A/N - Hi guys, this is my first Fanfic. Basically my Sheperd is Paragon, John shepard with the spacer and sole survivor background. He looks like the default Shepard. My choices were - Ashley romanced in ME and also saved on Virmire. Council and Rachni queen were also saved. In ME2 all DLC's were played and all 12 squad members survived. The base was destroyed and Miranda was romanced. In ME3 all paragon choices were made, minimum amount of character deaths (Thane, Legion and Mordin) and Miranda was romanced. Again all DLC's have been played at this point however i will incorperate the last level of Leviathon into the story and also the social aspects of Citadel will be covered. I will be making some major changes to the plot line, mostly things like Miranda going on the Normandy etc. Not quite sure what I will do about the Crucible yet but i'll work on it!
21/04/2013 - Repost with some punctuation corrections
Chapter 1 – Entering Sanctuary
He glanced around the shuttle, giving each of his companions a short look.
James was to his right. The marine was re-checking his Claymore for the third time. Shepard watched him screw the shredder mod off the end of the weapon, run his finger around the inside of the barrel to remove any dirt, and then place it back on the end of the shotgun. John remembered the words of his old N7 instructor - "If you've checked your weapon twice and found no faults, you've probably missed something. Check it a third time to be sure." James seemed to have had similar advice. He shifted the Claymore into his left hand, his right hand trigger finger pumping the air. He was itching for combat, looking forward to giving Cerberus some hell – feelings John himself echoed.
Tali was next to James. The young Quarian was, like John, glancing around the shuttle. She was just as curious as she had been when they first met in that back alley on the Citadel. She was the youngest on the team back then, not really in age but in her mind set, in a way, her innocence. She was the little sister of the squad, definitely more than capable, but still a little sister. She had changed like they all had but even though she was an Admiral, a leader of her people, she still retained that innocence. John was glad she decided to stay. Not just for her abilities as a fighter and engineer but for her absolute loyalty to everything the Normandy and her crew stood for.
Then there was Garrus. The Turian was John's greatest friend. He had been there from the start, never wavering from Shepard's side. Each one knew the other better than they understood themselves. In combat they were unstoppable and off the battlefield they helped each other cope. Shepard knew that Garrus understood him and his worries. His Turian friend knew how he was struggling. He helped in so many ways. No one else could do more than Garrus had done, well, except for Miranda of course.
John found his thoughts shifting to the Ex-Cerberus Operative. His thoughts of her were both a blessing and a curse. On the one side, he could remember their times together. Right from the beginning of the Collector mission when they fought against each other to the moments of bliss in the weeks following the destruction of the Collector Base. He cared for her, more than for himself. Of course there were the other thoughts of Miranda that he had to contend with as well. That sick feeling whenever he heard about other Ex-Cerberus personnel being found dead, or the fear after yet another nightmare culminating in her death. He knew he was running out of will, of fight. If he lost her... he couldn't think about that.
Clearing his thoughts, he turned to look at Liara next. He realised that she had been watching him, studying him as he did the same of the crew. Just like Tali, she had changed. Perhaps the most out of all of them. No longer the shy, naive archaeologist, but the intelligent and driven Information Broker. He knew what she had been through when he died, how she was unable to let go. She was the one responsible for rescuing his body and passing it to Miranda. Sometimes she scared him, in her Shadow Broker mindset, but the friendly, loving Asari was still there. She also knew of his relationship with Miranda and she wholeheartedly supported it, knowing what Miranda meant to him. She flashed him a small smile and he thought to himself she knows what I'm thinking again, he was sure she could read his mind. He returned the smile weakly before moving on with his analysis of the crew.
EDI was directly opposite him in the shuttle. The synthetic had her Omni-tool out, studying a flow of data. John wasn't sure what it was but knowing EDI it could have been intelligence vital to the war, or just an extranet site full of incredibly bad jokes. He chuckled to himself – it was probably
the latter.
Ashley was across from EDI, checking her Harrier battle rifle in the same manner as James. He was relieved when she had backed down on the Citadel. He would never have been able to pull the trigger on her and lived with it, regardless of what passed between them on Horizon. They both knew where they stood with each other. Good friends and that was it. He had yet to tell her about Miranda, he knew she would struggle to take it in at first. He knew he had to do it soon though.
Finally his head turned to the Prothean on his left. John found he understood Javik's position more and more each day. He was the last of his people, fighting for the revenge of a dead race. He supposed that he should still be in awe, after all he was a living and breathing Prothean. But, again, the impossible on the Normandy is just the mundane. Javik did have some interesting views on the many situations they had been in since they found him. Many of those views consisted of enslaving someone or throwing them out of the airlock but his sullen mood was understandable. Considering his own experiences in the war, John was becoming increasingly open to Javik's ideas. Especially when it came to Cerberus. Especially because of Thessia.
He had been assured by everyone that he did everything that was humanly possible. Even Liara, an Asari who saw her home world destroyed, had supported him. He appreciated this of course but could not believe them. The lives lost on Thessia, Palaven, Earth, and every other planet the Reapers had overrun were his fault. There was no escaping it for John Shepard. He didn't do enough to warn the galaxy of their coming, people only believed him once the Reapers were on Earth. And then he ran. He ran from Earth, he allowed Mordin to die on Tuchunka, he failed to save Thane, Legion was gone and now Cerberus had taken almost the last remaining hope for the galaxy. Thinking through the list of his failures, the commander realised he had missed out Kaiden Alenko. The brave marine who sacrificed himself on Virmire. That was to stop Saren, and ensure that the Reapers would never invade. He scowled, that really worked out for the galaxy.
Cortez's voice snapped him out of his reverie.
"Commander, there's a transmission from the facility."
He rose and moved into the cockpit, standing behind the pilots chair.
"I thought the facility was offline? No communications?"
"Yeah, it's weird. I'll patch it through now."
There was a hiss of static from the radio. This was followed by a loud bang and then a female voice. Young and, by the sound of it, scared.
"This is Oriana Lawson...this facility is a trap...it's run by Cerberus and..."
There was a crackle, more static, and then silence as the transmission was cut.
"Oriana?" Garrus walked into the cockpit. "Miranda's sister, the one we re-located right?"
"Yeah," John replied "Miranda said she went missing not long after Earth. She reckoned it was something to do with her father." he closed his eyes. "If Oriana is here, it's likely that Miranda is close behind."
A look of sympathy crossed his friends face. Garrus knew of their relationship and how deeply John cared about Miranda.
"I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Yeah," John agreed "she knows how to take care of herself."
He walked back into the hold noticing the inquisitive looks on many of the teams faces. He waited for the inevitable question.
"Who's this Miranda?"
The question came from Ashley. John swore under his breath and grimaced. Now wasn't really the time to tell Ash about Miranda. He opened his mouth to speak but Liara came to his rescue.
"She's a friend of ours. Worked with us on numerous occasions during the earlier stages of the war."
"Uh-huh..." Ash's response was accompanied by suspicious glances shot at Garrus, Liara, and then the commander. John could tell she didn't buy Liara's cryptic response but she didn't press the issue. He concluded that she didn't want to jeopardise their renewed friendship, something he was grateful for. He could do without another armed stand-off to protect Miranda when the two would have to meet.
Cortez's voice cut through the shuttle.
"3 minutes from drop-site team."
"Thanks Cortez," John began to relay the details again. Not just in his head but to the squad. "Here's what we know. This Sanctuary is a facility for war refugees that went offline a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has been heard out of this place since except from that communication from Oriana that says it is Cerberus. We also know Kai Leng stopped here. There must be something here so keep an eye out for any clues."
"Well it's nice to know what we are doing Loco," James voice practically dripped with sarcasm. John just shot him a glare. Banter was usual within the squad but now was not the time or place, not when so many lives were on the line. Then again, he thought, whenever are lives not on the line with us?
The shuttle touched down, the doors opening to reveal the entrance to Sanctuary. Ashley and James filed out taking up covering fire positions just out of the shuttle. The rest of the squad filed out, weapons drawn. John glanced around as he exited the shuttle. He drew his Revenant Machine Gun, adding his preferred ammunition mod, Inferno ammo. He took readings with his Blood Dragon Armours sensors. It came up blank.
"Hell of a fire fight here." James made the observation on everyone's minds. Their surroundings showed evidence of heavy fighting. Bullet holes, craters, and debris littered the entry paths. The only sound was the whine of the receding shuttles engines.
"Let's move forward. Eyes up people, we're not letting anyone get the jump on us this time." Shepard received a chorus of responses to his orders and then moved forward. He kept a steady pace, his adrenaline levels steadily increasing. Something was not right, he could feel it in his gut. If there was one certainty left in this war, it was that his gut was always right.
As they moved up they heard a whining noise, just like their own Kodiak shuttle. A Cerberus shuttle rose up from behind the front wall of Sanctuary.
"Cerberus!" Ashley's shout was cut short by an incredibly loud screech and a huge explosion. All of the squad looked up to see a Harvester shooting into the Kodiak. The shuttle crashed down onto the balcony over the entrance, the rear end on fire. The harvester took off in pursuit of another shuttle, screeching again. Replying noises could be heard from other Reaper creatures.
"And Reapers?" James said his reply with enthusiasm, obviously looking forward to a promising fight. His mannerism often reminded Shepard of Grunt. He had fond memories of Grunts happy laugh as he charged into mercs or Collectors, tearing them apart with his shotgun or bare hands. He was snapped out of yet another memory by movement near the shuttle.
"Survivors from the shuttle!" Shepard saw a nemesis and a pair of phantoms move along the balcony. He devised various plans of action, narrowing it down to his favourite in a split second. "Garrus and Ash, sniping positions. Liara, EDI, and Javik move up the left side and deal with the one phantom. James and Tali – with me."
The squad fanned out into their allocated positions immediately, a testimony to their incredible ability. A shot whizzed over Shepard's head exploding on the wall behind the nemesis on the balcony. Clearly Garrus was enjoying himself with his Kyrasae rifle, again. The explosion forced the Cerberus sniper out of his cover, open to Ashley's own Widow rifle. Her shot struck the nemesis on her chest taking the trooper out with a large hole in her chest.
Shepard turned his attention to the phantom closing towards them. He knew how dangerous they were up close and wanted it dead quickly. He let off a concussive round whilst ordering Tali's combat drone and James' carnage blast on the phantom through his HUD. The two blasts dealt with the phantoms barriers easily allowing the combat drone to start directly attacking it. Shepard opened up with his machine gun finishing off the specialist with a series of head shots. As the body slumped to the floor he checked on the progress of the other team. The phantom was suffering under combined biotic and tech powers, but still advancing. Garrus saw to that with a perfect head shot, destroying the upper half of the phantoms body with his explosive rounds.
"Got the quick bastard!" he exclaimed, shouldering his sniper to replace it with his N7 Valkyrie.
"Great lets move in to the facility," John started moving ahead. He knew that they had only just got started and couldn't afford to delay for long. Still he was happy about one thing. "At least the Reapers and Cerberus are now fighting each other. About time that happened."
Again a chorus of agreements rung out from his squad.
Making their way into the facility they saw another pair of Cerberus shuttles take off through the glass roof. Shepard watched them fly off into the distance for a few seconds before turning his attention to the entrance hall they were in. There were many seats and terminals surrounding them, with work desks further in. The hall itself was deserted but they weren't going to take any chances.
"Have you seen these data-pads?" Liara voiced the question to everyone else. Shepard walked over to her to take a look. The rest of the squad fanned out into defensive positions. "They have had thousands of people through here Shepard, hundreds of thousands. But where are they?"
"I don't know, but there is something going on here. It's too quiet."
"I agree."
"Let's move, we need to figure this out quickly."
EDI walked over to the large window behind the security desk. "Maybe we could follow in the direction of those shuttles commander? There are stairs down that way."
"Good call EDI," John peered over the railings looking down at a crashed shuttle next to the stairs EDI mentioned. "C'mon."
Shepard took point and moved down the stairs. Taking a right he saw bodies of both Reaper and Cerberus troops. He heard voices from the other side of the room behind the support columns. He could tell that they were Cerberus from the tone of their armours voice modules. He motioned for half of his team to go around the right of the columns while he moved around the left. The squad got the jump on the troopers, killing over half of them with combined grenades from Shepard, James and Ashley. The other half fell to combined biotics and small arms fire.
Shepard moved past the mangled bodies of the Cerberus squad to a data terminal in the next room. It was playing in a loop and his heart lurched as he heard the familiar, beautiful Australian accent of Miranda Lawson. He pressed the replay button to hear it from the start. He saw Miranda's face appear on the terminals screen
"If you've got this far then you must be desperate or stupid," Straight to the point as she always was."This is not a refugee camp but a Cerberus facility run by my father, Henry Lawson. You have to turn back, Sanctuary is a lie."
The rest of the squad arrived by his side to watch the terminals recording.
"So that's Miranda then."
John turned around to face Ashley. "Yeah it is," He started to walk out of the room, to an outdoor platform overlooking a small reservoir of water. "So we have, Cerberus, Miranda's crazy father and Reapers all mixed up. Any Ideas?" As he finished his sentence he moved over to a control panel.
"It's strange, that's for sure," Tali voiced her opinion as she walked up to Shepard. As she approached he glanced at her. She inclined her head, giving him a small nod. He knew what the gesture was for, she was reassuring him. He still couldn't help worrying about her though.
"Miranda's caught up in the middle of this."
Tali patted him on the shoulder. Again trying to reassure him. He then turned his attention back to the control panel. He pressed a glowing button causing a loud siren to wail. It was accompanied by the vibrating of some sort of underground mechanism.
"Look, the water!" Javik's exclamation pointed the squad to the reservoir. The water had drained away exposing various tech and a subterranean entrance into another part of the facility.
"That is clearly Reaper tech commander."
"That is a safe assumption Javik." agreed EDI.
Shepard moved down the ladder and advanced towards the entrance. He began running a bypass program whilst EDI took some readings of the Reaper tech. She finished just before the bypass program and the squad regrouped as the doors opened. Raising their weapons they advanced into the darkness of the compound.
They moved into a room with various control terminals and vid-screens spread around it. Here they saw the first Cerberus logos indicating the true nature of this facility. Various data pads were strewn around the room. They talked of test subjects and processing the refugees that arrived. Everyone agreed that it sounded particularly ominous. Shepard walked up to a semi-circle of terminals in the middle of the room. Garrus walked up next to him and stood on his left.
"It's in lock down. I'm going to have to turn on the power to get us in. Here we go."
He turned on the power to the facility causing various terminals light up the vid feeds of the laboratories. On one refugees could be seen being forced into tanks a bit like Grunt's tank on the Normandy. On another screen there were the same tanks but now they contained something else.
"Spirits, they're turning them into husks!"
The squad stood around the terminals not quite believing what they were seeing. James, meanwhile, moved towards the large window covering one side of the room. Lights could be seen flickering on in the huge chamber visible from the glass. Shepard could see him moving towards the window.
"Shit!" James was startled by the appearance of a husk climbing on the window he was standing in front of. The entire squad recoiled in horror as the husk that had jumped on the window roared at them. Dozens of other Reaper creatures could be seen wandering aimlessly around the large chamber.
"We have to shut this place down as well as getting the data. We also need to keep an eye out for Oriana and Miranda. However I'm not leaving this place standing."
The rest of the squad nodded solemnly, all still in shock and horror from realising what this place actually was, what it was for. They moved on through the main door into another room with another security booth with more terminals inside down some stairs.
"I don't get it. Why would Cerberus be wanting to turn people into husks? How does it help them?" Ashley voiced her opinions to John but he wasn't listening. "Commander? What is it?"
His attention was not on her. It was on the terminal in front of him. The terminal showing Miranda's beautiful face, telling the camera that she had gone in there, with those husks. This was followed by a vid of Kai Leng telling the Illusive Man that he would kill Miranda if he came upon her. The words of the assassin who managed to murder Thane Krios, his friend, were burnt into his brain. Kai would kill Miranda, his Miranda.
Shepard started moving to the door to the chamber. Slowly at first, drawing his rifle and extending his Omni-blade. He ignored the queries from his squad. He opened the door, slamming his omni-blade into the husk that emerged in front of him without a second thought. It's throat was ripped apart by his blade, tearing it's head from it's shoulder. He thought of Kai Leng's words again. He saw red. He charged into the facility pumping lead into any Reaper creatures that moved. Nothing would stop him.
A/N thanks for reading. Advice would be really appreciated from anyone!
