Chapter 3: We Used To Be Friends
"What the hell's going on?"
The Reapers had come. They were bulldozing their way across Earth, killing or squashing anything in their way. Buildings. Ships. Civvies. Kids… God knows what they were doing in the rest of the galaxy. If we were lucky, it would be more of the same.
"Where's Anderson?"
Anderson had recalled me to active service. Which meant I had duties and responsibilities as an officer of the Alliance. Not to mention as a Spectre.
"Where we goin'?"
On top of that, I'd been appointed to go convince the Citadel Council to do something they weren't accustomed to doing: offering help. 'Cause Anderson was right: we needed help. But why the hell did I have to be the lucky bastard to do all that?
"Hey!"
Of course, not everyone had gotten that message. James had been hounding me for the last, well, 30 seconds. Not an unreasonable period of time. Given that all his questions were valid ones, I should probably answer them. "We're leaving," I said over my shoulder.
"Leaving?" James squawked, clearly not believing what his ears had heard.
After the shuttle bay doors closed, Alenko had gone back to do… something. I didn't know what, since I hadn't joined him. I was too busy grappling with the fact that the Reapers were here, I'd left Anderson behind, humanity was under attack, I'd left Anderson behind, I had to go get help from the Council and anyone who I could sweet-talk and did I mention I'd left Anderson behind? After fighting alongside the man—and finding out he was just as great a squadmate as he was a mentor, commanding officer and friend—the thought that I had left him behind to fend for himself really rankled.
Anyway, Alenko put down an assault rifle and stepped towards me. "What's goin' on?"
"Anderson wants us to go to the Citadel," I told both of them. "Get help for the fight." Right. Because that's all it was: a simple 'fight.'
"Bullshit," James scoffed. "He wouldn't order us to leave."
"He would if he didn't see any other option," I said firmly. "And there isn't. We don't have a choice. Without help, this war's already over."
James gave me a look I'd never seen before. It looked like disappointment. Scorn. Like I hadn't measured up to whatever heroic image he'd envisioned of me. "Forget it!" he said. "Drop me off someplace, 'cause I'm not leav—"
"Enough!" I snapped. "Don't you think I'd rather stay and fight? I saw what you saw: Reapers making mincemeat out of ships, crews and soldiers. I saw their husks run rampant through the streets. I saw civvies scared out of their goddamned minds. I wanted to stay. I really did. But what would that do?
"Maybe I could've killed some husks. Saved some lives. But if we want to do more than that—if we want any chance of winning this war—we. need. help. So we're going to the Citadel to start finding that help. You want out? You can catch a ride back from there."
James waved me off in disgust. Clearly he didn't buy what I was saying. Either that, or he thought I was a coward. But he didn't know what I knew. He hadn't seen what I'd seen. (1) If he did, he would've known that I was right. That Anderson was right.
"Commander."
Now there was a voice I hadn't heard in a while. "Joker," I greeted him. "That really you?"
"Alive, crippled and still kicking. Got an emergency transmission from Admiral Hackett for you."
My first thought was 'This better not be some goddamned random assignment.' (2) My second thought was that Hackett might have an occasionally bizarre sense of priorities, but even he knew better than to waste my time in a situation like this. If he was sending me an emergency transmission, it meant it was genuinely important. "Patch it through."
A blurred and shaky image appeared before me, like I was seeing a transmission through a vid-cam held by someone who'd drunk way too much coffee. But eventually it cleared up enough for me to recognize Admiral Hackett. "Shepard … s-s-s-sustained heavy losses," was all I could make out at first. A squawk of noise drowned out the next bit. "…force was overwhelming. There's no way we can defeat them conventionally…"
He'd said the same thing when he debriefed me after the debacle in the Bahak system, when I'd thwarted the Reapers and bought the galaxy a little more time. For all the good that did us. "I know," I said. "Anderson's already ordered me to the Citadel. To talk to the Council."
"First, I need you… iance outpost on Mars… ore we lose control of the system."
Ooohkaaay… why we needed to head over to Mars was beyond me. But I'd just received my first official request as an Alliance soldier from a superior officer. (3) "Yes sir," I replied, snapping off a salute. "May I ask why, sir?"
"… been researching the Prothean Archives with Dr. T'Soni."
Liara? Okay, that was different. No way I wanted to leave her behind with the Reapers. Though why was she going back to her old job as a Prothean-obsessed archaeologist? Last I checked, she was pretending to be the old Shadow Broker.
Hackett would answer that question too: "… found a way to stop the Reapers… only way to stop them… in contact soon. Hackett out."
A way to stop the Reapers? Was that even possible? Could it be that simple? Well, there was only way to answer those questions. As soon as Hackett's image faded, I activated the comm. "Joker: set a course for the Mars Archives."
"'Mars'?" Joker repeated, as mystified as I was. Like me, he quickly obeyed my orders. "Roger that."
I pressed a series of keys, hoping it would automatically prep the shuttle for launch—which kinda looked like the old Kodiak shuttle but not quite. And I don't just mean the colour scheme. But I digress. Sure enough, my memory was still good: the shuttle began moving from the ceiling rails.
James shook his head. "This is loco."
"Why Mars?" Alenko asked. "What does he think we'll find there?"
"I don't know yet," I admitted, picking up a pistol. "But if it helps us win this war…" I left the rest unsaid. Reaching over, I picked up a chest plate. It was grey, with a silver and red symbol emblazoned on it: N7. "Grab your gear," I ordered.
Everyone scattered to suit up and select their weapons. Once they were out of earshot, I surreptitiously activated the comm again. "EDI, if you're there, open an encrypted channel to my personal comm set and reply."
"Welcome back, Commander."
"Good to be back. Listen, I need you to do something for me…"
Joker had already been heading for the Sol Relay, so he had to double back and drop out of FTL. As soon as we'd reached Mars, James—who'd volunteered to fly the shuttle—remotely opened the shuttle bay doors and took us down.
As we descended into what passed for Mars's atmosphere, I hacked the PA system into the shuttle, linked it into my omni-tool and started playing a song.
"A long time ago, we used to be friends.
But I haven't thought of you lately at all.
If ever again, a greeting I send to you,
Short and sweet to the soul is all I intend."
Petty? Me? Don't know what you're talking about.
"I've been trying to reach Mars on secure channels," Joker reported. "No one's answering."
Of course not. Because nothing's ever simple where yours truly is concerned. "Any sign of Reaper activity?" I asked, trying my first guess.
"Negative."
Well at least that was something. Though that begged the question of why we weren't getting any response if the Reapers hadn't slaughtered everyone on Mars. "EDI?"
"The base appears to be online," she replied. "It's possible the inhabitants were evacuated."
Uh huh. "We'll know soon enough," I decided. "Be ready, Joker… just in case."
"Roger that. Normandy out."
Anticipating our arrival, Alenko stood up and joined me by the hatch. "We're almost there," James reported. Glancing over his shoulder, he added "But you knew that."
As it turned out, we'd gotten ahead of ourselves: we were still flying through Mars's atmosphere. Which left plenty of time to listen to the song that was still playing.
"It's something I said, or someone I know.
Or you called me up, maybe I wasn't home.
Now everybody needs some time,
and everybody knows
The rest of its fine.
And everybody knows that.
"Come on now, sugar,
Bring it on, bring it on, yeah.
Just remember me when you're good to go.
Come on now, honey,
Bring it on, bring it on, yeah.
Just remember me when.
"We used to be friends a long time ago.
We used to be friends a long time ago.
We used to be friends a long time ago.
We used to be friends, hey."
(4)
We touched down a few minutes later. "Helmet seals?" I asked.
Alenko and James gave me a thumbs up, confirming that they were working. "Still no contact from the base," James added over the inter-squad comm channel, "but we've got a massive storm headed our way."
Of course we did.
"How long we got?"
"Half hour, tops. After that, we're gonna have difficulty keeping up comms with the Normandy."
All the tech and advancements in the galaxy, and Mother Nature still finds a way to come up on top. Even on other planets. "Understood," I sighed, hitting the hatch release. My helmet visor automatically polarized as the glare from outside—so much brighter than the artificial illumination from the shuttle—hit us, but it still took our eyes a couple seconds to adjust.
I pulled out my sniper rifle—nothing fancy, unfortunately. One of the things I'd forgotten about serving in the Alliance is how they like everyone to have the same weapons. The same basic, mass-produced, craptastic weapons. So instead of having a good sniper rifle, all I had was a M-92 Mantis, coupled with the M-3 Predator Anderson had given me. I guess beggars can't be choosers.
James looked up and whistled. "Damn… that's a huge storm. Looks a lot bigger in person."
"Pretty average for Mars, actually," Alenko corrected.
"I'm glad you're so optimistic," James replied sarcastically.
"We've got Reapers invading Earth, the rest of the galaxy's probably in the same shape and the station here's offline," Alenko pointed out. "A little dust storm seems like the least of our worries."
As much as I hated to admit it, Alenko had a point. Even if it wasn't a little dust storm. James saw that too. "Fair enough."
We spent the next few minutes trudging along through. Kinda took me back in time: as a spacer brat, I'd had a couple opportunities to be stationed on Mars with Mom for various tours of duty. I'd forgotten how beautiful and desolate Mars was. Right now, though, what struck me was how peaceful it was. We were the only ones in the immediate area, after all. It was easy to forget that we weren't here for a vacation. Easy to pretend the Reapers hadn't invaded the galaxy and the end of all life as we knew it was looming around the corner.
Speaking of around the corner, a sprawling structure came into view. The Mars Archives. Where humanity had first uncovered proof that We Were Not Alone in the galaxy. Where we first learned about Protheans and element zero and other mind-blowing things.
"What's that?" James said sharply.
Hopping down from a ledge, we gathered around a dead body. Alenko accessed the hardsuit systems. "He's Alliance. Sergeant Reeves. Didn't put up a fight before he died."
We all exchanged an uneasy look. Sergeant Reeves had just confirmed what the radio silence had suggested—someone was here. Might not be the Reapers, but they certainly weren't friendly. James said it for us: "Something's not right here."
"Agreed," I said. "Keep your eyes peeled and maintain a low profile 'till we know what's going on."
"Roger that," James confirmed.
A second later, we heard a noise. It was faint, but enough to catch our attention. I tweaked my audio sensors and heard the noise again. Sounded disturbingly like a gunshot. (5) Exchanging worried looks, we double-timed it around a ridge.
Several figures in hardsuits were standing. Sporting some familiar colours—even if the configuration of the colour scheme was new to me—and a very familiar hexagonal logo. A couple figures were lying prone. One figure was kneeling down. As we watched, one of the standing figures raised a pistol, pressed it against the kneeling guy's helmet. We heard two more muffled gunshots, then the kneeling guy collapsed.
"Holy shit," James breathed. "They're executing them!"
"Everyone find cover," I instructed. "We're only going to get one shot before they notice us, so let's make it count."
I switched to my sniper rifle and lined up a shot, then paused as a thought occurred to me. "Anyone have some concussive rounds handy?"
"Yeah," James said. "Why?"
"I'm going to launch a ball of plasma at this guy," I replied, highlighting the lucky bastard with my HUD. "As soon as you see him go up in flames, hit him with your concussive round. If I'm right, there'll be a secondary explosion that'll hit him and any buddies that are nearby. Alenko…" I paused. "You can pick someone else. We go in three… two… one…"
Sure enough, the combination that I'd discovered on Earth with Anderson worked again. "Damn," James laughed. "They know we're here now."
Switching to my heavy pistol, I heard one of the hostiles yell out "Call for backup!" I sent another fireball to finish off one of them while dropping another with a couple well-placed shots.
"Throw down your weapons," another hostile tried. "We won't hurt you." Yeah, sure. That might've worked if we hadn't seen them kill people in cold blood. Instead, James and Alenko tag-teamed a pair of hostiles who were trying to flank us. As I sent some more plasma to finish them off, at least one of them came to a startling conclusion: "These guys don't fight like scientists."
Translation: not only were we smart enough not to swallow any bullshit they fed us, we were also proficient enough to hold our own and offer a fair fight. Which meant we hadn't played the game by refusing to be helpless victims. We rewarded the half-wit by filling his body full of lead. Checking my HUD, I spotted two more hostiles. I assigned one of them to James and Alenko. Then I tracked down the other guy and dropped a fireball on his head. Using the telemetry from my hardsuit sensors, Alenko hit him with a burst of biotics. After that, all I needed was a couple bullets to finish the job.
When I rejoined the team, James was crouching beside one of the hostiles. "These guys were Cerberus, weren't they?"
"Sure looked like it," I agreed.
"Cerberus," Alenko frowned. "What're they doing here on Mars?"
"Good question," I said. "Come on. We gotta get moving."
Alenko wasn't about to let it go, though. "You don't know?"
Were we really gonna go through this song-and-dance again? "I'm not with them anymore, Alenko, if that's what you're asking."
"It wasn't, but you have to admit, it's a bit… ah… convenient."
Oh for crying out loud. "No I don't have to admit anything, Alenko, because I'm not Cerberus."
Thankfully we ran into some more Cerberus troopers, so that shut him up for a while. We pinned them down with a barrage of gunfire before James and I pulled off the ol' plasma-concussive round trick. "What the hell?" one of them gasped.
Just as we finished them off, another trio arrived. Seeing how well our tactics worked the last time, we tried them again. Needless to say, the results were the same. "I thought we dealt with security," one of them gasped.
"Damn it," another cursed, having just taken a few bullets where the sun don't shine. (6)
Seeing how things were rapidly swinging in our favour, I closed in, launching another fireball. James saw what I was doing just in time to load another concussive round. The fiery explosion was even more impressive up close.
"Clear," I announced after sweeping the area. James and Alenko quickly caught up with me. "Doesn't look like they came here in force," James observed.
"Yeah, just a few vehicles," I agreed. All sporting the Cerberus logo, because advertising was so important to terrorists.
"Must've had help from the inside," Alenko said.
"You could be right," I agreed neutrally, pretending I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. I spotted a ramp to one of the Mars Archives, still lowered from when the Cerberus goons exited. As far as entry routes go, it was as good as any.
"No way they could take this facility with anything less than a full battalion," Alenko continued as we went up the ramp.
"Uh huh," I said noncommittally. Once we were all inside, I raised the ramp. If there were any more Cerberus troopers out there, I didn't see why I should make it easy for them to come back in and sneak up on us.
"Shepard, I need a straight answer," Alenko said.
"About what?" Like there was any doubt.
"Do you know anything about why Cerberus is here?"
I tried to keep my voice level. "Nope. What makes you think I know what they're up to?"
"You worked for them, for God's sake. How am I not supposed to think that?"
"Okay, Alenko. Listen up, because I don't know how many more times I can say the same thing: I didn't work for them. I worked with them. We joined forces to take down the Collectors. That's it. Finito. End of story."
"There's more to it," Alenko argued. "They rebuilt you from the ground up. They gave you a ship, resources…"
"Things I would've been happy to discard if the Alliance or anyone else gave me an alternative," I interrupted. "But they didn't. So I had to make do with what I had. We parted ways once we were done. Let me be crystal clear on that point: I've had no contact with Cerberus since I destroyed the Collector base. Got it? And I have no idea why they're here now or what they want. That's not gonna change, no matter how desperately you want it to!"
James had been watching our delightful little conversation with increasing unease, judging by the way he kept shuffling on his feet. Finally, he spoke up. "Major, Commander Shepard has been under constant surveillance since coming back to Earth. The only electronic equipment he had was a datapad that had parts stripped out so he couldn't access any computers or communications equipment. (7) There's no way Cerberus could've contacted him."
Thank you! Finally. Someone who was willing to back me up using actual evidence instead of blindly insisting on half-baked imaginings and conspiracy theories.
"Sorry, Shepard." If only I could believe his apology was sincere. "It's just that—"
Whatever bullshit Alenko was about to say was drowned out by a loud hiss as the air repressurized. The platform we were standing on automatically began rising to the floor above. As soon as we took off our helmets, I caught his eye. "This is getting old, Alenko. Here's a few things you might've missed because you were too busy being blind, deaf and dumb for the last year or so: I didn't secretly join Cerberus after the Normandy went down over Alchera because I was too busy being dead. Once I was brought back, I reported to the Council and the Alliance—which included Anderson, by the way—as soon as I could. I fed critical intel to the Alliance while I was working with Cerberus. I stopped several of their pet projects before and after destroying the Collector base. I turned myself in to face the music when I stopped the Reapers—again—because I couldn't prevent the loss of 305 000 batarian lives in the process and had to answer for it.
"Maybe you remember this time before any of that, when you and I fought side by side as we tracked down Saren and his insane plan to help the Reapers. We saved each other's asses more times than I can remember. So I shouldn't have to explain myself to you. And it's getting really tiresome having to waste time doing so when the real enemy's busy running amok through the Mars Archives!
"Please," I finished as the platform reached the cargo bay on the next floor, "trust me."
We walked past an all-terrain vehicle and a few floor-to-ceiling racks of cargo containers. Alenko still wouldn't keep his big mouth shut. "I do," he tried. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
Once again, his bullshit was interrupted. This time, by a loud clatter. The three of us immediately pulled out our weapons and found cover. It didn't take me long to pin down the noise: someone was moving through the ventilation shafts above us. Whoever it was, he—or she—sure wasn't bothering to keep quiet.
Probably because that person was being followed. And shot at.
After a few seconds of clattering, shooting and the odd cry, we heard a couple kicks against the grate. It didn't take long before it gave way and a familiar-looking asari hopped out onto a stack of barrels. She made her way down to the floor before a pair of Cerberus troopers appeared. Whirling around on the spot, she flung up a hand and summoned a singularity that caught the two troopers in its gravitational pull. They slowly floated up in the air, helpless to do anything but spin around. Calmly, the asari pulled out a heavy pistol and shot each of them in the head. A second later, the singularity collapsed and the two troopers dropped to the ground like a pair of rocks. The asari walked over to them and just as calmly put two bullets in their heads.
Grinning to myself, I holstered my weapon, got to my feet and headed over to her. James also got to his feet and walked towards her... but his assault rifle was trained steadily on her. I slowed down and gently pushed the rifle down. "Easy there, Lieutenant. She's with us."
James looked at Alenko, who gave a nod of confirmation instead of some dumb-ass accusation. "She's the one Hackett was talking about," he added.
"Oh." The novelty of Alenko and I actually agreeing on something, coupled with the logic that greeting an ally by gunpoint wouldn't be the best first impression, convinced James to lower his weapon. "Hey, Liara," I greeted her. "Nice shot!"
"Shepard." Liara practically sagged in relief. "Thank the Goddess you're alive. I was so worried when the reports first came in. They hit Earth hard?"
"Yeah," Alenko said. "It was hard to leave like that."
"Kaidan," Liara greeted him. "I'm sorry. But… why'd you come here?"
"You have a fan," I replied. "Admiral Hackett, to be exact. He ordered us to come. Said you'd know what was going on. And I'm really hoping you do, 'cause I—we—could all use some good news right about now."
"Then you're in luck," Liara said. "I do."
Did the universe just have a brain fart or something? I could've sworn it had just given us a break instead of rubbing more salt in our wounds. James summed it up nicely, though not as graphically: "Hallelujah. Some answers. Finally."
"Lieutenant James Vega," I belatedly introduced. "He's been making sure I behave myself while I was relieved of duty. James: Dr. Liara T'Soni."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Hey, Doc. So you got some good news or something?"
"Maybe," Liara cautioned, walking towards a window. "I've discovered plans for a Prothean device. One that could wipe out the Reapers."
"You're kidding," I said. "Here on Mars?"
She looked out the window at one of the other buildings in the complex. "In the Prothean Archives, yes."
"But we've known about the Archives for decades," I frowned. "Why now?"
"Process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation and the occasional blind leap of faith."
That would do it.
Thankfully, Liara knew some details would be helpful. "When you destroyed the Alpha Relay, you bought us some time," she began. "But then you were under investigation. I knew I had to do something."
Wow. Someone who actually made some use out of those extra six months. Who'd have thunk it?
"Hackett knew it too. He contacted me, asking if I would use my resources as the Shadow Broker to find a way to stop the Reapers."
Alenko's eyes widened. "You're the Shadow Broker?"
"What's the Shadow Broker?" James wanted to know.
"The Shadow Broker was an intergalactic information broker that worked for the highest bidder," I replied. "He could provide damaging intel, crucial files, data to start a war, that sort of thing—while still maintaining some kind of balance in intergalactic politics. He also had agents, operatives, covert ops teams and other minions scattered all around the galaxy, eager to do his bidding. After I found out that an associate of Liara's was captured by the Shadow Broker, I helped her rescue him. In the process, we wound up confronting and killing him. Liara took his place with the aim of using the Shadow Broker's network to help stop the Reapers… though I thought that was supposed to be a secret," I added.
"It isn't widely known," Liara said, "but I don't see why some people shouldn't know the truth."
Her call, I guess. "You were saying?" I prompted.
"Since you helped me defeat the old Shadow Broker, I started looking for defences against the Reapers. The Protheans were the only ones with substantial information on them. The older civilizations barely had any records at all.
"My search led me from Thessia to Kahje—where I was attacked by Cerberus agents. The Illusive Man claimed they were rogue agents and suggested that we work together to stop the Reapers, but I had my doubts. I knew he was hunting for the same thing because our agents kept crossing paths. Besides, he was reluctant to share whatever data he had first."
"Big surprise," I snorted. "Did you find anything on Kahje?"
"Encryption keys that unlocked three other archives," Liara said. "I didn't know the location of the first one and the second had been destroyed. The third one, though…"
"—was here on Mars," I finished.
"Precisely. Hackett got me access to the Archives and kept me updated on your status." She paused, looking guilty. "I meant to come see you, but…"
"I was under house arrest," I reminded her. "There wasn't much I could do to help you, anyway. Sifting through mounds of data isn't exactly my strong suit."
Liara appreciated the out I offered her. Not that I was lying: the quest to stop the Reapers wouldn't be helped by my slipping into a data overload-induced coma. (8) "I suppose you're right. In any case, my work paid off. The Archives are full of data. An overwhelming amount. I think I found what we need."
"It seems hard to imagine," I marvelled. "Something that could actually stop the Reapers? I guess I'll believe it when I see it. Where do we find this weapon?"
"It's not a weapon… not yet."
There we go.
"It's plans for a device," Liara said. "A blueprint."
Okay. Sure. So on top of getting the Council to do something, convincing the various species to help out humanity when their instincts would be to bunker down and focus only on themselves… I also had to find time to build some big giant Prothean weapon. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point. "Well it's more than we had a minute ago," I shrugged. "Or an hour or a day or—anyway, how do we get it?"
"The Archives are just across the tramway," Liara replied, pointing out the window. "Easy access… assuming Cerberus hasn't locked it down already."
"Do they know about this weapon?" I asked.
"Yeah, they seemed hell-bent on catching you," James agreed.
"They want what I'm here for," Liara confirmed. "What we're all here for."
"But why?" James wondered.
"The Protheans came close to defeating the Reapers," Liara said. "All my research strongly indicates that. They had plans to destroy them—clearly—but ran out of time."
"And anything powerful enough to destroy the Reapers…" Alenko began.
"…just might be something Cerberus would be interested in," I finished. Then I realized that Alenko and I were actually on the same wavelength. For once. Hell, I'd even completed his sentence. That was, well, weird. Alenko seemed to think the same, given the confused look on his face.
"So it's a race to the Archives," James summed up.
He shouldn't have said anything. Because the four of us almost lost our balance as an explosion rocked through the building. Looking around, we saw sparks flying from the top of a door on the level above us. Rather than bypassing the encryption, the Cerberus forces on the other side—unless the universe had decided to make my life even more complicated by throwing yet another adversary into the mix—had decided to simply cut their way through the locks. "We've got company," I observed.
James pulled out his assault rifle. "Bring it on."
"Not this time, James," I disagreed.
"What?"
"Get back to the shuttle. If Cerberus beats us to the Archives, I need you covering the exits," I explained. "If they have more reinforcements coming, I want to know before they arrive."
"But…" James tried.
"Look, I need every advantage I can get if we're going to stop Cerberus," I said. "There's no denying that you'll do a lot of good by my side. You'll do even more good if you get back to the shuttle, Lieutenant."
James took the implied order for what it was and ran back to the platform. Just in time, too: as the unseen Cerberus goons had finished cutting their way through. Activating the controls, I lowered him back down the way we came.
"I hear them," Alenko warned. "We should take cover."
Thankfully, there were lots of vehicles to provide shelter. The Cerberus troopers began pouring in. They took advantage of their superior vantage point and numbers to keep us pinned down. And they were doing a good job too, or so they thought. Liara yanked the first two off their feet with a singularity. Alenko lifted his arm. At first, I thought he was going to use his biotics. Instead, my sensors detected a sudden drop in temperature.
Next thing I knew, the troopers were doing their best impression of human popsicles.
I later found out that Alenko had a gimmick similar to my plasma bursts. Instead of setting people on fire, though, his trick launched a mass of super-cooled subatomic particles that could snap-freeze anything within the radius of the impact site. Come to think of it, Mordin had had a similar feature. Not that he used it. He was quite fond of incinerating hostiles. So was I.
Speaking of fire, I leaned around the corner and launched a fireball. The sudden shift from cold and frozen to hot and smoking was too much for the troopers, whose bodies shattered in an explosion of ice, metal, fleshy bits and bodily fluids.
Another trio stepped forward. We met them with good ol' fashioned gunfire before I sent some hot, hot plasma their way. While they were distracted, Liara deployed another singularity. This time, Alenko did use his biotics. The combination caused the singularity to explode, sending the hapless troopers flying.
According to my HUD, there was one more trooper, but none of us could reach him. So we waited. When she was ready, Liara yanked him out of hiding with yet another singularity, I set him on fire and Alenko finished him off with the rest of his thermal clip.
"I think that's all of them," Liara observed.
"Good," I said. "Let's find a way up."
That took a little more doing than I'd anticipated, as Cerberus had managed to sabotage the elevators. I began playing around with the vehicle lifts, which were scattered around the cargo bay, to try and jury-rig a workaround. That had nothing to do with my urge to look for loot, by the way.
Besides, all I found was a med-kit and a few thermal clips.
While I entertained myself, Liara and Alenko were chatting. "How'd Cerberus get into the facility?"
"I'm not sure," Liara admitted. "One minute we were getting reports of the Reaper invasion… the next, there was chaos. Didn't even realize it was Cerberus at first."
"Could they be working with the Reapers?" Alenko asked.
"Doubtful," I called down, "but I suppose anything's possible. They're certainly not working with the Alliance. By the way, I've found a way up."
Liara and Alenko joined me by the door the Cerberus troopers had used. We entered just in time to see a fleeing civvie get gunned down. I didn't really need Liara's advice to take cover, though I suppose she meant well. "We've done a sweep through the residence," we heard a gruff voice say. "Going to check on Able Squad. They're not reporting in."
That's because we bumped into Able Squad. Just like we were going to bump into these guys. Spotting where they were, I snuck up on the closest one. Took a deep breath. Let it out. Then… pounced.
"Look out!"
Too late. Reaching up, I grabbed the trooper, yanked him over the crate between us onto the floor, activated my omni-blade and plunged it straight through his hardsuit and into his heart. Liara and Alenko immediately opened fire. "Who the hell are these guys?" one of the troopers wondered as they fired back.
"I think the Alliance sent backup," another trooper guessed, just before Liara's singularity picked up two of them and sent them spinning around. Alenko occupied himself by detonating the singularity with his biotics. As for yours truly, I was a bit occupied dealing with a fourth trooper who had sneaked up on me and was taking pot-shots at my shields. Whirling around on the spot, I decided to try a new trick, one I'd discovered when I was fiddling with my omni-tool on the way to Mars.
Raising my arm, I transmitted a nifty little program that was designed to sabotage weapons and hack synthetics—such as the submachine gun that was being fired at me. As soon as the trooper realized his weapon was no longer functioning, he shook it, tried to fire again, got nothing, slapped it, still got nothing, looked at his weapon, looked up at me… and finally realized that it was time to retreat. Again, too late: as I'd set him on fire by that point. A few bullets were all it took to finish him off.
One more trooper. Liara caught him in a singularity, which seemed to be her weapon of choice so far. Not that I could point fingers, as I'd automatically launched a fireball at the trooper. (9) The flames were still licking away when they suddenly erupted in an explosive inferno. I managed to overcome my surprise and finish him off.
Turned out my assessment was off: one of the troopers wasn't dead. Just almost dead. Staggering to his feet, he opened his comm channel. "This is Bravo Team," he croaked. (10) "We've found the disturbance. Gah!"
Do I really need to say I set him on fire and shot him in the face before he could finish his report? Didn't think so.
As I restocked, I looked at Liara and Alenko. "Did one of you cause that big fiery boom earlier?"
"That was me," Alenko acknowledged. "I was thinking about the tactics you were using earlier with James—having his concussive round react with your plasma attacks to cause a secondary explosion—and thought I could do the same with my biotics. I wasn't sure if I could adjust the mass effect fields, but apparently I did."
"An impressive application," Liara said, "one we'll no doubt be able to make use of. For now, we'll need access to the pedway. The controls should be nearby."
We began searching for said controls. I found a datapad with a message to ExoGeni Corporation refusing yet another offer from the company, some gauntlets from Ariake Technologies that might come in handy when I actually had time to tinker with my hardsuit, a M-4 Shuriken submachine gun that I handed to Liara, a med-kit and a couple dead bodies.
Liara wasn't quite so easily distracted, so it wasn't a surprise to find her sitting at one of the computers. "Damn it!" she cursed.
"What?" I asked.
"I've been trying to access the live feeds, but they're locked. The security protocols have been tampered with."
"Three guesses who that might be," I sighed, sitting down by another computer. "I'm going to focus on gaining access to the pedway. Meanwhile, Liara, see if you can—"
"Did you see that?" Alenko interrupted. "Who's that woman in the vid?"
We looked at him, then followed his gaze to one of the monitors. Sure enough, a woman had run into a room, typed away at one of the computer consoles, looked around, then ran out. "That's Dr. Eva Core," Liara identified. "She got here about a week ago."
So we either had confirmation of one more survivor or an alternative for the inside source that made it so easy for Cerberus to hit the Mars Archives. Not that Alenko would listen, but maybe Liara would be more open-minded. Speaking of which, she looked my way. "Any luck?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Pedway's been locked out."
"All right." Liara pulled up a map of the facility on her omni-tool. "Looks like there's construction nearby. We can get out on the roof. Once we're up there, we can find a way around."
"Great," I nodded. "Let's move."
Going to the roof meant putting on our helmets. Good thing too. "That storm's getting close," Kaidan said.
Personally, I would've said it was more than close. Dust was blowing past us so hard it almost looked like rain, though it wasn't thick enough to blot out the rails and pipes that seemed ubiquitous to construction.
"What the hell is that?"
The dust also didn't prevent us from seeing two trams fly along the tramway or the gunfire being exchanged between them. "Looks like the Alliance is still putting up a fight," I observed.
"That tram heads to the Archives," Liara fretted. "Once Cerberus is across, they'll be at the final security checkpoint."
"Then that's where we're headed," I declared. "Liara, upload your map to our hardsuits and let's find the fastest way there."
Turned out we had to backtrack, climb up a ladder and go through another airlock back into the facility, then try to find some corridor that would link over to the tramway. As we headed back, James contacted us. At least, he tried to contact us. He said something that sounded like "Commander. You read me?"
"Barely," I replied as I found another hardsuit upgrade. Why the hell someone would leave a Kassa Fabrication chest plate out on the roof and exposed to the elements is beyond me. "Storm's causing interference."
"Tell me about it," James said, his voice sounding almost metallic as we found a ladder and started climbing up. "I've lost contact with the Normandy. What's your—"
The rest was cut off. "I didn't read that, James. Repeat?"
"I said…"
"James? James? Damn it."
"That storm's going to be here very soon," Liara said. At least, this close, our comms were still functioning.
"Yeah, I think it's already here," I told her.
"Good point... oh dear."
"Liara?"
"That airlock shouldn't be open."
She was right. The Martian atmosphere was really thin. Leaving an airlock—like the one before us—wide open was criminally negligent, if not suicidal. Not to mention impossible without some significant intervention. Motioning for the team to ready their weapons, we slowly walked inside. "Doesn't look like it was forced open," Alenko observed.
"It couldn't," Liara said. "You'd have to override security protocols."
The inside of the room was dark, forcing us to turn on the flashlight function on our weapons. That illuminated a rather grisly scene. "Someone vented the air from this room while they were still here," Liara gasped.
Alenko crouched by one of the bodies. His face was grim when he got back up. "Looks like they died trying to claw their way out," he reported.
Death by asphyxiation. What a horrible way to go. Liara summed up my thoughts quite succinctly: "This is brutal even by Cerberus standards."
Meanwhile, I had found a datapad with another e-mail.
From: Sho D'hen
To: Cameron Harrison
CAM!
Who the hell is that woman messing in my files? GET HER OUT OF HERE! I won't have my system messed up by some wannabe 'expert' who'll be gone next week! Damn strangers who think they know it all but don't care about what we're really trying to achieve here. Dr. Eva. Seriously? Don't you remember what happened LAST TIME?
S
Maybe it was nothing. But it certainly confirmed that Dr. Eva had arrived recently and wasn't expected to stay very long. Still a contender for being Cerberus's inside man. Woman. Whatever.
The room really was dark. The only illumination came from our flashlights, the food kiosks and—
"Flashlights!" Alenko hissed.
We immediately doused the lights. As our eyes adjusted to the gloom, we could see a series of windows on the far side of the room lining a corridor of sorts. There were four Cerberus troopers standing there. Thankfully, they hadn't spotted us. "Roger that," one of them said. "Delta Team out."
"What's our order?" the other one asked.
"There's an Alliance force in here somewhere. We need to keep them away from the core."
Good luck with that, I thought as I activated my cloak. Switching to my sniper rifle, I lined up a shot on one of them, steadied my aim, breathed out…
…and turned his head into an exploding melon.
The remaining three scattered. Smart move, I had to admit. Liara wound up catching only one trooper with her singularity. Alenko chose to hit another one with his biotics, then harass him with a relentless barrage of gunfire. As for yours truly, I chose to set the floating trooper on fire, wait until my cloak had recharged, and snipe the trooper who had escaped unscathed.
That left one more seriously injured trooper—wait, what was that? Aha! Another trooper. I decided to set that one ablaze, leaving the other guy to the tender mercies of Liara and Alenko. It didn't take long for the two of them to go down, allowing me to resume my searching and looting. It didn't take long before I stumbled across a SMG weapon scope. Just as I was about to pick it up, though, I felt a couple bullets ricochet off my shields. Turning around, I saw another trooper. Did Delta Squad have a lot of stragglers or something? Or maybe it was another trooper that was only mostly dead. (11) Either way, it was a situation that was quickly remedied.
A little more searching found two more items of interest, along with a couple more dead civvies. The first was a medical station. The second was a set of environmental controls. Naturally, I bee-lined for the former while Liara hit the latter. "Let me repressurize the room while Shepard's busy making up for lost time," was how she put it. I can't imagine why.
"There we go. We have access to the labs," Liara announced. "They'll take us right to the tram station."
Alenko leaned over her shoulder. "Hey, look over there. It's a recording of what happened here."
The recording in question was at the terminal next to me, so I bent down and started the recording. As it loaded up, we took off our helmets. When I looked at the recording again, I saw a security officer sitting down in front of a computer. "Security station… come in? We're seeing some odd activity down here."
As he tried to get a response, another man walked past him and peered at some of the wall displays. "Anyone there?" the security officer continued. "Our security protocols just kicked in. Everything's locked down. What's going on?"
Dr. Core walked in a few seconds later. The security officer saw her. "Doctor," he greeted her. "I'll get you a report as soon as—"
That was when Dr. Core pulled out a pistol and opened fire. Two shots to the head, execution-style. Liara looked shocked. Alenko looked stunned. I felt vindicated. As we watched, Dr. Core quickly stepped over to the computers and began typing away like mad, pausing only to confirm that the two men were truly dead.
Liara got our attention and pointed to another vid-screen. As we watched, the airlock doors were opening—courtesy of Dr. Core. We saw men and women gasp and collapse one by one as the air was sucked out. "I guess we know how Cerberus got in," I said.
Alenko walked to a corner, too deep in thought to, I dunno, apologize to me. Liara shakily braced herself against the desk. "I should've realized it when I met her. I was just so focused on finding a way to stop the Reapers."
"Hey," I said gently. "Stopping the Reapers is the only thing we should be focused on. It's not your fault."
"But what if we're wrong?" Liara asked. "What if there's no way to stop them? What if these are our last days and we waste them scurrying around? Trying to solve a problem we can't fix?"
I really didn't need her to ask that, because all it did was give a voice to the fears that were screaming inside me. My heart was pounding, my mind was racing and I couldn't attribute all of that to the adrenaline that was still surging through my body from all those fights. Because she was right. A single Reaper had proven to be an overwhelming adversary. Even a dead Reaper could wreak untold amounts of havoc. But the entire Reaper force? How could we possibly stop them? Or even slow them down? I wanted to voice those questions—no. What I wanted to do was scream. Allow myself to panic. Run away and find a deep, dark corner to hide.
Unfortunately, I couldn't say any of that. I wanted to. It would certainly make me feel better. But I couldn't. I had to appear competent, confident, calm. To look like I had all the answers. Because right now Liara was looking to me for guidance. Screaming, panicking, running and hiding were simply not options I could afford right now.
I took a deep breath and stepped towards her. "Come on, Liara."
"I know." Now it was Liara's turn to breathe. "I shouldn't think that way."
"It's only natural," I said. "Despite all the warnings we've received, nothing's really prepared us for… well, this." I gestured around us.
Liara shook her head ruefully. "I don't know how you do it. You've always stayed focused, even in the worst situations."
"That's because I'm too stupid to know any better," I joked. That prompted a slightly forced chuckle from Liara. "Seriously, when there's so much at stake, I just think about what I'd lose if I fail. My crew. My friends. My family."
"That's a terrible burden," Liara observed.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Reaching over, I squeezed Liara's shoulders. "We'll stop them, Liara. Together." (12)
"Thanks." Liara tried to smile. "I want to believe you."
Understandable. I wanted to believe me too.
Turning away, she entered some more computer commands. "Okay. Door's open." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door control of the corresponding door switch from red to green, signifying it was now unlocked. "We can get to the labs and tram station through there."
"Good. Let's move," was all I said.
Cerberus might not have had a battalion in the Mars Archives, but they certainly had a lot of manpower. No sooner had we entered the labs than we heard someone. "Echo Squad, I want a perimeter set up around the tram station," we heard someone order. "No one gets in or out. Do you read me?"
Judging by the crackle that accompanied the words, it sounded like an order. I looked for the source, but all I could find were some ultralight materials that could be used to upgrade a submachine gun.
"Report!"
I took a minute to grab Liara's submachine gun and upgrade it using the mods I'd found during my looting. Under the circumstances, we definitely needed every advantage we could scrounge up, and it was best to do so when we weren't being fired upon. Having handed the submachine gun back to Liara, I was about to lead the team up the stairs when I spotted another datapad. The e-mail was basically from someone who was admonishing another colleague for staying up late because of all the research he was doing on 'Prothean doodads' when she realized that someone was depressurizing the area. Thank you, Dr. Core.
After climbing the stairs, I happened to check my HUD before opening the doors. Good thing too: there were a good half dozen life-signs up ahead. I opened the door, sniper rifle ready to lock on a target, only to realize they hadn't seen us yet. Motioning for the team to select their targets for now, I cranked up the gain on my audio sensors.
"Why're we pulling back?" I heard one trooper ask.
"Sounds like the Alliance has sent reinforcements," the leader, I presumed, replied. "The doctor wants the Archives protected at all costs."
"Hey, that's them!" a third trooper realized.
That was our cue. Liara grabbed two or three with her singularity, which Alenko promptly blew up with a biotic blast. "Fall back!" someone yelled.
Sounded like a good time to press the attack. "Liara, Alenko; move up! I'll cover you!" I barked, just before letting loose with a stream of plasma.
As Liara and Alenko found new hiding spots and resumed firing, I peered ahead. Couple troopers and… well, this was new. Someone was carrying what looked like a giant shield. Peering through my scope, I thought I saw a slit in the shield where someone could peek through. If I could shoot through that slit, there was a good chance that I could land a headshot.
Unfortunately, my efforts were thwarted by one of the troopers who got in the way. Wasted bullet. And a thermal clip. Grr. So I waited a few seconds while Liara and Alenko had fun shooting the hostiles, spinning some of them round and round in a singularity or sending them flying when the singularity went kablooie. By that point, though, a sniper rifle would be overkill. Even a sniper rifle as pathetic as this one. So I began switching to my heavy pistol, only to realize that everyone was dead. Oh well.
With that done, it was time to catch our breath, reload, grab fresh thermal clips and—in my case—poke around. "Hey Liara, check this out!"
Liara read the datapad I found:
From: Faiza Haikal Tkele
To: Sandoval Fletcher
Yeah, I know. Two external specialists in the same week is a bit insane. But I've heard about the asari before! She's really well known, and she's done some amazing research on the Protheans! I don't know zip about that Dr. Eva chick, but Liara T'Soni? She's the real thing. I'm attaching some of her advanced papers on Prothean culture. Read 'em. You'll be a believer too when you're done.
I can't wait until they introduce her to people. This is so exciting!
Faiza
"Sounds like you have a fan," I teased.
Liara tried to brush it off by rolling her eyes. The faint blush around her cheeks, however, says otherwise. I wasn't the only one who spotted it. "Hmm, looks like Shepard's onto something," Alenko chimed in.
"Really, Kaidan," Liara chided. "I might have expected this from Shepard, but you?"
"Did you meet her?" he asked.
"Did she gush about how she read all your papers?" I added.
"Did she tell you how you changed her life?"
"Did she ask for your autograph?"
"Yes, yes, Goddess yes, no and can we please continue?" Liara pleaded.
"Fine," Alenko and I sighed in unison.
We moved through the labs, skirting all the dead Cerberus hostiles and entering a hallway where—surprise, surprise—we bumped into some more troopers. Liara and Alenko tag-teamed one while I activated my cloak. I was going to use my sniper rifle, but opted to just set someone on fire instead. My cloak disengaged just as Liara put another singularity into play. Alenko looked like he was gonna do something, but my fireball got there first.
The two troopers dropped to the ground; badly injured, but still alive. "They're still coming," one of them groaned.
"Come on!" his partner urged. "Move!"
Alenko froze one of them before he could get very far. His momentum carried him into Liara's singularity. The sight of a frozen human spinning around in mid-air was kind of amusing. Though not as amusing as a guy screaming and running down the hall because I'd set him on fire again.
Just as we finished them off with gunfire, another trooper arrived. He went down in a hail of bullets and plasma. Then two more troopers arrived. I was surprised to find out that one of them had shields. He must be important. Either that, or he had the presence of mind to get some upgrades.
We kept them pinned down with gunfire, plasma and the occasional singularity. They really did want to advance, but we kept driving them back and whittling down their defences. In the end, the guy with shields went down. The other guy wound up dead and spinning around, caught in yet another singularity.
Sneaking up to the door, I spotted three more troopers in the next room, one of whom was toting a shield. Looked heavy. I tried to shoot him with my sniper rifle. I was sure I'd hit him, right through the shield. But it wasn't enough to kill him. So while Liara and Alenko kept pinning them down with bullets, I had to launch the occasional burst of plasma.
Under cloak, I entered the next room and spotted the guy with the shield. I tried again. Still didn't kill him, but the impact knocked away his shield. Even better, he staggered within range of the singularity. It was ridiculously easy to take him out after that. Not quite the same as a proper headshot, though.
I couldn't spend any more time thinking about that. The door at the far side of the room had opened, revealing another hallway and another couple troopers. "Shit!" one of them cursed. "Fall back to the tram station!"
They immediately began backing up, laying down fire to cover their retreat. I snapped off a fireball, whose incendiary damage got a boost from Alenko's biotics. Liara tried to snag a few more troopers with a singularity, but they were too fast. "Seal the door!" I heard them yell. A moment later, the door obligingly closed and locked.
I reloaded and switched back to my heavy pistol as Liara and Alenko joined me, trying to suppress my gag reflex at the smell that greeted me. "God!" Alenko gasped. "What's that stench?"
"They just activated the decontamination protocols," Liara replied.
"With the staff still inside," Alenko said quietly.
Yeah. If they weren't dead before, they were definitely dead now. Looking around, I found an active computer console. Looked like the sterilizer program for the next room—which was apparently a clean room—had been activated. Turning it off, we entered the room.
"This is where they studied the various relics unearthed here," Liara said quietly.
It was also where they kept barrels for shotguns and sniper rifles, apparently. Why, I have no idea. It's the Alliance. As great as it was to be back, there was no denying that logic wasn't a major factor in their decision process.
"What did they find?" I asked.
"More than I could describe in a short conversation. And they'd only scratched the surface. There are vaults filled with Prothean data troves that have never been studied."
A datapad I found lying around was a bit more helpful. One of the scientists who worked here had been looking at that Prothean data and had theorized, based on the way the files had been stored and organized, that they were studying humanity and monitoring our intellectual progress and evolution as a species.
I could believe that. I still remembered coming across some Prothean ruins on Eletania, back when I was hunting Saren. There was an artefact there, one that triggered a vision when I inserted an odd trinket that was given to me by the Consort. The details were sketchy at the time but, looking back, what I recalled matched the scientist's theories.
But enough about the past. I had to focus on the here and now. I checked the schematics Liara had given me. "So the tram line is… that way?" I asked, pointing to the right.
"It is," Liara confirmed. "Takes us right to the Archives. No doubt Cerberus has it locked down. Hopefully we can override it at the security station."
Hopefully, we could override it. Hopefully, we could beat Cerberus to the Archives. Hopefully, we could get the blueprints to this mysterious Prothean superweapon.
Hopefully, it wasn't too late to stop the Reapers and save the galaxy.
(1): Despite James's service record, his scope and experiences remained rather limited, so Shepard is right in stating that he wouldn't be able to fully appreciate the situation.
(2): An unfortunate result of Shepard's time as a Spectre in 2183, where his efforts to hunt down Saren were frequently interrupted by Hackett's requests.
(3): This would not be the first time that Shepard would mentally, and seemingly arbitrarily, choose between his roles as an Alliance officer and a Council Spectre.
(4): 'We Used to Be Friends', released by The Dandy Warhols in 2003. For readers wondering why Shepard's music collection remained intact, the answer is that Alliance Intelligence was searching through it for hidden messages or encrypted codes. Needless to say, they didn't find anything, possibly because they didn't understand why Shepard chose the songs he did.
(5): Between the lower atmospheric density and the temperature of Mars, normal human ears would not be able to hear sounds to any significant degree. However, a combination of audio sensors and, to a significantly lesser degree, genetic enhancement, might be able to detect something.
(6): A rather crude euphemism for up or in the anus.
(7): James had no way of knowing that Shepard did actually leave Alliance custody to complete a personal mission for then-Deputy Director Eli David of Alliance Intelligence, the details of which need not trouble us at this time.
(8): That may be, though I've seen Shepard be thoroughly engrossed in data concerning seemingly useless bits of trivia or pop culture history.
(9): Let the record show that regular generation of micro-singularities is not a crime or matter of public concern. Pyromania, on the other hand, is.
(10): This suggests that the Cerberus squads were named using a phonetic alphabet system commonly used by the Alliance, an unfortunate offshoot of their shared origins.
(11): A reference to The Princess Bride, a human vid released in 1987.
(12): It was that ability to maintain the façade of command, control and authority, even in the darkest and most hopeless situations, and inspire the men and women around him, that made Shepard such an effective leader, not to mention the best of friends.