The civilian ship in which Shepard and Liara are has completed half of the journey. They both stay in their cabin.
Liara: -Trying to access to her network- Cut off! How can I be cut off!
Shepard: More problems?
Liara: I can't connect to my network or access my resources. I'm out of my own system! If I just had Glyph… -Liara, given in, puts her hand in her forehead and sighs-.
Shepard: -He goes and stands beside her- We will catch who is behind this, just like always.
Liara: I hope so…
They hear a metallic sound, as if something was rubbing against the hull of the ship.
Liara: What was that?
Shepard: I don't like it. Put on your armor.
Once armed and ready for combat the cruise loses power and immediately the emergency generator turns on. Red lights illuminate the corridor. Shepard leaves the cabin holding his M-3 Predator. Liara follows him, also on guard. Some civilians begin to get out to the corridor, frightened, and as they see both they hide again in the safety of their rooms. They advance until reaching the communal area to observe the exterior through the big windows. The sound they heard was the deployment of the coupling passageway, and anchored to it they discover a frigate without any distinctive which identify it.
Liara: That can't be good…
The frigate, in comparison with the cruise, is insignificant, but for its size it could carry more than 50 assault troopers. The refugees' ship is immense, about 700 meters long, with seven decks which shelter more than 1.000 souls. Their pursuers would have to seek them out in a ship with boundless sites to hide. Suddenly, the door of the room opens, and dozens of civilians come in running. In the distance they hear the first shots. They look each other.
Liara: We could hide, but if we don't do anything many innocents will die…
Shepard: They are no match for us. Let's finish them off.
-O-
Joker: Any news?
EDI: Scanning the area looking for heat traces and combustion residues takes a lot of time. And solar radiation does not help.
Joker: This is the third system we've checked. If they were here, shouldn't we have found something yet?
EDI: Not necessarily. -She makes a pause- I've already finished, set course to Farinata, it's the last point of the Anansi-Ishtar route left.
-O-
Shadow Broker Agent: There they are! Kill them!
The doctor and the Commander begin the fight against their enemies. The spacious room where they are connects two decks, and from the balcony of the upper level the mercenaries shoot them taking advantage of their height.
Liara: We have to go up there to reach the bridge and put the ship into gear!
The Commander advances, and the elevator's door opens. Five mercenaries more join the fray. Shepard bends behind a counter, but Liara can't reach it and stands in the corridor. They see themselves outnumbered, and with the enemy alerted they know all assault troopers are going there. Liara tries to generate a singularity over the enemies of the balcony. Nothing happens…
Liara: What?
Shepard: This is getting out of our hands! -He shows up, shoots and wounds a mercenary- We need to clear that balcony now!
Liara tries to create the singularity again but she can't.
Liara: -Frightened- What's happening to me? Shepard! I can't use my biotic!
Shepard: What?!
Liara: -She realizes- The dart… It has to be the dart!
Shepard: Damn it!
The door at Commander's left also opens and more troops appear. Flanked, he is forced to move back to Liara's position while she covers him with her Phalanx.
Shepard: They're too many!
The doctor brings down an enemy with several shots in his torso. His partners slowly advance towards them. The Commander gets many impacts that overload his shield.
Shepard: Fall back! We can't hold them more!
Liara: But this is the most direct way to deck one!
Shepard: We have no choice!
They turn around and run as fast as they can. Once they reach the communal area they close the door behind them and Shepard uses his omni-tool to blockade it.
Shepard: That will stop them for a while.
Liara: -Very nervous- My powers! What will I do without them?
Shepard: -Calming her down he puts his hands on her shoulders and looks into her eyes- We will settle it, but now we have to keep calm if we want to survive -she nods and relax a bit-.
The Commander connects to an onboard computer and looks for the plan of the ship. Liara observes the door. Behind it they hear how their enemies concentrate. They will not take long to break through it.
Shepard: Come. -He shows her the discovery- We can't reach deck one from here, but if we go through the portside observation corridor we will go beyond the blockade, arriving to this point.
Liara: From where we can reach the first level.
Shepard: And then, the bridge.
Liara: Okay, I follow you.
They go down through the nearest stairs, there is not a single refugee at sight. When they reach level 4 the door of the communal area explodes, but they do not stop until they are at the observation zone. A long glazed corridor which crosses almost all the ship spread out before them. Outside, only a planet stands out in the darkness of the cold space. The corridor is divided in three parts by two watertight chambers, which are an intersection with the corridors which go into the cruiser. They are in the chamber which is closest to stern.
Shepard: Don't stop running!
The faster enemies already have them within range, but with the Commander covering the rearguard they do not risk to get out of the chamber. When they are almost in the next one, the door opens and shows three assailants who are waiting for them. Liara eliminates one hand to hand, kills other with the Phalanx and Shepard deals with the third. When the asari seals the entrance the mercenaries go through the corridor so as not to lose them. The Commander and the doctor resume their running, they see the wall of the end of the observation corridor in front of them and on the right the gate. When the sealed door gives way they have almost reached their way out. Shepard is ahead of Liara, but not too much. With the first shots she stops and responds forcefully. Then, a mercenary who is going to throw a grenade, after removing its ring, gets a shot in his head. The grenade falls and rolls up to the pane and detonates. The corridor cracks, the enemies stop firing, look at each other and begin to move back, but it is too late. In a split second, Shepard reaches the wall of the end of the corridor and clings on to the pipes which jut out of the wall with one hand, and extends the other to Liara, who jumps to hold on in the moment when the glass breaks. Space absorbs the mercenaries and tries to devour the couple too. None of both are touching the floor now. Air is beginning to leave the corridor.
Shepard: Hold out!
Liara: I'm slipping!
Shepard squeezes her hand tighter, but he feels she is sliding. He tries to turn on his own to get at right angle to Liara and then bring her nearer to the pipes so that she could cling on too. The Commander sees the fear on the asari's eyes.
Liara: Shepard… -Her hand loosens, she closes her eyes and vacuum carries her away-.
-O-
Joker: What the…! -After coming out of FTL speed he runs into an enormous space station right ahead. He sharply lifts up the frigate to avoid collision-.
EDI: This station does not appear in any star chart!
Joker: -After stabilizing the ship he snorts- That was close!
They cross the side of the space station with the Normandy still in stealth mode.
Joker: -Looking at the architecture of the station- Wait a moment… That's not a space station, it's a ship!*
EDI: Impossible… It's too big, it's more than three kilometers long…
Joker: It has to be, look all the engines it has. What a beast!
EDI: And that is… Cerberus emblem…
Joker: It must be adrift… Abandoned.
EDI: I don't think so. Do you see those little lights? It's an inoperative civilian ship. Whoever has done this they are not Cerberus, they were all indoctrinated and died with the reapers. Someone has recovered that ship.
Joker: -Ironic- Great, some crazy pirate has taken control of a colossal Cerberus' ship… -He makes a pause- Do you detect any sign of life in the refugees' ships?
EDI: -She scans them- No, nothing. -She displays an enlarged image- Look, they have numerous impacts of mass accelerators. It's not likely there are survivors.
Joker: If they don't want them as hostages or slaves, for what do they attack the refugees? They have not many things of value. The ships are useful, but it seems they are not interested at all…
EDI: -Sad- They had survived the reapers, and even so…
Joker: -He sighs- That ship, does it has an escort?
EDI: No, it seems it's alone.
Joker: Good, we've already done our part. Let's inform the Admiral.
-O-
But something stopped her. When Liara opens her eyes again, Shepard is still grabbing her, but with the other hand. The Commander has completed his turn and is grasped to the pipes with the boots. She looks at him, but she quickly realizes the pipes are giving way. Her look tells him many things.
Liara: Shepard?
The atmosphere is escaping through the breach, breathe gets more and more difficult. The Commander, with his free hand, takes his pistol, aims at the lights of the ceiling and shoots. A spark reaches the fire detector and it activates the armored bulkhead which seals the damaged section of the corridor, isolating them from the vacuum. They both suddenly fall to the ground with the pipe.
Shepard: -He stands up- Are you okay?
Liara: -She snorts- Yes, thank you. -Shepard helps her to stand up- Let's keep going.
In a few minutes they reach deck one, but they do not find any enemy on the way, they have gone. Suddenly they begin to hear very loud explosions. Once at the bridge they discover that all crew has been executed and the ship's controls are nothing more than scrap. One of the few computers which still work shows a diagram of the cruiser, numerous sections flicker in red. The enemy frigate is firing against them, it seems the mercenaries get fed up with persecuting them. The ship is doomed, nothing can be done to save it. They leave the bridge and they go towards the escape pods, screams of terror come from all directions. Liara gets ahead of him, and when she passes through a door, part of the ceiling falls in on Shepard, but he avoids it and just falls to the floor. While he stands up Liara continues, and after reaching the corner which looks on to the corridor where the pods are she stops, looks back and sees a flare coming near them.
Liara: Get out of there! -She resumes the run-.
Shepard: -He turns and sees it too- This must be a joke -he starts running-.
Almost at the end of the corridor Liara finds one of the few pods left. The flare is getting closer and closer to Shepard.
Liara: Hurry!
The doctor gets into and connects the systems of the pod, and when the Commander enters she closes the hatch after him. Right then the pod is launched. Through an exterior camera they see how little by little the ship is left behind. With the repeated shots of the frigate the fires spread. Some other escape pods get out, but very few for all the people who travelled in the ship. Suddenly a huge explosion gobbles the cruiser. Numerous lives have immediately disappeared.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*You can find images of the Cerberus ship found by the Normandy (the Colossus) in Reddit by typing my user name: "Eszadro"