"Welcome to the Normandy, Samara," said Jacob shaking hands with Samara. "We've studied your profile extensively. With your skills, I think you'll be an excellent addition to our team."

Samara nodded. "Thank you. From an organisation such as yours, that is high praise indeed."

"I've seen Samara's biotic powers at work," said Shepard. "They're substantial."

"We still don't know what we're going to find when we hit the Collectors," said Jacob.

"I will be prepared for whatever we encounter," Samara assured.

Jacob folded his arms. "Where shall we put you?"

"A room that looks out of the great empty void would be most comforting."

Shepard turned to Jacob. "Put her in the observation room on deck three."

Samara nodded grateful. "Thank you. I must meditate on the day's events."

Samara then bowed to the both of them and then left the briefing room. Jacob then turned to Shepard and saluted before following suit.

Shepard went down to check on Thane.

"Have a few minutes to talk?" he asked.

"Certainly."

"If you don't mind my saying, you don't really seem like an assassin," said Shepard as he made his way over to the window that overlooked the drive core.

Thane shrugged. "You've spent too much time fighting thugs who think custom-painted armour makes professionals." Shepard had to admit that he had a fair point. "The hanar trained my body for this role since I was six years old."

Shepard stared at him. "You've killed since you were six?"

"Of course not. I didn't make my first kill until I was twelve." Shepard still looked at him in disbelief. "They were training me. I was not reused and thrown away. I was an investment."

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "You were a child, not an investment!"

"I've given you the wrong idea. They valued me." Thane noticed the displeasing look on Shepard's face. "Yes, as a resource. But also as a person. They… regretted their need for me."

Shepard was more surprised that the hanar ever considered such a thing. "The hanar? Extremely polite, worship the Protheans? They don't seem like the type who'd train assassins."

"Every species trains assassins. The hanar are only unusual in that they need other species to do the killing for them. They have a strong grip, and natural toxins. But have you seen one move quickly outside of water, or fire a gun?"

The only hanar Shepard and seen holding a gun was from the Blasto movies and they were fake. Though Zaeed mention how he was almost choked to death on and said that he never underestimated a hanar ever again.

"Why did your parents agree to this?" Shepard asked curiously.

"The agreement was made under the Compact. It was an honour for our family."

Shepard frowned. "The Compact?"

"We live on the hanar home world because they rescued us—some of us—from extinction. We owe them our lives. This is the Compact."

"Why was your race going extinct?" Shepard frowned.

"Overpopulation," said Thane simply. "That must sound trite to you. Humans developed mass effect drive before the problem became acute. Our homeworld, Rakhana, had few resources. We can't even develop fusion power when the soil began to fail from overuse and pollution. The hanar founders a century ago. They sent hundreds of ships. Evacuate thousands of us." He then closes eyes. "Billions more had to be left behind."

Shepard remember reading that in the early twenty first century that humanity was suffering from global warming that nearly destroyed their planet. Fortunately, they replaced their fossil fuel engines with hydrogen before it was too late.

"What's the state of Rakhana now?" Shepard asked.

Thane looked at him. "Do you read your philosophers? A man named Thomas Hobbes? 'When all the world is overcharged with inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is war, which provided for every man, by victory or death.'" He sighed at looked at Shepard. "As Rakhana died around, my people slaughtered each other for mouthfuls of water. Crumbs of food."

Something about Thane's story didn't make any sense. "But you don't kill for the hanar anymore. You're freelance. What changed?"

"I was asleep for a long time, yes." Thane nodded. "I pay no attention to what my body asked to do. But then—" Thane then stood perfectly still and his pupils shrank. "Later dot trembled on his skull. One finger-twitched, he dies. Then the smell of spice on the spring wind. Sunset coloured eyes defiant in the scope. The laser dances away." Thane then lowered his head and looked back at Shepard. "My apologies. Drell slip into memories so easily."

Shepard was warned that drell could look back on their own memories with such clarity. He couldn't really understand it, but it looked like some sort of photographic memory get a lot more refined.

"Was that one of your assassinations?" Shepard asked.

Thane looked slightly uneasy. "Ah. Yes. Perhaps we can discuss it later. I've wasted too much of your time."

Shepard have a feeling that Thane was hiding something, but he can really force Thane into confessing. He decided that Thane would tell him in time.

Shepard then decided it was best to see how Samara was settling in. He found her meditating with her eyes glowing and forming a biotic spear in her hands.

She must associate presence, because she said, "Shepard."

"How are you?" he asked.

She broke her trance and looked up at Shepard as he bent down towards her. "I spent much of the last 400 years on my own; it's nice to have a colleague the chat with. I may be rusty at it, however. If you are patient, I would love to talk."

"I'd like to know more about the criminal you were chasing on Nos Astra."

She closed her eyes and looked back at him. "I hope you understand if I wish to avoid this topic. It is deeply tied to my code and beliefs. You might say it is personal."

Shepard could understand that, but make sure that it wouldn't impact a mission of this importance. "I need to know if it will impact the mission."

"It will not."

Shepard had a feeling that he would be able to get much more out of her and decided to leave her be. He went to check on Grunt and was a little more disturbed with Krogan humour and was a little more disturbed with the images that Okeer had planted in him. Wrex matter got people a little on edge, but at least he didn't recite gruesome things about battlefields and old warlords.

Shepard then returned to Gabby and Kenneth, who had finally finished installing the new FBA couplings they got from Omega.

"You're the best, Commander," said Kenneth. "We just got those FEA couplings installed. Now we only have to calibrate every week instead of every day. We're thinking about celebrating a newfound free time with some Skyllian-Five poker. Want to join us?"

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Come on, Kenneth. The commander doesn't want to play cards with grease monkeys like us."

"Actually, that sounds interesting," said Shepard.

Kenneth looked over to Tali. "You in, Tali?"

"Sure, that sounds fun."

"Fantastic! I'll get the cards."

"I haven't played Skyllian-Five since I was stationed on Elysium so I'm a bit rusty," said Shepard. "You'll be easy on the rocky, right?"

"Of course, Commander. It's all friendly."

Gabby shook her head. "Yeah, right."

It turned out that there was anything but friendly, because Shepard won hands down and pretty much bankrupt Kenneth.

"Be gentle on the rookie," Kenneth cursed. "I can't believe we fell for that."

"Never underestimate, Shepard," said Tali.

"So worth losing to see you taken down a notch," Gabby smirked.

"Beat me at me own game," Kenneth moaned. "You're all right Shepard."

Shepard got a message from Kelly that something was bothering Jack so he went down to hold the see what was up. He saw her pacing up and down looking frustrated.

"I got thoughts like little bugs crawling in and out of my head," she said shakingly. "I can't stop them. You know I have history with Cerberus. You know how far back it goes?"

She then sat down on the steps and Shepard followed her. "I'll listen to anything you have to say, Jack."

"Your pal, the Illusive Man? Never seen him before, but Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base. They did experiments. Drugged me. Tortured me. Whatever chance I had to be normal, they stole it by trying to turn me into some super-biotic. The doctors… the other kids… Every one of them hated me. They let me suffer."

Shepard shook his head in disbelief. "What did they hope to gain by torturing a little girl?"

"It was something about pain breaking down mental barriers, and how it might clear the way for a more biotic power. I'm sure there was a payoff you at some point, but I wasn't going to see it. I was wired up in my cell."

Shepard began pacing up and down. He was starting to remember why he hunted down Cerberus before. "They tortured you just to see if they could make us strong biotic? That's it?"

"Was in a position to ask, Shepard," Jack pointed out. "All I know is, a little girl crying in a cell, begging for the pain to stop…"

Shepard frowned. "How did you get out of there?"

"There was some kind of emergency and I made a break for it. The other kids came out of their cells and attacked me. So did the guards. I just killed everyone in my way and ran." She shrugged. "Guess my biotics had developed faster than they thought. I managed to get a shuttle off the ground. Drifted until a freighter picked me up. The crew used me, sold me. That's uplifting escape story."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "You're absolutely certain that Cerberus was running the facility?"

Jack glared at him. "I was a kid, but I wasn't dumb. I know how to listen. It was Cerberus. Don't care how far down the chain it was." She then smirked as it relieves living a pleasant memory. "They thought they were so clever. Turns out, mess with someone's head enough and you can turn a scared kid into an all-powerful bitch. Fucking idiots."

Shepard then made his way up the steps. "I'm going to talk to the Illusive Man, and he'd better have some answers."

Jack, however, raised her hand to block. "He'll just deny everything. That's not what I'm after anyway." Shepard turned and looked at her. "I found the coordinates in your files. I want to go to Teltin facility on Pragia, where they tortured and drugged me."

"Then what?" Shepard asked.

Jack then got back up onto her feet. "I want to go to the centre of the place, my cell. I want to deploy a big fucking bomb. And I want to watch from orbit when it goes."

Shepard could see there was no way to stop her. "I'll set a course for Pragia."

"I owe you, Shepard."

Soon they were in a shuttle heading straight down towards Pragia and Shepard could see that Jack was anxious. He decided it was best for this mission to leave Miranda and Jacob out of it, considering they were both Cerberus and they were planning to destroy an old Cerberus facility.

Shepard made sure that he got the history of the place, to make sure they weren't actually killing anyone. From the information he could gather it was abandoned after Jack's escape, he had a feeling that the Illusive Man knew about this, but there was no way of proving the fact.

"I forgot how much I hate this place," said Jack as she fidgeted. "See landing pad? Has to be on the roof, or the vegetation would overgrow it in a few hours."

"Shepard, I am picking up thermal signatures everywhere, except that you're landing zone," said EDI over the comm.

Shepard frowned. "Something's distorting the sensors."

"This was a secret Cerberus facility," Garrus reminded.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they build their equipment last. Assholes." She then looked back at Shepard. "It was a mistake coming back here, Shepard."

"Get a hold of yourself," said Shepard. "It'll be okay."

Jack shook her head. "I'm fine. Okay. Let's get on the ground."

The shuttle soon landed on the roof on the landing zone.

"Let's just get in there and planned the bombing in my cell," said Jack as she jumped off the shuttle. "I want to watch this place burn."

Shepard nodded and turned to Grunt. "Grunt, get the bomb."

Grunt nodded and grabbed the bomb. "We really going to blow up this place?"

"It's what Jack wants the sizes in the first time that I planted a bomb in a facility," said Shepard as he jumped off the shuttle. "This time however I'm not leaving anyone behind."

Garrus and Tali looked at one another.

"He still hasn't forgiven himself," said Tali.

"No. He knows that it was the right call, but wishes that he could have done more. He had to break the news to Kaidan's family. Rick told me that his mother cried, but his father understood and he felt sorry to Shepard that he had to make that call."

They began to explore the facility and as Jack looked at the remains, she began to recall her time of being there. Then when they turn round the corner they were attacked by varren and after dealing with them they looked around the place.

"This looks like an arena," said Shepard.

Jack nodded. "That's right. They used to stage fights here. Pit me against other kids. I loved it. Only time I was ever out of my cell."

"What were they studying?" Shepard frowned.

"Hell if I know," Jack shrugged. "Maybe that's how they got their kicks. I never stood anything that happened here."

Shepard shook his head, the people who ran this facility were sick no doubt about that. "Let's keep moving."

They made their way deeper into the facility and soon came across a security console. Soon a holographic image of a security officer appeared and announced the scheme of Subject Zero, who happened to be Jack.

Jack then deactivated the hologram and turned to Shepard. "That's not right. I broke out when my guard disappeared—I started that riot."

Jack had been young when she escaped, plus she was tortured and drugged which could have altered her perception. "Things might have happened that you didn't see."

Jack then began pressing her finger on Shepard's chest plate. "The other kids attacked me. The guards attacked me. The automatic systems attacked me. That doesn't leave lots of room for interpretation."

They soon discover that they weren't alone and I were attacked by vocha, who are clearly a surprise as they were that they were there. Despite them having high ground, given the others were able to kill them.

"That explains the varren from earlier," said Kasumi.

"It appears were not alone here," said Shepard looking over one of the vocha bodies.

"There from the Blood Pack," said Zaeed noticing the symbol on their armour. "Don't know why the bastards would be doing in a shithole like this."

"Something is going on here," said Shepard.

They soon entered into some sort of laboratory and Jack looked around.

"I matter came through here when I broke out, but I don't remember it," she said. She then looked over to the others. "This is a bad place."

"I think that much is obvious," said Garrus.

"Maybe the logs can shed some light," said Shepard as he made his way over towards a console.

Soon the holographic image of a scientist appeared. "Entry 1054, Teltin facility. The latest iteration of PergNim went poorly. Subject One, Four and Six died. No biotic change among the survivors. We lowered core temperature of surviving subjects, but no biological beneficial reactions occurred. As a side effect, all subjects die. So we'll not try that on Zero. I hope our supply of biotic-potential subjects holds up. We are going through them fast."

The hologram and faded and Jack looked furious. "This is bullshit! They weren't experimenting on the other children for my safety!"

"You can't help what they did to others," said Shepard calmly.

Jack shook her head. "You don't get it, Shepard. I survived this place because I was tougher than the rest. That's who I am."

Shepard nodded. "You move on, harder and tougher." He then turned to another console. "Let's see what else they were doing."

The scientist reappeared with a panicked look on his face. "It's all falling to pieces. The subjects are rampaging, and Zero is loose. We're shutting Teltin down." The scientist shook his head. "What a disaster. We'll infiltrate and piggyback onto the Alliance's Ascension program. Hopefully that will—who are…?" He stopped at a panicked look appeared on his face. "Zero, wait!"

The hologram faded just as the scientist was blown away.

Jack turned to Shepard. "Shepard, they started up somewhere else."

Shepard looked at her calmly. "Ascension is an Alliance program. It's a school for biotic kids. They don't torture children there."

Jack looked immensely frustrated. "A lot of this… isn't the way I remember it."

"There was a lot going on."

"I was dumb. I keep my eyes open now, and I always shoot first." She then gestured for them to follow her. "We're getting close to my cell. The place I came from. Let's keep going."

They soon entered into the next room and found more Blood Pack mercenaries. The leader turned out to be a krogan and he didn't look too pleased.

"Hey Aresh, it's Kureck," he said reaching from his radio. "Yeah, the intruders are here. You want them dead, we have to talk creds. You promised that a lot of salvage, but this place is a waste." Clearly is on the other end was talking to him. "Fine—we'll put 'em down. Then I'm coming in, and we're going to talk salvage."

"You're in my way," said Shepard.

The Krogan his looked to his men. "Get them!"

They quickly ran for cover just as the shooting began, Grunt placed the bomb down safely and then pulled out his shotgun and fired a couple of rounds into a vocha. Jack began slamming the mercs against the walls with her biotics going on a rampage.

Kasumi had closed and had sneak behind their ranks before shooting them in the back. A krogan turned and Garrus to this opportunity to fire a shot from his sniper rifle right in his back. Shepard fired an incendiary at the merc leader, setting him on fire and then fired a couple of rounds into him.

"Only room left is my old cell," said Jack. "Whoever Aresh is, he's in there. I want to plant the bomb there, anyway. Might as well do it on his corpse."

"But who else knows about this facility?" said Tali.

"Maybe Jack wasn't the only survivor or maybe to Cerberus scientist information of the servers," said Garrus.

Shepard shook his head. "If they wanted the data they could have collected it at any time."

"Instead of talking how about we find out," said Jack impatiently.

Jack led the way towards her cell and at first it was empty, but Shepard had a feeling that someone was watching them.

"Come out," he said. "We know you're here."

Then emerging from behind a corner was a man about Jack's age. Jack frowned at him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Aresh, and you're breaking into my home," he said. His eyes then turned on Jack. "I know you, Subject Zero. So many years have passed, and I thought I was the only survivor."

Jack quickly pulled out her pistol and aimed it at his head. "My name is Jack," she glared. "How the hell do you know me?"

"We all knew your face, Jack," he said looking at her without fear. "The inflicted hours on us so their experiment wouldn't kill you. You were the question, and I'm still looking for the answer."

Shepard looked at Jack. "Looks like you're not the only one pulled back here, Jack."

"I tried to forget this place," said Aresh as he looked around the cell. "But a place like this… it doesn't get you. It follows you. I hired these mercs and came back almost a solar year ago. We're rebuilding it, piece by piece." He then looked back at them. "I'm going to find out what they knew—how to unlock true biotic potential in humans. I'm restarting the Teltin facility." He then turned his back on them. "It will be beautiful."

That wouldn't be the work that Shepard would use and Jack looked just as disgusted as he did. "I wanted a hole in the ground—he's trying to justify what happened by using it!"

Shepard looked at Aresh appalled. "You'd the same thing to new kids? Wasn't this forced on you?"

"Some were brought from poor families on Earth or kidnapped from colonists. Most ended up here the same way I did: batarian pirates." He then rubbed the back of his head. "They did such horrible things to us. They must have had a good reason."

"There's no good reason enough!" Jack roared. "Are you nuts? You lived it!"

Shepard turned back to Aresh. "This place was like a prison. How did you get out?"

"We all attacked at once as they were taking us to the lads. They would put us down, but then Jack got loose. When I came to, he was over—the guards, the scientists, and the kids were all dead." He turned to Jack. "And you were gone."

Jack narrowed her eyes. "I stopped it, all of it. Maybe the others did have it bad, but what you're doing is just messed."

"Everything we went through must have been worth something!"

Shepard turned to Jack, he had heard enough. "We can blow up the place, but that still leaves him. What do we do with another you?"

Jack shoved past Aresh. "That's easy."

"Just leave me here. This is where I belong," said Aresh.

"Fuck that," said Jack as her biotics flared forcing him down on his knees. She then pulled her pistol and aimed it at his head.

"Jack, he's trapped in his past. You need a move on from yours," said Shepard.

"He wants to restart this place," said Jack furiously. "He needs to die!"

"He's crazy, and he's never going to restart this facility. You have to let him go." He then gave Jack a pleading look. "Your past doesn't have to control you."

Jack was reluctant, but she lowered her pistol. "Fuck. Get out of here. Go!" Aresh then ran out of the cell and Jack shook her head. "He's not worth chasing. None of it is."

"You did the right thing, Jack."

"Maybe." He then looked around the cell. "This room was my whole childhood. Give me a minute to look around."

Shepard nodded. "Go ahead. We need the arm the bomb anyway."

Jack began to relive everything as she walked around the cell and at the same time Grunt had placed the bomb in the centre of the room. Shepard and Garrus were in the middle of arming it.

"You know I can understand her hatred to Cerberus," said Garrus. "Can only imagine what she's been through."

Shepard nodded. "With any luck this experience will make her stronger, the longer and have a nice little talk to the Illusive Man after this."

"I doubt he'll tell you the truth."

"He does tell the truth, the only a little of it."

A few minutes later they were back on the shuttle heading back to the Normandy. Shepard had given Jack the detonator and they were just nearly waiting until they were out of range, in the meantime she was flicking the top of the detonator.

The Jack then press down on the button and Shepard banged on the door of the cockpit to inform the pilot to move fast. Seconds later there was a massive explosion and shockwave struck the entire shuttle.

"Feel better?" Shepard asked.

Jack merely smiled. "A lot."

Ashley was walking through the corridors of the ship and out of the window she could see the remainders she could see other ships of the entire Fifth Fleet outside. With eight of the ships destroyed they had to reassign many ships from other fleets to lengthen it.

Of course this week and the other fleets, but it was the only way to maintain their military power in different sectors of the solar system, especially now. Ashley then entered into Rick's office and found the man reading over the report of the autopsy.

"I see the reporters returned," Ashley noted.

Rick looked up. "Actually this is just one report of many. Most of the bodies were damaged due to gunfire so comparing them with the other bodies we've collected, if you pardon the pun."

"So what do they find out?"

Rick looked at her troublingly. "Not a lot and what they did find was father travelling. The Collectors are clearly an insectoid lifeform, but they don't appear to have any organs."

Ashley stared. "How can that be?"

"No clue, but the Alliance are dubious about these reports and it doesn't help that the specimens we have are not a 100% intact which makes the autopsy even more difficult."

"So we won't know for sure until we can get and undamaged body?"

"Which is not easy considering that they leave without a trace and even if we do reach them in time none of our ships would be capable of fending off there's and we don't have a countermeasure to combat their bugs."

"Shepard managed to do it surely we can?"

"Shepard has one of the greatest scientific minds in the galaxy on his crew," Rick pointed out. "Were getting all the specialist we can get our hands on, but I don't think it's enough."

"What are the Council?"

"Well they are finally making a move at last," said Rick bitterly. "The turians patrolling the borders of the Terminus Systems and the Salarians are sending STG teams to investigate these disappearance."

"That's not enough."

"The best we can do, the Collectors are smart phones in their efforts in the Terminus Systems. We can only send a few ships in since the attacks are random it's hard to pinpoint their location. What's worse those ships that do encounter Collector ships are never heard from again."

Ashley just stared at him. "So what you're saying is that it's all up to Shepard."

Rick merely nodded.