Shepard stepped into the holo-communicator to your face-to-face with the Illusive Man.

"Shepard. I think we have them. Horizon - one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems - just went silent." The image of the planet appeared on a nearby screen. "If it isn't under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?"

"Not yet." Though it appeared progress was being made.

"Let's hope he works well under pressure. There's something else you should know." The Illusive Man took a drag from his cigarette. "One of your former crew, Ashley Williams, is stationed on Horizon as well your old friend Rick Ryder."

Shepard's eyes widened. "Last I knew, Ash was Alliance. Why is she out in the Terminus Systems?"

"Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies. But they're up to something." The Illusive Man settled back in his chair. "And if they sent both Commander Ryder and Chief Williams, it must be big. I suggest you take it up with them."

"The Collectors just happened to pick a colony with one of my former crew and an old friend?" Shepard shook his head. "I don't buy it."

"It shouldn't be a surprise the Collectors are interested in you. Especially if they're working for the Reapers." The Illusive Man crushed out his cigarette. "They might be going after them to get to you."

"We should send a message to the Citadel. The Alliance can give us reinforcements."

"Not until you investigate. I don't want the Alliance getting in our way." The Illusive Man set his arms on the rests of his chair. "Once you have the situation under control, I'll send the message personally."

"Send the coordinates. We'll head straight there."

"This is the most warning we've ever had, Shepard. Good luck." The image dissolved.

"Joker—set a course for Horizon. I've got to go see the professor."

"Aye, aye, Commander."

Shepard pushed worry out of his head as he walked toward the lab. He was not entirely successful. Mordin was looking at one of the bugs inside an enclosure. "Tell me you have something."

Mordin smiled. "Yes."

Mordin then showed him the schematics of the new improvements were made to their armour.

"Lilith!" Ashley caught up to the colony manager. "We've got a problem."

She nodded to her. "Still can't calibrate the targeting matrix?"

Part of him wondered if it was colonists sabotaging the system. They hadn't exactly made her for the Commander feel welcome. "Those defence towers are useless if we don't figure it out. And Commander Ryder is worried that will be attacked soon."

"Sorry, Chief." She shook her head. "Getting our comm systems back online takes priority."

"Yeah. Surprised people haven't tried to blame that one on me, Commander, too."

"People out here don't trust the Alliance." The look she gave him was sympathetic. "It's nothing personal." She stopped talking as a strange humming noise drifted toward them.

They both looked around for the source as a crowd began to gather. Ashley caught sight of something in the clouds, and drew his rifle to use the sight as a telescope. Something was coming through. Something big. "Get everyone to the safehouse." A cloud of something could be seen swarming their way. "I'll cover you. Run!" The crowd began to flee. She started firing. "Hurry!"

"Commander, your suspicions were right," said Ashley over the comm.

"I know, I've always another distress signal but I think that ships blocking us," said Rick's voice. "The best we can do is get people to safety now and—"

The message got caught off and Ashley turned to see Lilith stumble. She moved to help her up, and one of the creatures landed on her neck. Before she could brush it away, it had stung her. She yanked it off and tossed it aside before lifting she rifle again. And then she froze, but not out of fear it was like she was paralysed for something.

Shepard stepped out of the shuttle. The colony below looked quiet. That probably was not a good sign. The Collector vessel towered above, a much worse sign. And Ashley and Rick was down there somewhere. He looked to Mordin. "We're groundside. Mordin, you sure those armour upgrades will protect us from the seeker swarms?"

"Certainty impossible. But in limited numbers, should confuse detection, make us invisible to swarms. In theory."

"In theory?" Garrus sighed. "That sounds promising."

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms. Have to test them in person. Should be exciting."

"Not the word I would use," said Shepard.

"After you," Garrus gestured.

They fought their way through the first problem. Jack flung the last of the husks through a crate. Shepard bent to examine one of the others. "Those things look like the husks the geth used on Eden Prime."

"I thought the geth got that technology from Sovereign" Garrus nudged a corpse with his foot.

"Shit." Jack glared. "So the Illusive man was right. The Collectors answer to the Reapers."

"This certainly does confirm it," Shepard nodded.

Jack lifted one of the Collectors into the air, and Shepard put a round through it. It was nice, having a strong biotic backing him up again. Grunt simplified a shot gun at anything that moved that wasn't human and he seemed to be enjoying himself.

There were more husks and Mordin stopped to scan one. "Husks have human characteristics. Possibly repurposed colonists?"

"No." Garrus glanced at Shepard before responding. "The geth impaled their victims on giant spikes to turn them into husks. But we haven't seen any. The Collectors must have already had the husks. They want the colonists alive for something."

They wanted the colonists alive. He just needed to remember that. As small a comfort as it was. "The Collectors must be experimenting on the colonists. What are they up to?"

Mordin frowned. "Fascinating question. Answer probably unpleasant."

"Guess we'll find out when we stop them," said Grunt.

"The Collectors aren't getting away with more victims. Let's move out."

The colonists lay unmoving, but a quick medical scan showed they were still alive. He gestured to his companions, and they continued forward.

"Peaceful." Jack shrugged. "Usually takes a lot of chemicals for me to get this kind of quiet."

"All these empty buildings…" Garrus shook his head. "It's unsettling."

Shepard picked up some kind of gun off a dead Collector. He'd have Jacob examine it back on the ship.

He fired off a round into the glowing Collector before the transformation could be completed. A few heartbeats later, another of the Collectors started to glow. "Assuming direct control." The strange voice echoed over the battlefield.

Jack lifted a crate and flung it at the Collector. It stumbled back, and Garrus, Grunt and Shepard fired. The Collector collapsed into ash. "That was different."

"Some form of mental control," said Mordin scratching his chin. "Most likely under the control of a Reaper."

"Looks like some type of statis field." Garrus clicked his mandibles as he examined one of the sets of frozen colonists. "Leaves victims helpless, but fully aware."

"They've been like this a long time." Shepard shook his head.

"These Collectors have no honour," said Grunt angrily. "They'd rather use cowardly tactic to get what they want instead of engaging on the battlefield."

Shepard had to agree can only hold that they will be only paralysed for a short time. There was still no sign of Ashley. And no sign of fighting other than what they'd left behind.

The bunker was locked. It looked solid, the kind of place someone might try to hold against attack. Shepard bypassed the lock, and entered, looking around. At first glance, it appeared empty. Whoever was hiding there was doing a bad job of controlling their breathing. "Company." He drew his sidearm. "Get out here. Now!"

A man peeked out from behind some equipment. Definitely human. Shepard shook his head, and lowered his gun. "You're…" The man stepped out. "You're human! What are you doing our here? You'll lead them right here!"

"You had to hear them trying to get in." Shepard walked towards him. "It seems like it's hard to hide from the Collectors."

"Those things are Collectors? You mean…" The man's eyes were just about falling out of his head. "They're real?" He started pacing. "I thought they were just made up. You know—propaganda. To keep us in Alliance Space." He shook his head. "No! They got Lilith. I saw her go down. Sten, too. They got damn near everybody!"

His blood went cold. "I need to know what I'm up against. Tell me everything you remember."

"We lost our comm signals a few hours ago. I came down to check on the main grid. Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and there was…" The mechanic waved a hand. "Swarms of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors." He made a frustrated sound. "Damn it—it's the Alliance's fault! They stationed that Commander Ryder and Chief Williams here and built those defence towers. It made us a target!"

Shepard shook his head. "Tell me more about this Alliance reps."

"Chief Williams? Heard she was some kind of hero or something." The man shrugged. "Didn't mean nothing to me, though. Would've rather she stayed back in Council Space. As for that Commander Ryder, hear he's the human Counsellor's right-hand man or something. Don't mean squat to me."

Ashley and Rick being here just didn't make any sense. "Any idea what they were doing on Horizon?"

"Supposed to be helping us get the defence towers up and running." The man frowned. "I got the feeling they was here for something else. Spying on us, maybe."

Spying? Ashley? Rick?He needed to focus. "Tell me about the colony defence towers."

"A gift from the Alliance. High powered GARDIAN lasers. Supposed to keep hostile ships from landing near the colony." The man gestured. "Had to build a massive underground generator just to give it enough juice. Only we couldn't get the targeting systems online." He spat. "So the Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight. Stupid sons-of-bitches."

Shepard was starting to dislike this guy. "Why do you think this is the Alliance's fault?"

"We're just a small colony. Nobody bothered us before we started building those damn defence towers and drew attention to ourselves. I left Council Space to get away from the Alliance. Nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them."

Everything good in his life had come from the Alliance. "The Collectors are targeting remote colonies. The Alliance was trying to help."

"I don't need their help. Too many strings attached." The man waved a hand dismissively. "Those reps said he was just here to get the towers online, but mark my word—there's more to it."

"If you have defences we can use them against the Collector ship!"

"You'd need to calibrate the targeting system first. It's never worked right…"

"Garrus. Think you're up to it." Shepard glanced over his shoulder.

"Just tell me where." Garrus's mandibles clicked.

"Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base." The man pointed.

"It's probably just better if you stay out of the way."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too." The man went to a control panel. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances. Good luck. I think you're going to need it."

As they got closer towards the ship they found less and less people. Clearly they had interrupted the Collectors when they were busy loading people into their ship, but they haven't got there sooner to stop them from collecting the people there were close to the ship.

They had a clear their way through towards the targeting system and it was well protected. Jack was able to toss husks away like they will rag dolls and Grunt practically charged at the Collector troops, knocking them to the ground.

Motorway was clear Shepard made his way to the platform. "Normandy? Do you copy?"

"Joker here. Signal's weak, Commander, but we got you."

"EDI— can you get the colony defences towers online?"

EDI's voice came back over the communicator. "Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power." There was a momentary pause. "I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output."

"The Collectors will try to stop it," said Grunt. He then smiled. "Good."

"Got any more helpful tips?"

"Just one. Enemy reinforcements closing in. I suggest you ready weapons."

Shepard drew his rifle. "All right, arm yourselves we need to hold them off as long as we can."

For a moment, he thought they were clear. Then a giant flying robotic bug swooped down towards them. It landed, and blasted at Garrus's location, forcing the turian to dive for cover.

Shepard grabbed the gun he'd picked up, and fired it at the thing. The ray it shot out cut through the thing's barrier and started damaging it. It landed, and glowed with some kind of protective shield. Shepard immediately switched positions to get a better angle. As soon as the shield came down, he fired again, creating a smoking hole in the thing.

"That one impressive gun," said Garrus as a shot of the head of a Collector.

"I know," said Shepard staring at it.

It took some doing but they finally managed to get the defence system online and at once the defences began to fire on the Collectors ship. They watch as its engines ignited, and lifted off at the defence system kept on firing.

"There's no reason to stay." Garrus shook his head. "Most of the colonists are on board. They got what they came for."

"No!" The mechanic came racing toward them. "Don't let them get away!"

"There's nothing we can do. They're gone."

"Half the colony's in there! They took Egan and Sam and…" The man paced. "And Lilith. Do something!"

If there was anything to do, he'd be doing it. "I didn't want to do end this way. I did what I could."

"I did my best. You just hid in your bunker."

Garrus stepped to his shoulder. "More than most, Shepard!"

"Shepard?" The mechanic frowned. "Wait. I know that name." He turned back to Shepard. "Sure, I remember you. You're some type of big Alliance hero."

"Commander John Shepard." Shepard heart skipped a beat at the sound of the new voice. "Captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre. Savior of the Citadel." He saw Ashley walking toward them. Alive, and apparently unharmed. Ashley turned to look at the mechanic. "You're in the presence of a god, Delan. Back from the dead."

The mechanic sneered. "All the good people we lost, and you get left behind. Figures."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing," said a new voice. Shepard turned and found Rick walking towards them and like Ashley he was unharmed. "It wasn't for your pals sabotaging the gun we probably could have saved them all."

Mechanic glared at him and walked away. "Screw this. I'm done with you Alliance types."

Rick looked to Ashley and Shepard. "I better check on the colonists see who we lost."

Ashley walked up to Shepard breathless and then hugged him. "And I thought you were dead, Shepard. We all did."

Shepard then pulled away. "You don't sound too happy to see me. Something bothering you, Ash?"

Ashley folding her arms. "Yeah, something's bothering me. I spent the last two years believing you were dead! We had something, Shepard. Something real." Tears were flowing down her eyes. "I… I love you. I thought you were dead. I almost… How could you put me through that? Why did you try to contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"

This was all going wrong. "Not my choice. I spent the last two years in some kind of coma while Cerberus rebuilt me."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. Ashley actually backed away from him. "You're with Cerberus now?" Her eyes went to the Garrus standing to Shepard's left. "Garrus, too? I can't believe the reports were right."

"Reports?" Garrus shook his head. "You mean you already knew?"

"Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies. They got a tip this colony might be the next one to get hit." A tip. Ashley shook his head. "I went Anderson, but he wouldn't talk. But there were rumours you weren't dead. Worse; that you were working for the enemy."

A tip and rumours. "Cerberus and I want the same thing—to save our colonies. That doesn't mean I answer to them."

Ashley walked towards him, anger on her face. "Do you really believe that? Or is that what Cerberus wants you to think?" Ashley fists were clenched. "I want to believe that you were alive… I just never expected anything like this. How could you just turn your back on us all? You betrayed the Alliance… Anderson… Rick. You betrayed me."

"Ash, you know me." Better than anyone else ever had. Shepard shook his head. "You know I'd only do this for the right reason." He gestured at the colony. "You saw it yourself. The Collectors are targeting human colonies. And they're working with the Reapers."

"I'd like to believe you, Shepard." Ashley took another deep breath. "But I don't trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do." She shook her head. "What did they do to you? One of their behind it? What if they're the ones working with the Collectors?"

He searched for words. Garrus saved him from having to speak. "Damn it, Williams. You're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat."

Shepard stared at the woman in front of her. "You're letting how you feel about their history getting in the way of the facts."

"Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they save you. Maybe it's you." Ashley glared. "Doesn't matter… I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. It's in my blood." She waved a hand. "I've got to report back to the Citadel. They can decide if they believe your story or not." Ashley started to walk away.

Shepard looked at her. "I could use someone like you in my crew, Ash. It'll be just like old times."

"No, it won't." Ashley stopped before turning to look back at him. "I'm no fan of aliens, but Cerberus has a history of being extremist. I'll never work for group like that." She hesitated. "Goodbye, Shepard. And be careful."

Shepard watched her go, then lowered his head. He hit the button on his communicator. "Joker—send the shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony."