Like a well oiled machine, they swept in, only to find…. Quarians?

"Stop right there!" ordered/growled a quarian as two more leveled their weapons at the intruders.

This looked like it could escalate into friendly fire. Just as Shepard was going to pull off his patented Charming Badass That Means Innocents No Harm routine, someone in a very familiar envirosuit pushed past the rifle toting quarians and faced her own people, attempting to de-escalate, her back to Shepard.

"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this."

Tali? What the hell was Tali doing here?

"Wait…. Shepard?"

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!"

Smart of Prazza to think that way, Shepard mused. Not so smart to declare it out loud though.

"Put those weapons down!"

Shy little Tali being all commanding? Shepard felt pride in seeing the young quarian herd the others into submission.

Tali turned to face him, and her voice changed to an almost hopeful one,

"Shepard? Is that… you're alive?"

I have a whole new respect for writers that put out more than 2k words per chapter, and manage to update frequently while doing so. I have also come to strongly despise this site's text formatting options.

But really, thank you all for the positive reviews, re-reading them are what made me plonk my butt down and finally finish writing this chapter.