Prison Ship Purgatory.
When Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob walked into the entrance area, the guards said, "Give up your weapons immediately."
Miranda and Jacob looked to Shepard, who said, "We aren't giving you our guns."
The guard said, "Then I'm afraid I cannot allow you to enter this facility."
Shepard calmly aimed her pistol at the guard and was about to pull the trigger when Warden Kuril said, "Commander Shepard, please relinquish your weapons. This is a high security facility, and we don't want to risk any escapes."
"Listen, Kuril, I am not letting go of my weaponry. If you expect me or anyone in my crew to do as you say then you can be the first to get a bullet between the eyes."
Kuril looked at Shepard and realized she was serious. 'She's too valuable to risk not getting her. She'd make me billions of credits.' "Very well, three armed visitors won't cause a mass breakout."
'That's what you think, bastard.' Shepard thought, while the turian droned on about how well secured the ship was. When he'd walked away talking about checking if the funds had cleared and told them to go check the clearing area for Jack. Shepard nodded, and pulled out her assault rifle. She motioned for Miranda and Jacob to pull out their weapons. After Kuril revealed his treachery, Shepard and co fought their way back to the corridor. There, Shepard said, "Miranda, head to the Normandy and have Joker pull out of here. When we've taken care of Kuril and recovered Jack we'll signal for the Normandy to pick us up. You may want to have him destroy the engines of this ship so that they don't escape using FTL."
"Of course, Commander." Miranda said while she walked off.
"Okay, what the hell was that about?" Jacob asked.
"What are you talking about, Taylor? I needed to ensure that the Normandy wasn't in danger of being destroyed."
"Riiiight." Jacob said, "And that was the same reason you seemed to not want to do it... As if you didn't want to, but your plan required it."
"What are you trying to say, Taylor?"
"You may not have noticed, but you always stare at her when she isn't looking, and you think no one else is. Also, you keep glancing at her to make sure she's ok."
Shepard dismissed it quickly, and released Jack. The biotic destroyed the two mechs and then looked around herself, appearing to be really confused. Shepard walked up to her, and asked, "What's the matter?"
"How the fuck did I end up back here, Shepard?"
"Jacob, go ahead and make sure that there aren't any guards. I need to have a chat with Jack."
"Understood, Commander." Jacob said.
When he was gone, Shepard said, "From what I've been able to figure out, it was a side effect of the Crucible firing. The Catalyst said that it was a giant battery, and that together with the Citadel and the relays it could release enough energy to destroy the reapers. It also said that the Crucible could be used to create a new form of life, that was both organic and synthetic, or to take control of the reapers."
"I thought the Catalyst was the Citadel." Jack said.
"It's actually an idiot AI on the Citadel. It said that it didn't interfere with us before because it couldn't really interface with the Citadel's systems unless the Crucible was attached. It took some persuading, but it did admit that it had designed the Crucible. It planned to use it as a way to finally get its precious synthesis to come about."
"Well, what did you do?"
"I shot the panels it told me would let me take control of the reapers. Then I sat down and waited for the inevitable." Shepard said, before walking towards where Jacob had been. After finishing the mission, and returning to the Normandy, Shepard went to talk to Miranda while Jack went back to her old room. In Miranda's quarters, Shepard asked, "How are you doing, Miranda? You don't look too good. Well, for you, anyways."
"Sorry about that, Commander, I've just been having some strange nightmares. I keep dreaming I'm sliding down to my death. It's really strange."
"Not really, Miranda. We both know that chances are in favor that we won't survive this mission to stop the Collector attacks. You're probably just stressed out over the risks."
"You're right, Commander." Miranda said.
"I seem to remember telling you to call me Sarah." Shepard said with a grin.
"Sorry, Sarah. I've had a lot of stuff on my mind. Where will we be going next?"
"We'll be heading to Omega to pick up Mordin Solus and Garrus." Shepard said.
"Garrus has been missing for a few months. What makes you think he's on Omega."
"Have you read the files on Archangel?" Shepard asked, "He's a turian who primarily uses a sniper rifle, and has a habit of saying boom headshot. Garrus is the only turian in the galaxy who uses that line."
Miranda nodded, and said, "That would be a reasonable way to say that he is Vakarian. It is possible that he is just emulating Garrus to get more of a reputation."
"I suppose that's possible. But, if he was doing that, then I'm sure Garrus would hunt him down and kill him. He doesn't like people who imitate him."
"Not surprising. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about, Sarah? I've got a lot of work to do right now."
"If that's the case, I'll let you go." Shepard said, before walking out and asking Kelly, "There anything I need to know about, Kelly?"
"You have several unread messages at your private terminal."
Shepard nodded, and started reading through the messages. In the list, there was a single message from Liara. This confused Shepard, because before there hadn't been a message from the asari before Horizon. She pulled it up, and discovered that it was actually from a certain individual who would like to see her on Omega. This certain individual said that he was a batarian with a personal grievance against Shepard. She sighed, and replied, "Whatever your personal problems are, I do not have the time to fight you. Perhaps in a few months time I will be able to engage you in combat. Until then, deal with it." She then went to Jack's quarters, where she asked, "What are you doing, Jack?"
"Making sure TIM isn't watching. That way we can talk without him listening in." the ex-con replied.
"And?"
"There were 17 security cameras in this room alone. I had to destroy them, then there were several microphones, that I put in the men's room toilets. Let's just say that he'll have a very... unpleasant sound to listen to every time he checks in on this room."
"Good, what do you want to talk about?"
"Well, for starters, what the fuck do you plan to do? We know everything that's going to happen, which means we can fucking change history however we see fit."
"Not really. There are certain ways we can't change it. We weren't sent far enough back to prevent the creation of the reapers. So, we can fix our mistakes from here on out. And Jack, don't attack Miri."
"Don't worry, Shepard. I don't want to turn you against me. And, you'd probably literally bite my head off if I hurt her." Jack said.
"Probably. I was thinking that we should take a few more precautions when we fight the Collectors. I've already started working on a plan for when we attack the base. Made a map of the base and the space around it and where we were attacked by the Collectors' defenses. That way we can be better prepared."
"Well, you can't tell anyone about how you know this shit. So what could you do to prevent the attacks? And what about when we get trapped on the Collector ship? That was a pretty dangerous op."
"First off, we'll both be going, that way when we get attacked, we'll be safer. Since we know what the Collectors will send after us we'll be able to handle their attacks more easily." Shepard said.
"And what about the base where the cheerleader dies?"
"She won't be going on that mission. I'll arrange a situation with her sister, or have her put into a coma before we go through the relay."
"You may want to rethink that, Shepard. The Cheerleader's not someone who would like being put into a coma just to keep her safe. Just leave her to help hold the door. That way she won't fall off the platform. " Jack suggested.
Shepard replied, "You're right. Well, here's a copy of the map I made. Let me know if there's anything else you need."
"You never told us what really happened to Mordin. He went up to cure the genophage, and didn't come down. I never cared too much for the salarian, but it doesn't make sense what would cause him to not make it back out of there."
"The Shroud had been tampered with. He had to go up to make sure that the cure would be viable. The shroud collapsed before he could get down." Shepard said as she walked back to the loft. Therein, she saw that there was a picture of Liara. She quickly grabbed it and cracked it over her knee. She then collapsed into her bed, rapidly falling asleep.
Five hours later, Joker said, "We've arrived at Omega. You may want to start working on recruiting the specialists."
"Right." Shepard said, before exiting the loft and telling Miranda and Jack to meet her in the airlock.
A\N: Sorry this chapter is really short, but I noticed that what I had planned for this chapter wouldn't really fit for how early in the story it is. Thanks for reading, and please leave constructive criticism in the form of a review. Next Chapter will probably be longer in coming because I've been feeling more into Meus Mundus than this since last chapter.