A/N: Thank you gaara king of the sand and XxRebelBitchxX for the favourites and follows. I hope you're enjoying the story.
"Are you sure the two of us will suffice? We have no idea what's waiting for us down there Jacob."
"Trust me, Commander. There won't be any need for a fully armed squad. It's probably just a dusty pile of bones."
"If you say so." Kacey replied as the shuttle landed, "But in my experience nothing is ever that simple."
Kacey took a step outside; the scenery reminding her of Virmire. They had landed on a beach, near the wreck of the Hugo Gernsback. The ship was beyond salvageable; its hull was complete eroded thanks to the water. The place was picturesque, which made Kacey wonder why Aeia was an uncharted world.
"I have run a scan of the ship." EDI chimed, "I detect no life signs, but there may be useful technology or information still inside."
"There it is." Jacob said flatly, "And mostly intact. They could have survived the impact but…it's been years."
"Let's just have a look around before we jump to any conclusions." Kacey said before taking a closer look at the ship, "Huh, looks like it's been stripped in places."
"They'd probably did that so they could hold out until they could get the beacon up." Jacob mused.
Kacey looked around; the ship was massive in size once they were up close to it. She looked around the vicinity, no survivors. As she approached the small docking bridge, she saw a small device sitting on top of a few rusty crates.
"Jacob! Look." Kacey said as Jacob headed towards her. She played the only audio log that was not completely corrupted, a man's voice spluttered out.
"…along with this anymore. We've done horrible things to the crew, the condition they're in, they don't understand what we're doing to them. Distract them for two seconds and they forget what you did before the bruises show. It's got to stop. I'm talking to the others as soon as—"
It was cut off. And what she heard was unsettling, her mind racing as to what the man in the audio recording was referring to. She had a gut feeling; one that knew what the man was possibly referring to. But she didn't want to think about it.
"What happened on that planet was the most horrific thing I had ever saw up until that point. Only the Reapers and the Collector Base were worse but they're in a league of their own."
Kacey entered the ruined decayed ship, the smell of rotten metal filled the air as she drew close. She then found another audio log that was partially corrupted and played it, a different man's voice played, one that sounded much more sinister.
"…always said no. She even threated a report if I didn't stop sending messages. But now she's so innocent. They all are. And that look she gives me when she smiles…it's sure easier now. What's the harm? We're stuck here any—"
Kacey felt sick; the recording seemed to confirm what she had initially suspected. And she knew that if she ever came across the person in the audio log, she was going to blow their head off with her shotgun.
"That man isn't referring to what I think he's referring to." Kaidan asked.
"Depends. What do you think?" Kacey asked.
"They didn't…"
Kacey came across another audio log and played it; this time a woman's voice played through the device.
"…crash you can't expect the luxury of due process, but this isn't a military ship. Just bumping up the command line a notch doesn't work. Captain Fairchild knew this crew. His replacement doesn't command the same level of respect. I'm hoping the man has it in him, but I doubt—"
Kacey didn't know what to make of the audio logs. The content, however brief, was disturbing to say the least. Whatever happened here, it was fucked up, and Kacey wanted to know why.
Jacob was standing in the doorway to the ship, lost in thought. Kacey didn't know what to think or what to say about the situation: it was fucked up, that much was certain. Jacob shrugged his shoulders, turned, and walked off, with Kacey close behind.
It was hard to understand Jacob; even harder to read him. Kacey would say that she always decent at reading people. She wasn't perfect but she was still better that some. But Jacob's expression was hard to read. She could understand that the small snippets from the audio logs were hard to digest, she felt sick thinking about them, but she couldn't understand Jacob's desire to see a nothing more than bones sticking out of the ground.
"Override: Beacon resumed. Pause time, eight years, two-hundred and thirty-seven days, seven hours." The beacon's VI said upon Kacey's approach. The pair looked at each other, suspicious.
"From the look of it, this beacon's been here awhile." Kacey mused, "Why wait years to signal?"
"Pause in beacon protocol: eight years, two-hundred and thirty-seven days, seven hours." The VI repeated, "Pause is recorded as [RECORD DELEATED] by Acting Captain Ronald Taylor."
"That's not right." Jacob spoke up, confused, "My father was first officer."
"Jacob, that audio log with the woman in it," Kacey said with realisation, "it mentioned that there was a new captain."
"Ronald Taylor was promoted under emergency command protocols." The VI clarified, "Other flagged issues: unsafe deceleration. Local food and neural decay. Beacon activation protocols."
"Why wasn't the beacon activated before now?" Kacey asked the VI.
"This emergency beacon became functional after three-hundred and fifty-eight days, twelve hours, following the unscheduled suborbital descent of the Hugo Gernsback." The VI explained, "Activation was triggered remotely after eight years, two-hundred and thirty-seven days, seven hours on the authority of Acting Captain Ronald Taylor. Pause in beacon protocol is recorded as: [RECORD DELEATED]."
"Well, that doesn't sound suspicious at all." Kacey mused.
Jacob looked at Kacey, slight concern in his eyes, "Why would my father wait over eight years to signal for help, and delete beacon records?"
"My guess is that he's got something to hide." Kacey mused before turning her attention back to the beacon, "Who was in command of this ship? Where are the survivors?"
"Captain Harris Fairchild reported killed following unscheduled suborbital descent. First Officer Ronald Taylor promoted in field to acting captain."
"But where is he now?" Jacob said through gritted teeth.
"The location of the remaining crew of the Hugo Gernsback is unknown." The VI confirmed, "This beacon has been unattended for several maintenance cycles."
"You said something about how the local food impairs brain functions?" Kacey questioned.
"Impairment of mental functions due to chemical imbalance begins within seven days of ingesting local flora, regardless of decontamination or preparation." The VI said, "Impact on higher cognitive abilities and long-term memory is cumulative, but significant within a standard month. It is not known if neural decay is permanent. Data collection was not completed."
"Right. We better get moving." Kacey said heading further down the shore.
"I still don't understand." Jacob mused, "My father had a working beacon but didn't signal for almost nine years. Maybe…that neural decay affected him."
"Maybe. I doubt they had ten years' worth of food stashed in there." Kacey replied.
"It was hard to tell what was going on inside his head. You think that he'd be a bit more…concerned about his father. For the time I had known Jacob up to that point, he was a pretty level-headed person. Closed off, but comparably sane compared to some members of our dysfunctional squad. But because of that, he seemed to almost…lack emotion."
Kacey observed the shoreline as she walked along, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements. She had no idea what to say to Jacob, or even how to keep a conversation going.
In a few ways, Jacob reminded her of Kaidan; a mostly sane individual who was level-headed and followed Alliance regs down to the letter. Jacob might be with Cerberus, but he still followed Alliance protocols. But in many more ways, the pair were much more different. Kaidan's silence was usually attributed to him being observant; the sentinel had a knack for pointing out small details. Things that Kacey would typically miss because she usually shot first, and asked questions later. But Jacob didn't have that. It seemed his silence was a way to keep Kacey at arm's length or further. She didn't quite understand why.
The tension was broken by the appearance of a young woman, possibly in her twenties, running towards Kacey after popping out from behind the nearby crates. The young woman had short black hair and looked a bit underweight. She ran towards Kacey, her eyes wide with amazement.
"You came? From the sky?" She said with surprise and glee, "The leader said someone would come! He delayed for so long, but he still has power! Some have lost faith. The hunters! They will have seen your star. They will not let you help him.".
Kacey looked at the woman confused; her words made little sense and the structure of her sentences didn't sound right.
"What are you talking about?" Kacey asked, "You're not making sense."
"She was one of many affected by that neural decay. The weird speech patterns? The odd words? Caused by the local flora. She was confused. Dazed. Her words were taken away."
The woman closed her eyes, trying desperately to think, "I…I, uh…I don't remember how to say it. He's our leader, and we serve so…we can go home. But some want to fight him. They were—they were cast out."
The woman sounded hesitant; unsure. Kacey heard movement from behind the woman as she continued.
"He exiled them, so…they hunt his machines and those who help him. They don't believe that rescue will come."
"Watch out!" Kacey said as she saw a man pop out from behind the crates furthest away and opened fire on the pair.
"Hunters!" The woman said, dazed and distraught, "They won't stop until the leader is dead!"
"Kill them!" One of the hunters shouted, "Agents of the liar! He will not escape!"
"Still sure that we didn't need a fully armed squad, Jacob?" Kacey said.
The fight was over quickly; the hunters didn't have good aim nor did their outdated weapons match the newer ones that Kacey and Jacob had. Couple that with the grenade launcher and Jacob's biotics and the fight was skewed completely in their favour.
Unfortunately, Kacey couldn't get anything else out of the young woman; she was still talking crazy, and Jacob firmly believed that his father wouldn't let anything like this happen. But she wasn't so sure. She wasn't going to rule him out, not yet.
They approached what looked to be and encampment up ahead; and Kacey already didn't like the sight of it. She held her rifle closely, on edge. Her gut was telling her that something wasn't right.
"They have the same uniform as the hunters." Kacey mused, "But they're not aggressive. And they're all women. I wonder if it affects the genders differently. Make males more violent."
"Maybe." Jacob replied, "But it doesn't matter right now. One of these people must know what my father has to do with this!"
"You have his face!" One woman said in fear, upon seeing Jacob, "He promised to call the sky, but he sends nothing!"
"He forced us to eat…to decay." Another woman said, "You are cursed with his face!"
"Yeesh, not the best reaction to the family resemblance, Jacob." Kacey said.
"Why would my father force his crew to eat toxic food?" Jacob mused, "Whatever's happening here needs to stop."
"It was horrific. They whispered amongst themselves, scared of Jacob. Scared of their captain. A statue was in the centre of the encampment; it looked like it was there for worship."
Kacey moved through the camp, avoiding the questionable gazes of the woman while Jacob tried hard to avoid the scared looks, they gave him. Kacey felt bad for Jacob; nobody should have to hear that.
However, her line of thought was broken by the sound of mechs. Kacey held on tightly to her pistol as she heard them getting closer.
"Your captain demands obedience. Weapons are forbidden." The LOKI mech said.
With little effort, Kacey shot the heads of the trio of mechs within three shots. She then pressed on forward along the coastline, looking for any sign of the supposed captain.
"So, he has mechs kill them if they're disobedient?" Kacey mused, "What the actual fuck?"
"Well, that would make them all hate him." Jacob mused, "But maybe it was just for defence."
"How is killing your own crew just for defence?"
Jacob remained quiet, letting the question hang in the air. Kacey could see why; she empathised with Jacob a lot more than she initially thought. And while her own father never did anything this horrific, she understood Jacob's desire to distance himself and bury his head into the sand.
"You…have his face." A woman with short hair said as the pair turned the corner, "But you fight his…machines. You might stop this. This…I forget how to…read, but this…was the start. What he promised, and what they did to us. We need the sky. Take us back to the sky."
She slowly backed away after handing Jacob a datapad. She looked scared, and as Jacob read the datapad, his face grew grim.
"Horrific. I just wanted to kill the bastard. What happened to the crew of the Hugo Gernsback was horrifying."
"Jacob? What does it say?" Kacey asked.
"It's a crew logbook." Jacob explained, "Some of them thought the beacon repair was taking too long. They were afraid they'd run out of supplies and lose their minds to the decay. My father restricted the ship food for himself and the other officers so they wouldn't be affected. Everybody else had to eat the toxic food and hope for treatment later. The rest is a casualty list. A few mutinied over the decision. My father and the officers turned the mechs on them."
"He wasn't command material and it got to him. He must've cracked under that pressure." Kacey replied, "Couldn't keep the crew in line without violence."
"It didn't stop there." Jacob added, "More incidents, harsh punishments. It's like they were cattle. Or toys. In a year, all the male crew members are flagged as either exiled or dead. They separated out the women. Assigned them to officers like pets. After the beacon was fixed, the officers appear in the casualties too. After! My father took control and didn't stop it."
"Does it say why he separated out the men and women?" Kacey asked, "Or is it as bad as it seems?"
"No, it turns to gibberish." Jacob answered, "Maybe the men got violent early on, but from the state of this place, I'd say the hunter thing is recent. What he allowed here, Shepard…I don't see any justification."
"Do you see an explanation for this? He's your father, Jacob?
"Is he?" Jacob said angrily, "None of this fits. Maybe the initial decision, but the rest? Abuse of power doesn't get clearer than this. I need to find this man."
…
Kacey and Jacob moved further along the path, which headed away from the shoreline. Kacey was disgusted by what they had found here and would've gladly shot the 'captain' without hesitation. But she knew that she couldn't stoop to such a level.
They encountered more mechs along the path and opened fire, their upgraded gear, courtesy of Mordin, doing wonders against the machines. Kacey fired off a concussive shot as someone spoke through their comms.
"This is Captain Ronald Taylor. Thank god you're here! My crew went insane. I only just got free!"
"Just got free?" Jacob scoffed, "He's covering his lying ass."
"I had to keep them busy, distracted." Taylor said, "But it's getting dangerous. Thank god you've come!"
"He's had his fun and now he wants out. Son of a bitch."
Kacey ignored Taylor's comments through the radio; the sick bastard was going to get what he deserved, no matter how he tried to spin it. As they arrived in front of a well-fortified area, Taylor radioed again, as more mechs and even a few of the crew members arrived on the scene.
"It took years to train my guards. I'm afraid you'll have to fight them to rescue me."
"Throwing people away." Jacob said angrily, "This thing is not my father!"
Fighting off the guards and mechs was probably the most straightforward fight Kacey had fought in a while. The accuracy of the guards was terrible, and it was easy for the pair to exploit. The only trouble the received was from the two YMIR mechs.
They both took one on each as the giant mechs stomped towards them. Kacey whittled away at the shields with her disrupter ammo before switching to the inferno ammo to shoot fiery concussive shots at the mech, which exploded in a big ball of glorious fire. She fired a few towards the second mech as Jacob managed to finish it off.
"Enough with the toys." A furious Jacob said as he headed towards the gate, "I need to look my father in the eye and hear him justify this."
They headed through the gate and up towards a large shelter that was in a better condition than the one for the crew. Taylor was by the balcony that overlooked the ocean nearby, unaware of their arrival until their footsteps caught his attention.
"You're here!" He said, "I knew a real squad would blow through just fine. Sorry if the mechs scuffed your pads."
It had appeared to Kacey that he had addressed his words to her, but she simply walked past, ignoring the 'butter wouldn't melt' act and leaned over the balcony.
"I'll get you something nice when we get back to Alliance space." He continued, "I've got to have some back pay coming."
He sounded sleazy and it was staring to make Kacey slightly uncomfortable. She still had her pistol gripped tightly in her hands; Taylor took a few steps towards her, and Kacey was ready to shoot, but thankfully, Jacob spoke up.
"What about your crew, Acting Captain?" Jacob said with bitter contempt.
Taylor took a few steps back from Kacey as he turned to face Jacob, "Total loss. The toxic food turned them wild. They propped me up here in some kind of ritual behaviour. Waiting for a chance to signal has been hell."
Jacob scoffed, "That's the best you can do?"
Taylor turned his attention back to Kacey, "You let all your people talk back like that…uh…who are you, exactly?"
"I'm Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy." Kacey turned, arms crossed, "I believe you are acquainted with Mr Taylor."
"Taylor? Jacob?" Taylor turned to see Jacob right behind him, "No, not Jacob."
"Why not me?!" Jacob said furious, "Would ten years of this look better to anyone else in the galaxy?"
"You have to understand. This isn't me." Taylor said, "The realities of command, they change you. I wasn't ready for that. I made sure you were taught right. Before I left. I had hoped to leave it at that."
Kacey shook her head and scoffed; it was bullshit. And it appeared that Jacob didn't truly believe it either.
"I'm not unreasonable, Captain." Kacey said sternly, "But ten years? What happened?"
"Goddammit, why did you do this to your crew?!" Jacob shouted.
"There was resistance to the plan. Mutiny. We had to take a hard line to keep order." Taylor explained, "And things settled down. As the decay set in, we made sure the crew were comfortable. Some even seemed happier. Ignorance is bliss, right? And they were grateful for guidance, like an instinct. Pure authority was…easy. At first. Months in, the effect lowered inhibitions. They got territorial: Rank, protocol…they couldn't understand. We had to establish dominance. After a while the perks seemed…normal."
"That's it?" Jacob snapped, "You created a harem and played king? Ten years in a juvenile fantasy?"
"I can't point to where it all went wrong. But when the beacon was ready, revealing what happened didn't seem like a good idea."
"You don't take any responsibility for what happened, do you?" Kacey said firmly, "You didn't even feel any responsibility to get out here for the sake of family, do you?"
"I gave him a good start." Taylor deflected, "He was a smart kid and was better off not following me. We figured that out a long time before I took jobs in deep space. And after things escalated here, it seemed best to just disappear off the galactic map."
Jacob scoffed, "Until you needed someone to save your ass."
"We need to start getting everyone out of here and hopefully this neural decay isn't permanent." Kacey said.
"He's not even worth the fuel to haul him out, or the air he's breathing." Jacob said pointing his pistol at his father, "He's dammed lucky I don't even think he's worth pulling the trigger! I don't know who you are. Because you're not the father I remember."
"We'll secure him for an Alliance court." Kacey said, "For every year here, he'll have ten to think about it."
"Give him all the time in the galaxy." Jacob said, "The man who did this doesn't know right from wrong."
"I'm sorry Jacob." Taylor apologised, "I did the best I could."
"I'm ten years past believing that."
…
"Alliance ships are inbound to secure Captain Taylor and his crew, Commander." Joker said over the intercom, "We'll be long gone by the time they get here."
"Don't even give them the taillights." Kacey said as she headed towards the Briefing Room.
"Roger that."
As Kacey headed into the Briefing Room, she saw Jacob on the interface, talking to the Illusive Man. She rolled her eyes before joining them.
"What do you mean, it wasn't you?" Jacob asked.
"Jacob, if I had leaked the information about the Gernsback, I would be smiling at your resolution of the situation. I am not smiling."
Kacey snickered. The Illusive Man glared at her as he asked, "What is so amusing to you, Commander?"
"Oh nothing." Kacey said calmly, "I just see that you're still toying with us."
"Don't act like you know anything about me, Shepard." The Illusive Man snapped back, "I had no more reason to believe Jacob's father was alive than he did. But I'm happy to know that the situation is behind you."
"Fine. You didn't forward it." Jacob said, "So who did?"
"I did." Miranda said as she joined the call.
"Of course you did." Kacey mused, "Who else to get into Cerberus channels."
"It was hardly classified." Miranda replied, "Just obscure. There was a time when it mattered to you. Sending this along seemed like keeping an old promise. I keep my promises."
"Miranda, we'll discuss your liberal interpretation of security protocol in private." The Illusive Man said, "Shepard, Jacob."
The call ended, much to Kacey's relief. As Miranda left, Kacey turned to face Jacob.
"You had no idea Miranda was behind this?" She said.
"No. She's got a good memory." Jacob replied, "Selective, but good. I haven't thought about those days in a long time. Can't figure which promise she meant though. Not sure I really want to know. She…requires a better man than I. Shepard? Thanks for the help."
"Anytime Jacob."