Chapter 11 – Freedom's Progress pt 1ME2-5

AN: Blarg. 2014 threw me down and smote my ruin on the mountainside. This chapter was getting too long, so I figured I'd truncate it here and just post. Also note that the Mage 20th anniversary kickstarter has about two weeks left for anyone who wants in!

The shuttle began its descent into the atmosphere of Freedom's Progress. They were currently en route to the only settlement on the planet. Scans showed no signs human life, but Shepard knew someone was alive down there; she felt it in her soul.

Jacob leaned forward. "Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Orders?"

Shepard nodded. Face serious, she briefed her new squad. "There could be survivors. This mission is a combat search and rescue. Our secondary objective is intel. As this is not a kill mission, threat determination is based on my orders; do not engage until I do. When we encounter people, let me make the call to engage.

"Battle order; ward system. I'm the van; forward scout and primary threat management. Jacob, you're the main; auxiliary threat management and flanking element. Once I engage a target, either flank and enfilade or provide suppression against additional targets. Miranda, you're the rear; biotic reserves. Either assist Jacob in target suppression or provide biotic neutralization on the primary target. If I call for retreat, we do it in reverse ward order – Miranda holds the line while Jacob falls back, then both of you cover me. We then reassess and continue to leapfrog back, or counter assault. Any questions?"

Miranda cocked an eyebrow. "This doesn't sound like standard operating procedure for Alliance military or N rank operatives."

Shepard nodded. "Those systems work better for organizing groups of 6 or more into a cohesive command structure. This is more akin to army management or squad operational doctrine like what Cerberus teams follow, right?"

Miranda's mouth twisted as if she tasted something sour. Those protocols were written by the Illusive Man himself. One more clue on how deeply Shepard knew the Illusive Man.

Shepard took Miranda's sour expression as agreement. She nodded. "Yeah, the Old Man helped develop small group tactical doctrine back in the day. Looks like it's still applicable now, if Cerberus is still using it. Nice."

Jacob leaned forward. "Shepard, you seem certain we are going to encounter something or someone. On every other colony abduction, nothing was found alive. What makes you so certain we are going to find someone this time?"

Shepard smirked. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." She intoned in a deep voice.

Miranda's eyes narrowed.

Jacob frowned to himself. Yet another reference he didn't catch.

The rest of the atmospheric entry was done in silence.

They touched down on the landing pad. The shuttle powered down to standby. Shepard opened the door and jumped down onto Freedom's Progress, landing in a crouch on the shuttle pad.

She knelt for several moments, silent. Still. She closed her eyes, frowned, and opened them. Around her, winter snow fell. The landing pad lights were on; a few bright points that stood out against the darkness. No sound, except the wind moving between the pre-fabricated buildings; the jigsaw off-white habitats found across all human colonies. Dim lights came from inside the buildings, barely providing any illumination against the night. Snow drifted in the breeze; swirling white flecks that made the shadows seem closer. Darker.

The place felt abandoned.

Shepard stood, battle rifle ready. She stalked forward. Silently, Shepard motioned Jacob and Miranda to follow her, and together they stepped into the darkened settlement.

The first building they entered was unlocked. Shepard pushed forward, checking each room systematically for opposition while Jacob and Miranda followed, searching as they went.

Abandoned meals. Half drank cups of coffee. Crates partially unpacked, tools spread out.

"It's as if everyone just walked away." Jacob murmured.

They searched another building, then another. With each empty building, Shepard became more and more on edge.

The emptiness stretched around them.

Miranda was becoming frustrated.

"What have we found so far?" Shepard's tone was mild.

Miranda looked up at Shepard. They were currently holed up in yet another empty building. 30 minutes of wandering through empty streets and clearing abandoned buildings gave forth no clues. But that in itself was also a clue.

Miranda nodded.

"No bodies. No signs of fighting. Signs of life everywhere, as if they dropped what they were doing and vanished, leaving everything behind." Miranda gestured at a half drank cup of stale coffee on a nearby table.

Shepard walked over to the stale coffee, and picked up the cup. As she inspected it, she motioned for Miranda to continue.

"So far we haven't found any sign of electronic records either; even a frontier colony like this should have security, and the buildings have at least some power."

"Any conclusions?" Shepard rolled the ceramic mug in her hands.

"Whatever happened was either so quick no one could resist, or it was an ambush that was able to catch everyone without someone raising the alarm."

Shepard nodded at Miranda. "Good enough for now. It's time for me to start making good on my promise to the Old Man; it's time for a lesson." Shepard placed the coffee back down in the exact spot it was before, but turned the mug's handle so it faced the door.

Miranda's lips thinned. She highly doubted Shepard could teach her anything new. Perhaps a few tricks from Shepard's N7 experiences, but nothing vital.

Shepard smirked at Miranda. "Let's check one more building and then regroup here again."

Five minutes later, they were back.

"Jacob, keep overwatch while Miranda and I talk."

Jacob nodded. "Roger, commander." He took a position near the window, and peered out into the snow.

Shepard gestured at the room. "What do you see, Miranda? And more importantly, what do you notice?"

Miranda glanced at Shepard out of the corner of her eye. She swept her gaze over the room. They were just in here, nothing had changed. Lights were still on. Walls and floor were the same. Same papers strewn over the tables. Same stale half drank cup of coffee on the table…

Miranda blinked. Shepard placed the cup down with the handle facing the door. Shepard was the first to leave, then Jacob, then her. No one else was around. She saw Shepard the whole time as they reentered the building. So how was the mug's handle now facing the wall?

Shepard saw Miranda's expressions and walked over to the cup. She pointed at it. "How could this happen?" she asked.

Miranda licked her lips. "Shepard. I…I don't know. Is this some kind of trick?"

Shepard shook her head. "No trick. This is the first lesson, Miranda. When you notice something you don't understand, you must first admit, even to yourself, that you don't know. Before you can learn you have to be able to let go of your preconceptions." Shepard nodded at Miranda. "If you're anything like I was, we're going to have to work on that a lot." Shepard pushed the papers off the table. She dipped one finger into the coffee, and traced a small blob on the table. "You noticed the handle was off because you have almost perfect memory. The table is a map of the colony. The coffee stain is the building we're currently in. Draw the settlement and a path back to the landing pad." Shepard smiled, and held the mug out to Miranda.

Miranda thought for a moment and took the cup. What a silly exercise. After this, she would bring up her concerns to the Illusive Man directly. She'd humor Shepard for now, but things were far too serious for her to have to continually cater to Sherpard's childish whims. She dipped her finger in the coffee, and quickly jotted buildings down, making a simple map of the settlement so far. She gestured at the path they needed to take to get back to their shuttle.

Shepard's grin widened. "Lead us back." As they turned to leave, Shepard reached out a finger, and flicked the cup of coffee over. She watched the spilling liquid spread over the simple map and over the table. Jacob and Miranda exchanged an uneasy glance. Coffee started to drip down to the floor.

Shepard closed the door behind them as they left.

Inside, the half full cup of coffee sat undrank on the dry table.

Twenty minutes later, Miranda was furiously back tracking through the snow for the third time. Whenever the buildings matched up with her memory, they ended up amidst clusters of pre-fabricated housing nestled in the snow instead of the landing pad. At first she thought she missed a turn; slightly embarrassing, but perfectly reasonable considering she was only paying peripheral attention to the buildings in the first place. The second time she tried to find the landing pad went the same way. The third time, she used her onmitool as well. They were still lost.

She turned to Shepard. "What's going on?" Shepard quirked an eyebrow at Miranda. Miranda rolled her eyes. "I don't understand what's happening. Why can't I find the landing pad?"

Shepard's voice was quiet. "It's the first line of defense. The cold and dark make it impossible to escape."

Miranda swallowed. "How do we get out?"

Shepard closed her eyes. "The only way out is in; we have to reach the heart of the problem. Only thing is, when we beat one defense, the next one starts up."

"But how can we find anything if we're lost?"

Shepard opened her eyes. In the dark, they looked gray. "I am never lost. We need to go that way." As she pointed, the wind howled, and the snow whipped around them painfully.

That's when mechs rose from the darkness and attacked.

The next forty minutes were all the same.

Shepard led them forward.

Robots attacking, floating out of the dark.

Howling wind

Following Shepard.

Snow falling, obscuring details, and wiping out footprints. Furiously whipping about them, disorienting.

More fighting

Things faded back into the past. Everything except fighting and the cold seemed a dream. Unreal.

Jacob crouched behind a fence, breath billowing out in gasps. "These mechs shouldn't have been hostile. They should have recognized us as human."

Rockets burst against the building above his head.

Cold darkness

Miranda leaned out from behind a corner, and neatly shot the latest drone. "Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight. We're not alone here."

Shepard prodded one of the ruined mechs with her toe. "I didn't think a colony this size would have so many mechs for labor and defense."

Miranda looked pensive. "You're correct; even if we already encountered every single mech in the settlement, there are too many defense turrets and flying drones to match any projected needs for the colony."

Shepard gestured forward. They heaved themselves to their feet and followed Shepard further in.

Time stretched; an endless moment of running, fighting, cold, dark.

More robots attacked

Shepard was moving faster now. Each step was surer than before, and she started turning through the buildings and streets as if she knew her destination. She was smiling now. She almost leapt up the steps to a prefabricated building, no different from the ones surrounding it. She impatiently engaged the door mechanism. By the time the door finally opened to reveal several startled quarians, Shepard had already holstered her gun and was walking towards Tali with her arms out.

The quarians jerked around, pulled their guns out and pointed them at Shepard.

Miranda and Jacob quickly followed Shepard into the room with their guns trained on the quarians. Things looked tense until Tali dropped her shotgun and jumped into Shepard's arms. They hugged while everyone else twitched; guns pointed and ready to open fire at any sign of hostility.

It was really hard to maintain a serious showdown while Shepard and Tali laughed and danced around hugging each other, ignoring everyone else.

This was the most awkward standoff ever. Seriously.

Miranda knew this somehow was completely Shepard's fault.

One of the quarians spoke, "Hold it right there, Cerberus scum!"

Tali quickly grabbed Shepard's shoulders, holding her back as if she expected Shepard to go berserk at any moment. "Shepard, please don't hurt him!" She turned to the quarian. "Veetor, Shepard hates Cerberus. Don't call her that or you'll make her angry!"

Jacob and Miranda exchanged a glance.

Shepard laughed and gestured behind her. "Actually Tali, they really are working for Cerberus. Don't worry though, they're with me."

Tali did a double take. Her body twisted in confusion and disbelief "What? I figured you were disguising yourself by wearing Cerberus uniforms to infiltrate them. They really are Cerberus? Shepard? Why are you with them?"

Shepard glanced left at Miranda and Jacob, and right at the quarians behind Tali. She grimaced. "Shenanigans."

Tali froze. Her voice became hesitant. "Like with Kaidan?" Her voice firmed, and she grabbed her shotgun. "Or like the Thorian?"

Shepard spread her hands calmly. "Kaidan. Except... they didn't make it in time."

Tali quivered. "So you mean...you were... you really did die?"

Shepard nodded. "Like I said. Shenanigans."

Veetor tilted his head. "That doesn't explain anything! What do you mean she died? She's standing in front of us. She may be your old commander, but she's working with Cerberus. I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives."

Tali took a deep breath. "I trust Shepard. I trust her with my life. I trust her with your lives. Stand down, Prazza."

Shepard shrugged. "Cerberus spent the last two years putting my body back together again."

Prazza sneered. "A likely story. No organization would commit that many resources to bring back one soldier."

Tali and Shepard both snickered. "You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me. It was money well spent." Tali started to continue, but Shepard interrupted her.

"Plus, it turns out that the leader of Cerberus is basically my dad, or as close of an analog as you can get." Everyone froze. Miranda couldn't believe what Shepard just said. Miranda felt an icy fist in her stomach. Shepard was about to make things even more awkward, she could feel it. Shepard blithely continued, ignoring everyone's stares. "Right, introductions. Tali, this is Miranda Lawson. Genetically engineered to be perfect. She was personally trained by the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus, just like I was. In many ways, she's just like me. She's now my personal protégé. I think of her as my little sister." Miranda flinched back as Shepard ruffled the top of her hair. "Miranda, meet my sister, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Daughter of Admiral Rael'Zorah. She's arguably as close as you can get to quarian royalty, or at least celebrity. Aside from the Old Man, there's no one alive I trust more than Tali. Since you're my little sister, Tali's now also your new big sister. Why don't you give your sister a hug?"

Miranda and Tali were suspiciously eyeing each other as Shepard finished. They both flinched, full body spasms, as they turned to Shepard.

"What?!"

"What!?"

Shepard just laughed, and then shrugged. "Or not."

Miranda and Tali uneasily glanced at each other. Was she joking? Shepard didn't say she was joking, but she didn't not say she was joking, either.

Shepard laughed at them.

Miranda whispered to Shepard, "We shouldn't be telling them all this! I know you trust Tali, but what about the rest of them? You're giving away secrets that could come back to hurt Cerberus."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, and turned away.

Tali asked Shepard, "How did you know I finished my pilgrimage? Weren't you…" she trailed off, making a wiggling gesture with her hand.

Shepard smiled at Tali. "You're my little sister. I wouldn't let a little thing like that prevent me from keeping an eye on you." She tapped Tali's breastbone. "As long as you still have that old coin I gave you, your big sis can keep an eye on you." Tali nodded. "Remember if you ever need my help, all you need to do is call." Shepard looked around the room for a moment. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

Tali gestured at her squad. "We're here looking for a young quarian named Veetor. He was here on Pilgrimage. "

"Isnt that a little strange? A quarian visiting a remote human colony?"

"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage. Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always… nervous in crowds."

Prazza spoke up. "She means that he was unstable." He held up a quarian environment suit helmet. It was cracked down the faceplate. "Combine that with damage to his suit and an infection from open-air exposure, he's likely delirious."

"If you have his helmet, then where is he?"

There was an awkward silence as the quarians looked at each other.

"We lost him. We were able to track his suit to this building, but…" Tali drifted off and gestured to the corner. The rest of Veetor's suit lay crumpled on the floor. "He's definitely here somewhere, and from what we can tell, possibly naked."

There was another awkward silence.

Prazza shrugged. "When he saw us landing, he probably just hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved. If he's delirious, who knows what he's thinking."

Miranda glanced at Shepard. "Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here. We need to find him."

Shepard quirked an eyebrow at Prazza. "Impressive hacking for a quarian who's so delirious he took off his environment suit. Do you happen to have a colony manifest for how many mechs are here?"

Tali nodded, and pushed the info to Shepard's omnitool. Shepard passed the info to her squad, and looked down the list.

2 sentry turrets.
12 Loki all purpose mechs.
1 heavy industry YMIR mech.

Shepard looked at Miranda's pale face. They had destroyed almost eighty mechs so far.

Jacob looked outside. The weather had deteriorated into a blizzard. Ice and hail pounded against the windows. He could hear the wind screaming through the reinforced glass. He shook his head. "We go out there again, we will be lost. There's no way we can find a single quarian out there. If he's not in his environment suit, he's either already dead or will be soon."

Shepard spoke, "Then we have to find him fast. Give me his old helmet."

Tali passed her Veetor's helmet.

Shepard held the broken mask in her hands. She turned it over, ran her fingers over it. She lifted it to her face, and peered inside. She nodded, and stepped into the center of the room.

Shepard placed her fingertips together, splaying her middle and ring fingers apart. With her fingers in pairs, her hands looked almost quarian. She cradled the helmet in her palms as she tilted her fingers towards the floor. She knelt gracefully to her knees, tucking her feet underneath her. Directly in front of her she placed Veetor's old helmet, aligning it so it faced away from her. She lifted her hands over it, forming an inverted pyramid with her fingers, and closed her eyes.

After a minute of silence, she spoke. "Li se'lai, show us the way. Illuminate us as we walk along the path leading backwards into darkness."

Prazza made incredulous noises. "What is she doing? This is offensive! She's disrespecting all of us!"

Tali slapped him on the back of his helmet. "Shut it, Prazza. Let Shepard concentrate. Our ancestors probably have more faith in her than they ever had in you."

Shepard knelt in silence for another minute, and then she stood. Eyes still closed, she turned away from the door. "There he is." Miranda opened her omnitool to start plotting a path, but Shepard shook her head. "No; behind me. The future comes upon us and we cannot see it until it is here." Shepard gestured vaguely behind her. "He's over there."

"So now we're going to follow a human into a storm? This is getting even more crazy." Prazza threw his hands into the air.

Tali shook her head. "No Prazza, you're following me. I'm going with Shepard. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship. If you can find the ship, that is." With that, she turned to Shepard. "Alright Shepard, we will follow you into the dark."

As everyone prepared to head into the freezing night, Shepard stood quietly, eyes still closed. When everyone was ready, Shepard opened the door. Frigid wind tore through the door, and after steadying herself, Shepard led them into the darkness.