It was good to be on the move again. Miranda was far more comfortable with action than waiting around at a Cerberus space station. Now there was just the small matter of breaking into a fortified outpost; fortunately, she had a plan for that as well.
"Hello, Legion."
"Miranda, Commander."
"I'm not in the Alliance, Legion."
"Shepard is absent. You are commanding the Normandy. You are commander."
Miranda let it slide.
"We are traveling to an old Geth outpost; these are the coordinates."
She handed him a data pad.
"Do you know of it?"
"Yes."
"Are familiar with the outpost's design?
"Yes."
"Commander Shepard and Ambassador Udina are being held inside that outpost. Will you help us rescue them?"
"Yes."
"Come with me then."
Miranda led Legion out of medical, into the elevator, and then to communications. Already waiting was the rest of the Normandy team including all the krogans. The room was packed.
"We now have two transports available to us," began Miranda. "Normandy's shuttle, and the Cerberus ship so graciously loaned to the krogans and Sergeant Williams to get them to the station."
Wrex grunted. "I always considered it more than a rental."
Miranda didn't try to conceal a wry smile.
"We're going to be splitting into two teams for the rescue. Most of you will serve under Garrus, and will form the main assault on the outpost. The primary task of this team will be to draw as many mercs as possible out of the outpost interior and into the outdoors. The second team will consist of Sargent Williams, Legion, and myself. While the battle is being waged outside, we will infiltrate the outpost and rescue the prisoners."
There was some mumbling by the krogans.
"What is it?" asked Miranda.
"We want Wrex to lead," said a particularly large krogan.
Miranda shook her head.
"Garrus is my second in command."
"We only serve under Wrex," said another.
The situation was getting uncomfortable.
"It's alright, Miranda," said Garrus. "Wrex is a good leader; I saw what he did on Tuchanka. I don't mind taking a back seat this time."
Garrus a looked at Wrex and the two nodded in mutual respect.
"It's nothing personal," said Wrex. "My people have just gotten tired of taking orders from everybody else in the galaxy. Let them follow one of their own this time."
Miranda conceded.
"Alright, Wrex, can you hold out long enough for us to get Shepard out?"
Wrex scoffed. "We'll rescue him ourselves if we have to."
Miranda smiled.
"Admiral," she turned to Anderson. "You'll command the Normandy in my absence."
Anderson rejected the notion.
"I won't be left behind this time."
Miranda sighed.
Does no one follow instructions?
"Sir, we need you up here in case something threatens the ship."
But Anderson waived her off.
"The Normandy will be fine. She'll be cloaked, and I'm sure Joker and EDI will be perfectly capable of running away if need be."
He bent forward over the table and looked around the room.
"We are going to need pilots to stay with those shuttles. The teams may require quick extraction if something goes wrong, or if one of the hostages is injured."
Miranda conceded again. She decided to ask for a second volunteer in what had transformed from a briefing into a town hall meeting.
"Is anyone willing to stay with the second shuttle?"
There was silence all around.
Miranda frowned. She was going to have to assign someone, which meant picking one of her own crew members. The krogans had made their position clear already.
"I know of someone who might be willing," Ashley said from the corner.
Miranda squinted at her.
Oh, no.
Lifting her hand up to her ear, she checked communications.
"Wrex, you there."
There was a grunt.
"Admiral, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Miranda. We've hit the surface. First team is away."
"Joker?"
Silence.
"Joker? You there?"
"Mr. Moreau is using the facilities and should be back shortly, but I can assure you that your communications are fully audible."
Miranda grinned in spite of herself.
"That'll do, EDI."
Removing her hand, Miranda sat back and looked at the rest of her team. Ashley looked at her expectantly; Legion looked as he always did.
"Ok," Miranda began. "We're going through a side entrance as Legion recommended. The doors will obviously be locked, but Legion still knows the codes. One we're inside we'll need to hack into the computer network to locate Shepard and Udina. We're counting on you to lead the way, Legion."
"Understood, Commander."
"We need to attract as little attention as possible. Be sure you have high level combat scanners equipped to your weapons. If we do get caught we'll need to take the enemies down as fast as possible. This is no time for any protracted engagements. Got it?"
Ashley pulled out her assault rifle, and grinned.
"Ready to kick some ass."
As if on cue, the shuttle touched down, and the door lifted open. They started out onto the snowy surface and Miranda heard the sounds of a firefight in the distance. She paused a moment or two, just to make sure that the mercs had been sufficiently engaged by their diversion; then motioned to Legion.
"Take us in."
The geth broke off in a swift gait toward the building. Miranda always thought those robots looked awkward as hell, but they could really move when they wanted to. Miranda saw the outer dome of the underground outpost before them. Snow covered, it looked like a just another hill in the landscape.
Great place to hide some hostages.
"Here is the door," said Legion. "I will remove the lock."
Legion entered some codes onto an old geth keypad and the doors swung open.
Miranda motioned them inside; Legion took point. He led them through dank hallways and down steep ramps. Everything was old, old and noisy. There were a thousand small sounds as they made their way through the halls. Creaking metal, equipment, whatever. This placed had been around for a while.
"Why did the geth establish an outpost outside the veil?" Ashley asked quietly.
"To assist in monitoring various organics."
"Why did you abandon it?"
"We have developed more effective methods."
"Like what?"
But Legion did not respond.
"The central control room is ahead; it appears unoccupied."
Miranda's combat scanner also showed blank. That was worrisome.
"There should be someone protecting this junction," she said. "I don't care what's going on outside."
"It is unlikely the mercenaries fully understand geth technology. Perhaps they established a separate control facility."
That made Miranda even more concerned.
"Alright, let's do this."
The group entered the room, and Legion immediately began working at one of the consoles. Soon the previously dead room came to life. In the center, a giant screen flashed with different images from around the outpost.
"Pretty impressive surveillance," Ashly mumbled.
The images stopped changing and the screen before them showed two men tied to a chair with a handful of mercs around.
"That must be it," said Ashly. "Let's go get them."
"Wait!"
Miranda pointed at a turian onscreen.
"Zoom in on that one, Legion."
Legion obeyed and the turian's form nearly filled the screen.
She knew it!
"Hello, Joram Talid."
