The Convict:
After Cortez brought them back to the Normandy, Shepard got changed out of her formal dress and back into her commander uniform and went to speak with Miranda about what had happened at Hock's estate.
"Shepard, is there something you want to talk about?" Miranda asked after she entered her office.
"There is sort of." Shepard replied "When Kasumi and I were at Hock's estate, he said something about a bounty on me, care to explain that."
Miranda sighed "That's what I was worried about." She admitted "I told you about how your remains were kept as a trophy by a Hutt named Volga, it seems he wants his prize back. Looks like we will have to be careful about operations in future. This doesn't bode well for our next recruit."
"This Jack I presume, you did say that she is currently held prisoner." Shepard stated
"Indeed." Miranda confirmed "Jack was a former Inquisitor in training to the First Order but she escaped. She ran pirate for a time until she was captured and is held on a private prison ship called Purgatory. This private prison is operated by the Blue Suns, if they know about the bounty it is possibly they might try and capture you. We'll have to be careful."
"What do you know about this Purgatory?" Shepard asked
"It's a former Ark ship used for transporting agricultural animals until the Blue Suns captured it and turned it into a prison ship." Miranda explained "They say it has a population of 4,350 but some estimate it is 3 times as many. Some prisoners are taken in battle but others are sold by unscrupulous politicians. Sometimes they may sell fit prisoners to Batarian slavers though that has never been confirmed. As for the Warden, his name is Kuril, a former Turian police officer from Palavan who claimed to have been tired of prisoners getting off with light sentences which is why he set up this private prison thought I would be wary of him."
"I'll take a skilled team with me on this one then in case this does turn out to be a trap." Shepard stated
"Good Shepard, we can't afford to lose you again." Miranda stated
...
Purgatory was located in the Osun System in the Hourglass Nebula. A cluster of systems in the middle of the Terminus Systems and a very remote region, this was possibly why the prison was here since it's remote location made it harder for escapes. The cluster also had very little importance to any since the Salarian explorers who first discovered the region only found barren rocks or sometimes lucrative mining opportunities. The Osun System itself had four planets, none of which were any good, while the second planet Erinle was a garden world, the planet itself was dying as it had reached a low biodiversity with mostly just toxic blue-green algae and insect pests. A large Salarian colony was once established here to try and restore diversity but this colony had fallen with the rise of the First Order who had driven the settlers away and then just ignored the planet since they had other places to go. This left the system abandoned and a perfect place for the Blue Suns to set up their private prison.
The prison ship itself orbited Erinle and the Blue Suns would sometimes go down to the abandoned colony to get resources. They also ran the nearby fuel depot as well which basically gave them a source of money since they could charge money for refuelling ships. Since Purgatory was located in space, there was no need to take the shuttle so the Normandy had to dock at the docking Bay and then the crew would disembark. Since Miranda had warned Shepard about the possibility of betrayal, she took Garrus and Bau with her on this mission. Miranda had also warned her about Jack being unstable and would not take kindly to Cerberus but she had confidence in Shepard's charm.
After disembarking, they were met with the prison guards and the warden himself who diffused a situation involving their weapons "Let them through." He ordered "We have more guards to handle three armed guests which hopefully shouldn't happen." He said "We've already received the payment for the package. She is being prepped and soon you can be on your way. If you would follow me to our processing for the pickup."
"Let's go." Shepard stated "The sooner we're done here the better."
Warden Kuril led them through the corridors and they saw a large room with rotating arms and large pods "Cell block two." Kuril introduced "You can see we keep tight control over our population. These are our most dangerous prisoners. Each pod is a self contained module, I have blown a few out into space as an example to keep order here. We have 30 cell blocks here housing thousands of dangerous criminals and we can put the whole place on lockdown at a moment's notice."
"This place can't be cheap to run." Shepard commented
"We can cut corners that most governments can't" Kuril replied "And each prisoner brings in a fee from their homeworld. These individuals are violent and their homeworld don't want them running amuck."
"But what happens if they don't pay?" Garrus asked
"We explain that we can't keep the prisoner here without their help." Kuril replied "So we will be forced to release them back onto their homeworld. You may not like my methods but don't question my motives, these are dangerous individuals and I'm keeping them locked up. Jack herself is one of the most violent individuals around, you'll see what I mean and she's just one of them. I've seen many prisoners escape prison before and many others get off. I hated it and I realised that a ship is the best place to hold them. Even if they escape, there's nowhere for them to go and this system is so remote they would most likely run out of fuel and supplies before they make it somewhere."
"I suppose I can understand that in some ways." Garrus admitted "I kept getting caught in Red Tape back at C-Sec."
"So you understand where I'm coming from." Kuril replied "Anyway even if a massive prison escape happens, we have safeguards here." He showed a window where two prisoners were about to fight only for a guard to press a button on his pad and then there was some kind of shock and the two of them were held in uncomfortable positions for a few moments before the system turned off and they fell to the floor "Our floors are Tunqstoid steel, we can sent violent electricity through them. That was just level one of three. We can stop fights with them, send a message and even kill them if we went all the way. We have to wear special boots to prevent ourselves from being shocked. It helps discourage fighting here." He then began walking away and then opened up another door "I'm going to confirm that the funds from Cerberus are cleared, the processing room is just down this hallway. Just keep going past the interrogation rooms and the super max wing and you will find it. Once the funds have been confirmed I will bring Jack to you and then he will be your problem." He then walked away leaving Shepard, Bau and Garrus.
The three of them went through the hallway and came across one guard beating an inmate, Shepard knew it was cruel but chose not to get involved, she just wanted to get this over with and get out of here. Another prisoner tried to convince them to buy him out but backed away when he was told they were here for Jack. Jack terrified the other inmates as well. Eventually they came to what seemed to be a large lounge area and then went over to the other room at the far side which a worker said was a processing room. However when they opened it, it lead to a small cell like room.
Kuril's voice came over the intercom "I'm sorry Shepard." He called "You're more valuable as a prisoner here than a customer. Both Volga the Hutt and the First Order offered far more payment than what your offering for Jack. I couldn't turn the offer down. Please drop your weapons and proceed into the cell, you will not be harmed."
Shepard turned around "I should have know." She said "Miranda warned me about this. You talked about noble intentions with this prison. But it turns out you're a criminal like the rest."
Shepard head Kuril sigh over the com "Activate systems."
The floor began to rumble and Garrus realised what was happening "Shepard, the floor!" he yelled
Shepard remembered the demonstration they'd seen earlier with the Tunqstoid steel which were about to be electrified. "Get off the floor, on the couches!" She quickly jumped onto the couch along with Bau and Garrus. The worker nearby wasn't so lucky and was electrocuted when the floor activated. Then the doors opened and guards came in but these ones had protective shoes on to protect them. It wasn't easy fighting when they could hardly move.
"Shepard!" Garrus called "We can't keep this up."
Bau had an idea "Shepard, these floors are electrified and there's a bathroom over there. Water and electricity don't mix well."
Shepard nodded and charged up an explosive shot "Fire in the hole!" she yelled and fired a powerful burst from her shotgun which created a small explosion which burst the pipes and causing water to come into the lounge. As Bau predicted, the water caused the floor to spark and not only cut the power to the floor but it seemed to have short circuited the entire wing. Before they left, they grabbed some of the boots from the guards to avoid the electrified floors.
As they left, they saw that the short circuit had not only cut out the floors but also main power grid. They went through a hallway above and saw that the cell doors in the wing had all been unlocked and with no power to the floor, the prisoners were beginning a major riot and fighting against their captors. This actually had Shepard worried as it was possible they may have killed their asset since the power to the Cyro's life support system may have been destroyed. But when they arrived at the cryo cells, they saw that this was on a different system and so power was still on.
"Thank goodness." Shepard said "For a few moments I was worried that we may have just killed Jack."
"We'll have to hack the terminal to free her." Bau said "We can also open up all cells doors here throughout the entire prison. That will provide a distraction for us."
Shepard nodded "I'm doing it, they double crossed us, let's see how they handle a full scale wide prison escape without their most valuable defence grid."
Shepard hacked the grid and then a robotic arm removed the cryo chamber from the stacks of cryo cells and then it opened revealing Jack for the first time. Shepard had never seen her before and wondered what to expect, what she saw surprised her. Jack was a young woman with a completely shaved head, she wore next to nothing with just a thing thong, a bra strap that only covered her nipples and some boots. The rest of her body was covered in tattoos, there was not a single bit of skin shown that didn't have ink on. Jack woke up and then with great strength, she broke free of the restraints and then she glared at some nearby mechs hat were approaching. She throw a powerful cloud of lightning towards them and then charged out of view.
"That's Jack?" Bau questioned
"The dossier didn't lie, she really is powerful." Garrus added
"In the dark side of the force." Shepard stated "Kaidan told me about those powers, she has a lot of anger in her, that could make her dangerous."
"But a great ally which we really need." Garrus finished "We have to get to her and convince her to help us."
"As long as she doesn't kill us first," Bau muttered.
The three of them quickly went down the stairs into the cyro room and saw the devastation that Jack had left in her assault; she had wrecked the room and smashed a hole in the wall leading into a hallway. As they went down the hallway, they heard Kuril's voice over the intercom. "All guards, restore order, lethal force authorized but don't kill Jack. And capture Shepard alive, kill her companions."
As the group carried on down the hallway and through another hole into one of the main cellblocks, they heard an automated voice call out that sectors 7, 9 and 11 had lost life support and that there were no survivors. The cellblock they entered was in ruins, fires everywhere and the robotic arms used to move the individual cell blocks collapsed, the damaged was most likely caused by Jack during her rampage. Some prisoners had escaped and were now fighting the guards with weapons they had stolen in the chaos. The fight was pretty much over when Shepard arrived. The escaped prisoners pointed their weapons but one of them, presumably their leader stopped them.
"No, not her." He shouted "She's not one of them."
"How do you know Andor?" one asked
"Because that's Commander Shepard!" the man called Andor replied "A republic legend. I'm sorry about my men here, we've been planning an escape from here for a while, you just made it easier. I'm Cassian Andor, member of the Resistance of the Terminus Systems. Our goal is to fight the First Order's influence here in the Terminus Systems and free the colonies from their oppressive rule."
"How did you end up here in this private prison?" Garrus asked
"A load of bad luck." Andor replied "I was on a colony where the Blue Suns hold influence when I got caught up in a raid by Saw Gerrera's partisans. I got mistaken for a terrorist and captured. It's a good thing they didn't know my true identity or they would have sold me to the First Order for a reward."
"Saw Gerrera?" Garrus questioned "The terrorist from Onderon?"
"He sees himself as a fighter against the First Order." Andor stated "Onderon is close to the First Order territory and he fears they will take his home. But he's an extremist and most of the Resistance refuses to be associated with him. He targets civilians and kills those who surrender but some in the Resistance admire that he refuses to be held back by politicians."
"We need to get out of here." Shepard stated when the station began to shake "This place is falling apart, Jack is tearing this place apart."
As if on cue, an automatic voice called over the intercom saying that the Hull had been breached in sectors 12,14 and 20 with no survivors.
The group all went into the next cell block through a hallway and this one was more heavily guarded. There were many more guards here who seemed to be holding a large group of prisoners at bay. Some guards had been overrun by prisoners using improvised weapons and then taken their guns. They all took cover behind a barricade and Cassian looked at one of the men who he seemed to recognise "Kino!" he called
"Andor." The man named Kino replied "I was wondering if you survived?" then he looked at Shepard "Who's this?"
"That's Commander Shepard." Andor replied "We have her to thank for helping us escape, she deactivated the floors here."
"Well it was Bau's idea to use the water." Shepard admitted
"Well thanks for disabling the security system." Kino thanked "But we still have swarms of guards here. They seem determined to protect whatever it was we've been building."
"Building?" Garrus questioned after he took cover from firing a volley of bullets from his assault rifle "What do you mean?"
"This isn't just a high security prison." Kino stated "This area is also a labour camp. The Blue Suns had us building some kind of machinery for the First Order. Those of us who were considered less important but labour worthy were used here." Then one of his men was shot and killed "Damn it, we can't get through all of these enemies, we don't have the weapons."
Shepard got out a large rocket launcher "Garrus, give me cover." She ordered
"On it." Garrus replied and then began firing his assault rifle to distract the guards. Then Shepard fired a rocket which created an explosion when it hit a gas tank and allowed Bau to use his sniper rifle to take out the remaining guards.
"Let's go." Shepard said "We can get back to the ship from here."
"Watch out though." Andor warned "That area leads to main control room."
"We have to get there and we can help free the remaining prisoners from there." Kino stated "But I bet Kuril's there waiting."
"Then we take him out as well." Shepard hissed "That bastard has to die for what he's done."
...
The entire force quickly entered the next room and quickly had to take cover when Kuril shot one of Kino's men with a sniper rifle and quickly took down several more who were unlucky enough to not being able to find cover fast enough "You're valuable Shepard, I could have lived like a king from collecting the reward on you. You and Jack, the First Order will pay me a fortune for just the two of you, I don't even need this station anymore."
Shepard narrowed her eyes "Not happening!" she growled "You're a two bit slave trader and I don't have time for this!"
"I do things that civil governments are unwilling to do!" Kuril growled "The First Order will usurer in a new era of law and order in a galaxy. This is for the good of the galaxy and if it means the galaxy losing a hero like you then so be it. Let's see just how you guys handle a new toy the First Order gifted me." Then as his guards gave him cover fire, he stepped into the back of the room and when the doors opened a massive two legged armoured walking tank. It had two large cannons on the front, a spinning machine gun on one side of the head and a grenade launcher on the other "Behold the All Terrain Scout Transport or ATST, you don't have anything that can take this baby out, especially with these shield generators." Several generators then created a powerful shield around the walker which not even Shepard's rocket launcher could penetrate. The shield did allow the walker to fire it's weapons at targets though. The powerful cannons were enough to destroy any cover that the men could find.
"We can't take this thing down!" Andor yelled "Not with that shield protecting it."
Shepard noticed the generators were vulnerable when they were not being defended "Baum use your sniper against those generators, take them out and the shield will be disabled."
"On it." Bau replied and quickly fired several powerful shots with his rifle taking out the generators and the shield came down. This allowed everyone to fire everything they had at the ATST but soon the shield came back on and they had to repeat the process again.
It was hard with more Blue Suns mercenaries coming from the nearby hallways to protect their leader though they were able to disable the walker's grenade launcher but the guns were still a problem. Eventually Garrus figured the Walker's weakness.
"Shepard, the joints where the legs connect seem to be a weak spot, when the shield comes down next time, fire everything we have at one leg and the walker won't be able to stand." He informed them.
"Good plan Garrus." Shepard replied and looked at everyone "Get ready."
Bau took the generators down again and then the shield once again came down and they all fired everything at one leg. There was a short circuit and the Walker began wobbling before collapsing to the side. The hatch opened and Kuril came out only for Andor to point a gun at him.
"Burn in hell you slaving motherfucker!" he hissed and then shot him in the head. Then he went over to the main console and began working on it "All security systems are disabled. Kino, all yours."
Kino went over to the microphone which broadcast around the station and after a few minutes of pause, he began to speak with encouragement from Andor "People of Purgatory, my name is Kino Loy, I'm speaking to you from the commander centre. We are at this moment in control of this base. Many of us have been called criminals by the new world order but that is not what many of us are. We are victims, people who wouldn't give up our land for the First Order, we are freedom fighters, political prisoners, and in some cases, terrorists but today none of that matters. We control our destiny, all the floors are cold, we have deactivated all the floors in this station, stop your work, get out of your cells, take charge and start climbing. They don't have enough guards to stop us now. We will never have a better chance than this and I will rather die taking them out than giving them what they've got. We know that just a few weeks ago, they fried a hundred men on level two all because, they are making up our sentences as they go, no one outside here knows what's happening. The First Order are the real criminals here and we must not give up, we must fight them and take back our worlds and spread the world. There is one way out, this station is ours, you need to run, climb and kill, we need to help each other. You help those who are confused, if we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out!"
All over Purgatory, the many different prisoners were attacking the remaining guards and making their way to their only hope of escape, the hanger.
"Good speech there." Garrus commented
"Indeed." Bau stated "As much as I hate Kuril I am a bit worried about releasing all those prisoners as some could be dangerous."
"Thankfully those ones were kept in Cyro." Andor stated "We'll leave them here. We'll destroy this base once we're done here."
"But how will you get out of here?" Shepard asked "We can't get you all out on our ship."
Andor smiled "Thankfully the Blue Suns have a load of transports here we can take. They don't have defences except for some fighters but they were meant to deal with small escapes, not an all out prisoner escape."
"Good luck and thank you." Kino said
"We should go, we have to find Jack." Shepard replied and she along with Bau and Garrus left leaving the rest of the prisoners to plan their own escape.
...
Shepard, Bau and Garrus caught up with Jack just as she made it to the docking station where the Normandy was. She quickly took out two guards with her force push but growled in anger and frustration when she saw the symbol on the Normandy which was the Cerberus logo. She didn't see the guard approaching her from behind but he was quickly shot by Shepard who lowered her pistol "What the fuck do you want?" Jack demanded
"The name's Commander Shepard." Shepard introduced herself "And I'm here to get you off this ship."
Jack scoffed "So you're the one that the First Order wanted so badly." She sneered "I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus and I don't trust Cerberus."
"Look, I'm here to ask for your help." Shepard stated "I know that you're a former First Order member and I'm trying to stop them but I need your help."
Jack snorted "You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere." She hissed "Do you think I'm stupid?"
"This ship is going down in flames thanks to you." Shepard stated "We're your last hope for you to get out of here alive. I know you have a past with Cerberus but I'm not a member of them. They're just the only ones taking the threat of the First Order seriously."
"And you don't think they're involved with the First Order?" Jack questioned
"Right now I don't know what to believe." Shepard admitted "Just listen to me please, I've seen what you can do, you clearly have no love for the First Order and you must know a lot about them. Join my team as a full ally and I can give you what you want."
Jack scoffed "Don't make promises you can't keep." She snorted "Your ship must have all sorts of Cerberus files which means they may have info about me, I want access to those files so I can see what they have on me."
Shepard nodded "Alright, I'll give you full access."
"Miranda not's going to like that." Garrus muttered
Jack just smirked "So why the hell are we still standing here." She said and the four of them went over to board the Normandy. Just as they undocked, they saw Purgatory beginning to break apart but saw a large amount of shuttles beginning to come away from the ship with the prisoners on board. Purgatory was finished.
...
Later on the Normandy, Jack, Shepard and Miranda where in the main meeting hall where Miranda was introducing herself "Welcome aboard the Normandy Jack." Miranda stated "I'm Miranda Lawson, second in command of this ship and we follow orders here."
Jack scoffed "Hey, tell your Cerberus cheerleader to back off, I'm here because of our deal."
Shepard nodded "Miranda will let you into the system." She stated "let me know what you find."
Jack gave a mocking smile to Miranda "You hear that precious, we're going to be friends, you me and every embarrassing little secret." She began to walk away "I'll be reading down in the hold, or somewhere near the bottom. I don't do well with a through traffic, keep your people off me, better that way." She then walked away leaving Miranda sighing in annoyance.
"If it weren't for the fact that she's a strong force user I would have said just forget about her." She stated "And I wish you could have told me earlier about your little deal Shepard."
"I needed her Miranda." Shepard stated "Not just because of her abilities but because of her knowledge of the First Order."
"Speaking of the team, the Illusive Man is preparing a big mission for us." Miranda stated "We should get the last member of the team and then we can strike at our first target."
"Warlord Okeer." Shepard stated "I've seen how strong a Krogan can be, he will be a valuable asset to us."
"My contacts say that he's on the planet Korlus in the Imir System." Miranda said "Although the Blue Suns also use that place as a training ground."
Shepard sighed "Those guys again, I hope that will be the last we see of them." She muttered "Set a course there."
"Understood Commander." Miranda stated
...
The Ileenium System was located in the Outer rim region of the Terminus System. The system was small with only three planets, one of which did sustain life but it was of little interest to colonists due to it's location but that made it the perfect hiding place for Rogue Squadron to set up their headquarters for their Resistance against the First Order. The planet D'Qar was a large jungle and forest planet with no intelligent native species and it had a huge ring of rocks which cast a shadow over the forests. The isolated planet was the location for the headquarters of Rogue Squadron where they would conduct their operations against the First Order. It was the main base but not the only one as the Resistance also had smaller bases on other small planets in the Terminus System.
The Resistance had quickly set up their base in a small valley and had used the nearby hills to create hangers for their fighters and bombers as well as creating a communication arrey to communicate with other bases. The headquarters was also very sophisticated to keep track of information that scouts had gathered. One thing the Resistance did not have was a clear leader, instead different leaders supported each other in coming up with plans and also to avoid any one person from having too much power or information if they were caught.
One of the senior leaders of the Resistance was Kaidan Alenko, he had been one of the people who set up this Resistance and many looked up to him as their leader. He walked around the base greeting people as they passed him which included a few familiar faces. His former pilot Luke Skywalker had joined the Resistance along with several of his childhood friends from Red Squadron which included Biggs, Wedge and Hobbie. Poe Dameron from Black Squadron had also joined and they were all in the middle of planning a big operation but Kaidan was waiting for one of his top scouts to return.
Eventually a shuttle landed and Kaidan walked over as the ramp lowered and Cassian Andor walked down followed by some of the other escaped prisoners.
"Andor, I was beginning to worry about you." Kaidan stated "I haven't heard from you in a while."
Andor sighed "I got caught and imprisoned on that private prison Purgatory." He replied "The First Order cut a deal with the Blue Suns branch to use it as a prison camp. They've been constructing something there but I don't know what. I also have information on Horizon, it seems the First Order has some kind of research base there but I don't know what they're researching, I got caught because Saw and his partisans decided to attack the relay system there. I got implicated in the attack."
"Well you're back now." Kaidan stated "If what the First Order is hiding on Horizon is so secret then we need to send a team there to find out what it is."
"I agree." Andor stated "But there's one more thing. You remember the rumours about your former commander."
"Shepard." Kaidan sighed "Yes, I heard she's still alive but is now with Cerberus, I don't want to believe it."
Andor sighed "Kaidan, the rumours are true." He replied "I saw her Kaidan, she was on Purgatory, she's the reason I was able to escape."
Kaidan shared a look of shock with Andor, his commander and lover was still alive but fighting for Cerberus. Kaidan had so many questions, how had she survived and also, why was she fighting for the enemy.
Chapter End:
Notes: Well here is the Jack recruitment mission and I did bring in a few changes. Jack will have some back-story involving the First Order which will be explained in future chapters but she will still have some involvement with Cerberus as well. I also brought in the prison escape sequence from the Andor TV series which was one of the best sequences I have seen. We have one more recruitment before the first main mission which will still take place on Horizon but will have some changes plus some details from Mass Effect 3's Horizon mission.