What did you do today in ME?

Mark Shepard (not to be confused with Domi's Mark Shepard):

Journal: I have to bring Miranda and Jacob with me because otherwise it's a solo mission. I don't think they'll stab me in the back, at least not just yet. I'm grateful to Miranda but everything I've heard on Wilson's video logs is true: she's a cold-hearted bitch. I doubt there will ever be any kind of trust between us. As for Jacob, he's a disgruntled ex-Alliance soldier which doesn't exactly earn him points in my book. I accomplished a lot with the Alliance backing me. Then again, I survived the slaughter of my family - my entire colony - and my choice was to either fold or move forward. He just seems to run away with things are too difficult. But we'll see. That's a snap judgment and he might turn out to be more than I expected.

Freedom's Progress: They said they'd have no problem following my orders. Yet as soon as I said the priority was the find survivors, Miranda immediately wanted to change my mind. Jacob seemed to take my side so we'll see how this works out.

Besides the empty buildings, the first thing we came across were more mechs running wild. Can't be a coincidence that this happened at the Lazarus Project and on Freedom's Progress. The next thing I found was a group of quarians being led by Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Talk about strange coincidences. Her I could trust. The question was how to get her to come with me? However, her team wasn't so keen on Cerberus. Turns out Cerberus attacked a quarian ship and killed some of their people. Miranda predictably defended Cerberus. In any case, a quarian named Veetor had come to Freedom's Progress on his pilgrimage. He also wasn't abducted, which meant he had answers that had so far been unknown. Tali's squad decided to disobey orders and run ahead to grab Veetor and run. Turned out Veetor had programmed a heavy mech to defend him. Those quarians were all slaughtered but we were able to take out the mech.

When we talked to Veetor, we were able to see security footage. There were flying drones of some sort that immobilized the colonists. Then other aliens came in and hauled them away. Miranda identified them as the Collectors, but not much is known about them. Miranda wanted to take Veetor to the Illusive Man to find out what else he knew. Tali disagreed and I was right there with her. I saw what Cerberus did to people they took. I wasn't about to trust them, particularly if it might make things difficult between Tali and I. Instead, we got his omni-tool data, which gave us all he knew.

A Cerberus Base: Chatted with the Illusive Man. He suspected the Collectors but needed proof. He also had dossiers on potential team members. I wanted my old crew back but here's what I found out: Garrus went missing; Kaidan was promoted and his file was very well classified; Wrex hasn't left Tuchanka in two years; and Liara is apparently working for the Shadow Broker. I suggested Tali but he wouldn't agree until he knew more. That left my old squad mates off the table, at least for now.

Then he threw at me something which was surely a lure: Joker. Somehow, Cerberus managed to recruit him. Turned out the Alliance had grounded him, broke up the team, and basically sealed away all references to the Reapers. And despite seeing all the shit Cerberus has pulled back when we were fighting Saren, he still agreed to work for them. That's treason. No idea how he'll get out of that one. Even me, who hasn't signed on to officially work for them, could potentially face charges. Assuming I survive what's coming.

The final kicker was a new ship, a larger, updated version of the Normandy. It was unnamed but the "SR2" painted on the side suggested one. We christened it the Normandy SR-2 and went off in search of our first recruit.

Normandy SR-2: It was beautiful inside. First up I met the ship's AI, EDI. I knew Joker wouldn't like it but I thought it would be an advantage. However, EDI made clear "she" (it sounds like a "she" at least) doesn't run anything other than the cyberwarefare suites during combat. I also chose the one outfit I could find that didn't have the Cerberus logo all over it. It wasn't my usual style, looking more like something Chakwas would wear, but it was going to have to do until I found something better.

I just got the damn ship but already had messages. Anderson had tracked me down and wanted to see me. That was high on the agenda for me. Mentioned meeting with a merc named Zaeed Massani. That could wait. A missing Cerberus survey ship could definitely wait. The dog tags at the SR-1 crash site on Alchera were a big priority. A Cerberus cell off the grid is low in interest to me. Meeting a thief named Kasumi Goto sounded interesting. Info on armor and weapons was interesting, though I'm sure most of the armor was never going to find its way onto my body.

Talked to Jacob some more. He acknowledges that Cerberus has rightly been called terrorists. That goes in the plus column. Still, he knowingly joined a terrorist organization so that's a minus. Still haven't made up my mind about him, especially since he seems more concerned with the long term good image of Cerberus. Remember, he KNOWS they're terrorists but wants them to look good by defeating the Collectors.