The journey to Freedom's Progress was mostly uneventful. Jacob and Miranda were talking quietly about something she had no interest in. As for herself, she spent the time gazing at the wall, trying to figure out how to get away from Cerberus. After a couple of minutes, Miranda and Jacob turned to face the redhead.
"We should be there shortly, Shepard." Miranda said, "The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?"
"Are you sure you'll be comfortable following my orders?" Kacey asked. She didn't think she would have been in charge.
"We didn't bring you back from the dead just to second guess you, Commander." Jacob replied, "If the Illusive Man says you're in charge, you're in charge."
'Makes me wonder what the real reason why you brought me back is,' Kacey thought. She straightened herself up before continuing, "What makes you think this investigation will turn up anything new?"
"At other colonies, official investigators got there first. Sometimes looters or salvage teams as well." Jacob replied, "We're hoping to be the first ones there this time. Maybe find clues before somebody else disturbs the scene."
"Either way, our first priority is to look for survivors." Kacey said.
"That's highly unlikely, Commander." Miranda replied bluntly, "No one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted."
"Be nice to find somebody though." Jacob pondered, "Anything's better than another ghost town."
The shuttle was quick to land, denying Kacey the chance to respond. As they exited the shuttle, Kacey was quick to notice the absence of any colonist in the nearby area. The area was deathly silent, even as small speckles of snowflakes dropped from the sky. There was no sound, nothing. It was way too quiet for Kacey's liking.
She walked towards the nearby building and opened the door. She stared down into the dark room until the lights flickered on a few seconds later. The delay implied that something had happened to the circuits, but aside from that, nothing. One of the tables still had trays of food sitting there, untouched.
"Looks like everyone just got up and left right in the middle of dinner." Jacob mused.
"Looks like it." Kacey replied.
She exited the building at the other side, leading to a small balcony overlooking a body of water. All the outside lights were still on, shining brightly as Kacey walked along the balcony and down the steps into a small area with fuel tanks. Carefully, she pressed on, her hands tightly gripped on her handgun as she moved forwards towards a much larger door.
"Strange." Miranda mused, "No bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle."
"So the colony was just…empty?" Kaidan asked.
"You saw it yourself at Horizon…" Kacey said. Her breathing hitched a bit after that last word but she continued, "It was eerie, a lot like when we searched those outposts on that meteor, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," Kaidan replied.
Kacey couldn't help but wonder what happened. To her, it was like everyone had just up and left in an instant, leaving everything behind. It was weird. She opened the door, just as a bullet narrowly passed by her face.
"Too close!" Kacey said, ducking into cover behind some crates. Miranda ducked behind other crates, and Jacob used the doorframe as cover as more bullets flew through the air.
"Hear that?" Jacob said, firing his rifle, "Sounds like FENRIS mechs."
"Great. More mechs." Kacey said irritated.
"Strange. Security systems were disabled at other colonies," Miranda replied.
"Just our luck, then." Kacey murmured.
Miranda used Overload on both mechs situated across the 'river' between them while Kacey and Jacob to advantage of their lack of shields to destroy them outright.
"Hostiles to the right!" Miranda shouted as she began to shoot the mech appearing along a nearby walkway.
Kacey switched to her assault rifle as she blasted the mech with her bullets. Once the mechs were completely trashed. Kacey began to lead them towards the walkway.
"Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile." Jacob said, "They should have recognised us as human."
"Someone reprogrammed them to attack on sight." Miranda replied, "We're not alone here."
Kacey had wondered if it was possible that someone else was here too. Hopefully they were Alliance personnel, but that was not very likely knowing her luck. The next building was sleeping quarters of some kind, as bunkbeds had lined up on the left-hand side of the dark room. However, there was still nobody around. Not a single soul in the place. She turned exited the building into a small area with two other buildings wedged in close proximity. Two mechs jumped from behind a railing only to get quickly dispatched by the soldiers. Kacey led them to the building in front them.
"Once that door had swung open, I both happy and relieved to see the person on the other side."
Once the door had opened, Kacey could see three quarians looking over a small device. As they approached, one of them had noticed the humans arrival and immediately raised their gun, prompting Kacey, Jacob and Miranda to do the same.
"Stop right there!" the quarian's deep voice shouted at them.
"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this!" a familiar female voice rang out.
Kacey nearly dropped her gun as the female quarian walked out in front of Prazza. She couldn't believe it. It was one of her old crewmates, one of her friends. The quarian turned to face the redhead.
"Wait…Shepard?" Tali said surprised.
"Tali!" Kacey lowered her gun.
"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" Prazza shouted.
"Put those weapons down!" Tali demanded in a firm tone. She then turned back to face Kacey.
"Shepard? Is that…you're alive?" Tali said astounded.
"Yes Tali," Kacey replied, a smile on her face, "its me. Cerberus rebuilt me. In return, they asked me to investigate the attack on this colony."
"You'll pardon us for not taking you at your word, Cerberus." Prazza replied.
"I'm not—" Kacey started.
"Shepard isn't—" Tali began.
"We're well within our rights to investigate attacks on a human colony," Miranda interrupted both of them, glaring at Prazza, "I'd like to know what the quarians are doing here."
Prazza nearly raised his gun again only for Tali to shout at him again.
"Weapons down, Prazza!" Tali said, sounding like an exhausted mother, "Whatever's going on here, I don't think we need another fight."
Prazza lowered his weapon as Tali turned to face Kacey.
"One of our people was here on Pilgrimage." Tali said, "His name was Veetor. We came to find him."
"This is a pretty odd place to go on Pilgrimage." Kacey said.
"Veetor always wanted to help out in a small settlement. He was always uh, nervous around big crowds."
"She means that he was unstable," Prazza cut in, "Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers and an infection from an open-air exposure, and he's likely delirious."
"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town," Tali continued, "We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."
"Well," Kacey said, her hands on her hips, "Veetor's the only one who can us what happened here. We should work together to find him."
"Good idea as always." Tali replied, "You'll need two teams to get pass the drones anyway."
"Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza moaned.
"No, Prazza, you're working for me." Tali replied sternly, "If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship. Commander, head for the warehouse through the centre of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."
"Make sure to keep in radio contact," Kacey replied.
"Good luck and see you on the far side." Tali replied. She walked a bit before stopping again.
"And Shepard?"
"Yes Tali?"
"I'm glad you're okay."