Chapter 38
"You've got a quad to come here alone, Human." A heavily armed Krogan said as Hackett disembarked from his shuttle. He looked around at the ruins of Tuchanka, taking it all in. It was clearly a devastated remnant but he could tell that it once could have been beautiful.
"If I showed up with a squad of marines,you'd have shot all of us before we got the hatch completely open. I have business with Urdnot Wrex." Hackett said, standing to his full height and glaring at the Krogan. The Krogan chuckled, then gestured for him to follow, which he did. Hackett arrived in the main chamber just in time to see another, younger Krogan staggering back from him, clutching the plates on his head.
"Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not." Wrex said, staring down the younger Krogan who slunk away. He looked up and grinned when he saw Hackett standing there, patiently waiting.
"Admiral Hackett, come forward. You got a quad coming here alone." Wrex said.
"I've been getting that a lot." Hackett said, nodding towards the Krogan who'd guided him there, who laughed before taking his leave.
"What can I do for you?" Wrex asked, settling on his stone throne.
"I have some... information. Your ears only." Hackett said. Wrex nodded, immediately trusting the man. He hadn't spent a lot of time interacting with him, but Shepard trusted him implicitly, and Wrex trusted Shepard.
"Leave us." Wrex said. The remaining Krogan turned and walked away, muttering to themselves.
"Speak." Wrex said. Hackett nodded.
"Commander Shepard is alive…" Hackett said.
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"Sir, is everything ok?" Ashley said as she initiated the jump sequence through a mass relay.
"Our plans have changed. Ilium will have to wait. We just got a message from the Migrant Fleet. Rael'Zorah personally asked us to travel to Freedom's Progress in the Terminus systems. They dispatched our former engineer along with a team to rescue a missing Quarian pilgrim who had taken a job there. He's concerned the Collectors may be involved." Anderson said.
"Damn. Shouldn't we have some backup then, if the Collectors might be involved?" Alenko asked.
"I've got the Hastings prepping for it now, but time is of the essence, and we're the closest asset. The Quarians said they've already dispatched resources, they'll meet up with us when they arrive." Anderson said, clearly not liking it.
"Understood, Admiral." Kaidan said.
The trip to Freedom's progress was uneventful, despite its location deep in the Terminus systems, there was little in the way of ship traffic in that region, so they were not required to queue up for access to the relays. When they arrived, and made for the planet, Ashley gasped.
"Sir, it looks almost abandoned." Ashley said.
"Damn. Let's get down there and hook up with the Quarians. Any sign of Cerberus?" Anderson asked.
"Negative sir." Ashley said.
"Bring us in. Alenko, let's get geared up." Anderson said.
"Yes sir." Kaidan said. As they landed, they did not notice the cruiser loitering behind the moon.
"LZ is clear, sir." Ashley reported, before standing up and securing her weapons on their magnetic attachment points on her armor.
"Excellent. Williams, Alenko I want the two of you to scout around, see if you can figure out what happened, I'll use my clearance to access the computer systems and find any communications logs that I can." Anderson said.
"Yes, Sir." They both said automatically before leaving to scout. Anderson made his way off the ship and onto the street, quickly identifying the colony's main building, which would house their communications center. Anderson couldn't tell whether the lack of humans, living or dead, was more unsettling than finding piles of corpses would have been. The comm room door was wide open, which vexed him even more. This far out into the Terminus systems, standard operating procedure dictated keeping that particular door secured at all times. He sat at the console and interfaced with his omnitool.
The colony, though recently established, used older technology so the uplink took a while to establish. A lot of the Terminus colonies were not government-backed and tended to be self-funded endeavors either by private companies, or small groups looking to settle and make a new life for themselves. Freedom's Progress was an example of the latter. Just as the logs finished downloading his omnitool lit up, indicating an incoming call.
"Sir, you should get down here." Ashley said.
"Report, Chief." Anderson said.
"We found Tali and her group, but there's a complication. The Quarians took down a Cerberus team, sir." Ashley reported.
"Christ, I'm on my way." Anderson said.
"Bring a medkit, sir. One of the Quarians is injured." Ashley said.
"Understood." Anderson said. He sprinted back to the shuttle and stowed his weapons on his armor, before taking a large medkit out of the ship's storage. He was thankful for his rigorous training, as it took little time for him to arrive at the waypoint with which Ashley provided him. Minutes later he arrived, passing the medkit to Ashley.
"Sir we'll get this, go speak with Tali." Ashley said.
"Yes ma'am." Anderson said with a smirk.
"Sorry, sir." Ashley said, blushing, before she started working on the injured Quarian. Anderson laughed.
"Not a problem, don't worry, son. She'll take good care of you." Anderson said to the Quarian before making her way to Tali.
"Ms. Zorah." Anderson said in greeting.
"Tali, please. It's good to see you, sir." Tali said.
"I believe I asked you to call me David. What is it that you needed to tell me?" Anderson asked.
"We only just beat Cerberus here, and when they saw us they immediately opened fire. Unfortunately we had to kill them." Tali said.
"Cerberus are criminals, Tali, and given the nature of their crimes they deserve it. Don't worry yourself." Anderson said.
"Thank you sir. That's not all though. There are four dead Cerberus here, but seven got off their ship. We don't know where the other three are." Tali said.
"Damn... Are your soldiers all accounted for?" Anderson asked. Tali nodded.
"Yes, Duuven Vas Neema was the only one injured." Tali said.
"Glad to hear it. Now tell me about the pilgrim." David said.
"His name is Veetor'Nara, and he's... He's not well. He was almost granted an exemption from going on pilgrimage. Truthfully, I don't know why he was allowed to leave in the first place. When we find him it's important we approach him carefully. He is an extremely skilled combat engineer, has a history of mental instability, and if what we gleaned from the medical data from his suit he's likely hallucinating." Tali said.
"That's unfortunate. Williams, are you ok on your own for now?" Anderson asked.
"Yes, sir. This won't take much longer." Ashley said.
"Alright, Alenko, you and I are going to assist Tali. Take us to Veetor's last known location." Anderson said.
"Yes, sir." Tali said.
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"That should be the last of them." A masked Cerberus operative said, ejecting a heatsink from his pistol as his colleagues scoured the area.
"The Quarian should be in here, Captain Donnegan." Another said, examining a sealed doorway. A third agent was crouching, examining what looked like an enormous dead insect.
"No time to try and hack it. Start cutting, Shaw." Donnegan said.
"Yes, sir." The other said, producing a plasma torch.
"Stop!" Anderson shouted as he, Alenko and Tali arrived, their guns raised at the Cerberus operatives.
"Shaw, keep cutting, Tomlinson, get over here!" Donnegan said.
"Belay that." A voice said from the shadows. Shaw stopped cutting and turned, looking towards the voice along with Donnegan and Tomlinson with fear etched onto their expressions.
"Sir! We weren't told you'd be here!" Donnegan said, lowering his weapon. The others followed suit.
"The Illusive Man doesn't have to tell any of us anything." The man said, stepping out of the shadows. Anderson bit his tongue.
"Still doing Harper's dirty work, Leng?" Anderson asked, struggling to keep the smirk off his face.
"I have a message for you from The Illusive man." Kai Leng said, ignoring Anderson.
"What is it, sir?" Donnegan said. Kai Leng reached into his bag, producing a crudely produced sock puppet with plastic googly eyes, drawn-on black hair and a small paper cigarette stapled to its mouth.
"Blah blah blah, Humanity good, Aliens bad, sieg hiel!" Kai Leng said in a mocking tone.
"What the fuck?" Kaidan said. Anderson lost his composure and started laughing.
"I beg your pardon, sir?" Donnegan said.
"Right.. To business then. Gentlemen…. Stupify Maxima!" Kai Leng said, producing a red flash, knocking all of the Cerberus agents out at once.