Miranda: Chapter 2: Preparation
The pillow fell with soft thud on the wooden floor, ten meters back Miranda collapsed to her knees, sweat dripping of her forehead, she was out of breath and her vision was going blurry.
"Dammit!" She scolded herself out loud. She had yet failed to achieve a viable biotic pull; after five minutes of focus and determination the pillow did finally lift off the ground, but after an insignificant two seconds it fell back to the floor, and to add insult to injury she was also exhausted from the effort.
Miranda was a remarkable biotic for a sixteen year old girl; most human biotics only started to show effective results at around eighteen or twenty. Miranda on the other hand could already manage a biotic push with the force of around three hundred Newton's, she even started to show decent results with warp, but any time she even tried to pull or lift anything it left her exhausted and without any credible results. Her struggles with mass lowering were contradictory, she did well with push but when any higher form of control was needed she failed.
"Someone has not been practicing." The coy remark came from the Asari instructor standing next to her. Miranda could spare the energy to throw a side long glare at her. She was an ex-Asari commando now turned private biotic trainer; usually human children with biotic potential went to BAAT, but Miranda got her own personal Asari trainer.
"Well, I guess that's it for today. Miranda, you will have to practice more often, if you can't even handle pull then you will never be able to create a barrier, please keep that in mind." She said condescendingly as she left the dojo.
"I'll try my best Miss Niyala," Miranda said sarcastically from her spot on the floor. She was still exhausted from her training session.
Moments later she heard footsteps. "Miss Lawson." A butler came in through the open door with a tray with food.
"Thank you Jeffery, you're a lifesaver," Miranda replied friendly.
"No thanks necessary Miss Lawson, your father instructed us to provide you with adequate sustenance after biotic training, I understand it burns a very high amount of calories."
"Thank you none the less Jeffery
"Miss Lawson, if you will excuse me." The butler bowed, and left the room.
She sat in silence while eating her food on the dojo floor, her thoughts changing from her current failure in biotic training to contemplating the events of recent days. It was exactly two weeks since she discovered the truth about her father, her 'creation' and her impending murder which would be on the coming weekend. It was due to her incredible acumen for all things electronic that allowed her to discover almost every detail surrounding her father's plans. It also aided her in attaining the files pertaining to her creation and her 'sisters' that were previously disposed of.
A miners' strike was currently raging through Australia and was noticeably getting more heated with riots breaking out across the country and the mining company in question was owned by her father. She knew that the strike was all part of his plan and she already knew the names of the poor miners who would be framed for her murder. After her death, her father would publicly condemn the terrorist attack on his family and would also wow to end the strike as soon as possible to end further bloodshed.
Miranda felt sick as she realised how many lives would be affected by her 'death', by her father's egotistical designs, by his willingness to kill his only daughter and destroy the lives of others in the process. To think how many people would be hurt or killed in the explosion alone, not to mention the damage caused by the violence during the strike.
She sighed in resignation, there's nothing I can do about it, I can save myself and Oriana and I need to focus on that.
She went over the plan in her head, she felt confident of being able to escape unharmed, but saving her genetic twin Oriana was another matter altogether; she was kept in a high security science lab just outside of Sydney. Miranda had attained all the necessary security information but she would almost certainly encounter security personnel that she would have to deal with, most likely in a violent manner. Miranda had never killed a person before; being only sixteen she never had the need, but she had a feeling that would change this coming weekend. She wondered to herself if she would be able to do it, to pull the trigger so to speak, if someone were to get in her way? She had all the tools needed to kill a human being, martial arts training, reasonable skill in biotics and most recently, a small degree of small arms training.
She smiled to herself as she remembered how she obtained a pistol and training in the last two weeks. She had deftly brought up the subject with her father at breakfast one morning, using her inefficient biotic skills as an excuse to learn to use a weapon. Her father agreed only after telling her that she would have to practice her biotics more often. She practiced with her pistol every free moment she had. With a fire arm, biotics and her level of tech abilities, she was well prepared for a task any normal teenager would have no chance of accomplishing.
The plan had its risks, risks that would almost certainly disappear if she were to leave Oriana and only save herself, but in the end she decided the risks were worth it. She could not and would not allow her father to do to her sister what he did to her.
There was one dilemma that Miranda had not yet solved; what if she succeeded, what then? Surely her father had the power and connections to find and capture her and Oriana once they left Earth. She needed help and fast.
She finished eating and stood up to go take a shower before returning to 'studying'; her father believed her to be studying for her exam series on Monday, but it was this allocated time that Miranda had to search for possible allies who might shelter her and Oriana at the very least for a short time.
-0O0-
Miranda could not believe it, she had spent the last five hours looking for any solution that could provide sanctuary for herself and Oriana but she could find no group that either her father had no influence over or was safe enough to approach. She was about to give up when by chance she spotted an irregular payment her father had made to an organization called Honduras Collective, the payment was obscured in his financial statements. She quickly ran a search and discovered the organization in question was supposedly an NGO that helped the poor and needy in Honduras.
Something about this isn't right; Father is a well known philanthropist who contributes publicly to all kinds' of aid organizations using the additional publicity to his advantage, why would he contribute to one so secretly?
Miranda decided to investigate the NGO more deeply, she attempted to hack their system but found surprisingly high amount of security firewalls and many on the same level as her father's corporate files. An NGO with corporate level firewalls? Not likely! Miranda persisted; some of the firewalls were of even higher quality and pushed her to the limit of her ability. Eventually she broke through and mined the data as quickly as she could; she found various other 'organizations' linked to the NGO and on a hunch compared that to other financial information from her father's statements. She discovered more obscured donations to these other NGO's; it was obvious that these were just fronts for a larger organization that wished to keep the authorities from discovering who their donors were really supporting. Who could they be?
She continued to hack through the ghost corporations disguised in numerous forms, NGO's, business', investments etc. There was only one word that connected all the fake entities: Cerberus. Miranda quickly ran a different search on 'Cerberus'. The first result gave the origin of the word: '(Greek mythology) the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades' Ominous. She looked at the other results that contained numerous news sites as well as supporter sites pertaining to the organization known as Cerberus.
She spent the next hour going through all the articles she could find about the secretive organization, most of the reports were speculative and gave little information, but eventually she found the original manifesto written shortly after the First Contact War, the author was dubbed "The Illusive Man". The manifesto petitions for a force to be created to protect human interest a Cerberus, it states that a human genocide by alien species is a distinct eventuality and that humanity needs to look out for its own interests if it is to survive.
Miranda thought of the implications of her father's actions and what benefit she could garner from it. Could Cerberus help her? If they strived for the advancement of humanity then she could work for them in return for protection from her father, but would they help her? Her father gave generously to Cerberus and would surely stop if they were to help her escape.
Did she have any other choice, few people could appose her father but a group like Cerberus could. She was decided; she would get in contact with Cerberus and request their help.
She continued to follow the trail through the ghost companies; it took her only half an hour, when suddenly she entered a blank page that only asked for a password, there was no logo or any other text. She launched the same crack program she created to crack the passwords of her father's network, minutes later it looked like she was in when her entire display went dead.
'Whoa, what just happened?" She cautiously backed away from the display, not knowing what to do.
Seconds later a large assortment of numbers appeared on her display, the numbers moved together to form a large face, after a couple of silent moments the face spoke.
"Very impressive, Miss Lawson," The voice was distorted like a kidnapper in a cheesy movie.
"You are first person to hack into this database, but unfortunately your anti-detection software was not sufficient enough to hide your presence once you entered this server, still very impressive."
Miranda sat in silence, shocked that someone could gain control of her interface so easily. "Who are you?" She spoke softly.
"Who I am is not important, who we are is Cerberus, but based on your recent search results I assume you already know that?"
Miranda was caught off guard by the amount of information they had on her, but she recovered, "I want to contact you, I have an offer."
"We are listening?"
"I want to join the organization, but in return I need protection."
"Why would we want to hire you?"
Miranda was prepared for this question "I am only sixteen years old and I almost hacked your database, plus it took me only two hours to uncover a substantial portion of your financial network as well as gathering enough evidence to pin the richest man in humanity as a supporter of Cerberus. But that's just my tech skills, I was also genetically engineered to be superior in every way, to prove this I finished high school at the age of twelve, I already have two university degrees and I am a talented biotic, do you want me to continue?" She said with a smirk, but internally she hoped it was enough.
"Interesting." It kept silent for several minutes before speaking again. "We will consider your offer; we will contact you tomorrow night at the same time and in the same manner." The face said before disappearing before her display returned to normal.
Miranda couldn't believe it; she found a possible ally, a very powerful on at that.
-0O0-
Cerberus HQ, location unknown
A man in his mid forties sat in a chair within a open spaced office, the one half of the room's exterior wall was made of thick hardened glass which allowed for a massive panoramic view of nearby star, the soft rumblings of the massive fireball sounded similar to powerful waves pounding against rocks in the distance. In front of the man was an advanced and complicated amalgamation of holographic displays, he was busy studying a report from a Cerberus cell on Pragia when a soft bleep announced that one of his top operatives was calling him.
He swept his left arm in a sweeping motion and the giant display system moved out of his line of sight, seconds later a large holographic display was assembling in the centre of the room, when it was finished a image of a Asian women in her early thirties, dressed in a tight fitting white and black body suit with the Cerberus logo emblazed on her left shoulder. Her hair was jet black and hung past her shoulder in a neat oriental style, two long hair pins fixed horizontally on the back of her head.
"Aida," The man greeted the woman.
"Illusive Man," Aida returned the greeting.
Aida was The Illusive Man's top agent, one of few operatives that were allowed to meet him personally. She had earned this right by achieving many successful missions as well as proving her loyalty on many occasions. She was a highly skilled spy, assassin, leader, organiser and was blessed with a brilliant mind that allowed her to lead different types of operations from espionage to science teams. In Cerberus there was no one better than Aida Nagato.
"What's your report?"
"You know Richard James Lawson, his daughter almost hacked our internal network only an hour ago."
The Illusive Man's silence encouraged her to continue.
"Her purpose was to contact Cerberus; she wants protection in exchange for joining Cerberus, the related files from her personal terminal as well as her conversation with network security have been sent to you."
With a small motion of his hand he brought his display back in front of him, with a few additional motions he had the information he needed, his eyes scanned through the information in front of him while he listening to the recorded conversation. The female operative waited patiently for him to finish.
After a couple of minutes he spoke, "Thank you Aida, I will handle it from here."
"Of course sir." She bowed slightly and turned leave the room.
"Aida?" She turned back towards him.
"Finish up your current assignment or select a replacement by tomorrow, I need you free to take on a more important assignment."
"Yes sir," she replied and walked out of the room. She was slightly perplexed at his request but had learnt not to question the decisions of her superior. She contemplated possible replacements for herself as she walked further away from his office.
The Illusive Man continued to star at the information in front of him, a slow smile spreading across his face.
-0O0-
The next morning Miranda went to the stables for a morning ride on her horse Nielson, but her main reason was to speak to Niket; she needed help with the escape plan and he was the only person she could trust.
She entered the stables and spotted Niket standing next to Nielson; giving him a brush over.
"Morning Niket."
"Oh...morning Miri, you startled me there for a moment."
"Sorry, I thought I would take Nielson for a ride around the grounds, you mind joining me with Rufus?" Miranda said in a tone that made Niket understand that she wanted to talk to him in private.
"Sure, we can take the usual path."
Moments later they were both galloping away towards their private little spot on the Lawson Estate. There were many surveillance devices on the Lawson Estate; this included cameras and listening devices. Miranda had discovered a spot which had no coverage and where she could speak to him in private.
While they were riding they spoke about rudimentary things to pass the time; Miranda laughing at some of he's jokes. After a while they arrived at the 'clear' area and demounted from their horses.
"So, what's up?" Niket inquired.
"Niket, I have to leave father."
"Why?" He asked mystified.
Miranda then explained what she discovered about her father's plan while not mentioning anything about Oriana or her contact with Cerberus. The less he knows the better...for him, she rationalised to herself.
After listing to her story he replied, "I understand why you have to leave, but why are you telling me?"
"Their plan is to kill me tomorrow Niket, in Sydney CBD, I need you to pick me up in the CBD once I escape the assassination attempt and get me out. Once we get out of the city I will drop you off at the Space Port with a ticket to Nos Astra and enough money to last you a year. Once I get of the planet I will get in contact with you." She said quickly and urgently.
"Your father is a dangerous man Miri, he will find me and..."
Miranda interrupted him. "You will be the first person my father will question when he discovers I made it out alive, if you stay here you will be in much more danger, you must understand Niket he is ruthless and will do anything to stop me. This is the best plan for us both."
He sighed in resignation, "Your right, you're always right." He was happy with this life he had, but he also cared for Miranda and couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her, so he agreed.
"Thank you Niket. I have already organized fake identification for you and have set up false records that show you travelling to Elysium instead of your real destination, Nos Astra, so don't worry. After everything is cooled down we can work to get you settled there, you deserve a better life than what my father is giving you."
"Me? What about you, what will you do for money or protection from your father?"
"Miranda was not ready to answer this question, "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself, and besides the less you know the better."
"Fine, so what are the details?" He asked, resigned to the plan of action.
Miranda explained the timing, where she would find him and the location of the sky car he would be using. She gave him the fully loaded credit chit and gave him a hug. "Thank you Niket, remember, timing is crucial, you have to be there on time!" She said before the both mounted their horses and returned to the stables.
-0O0-
Miranda spent the rest of the day as she usually did on a Friday, she studied, practiced her martial arts training with her sensei, studied, practiced her biotics with the Asari teacher, studied, had her additional side arm practice at the shooting range, studied, had dinner with her father and then went up to her room for more 'studying'.
As she walked up the stairs to her room, she thought about how funny it was that her father could act as if everything was normal, like he wasn't going to kill his own daughter the following day. It was like it always was, he commented on her poor performance in biotics training and he told her that he decided that she needed to focus on it more in the summer holidays rather than going on the holiday he had 'planned' for her. She agreed to his decision like she had numerous times before when he decided her efforts were unsatisfactory. Even though her life was in danger and she would have to leave everything she has ever known behind by this time tomorrow, a not so small part of her waited in eager expectation, for the first time in her life, she wanted to disappoint her father.
Hours later she waited for her next communication with Cerberus, she looked at her watch, a couple more minutes, each minute felt like it would never end, but right on time the screen went blank and the face appeared exactly the same way as the previous night.
"Evening Miss Lawson," the face greeted; although the voice was still distorted Miranda felt that something in voice was different from the one that spoke to her yesterday.
"Good evening, I take it you are not the same person I spoke to yesterday?"
"Well done, Miss Lawson. You assume correctly, I am The Illusive Man. Your request has caught my personal attention; seeing as the decision will greatly affect my organization's finances it is only sensible that I see to it personally. But let's get down to business. It has come to my attention that you want to join my organization in exchange for protection?"
"Yes I want to join you, in exchange for protection for me and my sister."
"I take it that you seek protection from your father, Mr Richard Lawson, correct?"
"Yes, that is correct. He plans to kill me tomorrow and replace me with my sister. I need no assistance from you for my escape or for my sisters rescue, I do however need assistance thereafter. As you know, my father is very influential man and could very easily track me down and have me killed, that is why I need you."
"Ah, I see. But Mr Lawson donates very generously to our cause, why would I do something that might disturb that?"
"Like I said last night, I have skills that you might find more useful."
The Illusive Man kept silent for a few seconds before replying. "Alright we have a deal, tell me the details."
"How do I know you won't alert my father?"
"You don't, but we are your only option and I think you know that."
Miranda grimaced at situation she was in, but then continued. "My father plans to 'replace' me tomorrow by blowing up my limo when I depart from a midday function in the Sydney CBD. He will blame the explosion as an attack by disgruntled miners from current miner strike. Like I said, I don't need any help there but I will be leaving the planet that evening via Beijing Spaceport. You will find the details on my workstation."
"Got it, I see you plan to fly from Melbourne to Beijing, I will arrange for one of my operatives to watch over your flight from Melbourne all the way to Shanxi. Anything else?"
"Two things, a friend of mine will assist me in getting out of Sydney, his details are included in the file, keeping him save is also important as he is a dear friend of mine, he does not know about my contact with Cerberus, so please tell your operatives to stay anonymous."
"Done and your second request?"
"My sister is not joining Cerberus, I would need you to arrange a beneficial adoption of her by good people not related to Cerberus. I want her to have a normal life and protected from my father, this is more important than anything else, if you can't give me that then the deal is off." He had to understand this point and so Mrianda made it as clear as she could.
"I understand Miss Lawson, it won't be a problem. When you arrive in Shanxy my operative will make contact and transport you to a secure Cerberus facility where the details of your sister's adoption and your induction into Cerberus will be conducted. From here on in we will communicate via different communication channels; I have already installed a program that will destroy your workstation's memory banks as soon as midday tomorrow, I suggest you destroy any other items that might leave a trail."
"All ready arranged."
"Good, good luck Miss Lawson, I look forward to your safe arrival and to your joining of Cerberus."
The display went blank again before Miranda's usual work station setup was back up. She made a deep sigh of relief, Cerberus would help her and ensure protection for both her and Oriana and it felt like a great burden had been lifted of her shoulders. She stood up and picked up two black waste bags and put them outside her room and pushed a button to call the butler to take out the trash. It was common for her to have large amounts of left over material from her projects or to throw out old clothes when she wanted to make space for new ones, this was not the case. Later that evening Niket would recover the bags containing Miranda's clothes, travelling apparel and her gun from the refuse, giving it back to her in a travelling suitcase when they met again in the Sydney CBD.
Everything was done and so she went to bed and tried to sleep.
As she lay in her bed, she looked across the room at a dress hanging on a cabinet handle; it was the dress her father had bought her for the function tomorrow, the dress she was supposed to die in.
-0O0-
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Well another chapter finished. In the beginning I intended to write this chapter all the way through to her escape but I decided that ending with the dress hanging by the closet was a fitting place to end the chapter, it allows anticipation to build. I also have to take in to consideration the difference in time between Shepard and Miranda, where many things will be happening to her in next couple of weeks and months, Shepard's story will progress a bit faster in terms of time.
Also I am still deciding whether I should end the story at a) The start of ME2 (at least until the escape of Lazarus station) or b) or continue the story with snap shots of the ME2 story involving Miranda and Shepard.
Let me know in your reviews.