Miranda sat pretending to read one of the many mission reports that she carried in her travel case. Jacob was sleeping soundly in the copilot's seat in the front of the shuttle. His snores barely being drowned out by the hum of the ship's engines. Shepard sat across from her working away on his new omni-tool. Every so often she would catch him look up as if to say something, only to return to his work. Finally he did speak.

"So what do you know about Freedom's Progress?"

His voice almost rang out as a shout across the silence of the small cabin. Both Miranda and Jacob jumped at the sudden outburst. Miranda looked up from her data pad, quickly cueing up the relevant information. "All intelligence says that it is a small colony on a terrestrial planet. Right now all we know is that communication was lost." She couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed, her reports were full of information on the colony, yet she had been so conscious of not speaking to Shepard and pretending to read, that she hadn't actually read any of the intel.

Shepard nod as she spoke. "What makes you think that this isn't just a communication failure? I mean what makes this so special?"

"It fits with the pattern that we've come across before." Jacob joined them in the back of the shuttle. "I mean the comm blackout, the location of the colony, the size. It matches the pattern." Miranda nodded.

"Hopefully we will find something there that gives us some form of a lead into the identity of these attacks."

Shepard picked up one of her reports. "You're telling me that you don't have a single idea who or what is behind this?"

"No Commander we don't."

Shepard was surprised at the small amount of anger in the woman's voice. "Anything in the file that makes mention of anyone with a vendetta against the colony."

"You're thinking that slavers might have had something to do with this."

He looked at the woman. "Very astute Ms. Lawson. I was thinking slavers or maybe a rival colonial company."

Jacob joined in on the briefing. "Nah, Commander. They ran into some typical batarian bullshit roughly six months ago, but their security forces held firm. As far as a rival company, the Alliance has cracked down pretty hard on claim disputes since you've been gone."

Miranda nodded. "I agree with Jacob. While your theories are sound, there just isn't any evidence from the previous happenings that would suggest that this is anything that we've encountered before." She reached out, handing her data pad to Shepard.

Taking it, he asked. "What evidence was found at the other colonies?"

Miranda and Jacob shared a sorrowful glance before the man answered. "That's just it Commander, there was nothing. No signs of struggle. No alarms were ever sounded. It's just as if the people suddenly vanished. There were meals left on tables, machinery still running, there were even more than a few circumstances where sinks and showers were still running." Shepard watched Jacob give a small shudder. "All communications were jammed, VI's and security systems were knocked offline. Bustling cities instantly ghost towns."

"Croatoa." Shepard mumbled to himself.

Miranda looked up. "I'm sorry Commander?"

He smirked. "It's an old story from Earth."

With a tone of annoyance she answered. "I'm from Earth, I understand the reference." He gave her a small nod before glancing at the confused face of Jacob. He continued.

"When the Europeans were settling the continent that eventually became North America, they formed small colonies and outposts. There was one outpost that suddenly disappeared. Same thing, dinners prepared and not eaten, crops suddenly abandoned mid-harvest, kinda like this. Anyways, when their supply boats arrived several months later all they were able to find was a strange scrawling of the word 'Croatoa'."

"Did they ever find out what happened?"

Shepard gave a small chuckle. "No they didn't. It's one of those great unsolved mysteries."

Miranda turned to her colleague. "In all probability the settlers were most likely taken captive by one of the nearby native tribes."

Jacob nodded slowly before looking back at Shepard. "So you want us to keep an eye out for hostile natives?"

Shepard couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Well the Illusive Man did tell me to keep my mind open to all possibilities."

Miranda watched Shepard with a mixture of awe and annoyance. As it had been proved with the other colonies, Freedom's Progress had also been a 'ghost town' as Jacob had described it. The Commander however was taking his time investigating the most mundane items. He examined the locks on a few of the buildings. He checked the carpets in one of the homes. Right now he was checking the snowfall for any sign of footprints. All they had been able to turn up were footprints Miranda surmised belonged to the colonists. There were signs of work boots and smaller prints they all agreed belonged to children. None of the markings appeared to be hurried or panicked. She tried to push away the thoughts of the missing children. Ever since the first colonists had gone missing, the number of missing children had steadily risen. As it was now the number of children stood at over three thousand. Miranda had never been one to have a close connection with children, but she felt for those who had no way of defending themselves. She tore herself away from those thoughts and tried to refocus on Shepard. He and Jacob were leaning over near the main gate's control panel. She quickly made her way over to the men.

"We might have something." Jacob said when Miranda joined them. He pointed to the footprints in the snow. "Those aren't human." Miranda looked at the spot he pointed to. In the snow surrounding where they currently stood were footprints of a three pronged boot. Miranda saw a stern look on Shepard's face.

"These prints would suggest a dextro diet species."

Jacob, still bent down looked up at the Commander and Miranda. "You mean like Turians? What would the Turians be doing this far out of Turian controlled space?"

Miranda dusted some of the falling snow off of her shoulders. "It could be a mercenary group. But that still doesn't explain how they have been managing to kidnap so many effortlessly."

"They aren't Turian." Shepard pointed to the toes. "Turian boots tend to be pointed, aggressive, militaristic. These are rounded. See how the heel is pronounced, almost as if the individuals are used to being subservient. I know of one species that fit's the description."

Jacob asked, "Which is?"

"Quarian."

Miranda was the first to ask. "What would the Quarians be doing all the way out here?"

Shepard began to key the large bay door open. "I don't know, but let's go find out."

~o~0~o~

Tali'Zorah didn't like working with new people. She didn't appreciate not having the time to train and form some sort of unit cohesion. Due to a recent infection, she had been unable to join her usual team of marines on a scouting trip near Caleston Rift. When the emergency beacon had arrived at the fleet, Tali had recovered enough that the Admiralty Board had seen it fit to place her in command of her current team. The emergency call had come from a young quarian on pilgrimage in a human colony world. Responding to these types of beacons was nothing new to Tali'Zorah. In the two years that she had been back with the Migrant Fleet, she'd led teams on several rescue missions to assist various quarians in need. She'd learned long ago that the typical quarian pilgrimage was far from the experience that she'd had. Traveling with Shepard and the Normandy crew had been a once in a millennia. With the experience, fame, and most notably the encrypted geth data that she had returned to the fleet with, she had become one of the most recognized members of the quarian people. It wasn't long after her return that many took notice that her commission as a Major in the quarian military had been well deserved. While many initially believed her appointment to be one of a political nature, it wasn't long before Tali'Zorah had proved her worth as a strong and capable military leader. Most attributed that to the fact to her being the daughter of one of the quarian's greatest Admirals. Tali however knew that her confidence and leadership skills had come from serving under Commander Shepard for much of her time away from her people. After the Commander had perished, Tali had taken a vow to honor the man through her actions. She was always the first into a hostile situation, and always the last to retreat, a trait that the many of the marines under her charge had come to respect tremendously.

Her current team however, fell into the category of people that still believed she was undeserving of her command. Prazza, a lieutenant serving as her second in command on this mission, had balked at the idea of Tali'Zorah accompanying his team on the rescue mission, especially since she was now in charge. His protests quieted for the most part after the team had reached Freedom's Progress. The young quarian, Veetor, had been able to relay a frantic message to the fleet claiming that he was under attack and needed help. He also went on to state that there were monsters and that they were taking the humans. Many stated that Veetor was crazy, a fact supported by many that knew the young man. He had long suffered through bouts of delusions and paranoia. Troubled as the young man was, the Admiralty Board felt it best to retrieve the young quarian and call an end to his pilgrimage. Tali felt for the young quarian. In having the board call him home, he would not be allowed to serve on any ship. He would instead be returned to his birthship. If in time the Captain of Veetor's birthship saw fit, he would be allowed to take on an adult name.

Tali led her team through the buildings of the main settlement looking for the troubled quarian. She was disturbed by the fact that they had yet to find Veetor. Even more unsettling, they had yet to cross paths with anyone. It was if the whole colony had somehow vanished. When they had first reached orbit over the colony, their hails had been met with silence. A quick scan proved that the colony's communications had been disabled. After landing in an open space near the center of town, Tali had been shocked at the lack of a greeting. As they ventured further into the compound, they continued to find no one. Mila'Taao, the one marine that seemed to be unquestioning of Tali's command, turned to the officer.

"Major, I'm scanning a single quarian life form in a small security building a couple of hundred meters ahead. I believe it is Veetor." Tali nodded and motioned for the rest of the team to move out. Prazza took four men and moved forward, hugging the outer walls of the buildings. Tali stayed behind keeping Mila and another marine for cover support. Suddenly shots rang out across the empty streets.

"Prazza! What is going on?"

The second officer finally responded. "We have security mechs. They've opened fire. Huru's been hit." Tali motioned for the two marines to follow her. Making their way forward, they quickly caught up with Prazza's team. As the lieutenant had said, they were in a firefight with a large group of mechanized security drones. One of Prazza's men lay bleeding in the snow. Tali reached down, feeling the young quarian's weak pulse. Hearing a growing buzz approaching, she looked up to see several rocket drones flying near. Using all of her strength she hoisted the marine onto her shoulders.

"Everyone get inside." She punched the door mechanism on a nearby residence, opening the door. The marines quickly spilled inside the building. Prazza remained steadfast, firing his weapon into the darkness. With her patience wearing thin, Tali yelled out for the man. "Prazza, get in here. There are too many. That is an order lieutenant!" Reluctantly the man retreated into the building. Tali overrode the door controls locking them inside. Once she assumed they were safe, she set upon helping the injured. The marine that had been hit had lost a lot of blood but it looked like they had gotten him stable. Tali pulled Mila and Prazza aside.

"I don't know what is going on, but we can't stay here. It won't be long before those mechs get in here." Prazza nodded. Mila began scanning for possible escape routes

"Major, my scans say that those mechs are receiving orders from the security office. It looks like Veetor is the one issuing the commands."

"The little bosh'tet's lost his damn mind."

Tali recoiled at Prazza's statement. "He is scared. He probably saw whatever happened to the humans. We just need to get to that room and get to him before anyone else gets hurt. If we can get to Veetor, we might be able to talk him down."

"No, to hell with that. I say we get there, put a round in his kneecaps and drug the little bastard unconscious till we get back to the fleet." Tali had long grown tired of Prazza second guessing and trying to circumvent her orders. She truly began to appreciate Kal'Reegar, her usual second in command.

"Prazza if any unnecessary harm comes to Veetor, I'll see to it myself that you are left on this planet."

Prazza leaned in towards her. "You forget Major," he said, seething the last word, "these are my men. They follow my orders. What's to stop me from killing you and Veetor? Then telling the board about the tragic way the mechs overwhelmed you. I'll even go as far as saying you died a hero. I'm sure someone like you will get a truly wonderful memorial service." Tali saw the rest of the marines uneasily taking positions flanking her.

"A speech like that sounds rehearsed." Tali needed to buy herself some time. What would Shepard do? she asked herself. The answer was clear; keep talking. "You almost sound like you've been thinking about this for sometime."

"I guess you can say I have. Just because you're Rael'Zorah's daughter and some Citadel hero doesn't make you better than me, better than us." He moved to motion to the rest of the marines in the small room. It was the opening that Tali had been looking for. In a flash of movement that caught everyone by surprise, Tali had pulled her shotgun from her back and pressed it against the glass of Prazza's helmet before it had even finished unfolding. Now it was Tali's turn to threaten Prazza.

"I want you to listen to me Prazza, because I'm only going to say this once. If you kill me, you are going to have to rely on everyone in this room keeping your secret. That's a lot to ask because eventually someone will say something. It's only natural. No one can keep that kind of thing secret for too long." She paused, allowing Prazza to look around at the other marines in the room. "Meanwhile if I pull this trigger, I can go back to the fleet and tell them of your attempted mutiny. Your name will be stripped from all records. Your family will curse your memory. And me? I'll probably get a commendation out of this ordeal. I am offering you a deal however. Would you like to hear my proposal?"

Voice shaking, Prazza answered. "Yes ma'am." Tali smiled at the man's sudden courteous attitude.

"What I propose is that you stand down, do as I order, and help recover Veetor peacefully. When we return to the fleet, neither of us will ever speak of this again. No one in this room will ever speak of this again, is that clear." Quickly the other marines snapped salutes in confirmation. "Now what do you think of my offer?"

Prazza slumped his shoulders. "Yes ma'am. We have an understanding."

Tali slowly lowered her weapon from the lieutenant's head. She suddenly felt aware of her late friend's influence in her. Smiling under her helmet, she returned her attention to the rest of the marines in the room. She ordered them to continue their defensive positions. Suddenly Mila gasped. "Major, a ship has just landed nearby. The registry says that it's…Cerberus."

A cold chill ran down Tali's spine.

~o~0~o~

The Commander ejected the heat sink from his shotgun. The large YMIR unit collapsed on its own wait. Jacob ran over to check on the fallen quarians. The one who had pointed the gun in Shepard's face earlier, body lay crushed an effect from one of the mech's missiles. Shepard helped Miranda to her feet. The Cerberus officer had taken a hard blow to the head when an explosion had thrown a stack of crates at her position.

"Easy now," he said helping her all the way up. He saw the small blood trickle down her forehead. Brushing her hair out of her face he grazed the small cut that ran along her hairline.

"Oww. That bloody hurts thank you."

"Baby." He laughed as he reached into his field pack. Handing her a small gauze square, he asked, "Are you going to be okay, or do I need to have Jacob escort you back to the ship?"

Miranda stood defiant. "I am fine Commander. I do not need to be babied as such." She threw the gauze pad to the ground. Shepard gave her a curious look before turning and walking toward Jacob and Tali. Feeling a small line of blood tracing its way down her face, she grumbled as she bent over and picked up the bandage.

Shepard took a spot near Tali as she tried patch one of the quarian marine's suits. Looking up at him she smirked, "This is what happens when you work with amateurs."

He laughed. "Seems like only months ago some would have considered you in that boat."

"That was years ago Commander." Shepard thought he heard a small bit of pain in the woman's voice. "If your going to get your answers from Veetor now is the time. I'll join you shortly." Shepard gave a quick nod and motioned for Jacob and Miranda to join him.

Inside the security room a young quarian sat at the controls and monitors of the colony's defenses. Franticly he switched between views, seemingly looking for some invisible menace. "Hello?" Shepard called out. The quarian continued his fruitless search mumbling to himself. Jacob began to move forward. The Commander rested a hand on the man's shoulder. "Wait." He keyed in a command into his omni-tool. Within seconds all the surveillance monitors shut off. The quarian stopped his manic behavior. He turned to the three humans in the room. Shepard held his hands up. "Are you Veetor? We're not going to hurt you. We just want to know what happened here. Where are the people?" Veetor seemed to contemplate Shepard's words before finally resigning. He returned his attention to the blank monitors. After several moments he spoke.

"The monsters came from nowhere. Our communications were jammed. Able to get message to fleet. Waiting for fleet. Fleet will save me." Shepard shared a look with Jacob. The security officer whispered.

"I think this one's cracked sir."

Shepard walked forward; deliberate to let Veetor see that he meant no harm. "What monsters Veetor? Did the monsters take the people?" The young quarian nodded. He quickly pressed in a command into the security console. The monitors came back to life. On the screens several creatures were placing humans into some sort of containing units. For their part the humans did not appear to be resisting at all.

"The monsters came with their bugs. Bugs sting everyone. Bugs ignore Veetor, but they will be back. No one escapes bugs. No one escapes monsters. Used mechs to kill monsters. Try to save everyone. Too late."

Shepard heard the gasp from Miranda behind him. "Commander, I think the 'monsters' are collectors." Shepard turned back to the screen. The Collectors were a race that no one knew that much about. Every so often they would venture through the impassable Omega 7 relay and do trade with, more often than not slavers, in exchange for weaponry or tech. What they were doing this far from the Omega relay was a mystery. Veetor seemed to lose his nerve upon seeing the replayed security footage. Jacob quickly turned the monitors off.

"I think we've gotten all we're going to from him sir."

Miranda echoed the sentiment. "Right. Grab the quarian. We can continue his debriefing back at the station. We have ways of recovering some of his…damaged memories."

"Grab the quarian?" Shepard turned to see that Tali had joined them in the room. "Shepard, you can't let them take Veetor. He needs help, help that only his people can give him." The Commander listened to his friend's arguments.

"What if we just took Veetor's omni-tool? The data might prove to be helpful." He saw Miranda start to protest, but he shook his head for her to stop.

"Thank you Shepard. I hope you get the answers you're looking for."

Shepard took the omni-tool from Tali. "You know that you are welcome to come with me. I could really use your help."

Tali placed her arm around Veetor. "I can't Shepard. I have a responsibility to my people. I also don't trust them." She pointed at Miranda and Jacob. "I will always trust you Commander, but them…just be careful." With that she walked out of the room. Shepard turned back to the Cerberus personnel.

"Let's get out of here"

~o~0~o~

Jeff Moreau sat at the bar trying his hardest to drown the memories that haunted his ever waking hours. The former Alliance officer discovered years ago that when drunk enough, he was able to sleep without the nightmares of having to witness his friend's death. A death that had occurred in the saving of the pilot. He had good days of course. Days in which he was behind the sticks flying. Days in which he was 'Joker' again. The Alliance had taken that away from him. Udina and the council had cast him out in the cold for knowing the truth. Admiral Anderson had tried to do what he could to see that Joker remained at the helm in an Alliance warship, but after he had attacked Kaidan Alenko in a drunken rage, he was out for good. Jeff thought he was justified in punching Alenko. The lieutenant seemed unwilling to dispute the Alliance and Council's claims that Shepard's encounters with the Reapers were unsubstantiated. They painted the Commander as some lunatic trying to scare the populace in order to raise his profile. Jeff wasn't willing to accept that. The fact that Alenko was had set the pilot off. It was three months after the death of Shepard that Joker found himself in a bar on the Citadel. He was drunk and instead of calling C-Sec, the bar owner had gotten a hold of his superior officer. Jeff couldn't remember what was said, only that he had gotten angry enough to smash the bottle across Kaidan's face. He hit the lieutenant hard enough that the fragile bones in his hands had been broken on impact. He fought through the pain and kept hitting Alenko until C-Sec had shown up and separated the two men. After a mockery of a court-martial, he was unceremoniously discharged from the Alliance Navy. It was after walking out of the hearing on Arcturis station that Miranda Lawson had found him. He quickly found out that she represented the Cerberus organization, a group that Shepard had come across before. It wasn't how he wanted to honor his friend, but the group offered him something that no one else was willing to. They were going to let him fly again.

While with Cerberus he got to fly, he missed being at the helm of a 'special' ship, a ship with a true mission. He'd had that on the Normandy. It seemed that the fate of the entire galaxy rested in his hands. The assignments thus far with Cerberus offered no such drama. A cute woman approached him. After looking the red head over, he noticed the Cerberus logo on a small pin she wore. He motioned to the seat next to him.

"Lieutenant Moreau I presume?"

"See and hear I am thinking that what I really need is a woman to come into this bar, sit next to me, and already know who I am. KInda saves me the trouble of having to tell you a long story only for it to end in complete failure for one of us and embarrassment for us both."

The woman took his comment in stride. "So am I to take it that you are in fact Lieutenant Jeffrey Moreau?"

He bristled slightly. "Lieutenant implies that I have some sort of rank in a military institution." He took a drink from his beer. "Just call me Mr. Moreau, or Jeff, whatever."

"Yes well since you asked and everything," Jeff rolled his eyes at her statement, "I'm Kelly, Kelly Chambers."

"What is it that you want Kelly Kelly Chambers?"

The woman looked at him curiously. "I was told you preferred to be called Joker."

He slammed his beer on the bar. A few of the other patrons briefly glanced at the two. "Nobody calls me Joker, not anymore."

"Very well, Jeff. I have a new assignment for you. It comes from the Illusive man himself."

Suspiciously he asked, "What does ol' blue eyes have in mind?"

Kelly reached into her case and pulled out a small data pad. She keyed in a series of numbers unlocking information meant for him. "We've developed a new space craft. You may recognize some of the specs." His eyes widened. He did recognize it. According to the blueprints, the ship looked like the Normandy's big brother.

"Where…how did you get these? The Normandy's design was top secret."

The woman gave a small smile. "You should know that we've gotten pretty good at getting things that we want. After all you're here aren't you."

Joker flipped through the next several pages examining all that he could about his new vessel. Suddenly he stopped. "This is a ship built for a fight. I'm not part of your 'humanity is great, aliens suck' campaign. It's the deal TIM and I made long ago."

Kelly's smile didn't diminish. "He said you might react this way. The Illusive Man simply asks that you meet the ship's commanding officer. If then you still don't wish to captain the ship, you are free to resume your current duties."

Again Joker suspiciously looked at the woman. "Who is the commanding officer?"

Chambers stood and packed up her belongings. She swiped her credit chit paying for his tab. You are to report to Cerberus substation twelve in twenty four hours. There you will report to Commander John Vincent Shepard."

Joker sat stunned. "Shepard. But that's imposs…How?"

"Just be there Jeff."

He glanced once again at the data pad before answering. "Joker. My name is Joker."