Chapter 48: The Andromeda Initiative

Jack returned to the medbay to see Kal was still curled up under a blanket watching Zero's vitals. He understood Kal was upset and scared but, Zero was going to wake up just fine. The real question became whether or not she was going to be able to walk again when she woke. The kind of damage she suffered wasn't something you could jump up from no matter how much medi gel a person had pumped through them. However, Jack guessed that even if the muscles had been torn apart beyond repair, cybernetics could be attached to her legs to help her walk. It wasn't the ideal solution, he couldn't imagine Zero handling physical therapy well but, fake legs were technically an option. That just brought back the problem of where she could go and still stay safe.

Kal looked over at him as he sat back down, "How's he doing? He didn't look good."

Sidera laughed from the bed she was now sitting on, "That's stating the obvious Kal."

Vetra snapped her fingers to get her sisters attention, "Hey, are you looking? You need to know how to put on facepaint."

He felt bad for Sidera just then, more than he already did before. She had probably been in a shipping container or was getting tortured while the galaxy kept on spinning without her. Jack couldn't imagine having to deal with that only to come back and find out you needed a new identity because of what your sister did to save you. Omega was absolutely not a good place for anyone to grow up in but, it was her home for at least two years. She must've had a few friends that now she could never see or talk to ever again. On top of all that, they had no idea where they were going to go since the entire galaxy seemingly wanted their heads for one reason or another. His hope was that despite everything, Vetra wouldn't be too harsh on her.

Jack whispered quietly, "I think he will be eventually..killing Lantar was rough on him for sure."

Kal looked slightly down for a few seconds, "Yeah, he was the last person I suspected because we thought he died awhile before hand."

Jack scanned the vitals briefly, "Still no change that's good at least."

Kal viewed the monitor skeptically like it was lying to him, "It hasn't changed all that much since we got her hooked up and sedated. Makes me think the readings could be off."

Jack tried not to chuckle at the potential conspiracy theory, "Or...it could just mean Chakwas has gotten her to a stable place. Do you want me to go get her and have her check it?"

Kal rubbed his visor symbolically and sighed, "No, no... Between my shoulder, Sidera, Zero, and Tali's small fever, Chakwas doesn't need to be disturbed for my paranoia with medical equipment."

Hearing Kal list all of the things Chakwas had to treat today made him realize how wrong the mission had actually gone. The mission was supposed to be just a quick in and out of a wealthy pirate's estate to save a child and some memories. They weren't even supposed to have to fire a single shot, and yet it started a war. What had caused everything to go so terribly wrong? It was a question he needed to ask himself after every assignment that went down this poorly. Was there things he could've done differently for a better outcome? Asking Kasumi more questions so they were all prepared would've been a good place to start. Unfortunately, being more prepared wouldn't have helped them much in this situation. The Alliance still would've tried to arrest him leading to Aria declaring war on them again. Now that he thought about it, the entire dinner and auction felt like a setup. Why was Sidera the only slave supposedly going to be on offer?

Miranda entered the medbay with a groan, "Well, that's taken care of. Though, I can't guarantee Jacob won't be picked up by the Alliance now after the shit show you started. What exactly were you thinking Shepard?"

Jack hadn't been looking forward to Miranda returning to the Normandy for just this reason. He knew that since she wasn't there to see how things went down, she would merely judge the end result. And Jack had to admit that the end result of the mission was bad. Three of his team members had physical injuries with varying severity and another was emotionally traumatized for the time being. Then there was the other elephant in the room from the fact that they had essentially started the second act of the Skillyian Blitz. Before his kidnapping, Jack would've said the Alliance's military build up to deal with the Geth had been a good thing. Now though, it was just going to be used to prolong a confrontation with Aria instead of preparing for the Reapers. Given all that, he was surprised he was getting this lecture from her and not The Illusive Man himself. Maybe he had wanted the evening to go that way.

He took her by the arm outside so Sid didn't have to hear them argue about her, "Believe me I know this is less than a perfect mission alright? What did you want me to do? Shoot Aria so she didn't start a war?"

Miranda gave him a blunt nod, "Yes! That would've been a good place to start. As is, it looks like Cerberus condoned the attack. We didn't need that kind of reputation hit."

Jack couldn't hold back a laugh, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know Cerberus had such a wonderful reputation to ruin. Think about the headlines if I had shot her for a second. 'Former SPECTRE kills leader of the Terminus Systems as she tries to defend her territory.' It would've been even worse and you know it. At least with Aria we might eventually get a peaceful resolution. You know if a Batarian was in charge we'd be fighting to the death."

Miranda refused to look at him and shook her head, "Fine, your right. Would you honestly say that saving one Turian teenager was worth it though?"

Feron coughed before he could answer and surprisingly Kasumi was standing right next to him, "Yes it was but not for that reason. I'd suggest we finish this discussion in Shepard's cabin."

Kasumi quickly added, "I'll go get Mand, she's just as important to this as the rest of us."

Jack and Miranda were both fairly confused by Feron's professional yet cheery attitude. If anything, he should be disappointed by the prospect of potentially losing Cora for awhile. Then he briefly remembered Kasumi's boyfriends message about some sort of Initiative. Did Feron think Cora was somehow involved with the project? Anything was possible Jack thought but, he needed more information before he could assume that for a fact. Where was this Initiative going for Cora to assume she could go with them and disappear from the public eye? And how was Vetra involved at all?

Vetra grumbled following Kasumi with them towards the elevator, "Can we make this fast? I need to make travel plans with Sid."

Kasumi smiled and tapped the button to go up, "Don't worry, this won't be a waste of that time."

Feron walked into the cabin and set one of his holo projectors on the ground in front of his bed, "Kasumi was kind enough to give me access to the information Keiji had gathered and I have to tell you, it's alarming."

He was listening to every word but, Jack was also paying attention to the chart starting to form on the device. At the top was two words, 'Andromeda Initiative' followed by a pyramid of names and faces. The way Feron had everything aligned made it look like a crime family with red lines connecting people from the top to the bottom. Most of the pictures were mere question marks but he recognized a few. Towards the top there was the disgraced, drunk, former N7 Alec Ryder. From the Luna mission he remembered Alec and his wife were responsible for EDI's creation. To the left of Alec was, Jien Garson, a billionaire philanthropist known for her amazing charity work. He felt his gut tense when he saw the name underneath Alec in bold red font, 'Cora Harper.'

Miranda turned to walk back towards the elevator, "I shouldn't be here for this. And you should hand over any data you have to Massani."

Feron had a gentle tone, "Yes you should Miranda. Don't you want to know why he's lying to us? Pitting you against her at every opportunity? Why he kept you in the dark about Leng? I think I found a piece of that puzzle."

Miranda sort of glared at him, "This is just a distraction, we should be focusing on how we can defeat the Reapers."

Feron kept his voice calm and patient, "If my theory is right, we are. You've trusted me before, would you just sit down and listen to what I have to say?"

She stopped at the elevator door and turned to face him, "Your not going to make me flip no matter what you have to say Feron. I'm going to go back to my office now so I don't have to report this meeting your all having."

While Jack wanted Feron to get to the point of what was going on here, he found the interaction between them to be fascinating to say the least. The way they talked to each other wasn't really typical for either party, dare he say there was some emotion in the way they spoke. He didn't know Miranda could care about anything but her sister and Feron seemed too obsessed by his job as a double agent to feel anything for anyone. Feron's stunned expression at the elevator door also made it clear he had no idea she knew where his true allegiance was. It begged the question for both of them probably, why hadn't she told The Illusive Man? She was supposedly the most loyal to him and yet she was letting someone like Feron operate in the company? It was strange to say the least.

Vetra coughed since he was still staring at the now closed door, "That going to be a problem, or can we get this show on the road please?"

Feron readjusted his jacket and turned to face them again pretending to have a neutral reaction, "No...I...I'll talk to her another time. Ahem.. Anyways, Kasumi was able to discover this, project, a few months ago and I think it's bigger than she first realized. Kasumi, show them what you showed me."

Kasumi activated her omni tool, "From what Keiji and I were able to uncover, the Andromeda Initiative is being sold as a kind of pleasure cruise to leave the Milky Way for the Andromeda galaxy. Here's one of the ads they have pre-recorded for ticket holders."

A gruff Human male voice spoke on her omni tool, "We are all leaving behind families, homes, the very birthplace of our species. Some for discovery, to see the unknown, others for a new start in a greener, brighter, more vibrant future. But today, whatever our reasons, we take the first steps toward a new vision for Humanity. Today, we begin to make our dream a reality."

Jack frowned staring at them both, "This has to be a trick right? There isn't a drive core in existence that could make that trip. And, to my knowledge there isn't a Mass Relay just pointing towards another galaxy."

Feron smiled seemingly agreeing with him, "Your absolutely right, which was why the project was terminated two years ago by Alliance RD. You didn't see me at my old job on Noveria but, I worked for an eccentric Salarian named Anoleis. At the time I didn't think much of it but, he used to take calls often from another Salarian named Tann. This was the last recording of them I had before your ground team came barging in..."

Another recording started to play, "Anoleis! I just got a call from Admiral Hackett! Apparently Luna base was attacked and the AI could be exposed! That combined with the fact that we don't know how the drive cores will work is making the Alliance drop out. We're losing all of our funding! It's completely cut effective immediately!"

Anoleis responded quickly, "Tann, Tann slow down. What do mean funding has been cut? I... It wasn't... I'll call you right back."

Vetra raised a browplate, "Ok? So someone was pretending to plan a trip to another galaxy and their funding ultimately went dry. What does this have to do with anything?"

Jack felt like Vetra's question was too blunt but, he understood where she was coming from. The story seemed pretty cut and dry at this point. Someone got the idea to leave the Milky Way for a 'better future,' whatever that meant, without thinking about the logistics behind it. Shit hit the fan and some ungodly amount of credits were wasted on the project. What did this have to do with the people on the holo? And why did Feron think knowing about this failed experiment was worth starting a war with the Terminus?

Feron smiled at her confidently, "I'm getting to that but, I'm going to go over some events that happened shortly after that. We defeat Sovereign on the Citadel, the Normandy is attacked by the Collectors, and somehow Cora kidnaps you immediately after. At the same time, Cora has made a deal with the Collectors to supposedly bring Saren back from the dead. That's not my speculation, here's a recording of hers I found on Lazarus Station."

Cora's voice made him feel uneasy, "December 4th, 2184 and finally we can wake him up. After putting so much time on freezing his brain in cryo, the transplant, scanning for indoctrination, all of it! I can happily say I brought Saren Arterius back to life with all of his memories and minus the Reaper indoctrination. The tech I traded with the Collectors really made all the difference in the world. And to top it all off, all they wanted in exchange was for me to keep Shepard in his cryo pod. Hopefully, this will be a big enough present to dad, otherwise I'm screwed."

Feron paused looking at them, "The fact I was able to obtain this suggests to me that this isn't really the whole story. Why would she need to give a present to her father? At first I thought it was for keeping Jack in the pod but that's not quite right. This recording to me suggests Cora decided to keep you in the pod after making the deal. Yet, she had been working on reviving Saren the moment he died meaning she probably needed this 'present' before taking you. So that begs the question, what did she do against her father?"

Jack was slowly starting to follow where this was going, "She was helping the Collectors kidnap Human colonies."

Feron grinned and nodded emphatically, "Yes, your right! I still think there's a bit of racial motivation behind the attacks but, I don't think that's the only thing she got out of it. At the same time our friend Tann reaches out to Jien Garson. I don't know what was said but, shortly after she quit giving out charity credits and the Ryders drop off the grid with their half of his AI creation. And now Kasumi shows me they're discretly selling tickets for the trip to Andromeda. I think the Collectors gave Cora drive core technology to reach Andromeda."

Jack furrowed his brow, "Why would they do that Feron? The Collectors want to kill all of Humanity, why would they give us a chance to flee?"

Feron's face darkened and he shrugged, "I don't know.. What I do know is Cora and the first ships are leaving soon. According to Kasumi's tickets, the 'Nexus' leaves for Andromeda from the Viper Nebula next week."

He knew that system name, he remembered the name, Jack just didn't know from where. Sometimes he wished he was like a Drell and could recall something from the past in perfect detail. It could maybe be useful to know where they were coming from, give some clue as to why they chose that system. The destination was more important though. If Feron was right, Cora was going to another galaxy with the help of the Collectors for some unknown purpose. But, what did Feron expect him to do about it? He couldn't just abandon the fight in the Milky Way to chase down a lead on Cora potentially doing something nefarious.

Jack tilted his head, "The Viper Nebula, where is it?"

Feron had a dismissive tone, "Batarian space I believe, it doesn't matter. What matters is we can't let Cora take that trip without having eyes on her and have someone who is prepared to stop her when they get there."

Jack frowned trying to come up with a solution, "I agree but, I can't just abandon my place here. The Collectors and Sovereign are active here, I can't ignore that."

Feron didn't seem upset, "I wasn't asking you to do it." He looked at Vetra, "I was hoping you would volunteer to go."

Vetra's eyes widened and she laughed, "Are you kidding me? Look, I'm good at making a new identity but, I can't make myself look Human. If I showed up there, they wouldn't let me aboard."

Feron shook his head quickly, "Maybe I wasn't clear about this but, the Initiative is practically letting every species on the Nexus in mass. You'd blend right in."

Kasumi added, "I have two tickets, one for you and one for Sidera. Think about it Mand, no bounty hunters will be able to find you if your literally billions of lightyears away."

Vetra sighed and rubbed her head, "What would you want me to do again? I'm not a spy and I'm a terrible mercenary leader."

Feron stayed calm and shrugged, "I might be wrong and you can just relax there... But, if I'm not I need you to just observe Cora and see what she does. If it's Reaper related, you'll have to stop her."

Jack felt bad for Vetra, he had no idea what he would do if he was in her shoes. On the one hand, she was going to be chased from one end of the galaxy to the other because of Aria's bounty and the Alliance. It was unlikely that she would be able to ever find a settlement in the Milky Way where she could be truly safe. On the other hand though, abandoning everything you've ever known to go with a potentially shady organization to another galaxy had it's own risks. He merely smiled gently at her confused face. This wasn't his decision to make in the slightest, so he wasn't going to try and persuade her to do anything. If she rejected Feron's offer, Jack was sure that the Drell would probably go himself.

Vetra gave Feron a suspicious glance, "Why aren't you going yourself? Your the one who put this all together, don't you want to see it through till the end?"

Feron looked down with a solemn expression, "I would but, I swore to Amonkira my target would be The Illusive Man directly. I'm not as religious as my father but, even I know not to turn your back on an oath made to the gods."

Vetra was staring at the tickets in Kasumi's hand, "How long do I have to decide? This isn't something I'm just going to do for the fun of it you know."

Feron's tone thankfully wasn't pressuring, "Three days, that'll give me time to forward it to Alliance Command if you say no." He turned off the projection and bowed his head to Jack, "I'll let you know if I find anything out in the meantime."

The three of them went back in the elevator leaving Jack with a lot to speculate on. If the Collectors really did provide Cora with the technology to FTL jump to entirely different galaxies, it couldn't be for something good. Was Sovereign trying to lure a specific amount of Humans to Andromeda for some reason? Maybe to make Collector like beings for the next cycle. Or, maybe the Reapers needed some organic material now since the cycle had been delayed and this was the best thing Sovereign could think of. No matter the true reason, Jack knew defeating Sovereign now was the answer. There wouldn't be another cycle if he could stop this one from starting over.

He was about to go in the elevator himself and return to the medbay when Kal and Tali came through the doors, "Jack I...we need to talk, the three of us."

Jack spared a quick look at Kal who shrugged and so he motioned for her to come in, "Sure, what's up?"

Tali fiddled with her hands obviously very anxious, "Jack I've got a problem, and I may need your help. I need to ask you something first though. I need to know if I can trust this won't get back to the rest of the crew. Some of this might involve Fleet security, and with the war, Cerberus High Command cannot be involved."

Jack knew this had to be extremely serious but, he was having a hard time not laughing, "Tali, you have my word. If necessary, I'll contact the Illusive Man to make sure he stays out of it."

Kal circled around her so he was standing next to Jack, "That shouldn't even be a question Tali. Neither of us love Cerberus and your family. What's wrong?"

Tali started to sound defensive but quickly deflated, "Yes I know that I just... I'm sorry this is just really serious. And don't bother, he'd just lie to you anyways. Hearing it from you is enough... I just received a message from the Migrant Fleet. The Admiralty Board has accused me of treason. I'm scared, Jack."

Kal seemed to erupt with anger, "For what?! Talking to me?! Those di'kuts! Was it my father that sent the message?"

She shook her head, "No, my father wouldn't let that happen and no. It was the entire Board that sent it. They all knew about Legion but..if word got out to the public somehow.."

Jack placed his hand reassuringly on Tali's shoulder, "Nobody who knows you could believe you'd betray your people, Tali."

She started pacing around the room, "I don't know... They don't lay charges like this unless the evidence seems absolute. But thanks, I appreciate your faith in me."

Kal kept his focus on her, "What about the fact that your on this ship? My father could try and say your working for Cerberus."

Jack jumped in glancing between the two, "I know the consequences but, how does a exile's trial function exactly?"

Tali kept pacing, seemingly walking faster now, "I appreciate you trying to come up with charges I didn't actually do but, no. I'm not working with Cerberus. I'm working with you two. And I got leave to serve on the Normandy from my father personally. It has to be about Legion." She stopped at Jack's question, "As for how it works... it's less formal than an Earth trial, or something you'd see on the Citadel. We're family. This is just the worst kind of family meeting imaginable."

Kal took a deep breath, "Okay... Let's go find the Migrant Fleet."

Jack wondered if that was even possible given the fact that Kal was an exile already. Did the Quarians even let exiles in their airspace? If not, they would have to stop somewhere and drop Kal off. No one on the fleet would believe Kal wasn't with him given their unintentional display to the extranet two years ago. Hiding him on the Normandy was maybe an ok option but, if he was found, it would reflect badly on Tali. Then again, just Tali showing up in a Cerberus warship wouldn't exactly help her case. He wanted to do everything he could for her but, he also didn't want to cause more harm than good on the fleet.

He held up his hands to slow them both down, "Tali, you know I care about you and want to do everything I can for you but, with Kal here and the Normandy being a Cerberus ship, it could be a real problem for you. Are you sure you want my help? I can spare the Kodiak if you'd rather..?"

Tali fiddled with her hands again, "As long as Kal stays on the Normandy we should be fine. They'll probably just ignore the fact that he even exists.. I understand if the Collectors have to come first but, going with my Captain will look better in their eyes."

Jack gave a quick nod and activated his omni tool, "Joker, once Tali gives you a set of coordinates I want the Normandy to get there as fast as possible."

Tali blinked before giving them both a hug, "I was about to book passage on another ship. I didn't think there would be time for you to help. Thank you, Jack."

He returned the hug and he was looking at Kal. They both knew things didn't look good if Legion was the reason for the exile. At least Jack was going to get to see the Migrant Fleet for real.