Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
If you like how Shepard is a total genius badass, you should check Arrival : Ruptures to enjoy more of the same.
—
Hourglass Nebula
"Name: Jack. Reported to be the second strongest human biotic, right after Commander Shepard. Current location: Purgatory, a prison ship." Shepard recited the important parts of Jack's dossier while Miranda listened.
"Yes, Commander." She nodded, unsure where Shepard was going with this.
Closing the dossier, the Commander leaned back on his chair. "And what is it that Cerberus wants with Jack?"
"Want something?"
Shepard rolled his eyes. "Miranda, there is a litany of felonies committed by Jack here, along with a psych evaluation saying she isn't the type to play nice or in a team. Second strongest human biotic or not, this should not have been brought to me. So I am asking you again, what does Cerberus want with her?"
Of the hundreds or even thousands of human biotics and the asari, an entire race of biotics, Cerberus had chosen the most volatile human biotic in the galaxy.
It stunk of something deeper.
"The Illusive Man personally selected the candidates; if she has any connection to Cerberus, you'll have to ask him." Which meant Miranda was in the dark too.
Shepard sighed and dismissed the XO.
—
Osun
Purgatory
"Welcome to the Purgatory, Shepard. Your package is being prepped, and you can claim it shortly." The Turian at the entrance greeted them after the Normandy had docked.
"As this is a high-security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed." Jacob's hand went to his weapon, but neither Shepard nor Garrus reacted to the guard's words.
Standing motionlessly, the first human Spectre waited.
A turian, one with a face bare of any marking, came out. "Commander, I am Warden Kuril, and this is my ship."
Letting the warden ramble on, Shepard activated his omni-tool, and after gaining access to the ship's systems, played the message he had acquired beforehand.
"A hundred million credits, Warden Kuril. That is the price Shadow Broker is offering if you can bring Shepard to us, dead or alive." A voice spoke to Kuril through the screen, but there was no face on the other side.
Kuril, in a moment of brilliance or self-preservation, scoffed. "Bring you Shepard? That's impossible. Even the destruction of two ships back-to-back couldn't stop him."
The voice wasn't done, and Kuril's greed suppressed his self-preservation instinct. "Then be smarter. A hundred million, Warden. Neither you nor your descendants will ever need to lift a finger in their lives again. Think about the offer. Murat out."
"Spirits damn—" Kuril's curse was cut off; faster than the Turian could react, Shepard put a laser bolt through his head.
The guards raised their weapons to fire, but slammed them aside like ragdolls.
He spoke to the omni-tool; his face and voice carried throughout the ship. "Attention, Purgatory. Your warden tried to draw me into a trap, and he died because of it. You have five minutes to bring Jack out before the rest of you share his fate. Alternatively, you can start shooting now and save me the time."
The guards who recovered were quick to accept the ultimatum.
"W-we'll bring her out immediately."
"Thought so."
—
Jack was brought out, sedated, and Shepard had Jacob carry her to Normandy's med-bay.
Doctor Chakwas' report on her condition painted a bleak picture. Signs of experiment and torture, heavy previous drug use, and scars, both dermal and neural.
Combined with her criminal record, it was obvious she was created to be a weapon, meant to be dropped in hot spots and cause havoc.
Shepard was standing ready in the med-bay with Doctor Chakwas waiting outside as Jack was waking up in a completely foreign environment surrounded by Cerberus with no idea how she got there.
There was going to be a violent response from her.
The young and half-naked woman woke up, sluggish at first, before she recognized her surroundings and locked eyes with Shepard.
The attack itself was fast and brutal, proving that she was indeed the strongest human biotic Shepard had seen aside from himself.
But not strong enough to overpower him.
Shepard put her into a stasis, and then it was a game of waiting to see who would yield first.
Minutes passed with Jack trying to break the stasis while Shepard kept it up, but the conclusion was inevitable.
"Calm down yet?" Shepard asked after dropping the stasis now that Jack had stopped.
But the convict wasn't done fighting yet."Fuck you." She spat, and Shepard rolled with it.
"No thanks, you couldn't handle me, and I hate leaving my bed disappointed."
Winking at Jack only made her snarl.
"What do you want with me, Shepard?"
So she wasn't locked up that long, because Cerberus wasn't clear on that. "So you know who I am, and you still attacked me? You have guts."
Or she was an idiot. It remained to be seen.
"Fuck you. Just tell me what you want, or screw off." Geez, she sure loved swearing.
"I am going after the Collectors, and you came highly recommended."
Jack spat again, literally."Bullshit. You of all people wouldn't need anyone's help to destroy an alien race."
Shepard gave a mock bow. "Thanks. But even I can't be in two places at once. Now, this won't be a walk in the park, so if you don't want to come, I'll just drop you off on any planet you want." He wasn't about to have an unwilling teammate, which would lead to problems.
She seemed to be considering the offer before asking something first. "Why are you with Cerberus?"
Shepard straightened up and activated the blackout field.
"I am trying to find their main base." He admitted to the plan and piqued Jack's interest.
"Don't they know that?" It wouldn't be a Shepard plan if the enemy knew you were coming.
Then again, it was Shepard, and it's not like Cerberus could stop him.
"Don't worry. They can't hear us in this field."
Jack grinned. "Shit, if I am getting a shot at Cerberus, I am in."
—
Jack chose to settle somewhere out of the way since she wasn't a people person.
His next target was Okeer, a Krogan warlord who had fought in the Krogan Rebellions and was obsessed with saving his race from the genophage—an understandable goal. He had also contacted the Collectors to gain access to their tech, but whether he had succeeded or not wasn't clear.
Currently on Korlus, Okeer was in a Blue Suns camp—quickly becoming a thorn in Shepard's side—though Cerberus intel wasn't sure on the nature of the relationship.
Overall, he didn't know much, but it didn't matter.
—
Korlus
He had brought Jack to see what she could do, and Garrus because.
Korlus was a charming little dustball filled with scrapped ships and an idiot shouting orders over the comms.
Cue the sarcasm.
"Alright, our enemy is the Blue Suns, and since they are showing their faces everywhere I go, we are going to kill them all."
"Now you're speaking my language."
Three Blue Suns Troopers had set up an ambush ahead, only for Jack to go crazy and splatter them on the rusty metal walls they were using as cover.
She moved to kill another merc, who was wounded and groaning on the floor about bleeding to death, but a pointed cough from Shepard stopped her.
"I knew it wasn't the berserkers. Not in range. But Shepard… shit. I'll tell you everything; please don't kill me."
"Huh, okay. I am looking for a krogan warlord, Okeer. Where is he?
"Who? Do you mean the old one? He just dumps crazy ones down here all the time. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane, so we use them for live ammo training. It's all crap; I don't get paid enough to goddamn bleed out."
"Outpost Four? Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack."
The merc looked at Shepard, who looked at Garrus, and both friends grinned, a silent conversation between them deciding the plan.
"Tell him there is a massive krogan pack heading this way, and to send everyone they can, and I'll slap some medi-gel on you."
Weirded out by the request, the opposite of what he was waiting for, the merc called for reinforcements.
Applying the medi-gel, Shepard gave a piece of advice to the merc. "This line of work isn't obviously something you're suited for. I suggest you get out, permanently."
—
His visor counted at least two hundred hostiles heading their way, giving Shepard the perfect opportunity to take the Blue Suns out en masse.
"Alright, Garrus, Jack, keep them occupied for a minute while I prepare something."
"You're crazy, you know that, right?"
"Welcome to the Normandy."
"Here."
"Hell yeah!"
Garrus opened up with the beam, and Jack followed. The Blue Suns focused on getting to cover first rather than returning fire since they were outclassed.
Shepard kept gathering biotic power to the orb between his hands and gave the signal once ready.
Slowly floating out of cover, Shepard launched the nova.
In a burst of unmatched biotic power, the orb expanded hundreds of times its size, covering the husk of a ship the Blue Suns were using for cover.
The dark blue light died out, only to reveal a crater with no rusting ship or Blue Suns in sight.
"Holy shit." For all the crazy things she had done, this was a first for Jack.
"You have to teach me that." Jack asked, imagining the kind of destruction she could cause.
"Later. Let's find Okeer first."
—
Over two hundred mercs were dead in an instant, and with the krogan packs relentlessly assaulting the remaining mercs, Shepard and co. did not face any Blue Suns.
But there were several krogan in their way.
The first krogan had recognized Shepard and Garrus, claiming the records of their battles had been taught to him and that they were someone every krogan should aspire to be like.
The massive alien wasn't willing to fight them, too busy waiting until he was called, and Shepard wasn't in a hurry to fight a krogan that didn't try to kill him at first sight.
After the first krogan, it was a lot of climbing, looting, and shooting his berserk tank-grown brothers.
Of course, the universe had a sick sense of humor, and he had to find Rana Thanoptis, the asari he had freed from Sovereign's indoctrination, working for Okeer.
Strictly beneficial, of course.
"Weren't you with Liara in Illium?" Rana wasn't important enough for Cerberus to keep an eye on her, and his lack of information could be excused.
"I had to leave when your friend began to attract the attention of some dangerous people." And a visit to Liara was in order.
But there were more important matters now."Right, and what exactly are you doing here?"
"Giving the krogan here a chance, just like you gave me a new lease on life. Now, if you excuse me, I am going to run away before you destroy Korlus."
Beyond the door of Rana's workplace, Okeer was working on a computer.
Noticing Shepard, the krogan with probably the biggest hump he had ever seen turned to the team. "Ah, the almighty Commander Shepard. The Demon, the Destroyer, the Savior. The thrum of your battle prowess could be heard even from my lab."
Yay, another fan. "Thanks, Okeer… I am here about the Collectors."
Okeer did not seem to care. "A human concern. I have my own problems. It won't be long before Jedore decides I am a liability. I gave her my rejects for her army, but she grows impatient. Extract me and my legacy, and you'll have what you seek."
"Your legacy?" Shepard asked, looking at the tank with a krogan in it.
Okeer touched the tank, as if one would caress a child, but with something more in it. "Yes, one pure krogan to inflict the greatest insult on the genophage—to be ignored."
"Quality over quantity, huh?" A new approach for the krogan, who preferred to drown their enemies in a tide of bodies.
But seeing as Okeer wasn't liked by his kind, it wasn't something that could be implemented on a species-wide scale.
Okeer grinned, showing his teeth. "Exactly. You know, you actually gave me the idea in the first place. Why bother having a mindless horde when one perfect soldier could destroy an entire army?"
Huh, a krogan made with him in mind. "I am flattered."
He wasn't.
"You should be, especially after Virmire." Okeer came close to Shepard, but he sensed no hostilities.
"Destroying a cloning lab wasn't really a challenge."
"Indeed. Saren's pale horde stood no chance against you."
Their conversation was cut short as the annoying voice was back. "Attention. I have tracked the krogan release. Okeer, of course. I am "calling a blank" slate on this project. Gas these commandos and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks." Jedore ordered, and Shepard realized her voice was even more annoying face-to-face.
"Masks on." Shepard ordered, though Okeer did not seem to have one.
"Is she that weak-willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve." The warlord snapped and turned to Shepard as his last resort.
"Shepard, you want information on the Collectors? Stop her. She'll try to access the contaminants in the storage bay." The krogan made his offer, and Shepard was inclined to take it, because he wanted that annoying voice silenced.
"This better be worth it, Okeer." If not, he wasn't going to carry the ancient krogan around in his ship.
"I will give you everything I can. My legacy must not suffer this insult. Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. Kill her. I will…stay and do what must be done." He spoke with such conviction, Shepard didn't think he intended to live.
Wonderful.
—
First one through the door, Shepard biotically lashed Jedore in the throat before pulling her to himself.
Catching her by the neck, Shepard slammed her on the ground twice before stomping on her head with a biotically powered kick, killing the leader of the mercs.
Garrus used a grenade to shred the tank-grown krogan, and Jack tore the YMIR apart with her biotics.
"Glad her shrill voice is silenced." Garrus grunted, retrieving the grenade.
"Shepard, the lab alarms coincided with a systems failure. The remaining lab systems are unprotected, and I have gained limited access. According to lab scanners, the room is flooded with toxins, and Okeer's vitals are falling rapidly. I recommend haste." EDI's voice came, and Shepard knew his prediction was correct.
—
Okeer was dead but had left a message behind with no idea on why the Collectors wanted humans, leaving their hypotheses unverified.
However, Shepard could still use a krogan in his team.
"Normandy, Okeer is a no-go. We are ready for a pickup. Send in something to carry heavy cargo."
It would be nice, having another krogan around he could use to threaten his enemies.