Glancing out of the port side window, Shepard breathed out a long and low sigh. He tapped on the guardrail expectantly, as though as that would make Anderson call any faster. He did enjoy staring at the so called "fleet" that he now possessed but it was useless without any direction. And right now, they had no direction.

The waiting had not entirely been pointless, though. In the span of two days, Mordin had been working diligently for up to twelve hour shifts, preparing his countermeasure for the seeker swarms. Currently, the salarian had assured Shepard that it was all but done as it just needed to process before it could be used in the field. This crucial final step necessitated waiting a bit longer, but after two days of not managing to find any further clues in the recordings that Tali had procured, his patience was wearing thin.

As if he sensed the man's displeasure from afar, Admiral Hackett had contacted them to let the commander know that the ships for his fleet had been prepped and were waiting in dry dock at the Citadel. It was enough to make Shepard jump to his feet and order the Veritas towards the structure so that they could properly mobilize.

Less than ten hours later, the six ships hung in orbit above Saturn, awaiting an order from Shepard's lips. His fleet, the five cruisers: the Amarillo, Titan, Pompeii, Antietam, and the Bergensen all stood fast above the huge yellow sphere, engrossed in cyber warfare simulations with the Veritas. The crews of these ships were currently attempting drills of breaching enemy firewalls and hacking ship systems so that they could give the physical combatants an edge over the other. A single line of code had the capability to disable an engine, drop shields, or shut down the life support. One good hack could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Thankfully, all the CW crews had proved to be very capable, with each ship having similar hack times so that no one was the lone successful hacker twice in a row. Shepard had watched a few simulations as he hovered over the shoulder of the nearest technician, but soon realized that he was completely out of his depth here. The men and women working these divisions were scrolling through screens faster than he could blink, their hands a blur as they flew over the keyboards. Only Tali appeared to properly "get" what they were doing and unsuccessfully tried to interpret to Shepard what they were attempting to do within the simulation but it got to the point where the dense terminology just wasn't connecting anymore and he had to wave her off, with a smile so that he could laugh at his own inexperience.

In total, the five cruisers certainly could stand up to any cyber-attack and were more than competent at fending off a few errant ships. They had torpedoes, Thanix cannons, ion cannons, a smorgasbord of options. It would be nigh suicidal for an enemy to piss any one of them off. They may be swinging a bigger stick now but Shepard wanted someone to swing that stick at. Hours upon hours of drills were fine but utterly useless if no one was going to utilize them in a combat scenario.

Answering his silent pleas for a lead, his omni-tool flashed. The message was from Anderson, saying that they needed to talk. Relieved, he tore himself away from the window as he took the rear staircase up to the briefing room. The console was blinking as it patiently waited for input on his end. He obliged and answered the call, the blue overhead crystals warming and projecting Councilor Anderson before him.

"Shepard," the grainy voice broke through, "How have you been holding up?"

He shrugged, "Fine so far. Dr. Solus is putting the final touches on his countermeasure right now so we should be good to go at practically any time."

"What, does he have like a drug for you guys to take?"

"Not exactly. He told me that the seeker swarms are easily distracted by noise but not at the frequencies that anyone can hear in our normal range. He created a set of firmware that can download into our armors and it will emit a low-pitched white noise that should deter them from attacking us."

Anderson nodded, impressed, "Saves on having to take a shot in the arm, at least."

"Yeah, I've never been big on needles," he looked at his arms in realization, "Also, there wouldn't be a vein to put anything in, if I'm being completely accurate."

That caused the councilor to laugh for a quick second before his expression turned serious, "I'm not going to keep you much longer, Shepard. I know how stir-crazy you can get when you have nothing to do."

Shepard cautiously leaned forward, "You found something."

"Maybe, but it was odd enough that I wanted to report it to you straight away. We just lost contact with another colony in the Shadow Sea. The Iera System, a planet called Horizon."

"When did the colony go dark?"

"Four hours ago."

Adrenaline was causing his heart to beat faster, "Then there's no time to lose. Send me the coordinates and-"

"Shepard, wait," Anderson raised a hand, "There's something you need to know."

"What about?" What could be so important that would warrant a delay moving on the Collectors right when they were in the middle of razing a colony?

"We only found out about Horizon when we received a suspicious message. That's why we didn't bring the news to you straight away."

"What was in the message?" By the look on Anderson's face, Shepard did not know how concerned he should be at this development.

"It was an encoded message sent to a secure server on Horizon," Anderson said grimly, "A copy of it was also deliberately sent to us. The contents of which denoted that you were located on Horizon."

Shepard scratched his head in confusion, "That doesn't make any sense. Why would a message say I'm on-" he stopped as he met Anderson's gaze. Looking at the other, Shepard could understand the man's frosty tone and his reserved exterior that he usually kept for strangers. "Cerberus," Shepard realized, "It was Cerberus who sent the message, wasn't it?"

"That was our final assessment as well," the councilor concurred, "The sender was irretrievable due to a tertiary encryption protocol embedded in the message but it stands to reason that there is only one group out there that could stand to profit by dropping your name."

"It's like…it's like they think that the Collectors are looking for me, specifically."

"It would appear that way."

"Then…" Shepard was floored, "If they believe that the Collectors are targeting me, then it would stand to reason that..." He trailed off as he shut his eyes in despair, "They attacked the Normandy. It all makes sense, who else would have had the technology to sneak up on us like that? It…" He eventually broke off as he found himself at a loss for words.

"I know, son. But you have to be extra cautious, Shepard," Anderson warned in his calm voice, "Cerberus may have only used your name so that they could draw out the Collectors for their own nefarious purposes but we can't discount the possibility that they are simply setting a trap for you and your crew."

"Ordinarily, I would be worried but I have a fleet now and Cerberus has demonstrated time and again in the past that they cannot stand up to me," Shepard assured, "What hope could they have against me and my whole crew? If it comes to that, we'll be ready."

"Cerberus may be able to be held at bay," Anderson cautioned with a shake of his head, "But we have no intel on the troop capabilities of the Collectors. We don't know what weapons they use or what technology they have to their advantage."

Shepard gave his muscles a quick flex, feeling them tighten in response to his mental commands. He clenched his jaw shut as he came closer to the hologram, "I'm not about to let them have the advantage any day, either. Besides, this is a personal matter."

Anderson's expression, projected from millions and millions of miles away, reflected the man's attitude completely at the moment, "That's what I'm afraid of, Shepard. If you will be able to set aside personal feelings for the sake of the mission, that is."

"I can't guarantee that, councilor," Shepard took a step back so that he might fully see the man, "Could you?"

Anderson's face was serene, "No. I suppose not."

The first thing that Shepard noted when he stepped out of the shuttle was the warmth of the air that enveloped him and his squad. Kaidan and Garrus stepped out behind him, the latter tugging uncomfortably on his collar as he blinked in the hot weather. All three of them quickly checked their omni-tools, looking at the little green icon in the corner. Everyone's armor had been equipped with Mordin's countermeasure in addition to a spare bit of software that kept tabs on its functionality. In theory, two of the noise emitters on their armors could fail and they would be fine, provided they stayed close together, within the radius of the third.

No need to worry just yet for any of them as all three were performing admirably. The yellow grass bent at their feet, crackling, as if the place had not received any rain for weeks. To the south lay the beginning of the settlement, the familiar boxy housing units blotting the otherwise pristine landscape. Looking behind, Shepard could see the outline of a GARDIAN laser turret that lined the perimeter of the colony. According to the timeline provided by Anderson, the turrets that were positioned around the area had been tech donated by the Alliance, a countermeasure against pirate attacks. What was a little disconcerting was the fact that the turrets did not even seem to be on, but they were thankfully undamaged.

Storm clouds, dark grey flashing with lightning, collected in the distant skyline. A brief burst of wind blew across Shepard's face and he instinctively shivered, the sensation sadly lapsing back into memories of past experiences. It no longer felt so foreign to him when a common touch such as a breeze or a hand on his shoulder was applied, but he could only appreciate that he was fortuitous to even be here at all.

The wind was blowing towards the center of the colony and all three of them stood in silence and awe, as they shielded their eyes from the harsh yellow rays of the sun. Miles away, but enormous enough to seem like it was even closer, a huge cylindrical ship stood upright. It was an odd fusion of both organic and artificial contours. The bottom half looked like an enormous engine, with several circular wings and fins surrounding it. Near the bow, what looked like three huge, brown, and pointed rocks lined the mouth of the ship. None of them had seen anything like it, the vessel was most definitely of Collector origin.

A buzzing sound filled their heads and all three of them ducked slightly in response. An angry cloud of what appeared to be enormous insects passed by overhead. The noise produced by their wings was irritating and Shepard felt a lump of disgust embed itself in the bottom of his throat. Kaidan seemed particularly disturbed by the sight of the seeker swarms, the man hated bugs more than Shepard.

The good news was that the countermeasure seemed to be working admirably. The swarms did not seem to even want to traverse the airspace around the two humans and the turian, preferring to either turn back or head around them altogether, an invisible shield produced by the undetectable throbbing embedded in their suits.

"Shepard?" Tali's voice came through his earpiece, "How are you three faring?"

He glanced upward, as his optics filtered through the planet's natural haze. Horizon was fortunate enough for its atmosphere to not be poisoned by smog and carcinogens that came with overpopulation. As it was, it remained relatively unspoiled, which meant that Shepard could catch the faint outline of six small figures, the light from the planet reflecting onto their hulls. He could only guess at this point which one of the six pinpricks was the Veritas, knowing that Tali sat up there, coordinating a few key aspects from the copilot's seat.

Shepard gave a grim smile, "You'd have to see it here to believe it, Tali."

"I've got your armor feeds, I think I have a pretty good idea. But does the countermeasure appear to be working?"

"Working and working well. You can give Mordin my thanks and appreciation while you're up there."

"You can do that when you get back. Keelah, why am I even up here? I should be down there with you."

Kaidan had taken point, moving past the empty park benches as they clomped through the thick grass, Shepard bringing up the rear. "Getting lonely up there, Miss Zorah? I know Joker is not your favorite conversationalist but please try not to kill him for making another terrible joke. I'd hate to fill out his insurance policy."

"Ha, don't worry. I've got my shotgun by my side in case he makes a snide remark."

The image of a smug Tali holding a gun near a meek Joker caused Shepard to laugh, making Garrus look back apprehensively, "Wish I could see that. Anyway, we're just approaching the compound now and should be in the radius of the network. Are you in right now?"

"Just got in. Had to use your omni-tool as a hard link to reroute the directory but I have all of the files up on the craft."

He glanced back at the lone turret in sight, the barrel pointed away from the colony in its stoic position. "What is the status of the turret perimeter? Do we need to power the place up because they don't even look operational?"

Shepard heard the blips of holographic keys being interacted with as Tali's hands were no doubt flying. He only had to wait a few seconds before she came through, "Looking at it right now. Maintenance records say that the turrets have calibration problems, however. I can't correct them from here so you're going to have to connect me to the mainframe directly."

"Any idea where I can find an access point?"

"Middle of the compound, five hundred meters due southeast."

"What would I do without you, Tali?"

"Leave the hacking to Garrus?" Slight teasing in her words mixed with pride.

Shepard chuckled, "Fat chance of that happening. I'll let you know once I reach the point. We'll be back soon."

"Stay safe."

As the feed cut out, Shepard glanced over to see Garrus give a mischievous smile in return. He lifted a finger and pointed it at the turian, "Don't you say a word."

"Hey," Garrus said defensively, "My jaw is clamped shut." He paused in mockingly regarded the human, "But, you have to admit, she did seem pretty concerned for your-"

"Garrus," Shepard warned, "Not one more word." It was obvious that the turian was bursting to say something regarding the abrupt change in tone Shepard had demonstrated when talking from Tali and then to Garrus. Eventually, he calmed, swallowing in an effort to keep whatever unneeded remark down.

Absolutely incredulous, Shepard lightly shoved the turian aside as he exchanged point position. They were approaching a small courtyard when more buzzing filled the air, this time it was deeper and louder than anything from the seeker swarms.

Five humanoid forms suddenly burst over the hill, their wings keeping them completely aloft. Shepard could now clearly see that the forms that the surveillance cameras had picked up on Freedom's Progress were one and the same right here. Their skin was a wrinkled brown, a hard shell protruded from their backs. The heads of the Collectors were triangular with four bulbous, yellow eyes. They truly looked like enormous insects, making him wince at their ugly appearance.

In contrast, the Collectors did not appear to be disturbed by their intruding guests (their lack of facial features made this impossible to determine) and they lifted some sort of strange weapon and began to open fire.

Ducking behind a mass of trees, Shepard called out to Kaidan to flank their enemies. The biotic immediately began to run towards the nearest structure as the unlocked door let him in with no hassle. Leaning out the open window he could see that a Collector had taken refuge from behind a raised garden. A quick lift followed by a push and the alien was sailing through the air to impact on the housing structure on the opposite side of the courtyard. There was a loud crunch and it slid to the dirt, leaving yellow blood splashed upon the wall.

One down.

Filled with anger at having met the aliens which had almost been successful in claiming his life, Shepard burst from the bushes and charged the nearest Collector. Bullets impacted with his shields, causing him to wince as the snapping motions from the hits caused his body to jerk but it did not prevent him from making contact with the alien itself. Fingers grasping for its neck, the two fell to the ground, rolling over one another as the surprised Collector struggled to meet its attacker. It was too late, powerful fingers forced themselves into its throat and quickly pulled back once it firmly gripped flesh, taking yellow, ragged muscle with it. The Collector warbled and coughed as it died, blood pouring from the huge opening.

He glanced up from the carnage to see another Collector aim its odd, saw-toothed weapon at him. Relying on his now normal reflexes, he leaped to the right to scurry behind a nearby crate as the gun barked, aiming where he had just been a second ago. Blinking as it lost sight of its target, the alien turned around to perceive the human when, all of a sudden, the top of its head was shot off, yellow brains fountaining in the air. All four of the Collector's eyes bulged out of its sockets from the force of the impact and it soon collapsed, legs folded underneath it.

Shepard smiled wickedly and gave Garrus the thumbs up sign, who replied with an egotistical nod of the head as he adjusted his rifle. Fine, let him enjoy his moment of glory. Garrus was a better fighter when he was in a good mood, anyway.

Suddenly, Garrus' face dipped in confusion. "Husks!" he hollered out.

Shepard craned his neck to perceive a small troupe of the purple figures round the corner of the furthest establishment. Garrus was wasting no time, his rifle singing within seconds of each pull of the trigger. Kaidan had also picked up on the danger and was now leveling biotic bursts at the creatures. One such blast hit a husk in such a way that the diseased flesh below the waist disintegrated, leaving the top half to flop about uselessly on the ground as its grey organs slid out from underneath it. If the husk could have any expression other than dull hunger it would have looked horrified.

Garrus and Kaidan were busy making short work of the listless beings leaving Shepard to tackle the final two Collectors. A whirring sound was nearby and Shepard saw a taller alien throw up a gold, honeycombed energy shield in front of it. He put a few bursts into the surface to test its permeability and found that it had little give. He considered bull-rushing the Collector but it stepped out and aimed a different gun at him, this one a little more smoother than the assault rifles they had previously come into contact with.

A beam of highly focused radiation sped straight toward him and he ducked, energy slashing overhead. Shepard threw himself to the side as the Collector tried again, a continuous ray vying for contact with his skin. The Collector was advancing, now pulling the trigger in short bursts, not giving him a chance to run out in the open. He calmed his nerves and listened. A quiet grinding noise of feet on leaves was coming from his left. He closed his eyes, hearing the moans of husks in the distance, the chitter from the Collector's cohort, and the rush of wind in the air. He breathed in the dry air, parching his throat and making him thirsty.

The footsteps were close now, about thirty paces away. Twenty paces...fifteen...ten...five...one. Shepard roared and threw his fists down as he burst out from his corner seconds before his foe, impacting with the strange rifle and sending it bouncing away on the ground. The Collector seemed annoyed by this and swung an appendage at Shepard's head. Surprisingly, the blow was strong enough to send him to the ground as well, coughing as his body screamed in protest.

The Collector did not utilize any of its time in gloating, walking over to his position as soon as he hit dirt. Shepard saw the creature's rifle lying next to him so he scooped it up. The alien halted in its tracks, now realizing that the tables had turned. Grimacing, Shepard pulled the trigger and swept it across in a short arc. The Collector's head tumbled off its shoulders, its neck a smoking ruin, cauterized from the intense heat.

He hefted the strange weapon in his grip. "Not bad at all," he said in approval.

"Assuming direct control."

What now? He turned around to see the last Collector spasm in front of him. Its limbs quaked and it thrashed in place, some unseen force raising it a few inches above the ground. There was an explosion of light (nothing that Shepard couldn't handle) and the creature dropped to a knee. Rising to its feet, the Collector's body was now an angry mess of webbed flame that singed its flesh beneath. The Collector's eyes glowed with power and it raised an arm, pointing it at Shepard.

He didn't see a weapon in the thing's hand so he didn't move at first. When a ball of dark energy burst forth from its hand, he was too slow on the uptake. The blast bowled him over, eliciting a grunt from him. The attack had hit him in the chest but his armor looked like it had been hit with a grenade. Smoke rose from the zone, causing him to wrinkle its nose when the stinging scent of melted plastic filled them.

"My attacks will tear you apart." Shepard then realized that the deep, throbbing voice came from the Collector itself. Some demon had taken control of the drone in front of him and had the gall to taunt him.

Too stunned to even retort, Shepard began to plug away at the Collector's barrier, looking for the instant when the purple wreath broke around it. The alien growled as slugs began to impact but it didn't slow in its advance. "You will know pain, Shepard," it said calmly.

"Shut up," Shepard spat, exasperated. He took a flying leap and tucked into a roll as his feet made contact with earth. Another ball of energy missed him by inches but he was in the clear. Drawing his omni-blade, he leaped to his feet and plunged it into the alien's chest. The Collector growled once before the red veins expanded across its body, causing it to dissolve into ash. The remnants of the Collector wisped away as Shepard was left standing there, alone.

With a final pop, the last husk in the courtyard fell as its head burst apart, dousing the ground with black ichor. Kaidan and Garrus stepped around from their chosen cover as they regrouped beside Shepard, panting slightly.

"For a first assault," Garrus breathed, "That didn't go as badly as I thought."

Shepard stretched his arms, muttering weakly, "Yeah, terrific…" He dusted himself off before turning to Kaidan, "You can go ahead, I'll catch up in a second."

The human nodded and gestured to Garrus, stepping over the prone forms of Collectors and husks alike. Shepard took the moment to scan the area, trying to detect any signs of movement. Aside from the flutter of a local bird or the waving of the trees in the breeze, there were no more enemies in sight.

"Shepard?" his comm blared, "All you all right?"

Feeling a slight surge of relief, he keyed it, "I've been better, to be honest."

"You sound out of breath, what happened?"

The quarian's comforting tone was taking the edge off the adrenaline, having an ataractic effect on him, "Had a little argument with a few Collectors, if you know what I mean."

"Keelah, what are they like?"

"Big giant bugs with guns. I don't really know how else to describe them."

"Oh," Shepard could hear her shudder over the comm, "Maybe it's a good idea that I'm up here. I hate bugs."

Shepard grinned, "You had bugs on the flotilla, Tali?"

"No, but there were these things called 'cockroaches' that had infested this one ship that I had stowed away on. The way that they crawled over everything was...errrgghhh, just horrible." If there was one universal constant that proved to last across the galaxy, it was that no one likes bugs.

"Well, hopefully I get to squash a few more of them now that I'm here. How much further to the access point?"

"Hm? Oh, right!" he could hear her flip screens across as she quickly searched for their current positions on the map, "Should be in the next open area then you can connect up to me."

"Then I'll be sure to make it quick."

To his credit, Shepard hadn't been lying when he said that he'd make it quick. The journey across the compound had not been impeded in any way. There didn't seem to be an abundance of troops in the area, which meant that they had probably completed their foul work in collecting the majority of the colonists.

Oddly enough, they did pass by a few unfortunate souls when they had to sidle through a barracks of sorts. Two colonists were standing upright, but their bodies were completely frozen, their gazes locked straight ahead as if they had been put into some sort of stasis. They now had firsthand experience on what seeker swarms actually did to their prey. Good thing that the countermeasures were still working.

The hardpoint lay in the middle of a large field, a shipping area from the looks of it. Shepard had Garrus and Kaidan sweep the area while he simultaneously synched the targeting systems to Tali's console. In moments, a bypass was running that was auto-correcting the calibration errors and bringing the turrets back to life.

On the other hand, the surge of energy from that one location also had the negative effect of attracting unwanted attention. Within moments, husks started popping up from out of nowhere, Shepard's squadmates already rushing to take care of them.

From beyond a door to the south, two figures descended from the air. One was a lone Collector, covered in the same fiery lines that he had seen just minutes ago. A new host for the puppetmaster.

The other form was larger, much larger. Landing with a thud, four huge limbs propping up as its grey body quivered in anticipation. Four blue-grey eyes gazed back, unblinking. Blue energy surrounded the alien as it started to float. Beneath the head of this monstrosity was an odd collection of what appeared to be husk heads arranged next to each other. This thing made the Collectors look human in comparison.

"Your destruction is at hand," the Collector roared, the Praetorian charging at its angry wave. Its eyes seemingly enlarged, pulsing, and finally tightened as beams of energy flew through them. Shepard couldn't even begin to explain the science behind it all other than his one mission at the moment was to not get hit by the blue death beams.

"Tali?" he asked, getting impatient, "When are those turrets going to be online?"

"Almost got it!" he heard her cry, "Seventy-five percent done."

Shepard didn't think that seventy-five percent was enough to warrant an "almost" but any complaints he wanted to voice dried up when he felt himself being picked up by the Collector, who had suddenly appeared around the side.

The hand gripping him by the neck was strong, but the Collector tilted his head, as if it was studying him, testing him.

"You are no longer the same," its voice dripping with displeasure, "Your transformation has already begun."

"So I gathered," Shepard muttered. The hand couldn't restrict his windpipe due to it being embedded under too many metal layers. His right hand made a motion and red-orange light erupted from it. Swinging his arm upward, he felt himself fall before his legs shot out and stopped his descent. The Collector looked at the stump of its severed arm as the brown-yellow liquid spat in a steady rhythm.

Shepard held his omni-blade up, ready for another attack, "What are you?"

"We are Harbinger," the Collector growled, "And we are your salvation through destruction."

"You've got that right," he retorted, leaping up and planting a foot in the alien's chest. The crushing blow caused the Collector to stumble back as it rasped but this had an unexpected outcome. The Praetorian had maneuvered around the antenna at this point and had started to charge its laser attack again. Shepard had been ready for it this time and leaped backward, watching as the blue light enveloped the Collector in his place. Two seconds later, the same ashy substance coated the ground.

"Thanks for the assist," Shepard flipped off a mocking salute towards the floating beetle. If anything, it seemed enraged by the taunt, foregoing the recharging of its barriers so that it could prepare another barrage. He only smiled as he unhooked the ML-77 Missile Launcher from his back bringing it up to his face as the bug desperately gathered energy.

The weapon had an auto-target feature and since the Praetorian was the only enemy in the immediate area, Shepard didn't need to wait as he depressed the trigger four times. Four blue streaks of light came out from the launcher and a mess of shredded chitin and steaming piles of intestines burst forth like an overripe fruit. Shepard ducked behind a crate so he wouldn't get hit by the smelly substance.

When the dust settled, he could hear the deep bass boom in the distance. Looking around, he could see rounds originate from the ground to impact on the giant ship that stood in the middle of the colony. Tali had done it, the turrets were online. Large sections of the ship were starting to fall apart from the onslaught until a huge roar shook the entire world. Covering their ears the three of them stared as the huge ship lifted itself off as its gigantic engine applied an unthinkable amount of force on the ground to necessitate it leaving the atmosphere. Within seconds, it was gone, only a smoke trail remaining.

"Damn," Kaidan said as he jogged up, "Thought we had them there for a second."

"It could have been worse," Garrus intoned thoughtfully, "We managed to stop them taking an entire colony, not to mention we damaged their ship in the process."

"It means that we can beat them," Shepard said through a tight smile, "It wasn't a victory today, but it's far from a defeat." He clapped his hands together, "Next time we'll have them."

"Hell yeah," Garrus growled determinedly.

Shepard now activated his comm, "Tali? Thanks for the help. Just letting you know we're done here and are on our way back."

"No problem J-...Shepard," came her voice, tinged with satisfaction, "You might want to make it fast. Joker's been doing some scans of the area and he's getting nervous."

"How nervous?"

"Um...very."

"Roger that, heading back now."

"Shepard!" Joker called, "We're picking up some strange readings here!"

He jogged up to the front, armor creaking with each step. Tali stood up out of her seat, looking like she was about to say something but decided against it once she saw how determined he was to talk to the pilot. "What do we got, Joker?"

Joker waved a hand at his display, cycling through several screens to bring up his planetary scans, "We had to stray out of our geosynchronous orbit when the Collector ship had to skedaddle, so we had to adjust to another position in order for them not to get the notion to take a potshot at us."

"Spit it out, Joker," Shepard sighed.

"Look here," the man pointed to a blip on the far side of the planet. Shepard leaned down to see the dull grey icons, which the legend denoted as-

"Wreckage," Shepard grimaced, "Are we still in contact with our fleet?"

"All ships reporting in, Shepard. The wreckage didn't come from one of ours."

The craft's deep view camera was now positioned in the area of interest. On the screen, the three of them could see the twisted and mangled hulks of what had been space-faring vessels. Shepard squinted as he bent down for a better look. He could see that some of the pieces were glowing red, still hot despite the chilling cold of space.

"Joker," Shepard glanced down, "Was there anything in the intel about Horizon having a fleet?"

"No, commander," he shook his head, "Besides, the amount of wreckage is too large for civilian craft. This is like ten large ships at least."

"Seems to be hours old, judging from the dispersal radius. Which means that it only could have been done by the Collectors while they were still in orbit approaching the planet."

"And they never had a chance when the bugs showed up. Poor bastards."

They remained in the same position as they regarded the feed with silence. Tali tilted her head as she blinked in surprise. She tapped her commander on the shoulder, pointing, "Shepard, look."

He followed the direction of Tali's finger as he saw where she was gesturing to. On the screen, an errant wing was tumbling lazily, detached from its source. Once it had turned completely around, they could see a yellow and black scheme reflect back at them.

Joker gave a quick laugh, "Guess luck was on our side for once."

"Guess so," Shepard agreed, "I was wondering why we weren't seeing any of them back on the colony. Good catch, Tali."

She nodded dimly, wanting to clarify that it was nothing but she knew that Shepard would appreciate the keen observation nonetheless. So, for the time being, she kept mum and let herself glow from Shepard's consideration.

Joker stretched and cracked his knuckles, letting a grin break across his face, "So much for bringing a fleet if the Collectors were going to do our job to begin with. I take back what I said, dumb bastards."

"I think we're all entitled to feel a little smug at this point, Joker," Shepard patted the man's shoulder, "And this also gives us a chance to improve in the future."

"How so?"

"Well, if we're going to be prepared for events like this and not having to waste our time staring at floating crap, we need to position our ships in equal intervals around a celestial body and maintain geosynchronous orbits, which will allow us to be able to cover more area with the spread."

"Which means that we can create a small blockade and have access to the whole planet," Joker nodded, making a note, "Solid copy, commander. We can contact the other captains and-"

PING!

Tali jumped, "What in the Ancestors was that?"

"Ladar reading," Joker frowned, punching up the diagnostics, "It was aimed at the grouping but there hadn't been any movement for minutes. What could…?"

The ladar was a tight, invisible beam of light that served as a key component of sensors for a ship. It essentially comprises the eyes of vessels as it is generally very hard to detect objects by sight alone. The ladar sweeps an area and any object it comes into contact with bounces the light back and the sensors record the distance, relative speed, and direction that the object is traveling in.

"We've got something behind that carrier," Joker pointed out, disengaging the zoom feature and reverting back to normal view, now relying on the radar, "Guess they thought they were home free and decided to make a move."

Shepard cautiously opened his omni-tool, "All ships, this is Commander Shepard. I need everyone to converge on our coordinates right away. Pompeii and Amarillo, you approach from the western hemisphere. Titan, Antietam, and Bergensen, you come alongside us. Have everyone report to battle stations and ready all weapons." Hearing every acknowledgement, he closed the tool in satisfaction as he already saw faint blips approach from the other side of Horizon.

Joker pounded the console in victory, "We definitely have something, Shepard. Cerberus bogey at our twelve o'clock."

"Get a lock on it and ready torpedoes."

Joker nodded and opened the splash feature for the weapons of the craft. Selecting the appropriate tool of choice, he began probing for a heat signature before the computer spat out a big, fat "0."

"Tracking can't detect it, commander," Joker tried again, frustrated.

"Is there wreckage in the way?"

"Nope, it just got out of cover but we still can't target it."

"That doesn't make any sense," Shepard muttered to himself. He could clearly see the pale dot in the distance, why couldn't it be targeted? "The only ship that didn't have any-" His mouth dropped as an epiphany came to him. "Joker," he leaned down, "Zoom in on the ship. Directly this time."

"Why? That won't make it lock on any-"

"Just do it."

Fearful yet intrigued at the same time, the pilot shrugged and popped the zoom application up again. Aiming it at the fleeing craft, he hit the button and the image enlarged. Quiet filled the cockpit for a good ten seconds.

"Son of a bitch," Shepard sighed.

"Keelah," Tali gasped.

"No...fucking...way," Joker managed.

The outline of the ship was all too familiar. Apart from a few tweaks, it was a unique design, one that the three could never forget. This craft was painted white, with a black and gold trim. Two large, graceful wings contained two engines each. Two stubby tails protruded from the back end, all connected to a curved, bullet-shaped construction. It was a beautiful looking ship.

It was the Normandy.

A/N: There was a rather tempered response to the last chapter (not that I can blame anyone for that except myself). I do have to concede that there are just some times when I have no energy to write, either from a lack of sleep or just general boredom at the content of the chapter. That one certainly did suffer from one of those reasons and I should learn to just take a break when I don't feel enthused in the slightest.

However, I did feel a lot better writing this chapter (I personally think that it's reflected better in my writing) but I'll let you good people decide. Even when I'm at my worst I still receive a ton of support for this story which is a very nice compromise and rather warming at the fact that there are people who are so understanding and receptive. So I feel I must thank you for sticking with me and being the real heroes of this story.

We've still got a long way to go, but we're getting there!