The Illusive Man stared at the sun of the system he currently inhabited. The beep of the QEC was heard behind him. TIM turned around and said, "Shepard, I wish I had more information for you. I don't like you heading through that relay blind. But we don't have much choice,"

"I'm not going in alone," Zenna said with a low growl. "I have some of the best working with me. If we stick together, we'll make it,"

TIM smiled. "I knew we brought you back for a reason. I have never seen a better leader. Despite the danger, this is a great opportunity. The first Human to take a ship through and survive,"

'Egotistical bastard,' Shepard thought to herself. "I'm going to destroy the Collectors. To stop their attacks on Humanity,"

He shrugged. "Understood. Still impressive. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate the risk you're taking. Regardless of your opinion of Cerberus, of me, you are a valuable asset to all of Humanity. Be careful Shepard."

"Tell me something I don't know," she shot before leaving the QEC

TIM turned to face the sun once again. "I think he's outlived her usefulness,"

OOOOO

"Approaching Omega-4 relay," Joker announced.

Shepard stood behind him along with Miranda. Both not taking their eyes off the display.

"Everyone stand by," Joker said over the comm.

"Let's make it happen," Shepard said.

"Reaper IFF activated," EDI said. "Signal acknowledged."

"Commander, the drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree," Jacob notified over the radio.

"Drive core electrical charge at critical levels," EDI said in a panicked voice

Joker frantically adjusted controls. "Rerouting!"

"Everybody hold on!" Zenna yelled down her comm.

The Normandy made its approach to the giant red mass relay. The electricity of the relay grabbed each of the vessels and flung them forward to their destination. As they were transitioning from one place to another, the ship shook, violently. Several members of the crew either grabbed for support or fell.

"Brace for deceleration," EDI warned.

The vessel came out of the jump only to see the way blocked by the wreckage of dead ships.

"Oh shit!" Joker exclaimed.

Joker steered the Normandy upwards over the wreckage. The ship flew to the side as a large part of the hull came at them. It accelerated forward getting out of the way.

Joker breathed a sigh of relief. "Too close, way too damn close,"

The area of space was filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of dead, broken ships. In the distance, the crew members of all the ships could see the large black hole. It was beautiful and horrifying. The engineer part of Zenna's mind looked out with a desire, a longing to strip the ships and learn their secrets. But the more rational part of her mind told her that would not only be fruitless, but she wouldn't like what she had found.

"These must be all the ships that have tried to go through the Omega-4 relay," Joker observed. "Some of them look ancient,"

"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disc," EDI said.

"Must be the Collector Base," Miranda said. "We should try to get in closer before they notice us,"

"I'm getting something on my sensors," EDI said as she opened her eyes

Several drones activated as the five ships flew by.

"Incoming contacts!" Joker and EDI yelled at the same time

The drones fired particle beams at the intruding ships.

"Taking evasive manoeuvres," Joker notified.

Most of the drones focused on the Normandy. But several of them slammed into debris thanks to Joker's master flying skills.

"Bastard's just pissing me off!" Joker muttered.

The Normandy fired two torpedoes, destroying two of the drones. The other ships flew it and fired their particle beams. Each attack was able to slice right through any of the drones. One of the drones fired a particle beam at the Normandy's side in two successive shots. The attacks made the Normandy shudder but did no real damage.

"Seems that the new plating is holding," Miranda commented.

One of the drones flew right through the Normandy's hall into the cargo bay.

"Intruder alert!" EDI warned.

"We have one of them in the cargo bay!" Joker reported.

"I'll take a team to clear it out," Shepard said as she ran towards the elevator.

Shepard met up with Tali and Legion in the elevator as he went down towards the cargo bay. Ash was already in combat against the Collector drone. As the doors opened, she yelled, "About damn time you got down here," Shepard, Tali and Legion ran towards cover next to her. Ash popped out of cover and fired a few rounds from her assault rifle at the drone.

"We need to take it out before it does any major damage to the ship," Shepard said. She looked to Tali and Legion. "Keep to cover and don't let it get near you. We need to destroy it," The two nodded.

Shepard and Ash took the left and Tali and Legion took the right. They fire shot after shot at the drone. Its armour was thick making it take very little damage even for their weapons making Zenna curse not grabbing heavy weapons.

"Its armour is too thick!" Tali called out.

"Shepard-Commander," Legion said. "Our sensors indicate that the red optic sensor is its weak point. Repeated attacks could terminate the drone. Permanently,"

"Do what Legion said," The commander ordered. "Focus on the red light,"

The ocular was facing Shepard and Ash allowing them to hit it. Ash grabbed something and leapt at the orb before placing something on the glass and bouncing back. The ocular fired its particle beam at them, but that detonated the explosive cracking the glass. That allowed the team to do some real damage to the orb. But as it was taking damage, the ocular retreated out of the cargo bay.

Joker narrowed his eyes, "I can't seem to shake them, I'll have to lose them through the debris field," Joker said over the radio.

The Normandy flew towards a thick section of debris with few openings for it to go through. Debris drifted behind the Normandy. Several of the drones collided with the wreckage.

"Our barriers were not designed to withstand debris of that size," EDI notified Joker as a massive piece of debris came at them and fast.

"Well, it's a good thing we upgraded. We're going in," Joker gritted his teeth and began to pull out all of his tricks.

The small tunnel was starting to close from the debris. Another drone crashed into a passing metal girder. The Normandy scrapped against the size of a destroyed what looked like an old Quarrian ship.

Joker, increasingly frustrated, began to growl. "Come on! Find some room!"

"Kinetic barriers at 40%," EDI reported.

"Rerouting non-critical power! This is going to hurt," he muttered.

Ahead Joker could see the exit out of the debris. The Normandy went downwards and then up through the change tunnel. The exit was starting to close.

"Almost, almost, almost," he said to himself as he flew the Normandy.

The Normandy flew right out of the field right before the exit closed shut, destroying the drones that pursued the Normandy.

"Hell, yeah!" Joker cheered. "Alright, damage report,"

"Barriers steady at 30%. No significant damage," EDI replied.

Joker smirked and nodded but it dropped as a drone that followed close by fired its particle beam at the Normandy hull.

"I've detected an enemy heading towards the cargo hold," EDI notified.

"That thing, again?" Joker as he checked the readings. "This one's up to Shepard."

"It's back!" Tali called out as the orb entered the cargo bay.

"Everyone fall in," Shepard ordered. "This ends now."

They held their position as the drone approached. The volley of attacks on its optic sensor started cracking the glass more and more. As a section opened up, Zenna grabbed a large explosive and threw it at the machine. The group took cover as it exploded. While it was still alive, it wasn't for long as the orb began to crack with orange light.

"Duck!" Shepard yelled as the orb exploded.

Carefully exiting cover, the team looked at their handiwork. "Looks like it'll stay destroyed," Ash quipped.

"Better get up here, Commander," Joker said over the radio.

"We're about to clear the debris field," EDI added.

"Let's move," the others nodded and followed her to the bridge.

Shepard reached the cockpit and saw what the two were looking at. The others soon joined and looked out

"There it is," Miranda pointed out. "The Collector base,"

"Tali, get back down to engineering," Zenna ordered. "Legion join her, she's going to need all the help she can get,"

If they said anything, the minotaur didn't hear it as her eyes were focused on the base. The base itself was of unusual construction. There was no artistic design involved in its creation. It was purely mechanical and minimal in its design, just to fulfil whatever purpose it was meant to serve. It must have been an asteroid at one point but hollowed out and converted into a space station. As she looked at it, her mind buzzed with activity. Weak points, hard points, hangers. Something that they could use to destroy that place.

"See if you can find a place to land before we get their attention," Zenna said coming to the only conclusion she could.

Joker looked to the LADAR. "Too late. It looks like they're sending an old friend to greet us,"

The Collector vessel unclamped itself from the base and backed away from the dock. The cruiser slowly spun around to face the incoming ship. Its particle cannon charged as it turned around. It fired as soon as it was facing forwards. The Normandy flew towards the left to dodge the initial attack.

As it approached, Zenna bared her fangs along with Ash. "It's time to show them our new fangs. Joker. Fire the main gun,"

At the bottom of the Normandy, a gun with two barrels appeared while the holes on the front of the other three started to glow. At that moment the Normandy fired its canon that hit the collector ship.

"How do you like that, you sons of bitches?" Joker roared as the impact of the beam hit the ship taking off a part of the hull.

Ashley howled in victory as the cannon fired another beam this time hitting a critical point causing secondary explosions and breaking the ship apart. But as they flew close Miranda noticed something.

"LOOK OUT!" she yelled as the ship exploded and a shockwave hit the ship sending it out of control.

"Mass effect shield generator's offline," Joker said as they experienced some turbulence. "EDI give me something,"

"Generators are unresponsive. All hands brace for impact," EDI called down the speakers.

The Normandy flew one of the rings on the station but hit the side causing it to lose altitude and fall onto the hull of the station. The ship slid along the hull of the station and ripped part of the Normandy's hull until it stopped near an entrance to the station. Zenna pulled herself up from the fall as did Miranda.

"Joker, you ok?" the minotaur asked

"I think I broke a rib," the pilot moaned. "Or all of them,"

"Multiple core systems are offline overloaded as a result of the crash," EDI said as Shepard moved over to the engineering terminal.

"Restoring all main systems however will take time," she growled.

"We all knew this was a one-way trip," Miranda said.

"Agreed, our primary objective is to destroy this station and stop the Collectors. At any cost," The minotaur said as she turned to face them.

"Well then we're off to a good start," Joker said sarcastically. "What's next?"

With a sigh, Zenna could only think of one thing. "How long until the Collectors find this landing zone?"

"I do not detect any internal security network. It's possible that the Collectors didn't expect anyone to reach them," EDI said.

"If we're lucky their external sensors were hit just as bad as ours, they might not even know we're alive," Joker said.

"Then we are short on time either way. Ok then let's get ready," Zenna said as she stood at her full height.

OOOOO

Everyone was in the briefing room checking their gear for the mission; some of them occasionally glanced at each other not asking anything just looking, knowing that this motley crew had each other's backs.

Shepard walked into the briefing room, as she walked in, she seemed taller than normal. "This isn't how we planned this mission but this is we're at. We can't worry about whether the Normandy will get us home. We came to destroy the collectors, and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station. EDI, bring up your scans,"

As she said that, a holographic model of the Collector base appeared before them.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control centre here," EDI placed a marker near the top of the Collector base.

"That means going through the heart of the station," Jacob said as he activated some controls which revealed the interior of the base. "Right passed this massive heat signature here,"

"That's the central chamber," Shepard stated with a low growl making her intentions clear. "If there are any colonists are still alive, they're being held there,"

Jacob activated another function and added another marker to the model. "Looks like there are two main routes. It would be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off balance and regroup at the central chamber,"

"No good," Miranda said. "Both routes are blocked. See these doors? The only way past them is to get someone to open them from the other side,"

Shepard looked more closely at the base. "This place isn't a fortress. Here, look," she highlighted a ventilation shaft. "We can send someone through here. They can get to the other side of these doors and open them,"

"Practically a suicide mission," Jacob said. "I volunteer,"

"Inadvisable Jacob," Miranda said, "You cannot shut down the security system in time. Tech expert required,"

"It's your call, Commander. Who do we send in?" Jacob asked.

Zenna nodded as she looked at the shaft, calculating. Vent shafts were meant to move air from one place to another. So, this wasn't likely going to be different, but with this being an alien station the same rules may not apply. She glanced from the vent to her crew until her eyes settled on one.

"Legion you can hack through anything," Shepard said. "I'm sending you in,"

Legion nodded. "Acknowledged,"

The minotaur nodded before her eye locked with her second. "The rest of us will break into two teams that will fight down each passage. Garrus, I want you to lead the second fire team,"

"You can count on me," he nodded cocking his weapon.

Zenna then started pacing. "I won't lie to you people. This is not going to be easy. But we're not doing this mission because it's easy. We're not doing it for recognition or, hell, a pat on the back. We are doing this mission to end the threat the Collectors pose to our galaxy. To show them and the Reapers that we are not weak. We are not scared. And we will not back down," she stopped in place and faced everyone. "We don't know how many the Collectors have taken. Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? It's not important. What matters is this: Not. One. More," she fiercely pointed his hand to emphasize each word. "That's what we can do, here, today! It ends with us! They want to know what we're made of. I say we show them, on our terms! We've all been through the procedure, and after this my project, Advent will start then this war will truly begin. This is but one fight, but let's end this battle and let the war started," Shepard slammed her right fist into her palm. "Let's bring an end to them!"

OOOOO

Shepard jumped out of the Normandy followed by Jack and Ash who jump down behind her. She watched as the second fire team and Legion go down their pathway. Zenna and her squadmates moved forward down their designated path.

"Shepard-Commander," Legion called over the radio. "We have infiltrated the ventilation shaft. Temperature is elevated. No obstacles ahead,"

"Second team, are you in position?" Shepard asked as her team moved.

"In position," Garrus responded. "Meet you on the other side of those doors,"

Shepard's group rounded the corner and found the area filled with half a dozen Collectors. Miranda unleashed an electrical shot at the group taking down their shields allowing the three of them to take the rest down allowing them to move forward but another group came in.

"Commander, we are taking heavy fire," Garrus reported. "But we are moving forward,"

Jack pounced on the nearest collector, ripping it to shreds while Ash moved into cover and opened up with burst fire along with Zenna forcing the Collectors to keep their heads down. But there was another reason why. As soon as they diverted fire towards another target, allowing one of the collectors to pop up. Which allowed Jack to pounce and rip its head off. The process repeated as the team moved and killed the rest of the collectors.

The three exited the room into a new corridor. At the beginning of the corridor was a section of the ventilation pipe that Legion was travelling through. The pipe was blocked, but there was a terminal in front that could be used to unblock it.

Legion reach the obstacle and notified the others, "Obstacle encountered. Please assist,"

Zenna approached the terminal and activated it. The gate opened allowing Legion to move forward. "Blockage removed. Proceeding forward,"

As they moved, the next area was reinforced by several collector drones. One of them had set up a turret, which they used to suppress the team. The three demi-humans dived into cover as round pattered the barrier they were behind. Saying nothing, Jack grabbed a grenade before bouncing out of cover and charging at the gun next. As she moved from wall to wall, cover to cover, the turret tracked her, but it was slow and missed her thanks to her superhuman speed.

While she bounced from wall to wall, she armed and threw the grenade at the turret. Once it landed, she jumped back into cover as it detonated. It destroyed the turret as well as killing its operator and two others while the blast knocks down the others. Zenna, Ash and Jack didn't miss the opportunity and pounced on the collectors, killing them before moving on.

The next terminal wasn't too far ahead. Shepard activated it and rounded the corner to discover a large area with a dozen Collector drones, guardians and assassins in wait. Jack, now joined by Ash, began to move across the area with speed avoiding gunfire and aiming for the collectors' necks. As they tore through the necks of the drones one of them started glowing and then a burst of energy came from it. Yellow cracks appeared all over it and its eyes glowed.

"HUMAN, YOUR INTERFERENCE ENDS-"

Jack didn't even give Harbinger the benefit of ending his sentence before cutting him in two with her claws. With the area cleat, Zenna shrugged and activated the next terminal. Jack and Ash regrouped with Shepard. They went around the corner of the corridor they entered and encountered a small squad of drones. The demi-humans used their tactic of suppression and speed to take out the collectors.

The next area had a lot of cover. Ahead were the last two terminals to be activated and the door they needed to get through to regroup with the others. Zenna set up a portable turret, which opened up as soon as it was deployed. Ash and Jack moved from cover to cover as they approached the collectors, teeth and claws barred. The gunfire from Zenna and her turret kept the collectors down allowing the two demi-humans to kill the bug-like mutants.

"Keep pushing forward!" Kira yelled to her squad.

Jack and Ash cleared the way, but as they moved to the door, more collectors came from behind. Zenna ran before jumping over cover and rolled to the last terminal. She activated it and called to her squad mates, "Move it!"

Ash and Jack regrouped with her firing back at the approaching Collectors while they retreated to the blast doors. Zenna slammed the door and called in through the radio, "Come in! We're in position. We need this door open. Now!"

Harbinger launched an energy ball towards Shepard which barely missed her. Suddenly the door opened. Jack went in first followed by Ash. Legion was next to the door readying it to close. Shepard backed in through the door while firing her pistol at nearby Collectors.

"Here they come!" Shepard screamed. "Fall back!"

Garrus and his team came up next to Shepard.

"Suppressing fire!" Garrus ordered his team. "Don't let anyone through that door!"

They created a wall of gunfire that eliminated any Collector that got too close to their position and kept other drones in cover. Legion finally activated the door's command, closing it shut. But Garrus was hit. Zenna walked up to him but he was ok as it was just a graze.

"Nice job, Legion," Shepard congratulated. "I knew you wouldn't let us down,"

"Shepard you need to see this," Miranda said to her.

The minotaur turned around to Miranda. She guided her and the rest of the squad around the corner where they saw the central chamber. There were pods all over the walls. Only a couple of them had people in them, making Shepard wonder what happened to the other colonists. She approached one of the pods.

"Looks like one of the missing colonists," Miranda noted.

Zenna walked up to the pod and stroked it.

"There's more over here," Jacob called.

Steam then came out of the pod, just then the woman woke up as her skin started to dissolve revealing the muscle underneath. Her eyes opened and she started pounding on the glass.

"My god," Shepard gasped. "They're still alive!" she looked to her squadmates.

Zenna then began to try and find a way to open the pod. To release the woman who was pounding on the wall of the pod she was in. But she stopped and looked the woman's skin had become black as coal and she was being sucked down the pod screaming as she went.

"Get them out of there hurry!" She ordered while pointing to the crew.

The crew reacted fast as Garrus started pounding on the glass with his assault rifle. Grunt pulled one of the pods open. The two teams began to pull the pods open and let the other members of the crew out. Miranda joined with Kira then pulled a pod that held Chackwas in. it opened freeing the doctor. She fell but was caught by the two before the feeling in her tail came back.

"Doctor, you ok?" the commander asked.

Everyone began to recover quite fast and began to form a group with the others.

"Ssssshepard, you came for ussssss?" Chackwas asked.

"No one gets left behind," Zenna said.

"Thank god you got here in time. A few more seconds and..." Kelly tried to say but couldn't. "I don't want to think about it,"

"Thesssse Colonisssst's where... processsssed. Thosssse ssswarmsss of little robotssss, they melted their bodiessss into grey liquid and pumped it through these tubesss," Chackwas said.

Zenna's mind just spun. "Why are they doing this? What do they need with our genetic material?" she asked.

The doctor shook her head. "I don't know. I'm just glad you got before it happened to usssss,"

"So are we but we have a job to do," Miranda said. "We've done well so far, Let's hope we can finish the job,"

"Joker, can you get a fix on our position?" Shepard asked over the radio.

"Roger that, Commander," Joker responded. "All those tubes lead into the main control room above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to it,"

"I cannot recommend that," EDI said. "Thermal emissions suggest that the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasures cannot protect you from so many at once,"

"There has to be a way," Shepard said. "What about biotics? Can we create a bubble to protect ourselves from the swarms?"

"I might be able to generate a biotic field to keep them at bay," Samara said. "I won't be able to protect all of us, but I could get in a small team if they stay close,"

"I could do it too," Miranda added. "In theory, any biotic could handle it. Shepard, who do you want to maintain the field?"

Zenna nodded but immediately pointed to the golem. "Miranda and I will take in a small team through the seeker swarm. She has a better chance than the rest of you due to her being a golem. The rest of you provide a diversion by going through the main passage. We'll open the security doors from the other side and meet you there,"

"Who should lead the diversion team?" Miranda asked.

"There's no question, Garrus," the minotaur nodded towards the turrian.

Garrus nodded back. "I'll keep the Collectors busy while you slip in through the back,"

"What about me and the rest of the crew?" Chackwas asked. "We're in no shape to fight."

"Commander, we can do a pick-up but we will have to land back from your position," Joker chirped in.

"We can't afford to go back, Shepard," Miranda scorned. "Not now,"

"They'll never make it without help," Shepard said as she looked at Tali. "Tali escort them back to the Normandy. We'll all meet you there when we set this place to go,"

Tali opened her omni-tool. "Joker, need the location of the landing zone. Will meet you there,"

"We all have our assignments. Jack and Ash are with me. Let's move out," Zenna ordered.