Normandy requesting shuttle docking in hangar bay six. Are we clear to land?

*static*

Shepard, you hear that? All I'm getting is static... I just can't get used to that. It's just... creepy.

Their comms could be knocked out, Joker. We should still check the colony out for survivors. The shuttle is leaving now.

Aye aye.

---

Shepard watched the monitor as the shuttle made its way down to the colony hangar bay. The shuttle rocked as it hit the atmosphere. The planet was mostly covered in water, with the colony located on a large island. Soon in the distance, they could see the shine of metallic structures. Gradually as the shuttle approached the structures got larger and larger, finally revealing themselves to be the colony that they were looking for.  All the feed showed was destruction. Buildings with gaping holes and rubble were common sight, and occasionally a dead body made an appearance. Reaper troops, disgusting abominations, lay where they stood when the crucible's EMP wave hit the planet. These colonists were lucky; Shepard had visited two colonies before this, and both populations had died when the EMP wave knocked out their life support. Unlike the other colonies, this planet was able to sustain life without any help. So there is still hope. Shepard thought to himself.

Shepard leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He would nap for a short time before they landed. Lately they had landed on countless colonies, and the work was finally starting to get to him. It was not long before he felt arms wrap around him and a head touch down on his shoulder. He didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was. He felt a kiss on his cheek.

"What if there are actual living people in this colony? Do we have all the supplies the council gave us?" Liara whispered gently into his ear.

"We do. I loaded it myself." Shepard responded with his eyes still closed. It was clear he was enjoying the moment.

"There were lot of supplies, I could have helped."

"Well you were busy with the baby and the reaper synthetics need to start making up for what they did."

Liara laughed. "Well after they tried to kill us and take over the galaxy, they deserve to be put to work." She brought her head back onto his shoulder. "Just think, after you complete this mission we could retire." She snuggled her head against his shoulder, enjoying his comfort.

"But don't you think I should be retiring already?" Shepard replied. He wanted to retire immediately and make a family with Liara. He brought together the galaxy to defeat the reapers, wasn't that enough?

"You tell me, you were the one that signed yourself up for it." Liara teased with a chuckle.

Shepard grunted. It was more complicated than that. Before he left Earth he gave the council a plan of reconstruction for the galaxy. It was a simple one, made by the collaboration of his squad; start reconstruction at the largest planets and fix them to a point where they can work on themselves, and then move on to the smaller settlements and colonies. But when he had presented it, the council asked where he fit into the equation. He couldn't just tell them that he would be leaving galactic politics. That would hurt their resolve; they needed to feel that the great Shepard had their backs. So on the spot Shepard made a small revision to the plan; The Normandy would be supplied up and sent to help alleviate the smallest of colonies, those that needed the relief the most, since it would take a large amount of time to fix the largest planets. That way no one was left in the dark for long. And so before they left, the council loaded the ship up with supplies and sent them to fix the colonies. At least they would leave Shepard alone for the most part.

The shuttle rocked and knocked Shepard back into the present. He kissed Liara on the crest, her head still on his shoulder. "Vega, how close are we?"

"About 15 minutes to touch down." Vega responded.

"Good, only 15 more minutes of worrying if you'll crash the shuttle."

"Hey, my flying is smooth as butter, loco. You fell asleep. I think that's settles it." Vega laughed.

"I didn't fall asleep." Shepard smiled, wanting to give Vega a hard time.

"Well you closed your eyes. Close enough."

---

The shuttle pulled into the small colony hangar easily. It touched down gently, much to Vega's pride. Everyone put on their helmets and got out of the shuttle.

"Alright, we stick together and search for survivors. Got it?" Shepard ordered looking at the others. There were five of them, each with their own duties to fulfill should there be life in the colony. Vega was there for protection, Tali was there to implement the Donnely kick start procedure to bring power back to the colony, Javik was there to use his prothean sense to find survivors, Liara was there for consultation, and finally Shepard was there to lead them just like he always did.

They set off out of the hangar without delay. Upon exiting the hangar, they beheld the destruction viewed on the view screen first hand.

"This place was hit hard." Vega commented.

"Keelah... Maybe the Reapers wiped out this colony before the crucible even fired." Tali suggested.

"That is not the case." Javik remarked, his ever superior tone highlighting what was really on his mind: Primatives.

"Pick up something, Javik?" Shepard replied, eager for some news of survivors.

"I feel the presence of several turians here scavenging for parts. They were searching for things that they can use..." He began to walk away from the group. "Most of them came from over here." The others followed his closely as if he was a dog following a trail. Javik led the group down several abandoned streets and through wrecked buildings. Then he stopped just as abruptly as he had started.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" Shepard yelled, taking initiative. "I am Commander Shepard; I am here to help you!"

They heard rocks shift to their left. They caught a single male turian in his tracks. The clothes he wore were torn and ragged. He looked weak and delirious. He did not move.
"Hello?" Vega asked, cautiously raising his rifle at the turian. Shepard took a step forwards, and immediately the turian bolted away.

"STOP!" Shepard yelled. "We only want to help you!"

The turian did not answer but continued to run. Shepard's synthetics brought him closer and closer to the turian. Finally he got close enough to tackle the turian to the ground.
"Why are you running?" Shepard asked the fallen turian as he brought himself to his feet. "We are trying to help."

The turian panted, refusing to get up. "No you're not. You're trying to bring us out to let the reapers kill us. I know how the reapers work."

"I'm not indoctrinated." Shepard answered.

"That's what Turak told us too. But he betrayed us. I KNOW HOW YOU REAPERS WORK." The turian yelled. Shepard could see a fanatical look in his eyes, it told the terrible story of the colony. The reapers had left their mark on this colony.

Shepard looked around at the rest of the squad, and looked back at the turian. "Is there any way that I can convince you that we are not indoctrinated?"

The turian looked up at Shepard, obviously surprised at what he spoke. He hesitated as he weighed his options. "Only someone who's not indoctrinated would leave this planet."
It was now Shepard's turn to be surprised. But it made sense to Shepard; if they truly weren't indoctrinated, then they would have no reason to come down to the colony, at least the turian thought so.

Shepard looked into the turian's eyes. "Ok we will." He responded. Shepard turned to leave.

Liara caught his arm. "What are you doing? We need to help these people!" She whispered.
"We still are." He replied, putting his arm around her shoulder and leading her away. He motioned to the others to follow. "What we are going to do is unload the shuttle's supplies and leave it behind. That way there won't be any confrontation, and the colonists here will slowly realize that the reapers are gone."

"But we can't leave them like that!" Liara reasoned.

"Will they give us any other way to help them? For all we know all the colonists are just like this turian. They won't let us help them."

Liara went silent. "Just think of how my people got so uptight with the geth when in reality they wanted peace this whole time." Tali mentioned. "It's the same thing; we just need to give them time and they will see that we meant no harm."

Soon they got back to the hangar and began unloading the supplies. Between the five of them, they quickly unloaded the shuttle, placing the supplies outside the hangar in plain sight. Tali and Vega left to restart the colony's power. Shepard, Javik, and Liara waited patiently outside.

Shepard's head began to pound as he experienced a painful headache. It was the thorian's spores as work again inside his body. He brought his hand to his head as the pain got intense, but it soon subsided. The lights in the hangar flickered on, and the light hurt his eyes. He shut them tight and brought his head down to face the floor.

"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara came closer to inspect her bondmate.

"Yeah I'm fine." He told her. They were getting more manageable and less painful; the first spore induced headaches had left Shepard out for days. Liara wrapped her arms around him and held him as they waited for Tali and Vega.

It was a while until they returned however. Vega was covered in the distinctive blue turian blood. "They didn't like what we were doing to the generator, so they attacked." He reported.

"But Vega fought them off and we got the generator online." Tali added, motioning to the lights. "Now we should get out of here before they attack again."

Quickly they took Tali's advice and boarded the shuttle. They left the hangar and made their way back to the Normandy.

How did it go colony team? Joker's voice came up on the comm.

"Well we sure have a story for you." Shepard responded into the microphone.

Joker laughed. Well can't wait to hear it. Normandy out.