Paths to Vengeance
Chapter 23 decisions and horizons part 2
Authors notes I don't own Mass Effect Bioware does and this fic is a slight crossover with the film War, just so you all know.
Also I recommend that all my readers check out the fics written by Angels Anthem, Appa Appa Away, LongLiveThe Clones, XxheavendragonxX, Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, Icehockeychic4 and Canadiancloneluver as they are seven of the best writers on this site in my opinion. And please if you read this fic let me know what you think of it good or bad comments let me know as I want your opinions on it.
I recommend that all of readers have a look at the work written by Guardian Kitch as the work that author has written is very, very good.
And lastly I wish all of readers a merry Christmas this year, I hope you all enjoy this holiday season.
Well that's enough of an authors note here on with chapter 23.
Horizon orbit
The shuttle landed on Horizon and as all attempts to contact the colony from the Normandy and in the shuttle on the way there it only confirmed what The Illusive Man told Shepard, the Collectors were here to abduct more humans and do who knows what to them.
As the shuttle doors opened Shepard, Jacob, Garrus, Rogue and the Krogan known as Grunt Shepard picked up from Korlus exited they all got out their weapons and started to walk towards the nearest settlement. And as they moved forward they all saw the massive Collector ship that landed on the planet and that was all the proof they needed to confirm that the Collectors were here and with that the team picked up the pace as they moved forward.
Shepard then contacted Mordin with his Omni-Tool and said "Mordin are you sure that this countermeasure you made will protect from their seeker swarms, after all we cant stop if we get immobilised by them like everyone else they've gone after has?".
The Salarian scientist answered "The technology is experimental, need contact with seeker swarms to see if countermeasure is effective, look forward to seeing the results if you all survive".
Shepard then said sarcastically "Terrific" and turned off the com. As they made their way to the nearby loading docks the team saw several aliens looking what was believed to be the Collectors according to Cerberus files and Shepard said "Pick your own targets and take them out". as all them lined up targets Rogue and Garrus used their sniper rifles to take out the Collectors who were farthest away while Shepard and Jacob used their assault rifles to pick off some of them 1 by 1 while Grunt charged forward firing his shotgun at any Collector who was in his way.
The whole fire fight lasted only a minute as all of the Collectors there were dead before they even had a chance to open fire. They moved forward as any seeker swarms that came near them died and that reassured the whole team, Mordin's countermeasure worked just fine. Just as the team headed forward they got a communication from Joker but before the pilot could say much the connection was cut obviously by the Collectors.
As they moved forward Shepard the others knew they were close to the town as they saw buildings up ahead. They saw more Collectors were waiting for them and without any waiting they opened fire on the Collectors, but these ones were ready for them as they got into cover as husks similar to what Shepard and his team encountered during their mission to go after Saren nearly 2 and a half years ago came towards them.
As Garrus and Shepard focused on the Husks the others targeted the Collectors who retaliated with their beam weapons and assault rifles. The fight soon ended and as the last enemy fell to the ground, Shepard said "They look exactly like the husks Saren had with him on Eden Prime".
Garrus then asked curiously "I thought the Geth got that technology from Sovereign?". Jacob suddenly said "It looks like The Illusive Man was right, a definite link to from the Collectors to the Reapers. What about you Rogue still think their a myth?".
The assassin replied "I admit I didn't believe in these Reapers earlier Mr Taylor, but now seeing this, I'm convinced, now lets take these bugs down". The team moved forward and came across pods lined up against walls which no doubt contained colonists to be taken aboard their ship. They saw more Collectors and Husks were just up ahead and as Jacob used his Biotic's to lift the Husks into the air Shepard and Grunt took them out while Garrus and Rogue went after the Collectors. Once they were dealt with the team pressed forward knowing that every minute wasted was more time for the Collectors to finish their work.
Just ahead Shepard saw more Collectors and with the help of Garrus and Rogue, then sniped all of them dead without them even knowing what happened. And as they moved forward they noticed several colonists not in pods still in stasis from the seeker swarms and aware of what was going on around them as they were completely helpless. When the team moved ahead they got ready for a fight as more Collectors arrived to confront them and then something happened that no one expected.
A loud voice yelled out "Assuming Control" and 1 Collector rose into the air as its eyes glowed and a bright orange colour appeared on its armour as it dropped back down to the ground and launched a Biotic attack at the team so fast that they barely had time to avoid it.
The voice then said "If I must tear you apart Shepard I will, nothing stands against us". Shepard then said "Concentrate your fire on that thing, I want it taken out now!".
The squad obeyed the order and with their combined firepower the processed Collector was quickly killed and the rest were easy pickings in comparison. The squad then ran to the locked door soon hacked their way inside.
Rogue knew someone was here and said "Come on out now, we know you're here". a man emerged from behind a crate and the man said in shock "Your human. What in the hell are you doing, here you'll lead those things right to us".
Shepard only said "You had to hear them outside the door trying to get in here. Seems like its very hard to hide from the Collectors for very long".
The man then said "Your telling me those things are Collectors. You mean they're real? I thought they were just made up just Alliance lies to keep us in Alliance Space. They got Lilith, I saw her get hit, they nearly everybody".
Garrus then said "What's your name and what exactly were you doing here?". the man answered "My name is Delain, I'm a mechanic, I was sent here to check out the main power grid after the com signal was lost. Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and all I saw were swarms of bugs, everyone they touched just froze right where they stood. I had no choice so I sealed the doors. Goddamn this is all the Alliances fault, they sent that Chief Williams here and built those damn defence towers of theirs, it made us a target".
Jacob then said "We could use those against the Collector Ship". Delain only scoffed as he said "Good luck, you'll need to calibrate the targeting system before you can shoot anything, the damn thing hasn't worked right since we got it".
Shepard only said "We can figure it out, where is it?".
Delain answered "Head for the main transmitter on the other side of town, its not hard to miss".
Shepard nodded as he said "You stay here, we'll deal with the Collectors".
Delain "Ok I'm opening the doors ahead of you, but I'm locking it behind you I'm taking any chances, good luck".
The squad moved on as they left the room and saw more Collectors were just ahead and also there was another processed Collector and something that looked like a husk with a cannon surgically attached to its body. Rogue and Garrus targeted the husk as Shepard dealt with the processed Collector and Grunt and Jacob took care of everything else there.
With that they moved on past the locked door and saw more Collectors, husks and Scion's as Shepard now called these new husks waiting for them. As the last of them was killed Shepard ran over to the transmitter and started calibrate the targeting system, once he was done he contacted the Normandy and ordered EDI to get the defence towers online as she warned the team that enemy reinforcements were on the way.
The squad split up and got into cover as more Collectors and husks appeared on the scene and as they watched each others backs the team were able to defeat them as EDI activated the defence towers and they started to open fire on the Collector Ship. However at that moment another enemy appeared.
It looked mechanical like a husk but it also looked like a sea creature from earths past. As it came closer all of the team opened fire on it and after a minute of continuous fire the creature was destroyed.
As the defence towers continued to fire on the Collector ship, the vessel activated its engines and took off with at least half of the colony's population on it. And as Shepard and his team watched it takeoff as they were unable to do anything about Delain appeared and yelled out "No! Don't let them get away!".
Shepard only said sadly "There is nothing we can do, they're gone". Delain looked at him as he said "Half of the colony is on that ship, they took Egith, Sam and Lilith, do something!".
Shepard then said angrily "We didn't want this to end this way anymore then you did. We did all we could to stop them". Rogue only said "Its not your fault, you did what you could and more then others would in your shoes Shepard".
Delain then said "Shepard, wait I know that name. I remember now I heard about you, your some kind of big Alliance hero".
Another familiar voice then said "Commander Shepard, captain of the Normandy. The first human Spectre and the saviour of the Citadel". It was Ashley Williams as she looked at Delain she said "Your in the presence of a god, Delain back form the dead".
Delain shook his head as he looked at her and angrily said "All the good people we lost and you get left behind. Figures, screw this I'm done with you fucking Alliance types" with that the mechanic walked off angrily not looking back as he left.
Ashley walked over to Shepard and held out her hand as she said "I thought you were dead Commander. We all did". Shepard smiled as he saw his old friend and said "Its been too long Ashley, how have you been?".
Ashley then said with anger in her voice "That's it, you've been gone for 2 years and you act like nothing has changed? I would have followed you anyway Shepard, I thought you were gone. Why didn't you try to contact me? Why dint you let me or anyone else know you were alive?".
Shepard was silent for a moment before he answered "It wasn't my choice Ash, I spent the last 2 years in some sort of coma while Cerberus rebuilt me".
Ashley took a step back as she heard this and said in shock "Your with Cerberus now. Garrus too? I cant believe the reports were right".
Garrus then asked "Reports do you mean you already knew about this?".
Ashley answered "Alliance Intel said that Cerberus could be behind our missing colonies. We got a tip that this 1 was the next to get attacked, I went to Anderson but he wouldn't say a word, but there were rumours that you weren't dead, worse that you were working for the enemy".
Shepard immediately said "Our colonies are being attacked, the Council and the Alliance aren't doing a thing about it. I hate Cerberus as much as you do maybe more because of what they did to my team on Akuze, but they are the only ones doing something about this".
Ashley then angrily said "Bullshit! I know what Cerberus is capable of, they always talk about putting humans first but at what cost? I wanted to believe that you were alive, but I never in a million years expected anything like this. You've turned your back on everything we stood for!".
Shepard only said "Ash you know me, you know I'd only do this for the right reasons. You saw it yourself the Collectors are targeting humans colonies and they are working with the Reapers".
Ashley shook her head at this and said "I'd really like to believe you Shepard, but I don't trust Cerberus and it worries me that you do. What did they do to you?. What if they're behind all of this, what if they are the ones working with the Collectors?".
Rogue only said "Typical reaction of the Alliance, so focused on Cerberus that they are blinding themselves to the real threat even when the evidence is right in front of them".
Ashley ignored Rogue's comment and as Shepard said "Ash you cant let what happened in the past get in the way of the facts here all around you".
Ashley only said "Maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus for saving you, but it seems like you've lost it. Doesn't really matter, unlike you I know where my loyalties lie, I'm an Alliance soldier, its in my blood. I'm going back to the Citadel, I'll let them and the Alliance decide if they believe you".
Shepard then said "You know they wont believe it at all, in their eyes the Reapers are a myth and the Alliance is following their lead as always. I could someone like you on my team Ash, it'll just like old times".
Ashley stopped walking away and turned to face Shepard as she said "No it wont, I'm no fan of aliens but everyone knows Cerberus has a history of being terrorists. I'll never work for them, goodbye John, try to be careful".
With that Ashley walked off as Shepard called for a shuttle to pick them up.
Illium Nos Astra
As Kai Leng walked up the stairs to the office where his target was he checked with the teams in position just in case things went bad and when he entered office he hid the look of disgust when he saw Liara T'Soni looking out the window with her back turned to him.
And as she turned to face him she smiled at first thinking this was a new client for her network of contacts but as the man kept his determined, focused look on his face, her smile was gone as she glared at the man and inside Kai Leng was smiling.
Authors notes well that's chapter 23 completed please let me know what you think of it read and review no flames though ok. Merry Christmas to all of you.