Okay, Chap. 2. Gotta say,(with some embarassment) I think this is the furthest I've come on any fanfic. Normally I just write the first chapter then either lose interest or can't come up with the rest. I've got some issues later on, but not until like, Chapter 4. You'll know them by then, and I'll appreciate tips for the continuity of the story, though it will have to be kept within a certain theme. I think that is going to come across rather clear as well. Anyway, Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Joker swirled his hands across the holo-display, and the ship's cloaking kicked in with a soft hum. Shepard leaned forward, and looked out the window.

They were in a three-planet solar system, with a sun about twice the size of Sol's. Around the second planet orbited three small frigates with Cerberus markings.

"Obviously they don't expect us. How are we looking, Joker?"

The pilot frowned at his instruments.

"We're still heavily damaged since the Collector Base, Commander. In a stand up fight, at full capacity, we could take these three hands down. But, as I said, we're not exactly at full capacity..."

Shepard nodded and quickly surveyed the battlefield, hatching a speedy stratetgy.

"Move in on the closest frigate, take it out with the Thanix Cannon. Make sure we're in an angle to dogfight the next one without worrying about cross-fire from the third."

"Aye-aye."

"Engaging cyberwarfare suites.", sounded EDI's mechanized voice. Shepard quickly relayed orders to her as well, telling her to disrupt the frigates' targeting systems as best she could. She responded to the remark with:

"It will be of no issue. I always work at optimal capacity."

The Normandy quickly moved in on the first frigate, preparing for a quick transition to the next one after taking it out.

"Fire."

Joker punched the button, and the eery blue light of the Thanix Cannon lit up the dark void, instantly ripping though the Cerberus frigate's kinetic barriers and armor. As the frigate started shattering into smaller pieces, the Normandy moved on to the remaining two vessels, who quickly responding to the threat. Joker quickly dodged a salvo of disruptor torpedoes by spiraling above it, continuing around the nearest frigate. The Normandy spat out it's own torpedoes at near point-blank range, instantly tearing the frigate's kinetic barriers and hull to pieces.

As they swung around towards the final frigate, a second blur of projectiles came swooshing through space, though grossly misdirected, crashing off into deep space. Shepard felt a smirk creeping up on him; EDI did indeed work at optimal capacity.

"EDI, what are picking up?", Shepard spoke to the blue hologram on his left, as the final frigate crumbled beneath the Thanix Cannon.

"My scans have detected three separate compounds on the surface, approximately one mile apart from each other. Surface security looks minimal."

Shepard nodded and started moving down the CIC, tapping his comm as he went to relay orders:

"We're going ground-side. Garrus, Miranda, Jacob, Grunt, and Thane; suit up and meet me by the shuttle. I want this done fast and hard."

As the shuttle exited the Normandy-SR2's docking bay, he leaned forward toward his teammates:

"Garrus and I will touch down at the first base. Miranda and Jacob will touch down at base two, Grunt and Thane at the third. Look for anything particularly suspicious and report back to me. If they surrender, or if you encounter unharmed scientists, take them into custody, and we'll secure them for an Alliance court."

Grunt snorted.

"Grunt, I mean that. No killing civilians."

"Yeah, yeah..."

He snorted again. Then added: "... Battlemaster."

The shuttle opened hovering a metre off the ground, dropping off Garrus and Shepard. As the shuttle closed, two mechanized turrets rose up on either side of the compound's entrance. A speedy Overload from Garrus and a short burst from Shepard's Revenant rifle, and they split into pieces.

They where on a desert world, or at least something similar to it. In all directions there were hills of reddish rock, and the entrances to the other compounds could be seen in the distance if you strained your eyes. Not interested in the view, Shepard and Garrus moved in on the facility.

They entered a long, downward-facing corridor of typical Cerberus design, steering of to the right at the far end. Immediately, they were greeted by an assault probe, quickly taken down by another Overload from Garrus. Moving to the end of the corridor, they positioned themselves on either side of the door. Shepard hand-signaled to Garrus to stand-by, acknowledged by a nod. Shepard clicked the door console, and the door swooshed open.

As they stormed in, a spray of bullets bounced of their shields. Ducking behind the railing of a flight stairs going down to the right, Shepard quickly switched on his incendiary ammo and took out a guard that peeked out from the bottom of them.

There were six guards in total, counting the one who just lost half his brain. Two were hiding behind some kind of monitoring console, displaying the planet and it's surface on two separate images. Shepard assumed that was how they'd known they were coming. The remaining three stood up with their rifles pointed at the railing, waiting for the duo to make a move.

Shepard nodded at Garrus, and at blinding speed, they rose up simultaneously, picked their targets, and fired. The three standing guards fell in an instant, and as the two crouching behind cover peered up, their heads exploded in two short bursts of bullets.

There were two exits two the room, not counting the one Shepard and Garrus had used; one straight ahead in the far right corner of the room, and one leading left, at the far left side of the room. Shepard moved down the stairs, toward the right-hand side door, signaling to Garrus to take cover at the left of it, moving right himself. He clicked the door open and quickly looked inside, withdrawing his head almost instantly at the sound of gunfire, and the cause of it grazing his shields.

The Cerberus personnel sweated heavily in their suits, by now suspecting who they were actually fighting.

Silence. More sweat. Readjusting your grip on the rifle. Carefully inspecting the edges of the doorway for signs of movement. Then suddenly, Shepard appeared in to opening, fired his weapon , and stepped back. The guards were thrown back by the blast of the heavy weapon, slamming into the walls with enough force to be knocked unconscious. Those that still moved after bouncing off the floor soon did no more, as Shepard and Garrus moved in and released hell on the survivors. Shepard nodded back towards the were they'd entered.

"Check out that other room. It looks like the next from this one is the last. Let me know what you find."

Garrus nodded and disappeared behind the edge of the door.

Shepard moved in on the entrance at the left edge of the broad hallway, and clicked it open. The two security probes were quickly dispatched by his Revenant rifle.

What he saw next nearly made him drop his weapon.

He stood in a long, rectangular room, blue-tinted and with smooth tiles in the floor and walls, which were lined with two power generators on either side. The ceiling looked as if made up of nothing but wires, plugging into the generators... and a liquid-containment tank at the end of the room.

Shepard warily moved closer to the tank. Straining his eyes, he could make out a human form and face, though obscured by the murky, blueish substance inside the tank. From what he could see, it was a man, clad in what looked like plain, white lab-scrubs. His eyes were closed, and connected to his arms, legs and head were thin, clear tubes.

"Shepard? Shepard?!."

Startled, he tapped his comm.

"Report."

"This is Team One", Miranda's voice sounded in his ear."We've found what looks like a training facility, though not large enough for more than a few people, and something that looks like a study of sorts. Also, we've found some unusual and... well, quite frankly, very dated equipment."

"Such as?"

"Well... swords. And a pair of gauntlets with... talons at the edge of the fingers. Should be bring it back?"

Shepard stared at the tank, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind.

"What the hell were you up to here..."

"Shepard?"

"What? Oh, yes, bring it back. Team Two, what have you got?"

Thane's raspy voice brought the news.

"Strange things, Shepard. Lots of empty pods, and some filled ones. We can't make out the races, but from what else we've found, they were conducting some pretty severe experiments on them. I'm downloading the data to my omni-tool."

"Great. Meet you back at the shuttle. Garrus?"

"Haven't found much. Looks like records, but it's heavily coded. Be better get this back to Tali to figure out."

"Roger that, Garrus. And..." Shepard glanced at the tank.

Was he crazy for even considering taking it with him? Cerberus obviously had big plans for this guy. Very big plans. But was it worth the risk just over curiosity? Was risking his crew?

"Shepard?"

He looked at the tank once more then said:

"...Get up here. I'm gonna need a hand with this..."

Okay, appetites wetted a little more. Reviews are always nice to see. By the way, moved the title of this chapter over to Chap. 3 and changed the name of this one. Seemed more suitable.

Cheers.