The Director and two of the scientists faced Inali, who was flanked by a pair of security guards. The third scientist was looking at the neural schematic for the team's implants.
"You knew the gravity of the secret that you just tried to spill, Inali," said the Director.
Inali said nothing, held the Director's gaze, and did not flinch.
"Do you know the meaning of the word 'traitor,' Inali?" said the Director.
Inali matched his gaze and said, "They're people. Our people. They're not some type of…puppets…for you to pull strings on!"
The third scientist interrupted them. "Director? Come look at this. The neural implants for Sergeant Ezno didn't malfunction. Some of them are turned off. See, there? And, the only people who could turn off any of the team's implants are me, or my two colleagues here, or…"
"…or the team's handler that manages the implants," said the Director. He returned his eyes to Inali and folded his arms. Speaking in a low voice, he said, "Randall Ezno. Really? I never would've guessed. How long have you and Randall been a couple, Inali?"
"You don't have need-to-know clearance for my personal life, Director."
The Director, annoyed, said, "I suppose I don't. But I can understand what you did. History's full of stories about scientists who didn't want to hurt their lab animals."
At that, Inali staggered the Director with a punch to the face that stung him like a wasp. In an instant, the Director saw a flash of light combined with a sudden, dizzying burst of pain. He was still seeing stars as his vision began to clear, and he saw that both guards were now physically restraining Inali.
"You…hit me…," he said.
"And you're bleeding," she replied. "And you, you're the traitor here."
The Director hissed at the guards, "Take her to a holding cell." As the guards dragged Inali out, the Director said, "I wouldn't expect to see Randall Ezno or his team again, Inali."
"No! NO!" shouted Inali as she was dragged away. "You piece of shit, I swear to God I'll kill you!"
The Director ignored her, and toggled his com line. "I need Network Security. We may have had a spill of sensitive data. I want to know everything that Inali Renata has been looking at for the last three months." He wiped some of the blood off his lip. Then out of the corner of his eye, the Director looked back at the monitor that was tracking the mission. The fighting was over, and all the geth were dead. From the mission audio, he heard the voice of Randall Ezno.
"Ares, Inali, somebody answer! This is the Viking team, what the hell's going on?"
...
On the ice planet, Jordan, Aussie and Mudbug slowly walked over to Bowler, who was still tending to Slingshot as though he could will him back to life. Randall stood nearby, still trying to raise the Ares station on his com line.
Jordan looked over at him. "Still nothing?"
"Nothing, not a damn thing," Randall replied. "Figures that it'd go dead in the middle of firefight. Inali was saying something about the implants."
"What about them?" asked Jordan.
"I don't know, but it must've been serious. She was yelling." Randall removed his helmet, walked over to Bowler, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Bowler, you've done enough. Let him go."
Bowler removed his own helmet, and his eyes had the thousand-yard stare. "Sarge, I'm sorry. All of you, I'm so sorry. I froze. I got him killed."
Randall said, "Don't do that, Bowler. Just don't. We've all been there, all of us."
Jordan said quietly, "He's right. Bowler, don't blame yourself. That was a bad firefight. You don't control it, none of us do. " She wanted to say more, but no more words came.
Randall began to hear static in his com line. He said, "Inali, is that you? Ares station, this is Viking squad, do you copy?"
It was the Director's voice that responded. "This is Ares station, Sergeant Ezno. Go ahead. I had to relieve Inali."
Randall spoke loud enough for the team to hear, because he was the only one who heard the Director in his headset. "You had to relieve Inali, Director? Right in the middle of a firefight? What happened, is she okay?"
The Director was calm. "I'm not at liberty to say, Ezno. Proceed with the mission as planned."
Randall frowned. "You're not at liberty to say, Director? What does that mean? Why was she relieved of her post?" He paused, and then said, "What was Inali saying about our implants?"
"That's enough, Ezno," said the Director. He paused, and then said, "All right. You deserve the truth. Inali was about to spill classified information, and I couldn't allow that. That's all you need to know."
Randall turned and faced his team, all of whom were looking at him as he spoke. "One of my team is dead, Director! Don't tell me that 'need to know' bullshit! We had this firefight under control, even with a cloaked infiltrator trying to kill us. Then all of a sudden my com line goes down and everything gets crazy. What was Inali trying to tell me?"
The Director interrupted him, his voice rising. "Handling the situation? Far from it, Sergeant. You panicked. You were about to kill a high-value target."
Randall remembered a moment from the battle, and his brow furrowed. "Yes, Director. You're right. I gave orders to kill your high value target. And then Inali told me, and only me, that you wanted us to take him alive. Then out of the blue, right in the middle of a firefight…" He paused as he remembered the sight of Bowler and Slingshot switching their weapons back to tranquilizer. Then he continued, "…for no reason at all, people began to disobey my order and follow yours."
Aussie spoke up next. "Sarge…it wasn't just them. It was all of us. All of us rookies, we all did it."
Mudbug joined him. "I swear, I switched over to tranq him, and it was like I didn't even know that I'd done it."
Jordan looked at the rookies, and then said to Randall, "Make that five of us. During the fight, I swear, after you gave that order to kill the turian, I would have done it no problem. But then for just a second, I got this crazy feeling in my gut that I needed to save him no matter what."
A moment passed, with no one speaking. Randall covered the mike to his com. He said to the team, "Inali turned off some of my implants right before we left the station. She wanted to do it for all of us, but the Director called her away." He looked each of them in the eye, and then asked, "Listen to me real carefully, all of you. Remember Inali's questions. Does anybody here have a headache? Or feel like you've got a little devil on your shoulder that's telling you what to do?"
Jaws dropped all around. Then Bowler looked at the body of Slingshot. "Holy shit," he said.
Randall spoke angrily into his com. "What the hell are these implants doing to me and my team, Director? I swear to God, when we get back to the station, every single fighter on that station is going to want answers from you. The Illusive Man will have your head on a pike!"
...
Back on the station, the Director grit his teeth, and looked at the five soldiers on the monitor. One of them – it might have been Aussie – was giving the Cerberus satellite an obscene gesture. He looked over his shoulder at the three scientists, who were uncomfortably watching the scene. The Director muted his com line.
"You should go," he said to the scientists. They needed little prompting.
The Director unmuted his com line, and finally said, "The Illusive Man knows all about the implants, Ezno. They were his idea. If you and your team approach this station, I will blow your shuttles out of the sky. And I'm so glad that your mission parameters including blowing up the geth's long-range transmitter. No long-range calls for help for you and your team. And even if you did have a good transmitter, those shuttles have a limited power supply, and you'd all freeze to death by the time help arrived. Enjoy 'Asgard,' Sergeant Ezno. It's your new home." Then he cut the transmission off.
...
"He's marooned us," said Randall. "He said…this is a quote, guys…that they'll blow us out of the sky if we try to come back."
No one said a word. The place was dead silent, with only the sound of the wind, and fires still burning from the nearby wreckage of the geth compound.
"What the fuck…," said Jordan. "We were fighting on their side just a minute ago. And now they want us dead?"
Bowler put his hand on his face. "These implants we all have…in our heads…"
Aussie continued, "...they're in our nervous systems, our brains…"
Mudbug kicked the ground and sent some snow flying. "Well hey, what the hell, we agreed to let them wire us up, why the hell shouldn't Cerberus treat us like robots?"
"All right, that's enough," said Randall. "Bring it in and listen up."
Jordan said, "Tell me…just tell me you have an idea."
Randall said, "I have a couple of ideas, but they're crazy."
Aussie said, "Crazy ideas are the best kind, Sarge."
Randall continued, "We'll have to move fast. They'll only keep Inali alive long enough to find out just how much she's figured out, and who else might know, and where they need to cover up. After that, they'll quietly make her disappear. We've got maybe a day tops, no more than that. I can think of a few ways that we could take this on…but first, we know that the Director can get inside our heads. In the middle of all this, if anybody gets headaches, or a gut feeling that tells you to hold your fire or shoot each other -"
Bowler said, "Christ, I hadn't thought of that."
Jordan said, "Right. But I was able to fight it off during the battle. So that means we all can. They can get inside our heads, but they can't pull all of the strings. Everybody, just do your job and tell that little voice to shut up. Talk over it, sing a song, say a prayer, do something, just focus on what you need to do."
When Randall saw that the team was in agreement, he continued. This time, he chose his words very carefully. "This next part will be tough," he began. Then he took a breath. "When we're on the station, the Director will probably send a lot of mechs after us. Mechs follow orders. They don't ask questions. But sooner or later, we're going to see troops. They'll think we're traitors, or we've just plain gone crazy, or God knows what. But they'll be fighting us, trying to stop us. Some of them will be people you've met. People you know. Trained with, fought alongside, eaten with. We can't let them stop us. Especially the other infiltrator squads. The Director's already implanted them, so you know he'll tell them to shoot first and ask questions later."
It took a moment for Randall's words to sink in with the team. Jordan lowered her head in resignation. Bowler said, "I'm going to be sick," and Mudbug shifted uncomfortably where he stood. Aussie pensively rubbed his chin, and said, "I don't know if we can do this, Sarge."
Randall continued, "Me personally, I'm going to try…try, as much as I can…not to kill our own people, unless I have to. I know how hard I can throw somebody with my biotics, and I'm going to try to ease up. I know how many missiles I can throw in a biotic salvo, and I won't throw them all at the same guy. If I have to shoot somebody, and if I can get him in the arm or the shoulder, I'll do it. For the rest of you, it's up to you. We're all risking our lives here, I won't judge anybody on this one."
"We've got our cloaks too, and the fighting will be in close quarters if we make it off the hangar," said Jordan. "That'll help. Maybe that'll buy us time to pick our targets, maybe get up close and knock guys senseless."
Aussie said, "You know what? Hell…mechs don't ask questions, but people sure do. If I get the chance, I'm going to yell across the room at whoever I'm shooting at, I'm going to tell that guy the real story behind why we're fighting. There are troops on that station who won't believe, who'd never believe that we're traitors. If we can make them stop and think for just a second…well, you never know."
Randall nodded. "All right then. Here's how I see it." He explained their options, as he saw them. No one on the team liked their chances.
...
Hours later, the team was working on their infiltrator shuttles. The sun had risen, and shone brightly on the snow-covered landscape. The turian was still unconscious, and was laying between a pair of thermal blankets nearby. The team had taken his rifle and removed his tactical cloak. Smoke from the wreckage of the geth compound hung in the air over the horizon.
Randall said, "I think maybe we can improve the stealth another ten percent. But past that, we're wasting our time."
Jordan said, "Well at least it's something. Maybe we'll get lucky and Cerberus will send a cargo run. We could fly close to one of those big unmanned cargo shuttles and it'd swamp our sensor image." Then she added, "By the way, my headache's been gone for a while. I think those relay satellites we deployed finally ran out of power." Then she glanced around, and made sure no one else heard what she was saying. "Hey Randall…I know this plan didn't include anything about going for the station's prisoner wing…"
Randall didn't look up. Almost mechanically, he said, "We both know that Inali can handle herself, but the Director's got us over a barrel. For sure, he'll threaten us, tell us to surrender or he'll kill Inali. But she might be dead already. And if we surrender, we're all as good as dead. No way he's letting a single one of us off that station alive."
"We all know how much Inali means to you, Randall."
Randall stopped, then made a fist, and glanced at Jordan for a moment. She continued working, and didn't look back at him. Randall asked her, "All of you? You all know?"
Jordan stopped working, and put her hand on his shoulder. "How long have we known each other, Randall? It was easy for me to see. But I didn't tell anyone. Even the rookies started to notice it, though."
"Well I guess you can't keep a secret from anybody around here," said Randall. He looked back, but only for a moment. "If anything happens to Inali, I'll never forgive myself. I'm keeping it together, but this is driving me up the wall. I mean, Christ almighty. I can't do anything to help her, except to make sure that the five of us make life really hard for the Director. And that's if we make it that far. "
"We'll save her."
"You're damn right, we're going to save her. Or I swear to God, I'll tear that station apart."
"You mean we will. Every last one of us. We're all her guys."
One of the rookies, Aussie, had been watching the turian, and saw him starting to wake up. "Sarge! He's coming around."
Randall and Jordan walked over to the turian, and crouched down near him. Aussie left them, and joined the others in working on the shuttles.
The turian shook his head, still dazed from the tranquilizer serum. Then he winced and held his midsection, a reminder of the darts that used to be there. He opened his eyes, and saw Randall and Jordan. He suddenly braced himself, as though expecting that they were going to attack him.
A moment passed where no one said anything. Then Randall said, "Easy there, turian. We're not going to hurt you."
The turian said, "Easy for you to say, human. But you two are from Cerberus. You're less than human."
"Smart fellow," said Jordan.
"Who else would you be?" asked the turian. "The Hierarchy's suspected that you were out here for some time. Probably Cerberus ships are passing through the sector, maybe even a station. We were able to convince the geth to help us open a few listening posts, and this one would've been the first."
"So now you've found us," said Randall. "And we've found you. But let's just say that things have gotten…complicated…with my team and Cerberus. We need your help."
"I don't trust any of you. Why should I help you?"
"Because we can make it worth your while. And by the way, we don't trust you either. We have something to show you."
Randall used a holo projector from one of the shuttles, and the mission recorder from his helmet. He played back the entire feed from his mission recorder as the turian sat and watched. Other members of the team gathered as the feed played.
When the feed showed Slingshot getting hit, and then dying, a couple of the soldiers shook their heads, while others looked away. The rest said nothing.
Solemnly, the turian said, "None of you will believe this, but I am sorry. I was defending myself." After a moment, he began to look over his shoulder at the squad, and added, "He fought bravely."
Without emotion, Randall said, "We know."
The turian flinched as he saw himself getting hit by the tranquilizer darts, and put his hand on his midsection again. Then he watched Randall's exchange with the Director, and his jaw began to drop by the end of the feed. He turned and looked at the squad.
"Cerberus would betray its own troops, and try to control them like robots?" asked the stunned turian.
Randall nodded.
"And you have someone on your side, a woman named Inali, who tried to warn you. I take it that she's now their prisoner. And then Cerberus left you all here to die."
"Right again," said Randall. "She's on our space station, and she'll be dead soon, if she isn't dead already. We have a plan, and it doesn't require you. But we could really use your help."
"You have my attention, human. My mission was to find your station and destroy it."
"How about if you could help us capture that station instead?"
"For that," said the turian, "The Hierarchy would not only give me a medal, they would sing songs about me."
Bowler said aloud, "Medals and songs? We're in the wrong army."
The turian rose to his feet and said, "You have my help, human. My name is Commander Canvus Tiron."
Randall said, "Canvus Tiron…okay, whatever. My name is Randall Ezno, and you'll get to know the rest of the team soon enough. Just don't get offended if we call you 'Loki'."
Aussie whispered to Mudbug, "Did he really just say that his name is Cactus Tire Iron?"
Mudbug whispered back, "At least it's better than Mudbug. Never thought I'd ever fight alongside a turian."
