Author Notes

If you don't know all about Jump Chain and Mass Effect then please don't read this story as it will make no sense to you.

Also I will posting his story a few chapters at a time. It will be a longer story than the last one and easier to post in chunks.

Jump Chain Gothic - Mass Effect 2 - Part 1

Awakening

Cosmic Warehouse. Somewhere Outside Of Reality.

I looked around at the product of all my work and smiled. I'd really looted the Mass Effect verse for nearly everything that it was worth and I wasn't even halfway done with this Jump. Plus I was sure that some of the really good stuff I wouldn't find until I joined back up with Shepard.

All around me on the shelves were example of Mass Effect technology, everything from entertainment systems and coffee makers, to VI interfaces. Which didn't seem like much worth boasting about, however there was far more of value stored away on portable hard drives, and data discs, some of which were Prothean in make, but what could be seen with the naked eye was still impressive.

I'd been collecting firearms and I had many models of firearms carefully packed away inside cases that were ready for use. Heavy pistols such as the M-3 Predator, M-6 Carnifex and M-5 Phalanx. Machine guns such as the M-4 Shrunken, M-9 Tempest and M-12 Locust. Then came the rifles the M-8 Avenger and M-15 Vindicator. Last but not least were the heavy weapons the M-100 Grenade Launcher and ML-77 Missile Launcher, that last one Shepard had brought me just after she became a Spectre and never once had I used it.

However by far the most noticeable of all the items within the Cosmic Warehouse were the Kodiak shuttle and the Mako.

Nicknamed the "Combat Cockroach" by Alliance marines due to its durability and looks, the Kodiak drop shuttle was an interplanetary vehicle operated by a pilot and a co-pilot, but it could be handled by just a pilot and the shuttles VI. I let Cortana interface with the shuttle when I flew it which meant a smooth ride as she was far better than some VI.

The Kodiak's substantial element zero core allowed for flight by entirely countering the vehicle's mass. Its small thrusters were only for directional control only, so if the mass effect field ever failed, the vehicle was about as flyable as a huge brick.

Since this was a cheap civilian model it had no weapons, and only basic kinetic barriers, but still it was still better than any space craft ever produced on my world. If I ever got back to any version of Earth in early 21st Century I was flying it to the moon just so I could check the Apollo landing site. Which would be easily done in such a fine shuttle.

This shuttle was also durable. The prototype Kodiak had been extensively tested in the sulphuric acid and extreme temperatures of Venus, and while this civilian model wasn't a tough I could still land it on Venus, as long as I didn't stay for very long. Not that I really wanted to go there.

The M35 Mako was designed to fulfil the role of rapid deployment that its predecessor, the M29 Grizzly, fell short of accomplishing. Though the interior was cramped, something I knew from personal experience, the M35 was small enough to be carried in the cargo bay of ship and could be easily deployed on a number of worlds. It also didn't take as much of the internal volume of a Cosmic Warehouse as a Jumper might think.

With its turreted 155mm mass accelerator cannon and coaxial-mounted machine gun, the Mako could provide a fire team with weapon support as well as mobility. Since Alliance marines might be required to fight on any world in a variety of planetary environments, the Mako was environmentally sealed and powered by a long lasting hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell.

The vehicle's armour was tough enough to withstand high drops, extreme heat and cold as well as rough terrain. The Mako's suspension and propulsion system allowed the vehicle to adapt to various terrain. For deployment on low-gravity planetoids, the Mako was equipped with micro-thrusters and a small element zero core, which could be used to increase mass and provide greater traction.

The Mako's hull was covered with laser detection arrays, which forewarned the crew of enemy laser-guided ordnance. Ground-penetrating radar allowed for the detection of anti-vehicle mines and other subsurface anomalies.

To put all that more simply the Mako was a sci fi tank, and I had such amusing ideas for what could be done with it. For example if my next jump was to the Lord of the Rings world then with the Mako I could drive Frodo right to Mount Doom. Although I might not do that since then I'd be stuck on a world with primitive tech for ten years with nothing to do.

By far the most numerous objects in the warehouse were Prothean stasis pods, well actually they were replicas built by myself and Tali, but they would serve my purpose.

Should things go really badly during the Reaper invasion and the Crucible didn't work out I planned to fill the pods with people I cared about and then find somewhere to hide until the Jump was over.

Then I could let them out at the start of the next Jump while hoping they'd be able to live some sort of life in another universe. Granted I didn't think any of the people I knew would hide while the Reapers were slaughtering the galaxy, but I felt better for having the option.

I figured that this cycle would be a long one, and I'd have time to go hide if things did go tits up.

At least in this time line the Citadel governments were not pretending that the Reapers didn't exist. They were preparing for a massive invasion by spending a lot of money on defence.

While this might seem like a good thing it was bad in some ways. Each race was focusing on its own defence and not making plans for an allied force. Only if every warship in Citadel space joined together would we have even a chance, and even then we'd need the Crucible. The Reapers were too advanced and there were so many of them, a conventional war wasn't a war we could win.

Also because all the races were looking inward the frontier worlds and the Terminus Systems were becoming even more lawless. Slavery was increasing, as were pirate attacks and raids on colonies. Worse the Terminus Systems were more fractured than ever so when the Reapers came they'd stream roll over the Terminus Systems and harvest many worlds allowing them to quickly build up an army of husks.

The Terminus Systems were located on the far side of the Attican Traverse, beyond the space administered by the Citadel Council or claimed by humanity's Systems Alliance. These systems were populated by a loose affiliation of minor species, united only in their refusal to acknowledge the political authority of the Council.

Their independence came at a price; the Terminus System were fraught with conflict. War among the various worlds in that part of the galaxy were common, as governments and dictators gained power only to lose it during the next rebellion. While the Terminus Systems as a whole had no government, the Omega station served as a trade capital, it was more or less the only stability within the region.

Also the region was a haven for illegal activities, particularly piracy and the slave trade. Pirates and slavers from the Terminus System were known to invade the nearby Attican Traverse. These attacks were typically small raids against poorly-defended colonies.

The Council rarely retaliated, as sending patrols into the Terminus Systems could unify the disparate groups against their common foe, triggering a long and costly war. Now they didn't bother at all preferring to focus on protecting their more populated worlds.

Despite the dangers, Citadel races had not been deterred from travelling through and even extensively colonising the Terminus Systems themselves. Humans, turians, salarians, elcor, asari, and volus all had a sizable colonial presences there.

Since the Citadel Council's authority was nonexistent, in the Terminus Systems these colonies were often fully independent from any interplanetary government. The Terminus Systems also include the home worlds of the quarians and the vorcha, but the quarian words were all controlled by the geth these days.

Shaking my head I focused on finishing my inspection of my Cosmic Warehouse. Soon I'd once more be running around the galaxy with Commander Shepard, and I wouldn't have time to keep track of what tech I had and what I wanted. Best to get my inventory done now so that if I did come across some rare bit of tech I'd know if I already had it stored away or not.

Still while working I couldn't help wondering if Shepard had woken up yet, and if she was currently under attack by killer robots. If she was I didn't worry, she could handle robots, and it wasn't as any knew where she was.

(Line Break)

Cerberus Space Station. Location Classifed.

For Jacob Taylor, this was all a total nightmare. There were security Machs shooting at anything that moved, and Blue Suns mercenaries also killing anything that moved, and he still couldn't raise Miranda on the comm.

Then, as if to make matters worse, the Station VI had just announced that Commander Shepard's containment cell had been breached. Which meant that someone had reached the Spectre.

Miranda was going to be all kinds of pissed off if anything untoward happened to the Commander. Especially after the billions of credits that the Illusive Man had sank into this project over the last two years.

"To hack the mechs, you've gotta have top level access" Jacob muttered to himself as he gunned down a LOKI mech.

His head shot cut the machine off before it could finish using its bland voice to request a surrender. Then its on board power cell overloaded causing a small explosion. But what could you expect when you brought cheap mass produced robot guards rather than hire experienced men and women.

Still the many bodies Jacob saw lying in pools of blood were a silent testament to the brutal efficiency of both the Blue Suns mercenaries and the stations' Machs, at least when they were pitched against unarmed civilians.

"Maybe Miranda decided to clean house" Jacob whispered to himself "Get rid of the expendable work force and all".

This would hardly be he first time that an employer had decided that a finished project would be even more secure if every person involved never lived long enough to talk about it.

"No this project is Miranda's work" he said to himself "No way she'd torch it, not without a really good reason".

Two more LOKI mechs came around the corner and Jacob grabbed one in a biotic hold, and used it to bash the other machine. Not the best use of biotics, as doing stuff like that was tiring, but damn it had felt good.

Now he was starting to wonder if spending all this time on the station had been a good idea. He'd not stood on real ground for a while now, and since he wasn't smart enough to have worked on the project he'd not had much to do or much to talk about with people. It was possible he'd started to go a little strange. Things had been tense on this station for a while now. Plus it didn't help that mercs and mechs were trying to kill him.

Jacob stopped thinking when he saw yet another Cerberus tech get gunned down by a YMIR mech, the walking battle tank raked gunfire across the reinforced screen cutting down the tech. The Mech fired at Jacob but its weapons couldn't break the barrier between them so he was unharmed.

"Obstruction!" The YMIR announced "Continuing Search and Destroy Protocol!".

The hulking mech stomped off in search of easier prey.

"Miranda would make for Shepard" Jacob said to himself.

He really needed some time off, or at least a change of scenery, but he could worry about that later. For now Jacob needed to find Miranda and/or Shepard, and then get the hell out of here.

The dark skinned human moved quickly, now longer distracted by odd thoughts, yet he was still taken by surprise when he rounded the next corner, and he soon felt a pistol being pressed into his head

"Wait!" a familiar voice called out "You can't kill him! That's Jacob Taylor, he's our head of Security".

That was Miranda Lawson who had just spoken.

"Yeah he's the head of security in a place that's held me prisoner for two years" another voice said.

Jacob gasped.

"Shepard?" he said "You're awake!".

It had to be her. She sounded just like in the interview Jacob had heard, he couldn't remember the reporter, but he remember the interview.

"Listen to me Commander" Miranda was now saying "I know that waking up here must be confusing, but Jacob isn't your enemy, and you'll need our help to get out of here alive".

The pressure Jacob had felt went away and then he saw the Phalanx pistol, that the Commander had just used to threaten Jacob retreat into a holster. Shepard had even found some N7 armour somewhere. Jacob figured that Miranda must have secured a set for the Commander at some point during the last two years. Cerberus tended to be at getting what it wanted.

"Okay, priorities" Shepard said "We can get to know each other later. For now tell me what the hell is going on?".

Even for Joan this was all kinds of crazy.

"Someone hacked the mechs and we've got Blue Suns mercenaries cutting down anything they see" Jacob answered "This entire facility is normally completely dark, with little or no contact with the outside world as far as the rest of the galaxy knows, we don't exist. Now mechs can malfunction, but with the mercs being here its pretty clear that someone important knows what's going on here and the timing makes me think that this person knew you were going to walk up soon".

There were a number of people or groups that would love to get their hands on Shepard, but most wouldn't use the Blue Suns. Governments like the Salarians or the Asari would send the STG or commandos. The Alliance would send a whole fleet.

"We might want to make for the shuttle bays" Miranda suggested "That's the only way off the station. If anyone's left alive, that's where they'll be".

While making there way to the shuttle bay they were accosted by several mercenaries. The thugs had locked down a main hallway and were using it as a natural choke point. Jacob was ready to pull back and find another way to the shuttle bay when Miranda fired off a massive biotic attack. The mercs not killed were quickly gunned down due to how stunned they were.

"Impressive" Shepard commented "I've worked with a few biotics before. Never saw them doing that anything effective".

Once they got passed the Blue Suns thugs, the three humans found a member of Cerberus who was still alive. Only not for long as a M-4 Shuriken sub-machine gun ended his life. Jacob watched in shock as the bald man's corpse sank to the floor.

The dark-haired beauty that had gunned him down, then stepped over his body, sparing the corpse no more thought than she would a empty food container.

"What the Hell, Miranda?" Jacob said "I know Wilson was a jerk, but you can't just shoot people like that".

Shepard was lost at this point, but she was aware enough to keep her gun pointed at Miss Lawson in case the Cerberus Operative felt like shooting someone else.

"Wilson betrayed us all," she said, sounding unconcerned about the issue "He led the Blue Suns right to the base".

Jacob cursed under his breath.

"Any idea why?" Shepard asked, her gun not quite lowering.

"For the money, I suppose," the genetically-engineered woman said with shrug. "Wilson recently came into a small fortune from an unknown source".

Perhaps more would have been spoken on this matter, but this was when the station's VI informed everyone that the reactor was in the process of overloading.

"The station has been totally overrun" Miranda stated "The VI is programmed to blow this place rather than let it fall into enemy hands".

As group the three humans quickly moved through the airlock and into one of the shuttles. As soon as they were sat down, the doors shut, and Miranda nodded through a window into the cockpit, prompting the pilot to take off.

Once they were a distance away, the pilot helpfully turned to port so they could watch the station explode. It looked really cool.

(Line Break)

As the shuttle accelerated to speeds faster than light, the three humans settled down to talk.

"Not that the thought of a Cerberus base blowing up isn't nice, but was that really necessary Miss Lawson?" Shepard asked, "There might have been evidence of who Wilson was working for".

Joan Shepard was smart enough to figure out that Miranda Lawson had wired the reactor to blow. Mostly likely she'd done it before waking the Commander up. She wouldn't have wanted Shepard to fall into enemy hands not after spending all that money on her.

"No need. I know that Wilson was working for the Shadow Broker, as were the Blue Suns." Miranda replied.

She obviously expected everyone to simply take her at her word.

"Why would the Blue Suns and the Shadow Broker want to attack Cerberus?" Shepard enquired.

Well the Blue Suns would do it for money. What Shepard wondered was why an information dealer would go to war with a group of terrorists.

"Our boss will explain everything," the genetically-engineered woman replied firmly "He wants to talk to you. Once you do I'm sure you'll join our cause".

Shepard laughed, it wasn't a nice laugh.

"Join your cause?" Shepard said "What makes you think that I'm joining up with a bunch of terrorists?".

Joan remembered taking down Cerberus cell back when she'd been hunting Saren. The crap she'd seen painted a grim picture of Cerberus.

"That's all going to have to be answered by the boss" the former Corsair said with a shrug "But I can assure you that, whatever else that you might think of Cerberus, this time we're on the right side. Working with us is the only way you'll be able save tens of thousands of lives".

Joan didn't trust any of them, but if ten of thousands of lives were at stake then she would at least listen.

(Line Break)

Apartment. Omega.

The Terminus Systems were so weird. Only here would you get pornographic commercials while waiting for a call to connect. I did my best to ignore what a Hanar was currently doing to an asari. Partly because I was jealous, due to having the Cipher and the whole Jump Chain thing I couldn't perform the Joining with an Asari.

While you could meld without having sex and vice versa, the asari liked to meld during sex, because it was a rush, and I was unable to stop them from seeing memories I didn't want to be shared. Alas Omega was full of young and horny asari maidens all looking for a good time.

"Gothic" greeted Liara as the call connected "Good you got my message".

Indeed I had. Hence why I was calling her back.

"My sources just informed me that a few squads of Blue Suns were hired by the Shadow Broker to attack a Cerberus base" the asari told me "I've not gotten any word on what happened to the base, but judging by what you've told me I think the Broker wanted Joan, and that she must be alive again".

I'd done some jobs for Liara over the last two years, and she'd helped me find some tech. During the time I'd told her all about Jump Chain, filling in her on details she hadn't already known, and I'd offered to take her with me. Given that the end of this jump was more than five years away there was plenty of time for her to make up her mind.

The news about the mercs and the Broker surprised me, but there were bound to be some changes given that I'd messed with the time line. As for who wanted Shepard, I was sure that there was a very long list of people who either want her to stay dead or to control her. The Shadow Broker might have been intending to sell Shepard to one of those groups, or even to keep her for himself.

"She'll head to Freedom's Progress, the most recent colony to be attacked" I said.

Liara seemed surprised.

"Tali just sent me a message letting me know that she's taking a small team to that colony" the blue woman said "I don't think you ever mentioned that. Any idea why?".

I'd not mentioned just in case Tali rushed off too soon and got caught or killed by the Collectors. That was why I wasn't at the colony now waiting to hook up the commander. I'd either get harvested or I'd have to hide nearby and watch helplessly while all the people were taken.

"There's a quarian at Freedom's Progress" I informed the asari information dealer "Tali is going there to recover him. He'll give Shepard enough data to prove its the Collectors abducting humans. The quarian must have been able to send a distress signal to his people. That would explain how the quarians get there before anyone else".

I could see how conflicted Liara felt.

"Perhaps we should just tell Joan everything" she suggested.

I had valid reasons not to that.

"Too much is at stake" I said "If events spin out of control then the Reapers will win. We have to do things right, to guide Shepard down the right path. Besides she's going to be on a Cerberus ship. If they even suspected how much I knew they'd come after me".

Of course I planned to change a few things. Like not letting the crew of the new Normandy get abducted by Collectors. But everything else had to work out. I couldn't even get an Reaper IFF early because then Shepard would never board that dead Reaper and met Legion. Without Legion it would impossible to forge an alliance between the Geth and the Quarians, meaning one race could be wiped out.

Sure I could warn the Alliance about Horizon, but they wouldn't listen to me, because according to Anderson they considered me a rogue.

"Shepard must stop the Collectors and survive the mission" I was now saying "Or there won't be anyone to unite the galaxy once the Reapers arrive. Besides if the Commander knew how important she was, do you think she'd want the responsibility. I sure wouldn't want to go around knowing that the fate of the galaxy rested on me. The pressure might be too much even for her".

We'd spoken on this matter before. Really it was for the best if Shepard raced around the galaxy putting together a team, she was going to need the new Normandy, and if she knew what Cerberus would do in the next game she'd go after the Illusive Man rather than focus on the Collectors. Anyway she was going to need more allies for ME3, and she would earn their loyalty while preparing to attack the Collector Base.

Besides the start of ME3 was the best time to strike at Cerberus, when the Alliance was desperate and Earth was under attack. Then we'd be listened to and we'd have the back we needed.

We needed the plans for the Crucible too, and the only place to get those was Mars, which we didn't have access to. My attempts to find the plans elsewhere had failed.

"Let events play out for now" I said to Liara "Focus on dealing the Shadow Broker, we'll need his resources soon".

The asari information broker nodded in agreement, and with that the call ended.

(Line Break)

Cerberus Base. Location Unknown.

"Commander Shepard," the head of Cerberus greeted.

It was hard to tell due to the levels of light, but Joan could see that the human sitting before her, although he was actually light years away, had cybernetic eyes of some sort.

"Illusive Man," she replied, while crossing her arms "I thought that we'd be meeting face-to-face".

The head of Cerberus had no intention of meeting face to face with Shepard since he couldn't be sure he'd be able to control such a meeting. The commander might just shoot the Illusive Man on sight. Not many people would blame her for doing it.

"A necessary security precaution," the leader of Cerberus explained "Certainly understandable, in light of recent events. You're not the only one that the Shadow Broker is after".

Not many people could see the pattern, but the galaxy's most powerful information dealer had been making some odd moves recently, and even the Illusive Man didn't understand what it all meant.

"Yeah, what's up with that, anyway?" Joan wondered "Why would the Shadow Broker be after Cerberus? Why attack me?".

"We're using all of our resources to find out," the Illusive Man said coolly, while tapping a few controls on his right armrest. "Perhaps your former teammate Liara T'soni knows something. She's been rumoured to be working for the Shadow Broker, or possible against him depending on who you ask".

Shepard simply couldn't be live that her old girlfriend would ever work for the Shadow Broker, but then Joan had never imagined that Cerberus would try to recruit her, or that she'd be meeting with the Illusive Man. She'd woken up in a very strange galaxy.

"So why have you been holding onto me?" Shepard wished to know "Miranda Lawson assures me that you brought me back for good reasons, but I'm not sure I believe her".

Terrorists weren't known for being nice to people.

"We brought you back because Humanity needs you, Shepard," the Illusive Man replied "The Alliance can't be counted on to protect us. You may be the only hope we have of surviving the greatest threat of our brief existence".

Joan was now starting to understand some of what was going on.

"You mean the Reapers," Joan stated rather than asked.

"Good to see that your memory's intact," the Illusive Man said while putting out his cigarette "The war began with Saren and the Geth, and its still going. Human colonies, mostly in the Terminus Systems, have been found abandoned, their populations gone and with no clues to how or why they went missing".

Now Shepard was standing up straight. She was eager to find out what was going on.

I'll assume that you've eliminated the standard explanations; slaves, pirate attacks, that sort of thing" the saviour of the Citadel said.

"Commander, we aren't talking about a few people missing," the Illusive Man told her "All human life simply vanishes with no signs of a fight. And no pirate gang or raider group has come fourth to claim credit for these attacks. There has been an increase in slavery recently, but it if slavers were behind this then we'd be finding the missing people on the slave market, but we're not".

Shepard was not liking the sound of any of this.

"The Alliance would never allow something like this" Joan insisted "At the very least, Anderson would've...".

She wasn't able to finish what she'd been about to say.

"David Anderson has been doing all he can, but he's only an adviser despite your support for him taking a seat on the Council. The Council claims that no resources can be spared for a direct search for the culprits, they are even implying that if humanity is worthy of being on the Council that we should be able to handle a few abductions without their help. The truth is that everyone is looking out for themselves. Even with the massive military build up no one is going to spare ships to look out for colonies in the Terminus Systems and the Traverse".

Located near the lawless Terminus Systems, the Attican Traverse was the frontier of Citadel-controlled space. The area contained many worlds once inhabited by the Protheans, and many mass relays were located throughout the systems of the Traverse.

Colonies established in the Traverse were always at risk from raids and attacks from the nearby Terminus Systems, but the presence of so many worlds both rich in resources and Prothean ruins, ensured that the Citadel races kept setting up colonies there.

Though the Citadel officially claimed the region as its own, the groups within the Terminus Systems had claimed many of the planets in that part of the galaxy. Since they were unwilling to engage in an all-out war against the Terminus Systems, the Citadel adopted a military non-interference policy in the region.

The Council made no objection to the Systems Alliance's attempt at expansion in the Traverse, mostly because the large Alliance Navy could bring peace to unstable regions without the Council needing to get involved. However the peace keeping and expansion had been dialled back over the last couple of years as the Alliance did its best to prepare for coming of the Reapers.

"We believe that whoever was behind the attack on the Normandy is also responsible for the attacks on these colonies" the Illusive Man was now saying "While the colonies haven't been disappearing very quickly until recently, humans in the Terminus system started vanishing in small numbers not long after you defeated Sovereign, and it's only human colonies that have been attacked and abducted"

Shepard pondered this.

"And you think it's the Reapers," she deduced.

The leader of Cerberus was now lightning up another cigarette.

"As I said before, the abductions began after you defeated Sovereign. The colonists have been taken by some means that leaves no trace, not a shot fired in self defence" the Illusive Man went on to say "These colonies weren't defenceless, they had combat mechs and personal firearms, but they are never used. This implies that whatever method is being use to disable the colonies occurs so quickly that they have no chance to raise a defence. That in turn implies a technology way beyond our own, combine that with the timing and its not unreasonable to think it might be the Reapers. Besides the Reapers were known for harvesting populations during their war with the Prothaens, or at least that is what Javik has been telling people".

Now Shepard was confused.

"Who's Javik" she asked.

"Your old XO Gothic, along with some a few other members of your team, recovered a living a Prothean shortly after the Normandy was destroyed" the Illusive Man answered "Javik has given us a lot of information about the Reapers and has been aiding the Citadel races as they prepare for the invasion".

Shepard was still confused.

"Wait so Gothic found a living Prothean, Liara is trying is trying to take down the Shadow Broker, next you'll be telling me Wrex is ruling over all krogans" Joan said.

The Illusive Man shifted in his seat.

"I wouldn't go that far" the leader of Cerberus was now saying "But Urdnot Wrex has taken command of his clan, and he is in he process of building an alliance that could unite the Krogan".

"What about Garrus and Tali?" she asked.

"Tali'Zorah is with the Migrant Fleet serving as a sort of special forces commando under the direct command of the admiralty board" Joan was told "Garrus quit his job at C-Sec and began hunting criminals as a freelancer, I lost track of him some time ago when he entered the Terminus Systems",

Shepard didn't know if she should laugh or cry, this was all so odd to her.

"I'm out of it for a little while and everyone gets delusions of grandeur" she muttered to herself before speaking more clearly "So where is Gothic now?".

A glass of something strong was finished by the Illusive Man before he spoke again.

"The Alliance believes that he's gone rogue and they disavowed him some time ago" the head of Cerberus informed the commander "He was last seen in the Terminus Systems. It seems that in your absence, Gothic has decided to pursue his own agenda, which involves gathering information and odd bits of technology. I tried to persuade him to work with us, but he left for the Terminus Systems after spending time on the Quarian Migrant Fleet".

Shepard was going to ask about that once she caught up with her former Staff Lt. He better damn well have been looking after Tali. Also she was glad that the Cipher hadn't fallen into the hands of Cerberus. Although if there was in fact a real life Prothean around the Cipher would seem less important.

"Okay so I'll be looking up some old friends soon" Shepard decided "But what about Ashley Williams, you never mentioned her".

The Illusive Man produced a bottle from somewhere off screen and refilled his glass before speaking again.

"Ashely Williams was recently promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant and has been assigned as part of an outreach program between the Alliance and our most distant colonies. Its basically just for show, to reassure the people on the frontier that they haven't been forgotten when in fact for the most part they have".

Shepard was pleased for her old friend. She'd gone from Gunnery Chief to 1st Lieutenant in just two years. Impressive.

"Her real mission involves finding out if Cerberus is behind the attacks on our colonies" the Illusive Man then added.

That got Shepard's interest.

"We already suspect that the Alliance is trying to prove that we're behind the colony abductions, they are looking for a scapegoat so they don't have to take the blame for not protecting humanity" the Illusive Man went on to say "We're hoping that you can be more reasonable".

Shepard was now starting to understand her role here.

"You want me to investigate this so you can clear your names," she concluded.

The Illusive Man nodded.

"That's part of it" he then said "But we brought you back to fight the Reapers, and I promise you Commander that this is the work of the Reapers. We need to prove it, then maybe the Council will take action".

Shepard wasn't so sure now.

"Or maybe you want divert attention from yourselves" said the commander.

Although given the amount of time and money spent on bringing her back to life Joan figured that there was more to this than simply diverting attention. No Cerberus needed her for something important.

"Cerberus has always been concerned with the preservation and advancement of Humanity," the Illusive Man stated "So tell me, Commander. How does abducting colonists from the Terminus systems further human interests?".

Really it didn't. Cerberus was anti-alien, so why would it target human colonies when there were any alien colonies out there just as vulnerable.

"Good point," said Shepard "So what do you want me to do about it?"

The Illusive Man shifted in his seat again.

"Right now, all I want is for you to investigate," he replied "The latest colony to go dark is Freedom's Progress. I've arranged transportation, so go in and take a look. After you've seen the disappearances for yourself, if you don't think that this is a matter worth you pursuing, I'll have the Normandy drop you off on whatever you'd like".

Shepard wasn't sure she'd heard that right.

"I'm sorry, the Normandy?" she asked

The Illusive Man's smile was hidden from sight.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. In anticipation of your acceptance, I put together a crew and found you a ship" he explained "If I'm going to send the Galaxy's greatest hero off to fight an unknown hostiles then there's no sense in sending her off without the very best that we have to offer. Your pilot should be waiting for you outside. Let me know what you decide".

After the Illusive Man cut the connection, Shepard turned around and was startled to see a familiar face looking back at her.

"Shit, is that you Joker?".

Joker as her ship's pilot. Well at least some things were staying the same.