A/N: And we come, finally, to the reveal... let me know how I'm doing and what you think!
Once again, all credit to Bioware and all mistakes are mine...
Four days later, Kat and Kaidan joined Joker and EDI in the cockpit as they approached Horizon. If they were smiling a bit more than they should be given their subterfuge, their friends either didn't notice or wisely chose not to comment. Either way, both were solidly back in their roles as leaders and were grimly determined to succeed at their upcoming mission. The only real tension during their blissful interlude had come when Kat had tried to convince Kaidan that she could join the ground team to retrieve Wraith. Although the hacker wasn't known for his combat skills, and Horizon had long been abandoned, there were too many unknown factors and Kaidan simply wouldn't budge on the subject. It had frustrated Kat, though she understood – and appreciated – the protectiveness that was so part of her husband's nature. In the end, she had to accept that she would not be joining the extraction team, though Kaidan agreed to take a larger squad than he normally would because he couldn't argue that the unknowns that made it too dangerous for Kat to go made it equally dangerous for him. It was a small victory, Kat realized, but she'd take it.
As the planet began to take shape out the viewport in front of them, Kat and Kaidan shared a look of understanding. In that single second of unspoken communication, they managed to say 'I hate this place', 'let's put the bad memories behind us', 'we need to get this done and get away from here, ASAP' and from Kat, at least, 'be careful'. They broke eye contact and turned back to the other occupants of the cockpit.
"What do we know?" Kat asked.
"Since the War, Horizon has remained abandoned and unexplored," EDI began. "The entire planet is being shielded by a dampening field that I cannot penetrate – it's not unexpected because of Wraith's hacking skills. Unfortunately, there is more unknown here than known."
"Best guess, EDI?" Kat pressed.
"I do not 'guess', Shepard, but if I were to extrapolate based on what is known about Wraith and Horizon, I would estimate that he is hiding in the former indoctrination center. Only that facility would have the equipment and power he would need to create the dampening field."
"Although we disabled most of the defenses in the center when we were here last, Wraith would have the capability of bringing them back online?" Kat asked.
"Most certainly," EDI confirmed.
"Sounds like you need to go in hot but quiet," Joker put in.
"And we need to take him alive," Kaidan added.
"Tricky," Joker summarized with a low whistle.
"Let's gather the team in the briefing room and run through it one more time," Kat said as she turned to exit the cockpit.
After a short briefing and being informed by Joker that they were within shuttle range, Kat watched the team she had hand-picked head out of the room and to the elevator. She had chosen Kasumi (for her infiltration and tech skills), Tali (again for her tech skills), James and Kris (because lately you couldn't have one without the other, and they were the muscle of the team), and Liara. She lingered in the room – a break from pattern for her – until Liara was next to exit. A brief hand on her friend's arm had the asari turning to her with a questioning look, then Liara broke formation and stepped closer to Kat.
"Liara, you've been there from the beginning," Kat said. "I don't have to tell you what he means to me. Keep him safe." This was the reason she chose Liara specifically for the team. Because she knew that she could trust Liara with this, and that Liara would not think less of her for being emotional over it. It was embarrassing and sentimental, but she wouldn't allow either to dissuade her.
"You know I will," Liara replied softly, and once again Kat shared a moment of unspoken communication with one of her oldest friends. She nodded in satisfaction.
"Be safe yourself," Kat added with a commanding look.
Liara smiled and nodded and then headed out of the room to join the rest of the team at the elevator. Kat remained behind for another moment, wondering why she couldn't shake the feeling of dread over this simple retrieve mission, then shook her head and exited the room to head to the cockpit to count stars.
The first sign that the mission was going to be more than a simple retrieval of a smart but not combat efficient target came when they broached the planet's atmosphere and two things occurred simultaneously. First, all communication was cut off, not just from the shuttle to the Normandy but also helmet-to-helmet and within the shuttle. Second, they were attacked by a pair of AA guns that were most definitely not active on their last visit. Luckily, the Kodiak was in the hands of the person Kaidan had long considered to be the best shuttle pilot in the Alliance and Cortez was able to evade the turrets and land safely, albeit a considerable distance from the facility.
"Get back to the Normandy and advise them of the com situation," Kaidan ordered as he ran through his standard equipment checks and ensured that his team was doing the same. "Maybe EDI can find a work-through for the dampening, if not, plan on returning in two hours. We'll get the AA guns offline by then."
"Aye, aye, Major," Cortez acknowledged.
Kaidan nodded and motioned his team out of the shuttle before him. They had a hike ahead of them and now a deadline to meet.
After a brisk march, they approached the facility and got their first warning of the difficulties they would face. Starting at about one click out, the ground was booby trapped with trip wires, automated turrets, and infrared cameras. Wraith's lack of actual combat skill was apparent in both the configuration and lack of camouflage of the traps, and the skilled team was easily able to skirt and disable them. It did, however, give them a sense of the person they were hunting.
"Why does everyone with a brain that big turn into a crazy paranoid?" Kris asked after manually disabling the fifth tripwire.
"I'm not sure if you just called me dumb or crazy," Kasumi shot back from a few feet away where she was dismantling a camera – and pocketing the parts, if Kaidan's careful observation wasn't deceiving him.
"I meant, the people who work for Cer…" Kris cut herself off when she realized her mistake there.
"Right," Kasumi replied with a cheerful grin. "It is fun to watch you squirm, you know."
Kris accepted the teasing with good grace and smiled. In the time that she had come to know Kasumi, she could clearly see the reasons that Kat thought so highly of the thief, and, at the same time, was occasionally so frustrated by her. She tended to agree on both counts.
"If he's gone to these lengths out here, what can we expect inside?" she asked, more rhetorically than for a real answer.
"It's not going to be a welcome wagon," Kasumi answered anyway.
"Perhaps he expended all his energy on the perimeter defenses and left the inside relatively safe?" Liara suggested in a hopeful tone.
"Sure, and maybe tomorrow hanar will learn to use personal pronouns," Kasumi replied with a look that indicated how unlikely she found either scenario.
"Let's keep moving," Kaidan prompted. "We need to get to the AA guns and get them offline within the next 75 minutes," he reminded them.
"Should be easy," Kasumi answered, in her finest sarcastic form.
They approached the main doors of the facility moments later and discovered that it would be far from easy. Once the defenses were dismantled, they still faced a daunting double lock which ate up precious moments in order to hack. Kaidan and Kasumi worked together to bypass the lock's security and eventually they gained access to the building.
Once the entire team was inside and had dispatched a pair of mechs standing guard to provide a less than warm welcome, Kaidan took a moment to take in the surroundings. He clearly remembered visiting the facility with Kat before and then, while the facility was equally empty, it had the air of having just been active. Now, the silence around them was deadening and all signs of life – even recent – were gone. It was a dark and grim place, and Kaidan sincerely hoped they could flush out their target and leave before the chill he felt penetrated to his bones.
"We're flying blind here," he said to his team, "but logic dictates that we need to get to the upper levels to access the AA guns. I imagine Wraith is hiding below. Any thoughts?"
"If we go for the guns first, it gives Wraith plenty of warning that we're here and time to dig in deeper," Kris offered.
"And if we split up, we weaken the team," Liara added.
"I'm fairly sure Wraith already knows we're here," Kasumi pointed out. "I don't think getting to the guns first will change anything."
"Alright, let's find a way up to the guns so it's safe for Cortez to come back," Kaidan said with a nod. He waved his team toward the back of the welcome center, where he remembered several doors from his previous visit. "Let's see if any of those lead anywhere useful."
"Actually, Major," Kasumi drawled from the center office area where she had wandered during the discussion of their plans, "I can help with that."
Kaidan walked over to the thief, who was working at an active terminal. He saw over her shoulder that she had accessed blueprints of the facility.
"How…?" he asked in confusion.
"The dampening shield and defenses protect him from outside threats," Katsumi explained. "But he did nothing to protect the internal network."
"That's some oversight," Kaidan replied with a shake of his head.
"Or hubris – he just didn't think anyone could get this far," Kris added.
"Or it's a trap," James said and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. "What?" he asked. "I know stuff."
"Of course you do, corazon," Kris soothed. "We're just not used to you actually saying 'stuff'."
The laugh that everyone had at James' expense broke the tension that Kaidan hadn't even realized was there. He breathed a sigh of relief. The oppressive air of the facility had apparently been weighing on the entire team, but the humor had dispelled it. He shook his head a bit as if clearing cobwebs and gestured to the blueprint.
"It looks like there's still access to the upper levels and the roof through this ventilation shaft in the west corner. Let's head out."
Half an hour later, the team finally reached the roof access and stood at the base of their current nemesis – two hefty anti-aircraft gun turrets. It had been a slow and dusty crawl through the ventilation shafts, disabling Wraith's surprises as they went, but Kaidan's spirits lifted once they reached their goal with plenty of time left in the window he had given himself. He was beginning to even feel optimistic about the mission, enough that instead of heading straight to the console for the nearest AA gun, he stalled and feigned concentration on his omni-tool.
"Lieutenant Vega, why don't you see what you can do about that first gun," he murmured as if he were distracted and very consciously did not meet any of the eyes he felt swing to him.
"Really?" James replied, sounding like a kid at Christmas. "Because during the War, Lola swore she'd never let me near elec-" he broke off as Kaidan looked up finally, the smirk on his face giving him away.
"No, not really," Kaidan said with a barely contained chuckle. "I just wanted to see what you'd say," he added as he moved toward the console himself and gestured Tali toward the other.
"Oh, I get it, it's 'make fun of me' mission," James complained to Kaidan's back. "I bet you won't feel like laughing if you met me after for some pull-ups. My record is 190 now."
Since Kaidan well remembered the state Kat had been in after her contest with James (though he also remembered the very excellent way the evening had ended,) and the Normandy was not equipped with a hot tub for hydrotherapy (and excellent endings,) he wisely chose to ignore the comment and concentrate on his work. As expected, disabling the turret was more complicated than normal, but Kaidan was developing a familiarity with Wraith's style and it made the work go quicker as a result. He stood back with a satisfied nod once he finished and saw Tali do the same just a few seconds later.
He gestured to the team to regather from where they had wandered while he and Tali worked and once he had everyone's attention began to restrategize.
"I'm going to assume that Wraith is hiding the in deepest, darkest hole in this place and that the dampening field is being controlled from there. But for the field to have the kind of range it does, there must be a booster or antenna up here. Let's find it and disable it; it should restore at least long-range communications," Kaidan instructed.
"Good idea," Tali praised as she joined the rest of the team, scanning the area visually.
In short time, they spotted a small, nondescript structure that was obviously functioning as the antenna for Wraith's dampening field. James stepped forward with a smirk.
"I got this one, Loco," he said, then dispatched the antenna with two quick squeezes of the trigger.
Kaidan nodded in acknowledgement as he opened the com.
"Ground team to Normandy, are you there?"
"Kaidan?" Only he noticed the slight note of panic in Kat's voice he was sure, but it was clear to him that his normally tough and business-like spouse and commander had been extremely stressed by Wraith's toys. Just another reason to hate this place, he thought.
"Report, Major," Kat ordered and Kaidan noted that her composure and no-nonsense demeanor were firmly back in place. Though it meant he was dealing with Commander Shepard now, not his wife Kat Alenko, it made him smile.
"We've disabled the AA guns and the antenna for the dampening field," Kaidan reported dutifully. "Anything on scanners now?"
"Heat signature indicates only one other living being in the facility, three floors below you in what was the old security center," EDI reported. "However, long range scanners show multiple moving targets between your position and Wraith."
"More mechs," Kaidan replied. "About what we expected."
"I'm sending Cortez back now," Kat added. "Garrus and Miranda are suiting up; they'll join him in case you need backup on extraction."
"Acknowledged," Kaidan answered. "We'll update you when we find Wraith. Ground team out."
As soon as Kaidan closed the com, James gave a low whistle.
"Problem?" Kaidan asked.
"Gonna be awfully crowded on the shuttle on the way back," James replied with a laugh. "Hope everyone showered today."
"Shepard is not taking any more chances with our lives," Liara said, defense of her friend and commander obvious in her tone and posture.
"You mean with Kaidan's life," James corrected.
"Since it has the same effect, does the intent matter?" Liara shot back.
"Ok, people, we still have work to do, let's head out," Kaidan broke in. He understood the strain the tension of this mission had placed on his team, but he wasn't about to let things degrade into bickering when they were this close to completion. He nodded in satisfaction when he saw that his sharp words had the desired effect – his team swung into formation, checking their equipment and looking ready for anything. He gave the hand signal for 'head out' and took up drag position. The sooner they got to Wraith and got out, the better.
They stood outside the door to the old security center a short time later, their progress greatly enhanced with the availability of coms, scanners, HUDs, and tech powers. Kaidan gestured the team into cover positions and then knelt to disable the locks on the door himself. EDI had confirmed before they entered the anteroom that Wraith was still in the same location and had not reported any other movement, so Kaidan sincerely hoped that the rest of the mission would be uneventful. As he nodded in satisfaction when the final obstacle in the electronic lock gave way and the indicator turned from red to green, he felt the tight coiled anticipation of his team and realized they, too, wanted to be done and away. Something about this planet had affected them all negatively, not just him, and he was too combat savvy not to recognize the warning in that.
He carefully moved back into a cover position beside the door and nodded to James, who slapped the panel to open the portal and then fluidly moved into his point position. A second later, Kaidan saw him raise his rifle and fire off a shot before his brain consciously processed that Wraith had been standing in the center of the room, pistol to his head, and was about to kill himself. Only James' lightning fast reflexes had saved the mission – he had shot the pistol out of the hacker's hand before he could fire.
"On the ground, and don't move," James barked, advancing toward the man with his rifle still drawn.
Wraith seemed frozen in place, not even acknowledging the large and intimidating presence advancing on him. In fact, he did not move at all until James reached him and forced him to lay flat on the floor. James searched him thoroughly while Kaidan stood over them with pistol drawn as reinforcement. When James was satisfied, he hauled the slighter man back to his feet and restrained his hands behind his back.
"Are you Wraith?" Kaidan asked, though the question seemed moot at this point.
"Where is the one who challenged the darkness?" Wraith replied, monotone. "Where is the Shepard?"
"Why are you trying to find Shepard? What do you want with her?" Kaidan fired back, alarmed at the strange demeanor and speech patterns of their target. A memory was stirring, and it was starting to confirm the sick feeling in his gut. James' exclamation a moment later only confirmed it for him.
"Dios, he sounds like…"
"Like Leviathan's pawns under its control," Kaidan completed with a weary sigh. He opened his com. "Normandy, this is ground team, target acquired but there are… complications."
"I have been monitoring the mission at Shepard's request," EDI responded. "You are correct that Wraith is demonstrating mannerisms we saw from Leviathan's thralls during the War. I have scanned the area with that in mind and found an artifact approximately 50 meters from your location. It is in a storage closet off the next room."
"Thanks, EDI," Kaidan replied. He gestured with his head to Liara and Tali and they complied, heading toward the location EDI indicated to search for the object. Within moments, he had confirmation from them that they had found it and destroyed it.
The change in Wraith was immediate. He started to struggle in his restraints and look about in confusion, his eyes swinging from one member of the team to another in rapid succession and no apparent recognition sinking in.
"Who are you?" Wraith asked, his voice laced with the confusion that his body language broadcasted loud and clear. "Why are you here? Where are we?" He was clearly starting to panic, his voice becoming higher and thinner with each question.
Kaidan sighed. Nothing would get sorted out here and with Wraith in this condition, and although the oppressive atmosphere that he had felt strangling him since they had arrived had dissipated once the artifact was destroyed, he needed to get back to the Normandy and plan their next move. ASAP. He looked up as Liara and Tali entered the room and gestured his asari friend to his side.
"We need him calm and cooperative," he told her. "Can you do anything while we get him out of here?"
"I can generate and maintain a stasis field around him until we return to the shuttle," Liara confirmed. "But it will only keep him physically safe – he'll still be awake and aware."
"I'll take what I can get," Kaidan replied with a nod. "Make it happen and let's get off this rock. I've had enough of this place."
Liara nodded and moved to the prisoner. A flash of blue energy enfolded Wraith, holding him immobilized and silent, though his eyes told them that Liara's assessment was correct, and inside, he was still panicking. Since there was no help he could offer until they returned to the Normandy, Kaidan steeled himself and motioned his team out. He cheered himself with thoughts of the happy reunion with Kat once he got back on board, and actually managed a smile despite the grim situation.