Geoff poured through the data logs on his desk. His mind clawing in all directions pulling him from one end to the next. As he grew more and more anxious the voice in his head began to murmur its message. He still could not make out what it was, as he rushed to the next room. He hovered over the sink inhaling the steam to calm himself down. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, as he splashed water on his face. His heart began to race, as the voice grew louder as if someone was in the room with him. He moved to the hall outside his quarters crashing down to the floor. As he laid on the floor clutching his head, attempting to keep himself together. He heard a faint tune creeping from a nearby vent. The voice stopped and he snapped out of his trance. The voice vanished once more as he paused to listen to the tune. He raised himself to his feet and headed for the door. Geoff followed the corridor till he reached the lift, as he followed the tune which he could almost discern. He moved through each room undisturbing the crew as they continued with their tasks. He soon found the source of the tune. "The lab?" he muttered quietly to himself as he pressed the button on the side. The doors opened and he found Mordin hard at work. The solarian moved from one station to the next reading the data on the console and the pad in his hand. Geoff walked in as the doors closed behind him. Mordin turned around to find Geoff standing behind him. "Ah. Good evening Shepard. I trust you couldn't sleep." Geoff quickly looked around to find no one else was in the room as he asked "N.. No I couldn't." he looked at the table to find all kinds of papers strewn about in a chaotic mess. "I see neither could you." he added. Mordin placed the tablet on the table "The collectors are an interesting species. Although not much is known but if only we could get a sample. Or acquire more relevant data." Geoff clutched his head as he could feel his eye twitch. Mordin bolted forward as he said "Shepard are you alright. Are you sick? No signs of viral infection. Maybe exhausted. Should rest." Geoff raised a hand as the pain subsided "Im fine Mordin I think its just my implants that cerberus used to stitch me back up." Mordin glared at the Idea and continued to analyze the commander silently. "Geoff sat down on a nearby stool in front of the desk and added "I came here because I thought I heard Singing." Mordin snapped out of his concentration and said "humming not singing. Before scientist, worked STG, modified Genophage. Sang Gilbert and Sullivan." Geoff sat up straight, his eyes bulging out as a small smirk drew on his face. "You? Sang Gilbert and Sullivan." Mordin smiled and said "Indeed would you like to hear." Geoff raised a hand as he let out a small chuckle. "Another time. But you can call me and my brother by name." Mordin nodded at the remark. "Perhaps you should rest, Joker should almost be at Horizon soon." Geoff nodded and moved toward the door waving goodbye. The door closed as Mordin looked back at the empty room he raised a hand to his lips and began to wonder. He knew deep down in his gut something was wrong.
John moved through the halls of the Normandy passing by the crew working diligently on their tasks. He turned a corner to find the mess hall, he noticed at the far end was a door marked Miranda's office. He paused for a second to take a deep breath to collect himself before deciding to enter the room. He entered the room to find Miranda working at her desk. He waited for the doors to close behind him as he glared intently at her, waiting for her to acknowledge him. Miranda looked up to find John standing in front of her, he appeared to be rather agitated. She leaned back in her chair as a concerned look drew on her face, she paused for a second to assess the situation as she said "John..I was wondering when you would be by." she quipped in a bored tone as John stood still glaring at her. "Don't give me that...is this what Cerberus was up to." he bellowed suddenly. She got up from her chair "I have no Idea what you mean." She replied while drawing a smirk on her face as if she was playing a game. John grew more agitated at the reaction he received, as he raised his hand pointing at the door behind him "Bringing my brother back from the dead. How was that even possible the body was never recovered." he barked. " I looked for it myself along with over half the alliance military" he continued as Miranda leaned against the wall as her attitude became more serious. "You could show a little more gratitude. I thought you would be appreciative." John moved around the desk placing himself in front of her. He stared her in the eyes and added "I don't appreciate being ditched without so much as a reason for leaving." He bellowed. Miranda's expression shifted from a cocky smirk to a more serious tone as she exclaimed. "That's your concern." she shifted her weight "I was called back to begin work on the lazarus project." John shook the excuse and added "you could have told me what was going on. But no instead you vanished without a trace." Miranda placed one arm on her hip and said "the job required my full attention. I needed to focus." she bellowed. John clutched his hand into a fist and shouted "That! is my little brother stitched up with Cerberus Tech all throughout his body! He is not some lab experiment!" Miranda moved forward "Oh! and what would you have me do!" she raised a hand placing it on her heart "you don't think I wanted to tell you. Cerberus is very secret about its projects. " she moved closer to John as she brushed her hair to one side. "It's not like I didn't care." John stood up straight and replied "You could have at least sent a message letting me know whether it was over or not." she placed her arms around John as she stared into his eyes, she calmly said "It was far from over." John's expression shifted as he met her gaze. "well I'm glad to hear that." Miranda leaned in and softly whispered. "I've missed you." John wrapped his arm around her waist and returned the sentiment.
The Normandy arrived at horizon as it began its descent into the upper atmosphere. The hanger doors opened as two shuttles exited from the bay diverging into two directions towards the surface. The main shuttle landed near a series of structures that appeared to be housing. The doors opened as Geoff, Garrus, and Mordin exited the shuttle. Mordin raised his hand taking scans with his omni tool as Garrus moved to a nearby ridge to survey the structures ahead. "Oxygen normal, Clean slightly metallic, No sign of fire or other humans, no maybe." Mordin continued to scan the surroundings as Geoff began to move towards Garrus. Mordin followed the commander as he scanned the area for other signs of life. He knew that something was off about his commander and began to scan him quietly. Garrus surveyed each structure only to find that the area was devoid of life. Mordin continued to scan the surroundings his sensors suddenly went off. "I've found something near the centre of town." he quipped as Geoff and Garrus began their push through the streets. The buildings looked abandoned as if the colonists had vanished without a trace. Mordin paused to find something small scurry into the next room. Closely he followed into the room as he cornered a small black bug. He raised a hand to scan the creature as Garrus entered the room behind him. "What is that thing." He quipped as Mordin kept his focus on the specimen. Mordin smiled and drew a small device from his belt. It was circular in size and featured two small blue and red buttons. He pointed the device at the creature pressing one of the buttons sending a small blue bolt at the creature. The bolt hit the bug as it twerked in place for a few seconds before passing out on the floor. Mordin Turned to look at Garrus, he had a slightly positive look about him as he said "Possible connection to the collectors. Small in size more study will be required." Mordin said while he began his study. Garrus pointed at the device and added "what is that?" Mordin raised his hand displaying the device in his hand and said "Personal stun and acquisition, obtained during STG Missions. Made Modifications from It can stun targets from an hour to three days" Garrus smiled and said "Wish I had that when I was with C-Sec." Mordin let out a small chuckle as he scooped the specimen into a small container for transport.
The three moved towards the end of the street cautiously until they found several civilians frozen in place. They stood solid like statues with what appeared to be a black powder on them, the team passed by unable to provide assistance to the people. A creature emerged from one of the buildings with a large coffin-like object following behind. Geoff watched as they moved out of view. "Those must be the collectors," Garrus whispered. Geoff nodded and moved towards a nearby wall when another collector moved out from the room and took note of their approach. It let out a loud shriek followed by a series of clicks as more began to approach. Garrus and Mordin began to open fire as Geoff ducked and rolled into cover. The collectors fired relentlessly on the trio keeping them pinned to their spots. One of the collectors clutched its head and twitched. Its skin began to glow a bright series of red and yellow as if burning from the inside, It raised above the ground and exploded into flames. The collectors ceased fire as the soldiers eyes burned red as smoke exited the pores on its body. It looked around with its rifle at the ready. Its gaze met Geoff as it paused staring at him. Geoff stared at the hellish fiend before him as it silently clicked. "Shepard." It spoke in a rather deep tone that sent a chill down his spine. Raising its rifle it began to fire upon them as the other collectors continued to fire on Garrus and Mordin. Geoff quickly drew a small grenade from his belt pressing the small button on the side activating the charge he quickly chucked it across the ground as it skipped towards a nearby stack of crates. The explosion sent the crates upward in a sea of debris, which gave an excellent distraction for the three to return fire. The fiend still moved forward as Garrus began to minimize the force closing in on them. Geoff raised his hand activating his omni tool he sent a small signal that began to jam the beast weapon. The creature tried to get its weapon working again as Geoff moved out of cover and unloaded his Magazine into the beast. The creature dropped to the ground as it looked at Geoff "This is not over...Shepard." It demanded as its voice sent another chill down his spine. The flames died down as the body fell quickly to ash. Mordin quickly scanned the remains of the collectors but more importantly the remains of the new variant. Geoff looked over at the next set of buildings as he knew deep down that something was wrong.
They rushed over the hill to find a large towering ship parked vertically in a clearing. The ship had large segments of what appeared to be rock and other debris intertwined. Upon further inspection of the vessel Geoff recognized the ship as the same one that attacked the Normandy two years prior. They moved closer to find more of the Collectors loading the people onto the ship in what appeared to be large coffin shaped devices. Mordin smirked as he raised his omni tool and began to collect data. As he muttered to himself Garrus scanned the area looking for survivors. Garrus notices a large bug like droid moving towards their location "Incoming drone" He shouted to his comrades. Geoff's eye twitched briefly as he raised his gun and started to fire on the drone. As it came in to view it was large and black with four legs and moved like a fly through the air. Mordin looked at the ground to see other creatures following the behemoth. He saw that they were humanoid and moved rather mindlessly around. Husks he shouted as the creatures lunged over the hill where they were. As they tried desperately to fend off the Husks the drone continued to move towards a nearby clearing where two large guns rested. It paused and sat waiting as if preparing for a fight. Garrus moved quickly toward Mordin drawing his pistol and he cleared out two husks. Geoff continued to give covering fire for his comrades as his aim shifted slowly in and out of view of the enemy, like a child at a firing range. He stopped suddenly clutching his right eye as a husk moved forward closing in on him like a zombie. Mordin saw Geoff and quickly fired a shot that whizzed past Geoff's head, squaring the husk in the chest sending it flat to the ground. Geoff snapped out of his trance and looked around confused, noticing the husk clawing at the ground near his feet he shouldered his rifle and unloaded his clip into the husk. The drone let out a tremendous roar the cut through the air as a beam of light launched itself from its head towards Geoff. He briefly flinched and dove behind a nearby wall, as the beam cut through his personal shield. Mordin quickly typed away at his omni tool as the drone moved closer to Geoff, like a lion stalking its prey. The drone suddenly froze in place as Garrus leapt through the air landing on top of the behemoth. "We only have a few minutes before breaks free so hurry." Mordin shouted as Garrus planted a Grenade in the casing of the beast. Garrus leapt off as the stasis field broke and the beast regained control. Garrus rose from the ground as he raised a small device. As he pressed the button the explosion took out the drone. The collector ship shifted as the thrusters fired up and launched the massive ship off the ground. Geoff rose off the ground with his arm clenching his gut. It felt like someone had kicked him so hard he could puke. The pain in his eye moved to the back of his head like a headache, and subsided slowly.
Garrus looked over to see Mordin just off to the side on his omni tool. Staring in the direction of Geoff. He moved closer to Mordin discreetly who quickly typed as the turian approached. "What are you doing?" he asked discreetly. Mordin closed his omni tool "something is wrong with Shepard, not sure what. Will find out." as he gestured to Garrus. "Will explain on ship in private" Mordin moved on as the shuttle descended to the ground where they stood. Garrus seemed puzzled at what he was just told, as he observed the commander and noticed that maybe Mordin was right.
