Chapter 21: On the Horizon

Kal suddenly wished he had taught Jack Kelr'ya, he could've communicated what was going on here a lot better as he approached the now empty airlock. What EDI had predicted would only take five minutes, actually took fifteen. He was also sure he looked like a mess because of the omni gel splashed over the crack in his helmet and the limp he had going. Not even all his suit's medi-gel was able to fix his spine hitting a wall like that, he was going to need to rest. It was worth it though, Kai Leng was injured hopefully for good, and he had temporarily calmed the girl down. Now, he just needed to make sure she stayed out of The Illusive Man's greedy hands, someone so young deserved a normal life.

He felt the girl slow to a stop besides him at the sight of the Normandy, "Woah there asshole, you didn't think you could trick me to get onboard that thing did you?"

He took a deep breath wanting more numbing agent for his spine, "I'm not with Cerberus, I'm alien if you didn't notice."

She glared at him with hints of biotic sparks dancing off her bare skin, "Yeah I did, I also know Cerberus hires you self absorbed asses on occasion. I almost killed one of you lot escaping Noveria."

Kal leaned against the docking port tube waiting for the inner door to open, "You mean Golo vas Nedas right? If it makes you feel any better, I killed him on Omega."

Thankfully, Jack was waiting for them at the inner airlock and moved to keep him upright, "Jesus, we separate for five minutes and you always get yourself in trouble.." He gave Kal a wink before he looked over at Zero, "We aren't with Cerberus, I'm Commander Jack Shepard with the Alliance Navy. You must be the other Jack."

She put her hands on her hips and looked at them, "I didn't know the Alliance suddenly had a wardrobe switcheroo day. You two aren't really all that convincing."

Kal decided to take a chance here talking fast, he could explain it later to Jack, "We'll prove it and give you any files Cerberus related that you want, an actual agent wouldn't give you that. It's either us or try your luck and find an escape pod out here."

He knew making that kind of offer was fairly dangerous on his own. It undermined Jack's position as Commander making that offer and there was no guarantee they could deliver. What if she wanted information on The Illusive Man's real identity? Even if Jack was on the best of terms with Cerberus, he certainly wouldn't get that for any reason. There were a million reasons why he shouldn't of done that and just let her walk away, she was the only reason to go out on a limb like this. She was just like the teenage version of himself down to the offensive language.

She paced at the entrance looking at him suspiciously, "Anything I want? You back that up Commander?"

Kal was relieved when Jack answered without hesitation, "If I can get it for you I will, why don't you come aboard before more Blue Suns arrive?"

She grumbled shaking her head, "I know I'm going to regret this...I'll tear your ship apart if your lying..."

Garrus approached Kal's other side and whispered, "What a charming girl we've decided to bring along."

She folded her arms and glared at him, "You can bite me spiky jackass."

The Normandy sped away from the damaged space station avoiding cannon fire. Joker expertly danced and weaved the ship around the fire and headed back towards the Mass Relay. The station was probably going to survive but, she caused significant external damage. He could see fires floating into space from several locations in a straight line. Kal was trying to keep track of if any other ship leaving the station to see if Leng escaped but, they were too far away. If their relationship with the Blue Suns wasn't broken before, it was destroyed now. Garrus and Jack helped him get to the medbay where Chakwas was already waiting for him. The Doctor looked tired to see him yet again after Omega was so recent.

Chakwas started scanning him with her omni tool and a shake of her head, "At least I'm never bored, what happened?"

The girl sheepishly stood behind the three of them naked besides her tattoos, "I thought he was part of the Blue Suns, so I warped him into a wall. Turns out he works for someone far worse."

Kal added while sitting on one of the beds, "That was after Kai Leng decided he was going to try and kill me. Jack here saved my life, just gave me a back ache in the process."

Jack narrowed his gaze at Kal, "You should've told me Leng was after you instead of telling me you'd just be delayed." He then looked at her with a smile, "Thank you for helping him, I owe you one. Did you both kill him at least?"

Kal shrugged and looked up at the ceiling's intercom, "I don't know, EDI, did any other ship leave Purgatory station during our escape from the system?"

The AI's holographic blue orb appeared next to him, "Unfortunately, I cannot answer that question, The Illusive Man has code locked any queries regarding other Cerberus agents."

Jack groaned tapping his foot, "Well I guess that's answer enough. What's the verdict Doctor?"

Chakwas had a small smile on her face looking at Kal, "Your father's genetic engineering never ceases to amaze me. Kal's going to be fine, a few cracked bones but they're already healing themselves. I want to stress that you should take it extremely easy for the next few days. Now, why don't we get you some clothes miss...?"

Zero shook her head stubbornly, "You can fuck off doc, I'm not here to make nice, I just want my files and then I'll leave."

Kal rubbed his helmet, getting her to stay here was going to be a problem. Should he even want her to say? They weren't going to places that would be safe for a rebellious teenager. On the other hand, he was sure The Illusive Man would snatch her up the first moment he got. While the Normandy wasn't the safest of places to be, he could make sure she wasn't going to be used. He had stayed with Shelrrik on Dekuuna because of his pilgrimage, Zero didn't have that responsibility. Kal was going to have to figure out a way to keep her here for the time being.

EDI chimed in, "Operative Lawson wanted me to inform you that The Illusive Man is waiting for you in the conference room."

Jack nodded and looked at Zero, "Your probably not the strangest thing he's ever seen, come on you can ask him for the files you want yourself."

Despite knowing he needed some down time, Kal followed both of them to the conference room slowly keeping some distance. Jack already seemed to be friendly with Zero but, he wanted to be there and stick up for her if need be. Instead of going inside with them, Kal stayed outside the pick up range so he could watch without being noticed. That same dying star hung behind The Illusive Man with it's same solar flare distortions. He wished he had taken more time in physics classes, he could've identified what nebula the star was in. Tali would've been able to point to a specific spot on the galactic map for the location without breaking a sweat. The first time he quit talking to her because of his exile it was easy, now though he missed his old friend.

The Illusive Man puffed on his cigarette looking totally relaxed in his seat, "Shepard, I was just telling Miranda that I had no idea Kai Leng was imprisoned in Purgatory, given your past, I would've made other arrangements. I'm glad to see you were able to rescue Subject Zero after all. I'll send you coordinates to a facility you can drop her off on."

Kal was about to step in when Jack said, "Forgive me if I don't believe you, but Leng being there was extremely convenient, even for you. As for Jack, I think she would be a fine addition to the crew. I want her to stay."

Zero spoke up angrily, "I don't really give a damn about what either of you want, I just want the file you people have on me and then I'll be going far away where no one can find me."

The smug little bosh'tet didn't react at all watching the smoke from his cigarette float to the ceiling, "You were the one that placed a bounty on her Miranda, what would you like to do here?"

It took a few seconds but, Miranda ultimately answered, "Well then, welcome to the Normandy, Jack. I'm Miranda, Shepard's second-in-command. On this ship, we follow orders."

Zero had a sarcastic tone, "From where I'm sitting it looks like the Quarian outside has more power than you do around here sweetheart. Tell the Cerberus cheerleader to back off, Shepard. I'm here because of our deal."

Miranda ignored her looking at Jack, "Do I need to put her in the holding cells? Just to be safe?"

Before Jack could respond, Zero smirked, "Yeah, no thanks, precious. I'll find my own place. Somewhere near the bottom. I don't like through traffic. Just make sure I get that file soon, I want everything about me that you have."

Surprisingly, The Illusive Man just pressed a button on his chair, "It's already sent to your omni tool, you'll find no redactions were made."

She instantly walked out of the room and Kal remembered she had been hungry and went to the mess hall. It didn't have much food he would've considered for a teenager but, he did see some bread and several jelly products. He remembered making something similar for Aaron Bowman on X57 and got to work. Kal definitely wouldn't try to claim he was a good chef at all, especially for Humans, however this looked right. Then again, Aaron had enjoyed anything he cooked so Kal wasn't super confident in his creation. He had two pieces of bread with one jelly on top of the first piece of bread and the other jelly on the bottom of the second.

Vetra walked up on his left looking at the plate with mild horror, "Kal?... What the hell are you making?"

He took a defensive tone, "I know it's not the best but I think it's called a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It's for our newest addition to the crew going down to the cargo hold."

The Turian took the plate from him and dumped the slices of bread into the trash, "That wasn't whatever that was, here let me show you." He watched as she got some new bread and put the peanut butter on top of the jelly and then put the second slice on top of all of it, "There you go, I don't know how many of these I've made for Sid..."

He put a hand gently on her shoulder, "Did Kasumi have anything to tell you? Any new leads?"

She shook her head looking at the floor, "Not anything I can actually work with right now, I think I just have to wait until my name is forgotten a little... I don't blame you by the way."

A silence followed with Kal not really knowing what to say to her, she must've figured out Erash was the traitor. Admittedly it wasn't exactly rocket science, the Batarian had been acting strange before the attack on Afterlife. He wanted her to blame him though, it was a lot easier facing someone that was angry with you rather than just upset with the situation you caused. Kal should've been smarter, asked him more questions, he was just so distracted with the possibility that Jack was still alive.

His tone was low trying to not grab anyone's attention, "Mand, if I had known Erash was involved with something like that I would've killed the bosh'tet myself. You know that right?"

Vetra squeezed his arm not answering him and grabbed a dextro apple, "It was my fault for keeping her with me on Omega in the first place. You should take the sandwich to the kid, teenagers are a lot hungrier than the rest of us."

He gave her his thanks and took the elevator down to the cargo hold. Unlike the original Normandy that used the hold to deploy to missions, this version used it strictly for storage. He was going to have to drag her out of here occasionally so she wouldn't be alone all the time. Kal wandered around for a minute until he found her sitting on a storage container reading from her omni tool. The device had to be as old as he was because of the way it flickered on and off. If his own pilgrimage was anything to go by, he guessed she probably stole the tool from someone.

Kal spoke loudly so he wouldn't scare her as he got closer, "I brought you some food because I remembered you were hungry."

She waved her hand dismissively, "Just put it on a crate next to me." A moment later she looked up at him, "I have to say, a tight little group you got here. And a damn pretty nice ship. You'd be rich if you took to piracy."

Kal put the sandwich down right next to her and stood across from her, "Would you believe me if I told you I already tried that, and recently? It didn't exactly turn out very well. But enough about me, how are you doing?"

She laughed but it was hollow, almost like a Varren bark, "How am I doing? The further I read into this I get thoughts like little bugs crawling in and out of my head. I can't stop them. You obviously know I have a history with Cerberus. You know how far back it goes?"

Kal felt awful for her but, he knew the usual phrases weren't going to matter to her so he just shrugged, "I can guess from all of the marks, but why don't you tell me yourself?"

She nibbled on the sandwich with a huff, "Apparently from the womb if this thing is telling the truth. Your pal, The Illusive Man? Never seen him before today, but Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base. I'm still finding out about me. Thanks for letting me look at these files."

Kal knew she couldn't see it but he tried to smile, "Believe me that fucker isn't mine or Jack's pal, we're just here because of complicated circumstances. At any rate, your welcome Jack. Have you found out anything new about yourself yet?"

Without skipping a beat she answered, "The doctors... the other kids... Every one of them hated me. They let me suffer. It was something about pain breaking down mental barriers, and how it might clear the way for a more biotic power. I'm sure there was a payoff due at some point, but I wasn't going to see it. I was wired up in a cell."

Kal was going to say she was the payoff but thought better of it, "How did you get off of Noveria and into the hands of the Blue Suns?"

Zero grumbled eating the crust around the bread, "I knew I had to leave when that piece of shit Quarian introduced the Rachni to torture us, so I started killing people. Doctors, kids, janitors, you name it.. They never gave me a choice. I stole a ship from the hangar and left to the closest system. Eventually, I got caught stealing from the Alliance and they sent me to Purgatory. What about you? Your a lot better off than I am for supposedly being infested with germs."

Kal listened quietly only to be thrown off by the question, "I ummm... It's a long story really, I got pretty lucky on my pilgrimage I suppose. Then I found my real family and never looked back at the fleet."

She seemed to know when to let something drop and changed topics, "The files say it was shut down after my escape. It's been abandoned for years. They going to care if I blow up a garbage dump?"

He shook his head surprised the files had something in them that was so wrong, "That's not exactly what happened. I was there when the facility was destroyed, let me explain.."

Kal went on to tell her how he ended up in the supposed orphanage and how it was destroyed. However, he was careful to leave out any knowledge he had about Cora's involvement. The last thing Zero needed now was someone to focus her anger on, especially if that someone was The Illusive Man's daughter. She would be practically invincible because of Cerberus. He remembered how much protection her fake Blue Suns base on Omega had so, he couldn't imagine what a real Cerberus base's security looked like. It was better for Zero if he convinced her everything about Noveria was over. Even if it took the rest of the night talking about it.

_o0o_

Jack understood immediately what had brought Kal and the biotic prisoner together; childhood experimentation. The environmental suit gave Kal the advantage of being able to hide his scars and other injection sites, the girl just seemed content with complex tattoos to cover her up. Knowing all this made it a no brainer to stick up for her against The Illusive Man. Why did he just grant his request without discussion though? It was a question that concerned him but, he couldn't do anything with it. They obviously had more to talk about since the conference room wasn't fading back to it's natural state.

He turned to look at Miranda, "Care to tell me why you were so interested in her? You don't seem like the kid type really."

Miranda had a clinical tone not taking the bait, "She's destroyed Cerberus property and killed Cerberus people. Hence the bounty."

The Illusive Man cut in, "Her reasons are her own Shepard. I contacted you because I think we have them! Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems, just went silent."

Jack tensed with anticipation, finally they could go after the Collectors, "That's good news, I'll order the Normandy to head out there immediately. Are we sure it's the Collectors? Aria could be on the move herself in retaliation for the assassination attempt. When she links Cerberus to Archangel there will be retribution."

The Illusive Man shook his head, "Aria can't manipulate Mass Relay communications, there's a well established pattern Shepard. If the colony isn't under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?"

Miranda answered for him, "Not that I'm aware of no."

The Illusive Man finished his smoke, "Let's hope he works well under pressure. There's something else you should know Shepard. One of your former crew, Ashley Williams, she's stationed on Horizon."

Miranda raised an eyebrow obviously not knowing what to do with that information, "The Collectors just happened to pick a colony with one of Shepard's former crew? I don't buy it. What's she doing on Horizon?"

The Illusive Man filled his shot glass, "Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies. But we both know that kind of work is beneath Williams, they're up to something. And if they sent Chief Williams, it must be big. Perhaps you should take it up with her?"

He nodded but was lost in thought, the implication they were trying to make was that the Collectors chose Horizon specifically because Ashley was there. The problem with that was the fact that the Reapers didn't hold grudges. If Victory was correct, the Reapers were slaves to completing the cycle. He had no doubt that Ashley was there for something bigger, just what was the question. In his mind, something else was on Horizon, something the Reapers needed. These were the types of moments that showed why he needed to work with Cerberus, the Alliance would've never caught something like this and it could effect the entire Galaxy.

Jack thought about all the innocent people on the ground, "We should contact Alliance command, they could send reinforcements and get the civilians to safety."

Miranda shook her head and crossed her arms, "I won't have another Freedom's Progress, we need to be the first ones in and out. Otherwise, our investigation will come up empty."

The Illusive Man swirled the drink in his hand, "I tend to agree with Miranda here. However, rest assured that once you have the situation under control, I'll send the message personally. Good luck Shepard."

With the argument apparently over, Jack only had one thing left to do; check up on Mordin's progress.