Chapter 3: Freedom's Progress

Jack hated the new set of armor Cerberus had provided him for the mission. It was heavier than he was used to making it less maneuverable, and was painted with the traditional black, white, and yellow, Cerberus colors. He assumed the heavier palladium material used for the armor was there to compensate for the fact that he could no longer create a biotic shield but, Jack still wished it was more light weight. The colors didn't bother him as much since they were going to an abandoned colony supposedly however, he wouldn't want to wear these forever. They may be fighting on the same side right now but, knowing Cerberus, one wrong move could make them bitter enemies once again. He wasn't going to become a terrorist like them to stop the Reapers.

Apparently, the space station he had been on was close to Freedom's Progress because they were taking the same Kodak shuttle to get there. Already it was feeling like an uncomfortable ride with both of his new 'team mates' sitting across from him silently. Jack was still tempted to ask Jacob where he had seen Kal and how recent the meeting had been but, it was ultimately a bad idea. If the Reapers were indeed kidnapping hundreds of thousands of people, Jack needed to focus on that. No matter how much it hurt, Kal was safer doing whatever he was doing then joining him in the Cerberus lion's den. When this was over, he would find Kal again as soon as possible.

Jacob shifted in his seat while looking at his omni tool, "We're about to hit Freedom's Progress Commander, any special orders when we hit the ground?"

Jack could feel they were entering the atmosphere from the way the Kodiak shook so he spoke louder, "Our first priority should be survivors, they'd be able to tell us what happened better than any clues left behind."

Miranda sounded a little irritated now, "There weren't any survivors at the other colonies hit but, then again we'll be the first ones investigating this time. We'll follow your lead, just don't get your hopes up Shepard."

The ship landed and already Jack hated the silence after their arrival. Jack stepped out of the shuttle and saw empty buildings covered in snow staring blankly back at him. Judging by the colorful lights strung along the sides of the buildings, Jack could only assume the people here celebrated the ancient Human holiday of Christmas. If that was the case, children should've been running around the streets playing with their new toys but, it was all just quiet. The silence reminded him a little too much of Akuze but luckily, the buildings around them all looked completely unharmed, a Thresher Maw didn't do this. A building two houses down from them still had the lights on inside so, Jack motioned for the others to follow him towards it.

Along the way there, Jack couldn't help but feel uneasy from the lack of any signs of a struggle. You would think if the Reapers were responsible for this there would be signs of battle somewhere, Sovereign hadn't exactly been subtle in his attacks. Here though there weren't any bullet markings on the walls or blood splattered in the street, it was just empty. It was as if every person living here decided at the same time to just leave and not tell anyone where they planned on going. It was a similar story inside the house except Jack could see Christmas presents that were half open laying under the tree. So much for his, 'they all left of their free will' theory.

Jacob walked by him towards the kitchen, "These people were still having dinner, look it's half eaten.."

Jack started walking into one of the bedrooms with a pistol in his right hand, "I'm guessing Cerberus already tried scanning other colonies to see if this was a gas attack?"

Jacob followed him while Miranda was looking around the outside of the house, "Yeah, it was one of the first things we thought of. Unless the Reapers have some sort of untraceable gas, which they still might, this is something else."

They both heard Miranda's voice outside, "Immediate shut down code: 01421 friendly."

Jack moved towards the noise and saw a LOKI mech approaching her, what were they doing here? Was this a Cerberus specific colony and Miranda just neglected to mention it? Or, were LOKI mechs sold as security drones so Cerberus could make a few extra credits? The second possibility worried him a little, Cerberus could potentially have an army of these things everywhere. What would stop The Illusive Man from having these things turn on their owners for Cerberus' benefit? He didn't doubt the man would do something like that if it helped Humanity. Hopefully, the Alliance wouldn't be dumb enough to use these things for extra security.

This particular LOKI mech kept walking towards her, "Unauthorized personnel, leave this location or you will be shot."

When it was clear that the mech wasn't going to stop, Jack shot it with his new pistol, the force of the shot knocking it's head clean off. "I thought those were just a Cerberus thing?"

She shook her head frowning, "No, we designed the patent but, the Sirta Foundation manufacturers them. Obviously, we don't have as much control as I'd like.."

Jack took a sarcastic tone, "Or maybe The Illusive Man didn't give you the keys to control them all..."

She glared but didn't say anything, Jacob looked around for more of them, "You'd think they'd of fought whatever took the people living here. Why haven't we seen more scrap of them laying around?"

Miranda looked down at the snow on the ground in thought, "Your right, this one just responded from you two talking inside. These must've been activated after the Reapers came through. We aren't alone out here Shepard."

Jack saw a dozen more of them marching towards them, "We can talk about that later, right now we have more company!"

The three of them had to scatter for cover immediately when the LOKI's started opening fire on them. Jack took a second too long and was dinged in the elbow but, the armor was strong enough to make the hit painless. Maybe with his old gray Onyx armor paint job, this set of armor could be useful. The mechs were carrying light sub machine guns and firing rapidly to try and pin them behind cover. Now that he wasn't dealing with biotic side effects, Jack was able to bounce and weave between cover better and hit his targets square on. However, he found himself reaching a hand out to try and lift a LOKI occasionally out of instinct. Seeing him flick his wrist, Miranda did the honors for him and the three of them opened fire, killing the last one.

Miranda smiled at him confidently as if she was proud with herself, "You'll still need some practice getting used to it but, I think you'll be just a good a fighter without biotics. Now, like I was say-"

Jacob's eyes widened and he moved to tackle them both, "Get down!"

A sniper shot had gone off from the second floor from the building behind them. If Jacob hadn't of moved in when he had, they both would've been hit. They probably wouldn't have died because the second shot came so late, suggesting a lack of experience, but it was better to not take chances. Since he was so surprised from sniper fire coming at them, Jack had to assume that snipers weren't standard weapons for the LOKI's. That left two options; either the people of Freedom's Progress had modified their models or, Miranda was right and these were other people. The question then became whether or not they were friend or foe? He doubted the Reapers were still here but, anything was possible right now.

His confusion only grew when a Quarian voice yelled from the balcony behind them, "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives! Leave now or I will kill you with my next shot!"

A very familiar Quarian voice made Jack relax and roll over to look up, "Prazza, put those weapons down! Shepard? Is that... you're alive?"

Standing next to a male Quarian was Tali, she may have looked a little different but he would recognize that voice anywhere. The accent reminded him of Kal since the two had grown up together on the Rayya. Maybe she would know something about where Kal was now? It was a pipe dream really since he was an exile and it looked like she was commanding a squad of Quarian marines but, he could still ask. He noticed that while her environmental suit was still purple and black, this new suit had some yellow highlights as well as a few sections of armor. She definitely seemed more confident with herself than two years ago. Tali had earned it though, she was just as responsible for Sovereign's defeat as he was.

Jack smirked up at her, "I know the lack of hair really changes how I look Tali but yeah, it's me."

She ran down the stairs and embraced him in a hug, "I'm so sorry about the Normandy, it's all my fault... If I would've just let you help me find Legion you wouldn't have been destroyed and..."

Jack squeezed his old friend in a gentle hug, "Hey, it's not your fault, if you would've been there you couldn't of changed anything. Did you find him though?"

She let go of the hug, "Yes I did...we're researching his consensus building now, it'll help. I'm still sorry I didn't trust you after everything you've done for me and Kal... Is Kal ok?"

Jack gave her a comforting grin having no ill will towards her, "I was hoping you'd know...And maybe, i guess we'll never really know. I'm just glad Legion's helping your people one way or the other.."

Miranda whispered behind him, "That Geth could know something, we should try and set up a meeting."

Jacob whispered back quietly, "Yeah but maybe it'd be better to ask when we don't have a sniper ready to shoot us."

Jack was about to say something when Prazza's voice came down from the balcony, "If he's such a good friend to the Quarian people Tali, why is he working for Cerberus?"

Tali looked back in his direction, "I don't know, maybe we should ask instead of shoot, huh?"

Taking her advice Prazza asked, "How could you turn your back on the Council to work for these di'kuts?"

Jacob spoke up first, "You've got it backwards. The Council turned its back on him, so did the Alliance. Human colonies are disappearing, and nobody else is doing anything about it!"

Jack added looking at Tali, "It's true Tali, you haven't wondered where all the people that lived here are? Cerberus thinks the Reapers are behind it and I need to know if it's true..."

Tali put a hand on the bottom of her helmet as if to think, "That would explain his breakdown... I need to think for a minute Jack."

Prazza put the laser sight from his sniper on Miranda, "Even so, that doesn't require YOU to be here. Shepard may be welcome but you are not!"

Miranda put a hand on her hip speaking with a defiant tone, "We're well within our rights to investigate attacks on a Human colony. I'd like to know what the Quarians are doing here?"

Tali had a distracted tone, "We're here looking for a young Quarian named Veetor, he was on his pilgrimage. Perhaps we can work together."

Jack was tense wondering how much control Tali had on Prazza but he smiled with a nod, "I'd like to help in any way I can Tali."

Miranda shook her head, "This isn't going to get us any answers, we need to find out what happened to those missing colonists."

Jack glared in her direction feeling irritated, "Veetor might be the only witness to what actually happened here. Your welcome to wait on the ship if you don't feel like you can follow my orders."

Prazza crossed his arms, "Your help won't be necessary and you'll pardon us for not taking you at your word Shepard. Tali, you aren't seriously considering trusting Cerberus are you?! After what they have done to us?"

Tali took a softer tone, "No Prazza, I'm trusting Shepard. And besides, we could use the help. If you don't like it you can go back to our ship."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Seems like you and Cerberus have had a history since I've been gone, anything I should know about?"

Tali looked back at him with a tired sigh, "It would take too long to explain Jack, and I'm afraid the longer we sit around talking, the more likely it is we start shooting each other. Maybe you should ask your people when this is over."

Jacob looked between them for a moment before saying, "With that settled, what can you tell us about Veetor? Why was he here for his pilgrimage?"

Tali rubbed the back of her neck, "Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage. Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always... nervous in crowds."

Prazza added, "She means that he was unstable. Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers, and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious. When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

Jack paused to let that all sink in, "So we need to be gentle with the approach, what was your plan before we got here?"

Tali pulled up a map of the colony on her omni tool, "We were just going to go in with a frontal assault and hope for the best but, now that your here.. I think we could split into two teams and take the flanks of the warehouse. We won't have to worry about the mechs if we can shut them down from the inside on his omni tool."

Jack reviewed the map and pointed out a few holographic paths, "My team can take the smaller path here. I think this way we'll have a lot less casualties than hoping for the best attacking the warehouse."

Miranda chimed in, "Where did Prazza and his team go exactly...?"

The sound of gunfire was their answer and Jack started to move ahead, down the main street. They were going to have to save Prazza before things got really ugly.