Thane and Kolyat talked for half an hour before parting, Thane promising to stay in touch. Assuming he survived the mission, that is. Shepard hailed two cabs, and as Rocket and Kara climbed into theirs, Kara turned on the radio. "-Officers involved were charged with corruption and excessive force following an investigation started after an anonymous source leaked evidence to the press. In other news, Salarian scientists have updated their ranking of a new alien species to Sapient, following additional testing." Kara hummed, hoping this new species would survive the coming invasion. But the more she thought, the more she was certain they would. According to a somewhat controversial article Liara had published years prior to the attack on Eden Prime, suggesting that the galaxy suffered from an "extinction cycle" occurring once every fifty thousand years.
Since that theory was confirmed true, it led Kara to other questions. If the Reapers were trying to wipe out all organic life (as the Geth aiding Saren believed), why were the Asari, Humans and other aliens alive today? There ancestors would have been around for far longer than a mere fifty thousand years.
Kara pumped the brakes on that train of thought quickly however, deciding that "why" didn't really matter. They were returning, and this time, they wouldn't be so merciful. She turned her attention back to the radio. "Excitement on the Quarian Flotilla, as reports of a new "miracle" medicine spreads. Details are scarce, but rumors suggest the medicine originated from the Hunters, who's warships were instrumental in the battle for the Citadel."
Rocket snorted. "What?" Kara asked.
"The Hunters." Rocket repeated in a mocking tone. Kara's species had a tendency to be… unimaginative when it came to naming things. Kara said it was because her species believed that names should serve as accurate a descriptor as possible.
"Whatever… wash-bear." Kara said as the car decelerated.
The two stepped out of the car, and followed Shepard to the docking bay. On the way, they were contacted by EDI. "Commander Shepard, the Illusive Man would like to speak with you once you arrive. He claims it is urgent."
"Solid copy EDI." Shepard said tersely as she increased her pace.
As soon as she arrived on the Normandy, Shepard headed straight to the comms room. She stepped on the hologram pad, and watched as the room around her disappeared, transforming into an empty black space, with a gargantuan yellow star looming over it. And seated in front of her, was Jack Harper, characteristically brandishing a cigar in one hand, a drink in the other. "Shepard, I have some good news for you. I had a research team stationed on a derelict Reaper located in the Thorne system of the Hawking Eta cluster.
"And why didn't I know about this Reaper before, Jack?" She asked, agitated.
The Illusive Man hesitated, almost visibly irritated by Shepard's continued use of his name. "Because it wasn't relevant before. Now that the team has confirmed the presence of a Reaper IFF, sending you there won't be a waste of your time. Get there, grab the IFF, then hit the Collectors." Jack cut the transmission, and the room around Shepard morphed again.
She stepped off the pad, and contacted Joker. "Got a new mission, head to these coordinates ASAP."
"Solid copy Commander, setting course for the Thorne system."
Shepard informed Tali and Garrus, as well as Kara and Rocket to get prepped and meet her on the bridge as soon as the Normandy arrived at her destination. The team assembled, and Shepard gave them a short briefing as the Normandy sailed towards the corpse of the Reaper.
It wasn't long before they spotted the derelict vessel floating dangerously close to the system's star. "Are we even sure we can dock with that thing?" Joker asked.
"The Reapers barriers remain active. We should be safe once we enter the field."
"Should be." Joker muttered. "Anybody else getting a really bad feeling about this?"
"Yes." Kara said. "But we don't have any other choice."
"She's right, Joker. Take us in."
Joker threw his arms up in protest, but complied. "Alright, but if something horrible happens, I told you so."
As the Normandy drew closer to the star, the vessel was suddenly struck by severe turbulence brought on by solar winds. Alarms began to blare, warning the ship to change course immediately, lest it irreversibly be caught in the stars immense gravitational pull.
Joker muttered a long, drawn out curse under his breath as he stayed the course, until finally, all at once, the alarms fell silent and the turbulence disappeared.
"We have entered the protective field." EDI said flatly.
Joker attempted to contact the Cerberus crew aboard the derelict, but received no response. "That's two red flags."
Shepard turned to the rest of the team. "Alright, get ready. We don't know what we're walking into, so be ready for anything."
The Normandy docked with the Reaper, and the instant the Normandy's hull made contact with the derelict, Rocket yelped in surprise and pain, and immediately tried to cover his ears with his hands, as if he were being deafened. Kara meanwhile, bared her fangs, and let loose a sharp hiss followed by a deep, rumbling growl, as all the fur on her body rippled in response to some invisible force.
"What is it?" Shepard asked, concerned.
"The Reaper is… talking." Kara said, after several seconds, not relaxing in the slightest.
"And that makes three! Do I hear four?" Joker said, his "joke" earning a glare from Shepard, and doing little to hide his fear.
"Talking" is a bit of an exaggeration." Serina cut in. "The Reaper is emitting an ultrasound frequency. It is still inactive." She said, though it sounded like there was a but coming.
"And?" Garrus asked, sounding not at all reassured.
"I would strongly encourage you to not spend any more time in the derelict than you have to." The AI added.
Kara placed Rocket's helmet over his head, briefly forcing him to remove his hands from his ears. A wave of relief washed over him as the noise filters kicked in.
"You heard her, everyone move." Shepard said, practically running to the docking umbilical, followed shortly by the rest of the team.
They moved across the umbilical as fast as they could (well as fast as Shepard could seeing as she took point) and when they reached the other side, they were greeted by… nothing. The crew stationed here had disappeared, with the only signs of their prior existence being the array of abandoned science equipment and datapads scattered around the hastily constructed "facility".
Tali moved towards one of the datapads, and quickly played the latest entry, carrying the device with her as she scrambled to keep pace with the rest of the team.
A woman's voice echoed from the device. "Simmons here. This is my… Tenth entry?" The woman said, in a voice that made it sound like the simple act of speaking took considerable effort on her part, not only because it was painful, but because she had forgotten the words themselves, and almost sounded as though she was saying them for the first time. "Sorry it's… getting hard to think, I can barely read anything, my head feels like something is about to crawl out of my skull. And I'm not the only one, everybody here has reported severe headaches, and they all started a few days after we got here." Shepard opened the doors exiting the makeshift Cerberus camp, and as the doors parted they revealed a nearly pitch black void that enveloped everything beyond the doors, the only light coming from flood lights and lanterns scattered across the ramshackle scaffolding. They did little to help, as if the darkness devoured the light they emanated, and the team was forced to move much more slowly and carefully as they ventured into the inky black. Kara took point, after activating her helmet's thermal vision. "Some of the crew disappeared again last… night? As if there's really anything like that in here. That's the fourth group, and nobody knows where they went." Kara growled. They were crawling around inside the body of a giant, a giant that decidedly wasn't dead yet. And if it still spoke, how could anyone say its immune system had ceased to function? "I think… I think it was a mistake to come here…" The log abruptly fell silent.
"Thank you Tali," Garrus started to say, "for sharing that enlightening bit of information with the rest of us."
"You are so welcome." The Quarian responded.
Their progress was painstakingly slow, and Shepard silently cursed her helmet's lack of night vision. They slowly crept along the scaffolds for what felt like forever when Kara barked: "Hold position!" The order came so abruptly, and was in such stark contrast to the deathly silence that hung over them that everyone visibly jolted in response.
"Please, don't tell us there's something moving." Garrus pleaded.
"There is something moving, approximately twenty meters ahead of us… and it's coming closer."
Garrus muttered a curse as Shepard gazed intently ahead, raising her rifle.
About eighteen meters ahead, was another flood light, knocked to the ground. Slowly, Shepard saw a figure emerge from the dark. It looked human. Or rather, like it was human. The skin was shallow and sunken, and from this distance, it looked like all the person's soft insides, their organs, muscle and veins had been removed, and the nearly empty skin sack had been stuffed full of machinery.
Their eyes, similarly, looked as if they'd been replaced. There was a moment of tense silence as the newcomer stared at Shepard's team. Then, it screamed.