Chapter 45

Medical Lab – Weyrloc Facility – Tuchanka

Mordin sat staring at the data as it scrolled across the screen. Shepard watched him, wondering if he was taking in the data at all or if he was just deep in thought. But she didn't have long to wait for her answer. "Yanis Syndrome. Multiple embryos in womb dissolved and reabsorbed by one embryo. Clever…"

"What does that mean exactly?" asked Shepard curiously. She had heard of Yanis syndrome before, but wasn't sure how it related to Maelon's experiments.

"Similar to human Vanishing Twin Syndrome. Maelon isolated gene mutation of one krogan. Gene mutation causes breakdown of multiple embryos, adds their data to another embryo in womb," he said as he tapped his chin. "Clever thought experiment. However, genophage still active in host with mutation. Only one or two children born, both subject to random genophage infant mortality. No way around it. Would cause krogan extinction if implemented."

"Sorry, are you saying that even if Maelon completed his experiments, he wouldn't have helped them?" asked Shepard, slightly bewildered at the claim.

"Unfortunate. Went down wrong road to getting around genophage. Sound design though. Would solve krogan population imbalance if genophage ever cured," he said as he downloaded the entirety of the database onto a single datacard.

"What are you going to do with the information?" asked Shepard as she finally stopped leaning against one of the medical beds and stood up straight.

Mordin took the card from the slot and stared at it for a long moment. "Might be useful. Not worth the death and torture. But could help in future."

"Are you going to consider curing the genophage?" asked the spectre, knowing it was a sensitive topic. But she needed his head to be clear, and it wasn't going to be if he kept coming back to this issue.

"Don't know, Shepard," he said, turning around and sighing heavily as he gazed at the krogan women who were still sedated on the tables. "So much pain and anguish. Hard to see benefit of genophage when you are forced to see suffering. Should have had both in mind when working on modification. But… as they said."

"You never saw the suffering of the krogan up close. You just worked on it in the lab and distributed it, then moved on," said Shepard, getting a nod from the doctor.

"Was puzzle, problem for the galaxy. Wanted to be hero, wanted to solve puzzle. Stimulate mind. Never considered what it actually did to krogan. Or rather, never considered how it harmed krogan. Only saw how it helped galaxy," he said as he stepped up to one of the sleeping krogan women and stared down at her face. "People, not numbers."

"Words to remember when you're asked to solve another problem by the Council or anyone else," said the redhead as she gently patted him on the back. Finally, she turned to the krogan man who looked at them groggily. "And who are you."

"Scout… Urdnot," he said in a haze. "Where did he go? He was going to cure the genophage."

"Is that why you're here, to help him?" asked Shepard, getting a nod from the large man. "So, you're a traitor then?"

"No!" he snapped in a panic. "Was captured… experimented on. Wanted to help cure genophage. It's… the best I can do."

"The best you can do?" asked Shepard with a shrug. "Best you can do at what?"

"I was weak. Got caught. Used in experiments," said the krogan man as he stared down at his feet in shame. "I was weak enough to get caught, so at least I can be helpful in curing the genophage."

Shepard sighed to herself before crossing her arms. "Get up!" she snapped angrily. After staring in shock at the boom of her voice, the krogan did as he was told and jumped off the medical bed and onto his feet. "Stop asking for pity. Are you a krogan?"

"I am krogan…" he said in confusion.

"I asked if you were a krogan! Are you a krogan or are you not?" she shouted louder.

He growled menacingly before punching one hand into his palm. "I AM krogan!" he shouted back at her.

"Good! Then stop feeling sorry for yourself and get the hell back to Camp Urdnot!" she ordered as she pointed towards the door.

He stomped towards the door with new fire in his veins. "I AM krogan!" he shouted again before leaving. "I'll prove it to everyone! Damn human!"

Shepard shook her head as she looked over at the women on the tables. "We'll need to call Wrex and have him come pick them up. They seem to be the only survivors of Maelon's brutality."

"Would appreciate it. Will offer to check on them later. Least I could do since he's my student," said Mordin as he and Shepard walked out of the room together.

"Look, you don't understand, I can't!" said Ash with loud exasperation.

Shepard eyed her before realizing that the remaining Blood Pack were now gathered around her. "Any trouble?" asked Shepard before she realized that Zaeed and Jack were over snickering in the corner. "What the hell is going on?"

Ash sighed and turned to Shepard with a look pleading for help. "Apparently the succession of the Blood Pack warlord title is passed through victory in combat. So, they're now trying to make me the leader of the Blood Pack!"

"I don't know many krogan that would like that," said Shepard as she eyed the few in the room.

"Krogan respect power. She showed not only courage in her challenge, but great power in taking down Guld," said the spokesperson from before. He was a krogan, smaller than most with a lighter, almost husky feminine voice. But his clothing marked him as a man among krogan.

"So… Ashley is the new Blood Pack leader?" asked Shepard with a grin spreading on her face.

"Not you too," groaned the spectre as she glared at Shepard.

"Until she is killed," said the krogan spokesman.

"Wait, but when Garm was killed on Omega, the title was passed to Guld…" the spectre said, trying to understand how the line of succession worked. "But Garm wasn't killed by Guld. He was killed by Archangel. Wouldn't that mean that Archangel was the new leader?"

"Archangel was a turian. And turians are barred from joining the blood pack," said the krogan as Zaeed also added his input.

"Technically all species are supposed to be barred except krogan and vorcha. But only technically. They never added humans to the list of barred species because of how new they are to the galaxy. So, the ruling stands," said the mercenary from his position in the corner.

"When Garm was killed, it was passed to his second in command, his brother Guld because of the law against turians. But now Guld has been killed by a human," said the krogan as he turned to Ash. "What are your orders, warlord?"

"My first order is to stop calling me that," she groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just tell me how I can get out of this."

"By dying," said the krogan simply.

"Besides that!" growled the spectre before Shepard stepped over and gripped her shoulder.

Ash eyed her curiously as she pulled her into a whisper. "You know, you could make the best of things for now," she said with a grin.

"How?" asked the former marine as she crossed her arms.

"Think about it. We need help fighting the collectors, and help fighting the reapers. If we can get the gangs in on the action, then we'd have a lot more people at our backs," said Shepard with a shrug. "It's your choice."

Ash sighed to herself before throwing her hands up. "Fine!" she shouted before turning to the krogan. "I'm not staying on Tuchanka or Omega. I'm travelling with her." She set the short krogan with a glare. "And we're going to amend the rules that say the leader can't retire. I live for maybe another hundred years. You all need a leader that will last."

"Understood, ma'am," said the krogan as the other two nodded. The vorcha, to their credit, seemed to understand what was going on.

"Now, how many of Clan Weyrloc are in the Blood Pack?" asked Ash curiously as she no doubt saw how she could use the power to benefit them.

"Well… all of them, warlord," said one of the krogan. "Though, most of our clan's men were here, so they're all dead or gravely injured."

"Go back to your camp and gather everyone in the clan, then travel to Camp Urdnot. Join your clan to his," she ordered as she crossed her arms. As if controlled by her words, the three krogan moved with a purpose with the crowd of vorcha following in their wake. When they were finally gone, she reached up and rubbed her head. "I can't believe this is happening to me…"

Zaeed patted her on the back. "No worries, lass. Running a gang of mercenaries isn't as hard as it sounds," he said before eyeing Shepard with a hard stare.

"Let's just get back to Camp Urdnot," said Shepard with a sigh. "Call Wrex and have him send someone to pick the remaining women here up, as well as the men who survived the explosion."

Camp Urdnot – Tuchanka

"Ah, Shepard. It isn't a true battle with you until you've done unfathomable amounts of property damage," said Wrex with a laugh as the spectre stepped into the krogan parliament again. Once again the room was empty of everyone except Wrex and a few nearby krogan; one of which was the shaman from before their trial. "I could see the smoke cloud you left from the arena. Heh."

"You know how it is, Wrex. Someone gets in my way, I rip the earth open with my bare hands to swallow them," she said with a smirk as she crossed her arms. "I heard you sent people to pick up those who survived."

"They'll be there in minutes. I've allowed use of the airship to get them," he said as he tapped the arm of his chair. "On that note, I hear that we have a new Blood Pack leader."

"Ash took the role under duress. She didn't realize the lineage of the Blood Pack was through literal blood," said Shepard with a shrug. "On the upside, whatever is left of Clan Weyrloc is coming to join you soon."

"Good to hear," said Wrex with a low rumble. She couldn't tell for sure, but it sounded like he wasn't thrilled about the clan joining. Suddenly, the large doors on the other side of the room burst open and Grunt strolled in with a large grin on his face.

Shepard turned to him with a smile. "Back already? How was it?"

"Shepard! Why didn't you tell me sex felt that good!?" he asked, causing her brows to shoot up.

Wrex began chuckling under his breath as she shook her head. "I… guess I figured you already knew. But then… why would you?" Realizing you couldn't imprint the feeling of sex into someone's mind with pictures, she looked back up to him. Then again, she didn't know whether krogan found sex pleasurable like humans did anyway. "I assume you had fun then?"

"Yeah!" he shouted but stopped as his stomach churned with a loud noise. "Now I'm hungry as a varren."

"Wrex, go get him something to eat. I've gotta go meet with the worst person in the galaxy," she said with a playful grin.

"You can't order me around anymore, Shepard! I'm the boss here!" said Wrex as he pointed his digit at her with a challenging grin on his face.

She turned and furrowed her brows, fixing him with a stern stare. "Wrex…"

"Shepard." Finally, he sighed to himself and stood up. "Fine. But I'm only doing this because he's the newest member of the clan. Let's go, whelp!" he shouted, waving for Grunt to follow him.

QEC – SSV Normandy SR2

She stood in the QEC scanner for a few moments before the familiar room materialized in front of her, showing the man sitting in his chair. "Shepard."

"What have you got for me. Miranda said it was pretty urgent," said Shepard with her arms crossed.

"She's correct," he said as he pulled his lighter and another cigarette up. "We picked up a distress call from a turian patrol unit in the Terminus Systems. They work for a volus mining company and were doing routine patrols when they discovered a familiar sight," he said as he hit a button on his chair. Immediately, the image of the collector ship popped up. It was horribly scarred on the outside from the defense weapons of the colony and looked to be without power.

"It's dead in the water?" she asked as her brow rose. Immediately, her instincts were on high alert. Something wasn't right about this.

"It looks like it. But if I know you, then I know you're too smart to believe that," he said as he lit the cigarette and blew out a cloud of the toxic air. "We both know this is a trap."

"If the collector's ship was damaged to the point of losing power, they'd have travelled back through the Omega 4 Relay instead of to the ass end of the galaxy," she said as she scratched her chin. "So, what's it doing?"

"I believe it may be trying to bait you in," he said as he stared at her solemnly. "Shepard, if we are going to have any hope of getting information on the reapers, we need on board that ship. Their ship has the information we need to go beyond the Omega 4 Relay, and that's information we need if we hope to ever stop them for good. And I think they know that, and are counting on that."

She glared at him tiredly. "And here's the part where you say that I should walk into it anyway?"

"It may be our only hope. With the collectors hiding behind the Omega 4 Relay, we have no way of finding them or their homeworld, assuming they have one. And with their involvement with the reapers, we'll never find out how intertwined the two are. We need the information aboard that ship," he said firmly as he puffed again. "I'm more than trusting that you're capable of getting yourself out of there in one piece."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said sarcastically as she ran a hand through her hair. "Why are they trying to bait me? Is it because they wanted my corpse before?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps they're just luring you in to get rid of you once and for all. They have to know we're after them and would jump at the opportunity to infiltrate their ship," he said as he drummed his fingers thoughtfully. "They suffered a heavy blow on Horizon and haven't attacked any colonies since. They may believe that they have to take care of you before they proceed with anymore plan of harvesting. This may just be their desperate attempt to take you out so they can continue with their work."

"They obviously have something set up to keep me from getting out. But we have something they couldn't anticipate," said Shepard as she looked up at him with a stern stare. He gave her a questioning look before she gave her answer. "EDI."

"EDI is hardlocked to the Normandy. What are you suggesting?" asked the man suspiciously.

"Give me the codes to release restrictions on her. We make a small copy of her to take aboard the ship, then have her infiltrate their computers and scour the ship for the data we need," she said as she crossed her arms.

"Are you sure this isn't some attempt to get the last vestige of my presence on the Normandy out?" he asked, almost seeming amused.

"EDI is my crew member. However much control you think you have of her, I wouldn't put her in any more danger than the rest of the crew unless it were necessary," said Shepard firmly as she pointed at him for emphasis. "If I wanted you 100% gone from my ship, I'd get rid of you rather than her."

He gave her what seemed like a genuine smile, no doubt born of confidence that he was safe even from her. "I can't tell if this is some half-baked attempt to get access to EDI's secret files or if you're being genuine. But the fact is that you're right. Legion, while having similar abilities, doesn't have nearly the processing power as EDI, and wouldn't be able to get the information we needed nearly as quickly."

"Then you know we need her," said Shepard with a glare. "If I fly aboard that ship and they slam a bulkhead closed behind me, we need someone or something stopping them from killing me and my team in a trash compactor."

"An apt reference," he said in amusement before releasing another cloud of toxic smoke. "Alright, Shepard. I've trusted you this far, and I'm going to trust you again. But despite your previous interactions with AI, you know the consequences of fully unleashing one as powerful as EDI. As much as you may trust it, you can't give it the opportunity to break that trust."

"If I recall, only one person in the galaxy has managed to become an ally to fully sentient artificial intelligences," she said with a piercing look. "I know what I'm doing. You just send me the release codes so that EDI can give us a copy of herself."

"You have my warning and my blessing both. Do with them what you will to get the job done, Shepard," he said before the scattering of lights vanished again.

AI Storage – SSV Normandy SR2

"You're out of your damn mind," growled Joker as he watched from behind her.

"Joker, I'm not releasing her to take over the ship. I'm just allowing her to make a copy of herself. If we have any hope of survival aboard the collector vessel, then we're going to need her assistance," said Shepard with a smirk as she began typing away at a terminal next to EDI's bluebox.

"Yeah, you say that. But type one wrong letter and all the sudden it's all hasta la vista Joker and I get spaced out the airlock," he growled as he crossed his arms, almost pouting.

EDI's holographic form popped up next to them. "I wouldn't open the airlock with you in the cockpit, Mr. Moreau, as long as you kept it clean." Joker immediately gave the AI a perturbed look. "That was a joke."

"Yeah, don't quit your day job," grumbled the pilot as he watched Shepard do her work. He eyed Shepard's wrist as she typed away. "How many omni-tools do you have, anyway? You have one for your own work, one for combat, one for Legion, and now one for EDI. Like, are all of these a tax writeoff?"

Shepard snorted at the question. "I did some advertising for Polaris and their HMOT brands for military use. They struck a deal with the Alliance and Citadel, and now I basically get free omni-tools and upgrades for life," she said as she looked over at him. "Want one?"

"Yeah, thanks anyway. I don't exactly need my omni-tool firing explosives or electrocuting me when I go to take a piss," he said as he rolled his eyes.

"Your loss," said Shepard with a chuckle before she finally finished. "Alright EDI, one copy and send them to this omni-tool. Once we're back from the collector ship, we'll reintegrate her with your system."

"Understood, Spectre," said EDI as data began to filter into the omni-tool. "Unfortunately, my sense of humor wouldn't be able to fit on the omni-tool, so you'll have to do without aboard the collector vessel."

"We'll survive somehow," said Shepard with a grin as she held up the omni-tool and activated it. "Ready?"

"Ready and waiting for instruction, spectre," said the much smaller version of EDI on the omni-tool as the tiny holographic figure popped up there as well.

"Good. Let's get going before they decide to quit waiting for us," she said as she turned to Joker. "You stay out of the system until the last few moments. We don't want them immediately activating and trying to destroy the Normandy again."

"Don't gotta tell me twice," he said as he shook his hands anxiously. "But let me know as soon as you need extraction. I refuse to lose you to them again."

Shepard felt her heart moved by his words and she gave him a genuine smile before nodding. "Thanks, Joker. I know you wouldn't leave me behind."

The next few minutes were a flurry of hustle aboard the ship. Crew members were going on about their work with a new air of worry on their faces. Even her ground crew had a more serious tone to their movements at the news that they'd be boarding what was essentially a giant collector trap. Shepard made her way down to the shuttle bay with Lia, allowing the quarian to explain to her the new additions.

"The good news is that the collectors definitely probably won't be able to detect you going in," she said as she patted the hood of the shuttle. It was larger than most of the others, allowing for more people to fit in. "Mordin taught me and Tali about the tachyon particle issue and we managed to shield the engines of this shuttle from their release. So, the collectors will not see you coming until you are already inside."

"That's good I think," said Shepard as she scratched her head. "Have you managed to retrofit the Normandy with this tech as well?"

"Unfortunately, the Normandy's Tantalus drive core is massive compared to a small shuttle. So, we've been working on it but it likely won't be done for another couple of weeks. But also, this shuttle test will tell us whether it's even worth it or not. As you know, trapping light speed particles inside of any kind of casing is cause for concern," said the quarian as she planted her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, Mordin mentioned that," she said as she recalled his words. Containing light speed particles could have a detrimental effect if not eventually released back out into the universe. "So, now we have a double stealth system," said Shepard as she scratched her chin. "Do you think this would allow us to hide from the reapers as well?"

"We don't know for sure, but it's sound in theory," said Lia as she poked the engine of the craft with her finger. "The only reason the reapers would have for not giving the collectors scanning technology on their level is to keep it from falling into our hands. But from what you've recorded of both the reaper Sovereign from years ago and your talk with this harbinger character on Horizon, they're pretty arrogant. I doubt they'd believe a human ship could take out a massive collector ship."

"We can only hope," said Shepard as she tilted her head to the side. "We obviously wouldn't be able to retrofit the entire Citadel Fleet and every homeworld fleet with stealth drives. The eezo cost for that would bankrupt every nation in the galaxy."

"That's a shame. If every ship in the galaxy were able to hide from the reapers, there's little they could do to defend themselves from us."

"We'd still have to compete with their shields and armor. But at the very least they couldn't target us," said the spectre thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, that's not really an option. We'd need more element zero than we've ever had in the galaxy."

"Well, it was a fun thought experiment," said Lia with a sigh. "Anyways, if we're lucky, with these new additions, hopefully you'll be able to get into the collector ship and get out before they even noticed you were there."

Shepard snorted at the young quarian. "I love the optimism. Unfortunately I have a history of the galaxy turning every plan of mine into a fight for my life. So, I'm not holding out much hope."

"Well, I will… uh… cross my fingers for you…" said Lia as she looked down at her hands. "If I can figure out how to do that."

Shepard chuckled at her attempt at a human phrase and patted her gently on the shoulder. "Thank you Lia. Your words alone are enough." It was then that Mordin approached from the armory. Shepard almost immediately noticed that he was no longer moping. In fact, all of the previous energy and life in his body seemed to have rushed back inside him. "You seem well."

"Just finished side project for you. Want you to test it out before boarding collector vessel. May help a great deal," he said, as chipper as ever.

She followed him into Jacob's armory to find the young soldier smirking at her. "Shepard! Only the best toys for you," he said as he tossed her a weapon that looked like a battle rifle. Mordin stood next to Jacob as she examined it curiously.

"A rifle?" she asked, but knew it wasn't a rifle when she examined its barrel. Instead of the typical thin piping that narrowed the shot range, the barrel of this weapon was wide. "What is this?" she asked, noticing that the entire dark metal gun was unlike any she had ever seen.

"Aim and fire, Shepard," said Jacob as he hit a small button. A target dropped at the end of the room.

The spectre eyed the soldier seriously. "You want me to test weapon's fire aboard the ship?"

"As long as you can aim, it'll be fine. I trust you to shoot straight," he said with a smile as he flourished his arm at the target. "If you would."

Sighing at him, Shepard held up the weapon and aimed down the barrel at the target. It was a typical Alliance standard practice target that you'd find in training, except it almost looked blurred to the vision slightly. She went to pull the trigger, but nothing happened when she did. She stared at the gun a moment before looking at them both.

"Oh, sorry. You need to activate it with your biotics," said the armorer knowingly.

It then hit Shepard what she was holding. Looking down at it again, she realized that the wide barrel and biotics activated design made this a modified version of the laser that the collectors used. Holding up the weapon again, she lit her biotics and fired, causing a beam of pure energy to fly and hit the target dead center. "Holy hell…" said Shepard as she looked down at the weapon.

"Other design too bulbous, too bulky to use for most species. Used out of necessity on Horizon, not practical elsewhere," said the salarian as he brought up the schematics. "Got rid of ridiculous collector shape, redesigned for human fit. Can modify later for recreation. Other species. Help with fight against reapers."

"You'll also notice that no damage came to the target in question," said Jacob with a grin. Shepard looked up at the target and noticed, as he had said, that the target looked like it hadn't even been hit. "It's coated in high grade aerogel, very low thermal conductivity. Which means…" he said as he motioned to her.

Looking down at the laser again, she grinned. "We now have a counter to the collector beams weapons."

"You may want to coat your armor in aerogel before going into any encounter with them. You managed to dodge them before because of your biotics, but if they managed to hit you, you could have lost limbs. Now you won't have to worry about that nearly as much," he said as he tossed her a cube containing the material.

"You all are making this easy for me," she said with a smile at the two.

"Could make it harder if you like. Do owe you a favor," said Mordin with a surprising amount of humor.

"No thank you," she said as she set the pair of them back on the counter. "Things are about to get harder without you helping." She knew her words were right. The team had been absolutely helping to make things easier as they moved on. But fighting the collectors and eventually the reapers, the gap was too wide to think that simple things like armor and weapon modifications could make up the difference.

The collectors were a highly advanced species, or at least, they were far more advanced from their gifts from the reapers. And the reapers themselves were the most advanced things in the galaxy, so to speak. There was nothing in the galaxy that would close the gap between them and a Sovereign-class reaper capital ship. Whatever happened during that battle, they were going to lose people. Setting the cube back on the counter, she looked up at the pair with appreciation. Even if things looked bleak for the future, she'd never stop appreciating her team for their efforts.

"Thank you both for your help," she said before giving them a commanding grin. "Now, let's go kick their asses."

Collector Ship – Arinlarkan System

She felt her spine chill with anxiety as she saw the ship through the blast shield on the shuttle. The scarring that the colony defense systems left behind didn't make the ship look any less imposing than it was before. It was as massive as a space station, roughly half the size of Omega if she had to guess. She couldn't even guess the amount of tech required to move such a massive structure. The amount of eezo it took to make sure the entire ship was covered during light speed jumps must have been ungodly.

Not to mention the type of generator that could power a weapon like that. Its frontal laser could probably tear even the Destiny Ascension in half without a second thought. It was no wonder the original Normandy never stood a chance. Her mind raced back to the memories of her death, watching the ship as it turned and looked at her. Its laser charging to finish the Normandy made it look like a glowing, chaotic eye staring down at her as he breaths became shorter and shorter.

Shaking her head, she rid herself of the thoughts. She couldn't go back to that place, right now, especially as they were about to board the damn ship. Unfortunately for the spectre, her discomfort didn't escape the notice of her crew. "Is everything alright, Shepard?" asked Jacob across from her.

"You never really get over dying," she said as she looked out the port again. "Every time I see that damn ship I feel nauseous."

"Are you sure you're good to…" asked Miranda over the comm.

But Shepard stopped her before she even finished. "If there was even a single percent of a chance that I wasn't able to do this, I wouldn't be doing it. Stop worrying about me." Then she looked at the others aboard and shrugged. "At least, stop worrying about me for that reason. Start worrying about getting us off the ship."

Lia flew the shuttle as silently as the Normandy itself as she approached the hull. "Scans indicate there's an open docking port at these coordinates," said EDI from the Normandy. "I do not wish to be redundant, but this is an obvious trap."

"The collectors have been called many things. But creative was never one," said Samara from her position next to Shepard.

"Let's hope the rest of their plan is as lacking in creativity," said Garrus as he sat next to Jacob.

This time around, Shepard wanted a small team. On a planet like Horizon, it was a no brainer to bring her entire crew to clean up the collectors. The more people she had, the better chance of fighting them off. But this was a very precarious situation she was stepping into and she didn't want her entire crew going down on the collector ship if the worst happened. Ash and Miranda were forced to hang back in case the leader herself went down. Grunt stayed because of how important he was to his people. Tali too was important to the Migrant Fleet.

The people she brought along were those who the galaxy would suffer the least without. As painful as that was to admit, her crew saved her the anguish of having to tell them by volunteering. Jacob, Thane, Samara, Garrus, and Jack. Legion offered to come, but without him there was no peace on Rannoch, so Shepard outright refused, even knowing he had backups relays allowing him to escape should the worst come to pass.

She stared up at them all and they nodded their approval as Lia finally flew the shuttle inside the bay. On any normal ship, this is where they would set down and exit the vehicle. But Shepard shook her head. "If there's an opening, fly through it."

This docking bay was massive and had hundreds of those odd alien pods sitting inside it. From the look of the back wall, the GARDIAN lasers from the colony had destroyed the back wall, allowing them to continue through the ship without having to step out of the vehicle. With a ship as massive as this collector vessel was, the corridors were wide and tall, allowing for easy flight.

Garrus checked his rifle before nodding to the others. "We need to find some form of computer terminal to link EDI into. Does anyone know what that would look like?"

"If it's anything like the computers on those pods from horizon, it'll probably be glowing green," remarked Thane, causing Shepard to nod.

Leaning towards the cabin, she hit the intercom. "Lia, keep an eye out for anything glowing green."

"If you're looking for glowing and green then we've already got something," said the quarian as she slowed the ship and began to set down. When she was finally landed, the back opened and let them all out.

Shepard shook her head as she saw what looked like numerous medical tables in front of her. "Gods, what were they doing here?"

"If you upload me to the nearby terminal, I may be able to provide you with answers," said EDI from her omni-tool. Shepard nodded and headed towards the terminal glowing green at the end of the aisle. She looked back and forth, noticing different sentient beings in different states of reaperization. What used to be two humans were now in what looked to be the final stages of becoming a husk. But she quickly noticed that the process had been stopped.

"Were they converting them?" asked Garrus as he looked down at a turian in the same state.

"From the looks of things, they were experimenting on them. Maybe they were improving them, making them better," said Shepard as she finally reached the terminal and allowed EDI to climb aboard the collector's computers.

Jack's face scrunched up in disgust. "Didn't you say on Horizon that the husks we ran into were more advanced?"

"I did. Maybe that's what this is?" said Shepard as she turned to the tables again. It took her only moments to notice that there was another, unusual corpse among the others. At the very front of the grotesque display was what looked like a dead collector. "Or maybe they're trying to figure out how to improve themselves."

"Shepard!" came EDI's call from the terminal.

The spectre didn't expect such urgency from her voice. "What is it EDI?"

"You're both correct. The collectors were using different methods of converting different species into reaper husks. They were experimenting with how to capitalize on each species' best attributes," said the AI as the other gathered around. "Human husks have been upgraded with accelerator cannons where their esophagus used to be as well as being able to explode on being destroyed. Turians are converted to highly combative melee units."

"Makes sense, I suppose. We are pretty well built for kicking," said Garrus as he looked at the dead turian again.

"That would mean asari husks would be converted in a way that would best capitalize on our biotics," said Samara thoughtfully as she stared down at EDI through her faceplate.

"Indeed. But that's not the only thing this terminal has revealed," said EDI as everyone once again focused on her and her urgency. "This terminal contains information on collector genetics as they compared their DNA to other species. I've isolated one quad strand of the collector's genetic structure and found that it matches other known signatures within the terminal. Specifically signatures that are identical to those found in prothean ruins."

Shepard took a step back as the words hit her. It took a long second for her to process what EDI was actually saying, but when she finally sorted it out she felt herself blown away. It made so much sense given the collectors were using their weapons and had a similar biology to the asari in that their biotics were innate. "Holy shit…"

"Spirits…" said Garrus as he looked at the collector corpse. "Right in front of our eyes! The collectors are reaperized protheans!"

"I thought once the harvest was complete, all servants of the reapers were either killed, harvested themselves, or left to die," said Jacob in confusion.

"That's what we thought, but I suppose it makes some form of grotesque sense. A reaper like Sovereign wouldn't be able to move around the galaxy without drawing attention. But the collectors could, allowing the reaper to get things done without drawing undue attention to itself," said Shepard as she shook her head. "Sovereign was lucky enough to get Saren, a spectre as its thrall. But if it hadn't, it would rely on the collectors for everything."

"There has to be more to it than this," said Samara smartly as she looked between them all. "I do not know what other reason these collectors were kept for, but there's more to the prothean husks than just being mobile servants. They're hiding something else behind the Omega 4 Relay."

"Agreed," said Jacob as he looked to Shepard. "Running around the galaxy pretending to be just another alien species, and now harvesting humans on a scale unlike anything we've ever seen before? There's something going on here that we're not seeing."

"The collectors we see are degrading as organics should. Even with the reaper retrofits and genetic rewrites, they can't stop organic material from decaying. Perhaps humans are to be the collectors for the next cycle once these ones have depreciated beyond saving," responded EDI from the terminal.

"There are some fates worse than death," said Thane, his face still placid despite the darkness of his words.

"What about anything else, EDI? Can you find anything on their homeworld?" asked Shepard as she brushed all the other stuff aside.

"Unfortunately, this is an isolated terminal. I have collected the medical data present, but if you wish to get information on the Omega 4 Relay or their homeworld, we will have to try another terminal," responded the AI dutifully.

Garrus chuckled and shook his head. "Of course it couldn't be that easy, Shepard."

"Of course not," she said as she held up the omni-tool again. EDI jumped back into the device and they all moved back to the shuttle they arrived in. "We're looking for another terminal. Keep your eyes open for another one."

"O-Of course… It would be hard to see them with my eyes closed," said Lia in bewilderment.

Shepard stopped as she realized she used another human idiom. "When you're right, you're right," she said with a shrug and got inside the vehicle. As they began to fly again, Shepard held up the omni-tool. "EDI, do me a favor."

"I'll do what I can, Spectre," replied the smaller AI.

"You saw what this ship looked like, right?" she asked curiously.

"I have its scan data from Horizon, yes," said EDI courteously. "You wish for me to compare it to the vessel that destroyed the original Normandy?"

Shepard looked at her firmly, wondering if that's what she really wanted. But she had already stepped her feet into the pool, so there was no sense getting out now. Instead, she dove in head first. "Yes. Run a comparison between the two. I need to know what I'm dealing with here."

"As you wish, Shepard," said the AI before data began to scrawl across its surface. Within a minute, she finally came to a conclusion. "It is as you believe, Spectre. This is the same ship that destroyed the original Normandy."

Shepard let out a slow exhale as her browsa furrowed deeply. "The same ship stalking me for two years."

"Soon enough the Normandy will have the firepower to pay it in kind," said Garrus as he patted her knee.

"That day can't come soon enough," she said as Lia slapped the intercom.

"Spectre, you may want to have a look at this…" she said frantically as she set the vehicle down.

As the doors opened, Shepard could see that they had left the confines of the corridors and instead had flown into what looked like a massive, cavernous room. But it wasn't the size of the room that startled her, it was that almost every inch of the enormous ceiling was covered in pods. She could see some that were closer, and they were empty. But she knew what this meant.

Samara too was horrified by the sight. "They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not have enough to fill these pods."

"No…" said Jacob as he clenched his fists. "They'd have to attack Earth to get that many."

Shepard knew that the soldier was right. There were beyond millions of pods on the ship. And she still had no idea what they were for. All of the colonists that had been taken thus far would only fill a fraction of a percent of this ship. To fill them all would require a visit to Earth, a horrifying prospect.

She steeled herself and shook her head. "They won't get that far," she said, more an oath to herself than a claim. She refused to allow them to take anymore colonists, and not another human being would suffer what her corpse had almost suffered at their hands. "We're going to take the collectors down and end their threat to the galaxy, whatever it takes."

CODEX ENTRIES

Yanis Syndrome Medical Salarian
A syndrome suffered by many species, though each has their own name for it. It's characterized by the symptom of a pregnant mother's embryos being broken down and reabsorbed by either the mother, or other embryos in the womb.

A/N: The Illusive Man not telling Shepard that the collector ship was a trap was grade A garbage. "The collectors needed to think they had the upper hand!" as if they could see inside your helmet and understood human body language enough to know when they've been had. lol I don't know if they were trying to create more animosity towards the Illusive Man or what. But they didn't need that weird excuse.

Also, thank you all for sticking with me. The comments and reviews have been dwindling recently so it's been hard to get motivated to write more. But just know that I won't stop until this story is done.