Shepard looked out the shuttle window and watch the space station disappeared from view.

"Before you meet with the Illusive Man, we need to ask a few questions to evaluate your condition." Miranda started pulling up her omnitool.

"Come on, Miranda. More tests? Shepard took down those mechs without any trouble. That has to be good enough." Jacob turned a little to face Miranda.

"It's been two years since the attack. The Illusive Man needs to know that Shepard's personality and memories are intact. Ask the questions."

"This is a waste of time. I feel as good as ever."

Miranda gave him an impatient look. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Start with personal history."

"Okay." Jacob pulled up his own omnitool. "Records show you were a colony kid. Lost your parents when slaves hit Mindoir. You enlisted and won a medal while fighting batarains in the Skyllian Blitz. Do you remember taking on some batarian slavers?"

He narrowed his eyes. "A lot of lives depended on me holding that position. I did what I had to."

"However you put it, it was damn impressive. I had friends who were there." He turned to the woman next to him. "Satisfied, Miranda?"

"Almost. Let's try something more recent."She looked down at her own omnitool. "Virmire, where you destroyed Saren's cloning facility. You had to leave one of your squad behind to die in the blast."

"Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was killed in action. It was your call. Why did you leave him behind?"

Shepard glared at them. "I left a friend to die that day, and I didn't do it casually. But I had a save as many people as I could. Kaidan gave his life for the rest of the team. Without him, I could have stopped Saren. He died a hero."

"I understand, Commander," Jacob nodded. "And I wasn't judging your actions. Everybody at Cerberus knows that cloning facility had to be destroyed."

"Shepard, the think back to the Citadel, after the Alliance saved the Destiny Ascension, and you kill Saren. What happened next?"

"Humanity was offered a spot on the Council. I recommended Captain Anderson for the position."

"Yes, Captain Anderson is now Councillor Anderson. Though from what I hear, preferred life in the military."

Jacob shrugged. "Still, good to know that the human Councillor member isn't going to put politics ahead of defence."

"Your memory seems solid. There are other tests we really should run—" Miranda shook her head.

"Come on, Miranda." Jacob's self-preservation instinct appeared to be intact. "Enough with the quizzes. The memories are there, and I can vouch for Shepard's combat skills personally."

"I suppose you're right. We'll have to hope the Illusive Man accepts our little field test as evidence enough."

A full body holo unit for communication. Someone was trying to be impressive. The 'Illusive Man' was sitting in a chair, smoking what looked to be an actual cigarette. The backdrop was a star, smouldering in shades of blue and red. Michael made himself keep a straight face. "Commander Shepard." The

"Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face-to-face." Shepard folded his arms.

"A necessary precaution. Not unusual for people who know what you and I know."

"From what I hear, I cost you a fortune," said Shepard raising an eyebrow. "Why'd you do it?"

"For the defence and preservation of humanity." He tapped ashes off the end of his cigarette. "I didn't spend two years and billions of credits bringing you back to serve as a common soldier. But humanity is up against the greatest threat of our brief existence."

Well, he was right about that much at least. "The Reapers."

"Good to see your memory's still intact. How are you feeling?"

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "You have to earn the right to ask me those kind of questions."

"Cerberus isn't as the evil you believe. You and I are on the same side; we did have different methods."

That was a tough pill to swallow, but they had much more important matters to discuss. "Cut to the chase. What are the Reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?"

He stood. "We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack." His image walked forward. "While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies. We believe it's someone working for the Reapers. Just as Saren and the geth aided Sovereign." He gestured. "You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one reason we chose you."

"Fighting a war doesn't seem like Cerberus. Why are you involved?"

"We are committed to the advancement and preservation of humanity. If the Reapers are targeting us, trying to wipe us out, Cerberus will stop them. If we wait for politicians or the Alliance to act…" He waved a hand. "No more human colonies will be left."

"You could have trained an entire army for what you spent to bring me back."

"You're unique," he said pointing his cigarette at him. "Not just in ability or what you've experienced, but what you represent. You stood for humanity at the key moment. You're more than a soldier—you're a symbol. And I don't know if the Reapers understand fear, but you killed one. They have to respect that."

Shepard folded his arms and looked directly at the Illusive Man's eyes. "If what you say is true… if the Reapers are behind this… I consider helping you."

"I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing for yourself." He nodded. "I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted." He went back to his chair. "Miranda and Jacob will brief you."

Shepard is in exactly trusted them just yet. "Miranda killed Wilson in cold blood. Jacob's just a gun for hire. You expect me to trust them?"

"Wilson was one of our best agents. But he was a traitor. Miranda did exactly what I expected of her. And she save your life in more ways than one. Jacob's a soldier, one of the best. He's never fully trust me, but he's always been honest about it. You'll be fine with them… for now."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Is this a volunteer job, or am I being volunteered?"

"You always have a choice, Shepard. If you don't find any evidence we're both looking for, we can part ways. But first go to Freedom's Progress. Find any clues you can. Who's adopting the colonies? Do they have any connection to the Reapers? I brought you back. It's up to you to do the rest."

"The Illusive Man is very impressed with you." Miranda didn't look up from what she was doing. "I'm eager to see if you can live up to his expectations on this mission."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I can't have anyone disobeying my commands when we get there."

"I know who I report to. As long as you don't do anything to betray Cerberus, I'll follow your orders."

Shepard in exactly trust her, but he can deny that it wasn't for her he wouldn't be standing here. "I never got a chance to say how much I appreciate what the Lazarus Project did for me."

"I just hope it's worth it. A whole lot of people lost their lives on that station."

He had to work with this woman a while longer. He should probably make nice, and be diplomatic. "We have to work together, here. Your attitude isn't helping."

Her eyes narrowed just slightly. "I have the utmost respect for your abilities, Shepard. It's your motivations that concern me. I believe in what Cerberus stands for. Only time will tell if you prove to be an asset or a liability to our cause."

"I'd like to know more about the Lazarus Project from the person in charge."

"I wasn't in charge. The Illusive Man was. If I was running the show, we'd have done a few things differently."

"What would you have changed?"

"To start, I would have implanted you with some type of control chip, but the Illusive Man wouldn't allow it. He was afraid it might affect your personality—alter your character somehow. He wouldn't let us do anything that might limit your potential in any way."

Shepard was suddenly grateful for the Illusive Man. "Can't say I like the idea of being brought back to life control chip in my brain."

"The Illusive Man is taking an incredible risk with you. I just hope his gamble pays off."

Time to get to the point. He'd seen Jacob in action, but not her. "Tell me a little about yourself."

"Worried about my qualifications?" She arched an eyebrow. "I can crush a mech with my biotics or shoot its head off at 100 yards. Take your pick."

Shepard got the message. "It's obvious you're not interested in talking."

"We've got an assignment. We can talk about it, or we can do it."

"I'm glad the Illusive Man convinced you to join us, Commander." Jacob smiled when Shepard approached.

"I just want to find out what happened to those missing people. I still don't trust Cerberus," said Shepard.

"Noted." Jacob nodded. He hesitated a moment. "Do you trust me, Commander?"

He seen the man in action and he had been honest with him so far. "You're a good man, Jacob. But you might be working for the wrong people."

Jacob shrugged. "Maybe. But I thought the same when I joined the Alliance. That's why I'm here now."

Shepard was still curious about that. "You said you served in the Alliance?"

"Five years in total. Stationed all over the galaxy. Even spent a couple of years as a Corsair."

"I've never heard of the Corsairs?" Shepard folded his arms.

"It was an Alliance initiative. They hired independent starship captains and used them for missions that fell outside official Alliance jurisdiction. Technically, we weren't part of the Alliance. If we ever got caught, they could disavow any knowledge of us." Jacob shrugged. "We were supposed to be free from restrictions and rules, but there was still enough red tape to sink a cruiser. I finally just gave up."

Jacob sounded a lot like Garrus. "Why did you join Cerberus?"

"I guess I just got tired of never making a difference. So much of what we did in the Alliance seemed pointless. I thought things would change after the attack on the Citadel. Humanity was finally invited to join the Council. But nothing changed. Politics. Bureaucracy. Same bullshit, different leaders." Jacob gestured. "Cerberus is different. When colonies go missing, we don't commission a team to write a report to figure out what the hell to do about it. We just go and find out."

"We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?" Miranda shifted slightly in her seat.

"Our first priority here is to look for survivors."

"That's unlikely, Commander," said Miranda. "No one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted."

"Be nice to find somebody." Jacob sighed. "Anything's better than another ghost town."

Ghost town was the right of it. Jacob shook his head as they walked through another building. "Looks like everyone just got up and left in the middle of dinner."

"Strange." Miranda looked around. "No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle."

Shepard was about to respond when he saw the first mech. He made a frustrated sound when the mechs started moving towards them, aiming their weapons. "I'm really getting sick of these things."

They opened a door to find a group of quarians. Who immediately started pointing guns at them. "Stop right there!" the one in the lead said.

Shepard was about to calm them down when he heard a familiar voice. "Prazza!" Tali rushed forward. "You said you'd let me handle this! Wait…" She went still when she caught sight of him. "Shepard?"

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" said Prazza.

"Put those weapons down!" Tali held up a hand. He gestured for Jacob and Miranda to do the same thing, lowering his own weapon. Tali turned back towards him. "Shepard? Is that…" She gave a small shake of her head. "You're alive?"

"Remember when I gave you that geth data, Tali?" No one knew about that but the two of them. "Did it help you complete your Pilgrimage?"

Tali visibly relaxed. "Yes, it did. Prazza, weapons down. This is definitely Commander Shepard."

Prazza finally obeyed. "Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?"

"I don't know." Tali shook her head. "Maybe we should ask."

"I nearly died, Tali. Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me. They want me to investigate attacks on human colonies."

"Likely story," said Prazza crossing his arms. "No organisation would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier."

Tali turned on him. "You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me. It was money well spent." She then looked at him. "Perhaps we can work together. We're here looking for a young quarian named Veetor. He was here on Pilgrimage?"

Shepard frowned. "Isn't that a little strange? A quarian visiting a human colony?"

"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage. Veetor like the idea of helping small settlement. He was always…" She then paused. "Nervous in crowds."

"She means he was unstable," Veetor explained. "Combine that with damage to his suit CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

Shepard nodded. "Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We should work together to find him."

Tali nodded. "Good idea. You'll need two teams to get past the drones, anyway."

"Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza took a step forward.

"No, Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship." Tali turned back towards Shepard and began giving instructions. He couldn't help but feel a small twinge of pride seeing her take command. "Head for the warehouse through the centre of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."

Shepard nodded. "Make sure to keep in radio contact."

"Will do. Good luck, Shepard. Whatever happens…" She hesitated a moment. "It's good to have you back."

Jacob and Miranda certainly knew their way around the battlefield. They were most of the way to their destination when Tali's voice came over the radio again. "Shepard. Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait, but they wouldn't listen! They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!"

"We should have expected this," said Miranda.

"Come on! We can still catch them," said Jacob.

They had just arrived in time to see a heavy mech tearing apart Prazza's squad apart. They try to fight back, but it was clear they didn't have the proper training. Shepard hope that Tali got the rest of the quarians to safety.

Jacob made a frustrated noise. "That mech's got heavy armor playing. Those quarians never stood a chance."

"Miranda, get overload it's shields. Jacob, draw its attention." Shepard yanked the sniper rifle out of his harness. He hadn't had a chance to spec it out yet, but hopefully it would serve.

"This is going to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to take down." Miranda took her own position. She called up her omnitool to try overloading the shields.

As soon as the shields sparked, Michael took aim at the joint just above its heavy weapon. The gun exploded, dealing additional damage to the mech. Jacob hurled one of the crates at it as it started to turn towards Michael. As soon as it turned back towards Jacob, Michael came out of cover and lined up another shot. This one caught the mech in its primary control unit. It twitched and shuddered before exploding.

He headed in to check on Tali. She nodded up at him from where she was tending to one of the survivors. "This is your chance to go find Veetor while I tend to the wounded, Shepard."

"You're good?" He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to nod before continuing on.

"Monsters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no no." The quarian in front of the screens was chanting to himself.

He tried a couple times to get the quarian's attention. Veetor kept working on the system in front of him. Michael sighed, and put a shot in one of the screens. Veetor went still before standing and turning to face them. "You're…" He tilted his head. "Not one of them. You're human. They…" He shifted his weight from foot to foot. "They didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find us? Miranda asked.

"The…" Veetor gestured. "The monsters. The swarms. They took everyone."

Shepard took a step forward. "We're not survivors, Veetor. We just got here."

"You don't know. You didn't see. But I see everything." Veetor turned back to the system and called up a video. They watched as bugs swarmed around, and strange looking beings began loading unconscious or otherwise paralyzed humans into some kind of organic looking pod.

"Looks like security footage. He must've pieced it together manually." Miranda leaned forward.

"What the hell is that?" Jacob shook his head.

"My god." Miranda stepped back. "I think it's a Collector."

Shepard heard about the Collectors before, but there were little more than rumours. From what he had heard they were an insect like lifeform that very rarely show themselves in fact no one even knew where the home planet was.

"I thought the Collectors kept to themselves," Shepard frowned.

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries. If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies." Miranda folded her arms.

Jacob nodded. "The Collectors have advanced technology. They could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once."

"The seeker swarms." Veetor shivered. "No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away."

He questioned Veetor a little more, then sighed. They had more information, but still no idea what was going on. He nodded to Veetor. "We appreciate what you told us. You were very helpful."

Veetor activated his omni-tool. "I studied them. The swarms. I recorded them with my omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electro-magnetic. Dark energy."

Shepard saw Miranda's eyes practically light up. "We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up."

The door behind them opened. Tali entered, shaking her head. "What? Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!"

"We won't hurt him." Jacob assured. "We just need to see if he knows anything else. He'll be returned unharmed."

Miranda shook her head at Tali. "Your people tried to betray us once already. If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."

He was pretty sure Tali was rolling her eyes. "Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it. You're welcome to take Veetor's omni-tool data, but please. Just let me take him."

"You don't have to take Veetor and go. We could work together. Just like old times," Shepard offered.

"I want to, but I can't." Tali sighed. "I've got a mission of my own. It's too important for me to abandon, even for you. When it's over, and I'm still alive, we'll see what happens."

"That sounds dangerous? What are you doing?"

"I don't think service needs to hear about it," she said looking to Miranda and Jacob. "But it's in geth space. That should tell you how important it is."

"He's traumatized, and he needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni-tool data and take him to the flotilla." Shepard waited to see if Miranda would obey the instruction.

Though her face was clearly reluctant, she nodded. "Understood, Commander."

"Thank you, Shepard. I'm glad you're still the one giving the orders. Good luck out there. If I find anything that can help you, I'll let you know."

"Take care of yourself, Tali." He nodded to her.

"We're ready for pickup," said Jacob on the comm.

Shepard looked back at the images of the Collectors and wondered what he gotten himself into this time.

"Shepard. Good work on Freedom's Progress." Illusive Man was still smoking. "The quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history. You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

"You ever think about playing nice what in a while?" Shepard asked raising an eyebrow.

"Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when someone already perceives you as a threat. But more importantly, you confirm the Collectors are behind the abductions."

Shepard folded his arms. "Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?"

"I had my suspicions, but I needed proof," he admitted. "The Collectors are enigmatic at best. They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems, looking to gather something unimportant items or specimens. Usually exchange for the technology. When the transition to complete, they disappear quickly as they arrived; back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we've had no direct aggression by the Collectors."

The Illusive Man filled him in on the Collectors, and made a few mental notes about what to confirm independently. He clearly wasn't going to tell him anymore than what he felt was necessary. "You're holding something back. How do you know the Reapers are involved?"

"The patterns are there, buried in the data. The Council and the Alliance want to believe the Reapers threat died with Sovereign. You and I know better. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

"If this is a war, I'll need an army. Or a really good team."

"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them." He nodded. "Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready."

"Keep your list. I want people I trust." Shepard narrowed his eyes. The last thing he needed was the head of Cerberus handpicking goon squad. "The ones who helped me stop Saren and the geth."

"That was two years ago, Commander. Most of them have moved on…" He shrugged. "Or their allegiances have changed."

He already knew that Tali was out, but what of the others? "Where's Ashley Williams?"

"She's still with the Alliance. Promoted, I believe. Her file is surprisingly well-classified."

Hackett or Anderson would know. He needed to contact them for other reasons, but Hackett and Anderson would have kept track of someone like Ashley. "Where's Urdnot Wrex?"

"He returned to Tuchanka and he hasn't gone off-world in over a year. He tried to unite the krogan clans."

That surprised Shepard, because the last time he spoke to Wrex he said he was done helping the krogan. "Where's Garrus Vakarian?"

"The turian disappeared a few months after you were declared dead. Even we haven't been able to locate him."

"Where's Liara T'Soni?"

"He's on Illium. My sources say that she is working for the Shadow Broker. If so, she can't be trusted."

That surprised Shepard even more than Wrex, because he was positive that she would have tried to find more proof on the Reapers. "Okay, I get it. They're not available." The

"You're a leader, Shepard. You'll get who you need."

"You worry about the Collectors. I'll make sure my team's ready." And that said team met his standards.

"Good. Two things before you go." He took a drag from his cigarette. "First, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counteract the Collector's paralyzing seeker swarms."

Salarians. He thought that his crew would all be humans. "Sounds good. And what else?"

"I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best." He leaned back in his chair. "Someone you can trust." He hit the toggle to end the communication.

Shepard had just started to turn around when he heard a familiar voice."Hey, Commander. Just like old times, huh?"

He turned and found Joker standing there.

Ashley looked down at the datapad before looking back up at Lieutenant Commander Rick Ryder. "Shepard's alive?"

"That's what the rumor said." Rick sighed. "Alive and working with Cerberus."

"No." Ashley shook her head and tossed the datapad away. As much as she wanted to hope that somehow… If John was alive, he'd have contacted her by now. And there was no way John would work with a group like Cerberus. John was a lot of things, but a human supremacist was definitely not one of them. He'd proved that many times.

"I know how you feel," said Rick. "Believe me I find it hard to believe as well and there hasn't been anything concrete. Besides it sounds a little far-fetched, a pro-alien joining a pro-human terrorist organisation."

"There's no way Shepard would join a bunch of terrorists, sir," said Ashley firmly.

"Unless they gave them a good reason," said Rick. "Because according to the latest intel John Shepard is alive and working with Cerberus. That he was seen at the colony of Freedom's Progress not long after it went dead."

"I've got some mixed feelings about that," said Ashley.

"I imagine," Rick nodded. "But at the moment were jumping to conclusions I would rather if we had more solid information."