Mass Effect - A Hero Rises Ch. 26

"And the Collectors?"

"Will grab samples when I can, Shepard. Protection and survival of colony priority."

We moved on. We checked some units as we passed by, wondering if any of the colonists had managed to escape but no-one had been lucky enough so far. There were signs that, once again, they'd been taken completely by surprise. The Collectors continued moving forward, occasionally bringing out advance to a halt. I began to notice that some of them had an aura surrounding them, for want of a better word. I asked what that was. Miranda threw a warp at one and replied it was a biotic barrier.

That was good news, as I could just aim at them, destroy their barrier, then shoot them. Without needing to order again, the team figured out what to do. Collectors with biotic barriers were handled by the biotics. Collectors without the barrier were shot at by the others. And I just charged around the battlefield, causing carnage whenever I stopped. It was exhausting work, far more exhausting then my old tactics of fighting, as I rarely got this close to the enemy, preferring at least a little distance, but the adrenaline rush of getting up close and personal with my shotgun, blasting away the enemy at point blank range... I'll admit, it was terribly exciting.

The town we were walking through was far larger than I expected. More Collectors came towards us, and in addition to those with biotic barriers, we also witnessed the arrival of a glowing Collector. In addition to that, it also spoke.

"Preserve Shepard's body if possible."

"Okay, you all heard that, right?"

"Of course, Shepard," Miranda replied, with plenty of other people stating they had. I couldn't help sigh with relief. "Why do you ask?"

"Because after the Council refusing to believe, I was even beginning to wonder, and I had a bad feeling I'd be the only one to understand them."

"Nope, heard them loud and clear."

"Your attacks are primitive. I will show you true power."

The voice was coming from the glowing one, so I charged straight at it, making it stagger as I threw a warp straight into its chest, following that up with a shotgun blast straight to the face. The glowing Collector turned into dust, immediately leaping into cover as I was suddenly taking fire from all directions. I was helped out by my biotic colleagues before I was able to move again.

The Collectors must have arrived in serious numbers, as by now they were barely letting up, fighting us for every inch of ground through the settlement. The Collectors seemed to have some brains as well, leading them into what would have been traps if we'd charged in blindly. They seemed to understand fields of fire, fighting retreats, and they certainly didn't seem to give surrender a moment's thought. We would have to kill every single one to make it to the centre of the settlement.

Another glowing Collector arrived and this said something that brought me to a halt.

"You escaped us before, Shepard, not again."

"Holy shit," Garrus muttered through the team radio.

"You're telling me," I stated, "I've always wondered how a ship managed to find us so easily and was able to tear through our ship like wet tissue paper."

"They must have been hunting you ever since you killed Saren," Miranda suggested.

"Oh, they've just made this very personal," I growled, "I lost good men and woman on that ship." I looked for the glowing Collector. Soon as I saw it, I charged and pretty much emptied a heat sink as I blew it away. Slapping in a new one, I then charged again, only going for head shots as I released some rage. Once the gunfire quieted for a moment, I glanced back to see a field full of dead Collectors, gesturing for the team to close up as we moved on.

Still looking for survivors, we ended up outside what looked like a warehouse or some sort of plant, perhaps providing water or energy. The door was locked, so I was hopeful we might find survivors, people who had information. It was beyond my understanding so Garrus stepped forward to unlock the door. We entered with guns raised, and when we heard someone drop a tool on concrete, we ordered whoever it was out otherwise we'd start firing. An obviously frightened middle-age man stepped from cover, arms held aloft, though he visibly relaxed seeing us.

"Humans? What are you doing here? You'll lead them right here!"

"No, I don't think so, considering the piles of bodies we just left out there. You can go check if you want." He shook his head so I asked, "What are you doing in here? How did you escape?"

"I'm just a mechanic. We've had all manner of communication problems recently. That's..." The man cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with me and everyone else. "That's when I heard the screaming."

"So what did you do?" I asked in a tone even a stranger would recognise. I sensed one or two others tense up, knowing the answer before we heard it.

"I looked outside and there were... bugs. Swarms of them. Everywhere. And everyone they touched...." The man shook his head. "They just... froze. So... I sealed the doors."

I took the pistol from its holster, bumping it against my thigh. "That's your excuse. You didn't try to help anyone? You left friends, families, fellow colonists to be taken?"

"What could I do? The bugs were coming. I couldn't do anything to help." Perhaps he had a point. We had a countermeasure, but he came across as nothing but a coward, looking out for number one, and anyone else can be sacrificed. "It's all the Alliance's fault anyway!" the mechanic continued, now finding some courage, even defiance, "If they hadn't built those defence towers and sent that Commander Alenko here, we'd have been off the radar and been left alone. Instead, it made us a target for those... things."

"Where's Operations Chief Williams?" I asked.

"No idea. I haven't seen her or anyone since they arrived."

I sighed, as he clearly had no information, and I already felt a healthy dose of dislike. Before he could react, I strode forward, pushing him back towards the wall, placing the barrel of his pistol under his neck. "Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"Do you know what they did to cowards during the Great War?" I asked. The man shook his head. "Cowards were shot. Thousands, millions were almost forced to charge across no man's land to die for no reason. This time, there was a chance to prove your worth as a man, as a human, but instead you hid behind a locked door." I pushed the barrel even harder, almost lifting himself from the ground. "Now hundreds if not thousands have been taken. Who knows, you may have been able to save one, two, ten, even more, kept them all safe until our arrival. They would have had information to tell us, we would have learned more about our enemy. Now we'll never know, because you didn't have the guts to take a stand when the opportunity presented itself."

"I'm a nobody," he grunted as he struggled against my hold.

"You are, but you could have proven to be a somebody. But..." I took the barrel from underneath his chin, instead grabbing him by the neck with my other hand, "You aren't even worth the bullet. No, I'm going to let you live with the guilt that you did nothing when they arrived. The dead of this planet? Let them rest on your conscience for a little while. See how it feels to be responsible."

He looked down at the ground, unable to meet my eyes. I placed my pistol back in it holster, turned around and marched towards the door, taking the shotgun from its place on my back. I sensed everyone follow me quietly, the door closing behind us, hearing it click locked a few seconds later. We moved on without a word, the team realising I was now beyond pissed off, and it certainly showed, as I'm sure they probably felt sympathy for the next Collectors we met, nearly killing them alone, charging left and right around the settlement. We ran into new Collector monsters, what looked like a fusion of husks. Tougher to take down, but they died the same as all the others. Mordin checked over the new creatures. He didn't take samples, being Reaper tech, but he was able to provide insight into what they were made of.

Asking where we were, Miranda replied to state we were nearing the middle of the settlement, and if she was proven correct, there was a transmitter right in the middle that would enable us to fire the cannon defences. "Why can't EDI just do it now?"

"I have tried but am blocked, Shepard. The Collector ship is interfering with all planetary systems and preventing a hard connection from the Normandy."

"Should have known," I muttered under my breath.

We fought our way forward, the number of Collectors being killed thinning, left wondering if they were pulling back for one final onslaught, or they were leading us into one hell of a trap. Passing through a closed door, we entered an enormous open field, and in the middle was the lone transmitter. The Collector ship was so close we could have touched it. What I noticed was that it was quiet. We'd fought the entire way here, and now not a sound. "Stay loose," I ordered quietly, "Those fuckers are somewhere."

Making our way to the transmitter, I had to choose someone. "Miranda, reckon you can do it?"

"I'll do my best, Shepard."

"The rest of you, fan out and get ready. The Collectors won't give up that easily."

I was proven right within a couple of minutes as a horde of husks soon flooded forward. All we did was line up and open fire, mowing them down. I don't think a single one got within ten feet of us. We had to switch around as they were soon coming from every direction, and that's when I got to work charging and blasting my shotgun, Jack launching shockwave after shockwave, and the rest doing what they did best. When the Collectors joined in, that was the first time I was concerned. There was little cover. The bigger husks also turned up, and the glowing Collector seemed more powerful than anything, so whenever it appeared, I handled it immediately, sometimes taking a whack for my troubles, nothing that medi-gel couldn't handle.

Miranda eventually yelled out that she'd done as much as possible. EDI was soon in my ear, the AI stating it could connect but it would take time to calibrate the software. I gave Garrus a sideways glance before suggesting EDI just crack on and we'll protect the transmitter until the guns were ready to fire.

The next ten to twenty minutes was some of the hardest fighting any of us had done since the commencement of this mission, and definitely some of the hardest since I'd faced down Saren and his geth. The Collectors threw everything, even the proverbial kitchen sink at us. As Miranda could now help out, the biotics linked up their attacks, even Jack proving co-operative with her fellow biotics. I charged around where I could, but I was soon so exhausted, I had to stop and simply find cover, take out my assault rifle, and just open fire when anything was in my sights.

Then another new construct showed up and this thing was an absolute bitch to take down. No idea what it was, but the beam it fired seemed to tear anything it touched apart. So all the biotics linked up and warped that motherfucker as much as we could. It was slow, laborious work, and with the Collectors also firing, we started to take wounds, though no-one stopped firing until they were physically incapable. Mordin proved to have a trick or two, proving his speed as he moved around the battlefield, using his omni-tool to incinerate the enemy with a shot of flame. Kasumi would disappear and reappear behind a Collector, shoot it in the back of the head, before cloaking again, looking for her next victim. Jack strode around the battlefield without a care in the world, launching biotics everywhere. The level of destruction, at least of the Collector forces was immense.

Once we killed the massive floating energy thing, the Collectors seemed to back off immediately. Within seconds, there was a new sound, all of us turning towards the Collector ship. We could see smoke and then flame as the engines of the ship roared, the ship ever so slowly starting to rise into the sky and atmosphere above us.

We heard a voice behind us, turning to see the man we'd met earlier run past us. "Stop them! Why aren't you trying to stop them?!"

I ignored him as I knew we'd failed in our mission to save the colonists. God knows how many they'd taken, but we'd seen no survivors so could only assume the whole lot had been taken. We'd have to search later but, for now, we could only watch helplessly as the Collector ship eventually disappeared from view.

"What now, Shepard?" Miranda asked. It was a bloody good question, to be honest.

"Wait! Shepard? I know that name," the man stated, turning to look at me, "Yeah, I remember. Some sort of Alliance hero."

"Not just any hero. You're talking to Commander John Shepard. Captain of the SSV Normandy. Hero of Elysium. The first human Spectre. Saviour of the Citadel. You're in the presence of a god, Delan. Or a ghost." The voice stopped. "Back from the dead."

I turned to see Operations Chief Ashley Williams walk towards me. She looked good. Fit. Healthy. Very much a leader and a woman in charge. I was pleased for her. She... did not look pleased to see me. In fact, any hope I had of a happy reunion disappeared as soon as my eyes met hers. She was displeased, and that was putting it mildly.

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind. Figures," Delan stated.

That was aimed at Ashley, not at any of us. I had no idea what was pissing Ashley off, but I certainly didn't appreciate the disrespect, walking over and grabbing his colour. "I would seriously consider fucking off right now, Delan. She is an Alliance soldier and worthy of your fucking respect." I turned and pushed him away, watching him stagger back until he landed on his arse. "Consider yourself fortunate that I don't execute somewhat innocent civilians. But I would seriously consider making yourself scarce right about now."

He got up and brushed himself down before waving a hand of dismissal in our direction. "Ah, none of you are worth it anyway. Typical bloody Alliance. Ruining everything."

I turned back to Ashley, and her eyes were definitely taking in all those who were with me. And I knew it looked bad in her eyes. I wore jet black armour with no marking. Two people were clearly Cerberus. Then I had a young woman covered in tattoos, an aging mercenary, a Japanese thief, Mordin and Garrus, the only one she'd recognise. "So the rumours are true, Shepard? You're alive?" Her eyes definitely fell upon Miranda and she couldn't hide her thoughts. "And with Cerberus."

"That's the greeting I get, Ash. After two years, I don't get a question of how I am or what I've been doing?"

"I'm sure you've already told Anderson all about that, Shepard." She then looked at Garrus. "And I never would have thought a turian would helped an organisation like Cerberus." She looked back at me. "But I guess it's easy to mis-judge people."

I took a couple of steps forward, watching her posture turn defensive. "Ash, seriously, what do you think I'm doing here?"

"I was sent here to protect the colony, Shepard. I was also sent here because we heard rumours that you had somehow returned from the dead. Worst still, you had returned from the dead and were now working with Cerberus. I was sent here to protect this colony from them, and it seems also you as well."

"I'm not working with Cerberus."

"Well then why are you standing in this field with two Cerberus operatives?"

"Can we not talk about this in private?"

"No, I have to report this issue to my superiors. I'm lucky to have survived what just happened and I need to count how many were not taken. So we can talk now, then you can do what you want."

"Fine. You want the truth? I was dead, Ashley. Dead as can be. I was told how long the Alliance searched for me. You know how long? A week. First human Spectre. All the shit I've done for humanity, and I get a paltry week to even find my body for burial. The Council? Nothing. I got nothing from them after all I did. So I was dead for two years, or as dead as you can be when considering the dark vacuum of space.

I don't know how it happened, but I ended up on a Cerberus experiment table and they spent a lot of time and money putting me back together. I think I'm half cybernetic now, but I have a heart and brain, so I guess I'm still counted as human. Then I learn of the Collectors. The Council? Useless as always. The Alliance? No fucking idea, but I spoke to Anderson, and I'd end up being interrogated for six months before even being allowed out to do god only knows what. Cerberus are giving me the tools and resources to fight now, no questions asked."

"So who is your loyalty to now?"

"Humanity. I'm not sure how much plainer I can put it, Ash. I'm not with Cerberus."

"But you are taking their credits, flying their ship, you have their personnel at your side. Pretty convenient for you to deny you are working for them."

"Not for. At most, with them. I consider myself unaffiliated. Hell, call me a mercenary if you want. I'm fighting and taking payment for it." I paused and took another couple of steps forward. "Come with me, Ash," I said quietly, "I need my friends with me for this."

"Friend? Am I still one after everything? You haven't even tried to reach out."

"I've been rather busy and... I honestly didn't know how you'd react. Like this, to be honest."

"I'm an Alliance soldier, Shepard. I'd never work for Cerberus, never work alongside their operatives nor fly in a ship with their colours." Then she took a step forward. Then another one until we were only a pace or two apart. "Shepard, I've missed you every day. I hate everything about this. You promise you're not with Cerberus?"

I held up two fingers. "Scout's honour."

That made her smile. "You were never a scout. I know your history."

"Ash, I'm making the best of a bad situation here. What I'm doing is important and it's obvious the Alliance are clueless. I know you despise Cerberus. You know I'm not their biggest fan. But this is important. I'm doing what needs to be done like always."

She met my eyes and I was almost pleading with her with mine to believe me. She took a deep breath. "I'll need to report this, Shepard. I can't sweep the fact you arrived under the rug. There's no way I managed to kill all those Collectors by myself. I can't come with you, Shepard. Not this time. Not while you're with them."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"You bleed blue, Ash. Born Alliance soldier if ever I've met one." I glanced back. "Miranda, call in the shuttle. Have it meet us nearby. Can you give us a few seconds otherwise?"

"Sure thing, Shepard," she replied, gesturing for the others to follow.

Once we had proper privacy, I took another step forward. "I've missed you, Ash," I whispered.

"You fucked her yet?" she asked, the tone of jealousy easy to hear.

"Miranda? No, I haven't."

"Do you?"

"Ash," I warned.

"Do you still..."

"Yes. You were one of the first thoughts I had when I woke up."

"I want to believe you, Shepard. I really do. But I've read the news. Heard the stories. And now seeing you here with them... It feels like a betrayal to everything we fought for."

"But do you understand?" She met my eyes again and made me wait before nodding. Only once, but it was enough. "Thank you."

"I missed you too, Shepard, just so you know. Your funeral... One of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Knowing the casket was empty... It all went to shit once you were gone. Team was split up. Non-humans were sent home. No idea what happened to most of them."

"So you and Tali?"

"We ended it. It was for the best. She's probably back with the Fleet now."