Chapter 1

? - ?

"There, on the monitor," came an unfamiliar voice.

"She's reacting to outside stimuli… showing an awareness of her surroundings," came another deeper voice. She felt her heartbeat in her ears, the world around her blurred with blinding light that stung as she tried to open her eyes. She didn't know where she was, or who these people were. All she knew was that she was in danger. She tried to move her hand, but her dimmed mind felt it bound to the table. "My god, Miranda! She's waking up!"

She exerted her strength, her stinging eyes now seeing movement as something, or someone approached her. She began to struggle against her bindings as the figure stood over her, pain washing through her entire body like fire. She saw… a woman, maybe. Turning her head, her blurred vision picked up another figure. A man, bald, staring down at her from his standing position. Her breathing picked up as she attempted to move, to get away, to get her bearings.

"Dammit Wilson, she's not ready yet! Give her the sedative!" shouted the woman as she looked up at the man. Then she looked down at her, her features coming into view long enough for her to see them soften considerably. "Shepard, don't try to move. Just lie still and try to stay calm."

She didn't know this person, but they knew her. Her voice sounded soothing, calming even. Suddenly, she felt her vision blur once more. Despite the woman's placating words, she had to get up. She had to know where she was and who these people were.

"Heartrate still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts!" said the man worriedly as she continued to try and pull herself up from whatever she was laying on. "Stats are pushing into the red zone! It's not working!" he growled as he turned away from a monitor and began fiddling with something hanging above her head.

The woman, now gone from her side, could be heard behind her. "Another dose. Now!"

She let out a grunt of pain as she felt lightning coursing through her veins. Her face now seared as if pressed against heated metal, the machine next to her pumping out rapid beeps as she continued to struggle. But then a wave of calmness washed over her. Her mind began to dull, and her body went limp.

"Heartrate dropping. Stats falling back into normal range," said the man with relief in his voice. She looked up again to see the woman's ocean blue gaze looking down at her with that same placid, calming look. "That was too close. We almost lost her."

The woman's face warped into anger as she turned her head up towards the man. "I told you your estimates were off. Run the numbers again," snapped the mystery woman as she looked back down into her eyes. The last thing she saw was her caring features as darkness swallowed her again, drowning her in the abyss of her own consciousness.

? - ?

Slowly the darkness began to recede again. She felt herself pulled from the abyss and finally felt as if she were in control again, in possession of her body again. She had a body. She had almost forgotten what that felt like. Unfortunately, with the body came pain that caused her to groan in agony. Her eyelids split just as the constant ringing in her ears died down. The light blinded her again and she raised her arm to block the brightness, feeling sharp pains with every movement.

Suddenly, something shook. It felt as if whatever she was laying on had nearly been jerked out from under her. Closing her eyes again, she reached up and touched the searing pain she felt on her left cheek. Ignoring the pain, she flexed her jaw. It felt like she hadn't opened her mouth in ages with the aches and pops that the act caused.

But her attention was immediately grabbed as she heard a voice next to her call out to her. "Wake up, Commander!" She snapped to attention and focused her eyes on the presence next to her. When her vision finally cleared, she saw an unusual humanoid-looking robot standing next to her. "Shepard, get out of that bed now. This facility is under attack!"

Hearing the order, she bit her lip as she moved her legs off the table. Even they were in pain, causing her to groan as she put her weight on them and stood from the bed. She grabbed the table to try and balance herself as she fought off wave after wave of nausea and stinging pain that pulsed through her body. "What… what's wrong with me?"

"Shepard, your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving! You won't survive if you don't get off this station!" ordered the robot. Shepard lifted one leg and took a step, then another. There was still pain, but at least she had her coordination intact. Managing a few steps, she flexed her limbs gently to work out the pain and turned back to the robot who still stood staring at the bed.

"Who the hell are you?" the woman asked as she clenched her fists to try and acclimate to the pain she felt.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the room and Shepard nearly toppled over, only just managing to catch herself on the bed. "There's no time to explain at the moment! If you want to live, then go to the locker near the door and grab the pistol. You're going to need it, and you're going to need it fast!"

Growling at the lack of information she received, she made her way to the locker as gunfire sounded in the distance. Opening it, she found a lab coat hanging inside with a stack of datapads sitting on the top shelf. On top of the datapads was the gun that the voice spoke of. Grabbing it, she checked to see if it was primed before turning back to the robot. "Now what?"

"There's also a head-mounted communication device in the locker. Put it on, and I'll guide you through the facility to safety," ordered the robot. Shepard turned and found the device, then looped it over her ear before hitting the button. Sure enough, the voice came through loud and clear. "Good. Now, I'm going to open the door to the medbay."

"Care to tell me what the hell is going on?" asked Shepard as she moved towards the door.

"Someone has hacked into security and is trying to kill you. I'm going to make sure they fail," said the familiar voice as the doors slid open.

"How do I know you aren't trying to kill me?" asked the spectre curiously. But she stopped as she noticed the bodies littering the floor around her. A barricade had been set up and the floor outside of the makeshift barrier was a mess with mech parts.

"I've been working my ass off to keep you alive. If I wanted you to be dead, you already would be. Now shut up and get moving! You've got mechs coming down the stairs on your right!" ordered the familiar woman.

"Fair enough…" The warning came just as a hail of gunfire began to chip away at the medical crates protecting her. She ducked down and automatically reached for her omni-tool before realizing it wasn't there. "Dammit…" she growled as she held up the pistol. "Where the hell is my equipment!?" Shepard demanded into the comm.

"I'll explain everything once we're safely off this station. Until then you'll have to improvise," stated the woman firmly.

She groaned as her leg gave her a particularly sharp jab of pain. The mechs were getting closer and soon they'd be too close to do anything about from her current position. Turning, she saw another crate that had fallen off the barrier, crushing one of the former mechs. Rolling over the barricade, she aimed and fired at the three robots that aimed at her. She fired two rounds into the first mech, causing it to spark wildly before its head detonated and its body fell to the side.

The other two began firing at her crate, causing her to duck behind it and grit her teeth as her back began to flare up with pain as well. "What the hell happened to me!?" she growled through gritted teeth as she felt her knee bump something. Looking down, she saw the mech that had been crushed by the crate, its head and one arm the only thing that had survived. Formulating a plan, she reached down and yanked viciously, tearing the machine's head from its broken shoulders.

Looking over her barrier slightly, she gauged their distance before tossing the object. Both of the mechs looked up and followed it as it clanked against the ground and landed next to them. Shepard jumped up and fired several times with lethal accuracy. One of the mechs' legs flew off, sending it sprawling to the ground as the other's head was hit, causing it to self-destruct and finish what was left of the first. She had no experience with this kind of mechanized equipment, which worried her.

But, once the threat of the mechs was gone, she began to look around at the weapons littering the floor from the former defenders. "Keep moving. We need to get you to the shuttles."

Shepard moved again, trying to ignore the bone-deep protest from her body. Reaching down, she tucked her pistol away and pulled up an assault rifle from the floor. The next room looked like an equipment storage room. Perhaps it was where they stored the crates of supplies for the medbay she was in previously. As she moved in, the far door opened, and she gritted her teeth as she saw more of the drones filtering into the room. Raising her weapon, she fired and riddled them with holes until they fell over.

But due to the gunfire, she hadn't heard the door on the opposite wall open. A round fired from a weapon nicked her across the cheek and she dove to the side, taking cover behind one of the walkways, she felt her heart beating in her ears again. The feeling of being in a life-threatening situation was consuming her again. She even felt the tips of her fingers tingling with a new sensation as she clenched her rifle. Lifting her rifle, she laid it sideways on the edge of the guard railing of the walkway and free fired at the drones. She didn't understand what was happening. Her body felt as if she were charging with electricity, welling with energy. She began to panic slightly as she the feeling of overload began to swell. She released the weapon and held up her hands that were tingling as if the circulation had been cut off.

It was then that she saw something that made her inhale sharply. Her hands were pulsing with waves of blue energy. She stared at them a long moment as the energy radiated from her fingertips. "What the hell!?" she asked incredulously as she pulled back into cover. Looking ahead, she saw the remains of the other drones in the doorway she had just entered. She snorted as she looked at her hand once more. Standing up quickly, she reached out with her charged hand and watched in awe as a wave of biotic energy smashed into them, scattering them into pieces.

But the sound of rounds slamming into the plasteel shield she was hidden behind snapped her out of her stupor. Glaring through the plasteel at the drones that were slowly marching towards her, she looked at her hand again, then shot it forward. As expected, they began to slowly drift off the ground and hover in the air, spinning around so that their weapons weren't capable of aiming at her anymore.

Raising her rifle, she blasted the two to pieces. With them out of the way, she looked down at her hands as the mystical blue energy vanished. "Nice work, Shepard. Keep moving."

Stowing away the anomaly for later, she raised her rifle again and moved out of the room and into a hallway with the same plasteel built into the walls as large open-view windows. She stopped as she saw someone sprinting down the hall on the other side of the window towards her. He was a man wearing some kind of uniform that appeared to mimic the Class Cs from the System's Alliance, but instead of the usual blue and navy, it consisted of black and white.

He turned in his sprint and looked at her. His eyes widened as he spied her through the window before reaching up and pounding on it, his voice letting out a loud, desperate scream. "Shepard! Help me!" he shouted as he pounded again. But before he got another word off, a storm of bullets blasted through him and decorated the window with his blood. Shepard felt her heart hammering in her chest as he eyes moved from the man's body sliding down the window up to the killer. It was a large mech like the others, but it had much more firepower and was built like a cargo carrier.

It seemingly looked at her as well before the two circular lights on its face turned red. It unloaded again, firing round after round at her, but the window was too thick. "Shepard, you need to keep moving! I can only keep the mechs distracted for so long!" ordered the woman urgently.

Shepard shook her head and turned towards the next door in the hallway, entering onto a mezzanine. Looking down, she spied a dead soldier with a large weapon in his cold grasp. She recognized the Alliance model GLM-100. Reaching down, she grabbed the heavy weapon and immediately aimed it at the door that had just opened down below. Five more mechs marched in aiming at her, but none got a shot off as she fired. The grenade slammed into the ground at their feet and blasted them to scrap. She snorted as she held the weapon up, her brows furrowing as she tried to recall what had happened to her. But all she got was darkness.

? - ?

"She…rd, you're moving int… blind. Keep mov…" came the voice again over the comm as the spectre stepped into another hallway. Looking off to the side, she saw through a shield that there was a security room. Ignoring the path forward, she opened the door and found a pair of bodies on the floor in a pool of blood with puncture wounds filling their chests.

Furrowing her brows, she looked around the area until she spotted one of the dead security agents with an omni-tool on his wrist. Hopping over the pool of congealed blood, she reached down and pulled the device from his arm and slid it onto her own. She looked down at his body and frowned as she saw he also wore a shield belt that was now soaking in his own blood. Pushing her disgust away, she unbuckled it from the body and wrapped it around her own waist, adjusting its size before finally locking it on. Her ear twitched as the low-emitting energy field surrounded her. Opening the omni-tool, she checked the data stored on it and was slightly surprised to find a few small cyber warfare suites available. Then again, this was security, so perhaps that should be expected. Activating her omni-tool, she spied a datapad on the table nearby and decrypted it, allowing her to download the files on board.

Her eyes widened slightly as they had almost everything about her physical form on it. Everything down to blood and oxygen levels to her bust size. She snorted as she went through the personal messages. Someone had attempted to purge the personal files, but she still managed to extract a single audio message. "The cost on this project is astronomical. Over four billion credits so far. But nobody seems to care that we've gone 35% over budget. I don't know where the boss gets all his money: maybe it's better that I don't know. I just wish he'd kick a little in my direction once in a while."

Her eyes narrowed as the familiar voice struck her. Her flashing memory of the first time she woke up popped into her head again. "Wilson…" she said as she tossed the datapad aside. Eyeing the safe nearby, she broke into it and found a small data stash with a video file. After activating it, she sighed as she saw the familiar face of the woman who had stared at her so soothingly when she had first awakened.

"Progress is slow, but the subject shows signs of recovery. Major organs are again functional, and there are signs of rudimentary neurological activity," said the holographic woman. "In an effort to accelerate the process, we've moved from simple reconstruction of the subject to biosynthetic fusion. Initial results show promise," she finished before the video cut off.

"Biosynthetic fusion?" asked Shepard as she turned and headed to the door. "What did they do to me?" she growled as she rushed down the hallway with her rifle up and ready again. She pushed through another empty hallway before arriving at a door that she could hear gunfire through. Steeling herself, she turned and entered, ready for battle.

Shepard Wing – Lazarus Station

Jacob hadn't planned on fighting for his life today. Wake up, work out, eat breakfast, work out some more, report to duty, all things he had planned for the day. The day went smoothly, until it wasn't smooth anymore. He had been on his way to his bunk for a quick rest when suddenly people began sprinting from the barracks.

Nearly an hour later, he sat behind cover, sweating profusely from over exertion of his biotics and his weapon heating up like mad as he continuously tried to fight off the oncoming waves of mechs. The hard part was the YMIR class mech. He had to get creative with his biotics in order to drop it onto the floor below, but that had only stalled it. It was coming back angrier than ever.

Now the door had opened, and the YMIR was back with more mech reinforcements than before. "Damn… I should have taken care of it before," he grumbled as he reached up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He ducked down quickly as they rained fire on his position. "Well, if this is it, so be it." Gripping his weapon, he saw the advancing mechs begin to split up and surround his position.

But before he could make a move, he was knocked off his feet as the YMIR mech exploded, taking out any nearby LOKI mechs with it. Landing on his rear, he saw the remaining mechs turn towards the door behind him and begin firing, only to be hit with rounds so accurate that each of their metallic heads exploded from the shots. Turning, he stood to his feet once the danger was passed, and his eyes widened as he saw her.

He was taller, but nothing about this women's height took away from the blazing aura of combat that surrounded her. He was intimidated as he saw her red glowing eyes and the pulsing scarring on her cheek that made her look like some futuristic sci fi android warrior. He raised his hands defensively as she approached with her weapon drawn on him. "Easy Shepard, I'm…" he got out, but he stopped as she gripped his wrist and pulled him face-down into a throw that left him sucking in air. His arm was locked behind him and he now had a gun pointed at his head.

"Tell me what this place is and who you work for, and I might let you run off to die to the mechs," she ordered.

"Hot damn, did they give you a super serum?" he asked in pain as she gave his arm no leeway whatsoever.

"Where are we, who do you work for? I will not ask again!" she snapped aggressively.

"My name is Jacob, this is Lazarus Station, and we work for the Lazarus Project," he said, fighting off another groan of pain.

"What the hell is the Lazarus Project?" she asked curiously as she loosened her grip and gave him his arm back but kept him face down.

"It's a long story, but to sum it up in short; it's a program funded to bring you back to life," he said as he extended his arms to show he wasn't a threat.

"Back to life?" she asked, bewildered. She finally released him and leaned back against a nearby railing as she processed the information. "Did I die?"

Jacob slowly got to one knee and simply sat there, giving her a nod. "Two years ago, the Normandy was destroyed with you on it. After its destruction, you fell to the surface of the planet Alchera," he said as he shook his head. "I'm just a soldier, but from what I saw when they first brought you in, you should have been in a coffin."

"Two years!?" she snapped as her eyes widened. "I've… been dead for two years?"

"Yes sir. I can't say as to whether you were really dead or just hanging on by a thread. But you were all meat and tubes when they brought you in. Ever since, we've been rebuilding you," he responded, his heart rate lowered now that she no longer had a weapon trained on him.

She eyed him curiously before standing up straight. "Why did you all rebuild me? Why did you keep me alive?"

Jacob shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry Shep. That information is way above my paygrade. You'd have to ask the boss yourself."

She eyed him dangerously. "Jacob, if I take you with me are you going to try and put a bullet in my back?"

The soldier stood and raised his hands defensively. "No offense sir, but the whole reason I'm here was to protect you and the R&D team and make sure nothing went wrong. Why would I try to kill you?"

She snorted as she stepped up to him and inspected him. "Miranda told me that someone on this station is trying to kill me."

The man smirked and shrugged. "Sorry, but I'm a straight up fighter. All this mech hacking stuff ain't my style. If I wanted to kill you, I'd have had to do it in a straight up fight. And I'm gonna be 100% transparent with you right now, after seeing what you did two years ago, I'd have to be a complete moron to try and take you out in a straight fight."

She nodded to him before reaching behind her and pulling the grenade launcher off her back. "Here, use it for big groups and big mechs. Don't waste ammo and show me to the shuttle bay so we can get out of here."

Sighing in relief, Jacob nodded and took the weapon graciously. "You got it, Spectre."

Security Wing – Lazarus Station

Jacob worked quick. She liked his combat style as he mixed biotics with gun skill in a way she hadn't really seen before. He would use a minor lift to throw his enemies off before peppering them with enough rounds to disable or destroy. It almost looked like some form of biotic martial arts. Kaidan, while he was a skilled soldier, used his biotics and weapons separately most of the time, either aiming to kill with his biotics or not using them at all.

Despite her fascination, most of her attention was on the enemies before her. They had blasted through a few waves together using his biotics and her weapon skills. He would take them off their feet and she'd finish them off while they floated off into scrap metal. They moved to push towards the shuttles when suddenly both Jacob and Shepard's comm erupted with chatter.

"Check, check! Anyone on this frequency? Anyone still alive out there? Hello?" came the voice from the comms.

Shepard narrowed her eyes as the familiar voice pulled at her memory. "Wilson?"

Jacob nodded and tapped the communicator in his ear. "Wilson? This is Jacob. I'm here with Commander Shepard. We just took out a wave of mechs over in D Wing."

The voice of Wilson almost sounded outraged at the claim. "Shepard's alive!? How the hell…" Wilson paused a moment before continuing. "Never mind. You need to get out of there. Get to the service tunnels and head for the network control room."

Jacob nodded. "You got it. Stay on this frequency!" he ordered as he raised his weapon.

"Wilson was part of the science team?" asked Shepard curiously. "I recall his face and his voice from the first time I tried to wake up."

"That'd be him. He's the chief medical tech and reports directly to Miranda," he said as he guided them towards the service tunnels in question.

"For someone who has been trying to resurrect me for two years, he sure seemed surprised that I was alive," she remarked silently as she moved forward with her weapon ready.

Jacob's brows furrowed. "Now that you mention it, he did seem a bit off. But I guess we'll have to go along with him anyway considering that's the only way out."

"Watch your back," ordered Shepard as she continued forward with him. Minutes into the service tunnels and they entered a room where mechs fired at them from cover across the room. Shepard and Jacob both took cover on either side of the door as the drones mindless fired through it.

"Dammit Wilson! There's mechs all over these tunnels!" shouted Jacob as he pressed himself against the other side of the door.

"There's mechs everywhere on the station! Just keep moving towards the tunnels and don't get pinned down! I'll see what I can do," came the reply from the man.

Jacob looked over to Shepard and all he got was a deadpan look that made him shake his head. "Jacob, can you pull one of those mechs over here without destroying it?"

He eyed her curiously. "Not hard with my biotics. Why?"

"Less questions, more action. Do it," she ordered as she took her assault rifle and gunned down one hiding behind a counter, her shield popping from return fire just as she went back into cover.

Sighing, the soldier stepped out and grabbed the nearest of the mechs with his biotics before yanking it towards them. It flew and skidded to a halt next to Shepard, who immediately raised her pistol and blasted the hand holding the gun off. Opening her omni-tool, she forced herself into its framework and began scanning it, her red eyes dancing over the data quickly.

"Learn anything?" he asked curiously.

"They're set to self-destruct when their head is destroyed. They have no protections against electrical shock. And programming for aiming sucks," she said as she unhooked herself and then put a round into its head before tossing it aside like a toy.

Jacob's eyes widened as he saw her toss it aside. Working on her omni-tool, she turned the corner again and raised it aimed directly at the mechs. They all dropped their weapons and locked up in a pose of rigid agony before she raised her weapon and finished them all.

He once again stared at her curiously. "You know, those videos we saw of you in combat don't really do you justice."

She turned to him for a second and looked him from top to bottom. "Thanks, I guess?" she responded, unsure of how to approach this man. He was friendly, way too friendly for someone working on a station meant to bring her back to life. She felt relief and a familiar feeling of gentleness from him, the same she had felt from Kaidan. But she also knew that complacence would spell the end of her life… again. Shrugging, she nodded towards the tunnels. "Look, save the compliments for when we get off the station, so I have a moment to appreciate them."

"Right, sorry," he said awkwardly before moving forward again.

"Shit! They've found me!" shouted Wilson over the comm, causing Jacob and Shepard to look at one another.

"Where are you?" asked Shepard over her own comm.

"Server Room B! Hurry, they're out of control!" he hollered before the comm cut off. Together they rushed through the hallways with Jacob guiding her the entire way. Eventually, they made it to server room B and he opened the door to find Wilson on the ground leaning against the wall of a line of desks. "Shepard! Here!" he shouted as he waved her down.

Shepard looked around the room, noticing a bunch of mechs riddled with holes, as well as more of the station workers dead, bled out on the floor. Her eyes focused on Wilson. He was youngish, maybe mid-30s with a shaved head and neatly trimmed facial hair. She remembered his face standing over her, his voice screaming her medical status over to Miranda. Then, her eyes focused on his leg where he had been shot. It was a graze, nothing life threatening or fatal. In fact, it was the bare minimum that the Alliance would give a purple heart for.

"Stand up," she ordered firmly as she stepped up to him.

He looked at her in exasperation. "But… I'm injured. And there are more coming…" he pleaded. Just as he finished, the far door opened and more mechs began to filter into the room.

"Jacob," she snapped, getting the man's attention. "Pick them up, all of them." He simply nodded and used his biotics to lift them all, his brow perspiring as he did. With her eyes never leaving Wilson, she reached out with her own hand. A blue glow began radiating from her fingers as she too reached out and gripped the machines, causing a biotic clash. The mixture of biotics exploded and tore the mechs to shreds.

Jacob stared at her wide-eyed. "You're a biotic?"

Ignoring the man's question, she continued to glare down at Wilson. "It's a graze. A quarian with a spike in her leg helped me fight through a facility of rachni and geth. If she can do that, you'll be just fine. Now… on your feet."

The man sighed and did as he was told. Gripping the desks, he pulled himself up to his feet with his weight favored on his good leg. "Fine."

"You were there with Miranda when I woke up," she stated as she eyed the man.

"Yeah, that was me," he said chuckling to himself. "Spent two years trying to save your life. Didn't think you'd be returning the favor so soon."

Jacob's brows furrowed questioningly. "What were you even doing over here?"

Wilson looked up to Jacob for a moment before looking at the floor. "I thought maybe I could shut down the security mechs. But whoever did this fried the whole damn system. It's completely irreversible."

"You were in the bio wing. Why do you even have security mech clearance?" asked the soldier, getting an approving look from Shepard.

Wilson gave Jacob a glare. "Weren't you listening? I came here and tried to fix this! They even shot me! How do you explain that?"

Finally, Shepard stepped in. "With an injury that mild, you're not defending yourself as well as you think you are. Regardless, you're all nameless to me and I don't trust either of you." Suddenly, her gaze turned to Jacob. "Who is the most important person on this station?"

Cocking an eyebrow, he nodded to her. "You."

"What about Miranda?" asked Shepard curiously.

Wilson shook his head. "Forget about Miranda. She was in D Wing. Mechs were all over that sector. There's no way she survived."

But Jacob spoke up defensively. "A bunch of mechs won't drop Miranda. She's alive."

"Then where the hell is she, Jacob? Why haven't we heard from her?" said the man as he shook his head. "She's either dead, or she's the traitor. There's no other explanation."

Suddenly, both of them went silent as Shepard raised her assault rifle in one hand, aimed directly at Wilson's center mass, and then raised her pistol and aimed it at Jacob. "Alright, it's time for answers." She looked between the pair, both of whom raised their arms defensively. "I heard about the budget for this project, and the talk of a traitor means that there are loyalties I'm unaware of. So, who do you work for?" she asked threateningly as she placed her fingers on the trigger.

Jacob spoke up immediately. "The Lazarus Project is run and funded by Cerberus."

"Jesus Christ, Jacob…" groaned Wilson as he shook his head.

But the soldier glared at the man. "Look, we're not gonna get out of here if she's expecting a shot in the back."

But Shepard's voice stopped them both cold. "Cerberus? Studying husks, trapping and torturing a rachni queen, murdering an Alliance admiral? That Cerberus? The one whose facility I dismantled over two different star systems?" she asked, her expression showing that his gesture of trust meant very little.

"Yeah, sorta…" started Jacob as he scratched his head. "I can't speak much for the ones you took down. I had nothing to do with those facilities. But Cerberus itself isn't what you think it is, Shepard. We're not all bad guys."

She looked between the pair curiously. "Tell that to Admiral Kahoku," she snapped with a frosty tone. "That begs the question, I scorched earthed one of their facilities. So why the hell would they want to bring me back to life?"

"I don't have all the answers. But what I do know is that the galaxy has gone to hell without you. Cerberus knew you were the key to helping fix the mess we're in now, and that's why they paid to bring you back. For anything more specific, you'll have to talk to the boss," Jacob stated as she gave him a glare. "Look, if I were in your position, I'd be suspicious too. But right now, we need to trust each other to get off this station. I promise you, once we do, I can get you the answers you need."

Snorting out of her nose, she lowered the weapons and then nodded towards the exit. "Wilson, you're first. Weapons up at all times," she said as she turned to Jacob. "You behind him, and I'll be in the back."

"You're putting the injured man out front?" asked Wilson incredulously.

"No, I'm putting the one I trust the least out front, so he doesn't have a clear shot at my back," she said then looked to Jacob. "I don't know if I can trust you or not. But keep doing what you're doing and well be fine," she ordered before putting her pistol away.

He smirked and nodded to her. "You got it, Shepard."

Wilson groaned and proceeded forward as they continued into the facility. Luckily for them all, there were no mechs to get in their way before the finally made it to the shuttle bay. Shepard raised her weapon and nodded to the door in a silent order for Wilson to open it. He sighed in exasperation as he walked over to the controls and opened the door.

As the door slid open, Shepard's weapon raised immediately and zeroed in on a woman in a tight-fitting suit with the same color scheme as both Jacob and Wilson. As the door opened, Wilson gasped in shock. "Miranda? But you were-"

Miranda's pretty face warped into a mask of anger as she saw the man in front of her. As he spoke, she immediately raised her pistol and blasted him through the throat with a point-blank shot before he could finish his sentence. "Dead?"

Jacob ran up to her and stared down at the man. "What the hell are you doing!?" he asked incredulously as he looked up at her.

She lowered her weapon and looked to him, her expression melting back into one of dismissal. "My job. Wilson betrayed us all by hacking the mechs, killing my staff, and trying to kill us."

Shepard shook her head, her weapon still trained on the woman. "First suicide capsules and now blatant executions. Good to see Cerberus's morality hasn't shifted much."

Miranda looked from Shepard to Jacob with an unamused grin. "Ah Jacob. I should have known your conscience would have gotten the better of you."

He shrugged. "She kinda pushed the issue. Besides, lying to her doesn't seem like the best strategy to get her on our side."

Miranda sighed and shrugged dismissively. "Well, what's done is done. If you have any more questions for us, ask them on the shuttle," she said before turning and sauntering over to the vehicle in question. Shepard watched her go, her eyes narrowing in confusion. When she had first woken up, this woman's face was nothing but caring and concern for her safety, almost like a mother watching over her child. But now that she was here, standing in front of her, all traces of that concern had gone, and in its place was an icy and indifferent demeanor. She didn't know if something changed, or if she had changed. But it still left her unsure of how to approach the woman.

Cerberus Kodiak Shuttle

As they sat together in the shuttle, its autopilot guiding them towards their destination, Miranda sat back in her seat and crossed her legs, her eyes locked onto her own. "So, any questions you'd like to get out of the way before we get to the tests?"

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at her. "Tests?"

"Of course. We have to make sure you're you. Normally we'd have done this in the lab after slowly waking you up and letting you gain awareness of your surroundings. But Wilson decided to push the clock forward," she said casually.

Nodding, Shepard eyed her curiously, wondering if she had the answers that Jacob didn't. "Why did Cerberus bring me back to life?"

Unfortunately for the spectre, the woman simply shrugged. "You'll have to ask the Illusive Man. He's the head of Cerberus, and he basically poured unlimited resources into bringing you back to life. I don't know why, but he must have had some plan for you."

Snorting at getting the same answer, she changed the subject. "What happened to me?"

Miranda pulled out a datapad and began typing briefly before answers. "You took the Normandy to the Alchera system. The only information on why you did was some vague explanation of geth in the sector. Basically, we don't know why you went there…" said the woman before she looked up to Shepard. "But while you were there, you were attacked by an unidentified ship that was somehow able to see past the Normandy's cloaking capabilities. The ship was destroyed, and you were on it," she said before going back to the datapad. "According to this, you suffered from exposure to the vacuum of space and then reentry into Alchera."

Jacob shook his head, chuckling. "You were spaced, and sent crashing down to the surface of a planet, and somehow didn't die from that?"

"In a manner of speaking," replied Miranda. "According to the reports from Liara T'Soni who found your body, you were still alive, and the below zero temperatures of Alchera had suspended what remained of you into a kind of cryo state."

Shepard's eyes widened at the mention of the asari. "Liara? She found me?"

Nodding, Miranda lowered the datapad. "There was quite a game of cat and mouse with your body there for a while. You were very valuable apparently," she said letting out a sigh. "We wanted you for the Lazarus Project, the Shadow Broker wanted your body, and then there's the ship that attacked the Normandy. Apparently, your display during the Battle of the Citadel made you very popular."

Shepard reached up and gripped her head, trying to remember what happened to her. But her memory was fragmented. She could only feel emotions of terror, sadness, futility. Her last memory she had available was the talk she had with the crew on her ship, the Normandy. It had been transferred into her name by Udina, the Alliance, and the Hierarchy, meaning she owned it. They took it… somewhere for the maiden voyage under her lead. But that's where it all ended.

"I can't remember any of it…" said Shepard as she rubbed her forehead. "I remember everything up to taking the Normandy after the battle of the Citadel."

Miranda nodded and began typing again. "It appears your memory loss is contained to a span of a few weeks. You're better off than I thought."

Shepard glared at her and sat up straight in her seat. "What does that mean?"

Not even looking up, Miranda continued typing as she spoke. "It means there was a chance we brought you back and you didn't remember anything. Who you were, where you were from, Saren, the Geth, the Citadel, any of it," she said as she finished her typing. Looking up at the spectre, she gave a half smile. "The fact that you remember everything up to the weeks before your death is extremely fortunate."

Sighing, Shepard leaned against the wall of the shuttle and stared out at the stars in the void. "Yeah, lucky me…" Then she turned her head sharply and looked back at her. "What about the crew? Did they make it out before it was destroyed?"

This time, Jacob spoke up. "Some of them did. Unfortunately, most of the human crew went down with the ship. Including Navigator Pressly," he said, causing Shepard to lower her head in sorrow. "Doctor Karin Chakwas and Engineer Greg Adams made it out. Lieutenant Moreau made it as well with a few bruises. His testimony said that you sacrificed yourself to save him."

She nodded firmly, knowing it was something she was capable of. "And… Liara? Ash?" she asked, preparing herself for the worst.

But Miranda, for the first time since they had met face to face, gave a genuine smile. "Both Doctor T'Soni and Operations Chief Williams made it to the escape pods before the Normandy's destruction." Shepard let out a huge sigh of relief, her face flushing at the stress the news of their death could have had. "If you don't mind, Shepard, I'd like to go over a few things with you to make sure your memories are indeed intact."

"Fine. Whatever," she responded as she sat forward with her elbows on her knees, her hands reaching up to clench her head.

Opening the datapad again, she began reading off a script. "We'll start with early childhood. You were a spacer navy brat born to whom?"

Shepard looked up at her with a glare. "Captain Hannah Shepard, and Admiral Steven Hackett."

Jacob's eyes widened at the claim. "Hackett? Like, Fifth Fleet Hackett?" he asked, getting a nod. "Damn. The fruit didn't fall far from the tree I guess."

"I guess," she snipped as she looked away from them.

"You grew up on space stations and mostly battleships. You flew through school and college both in record times and then gently handed your drill instructors their behinds in Alliance Boot Camp," stated Miranda as she read off the record. "Do you remember what you specialized in in college?"

Shepard nodded. "Electrical engineering and xenolinguistics."

Miranda nodded, then continued. "Both of which helped you throughout your mostly classified career. But one particular highlight was Elysium. Can you tell me what happened there?"

Sighing to herself, Shepard sat back up, her tone growing annoyed with the questions. "Elanos Haliat, a turian pirate lord grabbed every group in the Terminus he could find and attacked the planet by bribing, blackmailing and taking hostages from the Colony Defense Team. I happened to be there on furlough with a friend of mine when the attack happened, and I kicked their asses off the planet."

Miranda smirked. "Elegantly put. Now…" she continued, getting a heated glare from Shepard. "I understand that you're growing frustrated, so I'll ask you two more questions and we'll leave it at that." Shepard nodded in approval. "Saren Arterius. Rogue spectre who ended up killing one of your team mates on Virmire."

Shepard's eyes narrowed at the woman. "That entire thing was covered in so much classified ink that your hands would be void black by the time you finished. How the hell do you know about Saren on Virmire?"

"Like you, we have ways of getting information," said Miranda, leaving it at that. "Kaidan Alenko was left on Virmire as you used nuclear munitions to blow the entire facility. Why?"

Shepard clenched a fist at the memory. The memory of Ash's tears. The memory of Wrex picking Tali up bodily and dragging her aboard the Normandy to keep her from running in after him. The void inside her of his loss. All of it still pained her to this day. "He was on the bomb team. He set the bomb and was immediately attacked by the geth, nearly wiping out his entire team and injuring him to the point where he couldn't get back to us." She stopped and looked at the floor. "By the time we found out what happened, Sovereign was already on the warpath and making his way towards the facility. Had we run to get him, Sovereign would have caught us, and we'd likely all be dead." Her eyes zeroed in on Miranda's in a solemn stare. "It wasn't a decision I made at a whim. Kaidan died so we could stop Saren. He died a hero." Her words felt hollow coming out of her mouth.

Jacob nodded. "We weren't criticizing, Spectre. It was a tough choice that had to be made. And as a result, you saved the rest of the galaxy."

Finally, Miranda continued. "One last thing. After the Battle for the Citadel, humanity was offered a seat on the Citadel Council. You were given the opportunity to endorse a candidate for the position and you ended up choosing Donnel Udina, a man who previously had tried to exert authority over you by locking down the Normandy," she said, setting the datapad aside as she looked to Shepard. "This genuinely has me curious. You had Captain Anderson there, your mother, your father, all of whom would have made exceptional Councilors. But instead, you chose Udina."

The spectre stared at the woman, unamused. "Donnel Udina and I have had fights in the past over protocol and how much of a mess I leave behind me in my efforts to catch Saren. But…" she said as she held up a single finger. "If you ignore that little lockdown powwow on the Citadel and look at everything he's ever done, you'd see that he used the momentum of Ambassador Goyle and ran with it, pushing for more and more from the Council so that we as humans are treated equally."

"He was a sight to behold in pushing for you to be Spectre, that's for sure," said Jacob with a smirk.

But Shepard continued. "I've seen other ambassadors on the Citadel. The volus ambassador, Din'Korlak. He's given up on his own people and basically uses the job to fill his own pockets. He's stopped pushing for his people and has relegated his time to blaming other species for it instead. Udina is childish, but he knows how to get things done politically that would take me, my family, and Anderson weeks to accomplish. He's an aggressive negotiator, and despite his attitude towards me, he has humanity's best interests at heart," she said waving off the question. "My parents and Anderson? They probably would have done it if I'd asked them to. But they would have hated it. They aren't negotiators, and while they have good hearts, they don't know how to play the game of thrones like Udina does."

Miranda smiled once more and nodded gently. "Well spoken, Shepard. When you factor in everything as you did, it makes more sense. Not to mention the good will you garnered to him by recommending him in the first place," said the Cerberus agent as she closed the datapad and tucked it away. "That should be enough to satisfy him. We should be there soon, Shepard. Then you can have your questions answered."

Nodding again, Shepard looked out the window once more and stared at the stars as she came to grips with the fact that she had basically died and been brought back to life. On top of that, two years had come and gone. What had happened to everyone? Where were they? Did they know she was coming back? How would they react? She had questions for this Cerberus boss, of course. But she also had many more that she didn't know whether she'd get the answer too. She just had to wait and see.

CODEX ENTRIES

Class C Uniforms | Clothing | Human/Asari
Despite being created to integrate with armor in order to be more effective at combat in space, the Systems Alliance began manufacturing civilian class fatigues and shirts that resemble the same style of the military uniform, but do not require the same attention to detail of a service uniform as they are visually different without the usual digital camouflage pattern of the Systems Alliance ACUs. The purchase of these clothes helps to fund the Systems Alliance's advancement in space.

GLM-100 | Weapon | Human
A human fashioned weapon whose acronym means Grenade Launch Module 100. Originally fashioned prior to spaceflight and capable of firing one round, this vastly superior model is capable of holding up to ten rounds that are capable of adhering to a target before detonating on the command of shooter.

Shield Belt | Technology | Security
Kinetic shields are standard issue on all military and security-style armor. But even civilians sometimes need protection from weapon's fire, which led to the creation of the kinetic shield belt. It's a locking mechanism that is designed differently depending on the species. It has a self-sustaining power supply that only needs replacing once every six galactic months and can stop the fire from common assault weapons for up to 10 seconds.

Biotic Clash | Terminology | Physics
The dark energy used in biotics is DNA coded, meaning that each person's biotic abilities are different on a subatomic level. It's not exactly understood why, but when two different biotics users mix their dark energy, the two react violently often causing large scale destruction. This clash of energies and resulting explosion have been dubbed a 'biotic clash.' Though it is rare, it has been found that some users of biotics can mix energies with another resulting in less violent, and even entirely passive responses.