Clone War

Jane threw up a barrier as soon as she recognized the mercs. The bullets bounced off the biotic shield as the others took cover. The attack was disrupted by a large Krogan crashing into the shuttle.

Wrex downed the shuttle and took the crew out in less than ten seconds. He grabbed the Spitfire and handed it to Jane. "Always in action, hm?" Glass shattered as more mercenaries attacked from the upper level. Erik picked up a Revenant and fired the LMG at the incoming heavies. Catherine fired the stolen sniper rifle as fast as she pulled the trigger. The constant stream of lasers, bullets and plasma tore through the merc's lines. Suddenly the lot shook as an atlas landed on the pad. It fired at the skycar they were hiding behind. Two rockets soared past them as green lasers tore into it. From the upper level James jumped down, his rocket launcher secure in his hands. "Take that, assholes."

The atlas fell over and made room for the gunship to land. Bly, Inc, Barr and Galle fired at the attackers, giving them cover fire to retreat to the larty. When everyone was on board, Bly smacked the hull. "All accounted for, go!"

Hawk fired a last volley before he pulled the gunship out and headed for the landing pad on the Tiberius Towers.

As they entered Brooks entered with Joker. "Where the hell did you learn flying? That teacher belongs into a mad-house."

"Now this is a problem." Bly said. "Technically it's C-Sec's problem but since the attack was obviously against the Shepards..." "We need to inform Bailey." Jane said.

Brooks shook her head. "But wouldn't that paint him a target?"

"Okay, we do this by ourselves. No need to get Bailey until we have a threat against the Citadel itself." John decided. "Now we only need to find out who was shooting at us and why."

"Permission to tag along for getting shot at?" a familiar voice asked. Joker smiled as he saw EDI. Along with her the other members of the Normandy's core crew and the Cobra's commanding officers entered.

They stood around the dining table. The only lead they had was the weapons they had taken.

According to the shadow broker the M-11 was an exclusive private order. A private military cooperation called CAT6, after the dishonorable discharge from the alliance. Most members were former marines and were organized in groups named after sharp objects. John looked at the files Liara and EDI had compiled. "What ever they are up to, we seem to be the targets."

Ahsoka looked at him. "The 327th is securing the Cobra ships while the Rangers watch the docks. The 501st keeps around this tower and agrees to keep an eye out for suspicious activity."

"The heroes assembled." Brooks breathed. She looked into the round. "The Shepard twins, heroes of the Citadel and their crew: Archangel, Javik, the last Prothean, Urdnot Wrex, Leader of the Krogans, Tali'Zorah, Admiral of the quarians and Legion, machines at peace with organics, and all the other famous people. If it hadn't been for you the reapers would have won years ago. And then the Cobras, fearless soldiers, sign of hope to allies and death to their enemies.

Ahsoka and Aayla looked at the woman. Something was off about her, but the two jedi just couldn't lay the finger on it.

Bo looked at the sanctuary. They had intercepted Cerberus fleeing from Thessia to this abandoned area in space, the last refuge from the reapers. Shore-leave was cut short when they found the place. It was suspicious as all signals were actively jammed in that area so Bo decided to move in and investigate. Usually she would leave it to the clones, but they were tired and had deserved the shore leave. The Night-Owls hadn't seen much action since the monastery and now they were here. Keeping to the shadows, they watched how the reapers attacked cerberus. "Finally they begin to kill each other." May commented. Moons kept an eye out for trouble. "Two phantoms incoming. One nemesis upstairs." Bo pulled out the black lightsaber that once belonged to Pre Vizsla. "Let's greet them the mando way." She smirked.

Echo observed the plan. He and Fives were standing on the Silversun Strip. While the Geth Legion and Liara sorted data and tried to draw connections they checked the surroundings. Hardcase and Jesse were on the landing pad while Kix and Coric were on the roofs with sniper rifles. Other 501st clones patrolled with their partners in civil, enjoying the shore-leave while keeping their comms online.

Galle and Inc were back at the docks with Lieutenant Angeles. Keeping watch of the Fleet was not as easy as they thought. With a port as busy as the Citadel, vessels and skycars were moving everywhere. At least the Normandy was in a secured alliance dock. Chief engineer Adams worked on the drive core together with Donnelly and Daniels. Traynor was upstairs upgrading the computer systems with EDI. Additional firewalls to prevent an outside shutdown was installed. It was risky to give an AI such freedom but both Shepards had expressed their trust in EDI, despite Javik's prejudice against machines.

EDI sorted through the data the clones unearthed from the weapon itself while LEGION looked for CAT6.

"We found something." Liara called Shepard who asked her brother and the others to join. "The weapons were sold by Elijah Kahn. Owner of the Casino." She played an intercepted phone call. Kahn complained about the possibility of the back-tracking to him. Clear evidence that he was involved.

Glyph pointed out who today's evening a charity event was hosted so storming in at gunpoint would do no good. LEGION suggested a stealthy approach. "Data suggests that he will appreciate the protection. A short hack on the guest list had them all in the VIP-section. Brooks was concerned about how to get to Kahn. According to Glyph he was locked into his panic room. However they had to disable security timely close to get in without anyone noticing. "This ventilation shaft leads past most of the security into the storage room right next to the panic room. I guess that it will have heavy security on it. Some one with tech knowledge has to get through."

Everyone looked at Tali. "No, no. My suit is full of tech and might trip any sensors." EDI and LEGION were next. "We are technically mechs. Our presence alone would rise suspicion."

"Who has no tech on them?" John asked. Wrex held his hands up in a denying gesture. "I don't fit in there. Too many varren barbecues." "No experience with your tech." Ahsoka and Aayla backed up.

"No, we need someone with experience in no-tech-defusing. I had a course once where I had to defuse a bomb with a toothbrush..." Brooks looked up only to have all eyes on her. "Welcome aboard, Brooks." "What, no! I'm am only an office clerk. Not a field agent." she complained.

"We'll have you covered." Jane assured. Liara looked at the Shepard twins. "There is only one last hurdle: It's a black tie event." she said with a nod towards the Cobras.

Rex and Bly changed into their dress uniform. Formally only used when they were off-duty and on-board their ships the clones had quickly adapted the UST with medals, decorations and were wearing it anytime they didn't require the armor. Erik joined them. His dress uniform held several medals and he had the peaked hat on. The two clones had the fleet officer hats while waiting for their dates. Bly sucked in his breath when he spotter Aayla walking out from the closet. The jedi had always worn revealing clothes, but this dress was borderlining on indecent. The dress she wore was figure hugging. It left her back free and a great view on her cleavage. In fact, the front consisted only of two straps running over her breasts, joining just below her belly button. The see-through lace was nearly not existent. Ahsoka was a little better as she wore the same clothes she had when she posed as a princess during the slave undercover op. Erik waited for Catherine. He had already gotten a glimpse of what she would wear and it covered much at the same time as it was seductive. And he was right. Catherine entered in her pitch black dress. A slit on the side showed off her legs. The satin hugged her figure and left little room for imagination. John had Tali and Jane had Kaidan. Since their arrival was announced the voted for a spectacular entrance. This included Commander Deviss and his troopers landing with two lartys.

One gunship hovered above the red carpet, leaving red marked troopers to rope down and stand at attention while the second LAAT/i landed and parted its blast doors.

"Ready to join the flash storm?" John asked Brooks jokingly. "No, you are the heroes. I'm js“just a figure in the back ground. Once inside they separated. EDI and LEGION were coordinating the couples around toe casino. The clones and the jedi were around the varren runs while Erik and Catherine were on the other side by the roulette tables. John and Tali stayed on the ground floor while Kaidan and Jane accompanied Brooks to the ventilation shaft. "It's secured. I can't open it without announcing us."

"Shepard, Legion has inserted himself into the system. He can shut down systems temporarily. However I have no means to communicate with him. He locked himself in to prevent raising alarms. You have to access the terminals he should shut down manually."

EDI watched the alarms and the respective controls. "The controls for the shaft cover is on the other side of the dance floor. Touch the check button on it. LEGION will then act. However, he can only block for thirty seconds. I recommend to mingle with society, should suspicion arise."

Jane nodded. She and Kaidan walked along the way, getting a drink at the bar. They moved into the corner where the console was in full view of a camera. Kaidan quickly kissed Jane and shoved her against it. Sidetracked by the kiss Jane knocked the button with her elbow.

"Okay I'm in." Brooks announced while crawling through the shaft. Kaidan and Jane rejoined the dance floor after taking a strong drink from the bar.

"I need help." There is a guard right underneath me. I can't pass without notice. This time Bly had an evil grin. "Rex, count to three hundred and then send the guard to the toilet. Red Sand." He grabbed Aayla and moved towards the restroom. Once there she began trashing the place with the force while Bly prepped an IED to drop it into the draining system. Silently they left the bath and joined Erik at the roulette.

Rex saw Bly exiting the restrooms before he counted to two hundred. Giving his brother time to mingle, he went to the guard. "Excuse me, Sir? I believe that there is a red sand user in the bathroom." "We will take care of it." the guard said as he left his position. The clone looked up just in time to see a blue dress hush past the ventilation hatch. Ahsoka took his arm. "Maybe we are ready for a dance?"

Erik decided that it was time to change locations so he and Catherine went over to the Varren races.

Then Brooks hit the next problem. "Oh god. I just noticed that I'm on a pressure pad. I can't defuse the alarm without releasing the pad but I can't defuse the pad without triggering the trap!"

EDI was already on it. "According to the schematics the junction boxes are on the left near the varren races and next to the roulette."

Erik kept an eye on the camera, passing the right point to reach the junction box. "Suspicious activity detected." Catherine grabbed Erik and pressed him against the wall, capturing their lips in a ferocious kiss. On the other side. Aayla and John distracted the two guards by complaining about "rude" people in the casino while Bly conveniently blocked the camera's view on the box Tali was tapping against to draw LEGION's attention to it. Back on the other side Erik and Catherine separated. Erik corrected the fit of his medals as he approached the guard. "Where might I find the bathroom, please. My girlfriend was a bit rough and I need to..." The guard caught on quickly. "Right that way, Sir. And good luck with that catch." he smiled.

Catherine waited for him as he exited the room. "No better idea?" she grinned. "Came in mind as Bly and Aayla trashed the public one." It didn't take long until Brooks hit two problems. "Commander, I am at the door but I need help to open the doors. However, I tripped a silent alarm."

EDI had an idea for it. "I can tell the guard that it was a false alarm, but you will need to stop him so LEGION can get me in." Erik shoved John and Jane towards the panic room. "Go. We will handle this here." The Shepard twins made their way into the back area. Two guards and two cameras were watching the area. But first they planted themselves onto the couches, waiting for the others to stop the guard from checking on Brooks.

Erik walked in front of Bly, holding his drink. Just in front of the guard he stopped so Bly ran into him, causing him to splatter the liquid over the guard. EDI's voice went over all guards' comms loudly so The Shepards and their dates jumped into action. Jane and Kaidan distracted the guards while Tali and John disrupted the junction boxes. It took LEGION seconds to disable the security system. Just as they entered the guards looked for them but shrugged it off.

"Kahn? I want to talk."

Kaidan went around the table and looked at the man. "I think he won't answer." He gave the chair a nudge and turned it around. Kahn sat in his chair, his head on his shoulder. Dead.

Brooks looked at the terminal. "Someone wiped it." John looked at it. The wipe was initiated by local authorization. Only someone who was already in here. Tali scanned Kahn with her omnitool. The bullet is fresh. Less than a few minutes."

After the return to the apartment EDI and LEGION went over the newest development. Brooks didn't know it but the geth had still been in the system and had gotten a snapshot of the person who wiped the terminal. It had been Brooks. Additionally with the local access and Tali's scan of the dead body, all pointed at her. Now the twins and the jedi were interrogating her. Something was up and they didn't like it.

What they got out of her was not good.

Her real name was Maya. She had worked for Cerberus, but later found the Shepard clones. Now she wanted to get her own Shepard working for her. "You were the first human spectres. But somewhere you forgot your own species. You helped more aliens than humans." She spatted.

"Where are they?" Jane demanded. "You are too late. They will take the Normandy and be the real Shepards. No one would believe you." she laughed. Jane panicked. She entered her Spectre ID along with John and they gave the activation codes. "Normandy! Immediate Lockdown and shut the core down!" Maya laughed. "Fell for it!" Suddenly the roof was blown off and a shuttle came down. John and Jane looked at their counterparts took Maya and disappeared. Just then a group of clones stormed in. "We are too late." Jane said. Just then Erik pulled them into the gunship and shoved them towards their armor. LEGION warned us. He is already alerted the fleet. They are blocking the direct route. We can still catch up with them at the docks. Now get your gear on. EDI entered the Normandy. The success of the mission was on her shoulders. It would be better to fight the clone away from the citadel.

The gunships surrounded the docks. Ahsoka led the 501st to retake the communications tower. Bailey didn't believe it at first that a fake Shepard took the Normandy, but after John hinted at a more embarrassing night in the bar Bailey believed them.

The Normandy launched. But it didn't went far. Three tractor beams caught the Normandy and stopped it in its tracks. The Consular-corvettes latched onto the emergency exits and main entrances. Two Mando-Shuttles extracted the escape pods and dropped night-owls into the openings. The 327th were in the gunships surrounding the ship to prevent any escape attempts.

At the bulks several teams got ready to strike. Tali and John would get in through the engineering hatch. Jane, Kaidan and Ashley would sneak in through the maintenance and take the CIC.

Wrex and Grunt agreed to charge the main lock and retake the cockpit while Garrus and Erik would crawl through the cannons and capture the weapon's controls. From there they would move in and remove the cyro pods to give the mandos access through the escape pod locks. James, Ashley and Liara would go in by the shuttle bay and secure a foot hold for the clone troopers to enter.