Disclaimer: Rated R (or M depending on the site) for the good stuff, you've been warned. Currently its cursing and violence, we'll see where it goes from there. Mass Effect is owned by whoever owns Mass Effect and I do not begrudge them it at all.
Chapter 4: Morning Coffee
Freedom's Progress was as plain as a colony could be from what Alyssa could see in her research during the trip to it. The star the world orbited was too weak to keep it warm enough to turn into a garden world. As is the local temperature only creeped a few degrees over zero in the middle of summer. As for Freedom's Progress itself it had been founded ten years before to mine paladium and due to the richness of its deposits it had grown from a small starter colony of a thousand miners into a boom town with nine hundred thousand residents living in the main colony and serving the many mines that existed around it. Their biggest accomplishment of late was reaching self sufficient status with the completion of an extensive set of underground green houses. Their fabricators would no doubt be stretched to the limit if the colony was ever cut off but it could theoretically make it if they were. They'd even put in their paperwork with the Alliance to upgrade their colonial status from dependant to independent.
All in all it was quite possibly the most average colony Alyssa could imagine but it was successful and that was something to be proud of.
And now it had gone dark. The Comm buoys had registered nothing but carrier waves and regular bit checks for the last five hours.
She glanced to the side to take a look at her companions and was slightly relieved to see them both looking over their weapons and ensuring they were ready. The pilot of their shuttle kept the flight in smooth even as clouds swallowed the shuttle.
"Might get a little bumpy on the ride in, this is a nasty storm," their pilot said.
"Not good," Miranda said, "How long has it been going on?"
"Met sats say the last four hours."
Miranda huffed and looked at Alyssa. "So much for finding physical evidence outside."
"Might be why they timed it like they did," Alyssa said.
"Maybe, but the Collectors don't usually seem to care about who sees what they do."
"I wouldn't either if I had the Reapers backing me up," Jacob added.
"They don't usually snatch whole colonies though," Alyssa offered. "They might be stretching their resources doing it and want a bit more cover than normal."
"Maybe, we usually find out about these abductions days after they happen. This is the first time we'll be the first on the scene," Miranda said. "I would have liked to have gotten as much unspoiled data as possible."
"If we all got what we wished I wouldn't be here," Alyssa said to no one in particular.[a]
Their pilot cut in before Miranda could retort. "Thirty seconds to the LZ, get ready."
Alyssa unbuckled her harness and stood up. She checked her assault rifle over and it was much the same as the weapons she'd gotten from Lazarus station, serviceable, but using the ever annoying ejectable heat sinks. If things went like they thought she wouldn't have to use the thing. She stretched out a bit after sitting for so long. The medi-gel patches were still doing their job and the worst she got was a long dull ache but according to their little timers they'd expire in about eight hour which meant she had that long to find a doctor she'd trust. First things first though.
"Ten seconds!"
Alyssa hit the door controls and the side hatches opened up blasting her with negative fifteen degree air according to her external sensors. Her hardsuit would do fine keeping her warm even if her face was exposed. The shuttle was dipping low over prefab buildings as Alyssa leaned out into the slip stream. It was late in the local night but the many street lights present and flood lights around work areas illuminated things well enough. She could see the designated landing pad coming up, the built in heaters were still working and keeping it clear of ice and snow.
"Divert!" Alyssa said over the shuttle's comms. She didn't want to land in a designated but unsecured LZ. "There's an open area, looks like a heavy lift loading dock, about two hundred meters east. Set us down there then orbit two clicks out. Be ready for a fast extract."
The pilot didn't argue with her and neither did her companions. Like it or not their stock went up. They spent two billion credits on her, at least they said they did. They were going to trust her and not second guess her. When the shuttle began to settle over the loading dock she stepped out of the shuttle and dropped the three meters to the ground. She hunched low and ran fast across the open area to slide through the snow into the cover of a shipping crate. She glanced behind her to see her companions following suit, though Miranda did it with a biotic glow around her slowing her fall as opposed to the hard landing of Alyssa and Jacob. Both joined her in cover quickly and kept their heads down.
"We should head for the central admin of the colony," Miranda said as she brought up a map on her omni-tool. "We can check sensor logs and security logs from there."
"It's a million person colony," Alyssa said. "That's a lot of logs."
"That's why we're going to the central admin. It's highly decentralized system with multiple townships and outlying areas but it all feeds back to central admin. We can pull up anything we need from there."[b]
"Alright," Alyssa said. "Let's go." Miranda made a last input on her omni-tool and the navigation markers popped up on Alyssa's heads up display.
She was careful to avoid the main streets of the colony. She stuck to the back alleys, threading her way through houses and apartment blocks. Unlike what many expected of the colonies few doors were locked. Most colonies were picky about who they let join. You couldn't afford dead weight or criminals who would muck everything up. The people who worked on the colonies were rarely rich and the conditions were nothing like you'd be in back home. Then there was the fact that so often many colonists were armed which just discouraged theft even more. So when doors opened as Alyssa approached them it didn't really surprise her. [c]The conditions inside did though.
Everything was in it's place for the most part. Coffee pots sat on warmers, the acrid stink of coffee let too long wafting into the air. In some dinner was set on the table but no one was present. Beds had ruffled sheets like people had been in them but no more. There were some signs of distress but they were usually limited to nothing but an overturned cup here, a dropped data slate there. It was eerie. Just enough to suggest something bad had happened, but not enough to tell what.
It was the sound that really bothered her, or rather the total lack of it. She was used to silently sneaking through the night on some abandoned dust ball, or an airless moon. This was a bustling city, or it had been. She should hear children playing, families watching the vid, music playing, hover cars whirring through the street. Only there was no sound, nothing. Even the wind had died off leaving the night so quiet that her ears began to invent things just at the edge of her perception. She shrugged off most of them, only to realize that the persistent whirring and thud of dead footfalls wasn't imagined.
As they neared the city center prefabs had begun to give way to more permanent structures, sometimes replacing prefabs and sometimes incorporating them.
"We're only five hundred meters from the admin building," Miranda said as the peered out onto the deserted streets from the lower floor of someone's home.
"And we're not alone, there are mechs out there."
"Working mechs?" Jacob asked.
"Unless something else is making that noise."
"What noise?" Miranda asked.
"That noise," Alyssa said as she gestured towards where the administration center was.
"You're hearing things Shepard," Jacob said.
"We'll see."
"There's two more blocks of buildings and then a large open meeting space before we get to the admin building," Miranda interjected to get them back on track.
"How large?"
"A hundred and fifty meters," Miranda answered. "Not much cover."
"Any thing better?" Alyssa asked.
"That's the best we're going to do."
"Shit."
Alyssa led them out and began to thread their way through the back alleys and houses of the next two blocks but they didn't make it to the second block before they opened the back door into a two story apartment building and were greeted by, "Target Acquired."
Alyssa unlimbered her shotgun, "Lovely."
Individually the security mechs were no trouble. Similar models to the ones Alyssa had downed in the hospital but with time to grow accustomed to moving about her aim had improved somewhat. The problem was that the longer they fought the mechs the more that vectored in on them. They made slow but steady progress through the house and into the second block but came up short when confronted by the wide open assembly area before the admin building
"They're swarming!" Jacob yelled as a rocket drone's projectile blew out the window he'd been standing beside.
"We've gotta move faster!" Alyssa replied. "String'em out!" She fired her shotgun and took the head off a nearby mech but a gun drone had landed on a nearby roof and pelted her shields with mass driver rounds before she managed to duck back into cover.
"This way!" Miranda yelled as she rolled out of cover and pelted a shambling mech with a line of submachine gun fire that finished by blowing out it's optics. She turned her back on the mechs and dashed for the rear entrance for the house. Jacob followed and Alyssa covered him with a roaring burst of fire until her rifle overheated. While the mechs recovered she followed after Jacob, popping the rifle's heat sink and loading another.
Miranda led them quickly through streets and alleys, ducking into cover whenever flying drones whizzed by before getting to it again. She was leading them around the assembly area towards the other side hoping that while the distance was longer it might be less full of murderous automatons.
The sound of rifle fire and explosions told her it wasn't.
"Looks like someone is as welcome here as we are," Jacob said as they looked around the edge of a window where a collection of mechs were attacking a group of prefabs. The back side of the admin building was more industrial and quite a few shipping crates and vehicles filled the yard.
A mech pitched over into the snow with it's chest shot out. "Looks like they're giving it right back though. Collectors?"
"Doubtful," Miranda observed. "They're using conventional weapons, the Collectors have some sort of energy weapon."
"The nearest Alliance ship should be hours away still," Jacob said. "No way it's a search party."
"Survivors?" Alyssa asked.
"They'd be the first," Miranda said with a shrug.
"Whoever they are I wanna talk to them," Alyssa said and the trio moved out.
Basic mechs had no real skill or instincts so when they were caught between the cross fire of whoever was in the prefab's and Alyssa's team they didn't last long. As the last mech was sawn in two by Miranda's submachine gun someone inside the prefab hissed in a heavily synthesized voice. "Get in here before the rest see you!"
The three of them hurried up the steps to the prefab's deck and Alyssa kicked the locked door solidly. A moment later the door interface turned green and it opened up. Whoever Alyssa had expected to see in the mass produced shelter it wasn't who was waiting for her. Quarians.
"Get in get in!" The quarian male said as he waved them in and looked nervously about for more machines. Once inside he shut and locked the door behind them. A few of the other quarians inside were covering the windows of the prefab with sheets and blankets they'd found inside.
"Who's there Prazza," a familiar voice asked from the next room.
"The humans who helped us," a quarian in a more ornate envirosuit answered.
Alyssa was already taking steps towards the next room when a familiar black and purple enviro-suited form came in. "Tali?"
"Sh... Shepard?" she asked in confusion.
"Tali how did you...? Why are you...?" She didn't manage to articulate a single coherent question before she'd thrown her arms around the shoulders of her quarian shipmate and hugged her. "It's good to see..."
"Cerberus!" another quarian yelled and Tali immediately shook herself out of Shepard's grip and stepped back. Around the room the rest of the quarians were bringing up their weapons and leveling them at Alyssa, Miranda, and Jacob, who for their part were drawing their own weapons.
"Whoa!" Alyssa said, holding up her hands. "Whoa!"
"Shepard, what the hell are you doing with Cerberus?" Tali demanded with an uncharacteristically harsh tone.
"I'm not with..."
"If you're even Commander Shepard at all," Tali said menacingly as her hand dropped to her pistol and she took a step backwards.
Alyssa could feel the entire room on edge. She didn't really know what was going on but suspected that whatever came out of her mouth would determine if things turned into a shooting match at arms length. "Tali, it's me, who else would I be?"
"Changing human faces isn't hard," Tali said. "And you'd need a lot of bandages over the scars until they healed."
The medigel patches covering her left face and neck tugged on her skin when she grimaced. "It's me Tali," Alyssa said while realizing just how little that meant. She concentrated, trying to find something to prove her identity, something that wouldn't be on the records. "Was the data we found on the geth on Solcrum helpful on your pilgrimage?"
Tali paused and the room was silent, everyone waiting to see how she reacted.
"Shepard?" she asked quietly.
"I never put that in the official report, the only people who knew were me, you, and Liara."
"How are you... you died," she said as she folded one arm over her chest and ran the other over the crown of her suit.
"Everyone keeps telling me that," Alyssa said. "I think someone exaggerated."
"I can hardly believe it," she said. "It's been what? Two years? Where have you been?"
Alyssa started. "Wait. Two years?"
"Yes, two years. More actually. And now you're with Cerberus?"
"No, I'm not," Alyssa said.
"We're working together," Miranda said as her eyes flitted about the room and the still armed and belligerent quarians that surrounded her.
"Put it away Miranda," Alyssa said with a flick of her eyes to Miranda's submachine gun. "You too Jacob."
"Yes, put the guns away," Tali said and the quarians started to lower their weapons.
"They're still Cerberus, even if you know this human," the male in the ornate suit, Prazza, stated.
"Let Shepard explain first," Tali said.
"I'm not working for them, just with them for now," Alyssa said. "They told me that human colonies are going missing, entire colonies. We're investigating."
"What I'd love to know is what a bunch of Quarians are doing here fighting the security mechs right after it happened," Miranda sneered.
"Speak when spoken to Cerberus bitch," Prazza snapped.[d]
Miranda looked to retort with her submachine gun but a half dozen quarians with assault rifles in front of her made her stifle her reply.
"If you must know we are looking for one of our own. A pilgrim named Veetor's last reported position was on this colony. When we heard the colony had disappeared our team was sent to retrieve him and try to find out what was going on."
"The nearest flotilla ships are hours from here. For you to manage that you'd have had to have found out within an hour of the abductions happening," Miranda stated.
"You're not the only one with sources you know," Tali shot back.
"We're here just trying to find out what's going on," Alyssa said. "We need to get into the admin building so we can take a look at the records."
"We think that's where Veetor is," Tali said. "We can't get there because of all the mech's we've run into. "
Alyssa looked around at the quarians in the prefab, most of them wounded. "It wouldn't be any trouble for us to check the building for him. You can stay and tend to your wounded and keep a way out open for us."
"We made it this far and got stopped. What makes you think you'll make it?" Prazza demanded.
"You haven't seen the commander work," Tali stated flatly before Alyssa could say anything.
"You back us up and we'll find your lost pilgrim," Alyssa assured him.
Prazza shook his head and stormed off.
"You'll have to forgive Prazza," Tali said. "He hasn't taken being under my command well."
"I wouldn't be in a good mood after this many casualties either," Alyssa said. "What happened between you and Cerberus?"
"The short story is they raided one of our ships," Tali said as she walked to one of the windows and lifted up one side of it to look out. "What happened to you Shepard? No one has heard from you in two years."
Alyssa lifted up the other side of the curtain and peered out. The snow was still falling and she could see the administration building from here. There were only a few shipping crates and ground vehicles between them and the loading docks however. "Honestly? I have no idea. As far as I can remember I woke up on an operating table in a Cerberus lab about eight hours ago."
"You don't waste time finding trouble do you Shepard?"
Alyssa smirked. "I don't go looking for it. It finds me."
"That's the truth." Tali looked about a bit more before letting the curtain fall closed. "Looks clear to me."
"Yeah," Alyssa said stepped back and turned towards the door.
"Be careful Shepard," Tali said. "I don't want to have to wait another two years to see you again."
Miranda and Jacob fell in beside her and Alyssa thumped the door control to open it. "Hey, you know me. When aren't I careful?"
"Sonofabitch!" Alyssa exclaimed as another line of heavy mass driver fire followed her behind the shipping crate she'd dove behind. "What maniac sends a heavy mech like that to a mining colony?"
The Ymir had made it's appearance only seconds after Tali had radioed them to tell them Prazza had taken some of his marines off to find Veetor before they did. A few seconds later it was wiping the last bits of one of Prazza's marines from between it's white metal toes. Unlike the Loki's the Ymir was a full on combat mech designed to engage entire squads of enemy ground troops. Not a bad selection if you couldn't afford a full time militia.
"It's going to eat us alive," Miranda replied as she leaned out of cover and tried to overload the mech's kinetic barriers but she barely made it back into cover before a light rocket peeled back the edge of the shipping crate she was standing behind.
"Just let it get closer," Alyssa said. The big mech was pressing it's advantage, closing in to try and flush them out of cover. Not a bad tactic if it was being covered by other mechs or human soldiers. On it's own though, not so much. When the mech was just ten meters away Alyssa ordered, "Get it's attention!"
Miranda and Jacob both leaned out of cover, Miranda to hammer it's shields and Jacob spraying rounds towards it's face. Alyssa though retrieved a pair of grenades with her left hand and took off running around the opposite corner of the shipping crate from either of her companions.
The mech noticed her immediately and turned from spraying Jacob's positions with rounds to track her. It's programming warning it that someone moving quickly like her was most likely up to no good. As it tracked her it deduced she was most likely heading for the cover of a parked ground car nearby and it led an appropriate amount. Except she didn't. Alyssa planted her foot in the snow and changed direction, charging directly for the Ymir. It had over compensated and for a crucial two seconds it was aimed in the wrong direction. It tired to salvage the situation by swinging back rapidly and trying to smash Alyssa with one of it's arms but she expected that and slid under it. The Ymir tried to pivot around to get to her but Alyssa was back up almost instantly. She planted one foot on the jutting heel of the Ymir and the next higher in the lip of it's torso and hip juncture. She grabbed the lip of it's shoulder armor and hoisted herself up. The Ymir realized what was going on but not fast enough. It's arms weren't made to scratch its back.
From where she was Alyssa could see down into the collar of the Ymir. It's armor plates extended up to prevent foot troops from trying to hit the unarmored area but from directly above it on the mech's back it was just a big open void. Alyssa primed both grenades quickly and jammed them between the mech's armored back plate and it's head before she let go and let the spinning mech hurl her off. She landed on her back and skidded as the Ymir turned towards her, trying to line up it's weapons to finish her off.
The pair of grenades went off with a thunderous roar at close range. The Ymir's sturdy armor worked against it, concentrating the force of the blast and containing it within the mech's body. A fountain of machine parts and electronics were vomited up out of the Ymir's collar. It's arms were blown clear of their sockets and it's waist joint was a sheet of flame as the machine's torso was ripped off it's legs.
Alyssa was chuckling to herself on her back in the snow when Miranda and Jacob came running up to her.
Miranda was scowling. "What the hell was that Shepard? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
For his part Jacob was glancing back and forth between the commander and the smoldering remains of the Ymir with a huge smile on his face. He offered Alyssa his hand and let him help her back to her feet.
"What were we going to do, sit there and try to whittle down an assault mech with rifle fire?" She asked as she knocked some of the errant snow off her armor. She unlimbered her rifle before jerking it towards the now unguarded admin building. "Let's go before more vector in."
"You're worth a lot Shepard, try not to get yourself killed before we even get started alright?" Miranda scolded.
"I'll make sure you get your money's worth," Alyssa said as they jogged up to the back door of the building. Jacob sank to his knees before the door's glowing red lock and started to work his omni-tool. "Just gimme a second and..." The lock turned green and the door opened with a hiss. "Ta-da."
"Nice," Alyssa admitted as she led them inside. The building was like the rest of the colony, empty. There was evidence all around that it had been inhabited but none of what had happened to the people who had worked here. Miranda's map led them quickly towards the surveillance center of the building, two floors up and in the heart of it.
"We need to find this quarian pilgrim before the other's do," Miranda said as Jacob worked the door lock on the surveillance center.
Alyssa was about to speak up but Jacob managed to get the door open before she could. Inside looked as it should, rows of desks with monitors and one giant bank of monitors on the far wall with control stations and seats in front of it. And seated right in the middle of it all facing the monitors was a quarian.
"Can't let them find me. Take me like the others. Mech's might slow them down. They'll be back. They're back. Take me. Freeze me. Need to scream but can't. Can't let them find me..."
"Veetor?" Alyssa asked as they walked into the room and the door closed behind them.
If he heard her he gave no indication of it. He just kept on babbling and messing with the monitor controls.
"Are you Veetor?" Alyssa said more forcefully as she got closer.
The quarian kept ignoring her and babbling away.
"Hey!" Alyssa shouted as she came along side him. She unlimbered her side arm and fired a single shot from her pistol into the nearest monitor, shattering it.
Whatever trance the quarian had been in the pistol shot shattered it.
"Are you Veetor?" Alyssa asked as she put her pistol away.
"Yes," he said softly.
"We need to know what happened here. What happened to everyone?" she asked as she gestured at the monitors.
Veetor leaned over and activated something as the monitor wall came alive with recorded footage. From two dozen angles she watched as vaguely insectiod humanoids walked amongst the colony's streets.
"Collectors," Jacob confirmed.
"They came, no warning. Buzzing everywhere," Veetor said. The images flicked to another area. Strange seed pod shaped caskets floated amongst the colony's prefab shelters. Some of the collectors walked with them, escorting them. Others were loading colonists into another one before sealing it.
"What's that, in the background?" Miranda asked. When Veetor didn't move Alyssa leaned over and zoomed in.
"It's colonists, but they're not moving," Jacob said as the image grew.
"Looks like, mid run?" Alyssa said with slight confusion.
"Paralyzed, before they could even move very far," Miranda said. "That's how they do it without disturbing the colony. They paralyze everyone before they even start."
"Buzzing," Veetor confirmed and again the images shifted. On screen was a roiling mass of iridescent things buzzing through the air.
"Insects?" Miranda asked. "Some kind of paralytic toxin?"
"If they're insects," Alyssa said. "Could be nano-bots."
The video continued to shift from scene to scene. Collectors kept rounding up the colonists with admirable speed and efficiency. What had been a bustling colony full of people was fast becoming a ghost town.
"Is anyone seeing the time index?" Jacob asked. "Best I can tell they did this in two and a half hours or so."
"Two and a half hours to abduct almost a million colonists," Miranda said with awe.
"Look at them, almost like a colony of ants, or a hive... wait, go back!" Alyssa said. She reached around Veetor and rewound the video. "Look, over there, what the hell is that?" Alyssa said as she jabbed a finger towards one of the collectors.
"It's... glowing?" Miranda said.
Jacob got in close and watched the other monitors. The strange glowing collector was badly positioned and none of the feeds they saw had him clearly in frame but they could catch glimpses of him. "It's also directing the other ones."
"Like the queen of a hive?" Alyssa proposed.
"Or something," Miranda said. "We know virtually nothing about them."
"We know more than we did ten minutes ago," Jacob said.
"Right, we need to take this quarian and the records and go," Miranda said as the door behind them opened.
"Go where exactly," Tali asked tensely as she strode into the room with Prazza and another armed quarian.
"He has information on the collectors, information we need to find the colonists. He's coming with us," Miranda said forcefully as she interposed herself between Veetor and the other quarians.
Tali raised her omni-tool and scanned something. "His suit's been breached and he's burning up with fever. He needs to be treated, not dissected."
"We just need to ask him some questions," Jacob added. "We'll send him back to the flotilla as soon as we can."
"Ah well in that case," Tali began. "No."
"I'm afraid we're going to have to insist," Miranda began as her hand dropped to rest on the butt of her submachine gun.
"Everyone back off, " Alyssa said as she stepped between them all.
"All we need is the surveillance data he's got," Alyssa said. "It'll have more on it than he could have ever seen."
"We need to know why he wasn't taken," Miranda stated as she kept her eyes on the quarians.
"Don't know," Veetor said quietly behind them. "Buzzing started. People froze. I ran, hid. Buzzing never found me. Collectors not look for me. Got here, made the mechs protect me."
Jacob grimaced, "That was you?"
"He's delirious with fever," Tali snapped. "Whatever is in his system is nasty." She turned to Alyssa, "Please Shepard, let us take him. You can have all the data in his omni-tool."
"Take him Tali, make sure he's well," Alyssa said with a nod.
"Thank you Shepard," Tali said as she shouldered her way between Miranda and Jacob. She pulled Veetor to his feet and manipulated his omni-tool. Alyssa glanced down and saw that Tali had started to transfer the data as promised.
Miranda was fuming as Tali passed Veetor off to Praaza and the other quarian. Alyssa glanced her way and jerked her head towards the door. "Call for pickup, the roof." The other woman took the hint and she and Jacob left as well leaving Tali and Alyssa alone.
"Shepard... where have you been?" she asked.
"I dunno Tali, truthfully I don't."
"I can't believe you're with Cerberus."
Alyssa frowned. "I'm not."
"You're here with them," she said pointedly.
"The collectors are up to something," she said, "and there's a good chance they're working with or for the Reapers."
"How do you know?" Tali asked.
"They're the ones that hit us. Out of the blue, no reason, just tried to kill me."
"Still, why Cerberus?"
"I woke up in one of their facilities. Someone tried to kill me, Miranda and Jacob helped me out."
Tali folded her arms up. "So why are you here?"
"Human colonies are being taken, the entire colony. There were nine hundred thousand people here yesterday Tali. Today there's one delirious quarian and his mech army. Whatever they're doing they have to be stopped."
"So go to Anderson or the Council, they have to help," Tali said exasperatedly.
"How?" Alyssa shot back. "I woke up on their facility, used their shuttles, I haven't really had an opportunity to get away."
"You've got one now," Tali said. "Come with me, or wait here for the Alliance."[e]
"I can't."
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because they know something and I need to know it to. There's more to this than just the colonies, more than they're letting on. If I walk away now I may never find out." She paused and leaned back against a desk. "And they might know what the hell has happened to me for the last two years."
Tali pointed to the medi-gel patches on Shepard's face. "Did it occur to you that they might have done that TO you?"
"Yeah, it did," Alyssa said back quietly. "There's just...," she shook her head, unable to articulate it.
"Your stomach?"
"Gut," Alyssa corrected.
"What is it with humans and food?" Tali taunted.
Alyssa shrugged. "I've gotta figure this out."
"Shepard, just get away from them for now."
"You could come with me you know, you're pretty good with a shotgun unless you've gone soft in the last two years."
"I'm still good with a shotgun," she said indignantly. "What happened to your aim?"
"Ouch," Alyssa hissed. "It's gotta be less dangerous than fighting a Reaper," she pushed hopefully.
"Shepard I can't. I have to get my people and Veetor back. I can't just abandon my post."
Alyssa shook her head. "I can respect that." Overhead the sound of a shuttle coming in over the roof was heard. "That's my ride."
"Shepard, please," Tali pleaded but Alyssa was unswayed. She rose up and headed for the door. "Just... be careful."
Alyssa smirked, "Come on, you know me."
"That's just it, I do," sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"I'll find you again Tali, the galaxy isn't that big."
Tali huffed and brought up her omni-tool. "Fine, but take my extranet address with you, use it to get a hold of me if you need me alright?"
Alyssa checked her omni-tool and nodded when she had it. "Sure thing. See ya around Tali."
"See you Shepard."
"This is exactly what we needed," the Illusive Man said as he rose quickly from his holographic chair. "This proves the collectors are behind the attacks on our colonies."
"So now we take this to the Alliance and get them moving," Alyssa said.
The Illusive Man shook his head. "The Alliance already knows the collectors are behind the attacks."
Alyssa crossed her arms. "Then what was the point of this?"
"To convince you."
"I'm getting sick of getting jerked around," she growled.
"Save your anger for the right target Shepard," he calmly told her as he took another drag from his cigarette. "Would you have believed me if you hadn't seen it for yourself? Would you be as ready to stop them if you hadn't seen what they'd done?"
Alyssa glowered at him.
"I wouldn't have believed me either in your position. So I did what I knew it would take to convince you." He calmly took another long drag at his cigarette and knocked the ash off it as the silence drug on in the room. Visibly nonplussed by Shepard's anger or lack of reply.
"Now what," she finally asked.
"Now you do what you best Shepard."
"What's the catch?"
The Illusive Man smirked. "The collectors base, wherever it is, lies beyond the Omega-4 relay."
The name tickled something in her memory but she couldn't quite place it. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"The Omega-4 relay is unique in the relay system. No one knows where it leads to. No ship that has taken the jump has ever returned from it, except the collectors." He stubbed out the remains of his current cigarette and pulled another from an expensive looking case he kept in his jacket. He lit it and leaned back in his chair.
"And you want me to figure out a way to use it, find their base..."
"...and stop them."
"How can we be sure the relay is even taking us to the right place?" she asked.
The thin smile on his face made Alyssa think of a snake. "We've suspected them for a while now. I've had agents near Omega eavesdropping on the Omega-4 relay for the last eight months. Two trips ago they were able to detect a signal sent from the collector ship to the relay. There's no way to get close enough to the relay to copy the signal with enough clarity to reuse it, and the last two trips they've made have confirmed the signal to be unique each time."
"It's an IFF," Alyssa ventured.
"Precisely. I've got my people working on a way to spoof it. There's one little detail you need to know."
"What's that?"
"The signal bears a striking similarity to the signals Sovereign used when trying to interface with the Citadel."
"They're agents of the reapers."
The Illusive man nodded. "We've also been able to analyze some of the Normandy's wreckage. The weapon they used to destroy your ship and kill you is based on the exact same technology of Sovereigns weapons."
"You could have told me this earlier," she said.
"I never lay all my cards out on the table at the start of the game Shepard."
"Then you need to start right the hell now," she snapped as she jammed a finger towards his holographic body.
"I'll tell you everything you need to know Shepard." "So long as I'm the one deciding what I need to know," she replied to the gauntlet he'd thrown down.
"My only goal is to safeguard humanity Shepard, that's my only ulterior motive. You're going to need to believe that if we're going to work together."
This time it was Alyssa who let the silence drag out leaving little ambiguity about her level of trust. "I'm going to need a team, and a ship. I can't do this alone and in a shuttle."
He held up a data pad and gestured towards her with it. "Agreed, which is why I've already taken the liberty of compiling some dossiers of potential team members..."
"I want my old team back," she butted in.
He didn't miss a beat. "Not possible."
"I get that a lot."
"Well this time it's true Shepard. In the two years you've spent resting comfortably in the grave your team moved on."
"And I'm sure you know where," she replied testily.
"Shepard, whatever your team might have been a threat to humanity they were not. I was not about to waste resources keeping tabs on aliens who posed no threat."
"You spent two billion on me but you could keep even a marginal eye out for the people who worked with me?" Alyssa asked incredulously.
The Illusive Man picked up another data pad and scrolled till he found what he was looking for. "Lieutenant Ashley Williams, Alliance special forces, currently deployed. Whereabouts classified. Garrus Vakarian, reapplied Citadel Security and accepted. Six months later resigned his position, whereabouts unknown. Urdnot Wrex, departed Alliance embassy on Earth six weeks after Normandy destruction, last official movement arrival on Citadel five days later. Further whereabouts unknown. Dr. Liara T'Soni, departed Alliance embassy on Earth fifteen weeks after destruction of Normandy. Current whereabouts unknown." He lowered the datapad. "And I believe you've had your own run in with Tali Zorah. That is everything I know about your former crew Shepard."
Alyssa shook her head slowly. The galaxy was a big place. If someone wanted to just disappear it would be child's play even in this day and age. She had no reason to think that her compatriots would be hiding but she had no idea where to start looking for them. At least they were all alive. "Who's on the list?"
"I'll let you look it over yourself," he said. "Miranda will have the data for you."
"She's coming?"
"Operative Lawson is still technically head of the Lazarus project and you are not fully healed. Besides, Miranda is the best operative I have. She and Mr. Taylor will be invaluable to you."
Alyssa snarled, "I'm running this mission, not Miranda."
"Agreed," The Illusive Man said without complaint or contest. "She's merely there to help you. I didn't bring you back just to put you on a leash."
Alyssa's eyes narrowed. "And the ship?"
"I've arranged for it, and for a pilot I believe you'll be comfortable with," he replied smoothly with the barest hint of a smile.
"Alright, let's get to work."
"Let's," he said with finality and stabbed the disconnect button.
Behind her the lights came on and the room's door opened.
"Commander?" a familiar voice asked from the door.
Alyssa turned to see the same slender, scruffy, young face she'd gotten used to seeing so many times before peering out at her from under a ball cap. "Joker?"
Author's Notes
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