Being brought back from the dead was not something Yuki Shepard had ever expected to happen, but what she expected even less was that the ones to bring her back were Cerberus of all people. The very people who had wiped out her unit on Akuze years ago, and caused her no end of trouble during her hunt for Saren, had spent two years rebuilding her so she would do their dirty work. Worst of all, when she heard what it was they wanted her to do, she had no choice but to agree to help them.
The enigmatic species known as Collectors, believed to be just myth by most of the galaxy, had turned hostile, and were attacking Human colonies to abduct people in the millions. If it were any other species being targeted, Yuki had no doubts that the ‘Humanity first’ organization would have no interest in stopping the Collectors. In fact, if it were one of the Council species being targeted, she was willing to bet Cerberus would even help the Collectors in order to weaken them and strengthen Humanity’s place in the galaxy. Because it was Human colonies being targeted, however, Cerberus’ goal of Human supremacy just barely overlapped with Yuki’s dedication to protecting everyone regardless of species. So, she took their ship, built up the crew, and worked towards ending the Collector threat.
Of course, just because they were ostensibly on the same side did not mean that Yuki was going to be cooperative. Here primary mission was to stop the Collectors, but she made it her secondary objective to cause as many problems for Cerberus as possible and become a headache they’d live to regret. This manifested as leaking intel to the Alliance, dragging here heels on missions to aid Cerberus operatives, and — sometimes — just being a little petty.
“Commander, we have identified the source of the anomalous readings. Your hypothesis was correct; pirates were using signal jammers to obscure their presence.”
With a disappointed sigh, Yuki put down her soup spoon and looked up at the ceiling of the mess hall. “Okay, EDI. I’ll go get in the elevator, go up to the armory, gear up, get back in the elevator, then go down to the cargo bay to get in the shuttle.”
“I have read all fifty points in your report on your displeasure with the layout of the SR-2. You do not need to reiterate them before every mission.” The ship’s onboard AI, the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, or EDI for short, said over the intercom.
“There’s still not an armor locker or gun rack in the cargo bay so apparently I do!” Under normal circumstances, Yuki would be ecstatic to have an AI on her ship, but with this being a Cerberus AI on a Cerberus ship… feeling were mixed. “Tell Jack and Grunt to come up to the armory, too. I’ll be taking them to the surface. Oh, and let Kasumi know there’s a piping hot bowl of ramen in the mess she can have. I can’t stand the thought of it going to waste…”
Just because Cerberus made her recruit them didn’t mean Yuki hated everyone she was bringing together for this suicide mission.
Although Yuki was generally morally opposed to stealing, she found herself genuinely enjoying the company of the infamous master thief Kasumi Goto. They talked regularly about hitting up the sushi place on the Citadel, singing karaoke and eating ‘authentic’ Japanese food, but had been unable to go just yet. The bowl of ramen she was about to enjoy wasn’t authentic, either, but at least it had real egg and pork, and you have no idea how hard it is to find ramen that isn’t just plasticky noodles, dehydrated vegetables and ‘meat’. It deserved to be eaten, and she wanted that honor to go to Kasumi.
Subject Zero, known as Jack to the people who didn’t want to have their skulls caved in, was another person that on paper Yuki should never have gotten along with. A psychotic criminal with violent impulses and rap sheet longer than an Asari Matriarch’s résumé, she couldn’t have been more different than the paragon of virtue that was Yuki Shepard, but there was one thing that they had in common: a deep, burning hatred for all thing Cerberus. They each had their own reasons to despise the terrorist organization, reasons which they had not yet become close enough to share, but a shared loathing was all they needed to build a quick and budding bond. One of their favorite things to do together was to discuss their best Cerberus kills, which they always did right in the middle of the mess hall for maximum effect.
Then there was Grunt. Grunt was Yuki’s son. Her eight foot tall, eight hundred pound, fully mature, tank-bred Krogan son. That’s really all there was to it.
This wasn’t always the team she brought with her into the field, but it exemplified the common skillsets of squamates she would bring. One biotic and one weapon specialist, with Yuki rounding things out as the tech expert. That was why she’d always take Ashley and Liara with her back in the day. And no other reason…
*****
After getting kitted up, Yuki took her squad in the Kodiak to the source of the jamming signal. A nameless world with such intense heat that even at night the temperature was beyond boiling. To avoid the heat, the pirates had set up in the shade of a craggy cliff overhang. It would have provided the extra benefit of limiting the approach vectors of hostiles, but their use pf a jamming signal worked against them. The Kodiak was able to land right on top of them before it was finally detected.
Shepard and her squad stormed out of the shuttle and into cover as pirates poured out of their cove like hornets flying out of a kicked nest. The Kodiak took a few shots before bugging out, but received only superficial damage. The pirates, on the other hand, would not make it out as unscathed.
*****
Ultimately, criminals — be they gang members, mercenaries, or pirates — makes poor fighters. They’re in it for the money, and as it always seems to be, the types most willing to kill for money are always the least willing to die for it. A corpse cannot cash a check, after all. Against a purebred Krogan, the galaxy’s most powerful Human biotic, and Commander Shepard, the pirates never stood a chance. They fell apart faster than wet tissue paper, and when all was said and done there was nothing left to do but clean up the mess.
“Ground team to Normandy, the pirates have been cleared out. Go ahead and send the Kodiak back to extract us; I’ll have the jamming system offline by the time they get here.” Shepard said, one hand pressed to the comm. piece in her ear while the other worked at a terminal inside the pirate base.
Disabling the shoddily improvised jamming signal was child’s play for someone with Yuki’s skills, and it went offline only a few seconds after giving the order. While still in their system, she spotted logs about ‘shipments’ going in out the the base, doubtlessly in reference to whatever cargo these pirates were moving.
She couldn’t help but feel curious as to what was so valuable that pirates set up a jamming signal in an empty system just to hide it. Her first thought went to military equipment stolen from the Alliance, but she doubted the pirates she just fought were capable of such a thing. She started swapping through the feeds if the base’s security cameras, until she landed on the one inside the cargo bay.
“Ground team to Normandy, the Kodiak is going to be picking up a lot more than us…”
The screen displaying the inside of the cargo bay showed it was filled to the brim with…
“sugar”. The street name for a new kind of drug, sugar is a white crystal substance almost visually indistinguishable from its namesake. Yuki can only tell it’s not the real think the the big “DO NOT EAT” written on each crate. But who would be stupid enough to eat this stuff?
spice. Not the street name for a drug, this is a just regular spice. Seasoning. And several cubic tons of the stuff. Gardner’s cooking could use some flavor, so Yuki decides to bring the spice aboard. Why were the pirates even bothering to hoard this stuff?
sealed containers. Yuki can’t tell what’s inside of them, but whatever it is it has to be good.
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