Chapter 7
1
Anima walked into Miranda's room knowing she had at best twenty minutes until she returned. She looked around the room for something she could use to bring Miranda to her cause, seeing nothing obvious she sat down at her desk. Miranda's vid screen came on at once startling Anima and making her jump back a little. Looking at the screen she notices a file that was already opened and clicked on it. Anima could believe what she was reading:
Day one: Shepard and his pet Miranda have been acquired and passed along to me. Once Ms. Lawson is fitted with the mind control device I will turn this project over to her. – Xen.
Day two: Shepard is proving to be remarkably strong-willed our Drell friend has been unable to extract any useful information from him. Not that we need it but we did need to read how his brain processes stress. His Alpha and Beta waves have been recorded along with the bio readings though I would have liked to use implants they are more accurate it would have given away our ploy so I settled for scanners. – Xen
See file attachment for data if needed.
Day three: Miranda finally broke, they all do eventually but she did put up a fight. Her mind control device is working now and she will be helping Cerberus once more. I have briefed the boss and got the go ahead, Ms. Lawson will be a benefit to the team I have no doubt. – Xen
Day four: I Ms. Miranda Lawson have been briefed by project leader Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh. I have taken over project Imperium, and will be entering into the records going forward. Shepard's DNA has been harvested along with mine our clones will be used to infiltrate the Alliance. - Ms. Lawson
Day Five: Shepard has been moved to a secure room to await phase two of the project. Clones have reached maturity and are being implanted with the necessary memories at this time. Xen assures me his daughter will learn of his location and phase three can begin. I had Shepard injected with the Reaper nanites though it wasn't part of the original play I don't see the need to waste such a good resource. - Ms. Lawson
Day Six: Shepard's body has shown remarkable progress in as the nanites begin to repurpose and restructure his DNA. He almost looks to be regressing in age and his biostatics all improved from their baseline. No one this age has even been given the nanites before other than the Illusive Man but he was indoctrinated so the Reapers control the path he was improved. This isn't happening to Shepard his own body seems to be directing them to the injured and failing parts of his body. Very exciting data will have to inform Xen at some point as his age will be noticeable soon. – Ms. Lawson
Day Seven: Clones are 100% ready and not a moment too soon, Shepard's daughter just landed on the far side of the island. All data transferred to an offsite location, the real Shepard (who I have passed off as a second clone) also moved I will follow. Shepard's clone activated along with my own. The rest is up to his daughter if all goes to plan our clones will be sending data very soon. – Ms. Lawson
Amendment to prior entry: I have landed at the new location and offloaded Shepard. Xen believes him to be another clone and that is well. I am not sure why I am keeping that from the project leads but something always stops me. Will update soon. – Miranda
Day Ten of Project: Everything went to hell after I left Ilos, both clones killed mine by Shepard and Shepard by a damn janitor who grabbed a rifle and tried to be a bloody hero. It is well I didn't tell Xen of my deception as it would mean death for Shepard. I still that foul man and perhaps now… No, I dare not write that here. This will be the last entry in this file see the file marked Amare for future updates. – Miranda.
Nothing Follows.
"Enjoy the reading?" Miranda said from her doorway.
Anima jumped up startled and backed away from the desk. "Is this true?" she asked pointing to the screen.
"Every word," Miranda said closing the door behind her.
"But why does he…?" Anima's words trailed off.
"Why does he think he is the clone? Well, Xen needed to believe it so he had to." Miranda said sitting down at her desk and turning off the screen. "I knew
Cerberus would implant me with a control device if I was ever caught so I took steps. Sadly, it took me longer to break free then I would have liked." She said with a sly smile.
"Then why haven't you told him now?" Anima said.
"I had to deactivate the control chip first and that takes time, otherwise Cerberus would have known it went offline. He has been his old self now for the last three hours if my readings are correct. I had planned to show him what you just read, which is why it was open. He was to read it after finding it like you did. He will hate me for it but I can't keep trying to force him to love me, he loves your mother and I accept that." Miranda said her eyes filling with tears, but she blinked them back. "Here take the file and show him, tell him you found it in my room. Just give me an hour so I can steal a shuttle." With that, Miranda turned on her Omni-tool and sent the file to Anima.
"Leaving? Why?" Anima asked as her Omni-tool beeped to note the file had been received.
"Xen is up to something and I am going to find out and stop it," Miranda said walking over to her wall locker and opening it.
"We can help you," Anima said.
"No, you need to focus on what is ahead. Plus, John needs to hate me for a while and me rather not see that in his eyes. Now go give me an hour and tell no one where I went, I wasn't here when you found the file." With that, Miranda opened a bag and began to pack her things.
Anima almost said something but stopped and walked to the door as she walked out she said "thank you" and left the door closing behind her.
2
On Thessia Liara sits at her desk reading reports a look of horror on her face as she reads about Xen's newest nightmare project. She sets the data pad aside and walks over to her Vidcom station. "Glyph, get me high command please." She says to the drone. Moments later a pair of Asari Matriarchs appear in front of her.
"Yes, Doctor T'Soni how can we help you?" One of the Matriarchs asks.
"I need to do some traveling and require a ship and crew. Something important has come up and it will require my personal attention." Liara tells them her voice flat and business like.
"I see, one moment." The Matriarch replies. "We can get you on the AMV Nevos, she is in the dock right now. Just how high of a priority is this?"
"Utmost, I can't say more over this line. However, I will need the ship to have as small a crew as possible to avoid my plans getting out. The Captain of the vessel will also have to know I have full command of the ship and crew." Liara says again in a flat business like tone.
"Captain Taal Loria will not like that Doctor T'Soni." The other Asari says with an amused look on her face.
"Her likes aren't my concern the safety of our people is." Liara snapped back quickly and coldly.
"Fine, fine no need to get all up in arms as the humans say, give us an hour to make the needed arrangements. The Nevos is at Dock B in the spaceport, do you need a shuttle to pick you up?" Asked the Matriarch.
"Yes, thank you. I will have a full report on your desk within a solar week, I only hope I am wrong." Liara said a bit of her relief sneaking into her voice. With that, she ended the transmission and walked back to her desk once again picking up the datapad.
3
"I understand," Delta said ending a transmission. He turned from the QEC only to see Shepard standing there.
"We get a go?" He asked.
"Yes," Delta replied sharper then he meant to do but this mission was shaping up to be a giant cluster fuck and he knew it. "We start for Krios in one hour, make sure your teams are informed." He said, this time, the harshness in his voice softened.
"I remember when I was giving the orders," Shepard said with a smile then turned to inform his daughter of the news.
4
Shepard didn't need to find Anima after all she practically knocked him over rushing around the corner. He could see she was out of breath "what is wrong?" he asked her.
"You… You need to look at this." She said still trying to catch her breath.
"Okay, what is…" His voice trailed off as he started to read the file that was about to change his life in ways he couldn't possibly grasp.
The color drained from his face and it was all he could do to stand up. Finally, he said, "Where is Miranda?" His voice felt cold and distant ever to his own ears.
"Gone, she took a shuttle and left," Anima told him.
"Fine, send this to your mother ask if she can find out more about just what the hell Cerberus is playing at." He said his color coming back to him.
Anima nodded, then thrust herself into his arms hugging him tightly by the neck. "I knew it was you, deep down I always knew." He could feel her tears soaking into his shirt his heart that had been so cold lately melted and he hugged her back.