Recap: "See you later." He heard Tali say. He waved back without turning around and left. He managed to make it back into his room without chancing a look at Ashley. He walked past Benezia who gave a strange look like she knew something he didn't. But what? Oh he couldn't bring himself to care. He got to his room, locked the door and began looking over his projects before falling asleep.
Now
Shepard was lying in his room thinking over the last few weeks. They had been... interesting to say the least.
Flashback
Shepard was just walking around the Normandy, bored out of his mind. All he had been doing for the past few days was finding mineral resources for the Alliance, finding Asari Matriarch writings that were being used for historical and philosophical purposes, finding Turian Insignias from their Unification War, Salarian ID tags and League of One medallions, hell he even found multiple Prothean Data disks. Now don't get him wrong, finding all of those gave him more than enough money. He was currently a few million more credits richer because of it. But now he had practically drained the Citadel side finding all of those and there was still no word on Saren. As if something had noticed our hero's boredom, a transmission came in.
"Shepard, urgent message coming from Alliance Command coming in. Patching it through." Joker called over the intercom. Shepard moved to the galaxy map waiting for whoever was calling. He almost smirked when he heard a familiar voice.
"Shepard, this is Admiral Hackett from Alliance Command. We've got a situation here and you and your team are the only ones who can handle it." Shepard's eyebrow rose. Alliance Command had a situation only he and his team could do? Hell most of his team consisted of non-Alliance personnel! But then he thought about it. Hackett wasn't the type of man to ask for things lightly.
"What do you need, Hackett?" Shepard asked. He noticed a few of the crew members shake their heads at him. Still disrespectful. Hackett seemed to ignore Shepard's mannerism.
"There is an Alliance training ground where we test weapons and technology in live-fire simulations. One of the VIs we use to simulate enemy tactics in the drills is no longer responding to our override commands. It's gone rogue." Shepard didn't bother asking if it were an AI or not. He knew it couldn't be an AI, not like Isaac.
"How many casualties?" He asked, using some military speech he learned from Zaeed years ago.
"Seventeen marines were killed in the simulation exercises before we realized what had happened. That's when we contacted you." was the reply. Shepard sighed.
"You guys have got to put multiple failsafes in place, including a couple of kill switches that either take out the power or destroy the base itself." Shepard muttered but no one heard him.
"VI support is critical to our military success. They process thousands of status reports and react in nanoseconds. No human can do that."
"Uh-huh."
"But as advanced as this thing is with military strategy, it's still just a VI. It's not self aware, and it's completely disengaged from any networks. That's where you come in." Well that explains why they haven't destroyed the base. No sense in destroying everything when you can send a team of soldiers and hackers to finish the VI itself.
"We need you to fight your way through the training ground to the VI core, and manually disable it." Wait a minute.
"Don't you have a remote disable?" he asked in confusion.
"Our failsafes aren't responding. The VI operates on a closed network. It can't affect any external systems, but we don't have any direct access to its processes. We could bomb it from orbit, but the damage to the facility would be catastrophic. We'd prefer to have someone shut down the core. Someone like you." Shepard didn't answer immediately thinking things over. On one hand, Hackett was asking him to do something he really had no part in. On the other, he was really, really bored! Hackett must have taken his silence as a possible rejection.
"I know you have no real ties to the Alliance and that Council Spectres answer only to the Council, but your still human. Right now we need someone with your combat experience. The VI controls all of the facility's weapons, drones and automated defenses. You're the only one who can pull this off, Shepard." Hackett said. Shepard sighed again.
"Fine, Hackett we'll be there on the moon soon. Ain't got anything better to do anyway and besides... this'll be my first time seeing Earth. Should be something." Shepard said.
"Thank you Shepard. Good luck." Hackett replied before the comm cut. As Shepard moved to go inform his team about their little side trip, Pressly caught him before doing so.
"Sir, have really not seen Earth before?" He asked in mild shock.
"No. Actually I haven't even been close to the Sol System." Shepard said being honest. Hey living in the Attican Traverse then moving in to the Terminus for most of your life pretty much keeps you from going to the Citadel side of the galaxy.
"Well at least you'll get to see the Earth at the best viewpoint you can get when we head to Luna." Prosily said scratching his head. Shepard nodded and went to go get his team ready.
A few hours later the team found themselves on Luna fighting the outer turret defense systems via the Mako. With a few meager maneuvers and some thruster usage, the team was able to easily destroy all the turrents. The team quickly got out and split into 3 groups just like they had done on Feros: Shepard was solo, Boys and Girls seeing as the entire training ground was 3 underground bases, it only made sense. Before Shepard made his way towards his assigned base however, he looked up at Earth. As he gazed upon its beauty, he found himself transfixed by the sight. The white clouds, the brown and green land masses and the blue ocean. He felt something well up inside him. Something primal. As if he was staring at his long lost home. One word came to mind as his gaze continued to linger: Perfect.
"Skipper, are you alright?" Ashley's voice suddenly entered into his helmet. Shepard almost flinched at her voice seeing how it was the first time she spoke to him after the talk he had regarding their 'relationship'. He looked at her and noticed that the others who had began the trek to their outpost had stopped to look at him. He nodded in response.
"Yeah. I'm fine Ash. Just... taking in the view. Didn't think my first time seeing Earth would be so breathe-taking." Shepard replied as he continued to look back at Earth. He heard Kaidan, Garrus and Liara chuckle at his words while Wrex just made a groaning noise. He could feel Tali's stare on him. He figured that she realized one similarity that they shared was now gone possibly. Neither had seen their race's homeworld, until now. Ashley didn't give any response seeing as this was one of those moments Shepard needed to himself. With a nod, she and her team continued making their way to their base. Kaiden and his quickly followed suit. Shepard remained looking at Human Homeworld for a minute before he stuck his hand out as if reaching towards it.
'Some day, I'll set foot on its surface. Just like we talked about... Mom.' Shepard thought remembering one of his earlier conversations with his mother before the Slaver Attack. She always talked about how beautiful Earth was. Until then though... He used his outstretched hand to grab his Master HMWA before walking towards his assigned base. As soon as he entered the base he was locked in and toxic gas filtered into the rooms which he didn't worry about since he didn't take off his breather helmet. Not only that but he noticed that Kinetic Barriers were erected at the doorway. He suddenly felt multiple electric signatures start up and were moving around further in. He walked over to the Barrier and shot it until it deactivated. Once it did, he came to another doorway and surprise, surprise: Another Barrier was up. Needless to say that it was safe to assume every doorway probably had one on it. As soon as he got past it he was assaulted by several drones and immediately took cover, narrowly dodging a rocket. He moved to where he could look around the corner and could see 5 drones closing in on his location. He looked at the farthest one and hacked it before using overload on the others. After that the hacked drone attacked the rest giving him the opportunity to move out of cover and take them all down with his Assault Rifle.
Without further adieu, Shepard walked further in to find the VI Conduits. The room in which they were located held the main hub of the VI as well several other conduits. Shepard collapsed his rifle and took out 4 grenades before he tossed one each on the conduits. He detonated them with his barrier taking only some minor damage from the explosions. He noticed that something was on the main computer in the room and checked it out. After looking at it he found out that it was the main storage of the VI and he could clearly see all of the other conduits had been taken out of commission by his team. That was when the VI started making more chatter. It all came out in a bunch of beeps and whoops, for the life of which he couldn't understand. Finally he had Isaac hook up to the VI and something weird happened. As soon as he hooked up, Isaac became silent for a full 3 minutes. While it wasn't much for organics, for a synthetic it was very troubling. Shepard was starting to worry when Isaac finally began talking.
"Glad that's over." Isaac said making Shepard raise an eyebrow.
"What happened?" Shepard inquired.
"The VI tried to hack me and we ended up fighting for control. I got to admit, I can see why the marines had trouble with it in the first place. It was smart enough to fight, but not enough to surrender. I didn't fully delete it but managed to isolate it. The Alliance can take over it from here." Isaac explained.
"Ok. I'll notify everyone else. I gotta admit Isaac, I was worried. I thought that the only thing that can take you on virtually was another AI." Shepard said as he began to send a message to his team.
"Well that VI was borderline AI." Isaac retorted trying to defend himself. Shepard just chuckled at him. That was when the terminals started showing binary code 01001000010001010100110001010000.
"What's it saying Isaac?" Shepard asked alarmed not knowing how to read binary code.
"It's saying help." Isaac said perplexed.
"Why is it asking that?"
"I don't know. Something isn't right."
"Forced sentience possibly?" Shepard offered.
"Unlikely, but not impossible. Let's just go."
"Right." With that Shepard walked out of the room as the message kept coming up on the monitors in an infinite loop.
Another couple hours later and everyone was back on the Normandy. Shepard walked to the comm room having heard Joker tell him it was Admiral Hackett again. After a minute, Hackett's hologram came up.
"Good work on Luna, Shepard. We've already sent teams in to secure it and began repairs. I knew you and your team would get it done." Hackett praised.
"It was no problem." Shepard replied modestly.
"By the way. Shepard, Ms. Al-jalani's story on you just aired. She shouldn't have ambushed you like that. But you handled it pretty well." Hackett informed. Oh great. Shepard had almost forgot about that reporter. The other one that he gave Fist's files to and help with the Citadel traffic, she was nice. He liked her. That Al-jilani or whatever, he wanted to punch her lights out, but he couldn't do that since they were in the middle of the C-Sec academy.
"We have a difference of opinion about that. I hope she believed my sincerity at least." Hackett gave a rare smile at Shepard's reply.
"You handled yourself pretty well, Shepard. She came across like a raving idiot. Just wanted to let you know about the response back on Earth. Oh and before I go, Alliance Command has another mission for you. If you're interested." Hackett said catching Shepard's attention.
"Any reason why I should?" Shepard asked.
"Major Kyle, the officer you battled alongside with at Torfan, has set up a small compound in the Hawking Eta cluster. He's attracted a number of biotic followers." Hackett informed immediately catching Shepard's interest.
"Major Kyle? The same Major you guys sent to back me up on Torfan. The same one whose team got..." Shepard stopped himself from continuing. Even after all these years he still remembered that desperate fight. How he pushed that team to the point where the only survivors were him and Kyle. Hackett nodded seeing where Shepard was going with this.
"Since then he's become an outspoken critic of the Alliance, and we believe him to be mentally unstable. This could be trouble, Shepard." Hackett said knowing he had Shepard now.
"What proof do you have that Kyle is dangerous?" Shepard asked as he crossed his arms. He needed to know what the whole situation was. Hackett sighed at the question. That wasn't a good sign.
"Three days ago we sent 2 Alliance representatives to meet with him at his compound. They have disappeared. We believe Kyle and his followers may have killed them. That compound is a cult Shepard. They call him Father Kyle now. He's set himself up as some kind of religious leader." Shepard hadn't even thought that the Major he met all those years ago would do something like this.
"What else can you tell me about Major Kyle?" Shepard asked. Hackett didn't respond immediately making Shepard wonder what the hell happened after Torfan. While he didn't know the man personally, he did strike him as a military man through and through.
"He's not the same man you battled with. He feels responsible for all the Alliance soldiers who died at Torfan. His psych evaluations showed he couldn't handle the stress of command any more. He was given an honorable discharge and early retirement." Hackett explained. Shepard's eyebrow's narrowed at the explanation.
"And that's it? No keeping an eye on him for severe depression or PTSD?" Shepard asked, more like accused. If Hackett felt guilty about it, his hologram didn't show it.
"We'd hoped he would get better in time, but we underestimated how far gone he was. Now it look's like it's too late." Hackett said. Shepard almost snarled at the Admiral. Almost. Instead he kept his facial expression neutral.
"I don't believe it is. Not yet. What about those Alliance representatives? What were they going to talk to him about?" Shepard asked.
"They wanted to bring him back to an Alliance facility for treatment. Major Kyle served us faithfully for many years. We weren't going to abandon him." Hackett replied. Shepard looked at the Admiral for few seconds trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not.
"Given his state of mind, however, he probably saw them as a threat. We're almost certain that he had his followers kill them." Hackett continued.
"You said his followers were biotics, right?" Shepard asked thinking of these supposed followers that Kyle had now. Hackett nodded.
"Yes. Major Kyle never showed any biotic tendencies himself, though. I think he's just latched onto a group he identifies with." was the response.
"Why biotics though? I'd think he would go more for other people like himself." Shepard asked not understanding why a soldier would go and end up leading a biotic cult.
"Many biotics feel marginalized or ostracized by society. Kyle probably sees them as victims who need his protection. And they see him as someone who will fight for them." Hackett supplied. Shepard nodded at the Admiral's reasoning.
"That explains things. He lost what made him feel important and when the Alliance retired him, it didn't help at all. Now he's found others that make him feel important again while feeling bitter about the ones he feels 'cast him aside'." Shepard said thinking things over. Hackett looked to agree with Shepard's conclusion having thought it over himself.
"Unfortunately he's convinced them that the Alliance is somehow responsible for all of their problems. We can't let him go on like this." Hackett finished with urgency. Shepard knew by his tone that if he didn't help, Hackett would have to send soldiers in and that would lead to a massacre.
"I'll do it. I might be able to end this without violence... hopefully." Shepard said finally agreeing. It was his fault in a way that Major Kyle was like this now. It was only fair that he be the one to try and fix it. Hackett gave him an approving look at his decision.
"You fought alongside him, he might listen to you. But he's already killed two Alliance representatives. I'll trust you to use your judgement and send you the coordinates. Hackett out." Hackett said before the hologram winked out. Shepard sighed before he told Joker to go to the coordinates that Hackett sent.
A day later and Shepard, along with his team, were in front of a compound located on Presop , the moon of Klendagon. Sadly he was having to talk to one of Kyle's biotic followers.
"This is a private sanctuary. Outsiders are not welcome here." The cultist spoke through the intercom.
"I need to talk to the man in charge. It's important." Shepard replied.
"Father Kyle wants nothing more to do with the Alliance." The cultist asserted as if that would deter him.
"I'm the Ghost of the Terminus. I was there with Major Kyle on Torfan. I have to speak to him." Shepard replied. The cultist didn't respond at first but Shepard could here some chatter going on before it went completely silent. Thinking it was all for not, he directed his team to start moving back to the mako until...
"Wait." Shepard turned to look back at the console. "Father Kyle will speak with you. Only you. Head to the building at the far end of the compound. He'll meet you there." The cultist said before the comm cut off. Shepard began walking over to the building mentioned before Ashley and Liara both stopped him.
"Shepard I don't think it's a good idea for you to go down there." Ashley said in concern.
"I second Chief Williams, Shepard." Liar said with a nod. It warmed his heart that they weren't mad at him anymore. Over the next few days after telling them both about his plans for the future, there was this very awkward silence between all 3 of them. What made it worse was the fact it looked like Ash and Liara were talking about it with Chakwas and Benezia respectively when they thought he wasn't around. Ok he wasn't around but Garrus and Kaidan told him about it and Wrex and Tali confirmed it. And if that wasn't bad enough, he swears he could see some of the other crewmen placing bets on when things come to a head and what would happen. If Ash jumped him, Liara jumped him, both jumped him or nothing at all along with whether it's in a week, a month or around when the mission's over. He tried to ignore it all, but dammit it was a small ship. Anyway back to the matter at hand.
"Look I'll be fine. In case you guys forgot, I'm the one who took on the Thorian and Benezia. I think I can handle a few biotics." Shepard said as he put his hand up to stop them from following. He could see while the others hadn't moved or said anything, they were silently agreeing. Hell even Wrex was nodding. Seeing his team's uncertainty, Shepard decided to give them a reassurance of sorts.
"Look if I don't contact you in an hour then go in with guns blazing. Better?" Everyone had a reaction to that. Wrex nodded his head vigorously like a happy child. Tali looked as if she was holding back a few giggles. Kaiden and Garrus both snorted. Ashley and Liara both gave stiff nods. Shepard nodded back and entered into the compound.
He walked his way through the compound and past several biotics. He could feel them looking at him, studying him. He did the same to them. While he didn't know how well they could use the pistols and shotguns they carried, he could tell that they were moderately strong with there biotics by the feeling they gave off. Eventually, he came to the back of the complex and found Major Kyle. Shepard could see that the years hadn't been kind to the once proud soldier. Back on Torfan, looked his age. But now he looked like he aged 15 instead of 5 years. Before he could speak, Kyle had beaten him to it.
"I know you. The Butcher of Torfan. Why have you come here Ghost? Why can't you leave us alone?" Kyle asked.
"Well... I'm sort of joined forces with the Alliance, albeit temporarily. They told me about what's happened with you. You wanna tell me about those Alliance representatives?" Shepard replied. Kyle's features grew more incensed.
"They wanted to take me away from here! They wanted me to abandon this place. Turn my back on my family. They spoke blasphemy!" Kyle retorted in an even tone, but Shepard felt the edge in it.
"Really?" Shepard accused skeptically. Kyle averted his gaze from him for a few seconds.
"I did what I could to make their end quick and painless. I had no other choice. It was necessary to protect my children. Only I can keep them safe." Kyle defended. Shepard just shook his head no while he didn't break eye contact.
"No. You know that's not true. The Alliance sent me here to bring you back, Major. Can't you see this has gotten out of hand? Don't you see that you're endangering your followers?" Shepard said as he got closer to the Major. Kyle didn't back down.
"I respect that you have come under a banner of peace. But I cannot do as you ask. If you take away their father, my children will become helpless." Kyle said with some desperation mixed in.
"If you don't come with me, all of your followers will end up dead. Is that what you want? For it to happen again as it did on Torfan?" Shepard asked. He could see Kyle's eyes gain a haunted look in them and continued, "Look, I'm truly sorry about what happened there. Truly I am. That's why I'm here and not some other Alliance representative. I'm here to fix my mistakes, but stopping you from doing the same one I did back then. Please Kyle. What kind of father let's their children die?" Kyle's head snapped up to look at him.
"No! This... this was my fault. My children are innocent. Pure. Please... I never meant to for this to happen. I'm... I'm sorry." Kyle pleaded. Shepard smiled at him.
"You're doing the right thing, Major. Your children will be better off for it. Come on." Shepard said as he moved his hand behind Kyle's back to get him moving. Kyle stopped him first.
"Wait. If my children see you taking me away, they won't understand. They will attack and you will be forced to kill them all. You've shown me the error of my ways Ghost. Now you must give me time to explain it to them. It is the only way they will understand." Kyle informed.
"How long do you need?" Shepard asked.
"Please give me one hour. After that, I will meet the Alliance authorities at the gates of my compound and surrender without violence. I give you my word." Kyle said. Shepard thought things over. One hand Kyle would telling the truth. On the other, Kyle could be making a trap. Shepard looked into the man's eye and he could see the sincerity in them.
"Fine. I'll trust you." Kyle smiled at him. "But if you betray that trust, then you and your children will suffer." Kyle nodded at Shepard's warning.
"I will not betray you, Ghost. Thank you for this." Kyle said before walking to his followers. Shepard got on his omni-tool.
"Kaidan? Look Kyle has agreed to stand down. See if you can get the Alliance authorities to come and pick him up." Shepard ordered. Kaiden's response came back almost immediately.
"Joker can have the fifth fleet pick Major Kyle up. I just hope you know what you're doing Shepard." Shepard smirked.
"I think I do." Was his reply. Some time later, Shepard was back on the Normandy in the mess, eating a sandwich. Joker called him up to the CIC. Groaning, he took the sandwich and plate with him. Last time he left food and came back, Wrex had eaten it causing Shepard to toss him around for a bit. He finally got to the galaxy map drawing a few strange looks. Hey it's not every day you see the man in charge taking a call while eating a turkey sandwich.
"Patching it through." Joker's voice came out. Shepard already had a sneaking suspicion about who it was. He wasn't disappointed.
"Admiral Hackett here, Shepard. Your helmsman just forwarded your reparation Major Kyle." Shepard took a quiet bite out of his sandwich just intent on listening for the moment.
"We sent in a team as you instructed. Kyle's followers have disbanded, and the major surrendered to us without incident. We'll make sure he gets the help he needs." Shepard swallowed the bite he took.
"G-*clears throat* Good, just what I wanted to hear." Shepard replied before taking another bite.
"To be honest, Shepard, I thought this thing was going to end in a bloodbath. I don't know how you did it, but you saved a lot of lives. Congratulations." Hackett said. Shepard quickly swallowed not wanting to be rude and talk with his mouth full.
"Thank you." Shepard said before the line cut. He looked around and saw Pressly giving him a look.
"Hey I know it's rude to talk to someone on the comm while eating, but in my defense he caught me at a bad time, I was hungry and we don't want a repeat of what happened in the mess last time I left food." Shepard defended. Everyone hears Wrex's voice from down below.
"One time and he holds a grudge!" Causing everyone to laugh. Shepard just nodded as if saying 'damn straight'.
Shepard chuckled thinking back to that day. Then he remembered what happened later on a few days later. He had gotten a call from Hackett about some dead scientists. It lead him to meeting another ghost from his past. One he had believed had been dead for years...
Shepard and the team had just gotten past the mercenaries outside the outpost and had fought through more than few inside only to find the last surviving scientist and someone Shepard had not expected.
"Stay back! I've got no grief with you! All I want is this bastard!" Said the man clad in armor as he held a pistol to the scientist's head.
"Please! He's a madman!" The scientist said desperately. He looked back at the mercenary.
"Mr. Toombs, you're insane! You need help!" The scientist pleaded. That name struck a cord in Shepard. He heard that name before, but...
"Shut up! You don't get to lie! You don't..." Toombs snarled before he looked at Shepard who was staring at him like he saw a ghost.
"What?!" Toombs shouted.
"Toombs? Corporal Toombs? But that can't be possible. I saw you die on Akuze!" Shepard said in shock. Toombs looked at him in curiosity.
"I don't recognize you. Unless... Ghost. My God, are you really Ghost?" Toombs asked. Shepard nodded.
"How did you get here?" Shepard asked. Toombs' expression turned into a visage of rage as he looked at the scientist.
"They took me, Ghost. The scientists." Toombs said.
"You can't prove any of this! This man is delusional!" The scientist called out. Toombs ignored him.
"See, they were running tests on the thresher maws. They let those things hit us just to watch and study. I woke up in a holding cell. The scientists were delighted that I had survived. Now they had someone to run tests on." Toombs explain, morosely. Shepard felt guilt hit him.
"Toombs, I- I didn't know. All I saw was you get pulled under by the maw and that- If I had known you still lived, I would've come back I swear." Shepard said seeing the haunted looked on Toombs' face.
"You can't believe Toombs! He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial!" The scientist demanded. Shepard noted that there was something off about this guy. Most scientists would be screaming out 'I didn't do it' but this guy wasn't saying it, only that Toombs couldn't prove it.
"He was there, you bastard! He knows the truth! They're part of some organization, Cerberus, that runs secret tests like this. They treated me like a lab animal." As soon as Cerberus was mentioned, Shepard and his team gained a hard look in there eyes. After Major Kyle, Admiral Kahoku contacted them about Cerberus. They immediately went to rescue him but it was all for nothing. They found the Admiral's body amongst the labs they shut down on Binthu. Afterwards, they went on a hunting spree and assaulted many bases some of which included Thorian creepers. Not only that, but it seemed that Cerberus got their hands on a few rachni which had gotten out of hand, but the team managed to stop them. Shepard was unsettled at the fact some them shouted 'capture subject alpha' among other things which led to a very awkward conversation with his team. Out of everyone, Kaidan and Ashley were the ones who distanced themselves from him the most. He managed to get the non-human personnel back with him, but the 2 humans were being very cautious. He even saw some mistrustful looks sent his way when they thought he didn't look.
"This man deserves to die, Ghost. For you, for me, for everyone else in my unit. Are you with me?" Toombs asked him. Shepard understood Toombs better than anyone else in the room.
"Toombs, trust me. I know how much of a pain Cerberus is. I know what scars Akuze left on you, but Toombs... come on. You're better than this. You're not like them." Shepard said getting Toombs mad. Toombs pointed his gun at Shepard now causing Shepard's team to train their weapons on him.
"Don't tell me who I am! You got away with a few scratches and a scary reputation! The rest of the unit died, and I was tortured for years, Ghost! You can't judge me! You don't have the right!" Toombs said. Shepard could see the pain in the man's eyes.
"Toombs, if I could've helped you on Akuze, I would have. All I can do is help now. Let me." Shepard said as he held out his arm for the gun. Toombs had struggle going on inside him clear as day. Finally, he placed the gun in Shepard's hand.
"Okay. I'm no murderer. They couldn't make me one. Just as long as he goes to trial." Shepard signaled Ashley to cuff the scientist and escort him back to the Normandy. Toombs let out a breath and put his hands on the sides of his head.
"Maybe the screaming will stop now. I don't know." Toombs muttered as everyone slowly filtered out of the room. Shepard having heard him answered him.
"Those bastards can't hurt you anymore." He signaled Joker. "Joker, tell the fifth fleet we need a ship for pick-up."
"Aye, aye Shepard." Joker responded. Shepard looked at Toombs who stared morosely at the floor while Ashley gave the scientist a shove to the door. It was over for now, but he knew that Cerberus was still out there. And they will meet up again. That was a fight Shepard wasn't looking forward to any time soon.
Shepard scowled at his thoughts on Cerberus. Those guys were relentless. Kahoku had told them that they were a rogue black-ops organization that were trying to create a super soldier. No... not trying to create, recreate. They already made a super soldier, him. Things from his past had come back to haunt him ever since he revealed himself as the Ghost of the Terminus. When he did it, he believed that he could handle whatever would come at him. What a fool he'd been. He figured the worst he'd deal with would be vengeful slavers and pirates. He not only had that, if what happened a few days ago was any clue, but now he had to find a way to outwit some shadowy organization while still maintaining his freedom. Well at least he and Isaac managed to close one chapter of their lives a few days ago...
Hackett had managed to save Shepard from his boredom again with a new mission. Something about one of the nuclear warhead probes the Alliance sent out during the First Contact War. Apparently it had just sent a 'mission accomplished' ping back to Alliance Command. The strange thing was that it was in the exact opposite direction of where they sent the probes. Shepard, against the wishes of his crew, went down to the planet the signal came from alone. All he had on him was his Master HMW guns, a few grenades, his omni-tools, and his biotics. Isaac was with him so at least he had someone to talk to. He took the mako down and tracked the signal to a mine. The alarm bells in his head had gone off immediately.
"Well, this is suspicious." Shepard commented as he made his way to the mine shaft.
"It's obvious that the probe didn't crash. Someone moved it here." Isaac replied as Shepard continued to approach it.
"We'd best be on guard then. There's a nuclear weapon down there after all and we can't just abandon it." Shepard reasoned as the door to the mine opened.
"Fair enough." Isaac said back as Shepard took his rifle out and descended down into the mine. After a few minutes of walking around Shepard began getting a bad feeling. The mine was strangely empty but had shown signs of recent activity.
"Isaac I'm starting to feel like it's..."
"A trap?" Isaac finished for him. Shepard nodded. He continued to defend until he found the probe. As soon as he got close to it, however, the doors closed on him and locked.
"What the hell?!" Shepard shouted in alarm. As he looked behind him.
"Shepard, at last." A voice said from his side. He turned around to see a human hologram looking at him intently.
"Have we met?" Shepard asked in mild interest. It wasn't everyday someone had him trapped in a room with a live nuclear bomb. He had to give it to the guy, well played. The human's facial expression turned into a displeased one.
"You don't remember me. No matter. I remember you. I never forget anyone I've fought. My name is Elanos Haliat. I doubt you know it." Haliat informed. Shepard, and Isaac surprisingly, both snarled at the man.
"Haliat?! I know your name well enough." Shepard sneered at the man behind the attack on Elysium. Halite smiled smugly at Shepard.
"Who do you think runs the Terminus Clans, Shepard? Hm? Thousands of pirates, slavers, criminals of every stripe?" Haliat questioned.
"You assume I actually give a damn. That's cute." Shepard mocked, but Haliat ignored it.
"The strongest leads. The one who kills the most men. Seizes the most ships. Pillages the most colonies."
"Yea, yea. I heard it all before from Aria." Shepard replied. Halite continued on.
"Three years ago, I was the strongest. I used my influence to assemble a fleet. We would drive your kind out of the Verge." Haliat said now openly sneering back at Shepard.
"My kind? First of all, don't put me in the same boat as the Alliance. Secondly, you should blame the slavers for my direct involvement. You should have known the second you joined forces with them, I'd catch on to it. Besides, I know for a fact you were used by the Hegemony. They backed you up by supplying you with soldiers in the form of pirates and slavers. Face it Haliat, in the larger scheme of things, you were nothing!" Shepard shot back. Haliat scowled at Shepard.
"I was the motivator. The instigator. The one who promised glory and riches for sacking the largest human colony in the cluster. The one blamed, when it failed. Failed, because of you and your damnable holding action." Haliat said. Shepard smirked.
"My crew will come for me Haliat and trust me, you're not going to like it when they do." Shepard threatened knowing it was true. Haliat's expression turned into a sick grin.
"Let them. We'll be ready. An Alliance warship would make a fine prize. Oh and if you hadn't noticed, the ores here are laced with heavy metals. I'm afraid your suit radio isn't powerful enough to transmit out." Haliat mocked. Shepard scowled at the bastard.
"You'll see me again, Haliat. Count on it." Shepard replied hostilely. Haliat chuckled at Shepard's threat.
"I rather doubt that. Goodbye, Shepard." Haliat said before the hologram cut out. The probe began beeping, signaling the nuke had been activated.
"Shepard, hook me up to it quickly! We can't let that bastard go again!" Isaac urged.
"Right!" Shepard said as he linked his omni-tool to the probe and watched Isaac work his magic on it. The timer only had 10 seconds on it, but Isaac deactivated it in only 2 seconds flat. Shepard seeing the danger was over quickly moved to the door and hacked through it. He ran his way out of the mine and came to a hill that over looked Haliat's camp.
"Bastards stole my mako. It's on now." Shepard muttered as he took out his sniper and aimed. He fired 3 shot and nailed 3 of the pirates in the head, killing them instantly. Shepard noticed that besides the average pirates that consisted of turbans, rogan and humans, there were more than a few batarians in the mix to. The pirates jumped for cover when they saw there snipers go down. The batarians activated their hidden cams to catch Shepard in action. The Hegemony had sent them to make sure Haliat finished Shepard off and if not, gain whatever intel on him at any cost. Shepard used his sniper to take out the other batarians, before switching to his assault rifle and slid down the hill as he fired at the camp. He continued to fire as he slid down before grabbing 4 grenade out of his pouch. He activated all of them and threw them near the cover that the pirates were using. Since he had upgraded them using high explosive upgrades they pretty much cut down the rest of the pirates. The only ones still living were the 2 krogan and Shepard approached their downed forms before shooting them with his shotgun. One of the bavarians had managed to survive the explosions looked at the devastation Shepard had wrought and sprinted away from the area. Shepard seeing this took out his pistol and shot the batarian right at the head, killing him. Shepard looked around and couldn't find Haliat's corpse anywhere.
"Where is he?" Shepard asked out loud. That was when the mako started up and pointed its cannon at him.
"It's time to die Shepard!" Haliat's voice came out from the mako's speakers. Shepard didn't even bat an eye before he used his biotics and lifted the mako's front half up just before it fired. Shepard then used both hands and flipped it over making it land on its top. Haliat kicked the door out before exiting the semi-wrecked vehicle. Haliat stood up as Shepard approached him. Shepard had holstered his weapons and only activated his omni-blades and had a biotic barrier surrounding him. Haliat took out his assault rifle and began firing at Shepard, scoring him a few times before the weapon was biotically pulled from his hands. He shakily took out his shotgun and fired at him, now a few feet away. Shepard's barrier flashed at the impacts, but didn't dissipate at all.
"Die, die! DIE!" Haliat roared with each shot. Shepard wrested the shotgun from his grasp with his left hand.
"Why won't you die?!" Haliat whispered fearfully. Shepard glared at the man before using Neural Shock and held the man in the air.
"You don't have what it takes to kill a Ghost." Shepard stated before he charge a biotic strike combined with an omni-blade. Shepard let loose and the fatal blow went through Haliat like he was nothing. Shepard retracted his arm as he let the corpse fall on the ground. Shepard stared at the corpse and barely heard Isaac.
"Good riddance to him." Isaac stated coldly. Shepard was somewhat startled by his tone.
"Isaac what's with the attitude?" Shepard asked.
"This guy nearly killed you years ago. I know you've been in dangerous situations before but none of come more close than Haliat. Not even that Cerberus agent." Isaac stated. Shepard understood now. Shepard had been Isaac's only friend and only person to know of his true existence. Isaac had grown attached to Shepard's presence as a result. Not only that, but over the years Isaac had been steadily learning from Shepard what it means to be alive. In doing so, Isaac learned, at least in part, the value of having a bond with someone. And when Haliat had threatened to take away that bond, he earned the AI's ire. Shepard smirked at his lit omni-tool.
"Well, it's over now. Haliat's gone and we can say for sure that this whole mess with the Blitz is well and truly over with his death." Shepard said.
"You're right." Isaac agreed. Shepard snorted before signaling Joker to come and pick him up now that it was over.
Shepard smiled remembering the interrogation the team gave him as soon as he came back with a beaten up mako. It wasn't totaled, just that the cannon looked like it was crushed and the door was busted and sure the windshield was cracked and yes... smoke was rising out from under it but it could be repaired, easily. With enough omni-gel of course. Tali, Garrus, Kaidan and him spent the better part of the next day repairing it.
He then remembered that he was going to have to go back into the cargo bay soon to meet with Liara and Benezia. Since coming onto the Normandy, Benezia has taken to training Liara to better hone her biotics not that she needed it. Soon after Benezia had practically dragged him down to start training along with them. When he asked why, all he got was that Benezia had noticed that he used a brute force application of biotics, mainly because of Aria's teachings. Benezia had said that it would benefit him to learn a more gentle way of using his biotics to achieve a better, more complete control over them. Not only that, but Liara had also began talking to him again, saying she understood why he was doing what he was going to do. Then she muttered something that he didn't quite catch, but Benezia did which made her smile mischievously. He also noticed that during that training, Ashley was looking at him more and more. He knew it wasn't any betrayed or suspicious look anymore, but more determined as if she figured out something for herself and she was dead set on it.
"Shepard!" Joker's voice sounded over the intercom.
"Yea?" Shepard replied.
"Incoming message from the Citadel."
"Who is it?" Shepard asked. Last he got a call from the Citadel, it was from Udina and Anderson. Udina was pissed about his decision to free the Rachni Queen, but Anderson had managed to calm the man down enough. When the Ambassador left, Anderson actually voiced his support in Shepard's decision. Shepard smiled at that.
"It's from the Council." Joker replied. Shepard got up and made his way to the comm room. Finally another lead on Saren!
Okay so here it is. I tried to wrap up everything I could. I feel it is time. We are finally approaching the end of this story. After Virmire it's going to be the detainee visit, then Illos and finally the final fight. Hope yawl enjoyed it!
Review please!