Guard Dog of Hell 1.5

You did your best to remember the emergency repair training you had a long time ago and began your task. After looking around for a bit, you found an energy cable long enough to connect a shuttle with the energy line that fed the hangar door's opening mechanism. As you were working on your escape route, you decided to try and reach the Voice again, partly to rub it in that you found your own way off the station, and partly to see if you could get some more information out of her. Thanks to the shuttle's comm system, the signal was strong enough that the Voice wouldn't be able to pinpoint your current location.

"Mysterious Voice, can you hear me?" you asked as you worked on the cable near the hangar doors. For some reason, said cable did its best to resist your attempts to connect it to the opening mechanism. "Just so you know, I'm still alive."

"Shepard, I'm glad to hear that. Where are you?"

"Oh, you know, a nice place filled with killer robots and crazy scientists. And you?"

"Ugh, don't play games, Shepard! If you tell me where you are, I can guide you to my location. As I said, I have a shuttle waiting for you. Don't be a fool and die due to your stubbornness. I have not spent this much time on bringing you back that I will let you die now! We need you, Shepard, not just Cerberus but Humanity."

"Oh, please do tell me how I could help Cerberus. Or better yet, why should I? Ever read up on your own organization?" you answered drily as you made the final connection. Quickly, you went back to the shuttle that would serve as the generator. "You aren't the good guys, even if you pretend to be. You're aware I was the one who conducted the investigation into Admiral Kahoku's marines and the admiral's disappearance after it? I found him and what your organization had done to him."

"That was not a sanctioned operation by Cerberus. The experiments and things you saw when you stumbled over those cells aren't what Cerberus is. Those were rogue elements. Come with me, and I'll show you what Cerberus really stands for and why we need your help." You rolled your eyes when you heard her say that and activated the shuttle. It booted up, and by the time she finished her monologue, whoever this Voice woman was, energy was reaching the hangar doors. "Whole colonies are simply vanishing – the people, not the buildings. There are never any signs of attack, and it happens exclusively to human colonies."

"Ah, and Cerberus are the only ones who care about these disappearances, I gather? The Alliance, you know, our government, just ignores that thousands of people simply vanish." The reply coming from you sounded a bit pressed, even to your ears. You struggled to close the door you used to enter the hangar. "Don't tell me, they ignore it because it only happens to colonies outside of the Alliance, and now you, Cerberus, are the only chance humanity has. Am I right? I hate to tell you this, but that is the worst way to recruit someone who knows what you're doing. Especially when you're only telling me this now. Next time, try a bit harder."

"Shepard, you don't understand, this isn't the time to joke."

"Oh, I'm dead serious here. But I get the feeling you aren't aware that you're a terrorist, Voice. And I'm not joining your little club of human-centric bullshit." You sat down in your escape shuttle and used your omni-tool to open the hangar door. With a satisfied nod, you saw that the boot up of your escape shuttle had finished. "I'm out of here, and I suggest you do the same thing before the killer bots get to you."

"Shepard, do you know how many resources we've invested in you? We didn't do that so you could just run off! These colonies are vanishing, and the Alliance is doing nothing to stop that. Let's face it, Shepard, Cerberus is the best chance these human colonies have. With you on our side, we will stop whoever is responsible for that!"

[ ] Stay and see what Cerberus has to say.

[ ] Leave the station and find a way to …
-[ ] the Citadel.
-[ ] Alliance Space.
-[ ] a friendly patrol.
-[ ] Omega station.
-[ ] Write-in

Slowly, you taxied out of the shuttle bay as you thought about what the Voice had just said. If human colonies were indeed vanishing, that was concerning. Usually, it would be something you would trust the Alliance with, but if what the Voice said was right, it wasn't the case here. Several reasons were possible, with the most likely one being the Council holding back the Alliance because of fears of a broader conflict. And the only way the Alliance would respond so slowly was if the colonies were outside their borders. This smelled like politics were at play, most likely because the vanishing settlements were located in the Terminus Systems. The Council was always careful with these, especially since the Batarians had broken its links to the Citadel.

So, the Alliance response until now might have been lackluster. It wouldn't surprise you that a terrorist organization like Cerberus would try to use that to their advantage. And that was concerning, to say the least. It also seemed strange to you that they were after you, almost as if they had an obsession with you.

The stars were shining, offering you the option to simply run. It was an offer you only wished you could take, but this new information changed your escape plans significantly. Whatever Cerberus was planning, you couldn't give them a free hand. They would need to be stopped, which would be much easier if they trusted you to a degree now rather than hunting them down later.

There was no chance in hell that you could let such an opportunity slip. Actually, infiltrating and disrupting Cerberus was something like a wet dream for Alliance Intelligence. It also was SPECTRE business as far as you could tell. Either way, you would stop a terrorist organization or prevent a terrorist organization and whatever made the colonies vanish. The Alliance commander in you hated the idea, but the SPECTRE agent was basically drooling at the thought. In the end, the agent won, it was time to see what Cerberus was up to and maybe even work with them together – for a time.

"Voice, you've convinced me. But we're meeting on my terms."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a short moment, before you heard a massive sigh. When the Voice spoke again, she didn't sound too happy but grudgingly accepting. "All right, Shepard. Where do you want to meet?"

[ ] "Let's meet now, send me your coordinates, and I'm picking you up with my new shuttle."
[ ] "We meet in a week on (Write-in; e.g., the Citadel, Omega, etc.)"

"Let's meet now. Send me your coordinates, and I'm picking you up with my new shuttle."

"What shuttle? You know what, Shepard? Forget it, sending the coordinates now. They are for an airlock close by." The Voice fell silent for a moment, and the lack of background noise made it clear to you that she had muted her line for a short moment. Then she returned and sounded a bit displeased when she spoke again. "We're two, me and the chief of security of this project."

"I've got your coordinates and am on my way. Arriving in five minutes at the airlock." You adjusted your course and flew over to the airlock located on the other side of the station. The flight over didn't take much time, unlike the docking procedure. As you let the autopilot take control over the shuttle, you quickly checked other comm channels, hoping to find more survivors. Sadly, you found no frequency that was in use besides the one of The Voice. You stood up when your shuttle informed you that the docking process had finished. With a satisfying sound, your pistol announced its readiness as you unfolded the weapon from your hip. Then you took up a position that gave you some cover before you opened the shuttle door via your omni-tool.

On the other side of the door (and your pistol sights), you saw two people standing. The first person was a woman with cold, dark eyes and a beauty that was a bit too perfect to be natural. She wore a skintight jumpsuit with hexagonal white-black colouring you could only assume were some sort of shield circuit. A poor choice to wear on a station full of murder bots. Besides that, it was also lovely to look at from your standpoint, and that meant it was most likely not a coincidence, especially not with that body. That had to be the woman that talked with you the whole time.

The other person, therefore, had to be the chief of security. You've seen marines who were on combat duty and less physically trained than this man, an impressive sight for sure. Like the woman, he wore a skintight jumpsuit as if trying to show off his body but otherwise useless in combat. Together with the woman, this was an extreme display of attractive bodies you had rarely seen outside of businesses like Chora's Den. And that was, without doubt, not an accident on Cerberus' part.

Both of them had weapons, collapsed at their hips or lower back. When the man saw your pistol pointing at them, he held up his hands. The woman only crossed her arms before her chest and looked annoyed at you.

"Whoa!"

"Really, Shepard? I think it should be clear we aren't a danger to you."

You raised an eyebrow. "Are you? Until now, you haven't given me a reason to trust you. I wake up on your station, you start giving me orders that lead me directly to some malicious bots that wish to kill me. And on top of that, I learn that you're part of Cerberus! A known terrorist organization with whom I've clashed in the past. Sorry if I won't trust you much."

"And yet you've agreed to meet us. It seems you know deep down that we're the only ones who can help these human colonies the Alliance continues to ignore." The Voice even looked as smug as you had thought she was. "Maybe we aren't the enemy here. Maybe we never were."

"Oh, sure. Let me just ignore the inhumane experiments I found in various Cerberus bases in the past. I do hope your supposed evidence is better than your attempt at recruiting me. Now weapons down and hands behind your head, or this meeting is over."

The Voice didn't move and stared coldly at you in response. You didn't need a psychologist to realize that this was a woman who wasn't used to taking orders from someone she saw as below her. You suddenly realized that she expected you to follow her orders. She saw herself as your commanding officer. Almost amusing, you thought and couldn't help but grin. That was the wrong thing to do as her eyes suddenly became hard. Great, that was why you hated to work with civilians close together. For them, it was often a tug on who the boss was. Military personnel or people who had worked in similar fields didn't give you the same attitude.

"I will not surrender myself to you just so you can drag us to the Alliance and waste our time. People are vanishing, and your Alliance doesn't feel the need to help stop this. You can either come with us so we can show you the evidence or return to your simple world view."

"Miranda, I don't think that is what Shepard meant. No reason to be so hostile. He just plays it safe. Right? " The chief of security looked almost pleadingly to the woman and then to you. You gave him a nod and noticed that he was obviously ex-military. The way he made sure you could see that his hands weren't even close to his weapons combined with the slight sideways stance reminded you of your own training. Even if it looked like he was giving you control over the situation, he stood ready to jump into the nearest cover at a moment's notice. Good man, it's sad that he joined a terrorist organization. You wouldn't have minded to have him on your crew.

"Your chief is right. I don't intend to bring you to justice, even if you deserve it without a doubt for betraying humanity. But I'm willing to listen to what you have to say about these colonies. If I think you're telling the truth, I might consider helping you. First, you need to convince me I can trust you even a little bit. And that means weapons down and hands up, or this meeting will end badly for you two."

"Don't threaten me, Shepard. Without me, you wouldn't be here."

You raised another eyebrow. "Then, apparently, I'm another failed experiment of Cerberus. Now listen here, lady, I don't have all day. You want to get me to believe you, so maybe it would be a good idea to get down from your orbit and visit the surface."

"Miranda, let's talk with him. I'm sure the Commander will listen. Just don't be this hostile."

The woman gives her chief-of-security an angry look but finally sighed. "Fine, but if this ends in an Alliance prison, it's your fault."

After having said her part, she slowly put her weapon down, the security dude doing the same. Then both took a step back and knelt down, hands behind their heads. You were actually surprised but quickly kicked the weapons out of their reach and gave them a quick scan for any hidden weapons. You then jerked your head to the back seats. "Get in, sit down, and don't try anything."

Both of them complied and sat down. Without taking an eye from them, you ordered the autopilot to start as you sat down opposite them. For a while, there was silence between the three of you. Finally, you sighed and broke the spell. "Right then, show me your evidence. I suppose you need your omni-tool for that lady, so open it. Slowly and no tricks!"

They both shared a look, and you had a sinking suspicion of what was going on. You sighed. "Let me guess; you don't have it with you. But it will be only a short jump to your other secret base where all the evidence is just waiting for me. And I just have to trust you on this, but you won't give me the coordinates of said base, right?"

The woman stared angrily at you, apparently not a fan of some great A-class Shepard-Sarcasm. But the man chuckled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Great, I will …

[x] not go to your secret lair full of your allies. We will land on …
-[x] Omega."
-[x] the Citadel."
-[x] the next Alliance world."

[x] trust you, don't make me regret this."

[x] find out about this on my own. I don't need you." Execute them.