Chapter 2: Resurgence
John woke to the pulsing sounds of alarms and the noxious smell of smoke and burning coolant, "Shepard!" a female voice shouted at him through the intercom with a slight Australian accent. "Commander you need to get up, we-we're under attack!" the woman said, as gunshots rang out nearly overshadowing her voice.
Shepard pondered on the words for a moment, his mind still clouded from, "Where the hell am I?" he thought as his memories came flooding back to him. The clanking of metal broke him from his thoughts as he turned to see a slim security mech holding a pistol approaching him. His training quickly took over as he rolled into cover by the narrow metal door frame where the droid was approaching from. He mustered up what little energy he had left into a mass effect field as he leaped in front of the doorway, releasing the biotic energy at the droid, knocking it off balance. He quickly put the droid in a headlock and squeezed as hard as he could against the metal frame, a few seconds later his efforts were rewarded with a loud crack as the head tore from the frame. Sparks burst onto his arm, scorching the flesh, "Damn it!" he cursed, throwing the droid on the ground.
"Shepard? Are you all right?" the woman asked.
"Who was this woman and should he trust her?" he thought to himself as he picked up the security mech's pistol from its motionless frame. "Yeah, I'm fine," John said, "who the hell are you, and where are we?" he asked.
"Listen," the women said sternly, "I don't have time to explain, all you need to know is the station is under attack, and I'm one of the few things on this station that isn't trying to kill you." More gunfire interrupted her briefly before she continued, obviously winded from the ordeal, "Make your way to docking bay three, we have a shuttle waiting for you."
John waited a few seconds, contemplating his response before finally breaking the uneasy silence, "I'll be there," as he made his way down the hallway at a brisk pace, pistol in hand.
It'd only been a few minutes of running before the sounds of gunfire slowed his pace to a low crouch as he turned the corner. John could see a small room with various tech equipment lying about and what looked to be server equipment, "Some kind of server hub?" he thought as he turned examined the source of the gunfire. Three security mechs were closing in on a man who was taking shelter behind a console, the man was trying to do interface with the terminal, he stopped when he saw Shepard around the corner.
"Help! These mechs have gone crazy, please!" the man said as quickly ducked behind the terminal.
John fired his pistol at one of the mechs, the shot only grazing its shoulder. The mech quickly turned around to face him, he immediately fired another shot into the head of the mech. This shot had hit its mark as the droid crumpled to the ground, though the victory was short lived as a shot grazed his shoulder. "Fuck!" John shouted as he was forced back to cover. He quickly surveyed the wound, it was bleeding, but it wasn't going to be serious, not for a few hours anyway. The sound of another gunshot bolted him out from cover, he fired a volley of bullets into the first droid which was now facing the man at the other end of the room. The other turned to face him, he quickly mustered another weak biotic-field and released it at the other droid and fired his pistol. The droid shot, though the biotic push had thankfully caused the bullets to miss their intended target, and instead lodge into the doorframe above him with a loud clang.
"Shit!" the man in the corner yelled as he limped around the terminal, "they hit me in the fucking leg!"
"Yeah, get in line," John said as he yanked the man towards him. He wasn't very impressive up close, the man had pasty white skin and slim build and a tight jumpsuit, "Probably a technician," he thought to himself as they headed out the doorway.
"Slow down!" The technician said frantically a few feet behind John.
John reluctantly complied as they turned around another corridor, though they seemed to be getting close to the hangar, "What were you doing in there?" he asked.
A few moments had passed before the technician replied, "Backing up data."
"I didn't get your name either," John said.
"Wilson," the technician replied.
John nodded slightly in acknowledgment as he entered a wide open room where a dark skinned man was kneeling in cover, the man had short black hair and a what looked to be light combat gear. A barrage of fire sent John diving for the cover next to the man as he heard the clumsy thud of Wilson following behind him.
"Shepard?" The man beside him asked, "Damn if Miranda has you up…"
"Nice to meet you too," John said as he peeked out slightly from cover. "Looks like four mechs on the catwalk, two on each sided trying to set up a crossfire, standard mech tactics."
"Sorry," the man said, "names Jacob, I'm Miranda's second, and I run security."
"It always this exciting?" John asked as he launched a biotic-field, lifting two of the drones helplessly flailing in the air.
"Not usually," Jacob said, letting a small grin escape as he fired on the two floating droids with his SMG, shredding the mechs into pieces.
"Where are we exactly? Miranda wasn't exactly able to give me the grand tour," John said, laying down cover fire.
"You're on a Cerberus research station," Jacob said as he ejected a thermal casing from his gun, causing searing hot air to erupt from the side of his weapon.
John's muscles tensed slightly as the air brushed against his face, "What the hell had he gotten himself into?" he thought as he surveyed Jacob, the golden emblem of Cerberus on the front of his uniform. He silently cursed himself.
"I guess Miranda left that part out…" Jacob muttered
John could see Jacob's muscles tense as they both stared each other down, "Listen," Jacob continued, "We can explain this later but right now we need to get to the hangar bay, Cerberus isn't what you think it is Commander."
John paused for a moment, his muscles still tensed and weapon pointed towards the Cerberus agent, though still well aware of the technician cowering behind him. "He didn't kill me when he had the chance." John thought though the crack of a bullet hitting the railing drew his focus away. "They obviously want me alive, that's more than I can say for these drones," he thought as he lowered his pistol and nodded his head at Jacob, "You better have a damn explanation when this is over," he said.
"Cerberus isn't what you think it is Commander," Jacob said as he fired another volley of bullets at the remaining mechs sending them to the ground seizing as motors and pistons tried to compensate for the sudden force and missing extremities. "I was in the Alliance just like you, I know the stories and I was skeptical at first, but Cerberus isn't afraid to do what needs to be done. What the Alliance won't do."
"Like experimenting on kids and sabotaging freighters?" John said as he stood up from the railing which was now scorched and dented from the previous altercation.
"I know Cerberus has a colored past but we- we aren't like that. Not anymore. I wouldn't be here if I thought Cerberus were still doing that shit," Jacob said as he paused as if trying to see how he would react.
John simply nodded as Wilson interrupted, "Let's get out of here, this station's falling apart!"
"You grab any meds on your way out Doc?" Jacob asked.
"Doc?" John asked as they continued down the corridor
"What's a Doctor doing backing up data in a server room, several decks above the medical bay?" John asked as they turned the corridor.
A shot sent John diving for cover as he pointed his gun toward the source, "My thoughts exactly," the woman said, the same voice he'd heard in the med-bay.
"What the hell Miranda!" Jacob said as he looked down at Wilson's corpse.
"He's the one who turned the mechs on us Jacob," Miranda said as she holstered her pistol. "I always knew he had his doubts about the… ethics of our work, I just didn't think he'd be foolish enough to act on them."
John got up slowly from the floor, studying the woman in front of him. She had black hair and light blue eyes, her uniform was white in the center with the shoulders and arms colored black. Her body type was slim, and she carried a holster on her belt, "I want some answers!" he said as he faced the woman.
"Of course, we can explain it on the way. Unless of course, you'd rather stay here with the mechs," she said as she opened the door to the hangar.
-()-
A few hours later and John found himself staring down the hologram of The Illusive Man himself. He wore a dark black suit and held a cigarette in his hand which left a lingering trail of smoke in its path as he brought it to his mouth and back down. "Commander Shepard," The Illusive Man said as he brought his cigarette down to the side of his chair, the mere sound of his voice seemed to command respect.
"Illusive man," John said plainly as observed the dark room around him, it was small and circular with only the projection to provide light.
"Do you know why you're here?" he said.
"Are you going to give me some speech about the noble goals of Cerberus if I ask?"
"You died, Shepard."
As if someone had put the pieces back together, it all surged back to him, "What did you do to my ship! Where the hell is my crew!"
"Your crew is fine," he said taking a sip from the small cup he held in his other hand. "You, on the contrary, died two years ago."
"Then why'd you bring me back? What do you gain out of all this?"
The Illusive Man let a smile escape as if he'd been waiting to play his hand, "Humanity is under attack, entire colonies have gone missing."
"Then why did you spend would you spend all this time bringing me back? You could've hired a small army for the trillions you spent bringing me back."
"Humanity doesn't need an army, they need a symbol, a leader… hope."
"John looked the man in the eye, "I'll investigate these attacks but that's it, but if you're lying to me…"
"Threats won't be necessary Commander, I assure you, my information is accurate," The Illusive Man said, the hint of a smile creeping across his face.
"Where do I start?" John said.
The Illusive Man paused for a moment as he finished the last of his drink and set it down with a soft clink resonating slightly through the call, "We've lost contact with a colony, Freedoms Progress, and if this is an attack…"
"I'll need a ride," John said.
"Of course, your shuttle is already prepped and waiting. Good luck, Commander," The Illusive Man said as he brought the cigarette to his mouth one last time as the projection faded to black.
John turned toward the door and headed to the shuttle bay he'd came from, as much as he hated Cerberus this was too important to pass up.
Miranda and Jacob were waiting for him by the shuttle along with what looked to be their pilot, "Great..." John said under his breath as he stepped inside the shuttle.
-()-
John stepped out of the shuttle onto the white pavement below, Cerberus had provided him with an M-8 Avenger and an M-3 Predator, the Predator was clamped onto the side of the basic black hard-suit he'd been given, "Search for survivors," he said as he observed the multiple buildings around him.
"The mission comes first," Miranda said as she stepped out of the shuttle with Jacob following close behind.
"Survivors," he said turning to meet Miranda's gaze, "can tell us what happened here." John approached the entrance to one of the buildings, it was a simple residential prefab with two floors and a balcony that attached to catwalks leading to the other various buildings in the colony.
Shepard waved his hand over the panel revealing a large open room which was furnished with a small couch and a dining table with various other appliances sitting on the counter to their right which was likely the kitchen. "No sign of a struggle," John thought as he examined the nearly immaculate room, except for the occasional cup or datapad sitting on a table.
"It's like they just vanished," Jacob said as they made their way inside.
"Very odd it's al-," Miranda's words cut off by the sound of gunfire.
The first shot hit John's kinetic barriers, giving him just enough time to leap behind the nearby counter before the barrage of gunfire could break through his shields. He quickly popped up from cover firing a few shots blindly at the shooter which he could now make out to be a security mech, the same kind he'd fought previously though with slight alterations. He dropped back into cover before he could see if any of his shots had connected, though the sound of returning gunfire quickly answered that question.
"Got the bastard!" Jacob said as the mech hit the floor with a distinct clang.
Fifteen minutes later and they still hadn't found any survivors or any corpses for that matter, only the occasional rogue security mech.
"These mechs should've recognized us as humans," Miranda said as they approached the entrance to another prefab.
Shepard opened the door expecting to find another empty room though instead of bare furniture and empty space he was now looking at four heavily armed quarians. Each group readied their weapons at each other, a finely-honed instinct of training, "We aren't looking for trouble," John said staring down the sights of his Avenger.
"Shepard?" one of the quarians said, she was wearing an armored environmental suit with a purple hood over her head.
"Tali?" John said.
"I- I thought you were dead Shepard," Tali said now lowering her weapon.
John lowered his Avenger as he signaled for his team to do the same, "It didn't take," he said as his squad reluctantly lowered their weapons.
"What are you doing here?" Tali asked as she clamped the shotgun onto the back of her hard-suit. "And why are you with Cerberus," she said pointing accusingly to his two companions, each dawning Cerberus uniforms.
"What are quarians doing at a human colony?" Miranda said.
"I don't care who this guy is, we don't take orders from Cerberus!" one of the marines said brandishing his weapon.
"I'm sure he has his reasons, right Shepard?" Tali said
"It's a long story, but I don't work for them," John said as he clamped the Avenger onto his back, "but what are a bunch of quarians doing at a human colony?"
"Veetor," Tali said, "he was on pilgrimage here, trying to barter for parts most likely. We lost contact with the colony and came to investigate."
"Awful fast response time," Miranda said.
Tali ignored the comment, "Look, we think Veetor is in the main security building at the center of the colony, not too far from here."
"Sounds about right, that's the only area we haven't searched," John said.
"One problem though…" Tali said as she beckoned them to follow, "Veetor's reprogrammed one of the heavy mechs, it's guarding the building," she finished as they stepped outside.
"Great… more mechs," John said sighing.
Ten minutes later and John found himself pinned between a shipping crate and a very large mech, "I really fucking hate mechs," he said as he fired more rounds into the mech's shields. The sound of three thuds in rapid succession sent John into a low cover as he heard the whizz of the mech's missiles, "Get down!" He yelled into the com as the shockwave shook the crates he was crouching behind.
"My men are down!" Tali said into the com.
John heard the zap of Miranda's omni-tool as she overloaded the rest of the mech's shields with low powered, highly concentrated EMP, the rest of them followed up as the ringing sounds of gunfire followed by the shearing of metal and circuitry. The deafening sound of a chain-gun brought John back into cover, as volleys of bullets tore through the crate he was hiding behind, a few of the bullets breaking through his shields and lodging themselves into his shoulder and armor plating. "Get down," he heard Jacob yell through the com as a set of explosions sent shockwaves through the battered shipping crates.
"Good job," John said as he rolled out from cover to the sight of the crumpled mech.
"Let's get to Veetor," Tali said into the com as John got himself up slowly as he broke a small canister of medi-gel open and applied it to the exposed sections of his hard-suit that'd been torn open by the barrage of fire he'd taken.
"Monsters coming back," John could hear the quarian frantically murmuring to himself as they entered, "Mechs will protect, have to hide. No swarms no, no, no."
"Veetor?" John said as he approached the frantic quarian who was sitting at the back of the room.
"No Veetor, not here, swarms can't find."
"I don't think he can hear you, Commander," Jacob said as he stepped up beside Shepard.
"Veetor," John said as he put a hand on the quarian, "the swarms are gone."
Veetor looked up at Shepard, "You're human? How did you hide from the swarms?"
"We weren't here during the attack; can you show us what happened?" Shepard asked as he heard Tali step inside.
"Yes, yes," Veetor said as he interfaced with the console in front of him, his hands shaking as they glided over each interface.
The screen switched to blurry security footage with what appeared to be swarms of some sort of insect he couldn't recognize, "What the hell are those?" He thought as the footage panned over to reveal an insect-like humanoid, it had a broad head with two large eyes on each end of the head.
"Collectors," Miranda said.
"I thought Collectors were just a Myth?" Tali said
"They hardly ever deal in person," Miranda said as the footage continued on showing the insects loading colonists into some sort of container that John couldn't recognize, "they usually deal through some kind of middle man, pirates or slavers. Cerberus intel on them is… extremely limited."
"I've heard stories of young quarians trying to trade tech with the collectors for their pilgrimage, most either don't make it back or give up. I'd always thought they just ran into pirates but this…" Tali said as the footage carried on and then stopped abruptly, "Keelah…"
"We should bring Veetor with us," Miranda said turning to face Shepard, "we can give him medical treatment, maybe he can-"
"No," Tali interrupted, "I'm taking him back to the fleet, I'll give you a copy of his omni-tool data, but that's it."
"Of course," John said as he stepped aside to let Tali grab Veetor.
"Commander-," Miranda said.
"He goes with his people," Shepard said as he turned back to Tali.
"I'm glad to see you're still in charge," Tali said as she helped Veetor up.
"Call the shuttle," John said as he stepped outside. The cold air brushed against his face as he observed the deserted colony, "What have you gotten yourself into?" he thought as he rubbed his forehead as the rumble of an approaching shuttle broke him from his thoughts.
-()-
"Your findings at Freedom's Progress are troubling…" The Illusive Man said as he brought his cigarette to his mouth, pausing to take a breath, "Though this only confirms my suspicions, these attacks are more than mere pirate raids." The Illusive Man continued as he set his cigarette down in a small tray on his seat, "They need to be stopped."
"I'm going to need an army or a really good team," John said crossing his arms.
"I have a few ideas," The Illusive Man said as various dossiers projected around the room.
"Save it," John said, "I already have a team."
"Your team has gone their separate ways, and some of them I can't even track down." The Illusive Man said as the dossiers disappeared around him, "But this is your team Shepard, though I think you'll agree that substitutions will be required."
"You don't expect me to work from a shuttle, do you?" John said
"Of course not," The Illusive Man said as he tapped a console on his chair, ending the call.
"Shepard?" a familiar voice asked from behind.
"Joker!" John said as he turned to face the main, still wearing his tattered SR-1 cap.
"Commander you're going to like this, they only told me about this last night," Joker said as they approached one of the hangar bays.
John's eyes widened as the hangar door opened to reveal a sleek black and white ship sitting, the lights of the hangar reflecting off the slick armor plating, the words Normandy painted on the side, "It's massive," he said.
"Double the size of the original," Joker said as they approached the loading ramp.
"Commander Shepard is on deck," the Normandy's VI stated as they stepped out of the airlock and into the CIC.
"God," Joker said as he let out a sigh, "It's good to hear that again."
John gave him a puzzled look as they stepped towards the center console.
"Ever since you…" Joker paused, "Everything went to shit without you Commander, we were your team, and the Alliance didn't really like that your team was comprised of a bunch of aliens. Everyone went their separate ways."
"Greetings Shepard," a synthetic female voice said as a blue orb projected from the center console.
"And there's the only downside," Joker said.
"A VI?" John asked.
"No," the orb said, "I am EDI, I control the ships cyberwarfare suits, and I provide tactical analysis."
"An AI," Shepard thought, "could be useful."
"You're not going to jettison us all out the airlock when we get underway, right?" John said.
"No," EDI said, "I am incapable of directly controlling ship functions besides my allotted systems."
John gave a small nod toward EDI and headed towards his new quarters, he had a lot of dossiers to review, "Prep the ship for launch once the crew is aboard, I want us underway within the hour."
"Destination?" Joker said.
"Omega," Shepard said recalling one of the dossiers that he thought might actually be useful, a scientist, Mordin Solus to be exact.
Thanks for reading Chapter 2 I had to make several changes to this and I sat on it for a few days, I couldn't quite get Freedom's Progress right in my eyes as it's hard to build character on two people Shepard doesn't trust but I have some ideas in the works especially with add more of the crew and maybe some original characters.
As always please leave a review it helps to get an outside perspective on what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.
Edit: Sorry I had to add my scene transition markers again because for some reason they aren't getting copied over from Word.