Chapter 35.
Harry was walking down the corridor of the liveship pondering his successes with the Quarian Admiralty. It hadn't been hard, the exchange Harry had been asked to broker had leaned heavily in their favor. The Alliance were not coming away from the deal empty handed though. The Quarians were a resourceful race, and an unassuming one, they had eyes and ears all over the Galaxy and were more than happy to trade a little bit of intel for a whole lot of Helium-3, repair parts, and safe harbor in Alliance space.
The Quarian admiralty had happily accepted this new diplomatic exchange with the Alliance as Tali's pilgrimage gift, by no small margin the most valuable one given by a pilgrim in decades, and after a ceremony Harry only vaguely understood but was happy to witness, Tali entered adulthood and was assigned as an assistant engineer to the Neema. Harry grinned when her new shipmates pulled her aside to admire her new headscarf. Harry predicted the Pennsylvania Amish would struggle to keep up demand with their new Quarian clientele. His train of thought was interrupted when he saw Jacob waiting at the open hatch of the Duukaarn looking gravely at him
"What's up, Jacob?" Harry asked.
"Come in and sit down, Harry." Jacob said. Harry frowned but acquiesced, boarding the ship and removing the helmet of his envirosuit.
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"The Normandy.. it was shot down by The Collectors over Alchera." Jacob said. Harry paled, his face going expressionless.
"Casualties?" Harry asked.
"Minimal, but... Harry, Commander Shepard didn't make it." Jacob said. The only indication that the news affected him was that the faint scent of ozone filled the air and his eyes glowed bright green for a moment. Harry looked at Jacob, his eyes dead and emotionless. He said nothing, instead, he walked rigidly to the helm and plotted in a course.
The trip to the citadel was a short one, just a couple of relay jumps away, however it felt like an eternity for Jacob and Miranda. Harry refused to respond to them, staring blankly at the ship's controls for the entire trip, navigating towards an empty berth and docking the shuttle without a word. Once the clamps were secured he spoke.
"Admiral Hackett is expecting you. He will hook you up with Alliance Intelligence. Work with them." Harry said without even looking up at him.
"Harry, I-" Jacob said but was interrupted.
"Go please." Harry said sharply. Jacob nodded and gathered his and Miranda's things before leaving They'd barely stepped off the ramp when the docking clamps disengaged and Harry piloted the shuttle away at maximum speed, ignoring the flight controllers yelling at him to slow down.
"Jacob, what's he going to do?" Miranda asked.
"I don't know for certain, but we need to talk to Hackett. If what I know about him is true, we can expect his reaction to be... significant." Jacob said.
Significant turned out to be an understatement. For a week nobody could find any trace of him, and that was not for a lack of trying. Alliance search parties consisting not only of military personnel not assigned to other duties, but volunteers as well, including a large number of Quarians scoured the galaxy and could find no trace whatsoever. Then the first debris field was discovered.
The Collectors were notoriously secretive in general, and jealously protective of their tech, so it was a surprise when a patrol traveling near the border between Alliance and Salarian space happened upon a derelict ship of unknown origin. A team was dispatched to board it, and what they found was disturbing. Dozens of insectoid bodies lay strewn about the interior of the ship, torn apart by both phyiscal means and magical. For the first time, the Citadel species had samples of collector tech and biology to examine, however the implications were concerning. The Collectors were formidable warriors, and their weapons and armor technology was far more advanced than even the Salarian Union's, and yet the evidence showed, that there had been only one assailant.
In addition to the wholesale slaughter of the crew they discovered several Humans, all of whim had been dead for weeks, long before the Collectors had been attacked, one of which had been in the process of being dissected when they were boarded. Forensic analysis of their computer suggested that a comprenehsive data dump had taken place shortly after the attack, and the assailant had left in a vessel of Elcor make immediately after.
A week later, six similar ships had been discovered, prompting the Citadel Council to put out an official warning to Human travelers to avoid space in which the Collectors had been known to operate, given the massive number of human bodies they'd been recovering. The public in general figured this was the act of some Human vigilante group, waging a campaign of revenge against the Collectors for attacking Humans, perhaps even Cerberus, but Harry's friends knew better. Revenge most certainly had been a factor, but each ship had been mined for data. Harry was not just attacking random Collectors, he was hunting them down.
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"You're sure this is him?" Aria T'Loak said, sitting cross-legged on her infamous couch, across from a masked Turian in blue armor who stood, his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.
"I'm positive. The magic is a good indication, the last ship showed evidence of what they call blasting curses applied to the outer hull." The Turian said. Aria grimaced.
"Leave us." Aria said to Bray and her body guard, who nodded and left without a word, closing the door behind them.
"Take off the mask, Vakarian." Aria said. Garrus shrugged and did as he was told, removing his helmet and tucking it under his arm.
"Do you have any way of contacting him?" Aria asked.
"I'm not positive. He has not been responding to my messages, but I'm almost positive he's reading them." Garrus observed.
"Send him a message then, tell him that Omega and all of its resources are at his disposal should he need them." Aria said. Garrus looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
"That's.. unexpected." Garrus said. Aria shrugged.
"His influence has greatly improved the lives of the people on this station, especially since acquiring ExoGeni and Binary Helix. My people owe him a great deal." Aria said. Garrus knew to not inquire further.
"Consider it done." Garrus said. Aria nodded.
"Oh, and that little spat between you and Eclipse? I've made a few calls. They will no longer be pursuing their little vendetta against you. I can't speak for the Suns or Blood Pack." Aria said.
"Eclipse was easily the worst of it, I appreciate it." Garrus said. Aria nodded and said nothing, and Garrus recognized that for the dismissal it was. He replaced his helmet and left, happy in the knowledge that his crew no longer had to look over it's shoulder as much as they had before. Eclipse mercs had a tendency of appearing out of nowhere and could hit hard and disappear without a trace. His friend Sidonis would be thrilled.
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"I need you to tell me one more time, and slowly please." Admiral Hackett asked over the vid call he'd received in his office from a frantic Liara.
"After I heard, I went to Alchera, simply to pay my respects. The forensics teams was just leaving as I jumped into the system. I landed and found the wreckage. When I arrived I was incapacitated by someone wearing cloaking armor, or perhaps that delusionment spell Harry used to use." Liara said.
"Disillusionment, and go on." Hackett corrected. Liara nodded.
"When I woke up, my assailant was gone, however they left a trail of footprints, Human, Asari or Batarian, I don't know which. Admiral Hackett.. I found this." Liara said, holding a scorched piece of armor that bore a damaged but clearly visible N7 logo.
"God." Hackett said.
"I couldn't find her body, I think she was taken." Liara said.
"Liara, where are you now?" Hackett asked.
"In my shuttle, on the way to Illium." Liara said.
"You're in Asari space right now?" Hackett asked.
"Yes, just crossed over." Liara said
"Go straight to Illium and find somewhere safe. The evidence is painting a rather dire picture in my head right now, and I believe you might be in danger." Hackett said.
"Admiral Hackett.. I'm reluctant to mention this, because I don't have evidence, but I suspect it was Cerberus." Liara added. Hackett nodded.
"That thought had crossed my mind as well. Cerberus and STG are fond of using cloaking armor, and you said the footprints were definitely not Salarian. I don't know what they're up to, but it's not good. Keep an eye out and stay safe." Hackett said.
"I will, thank you." Liara said.
"Hackett out." Hackett said, closing the connection. Liara slumped back in her seat, letting out a sigh. This was a new sensation for her, worrying after friends. She'd grown up so alone on Thessia, and was used to looking after herself, however since Harry rescued her from Therum, she'd had more friends than she knew what to do with. Her musing was cut short when in incoming call notification popped up on her omnitool. She gasped when she answered.
"Harry! You look dreadful..." Liara said.
"Liara, I need a favor." Harry said monotonously.
"What can I do?" Liara asked.
"I need everything you know about the Omega 4 relay." Harry asked.
"I'll send the notes I took when I was researching my book on the relay systems and their relation to the Prothean empire. It's not much but... wait!" Liara said, before running to the back of her shuttle and returning with a datapad. She scrolled through it and smiled when she found what she was looking for.
"Mother... well Aethyta I mean, knows several Matriarchs who work in the archives. The oldest records we have on the relays is held there, I'll ask her to see what she can dig up." Liara said.
"Thank you, Liara." Harry said, for the first time, expressing the faint echo of an emotion.
"Harry, we're all worried about you." Liara said.
"I'm sorry, Liara. I just.. I would not be very pleasant company right now." Harry admitted.
"I get it, Harry. You're grieving, we all are. Just.. you don't have to do this alone." Liara said. Harry smiled and nodded.
"I know, I'm just more effective on my own in this case." Harry said.
"Harry! I almost forgot to mention... I went to Alchera. I found this!" Liara said, taking the armor piece she'd shown Hackett. Harry paled, tears springing to his eyes.
"Was that.. God was that all that was left of her?" Harry asked.
"I don't think so. Before I found it I was knocked out by someone in cloaking armor. I think... I think someone took her. Admiral Hackett and I suspect it was Cerberus." Liara said.
"Harper..." Harry growled.
"I'll send anything I find to your omnitool, Harry. For now, you look like you need to rest. You won't do anyone good exhausting yourself." Liara said. Harry shrugged.
"I've been surviving off dreamless sleep potions since... since the attack." Harry said.
"You need real sleep Harry. Go on, get some rest. Once I get to Illium I'll reach out to some old contacts and see what I can dig up." Liara said.
"Right.. Thank you Liara." Harry said.
"You're welcome, Harry." Liara said. Harry disconnected the call and sighed. She'd been right, of course, walking around like a zombie, albeit one capable of slaughtering entire crews of Collectors, wasn't doing anyone any good. He was already concerned about the detachment he felt, at the lack of remorse at all of the killing he'd been doing. Perhaps he needed to slow down and recover. He landed his ship on an asteroid and powered everything down except life support before crawling into his cot and falling asleep.
He was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Dreamless sleep was not intended to be used the way Harry had been using it. In most cases, it would allow people who were lost in grief or recovering from trauma to have a break from it, to rest their bodies and some of their mind, but without REM Sleep, much of his brain was running on fumes. He fell into the familiar, comforting darkness of oblivion for only a moment before he collided roughly with cold, hard earth. With an effort he sat up, looking around and recognizing where he was immediately.
He found himself sitting up in front of a camp fire, being glared at by his oldest friend.
"Uh.. hi?" Harry said.
"Uh, hi? You ass. How long were you going to keep this up?!" Death demanded.
"I'm sorry! I was hurting, damnit!" Harry replied. Death rolled her eyes and stormed over, pulling him to his feet.
"She's not fucking dead you idiot!" Death shouted.
