Chapter 37: Spring The Trap

Jack entered the Captain's Quarters to find Kal had completely painted his palladium armor to his old Onyx armor's black. Normally, he would've been thrilled to be rid of the Cerberus markings, right now though he was in a panic. The Illusive Man was too smart to not notice his daughters personal ship had been sighted before each Collector attack and since he hadn't brought it up, he supported it. That fact alone suggested direct communication between Cerberus and the Collectors which made it a certainty that this 'lead' was a trap. As soon as Feron got the data he needed, they were going to have to steal the Normandy from Cerberus and locate the nearest Alliance base. If Miranda and Jacob stopped them, they were just going to have to get in an escape pod and run.

Kal stopped his drawing and tilted his head to look at him, "Jack, your scaring me with that face. What's wrong?"

He bit his lower lip trying not to visibly show his panic, "I need you to comm Tali right now and sign to her to pack her things. She needs to warn Garrus too that we have a problem."

Kal stood up quickly and grabbed his new omni tool, "Slow down and tell me what's happening Jack."

Jack gave him a worried glance, "Feron just showed me evidence that the Collectors and Cerberus have been working together from the very beginning."

Kal jolted and pulled his personal pistol out from under his pillow, "We need to get out of here right now then. I'll warn Tali and go get Zero."

Jack moved in front of the elevator door to stop him, "That's what I thought too until Feron told me what he is thinking. If there's any chance we can get on that Collector ship and get evidence on the Reapers, we need to take it."

Kal shook his head with an angry tone, "Damnit Jack! If they're working together this is a trap designed to kill us! The Reaper threat won't be resolved if we're all dead!"

The anger coming from his husband was totally understandable, he was feeling it too. It was the realization that they were in a no win situation, no matter what they did. Either they tried to take the ship now while they were in FTL and jump out during the firefight to an active Collector ship, or, they played along and get killed by the trap. The fact that Saren still had the Cerberus control chip virtually guaranteed the first option was a death sentence. Saren no longer had Reaper indoctrination, making him far stronger in combat. Jack felt like he had no way out and no opportunities to make one. He wasn't happy about any of this but, the safest option was to keep playing along just a little longer.

His hand cupped Kal's cheek sympathetically for a few seconds, "I know your scared, I am too. But, let's say we do it your way and start with our guns blazing now. Even if we win, everything goes back to normal except now the Collectors are active too. The Council still won't listen to me, hell, they'll probably throw me in jail. Then Sovereign will get exactly what he wants and the galaxy won't be prepared."

Kal sighed obviously wanting to argue but, couldn't come up with a better answer, "And then we're all fucked anyways. So, we help Feron get the data he needs and then we make our move..."

Jack gave him a firm nod, "Right. Do you trust me to do this with me? Warn everyone on our side but, don't start shooting until we get back, ok?"

Kal kissed him deeply on the lips, "Of course I trust you, I just don't like the fact you have to be logically right all the time. I'll tell everyone we can trust to be ready as best I can, wish me luck."

Jack squeezed him in a tight hug as long as he thought he could before wasting valuable time, "Good luck, we're gonna get out of this I promise."

When Kal left, Jack couldn't help but run through all the times that The Illusive Man had seemingly lied to him. From the start he had tried to convince Jack that all his friends were missing or otherwise unavailable. Surely, he had to of known Garrus and Kal were working together as Archangel on Omega. It wasn't everyday that a Quarian and Turian worked together and they had disappeared at the same time. Then there was the Purgatory mission that Kai Leng just happened to be in by chance. Then there was Cora having supposedly gone rogue only to appear exactly where she needed to be to cause the biggest amount of damage at the Dantius Towers. Why hadn't Jack been able to see it from the beginning? The drive core slowed to a stop just as Jack put on his last piece of armor.

A moment later, Joker called his omni tool, "We have a visual on the Collector ship, Commander. It's bigger up close then I thought. You better get down here."

Jack was already moving towards the elevator, "On my way Joker, let me know if anything changes before I get there."

He was expecting at any moment the Collector ship would power on and immediately open fire on them but, everything was silent. Why wouldn't the Collectors just blow them out of the sky if this really was a trap? If this was Sovereign, they would've been shot at the second they exited FTL. However, it was possible that the Collectors knew about the Normandy's upgrades through The Illusive Man and wanted a guaranteed kill. Jack entered the cockpit only to see the rocky mass of the Collector ship filling the entire view screen. It's sheer size was similar to that of the Mass Relay it was floating next to. The ship could probably take on the whole Alliance fleet by itself and come out on top. How many Collector troopers could be inside that thing?

Feron had his arms crossed over his chest eyeing the ship as though it was a suspect he was about to question, "Joker, how are we looking?"

Joker tilted his head back towards him with a smile, "If you must know, the Normandy is picking up very low radiation emissions. Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are probably offline. The thrusters are cold at least."

EDI added, "To further elaborate on Mr. Moreau's assessment, ladar scans detect multiple hull breaches on the side facing us. I detect no Mass Effect field distortions, it appears the drive core is offline. My immediate conclusion is that the crew of the Collector dreadnought have all been killed. Unless there are traps inside, you should be completely safe to get to the bridge of the ship."

Tali's voice had a sarcastic edge when she approached behind them, "Perfectly inviting and safe, seems too good to be true doesn't it?"

Feron gave Jack a cold look quickly, the Drell apparently hadn't wanted Jack to tell anyone what was going on. Luckily, Mordin filled the silence, "Even if we are ambushed, we'll be ok. Was able to replicate Collector swarm jamming devices for the whole crew. Won't be paralyzed."

Jack looked back in Mordin's direction to see Kal, Saren, Zero, Miranda, Jacob, Garrus, and Thane planned on joining him, Tali, and Feron. It was certainly the largest squad he had commanded which made him nervous but, he was going to need all of them. If Miranda and Jacob were in on what The Illusive Man was up to, he needed to count on everyone else to be able to fight them as well as the Collectors, and escape. His heart was hammering from all the pressure weighing down on him for this to work until Kal approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Miranda ignored them and looked towards the ship, "EDI, from the schematics of the Collector ship, where's the bridge?"

EDI's usual orb like shape turned into a blueprint layout of the Collector ship, "Scanning... If my readings are correct, all power conduits lead to the exact center of the ship here."

The location was marked with a red glow and Jack took a subtle breath, "Alright, Joker take us to the hull breach closest to the bridge. I want everyone to move fast, we have no idea what's going on in there."

Saren tensed and motioned to the blueprint, "Wouldn't it be smarter if we separate into two teams? That way if one of the teams gets bogged down, the other could get the data while the first retreats?"

Miranda folded her arms skeptically, "EDI just said that the crew was most likely dead, I don't think there's any need for those kinds of tactics."

Saren gave her a cool look, "We are dealing with the Reapers, I don't think normal readings from an AI can be completely trusted. Do you?"

Jacob shook his head looking suspicious, "And who would lead this second team, you? I don't think so."

Zero glared at him with disdain, "It's a lot better than you running it beefcake. I don't know if any thoughts run through that head of yours other than Cerberus good, aliens bad."

Normally, Jack would've said no but, Saren and Garrus were giving him the same look. He could best describe it as them asking him to trust them, what were they up to? Kal had obviously told them what was going on but, he wasn't sure what their plan was. Maybe to try and find escape pods in case everything went to hell? It was a liability to let Saren wander around the ship with only a few people around him given the control chip, but having him close by didn't really change that. Wait, the control chip, Garrus and Saren wanted time by themselves to see if they could remove the chip without the Normandy's camera's watching them. It was a dangerous gamble but, if they pulled it off he could have one more ally helping against Cerberus.

Jack let his commanding tone fill the room, "Cut the chatter everyone, we're wasting enough time just standing here arguing! Saren's the only other SPECTRE aboard so I think he'd be the best choice for a second team."

Jacob gave an irritated huff, "Alright Commander, but I insist on coming along. We can't risk Saren doing something that would endanger the rest of the crew."

Saren cut in before he could, "Fine, I also want Garrus, Zero, and Tali to acompany me."

Kal looked at Jack for permission and after a little nod, cautiously approached, "Do you have room for one more?"

Zero answered in a hostile tone before Saren, "No, I think five people are enough to not attract as much attention, fucker."

Miranda coughed awkwardly, "I wouldn't have phrased it that way exactly but, she's right. If this pointless plan is going to have any kind of merit, the second team needs to be smaller than the first."

Joker cleared his throat glancing over his shoulder at them, "I don't want to break up all the fun your having but, we're hovering over the first drop point and all this talk about Collectors is making me paranoid."

He understood Kal wanted to go with Saren's team to make sure Zero would be safe. Unfortunately, they didn't have the time to argue with her on the topic and in truth nowhere was going to be safe on that ship. If the Collectors were truly waiting to kill them, it wouldn't matter which group they were in. Thankfully, Kal didn't say anything and just stepped backwards next to him again. He was confident that even if Saren didn't have her safety on his mind, Garrus and Tali would pick up the slack to keep her safe. Garrus at least already knew how much she meant to Kal and wouldn't just throw that all away.

Jack gave a grim nod, "Ok then, I want everyone to be careful. We'll either meet up on the bridge or back at the ship."

Without another word, he entered the airlock with his helmet on along with Kal, Miranda, Thane, Feron, and Mordin. The six of them watched as the outer airlock door opened revealing the breach of the Collector ship. While it was probably a small hole in comparison to the rest of the ship, it took up the space of the airlock door. This had to be from Zero's action on Horizon. Seeing the kind of utter destruction was terrifying if you didn't have her on your side. They all stepped out of the Normandy's airlock and drifted towards the floor EDI had marked for them. He was somewhat relieved to see a few Collector bodies floating in space besides them. At least some of the crew was dead from whatever Zero accomplished.

The moment his feet touched the ground in the Collector ship, Jack felt uneasy. He expected to see walls and floors made of durasteel like any other ship, instead the walls looked soft. The floor even pulsated when he stepped on it making Jack think of the plant he had encountered on Feros. A chill ran down his spine from the thought that everything around them could be living tissue. Maybe this was why the Collectors were kidnapping so many colonists, they needed them for their ships. It wouldn't explain Sovereign's involvement though, the Reaper ship had definitely been stronger than the average strand of Human DNA.

Mordin approached one of the walls and scanned it with his omni tool, "Fascinating, this structure contains millions of strands of DNA as well as nano-machines. Truly remarkable. Organic and Synthetic material working side by side. Need to take samples, may never see anything like it again in my lifetime."

Jack took a nervous step in Mordin's direction, "Just do it fast, I don't want to have to stay in here any longer than necessary."

Saren's voice buzzed in his ear, "I want everyone to perform a comm's check. We don't want to be caught off guard in a firefight."

After everyone checked in on the same channel Kal said, "Be careful Jack, stay close to Garrus and Tali."

Zero responded sarcastically, "Will do dad, now if you'd just piss off, we have work to do."

The channel cut and they started moving through the narrow hallways of the ship. Jack could tell Kal was disappointed with Zero continuing to push him away but, he didn't know how he could help. If Jack had been in Kal's place he would've lied about Cora as well to try and keep her safe. She was too unpredictable at this age to be expected to handle that information well, yet now she knew. Kal couldn't take back the lie now, so how else could he prove to Zero that he cared about her? It was a question that was going to have to wait until after they were back in Alliance space.

Thane stepped forward so he was shoulder to shoulder with Kal, "You care for her as though she was your own child. The girl?"

Kal kept his attention on the hallway in front of him but tilted his head, "From the moment I saw her up close for the first time."

Thane kept one eye looking ahead while the other partially stared at Kal, "Would it be too forward of me to ask you why?"

Miranda spoke for him, "The two of them share very similar traumatic childhoods. It's only natural for the two of them to want to lean on the other for support."

Mordin shook his head rapidly, "Not exactly the case. Wik's theory on affection only purposes individuals with similar childhood backgrounds will gravitate towards each other. He makes no claim as to what kind of gravitation it would be. Your confusing that with Halen's theory on-"

Seeing that the conversation was making Kal uncomfortable, Jack spoke up, "We need to focus on getting to the bridge. We don't want to alert any survivors we're here by talking."

Thane spoke quieter, "Apologies Shepard. I was just going to say that whatever the case may be, you should keep your outward affection towards her to a minimum."

Kal tilted his head curiously, "And why's that?"

Thane spoke with a rather blunt tone, "Because assassins like me would use that kind of relationship to get to you in any number of ways. The bond a parent has for their child is the strongest bond in the galaxy."

Feron approached the door in front of them with a tiny growl, "Most of the time anyways..."

The door opened and Jack gasped at what had to be the main tunnel for the entire ship. The exterior walls and ceiling were covered in the pods used to kidnap the colonists. They were too far away to be able to tell how many of the pods were full but, there had to be millions of them if not more. He was confident the Collectors had enough pods here in this one ship to take at least half of the Human population on Earth alone. After seeing the number of pods here, Jack wondered why the Collectors were picking such tiny colonies and not Earth.

Kal slowed to a stop behind him and stared, "Keelah...Jack this is..."

Mordin finished his thought, "My rough estimate based on pod size and ship size would put Humanities extinction at 74% probability. Collectors must be stopped at all costs."

Joker commed them again, "Hey uhh Commander, you gotta hear this. On a hunch, I asked EDI to run an analysis on this ship."

Jack was moving slowly, expecting a Collector trooper to jump out at them any moment now, "Yeah? And what did you find?"

Joker sounded tense as he continued, "I compared the electromagnetic profile of this ship right now against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago. They are an exact match."

Miranda stopped walking and frowned, "Joker that can't be right. Two years ago this ship would've been in good condition, there's no way EM profiles could match up."

EDI answered for him, "Shepard, I was aware of this inconsistency and thus ran the scan again. After comparing this ship's EM signature to all other known Collector profiles, I have been able to determine it is the vessel you encountered in the Amada System."

Kal tensed up tightening his grip on his shotgun, "So your saying this ship has played dead before when trying to kill us?"

Jack approached the door to the bridge with a little more caution now, "Thanks for the warning Joker. Get the ship ready for a quick get away in case things go south."

Miranda stood next to him looking troubled, "Shepard this doesn't make any sense. My cell assumed Cora only communicated with the Collectors for a short time after kidnapping you from a Reaper attack. That she was just in the right place at the right time to take you. If this was the same ship used, my engineers failed to identify the difference between Collector and Reaper technology. They aren't that stupid Jack."

Kal let out an angry huff, "Your suddenly surprised by the possibility that you were lied to by the people you work for."

Feron pushed past them with his gun drawn, "Let's see how far the lying goes Miranda."

He kicked down the door to the bridge and the six of them charged inside. Jack was expecting to see a squad of Collector troopers waiting for them but instead, just saw dead bodies. It was as if the Collectors on the bridge had died without any real explanation. Maybe one of the hull breaches by the Turians suffocated them. However, most bridges on modern ships had technology to seal themselves off from the rest of the ship in case of an emergency. He couldn't believe something as advanced as the Reapers wouldn't have that capability. Regardless, they were all dead and the bridge's primary terminal was right in front of them.

Feron spoke up, "EDI, get ready for the upload of data. I'm plugging in now."

They watched as he plugged two omni tools into the terminal. Jack knew immediately that one omni tool was for EDI while the other was making a copy of the data for himself. It was definitely smart to be able to hand something physical back to the Alliance when this was all over but, in the short term it seemed rather foolish. Miranda was standing right next to them and would certainly find it strange that Feron wasn't devoting everything to Cerberus. Did he really trust her enough to think she wasn't in on any of this? Jack admitted to himself that it might have been possible but, she seemed to loyal to the cause for The Illusive Man to keep her out of the loop on his biggest operation.

Miranda raised an eyebrow in his direction, "Why two omni tools?"

Feron passed it off with a smile, "I want to make sure we get everything even if EDI has to disconnect."

EDI's voice came from the bridge, "Data received... Analyzing... I have to search through the last topic searched until I find information on the Omega-4 Relay." A second later she spoke again, "The Collectors seemed to have been running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and Humanity."

Jack gave everyone in the room a perplexed look, "Why EDI?"

EDI seemed to not mind getting interrupted, "I have no hypothesis on their motivations. All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something truly remarkable. A quad-strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure, the Protheans."

Jack's eyes widened staring at the bodies of the Collectors all around them, "Oh my god, the Reapers didn't just wipe out the Protheans, they indoctrinated them all for the next cycle."

EDI kept her usual calm tone, "These are no longer Protheans, Shepard. Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. It appears as though the Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."

Kal seemed to understand why Jack was so upset, this could be them if Sovereign was successful, "Why has no one discovered this before? The Collectors have been around the galaxy for the past two years and no one picked up on this?"

EDI's tone took a defensive edge, "No one has had an opportunity to study a Collector genetic code in this detail. I have already matched two thousand alleles to recorded fragments. This Collector likely descends from a Prothean colony in the Styx Theta cluster."

Feron gritted his teeth and was tapping on one foot out of irritation, "That's a great find EDI but, we need you to focus on ship communications and the Omega-4 Relay."

EDI waited a few seconds, "Scanning... I have found something inconsistent. The Turian distress call that served as the catalyst for our arrival is a fake. The Collectors were the original source, not the Turians. It is unusual."

Kal was pacing with his gun swinging around, Jack could tell he wanted to shoot Miranda right now, "Your damn right it's unusual, The Illusive Man lied to get us here."

Jack was prepared to pounce as well but saw Miranda's expression was genuinely confused, "EDI, explain please."

The AI spoke a tad slower, "Turian emergency channels have a secondary layer encryption. It is present, but corrupted in the message. It is not possible that The Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."

Miranda raised an eyebrow, "Is it possible The Illusive Man missed the corruption?"

EDI's voice was solemn now, "No, I found the anomaly within Cerberus security detection protocols. He wrote them."

Feron was clearly still frustrated, "And what about the Omega-4 Relay or communications with the Red Rose? Anything?"

The lights of the bridge turned pitch black and a familiar voice boomed, "Assuming direct control!"