The shuttle landed inside an open corridor in the massive ship and Roxanne tucked her braid into her armor and put on her helmet, the three of them unloading and finding themselves in one of the weirdest looking ships Roxanne had ever seen. "I love what they've done with the place," Garrus muttered.
Roxanne huffed a distracted laugh, gazing up at the strange ceiling, it looked organic, like the inside of some giant beast. "I feel like I'm in an H. R. Giger painting..." She murmured, pretty sure neither of her companions would understand. Their silence confirmed it.
"This way," Shepard told them quietly after some instructions from EDI, rifle out and ready, moving down the corridor. Garrus and Roxanne followed, Roxanne with her pistol out. She felt a slight surge of excitement. She had missed this. The adrenaline, the danger, the excitement.
"Shepard," EDI's voice came over their comms again, "I have compared this ship's EM signature to known Collector profiles. This is the same vessel you encountered on Horizon."
"Maybe the defense towers weakened it enough for the Turians to take out," Shepard reasoned.
Roxanne and Garrus shared a glance, well, she was glad she wasn't the only one who was skeptical here. This ship was massive, it had to be powerful, and while Turians were no joke, she didn't know how a patrol could take this thing out.
"There could be colonists on the ship," Garrus said instead, "Hopefully they're still alive."
Roxanne secretly hoped they weren't, she'd never much cared for rescue missions. And she didn't feel like like dealing with a bunch of panic-stricken colonists. They continued down the corridor, pausing at some pods.
"These are just like the containers from Horizon," Shepard said, leaning over to look into the nearest one.
"Yeah, except these are empty," Garrus added.
Roxanne approached one and knelt down beside it, peering into it and running her hands along the sides. "It looks like a bug cocoon..." She murmured. It was definitely up there on her weird shit list. "You said they put the colonists in these things?" She asked, standing.
Shepard nodded, "Yeah, it seemed like they were in some sort of stasis and the Collectors were putting them in this and taking them onto the ship."
Roxanne frowned behind her helmet, "God this is unreal." She looked around her, at the fleshy walls, the hive-patterned ceiling, the empty pods. She felt like she was on the set of a sci fi movie or something.
"No, it's real alright," Shepard told her before continuing on.
Roxanne sighed, knowing he brought her here to prove that he wasn't lying or delusional or crazy. She guessed that in the face of this kind of evidence, she had to believe him.
Especially when the next bit of proof was a pile of dead bodies, mutilated beyond recognition, she could only tell they were human by the hair and the shape of the legs. "Mon Dieu..." Roxanne muttered, lapsing back into her broken French in her moment of horror. She'd seen dead bodies but this... this was something else. Shepard squatted down near the bodies, examining them.
"They must have been used for testing," Garrus said, "Guess these weren't up to snuff."
Shepard stood, and stared down at the bodies for a long moment.
"Shepard... you did everything you could," Garrus said quietly, reading his friend like he was an open book.
"Let's go," was the only thing the Commander said in response, and walked away. Roxanne started to follow, glancing over her shoulder at the twisted remains one last time, then trotted after her companions to catch up.
Further down they found what looked to be a sort of terminal hub mixed with a lab, on one of the strange looking things that she could only assume was a operating table of sorts was a dead body. But it wasn't human. Roxanne edged closer, eying the thing suspiciously, not trusting that it was ded, her pistol raised. It was smaller than she'd expected, but with a large, flat head, and many eyes like an insect. "Is this a Collector?" She asked quietly.
"Yes," Garrus stepped up next to her, "But why is it dead like this? Were they experimenting on one of their own?" Roxanne just stared at the creature while Shepard made some scans with his omni tool, sending data to EDI.
"Data received, analyzing," EDI confirmed. There was a moment of silence, where Roxanne finally moved away from the dead Collector, looking around them, trying to wrap her head around all of this. The Collectors were real, and they were stealing colonists for some sort of weird experiments. But as horrible and horrifying as it all was, Roxanne felt little. She didn't pity the colonists, pity was a foreign emotion to her for the most part, it had to be really close to home for it to register. Like with Jack. Her only thoughts were what the experiments could be, and what they could mean pertaining to her future, as in if it would mean a premature death. She had a feeling it did, this didn't look pretty at all. Nothing good could come of any of this.
"The Collectors were running base line genetics tests, comparing their DNA to that of humans," EDI informed them.
"What did they find? Anything useful?" Shepard asked, stepping away from the body, looking down the corridor they would be continuing down. Garrus was looking the other way, so Roxanne, as subtly as she could, scanned the dead body with her omni tool. She moved away when she was done, listening to EDI's answer.
"These are only preliminary results, but they reveal something remarkable," for an AI, she almost sounded shocked, "A quad-strand genetic structure identical to samples collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure. The Protheans." All three of the ground team looked at one another, as if asking each other if they had really just heard that.
"My god..." Shepard turned to stare at the dead body, "The Protheans didn't vanish..." He walked over to it, staring in disbelief.
"Now they're just puppets for the Reapers," Garrus finished, shaking his head.
Roxanne stared at the dead body as well. Was that what the Reapers were after? Was that what the Collectors were doing? Were humans to be the next race enslaved by these monstrous creatures? She let out a breath, not liking this at all.
"These are no longer Protheans," EDI informed them. Roxanne blinked, wondering what she meant.
"But you just said..." Roxanne started to say, but EDI interrupted her.
"This sample shows signs of extensive genetic rewrite."
"Genetic rewrite?" Roxanne frowned. Who did she look like? Mordin?
"The Reapers have re-purposed them to suit their needs." EDI explained without being asked.
"You mean they genetically altered them to turn them into these... things?" Roxanne asked with disgust.
"Yes."
"The Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans... they enslaved them and defiled them until they were turned into these monsters," Shepard muttered.
Roxanne swallowed nervously.
"It's a horrible fate, no species should have to suffer through that," Garrus spoke up, "But they're with the Reapers now."
"Agreed," Shepard nodded curtly, "And we have to stop them."
Roxanne frowned to herself, looking at the dead Collector, and glanced at the Commander. She was trying to process everything she'd just heard. It was... incrEDIble. If some one had just told her all this, she'd laugh and tell them to pitch it to some producer for a movie. But this wasn't a movie, this was real. She'd known when Sovereign attacked that there was more to it than the Council or the Alliance was willing to admit, but she hadn't thought it was this big. She knew how things worked, she couldn't really recall how many times the Alliance had used her ruthless nature to their advantage and then politely asked her to never speak of it again. They were about as honest as a pack of Vorcha.
"Come on, we should get moving and get what we came for before the Collectors come to salvage this ship," Shepard said before continuing down the hallway.
They passed more pods and Roxanne had the growing feeling that none of this was right. Something was wrong. "Garrus," She whispered to the Turian, knowing he'd be able to hear her.
"I know," He answered, and she frowned, "But we can't turn back now."
She exhaled a sigh, and went back to scanning their surroundings. It felt strange to on wing again, rather than point. She hadn't had to follow some one else's lead on a field mission in a long time.
"Look," Garrus stopped and turned his head upward. Roxanne and Shepard stopped as well, and looked up, "More of those pods."
The ceiling was lined with them. "There are so many..." Roxanne murmured.
"Yeah, too many," Shepard grumbled.
"Do you think the colonists are in them?" Garrus asked.
"I detect no signs of life in the pods, Shepard," EDI informed them.
"Well... if they're in there it's too late to help them now," Shepard sighed and kept moving, up ramps and through hall ways.
"God this place is huge," Roxanne groaned. She felt like she'd been walking forever. "And where the hell is everyone? Did they just abandon the ship when the Turians disabled it?" She asked.
"I don't know," Shepard didn't look at her, she could tell he was trying to hide the fact that he was just as uncomfortable with all of this, but she could tell. They walked and walked, Roxanne beginning to grow more and more irritable, partially because she was bored, and partially because the further into the ship they went with no sign of life, the more uneasy she became.
Shepard stopped to examine some strange bit of technology, scanning it for information, and Roxanne walked over to Garrus. "None of this feels right," She growled.
"I know," Garrus answered.
"Well if you know, and I know, and Shepard seems to know, why the hell are we here?" She asked him irritably.
Garrus sighed, "Because Shepard is in charge, remember? And he decided to check it out."
"No, the Illusive Man told him to check it out. And I don't trust that bastard either, no matter how much he pays me," she muttered.
"Shepard accepted you into this crew under the condition that you follow orders," Garrus reminded her.
"Yeah well, I don't follow orders that'll get me killed," She growled.
Garrus moved closer to her, quickly, aggressively, "You'll follow his orders or I'll shoot you," The Turian snarled at her.
Roxanne blinked, then smiled, "Yes, sir." She could see a bit of surprise pass through Garrus' posture, then he moved away from her, and didn't say anything else. Roxanne smirked. Despite his claim at being a bad Turian, he was still a Turian none the less, and it seemed that Shepard had earned his loyalty, and the loyalty of a Turian was hard to shake.
They went on their way once Shepard was done, more walking, wonderful. Roxanne was beginning to lose the edge of adrenaline from nerves and was just getting a little bored now. Thankfully, EDI had another tid bit of information to get them all something to think about. "Commander, you gotta hear this," Joker's voice came over their comms, "On a hunch, I had EDI run an analysand on the ship-"
"I compared the EM profiles of this ship with data recovered from the original Normandy two years ago," she paused, "They are an exact match."
The team paused, Shepard looked around the strange organic ship as if really seeing it for the first time, "The same ship dogging me for two years?" He muttered, "That can't be coincidence."
"Looks like you've got some fans," Roxanne smirked darkly.
"Do your fans usually try to kill you?" Shepard asked, and she couldn't tell if he was trying to insult her or if he was joking.
She decided to assume it was a joke, because she didn't feel insulted, and the best way to piss off some one who was trying to piss you off is to be happy, or at least act happy. "Not most of them, thankfully," she laughed, "I get some crazies sometimes yeah, but so far none of them have made good on their promises to uh... how did the one put it to 'deliver me from this painful existence'."
"'Painful existence'?" Garrus repeated.
Roxanne shrugged, "If being rich and having my own personal chef willing to cook me whatever I want whenever I want is painful, then I guess I'm a masochist." Shepard and Garrus laughed a bit despite their surroundings and despite how they felt about the selfish pop star that was tagging along with them.
"Alright, come on," Shepard said, sobering up. Garrus and Roxanne followed, Roxanne wondering what it was like for Shepard to be on the ship that had killed him two years ago. She couldn't really imagine it.
They trudged their way up one final, steep ramp, and then found themselves in one of the biggest rooms that Roxanne had ever seen. Having performed in many amphitheaters, she knew that structures could be large, but this... this was mind boggling. She let out a whistle as the three of them stared around, their necks craning so that they could look up at the ceiling. "They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not fill all those pods," Garrus murmured. Indeed, when Roxanne looked more closely, she realized that the hive-like pattern that seemed to cover most of the room was actually pods. Hundred of thousands, no, millions upon millions of pods.
"They're going to target Earth," Shepard added quietly, staring up at them. Roxanne blinked, looking at the Commander, then looked around at all the pods.
"Earth?" She whispered.
"We have to stop them," Shepard added resolutely, turning to look at Roxanne, as if challenging her. She didn't say anything, merely gave him a blank, unyielding stare. It was mind boggling indeed, the number of pods, and that Earth and the human race were the target of these creatures, but if he was expecting her to feel some form of compassion or urgency, he was sadly mistaken. Roxanne didn't like people. And the human race never failed disgust and disappoint her, if she were a member of another race, she would feel completely unconcerned, in fact she'd probably think the galaxy was better off for it. As it was though, she was a human, which meant she was also a target.
Shepard turned away from her, and continued along a walkway that was built into the side of the massive structure, Roxanne and Garrus following. Roxanne couldn't stop staring at all the pods, she'd never seen so many of one thing in her life. "It all sinking in?" Garrus asked from beside her.
"Oh yeah, it's starting to..." Roxanne muttered.
They finally came to a platform with what looked like some sort of console on it. "Finally," Roxanne muttered, standing beside Shepard as he started tacking away at the console.
"EDI, I'm setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship," He told her, "See if you can get anything useful from the databanks."
"So... does anyone else feel like something really bad is about to happen?" Roxanne muttered, turning in a slow circle, her pistol held ready. She knew she wasn't from how Garrus was gripping his rifle, she thought she could even hear him growling softly.
"Data mine in progress, Shepard," EDI told them, and then there was a moment of silence.
"I don't like this..." Roxanne added.
"I get the picture, Lachance," Shepard snapped at her.
Roxanne glared at him, "Well excuse me, I just don't like the fact that we've made it this far into an enemy ship with no resistance, the vessel is disabled, not obliterated. Where the fuck are all of the Collectors?" She snapped right back. Shepard rounded, prepared to argue with her, but the console suddenly... exploded, for lack of a better word, a bright flash of light causing all three of them to put up a hand to shield their eyes out of reflex. "What in the hell was that?" Roxanne snarled.
Then things around them began to move, mechanisms sliding into place. Then it all stopped. Shepard stared around for a moment, "Everyone's alright Joker. What just happened?"
Roxanne felt the urge to do... something. Something really bad was about to happen, she could feel it, her old instincts were still sharp, they'd kept her alive countless times, and right now they were telling her to run. "Look, guys, I think we should get going," Roxanne offered, trying very hard not to sound like she was ordering or demanding them to listen to her. Shepard held up a hand for her to be quiet. Roxanne gritted her teeth and shifted her weight from foot to foot, not liking this at all.
"Calm down," Garrus said from beside her.
"No, you need to start worrying!" Roxanne hissed at him under her breath, "Something is very wrong, something is about to happen, and I don't feel like dying on this freaky ass ship."
"Major power surge," Joker told them, "Everything went dark, but we're back up now." He didn't sound exactly confident though.
"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non critical systems," EDI added. Roxanne thought she heard something move, and turned quickly, pistol raised, in the direction, Garrus had heard it too, peering intently.
"Shit..." Roxanne muttered, feeling herself begin to sweat under her armor.
"Shepard," EDI's tone held a warning, "It was not a malfunction, that was a trap."
Suddenly the platform under them lurched, and Roxanne had to grab a nearby console to keep herself from being knocked down. The platform was lifting in the air, "Shit!" Roxanne repeated, "C'est très mauvais!" She looked over the edge of the platform tentatively, and immediately withdrew, her heart pounding. "So, did I ever tell you guys I really don't like heights?" she shouted, gripping the console for dear life, her blue eyes wide.