"This place is wrong." Was the first words out of Revan's mouth once the team exited the Normandy.

This was different from the Reaper corpse, though there was a similar feeling coming from somewhere nearby. This base didn't feel like a Force user like the ancient ship did, it felt like a Nexus. A Dark Nexus unlike any she had felt before.

"How?" Commander Shepard demanded, concern coloring her emotions.

"There's been uncountable amounts of death and suffering here." Revan replied. "But it's strange…like an echo of an echo. As if the same people suffered and died here over and over for millenia…apologies, it's hard to describe."

"I don't know if I want to know." Shepard muttered. "Good thing we're here to trash the place instead."

Revan nodded at that and moved to join her team.

It had been a struggle to choose how to split the teams since while that plan was to move along two paths and rejoin once they were in the main chamber, there was the chance that either team could get stuck and would have to maneuver on their own. That meant making both teams as balanced as possible. Definitely a struggle considering how unique the members of their group were.

In the end, Revan decided to take Jacob, Miranda, Mordin, Jack, and Kasumi with her while Shepard took the others and Legion prepared to infiltrate the ventilation shaft.

"So, ready to squash a bunch of bugs?" Jack asked, cracking her knuckles and rolling her neck. "I can't wait to cut loose."

"This isn't a game, Jack." Miranda scolded. "Pay attention to the surroundings."

"Relax, Cheerleader, you don't see Ice Queen freaking out about it do you?"

"Should still pay attention." Mordin added. "Good habit when working in the field."

"Didn't realize Jacob shared that stick up his ass."

"Enough." Revan sighed before things could get out of hand, even as Kasumi snickered off to the side. "Legion is almost in position. Be ready to move once he gives the signal."

"Yeah, yeah. None of you better get in the way of my fun." Jack muttered, but Revan was pleased to see her follow the order.

"We are probably going to be facing heavy resistance the moment the Collectors are able to detect us." Revan continued. "As usual, I will mostly move independently while you support me from behind. Miranda, you're going to be my sub-commander."

"Aye, Revan."

"Keep in mind, this is going to be a long fight. Pace yourselves, watch each other's backs, and may the Force be with us."

"Amen." Kasumi joked.

Revan decided not to reply to the thief. She was well aware it was a coping mechanism for her nervousness.

Smaller conversations broke out among the team as they waited. Little things like Miranda commenting on Jack's decision to wear a full shirt on a mission for once, Mordin wondering about some scientific aspect of their surroundings, or Jacob remarking on the blaster weapons Revan had provided once again.

But despite their efforts, the tension was still building as they waited for the beginning of their mission.

Revan supposed it was one thing to embark on a potential suicide mission where they expected to leverage all their skills and abilities against their foes, and another entirely to sit around in the enemy's main base doing nothing.

Thankfully Legion contacted them not long later.

"We are in position." The Geth reported. "External temperature slightly elevated but within operational tolerances. No obstructions detected. Ready to begin, Shepard-Commander."

"Great. Second squad, you in position?" Shepard responded.

Revan clicked on her vocalizer. "Ready on your signal, Commander."

"Right, then let's get this party started. I'll see all of you on the other side."

The line closed.

"Yes, let's begin."

"Fucking finally!"

-o-

Just because the Normandy had managed to crash in a section of the base that had no sensors did not mean that the Collectors were completely unaware of where they were.

And fittingly for an insectoid race, the moment Revan and her team made their location known, they were swarmed by every single drone coming to protect the 'hive'.

Hundreds of drones seemed to come from the very walls of the station, many of them not even armed, and rushed forward trying to drown them by sheer numbers. And against a different group, they might have even been a challenge. But against the crew of the Normandy? Even discounting the new weaponry they wielded, the Collectors were dying in droves.

The hordes of unarmed drones were cut down by precise methodical suppressing fire from both Jacob and Mordin. The larger groups were tripped up and scattered by Miranda's biotic prowess or simply crushed by Jack's brute force. And the few armed drones that stood in the distance suddenly found themselves shot in the back as Kasumi suddenly appeared only to slip away just as fast using her cloaking tech. Which left anything lucky – or from another point of view, unlucky – enough to slip by at the mercy of Revan's blades.

A trio of Collectors fell to the floor in pieces as the Sith Lord snapped up her left saber to deflect one of those particle weapons from hitting Jack, the beam being deflected unerringly back into the drone's head until it died and released the weapon.

"We're too exposed here." She commented lightly.

It wasn't that bad just yet, but since they would be fighting near nonstop every little bit added up.

"There should be more cover up ahead. But we need to thin them out if we don't want to get torn to pieces." The Normandy XO replied.

Revan nodded. "Jacob, heavy weapon on the horde. Everyone else suppressing fire on the high ground. Run forward on my signal." She ordered.

"You got it!" Jacob slung his blaster and reached for one of the heavy weapons Revan insisted they bring along. Some of them, such as the rocket and grenade launcher, admittedly weren't very impressive but others had surprised her with how destructive they could be.

She had to admit the Blackstorm launcher scared her a bit.

But since they weren't trying to rip a hole in the space station using a miniature black hole, Jacob fell back on a significantly less destructive yet still very deadly weapon.

"Firing!" he called out as the Arc Projector spat out several beams of electricity into the swarm of Collectors that then jumped randomly around from one to another in a way that brought the whole group to a halt, either by killing the drones or having them trip over the bodies of their comrades. Less all encompassing as her Force Lightning, but with the benefit that it didn't require any concentration from her and thanks to the upgraded battery system would eventually recharge on its own.

Revan trusted the others to follow along and immediately rushed ahead, leading the team along the path they had mapped out on the Normandy.

A Collector tried surprising her and dragging her into a few others as she passed an archway and lost its hands for the attempt thanks to a casual twirl of one of her sabers. A flick of her hand sent the armless drone crashing into its friends and Revan followed up by throwing her blue saber after it.

Once every drone was dead, Revan recalled the blade with a mental tug and turned to inspect their new surroundings.

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Miranda had been correct that there was more cover for them to use and the rest of the team was slowly moving forward by using the random pillars and unlevel terrain to hide from the small number of drones in the area.

Besides those, the hallways they had just fought their way through had opened up into a massive cavern that ironically protected the team despite leaving them out in the open thanks to the fact any Collectors approaching from above had nothing to hide behind and were quickly killed by either blasterfire or biotics.

"Alert, pathing failure." Legion's voice suddenly crackled over the comms. "There is an obstruction in the tunnel."

An obstruction? Not uncommon on a space station considering the dangers leaking atmosphere could cause and definitely something they would have planned for if they had more time, but if Legion was calling for help it was because he had no way of manipulating the lock from his position. That could be a problem.

"Shepard, my team is moving forward but I don't see the ventilation shaft. We can't assist."

"Copy. Don't worry, we see it. How are things on your end? Cause we're not seeing nearly as many Collectors as I was expecting."

Did that mean Revan's team had drawn most of them away? Or had they simply gotten lucky that fewer drones had gathered on the path Shepard's team had taken and it had the vent controls?

"Well, I think we found the ones you're missing, Commander!" Miranda yelled. "Revan, more are coming from behind!"

Before the Sith could turn to deal with that, there was a whisper in the Force that demanded Revan's attention.

"Harbinger!" Kasumi called out.

"I got it!"

Revan appreciated Jack's initiative but she was a poor match for the possessed drone. "I'll handle Harbinger, Jack. You secure the rear." She ordered. "Mordin, support her."

"Dammit, fine."

"Understood."

After a quick look to make sure none of the others were struggling, Revan dashed forward to meet the approaching enemy.

Just like in the confrontation on Horizon the appearance of Harbinger meant the other drones suddenly became a lot more coordinated. Revan would slice through one drone just to have three or more open fire on her at the same time even as the Sith used the bodies of their comrades as shields at times, all of them aiming at slight perceived gaps in her guard.

Despite that, Revan quickly carved a path directly up to Harbinger and attempted to decapitate the thing. Her red saber crashed into its biotic barrier but unlike Horizon, this time there was a delay before the lightsaber cut through its carapace and the cybernetics underneath.

Then she had to move before the surrounding drones all opened fire on her.

Without the Presence possessing one of them, they reverted back to their more simplistic method of simply opening fire whether they had a clear shot or not. But Revan could not simply stand still. The Presence was already in the process of possessing another drone and Revan was further from the rest of the team than she would have liked. So even though it was earlier than she planned, Revan let out a breath and sank into the Force.

Her first move was to give herself some room by unleashing a powerful Force Wave on the drones surrounding her. While it didn't kill any of them, it left the Harbinger alone and vulnerable. Lightning sparked around her hands before she unleashed a torrent at the glowing drone just as it was fully possessed.

"You seem somewhat stronger here," She commented lightly, "But a puppet is still a puppet. Easily broken and cast aside."

"This shell is but one of thousands." The Presence responded evenly, despite the drone convulsing under the electrical attack. "Destroying it does nothing."

"True, but this time I'm ready for you."

The Drone quickly died under the electric assault and the Presence shifted to another. With Revan drawing more deeply on her connection to the Force she could practically see the poor slave being Dominated thanks to some sort of pseudo-Force bond connecting it to its master. This one was further away and guarded by some Collectors that managed to find their feet, but they weren't much of a deterrent to her. The possession completed and Revan immediately hit it with more Force Lightning.

"This does not harm me."

"We'll see about that." Revan muttered and deliberately drew on the Dark Side.

Several Force techniques had different applications depending on if the user's alignment was Light, Neutral, or Dark. Force Lightning by itself was just controlled and directed electricity while its Light counterpart, Electric Judgement, could easily stun its target without doing much actual damage. The Dark version though, more commonly named Sith Lightning, existed to cause more pain than physically possible by targeting the victim's Force signature. And Revan knew from experience you could broadcast that pain over a Force Bond to incapacitate both sides.

The blue-white lightning didn't change color, but it gained a baleful edge to it as it ravaged the body of the drone.

"What is this?!" The Presence roared as it tried and failed to sever the bond to its host. One of the more insidious properties of Sith Lightning. "What have you done?!"

"I don't know how you Reapers are somehow able to manipulate the Force but I have fought galaxy spanning wars against much more adept users than you. Did you think there weren't ways to affect a puppet master through their pawns?" Revan mocked. "What you are feeling now, machine, is pain."

"Impossible, we are beyond the failings of organic bodies!"

"Evidently not. But if you don't believe me feel free to try again." The Collector body was already dying. "I'll let you experience this again and again if you wish."

There was no reply as the Presence retreated, the host body finally dying and freeing it from Revan's attack, and tellingly none of the remaining drones were possessed either. The Reaper was driven off for now. Revan breathed out and released her grip on the Force feeling the slight strain the short battle had caused.

Nothing to be concerned about at the moment, but who knew how long this battle would take.

Dismissing that thought Revan turned and charged at the newest batch of Collectors that opened fire. She had a team to get back to.

-o-

Shepard cursed as an explosion destroyed the bit of cover she was hiding behind and unloaded a trio of blaster bolts into her attacker.

Then she had to dive to the side as she noticed another drone pointing one of those particle lasers at her.

"Garrus! Assassin!"

"I see it!" The Turrian called back and snapped off a shot that took the drone's head clean off.

"Good shot!" Shepard cheered her teammate even as her eyes darted over the battlefield.

She hadn't been kidding earlier when she told the other team they had run into less enemy presence than they expected for the main Collector base. Despite fighting a decent amount of the way to the center of the station they had only come across slightly greater numbers than their own team at most. Not much of a challenge when it came down to it considering who was on her team, which had Shepard's instincts screaming 'trap' the whole way down.

Only for the trap to never get sprung.

"Over there, Shepard, that should be the final gate!" Tali called out from where she was directing her combat drone to cause havoc among the Collectors. Shepard turned to look and saw a holographic control terminal different from the others they had used to help Legion advance through the ventilation shaft.

"Alright, cover me!"

There wasn't much between the Spectre and the console besides a pair of unarmed Collectors that were quickly shot and moved past. Shepard slammed her omnitool into the console to allow EDI access and pivoted to keep shooting at the enemies behind her while the rest of her team moved to follow her.

"Way's clear, get those doors open!" She ordered Legion while picking off some of the drones trying to knock Grunt to the ground.

Not that the young Krogan really needed the help. He was laughing as he ripped the arm off one Collector, beat another over the head with the severed limb, and nearly blew another in half with his shotgun.

Still, if Grunt was getting swarmed then they were going to need some space while Legion handled the doors.

"Samara, singularity on the right side! Grunt, block up the left. Thane, cover him." Shepard began shouting orders. "Tali, open a line with Legion and see if you can help get the doors open faster. Garrus, on overwatch. If something looks at us funny, I want it losing its head!"

A round of affirmatives came back and Shepard set herself up to assist wherever she needed to. First by making sure any Collector with a weapon kept its head down if it wasn't getting sucked up into Samara's biotic field, and then by making sure those stayed down once she didn't have a clear shot on anything else.

"What's our status, Legion?"

"Door malfunction, Shepard-Commander. We are having difficulty retracting the doors Revan-Empress's team used."

And Revan's side was the one with a fuckton more Collectors. Dammit that wasn't good.

Shepard was about to tell the Geth to keep working on it, but the Sith Empress spoke up first.

"Ignore the doors for now, get Shepard's team through. We'll hold them here."

Well that was good. If Revan was that confident Shepard wouldn't second guess her.

So trusting Legion and the other team could handle things, Shepard went back to focusing on her own team and a few moments later, the door opened.

"Go, go, go! Get through the door!"

Half her team rushed forward and moved to support Revan's squad on the other doors while Shepard and the other half backed through, making sure to pick off the Collectors rushing towards them in a final desperate bid at stopping them from reaching the main chamber. Once all of them were past the threshold Shepard called out to Legion and then moved to the other doors, not that they needed her help at this point.

Revan stood in the doorway, sabers flashing, and acting a barrier for all incoming fire while the others had formed up into what could only be described as an execution firing squad for any drones that tried to get through the other side.

She didn't even have time to move before Legion overcame whatever issue with the door was and the massive metal slabs slammed shut.

"Heh heh, that was fun." Grunt laughed. "We should do it again."

"Let's not." Tali replied dryly.

Shepard looked around and confirmed that at the very least everyone was still here and after a quick check none of her team had anything more serious than a few bruises. The Collectors clearly weren't prepared for an invasion on their home turf.

"Commander, you need to see this!" Miranda called from further ahead. While she had looked over the ground team, her XO must have scouted around them.

"What do you…" She trailed off as she got her first look at the chamber proper.

Just like the rest of Collector architecture they had seen so far the chamber was an incredibly vast open space. Shepard could see stasis pods dotting the walls here and there, but beyond the titanic pipes running through the chamber and some supporting struts there was nothing in here. Even the rocklike hive material the Collectors had all over the place was oddly missing.

"Shepard, over here." Miranda interrupted her observations and waved a hand at a nearby stasis pod. Inside was a human woman with reddish-brown hair but Shepard couldn't tell if she was dead or just unconscious.

"Looks like one of the missing colonists." Miranda continued while Shepard ran a hand over the resin-like shell, looking for a way to open the pod.

"There's more over here!" Thane called out from deeper in the room where the Specter could see more pods, these ones all filled with members of her missing crew.

Shepard started feeling around for some sort of latch or release mechanism. Even if the woman was dead, she didn't want to leave her inside the pod for whatever the Collectors wanted to use her for. She didn't find anything immediately but she paused when she noticed the woman beginning to move inside the pod.

"My god, she's still alive!" Shepard breathed, then looked over her shoulder at the rest of the team. "Get them out of there, hurry!"

Order given, Shepard turned back to the pod in front of her and started seriously searching for a way to open the pod. But worst case scenario she could just have Revan cut the woman out. The pod didn't seem that tough-

While she was searching the colonist had fully woken up and started screaming and thrashing.

Shepard looked up ready to try and calm the woman down and assure her they would get her out, only to see a scene that was surely going to stick in her nightmares for a good long time.

Some sort of greenish gas was being pumped into the interior of the pod and the colonist wasn't screaming because she was afraid. No, she was screaming because her skin was literally dissolving off her entire body.

The colonist began beating the inside of the pod with increasingly bloody hands while Shepard desperately looked for a way to release her for two more seconds before giving up.

"Revan!"

Shepard moved out of the way as the Sith Empress quickly ignited one of her sabers and made three rapid cuts into the pod before telekinetically throwing the cover across the room. The colonist fell still screaming to the floor as more of her just seemed to liquify off her body. The last thing Shepard saw before she ran off to help the others release the prisoners from the other pods was Revan placing a hand on what was left of the woman's forehead and the screams falling silent.

"Right side near the seam, push up hard and it will open the pod!" Kasumi yelled to the others as the first one to figure out how to open them. Shepard ran to the end where more of the crew was trapped and followed the thief's direction. She found a groove that allowed her to get some good leverage and shoved upward. The pod opened with a cracking sound and a hiss of releasing gas.

Shepard caught the unconscious crewmember as gently as she could and lowered him to the floor before moving to the next occupied pod. She did that twice more before there was only one pod left with Miranda already opening it.

The pod cracked open and Shepard moved to catch the woman inside as she fell out.

The Spectre had been moving quickly to make sure they got to everyone but the flash of gray hair easily told her who the last person they rescued was.

"Doctor Chakwas, you okay?" She gently asked as she lowered the older woman to the ground.

"Shepard?" Chakwas's eyes fluttered as she fought her way back to awareness. "You…you came for us."

"No one gets left behind, Karin. You know that."

"Well thank god you got here in time." Kelly said as the entire group was shuffled over to them. "A few more seconds and…I don't even want to think about it." The fellow redhead shuddered.

Shepard understood that. She really did. But they didn't have any time she needed to know if the rest of the kidnapped colonists were still around. If the crew had seen them anywhere.

"The colonists were…processed." Chakwas said in a hollow detached voice that hurt Shepard to listen to. "That gas, I assume contains a swarm of tiny robots, they– melted their bodies into some sort of gray liquid and pumped it through those tubes." The doctor motioned to the pipes running overhead.

So they were too late.

"Why? What could they possibly need that for?"

"I don't know. I'm just glad you got here before it happened to us."

"So are we." Miranda commented. "But we still have a job to do."

Shepard looked around. Most of the ship crew had blank almost haunted looks about them and many had injuries caused by that gas before they were released. "We do, but we're not in any shape to make decisions right now. We'll take five minutes to deal with the wounded and plan our next step."

Because now Shepard had to figure out what to do with two dozen traumatized shipmates that were injured, unarmed, and in absolutely no position to fight.