Chapter 24: Fields of Green

Feron stepped out of the Kodiak shuttle to a very familiar sight; another empty and seemingly abandoned Human colony. Like all of the others in the Terminus, every last colonist had vanished into thin air. The reason he was out here though was that Ferris Fields wasn't some far flung settlement in the middle of nowhere, it was one Mass Relay jump away from Eden Prime. It was the closest attack to Alliance space yet. Cerberus thought he was out here on their behalf to observe the Alliance's investigation, the truth was he and Vega were investigating for the AIA. At least he could be more like himself in this half of his double life.

Arnold groaned at the sight of no one in the colony, "This is bad rana, why would the Collectors come attack here? It isn't like Freedom's Progress where we were manufacturing mechs, these people are just farmers."

He nodded and started looking for any signs of life, "No, but farmers are vulnerable and easy to capture or kill. This isn't about strategy or trying to cripple the Alliance, the Collectors just want a vast quantity of your species."

Arnold was clearly frustrated with that answer when he replied, "Why the fuck would the Collectors want us?! It makes no sense Feron, we aren't anything special. If they just wanted meat, the Elcor would do the trick."

The Drell bent down looking at a diamond that must've broken off of something on the ground, "That's what we're here to find out Arnold. Have a look around the colony and see if you find anything out of the ordinary."

Even though the Alliance officially stated that the 'relatively few' colonial abductions were caused by pirates, some in the brass knew better. Specifically, Admiral Hackett who believed all of Shepard's warnings after seeing Sovereign attack the Citadel. He was the one to pull them from their assignment, at least for a few weeks so they could figure out what was really going on. While Feron was glad to get some temporary distance from hunting The Illusive Man, he was worried their chances of containing Cerberus was slipping away from them. He watched the Cerberus field office on Illium grow by the day, and there were hundreds of offices on other worlds just like it. Just killing The Illusive Man himself might not be enough to shut them down anymore.

While it seemed as though there wasn't anything to find here, Ferris Fields had extremely tall, green grass which went up to his wrists. It appeared as though that when disturbed, the grass permanently rested in that position. Unlike the other colonies hit, this planet gave them natural evidence all around them. It wouldn't be enough to convince the more skeptical members of the Alliance Joint Chiefs that something wrong was happening but, it was a start. If only a rural community like this one had security cameras, then they could've had physical proof.

Looking over the scene pulled him into a memory, "The pink Hanar floats above me, it's tentacles long and thin rubbing along my neck reassuringly. 'This one recommends Feron take in every detail of every environment. Only then can you be one with the Enkindlers.' His song like voice-"

Arnold cut the memory short sounding angry, "I don't need to know what a Hanar sounds like Feron. I've seen plenty on the Citadel. We need to focus on finding something, anything that could confirm Collector or Cerberus involvement."

He followed a trail of bent grass with a nod, "I'm sorry your right, sometimes I can't help but remember my childhood.."

Of course Vega already knew that from their two full years of working together, however, Feron couldn't help but notice that his Human partner had been pretty shooken up after seeing Shepard. Feron knew it wasn't jealousy, Arnold seemed more than happy that Shepard was with his siha once more. Instead, Vega was troubled by the fact that Shepard was still working with Cerberus even after he told him everything that happened to him on Akuze. Feron truly believed that it was a difficult situation, Cerberus was the only ones capable of going after the Collectors at this point. Arnold on the other hand could only see the immediate problem of Cerberus and wanted them defeated.

Arnold took a deep breath and had an apologetic tone, "Sorry rana, I'm just so frustrated we're spinning our wheels right now. I want to do something after all these years of pretending to be a xenophobe."

Feron understood and nodded gently, "I get it Vega, I've only been in for two and a half years and it's hard. We need to be patient and gain their trust for a little while longer, and in the meantime let Shepard save the day."

Arnold grumbled as they continued walking towards a few scattered buildings, "That's what you said on Omega, a year and a half ago."

He was about to answer him when he saw what they were looking for, "There's the communications hub, let's see if the Collectors had time to wipe the data clean."

With the sheer amount of Human colonies hit by now, the Alliance was able to identify a consistent pattern of events leading up to an attack. First, the system in question's Mass Relay would lose it's communications functions. Second, the colonies internal defenses and comms would mysteriously go offline for no apparent reason. Third, every Human would vanish into thin air without much of a fight at all. And finally, the Mass Relay's comms would come back online and the workers aboard notified Alliance command of the problem. Like clockwork every colony hit followed this same formula. At first, Feron believed the Collectors themselves were shutting down the Relays when they arrived and departed but, that idea didn't make much sense. The workers would've noticed a Collector vessel flying by. His hope was the internal comms would show him the missing piece of the puzzle.

Arnold drummed his fingers along the stock of his shotgun, "I'm going to guess they had plenty of time, the workers on the New Canton Relay said it was five hours before everything was restored."

Feron tapped the buttons on the console looking over data, "It looks like we have some luck for once, an external VI handles arrivals and departures from the colony." He frowned staring at the screen, "Thirty unknown shuttle craft were the last things in and out of the system."

Arnold gave him a grim look, "Those shuttles must be how the Collectors were able to kidnap the entire colony. See what came directly before that if you can, if it's another unknown ship I think it's safe to say the Collectors are the only ones responsible."

Feron did what Vega asked and scrolled upwards, upon seeing the name he snapped into another memory, "The artificial cold air of Omega bit at my clothes as I followed my target. Her voice seemed calm, not sensing any danger. 'You know what I miss most about home Feron? The fields of green. They would go on and on for miles outside my property. I tried to plant a patch of roses once but my dad always told me it would ruin the green. I think I named my ship the Red Rose out of spite to that.'"

Arnold stared at him in horror, "You can't be serious... Your telling me Cora Harper was here before the attack...?"

Feron's gut twisted from all the truly terrifying implications running through his head right now, "Not necessarily, I'm telling you her ship was here before the attack...and every attack prior to that..."

_o0o_

Jack walked back onto the ship wondering about the other Jack's health. Kal wouldn't have put her in danger knowingly, he heard the fear in the Quarian's voice when EDI informed them she had passed out. Through their shared experiences, Kal seemed to be protecting her like any father would. He definitely wasn't going to try and get in the middle of it, she needed someone to take care of her. However, she could've bit off more than she could chew with the drive core. Maybe it was a good idea to keep her out of combat situations so she wouldn't hurt herself.

With that in mind, Jack went into the medbay and was surprised to see just Kasumi sitting on one of the beds, "My, my, someone's ears are burning. We were just talking about you Commander."

He was about to respond when Doctor Chakwas' laughter cut him off, "Just talking hehehe...more like gossiping really."

Jack couldn't help but stare at the doctor in shock, "Karin are you drunk? I'm not mad or anything, I'm just surprised."

Karin smiled broadly in his direction, "Why yes Commander, I am utterly smashed. Kasumi here came in with a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy and I couldn't say no to a friendly talk."

Kasumi was sipping on a glass herself, "Don't tell Mandar...oh I'm sorry, 'Vetra' I stole her bottle. I gave it to her as a celebration gift for shacking up with the second most famous Turian in the galaxy. It apparently didn't work out so I think I had the right to take the bottle back."

Jack's eyebrows shot up from the implications of what she said, "Wait a minute, your telling me Mandaria and Garrus...were a thing?"

Kasumi rolled her eyes and took a sarcastic tone, "No, I obviously meant Seritus Optima, star of Fleet and Flotila." She let her words hang for a few seconds, "Of course I'm talking about Garrus, gods your dump. Why else would she throw her entire gang into one of his operations? I think it was just a comfort kind of fling for them both, they were the only two souls on Omega that thought it could actually be turned into something good. Romantic but, sad in the end."

Jack felt like he had just learned way too much about his best friends and needed to get back on track, "Did the other Jack come through here? EDI suggested she passed out in engineering."

As if on que, EDI appeared right next to him, "While Subject Zero received minor physical harm from interfacing with the drive core, she is refusing to accept medical treatment. My scanners indicate Kal is doing what he can for her in the cargo hold. Before you go however, The Illusive Man would like to have a conversation with you regarding Horizon."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow, "Uh oh, looks like someone got in trouble for messing with daddy's toys."

Jack rubbed his temples wondering what he could possibly want now, "I'll be right there EDI, you two have a good rest of your gossip session."

He left without another word and was thankful that the rest of the ship was quiet and ignored him. When The Illusive Man's chamber inevitably materialized in the conference room, Jack couldn't help but wonder legitimately if the man in the chair ever left the room. He was always wearing that exact same business suit and was smoking. He was sure it was just a tactic to make him look timeless and intimidating. Jack just saw it as The Illusive Man seemed to be stuck in a time just before the First Contact War.

Not surprisingly, The Illusive Man greeted him with a puff from his cigarette, "Shepard, good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another one of our colonies."

Jack couldn't help but look a little defeated, "We still lost people, I couldn't save everyone on the outskirts. Not to mention, Sovereign is still alive and wanting to continue the cycle."

Despite what he just said, The Illusive Man's tone was upbeat, "That's better than an entire colony, and more than we've accomplished since the abductions began. You made a good call with Subject Zero, you should both be proud of the lives you saved today."

Jack stared at him a little stunned, "Did you hear me? Sovereign is somehow still alive and thinks he can restart the cycle. I think that's a pretty big thing we should be worried about."

The Illusive Man played with his empty scotch glass, "We always knew that the Collectors and Reapers were working together Shepard, I'm not sure what's new here. Your encounter with Sovereign confirmed what was known about the situation."

Jack knew it was the truth but it didn't make him feel any better, "What about the potential Prothean weapon EDI detected under the ground of Horizon. Could it be something we could use?"

He shrugged putting out his cigarette, "It's hard to say with all of the Alliance ships flooding into the area. Even if we could control the dig site, EDI's scan indicated it will take years to dig it up. I don't think we can wait that long, Sovereign is on the move."

Jack wished that could've been an easy option but he was right, they couldn't wait years for a miracle, "Alright then, what's our next steps?"

The Illusive Man stood up and approached him, "We have to keep the pressure on the Collectors. They'll be more cautious with their ground operations, so we need another opening."

Jack didn't love the sound of that taking a cautious tone, "Do you have something specific in mind?"

He shook his head looking grim, "Unfortunately, no the Collectors have disappeared back to their hide out. Rest assured I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega-4 Relay. We have to hit them where they live."

Jack couldn't help but get a sarcastic edge to his voice, "It's good to hear you do more than sit around and look at the pretty view."

The Illusive Man let the joke roll off of him, "As I told you, I wouldn't sit and wait while the Reapers and Collectors gather strength. In the meantime, you should head to Illium, I know a mechanic there that could repair your drive core. Also, there's an assassin there that I think could be useful."

Jack took a deep breath trying to calm his nerves about Sovereign, "Will do I guess, but the moment you have something let me know. We have no idea how close Sovereign is to rebuilding a shell."

He returned to his seat looking relaxed as ever, "You don't have to remind me what's at stake here Shepard. When I have something, you'll be the first to know."

The room returned to normal and Jack decided to go down to the cargo hold. Maybe he could just focus on helping Kal take care of the girl for the time being.