Chapter 8: Awaken The Beast
Miranda was pacing up and down the hall just outside the quarters the Shadow Broker had given the fifty remaining Cerberus personnel to. What was she going to tell them about their current situation? How much of the truth could she tell them before she risked an open revolt? Even though Cerberus prided itself on keeping branch activities separate and secret from one another, she would be a fool if she didn't account for some of them knowing what happened to Dr. Chandana and his team on the remains recovered from Sovereign. He had been one of their best researchers on Reapers and indoctrination, yet his entire team had been turned into Husks seemingly of their own accord. And now the Shadow Broker was asking them to study something Reaper related in exchange for his protection.
She still didn't fully understand what the Shadow Broker was after by studying indoctrination up close. Saren's "recovery" took two years and required him to be dead for the majority of that time. While she couldn't argue it wasn't a medical miracle, it couldn't exactly be creditized for normal people looking to cure their loved ones. Buying a cryo pod for two years to house the damaged bodies would set the average Human back millions of credits, and that was before considering the astronomical cost of organ replacement procedures. If the Reapers were going to be here any day now, governments were going to spend their credits on warships and other military equipment, not potential miracles that took two years to even have the possibility of having a return of investment. Surely the Shadow Broker was able to understand all the same things she was thinking so, what was the real reason he was asking them study someone indoctrinated? The top priority now though was getting everyone else on board, at least until Griff returned hopefully with Shepard.
The risk of asking Shepard for help again was clear, Alliance intervention. If Ashley Williams or another Alliance soldier was with Shepard when Griff asked, she would be opening the group to imprisonment, or worse, for all the crimes they had actually committed in the name of furthering Humanity. What choice did they have otherwise? The way she saw things there were only two possibilities for them if they didn't reach out to Shepard. The first was they'd die because of whatever Reaper tech they were about to come in contact with. That option appeared to be inevitable since none of them were as smart as Dr. Chandana and even he was seduced by the Reapers call. The other possibility was the Shadow Broker would kill them for becoming too cautious with whatever body they had been given. He obviously wanted results as soon as possible and he felt comfortable using them as guinea pigs. Shepard was their best chance to make it out alive despite his help potentially meaning they could end up in a jail cell. Some members of her science team wouldn't understand that though so she was going to have to lie to them, at least for the time being.
She stepped into their quarters where fifty anxious people were looking back at her, "Hello everyone, I know it's been awhile so I thought it might be a good idea to update you on what's happening. The Shadow Broker is not going to sell us out to Lazarus." A relieved sigh spread around the room like wildfire, "However, we're going to have to earn our keep."
Garner, a member of the kitchen staff, stood up, "I'll get to work on making him the best meal he's ever had ma'am."
Miranda shook her head, "I appreciate the enthusiasm Garner but, the Broker wants something more serious from us. Most of us are scientists... There's no easy way to say it, the Shadow Broker is bringing someone who's been indoctrinated. He wants us to study the process in the hopes we can find a way to reverse the effects."
A long silence fell over the room and Garner sat back down. She was right to assume word of Dr. Chandana's death had spread far beyond his own cell, what was she going to do about that though? That question was the reason she had been avoiding this conversation for the last few hours. It was just too much to hope for that Griff would've returned immediately with Shepard and make the question irrelevant. Would they believe her if she told them they were smarter than Chandana? In some cases that might even be true but, they had their own specific fields, and Reaper research wasn't one of them. Maybe she should have left Wilson alive, he was a terrible spy but, he knew his way around an operating table.
Dr. Archer stood up before she had time to come up with an answer, "I think I speak for the entire body here when I say no. We'd rather take our chances hiding from Leng on the Citadel."
Miranda put herself in front of the door so no one could leave, "I know your all scared, you don't think it's worth the risk.. Believe me when I tell you it is.-"
Archer shook his head interrupting her, "Are you now going to try and tell us what we've heard about Chandana is a lie? You promised to tell us the truth, don't go back on that now."
Another Doctor continued, "And even if by some miracle he is still alive, we saw what happened on Eden Prime, the Citadel, all the Human colonies. No way we're going to subject our families to that kind of risk."
She put her hands behind her back standing tall, "Your right, I did promise you the truth so here we go. Yes, Chandana was killed in the remains of Sovereign and his team were transformed into monsters. Yes, the same could happen to us if we aren't careful.. In fact, it could happen to every being you've ever met because yes, the Reapers are coming as we speak." She let a pause hang in the air, "That's why we have to try and do something. The Alliance is too busy in their obsession with the Terminus Systems too care. The Council is content with burying it's head in the sand until it's too late.. And Lazarus is only focused on killing everyone in this room. If we don't do something, who will?"
One of the Doctor's wives glared at her, "We didn't follow you because we wanted to make a difference in the galaxy, we did it because you offered us safety."
Miranda tried not to grit her teeth from annoyance, "And I am still keeping my word, as long as we research whatever the Shadow Broker gives us we'll be safe. However, as soon as the Reapers arrive nowhere will be safe, not unless we stop them. Think about our standing in the galaxy after the war if we're part of the solution and not the problem?"
Archer countered, "The rewards won't be worth it if we're all dead, and we can't experience them. I say we take a vote on this right now."
She was growing frustrated with their reluctance to taking this risk. She wasn't putting her own family members in harms way so, maybe it was easier for her to see the bigger picture here. Why didn't they understand that it wouldn't matter where they went once the Reapers arrived? It seemed as though despite having PhD's in a variety of subjects, they couldn't comprehend the fact that everywhere in the galaxy was going to be like Eden Prime or the Citadel in just a few weeks time. How was she supposed to get through that kind of stubborn denial? Now she was coming to the realization that she should've focused on the more tangible threat Leng posed to them right now if they left. Telling them that now though would make it seem like she was wishy washy and couldn't decide what the biggest danger to their safety was. A part of her wished Shepard was here right now, even though she often disagreed with his priorities, he still could give a good motivational speech.
Kelly, one of her advisors, pointed out the window behind her, "Ma'am, I think I just saw Saren Arterius rushing by with a cryo pod.."
Miranda turned around quickly to look out only to see Legion hurrying down the hall following a trail of cryo fluid. Why was he in such a hurry? And why was the pod Saren was apparently dragging leaking enough fluid to make the floor shine? She should stay here and try to convince everyone more that following the Shadow Brokers commands was the only way they were going to have a chance at survival, at least right now. At the same time though, if that cryo pod had their test subject inside she needed to secure it as soon as possible for repairs. What if the science team left while she was getting information? It definitely was a risk but, she had to take it in the hopes that the Shadow Brokers security team would detain them before they had the opportunity to find a Kodiak shuttle.
She took a deep breath making up her mind, "Your right Archer, I shouldn't make this kind of decision on my own. Kelly, I want you to organize a vote while I'm gone. When I get back we'll decide how we're going to proceed. I just want to remind everyone that hiding from Leng will be almost impossible without some kind of outside support and we don't have very many friends left."
Without another word, Miranda rushed out of the room trusting Kelly to handle the voting fairly. She had to figure out what was going on to determine what her own next steps would be.
_o0o_
Humanity had it's problems; racism, ignorance, self righteous importance, and a general lack of empathy to others around them. In this moment, Saren was glad at the very least they were good at preparing for any dangerous situation. Even though they were inside a civilian shuttle, he still found a first aid kit for his hand, or what was left of it anyway. He understood Garrus' knee jerk reaction to him firing at Kal, he was never good at seeing the big picture. If he had turned on Morinth in that room, she would have killed all of them and then they wouldn't have been able to make any deals with the Shadow Broker. Saren just wished Garrus had been paying attention to the fact that he was intentionally missing Kal. If he had truly wanted to kill the Quarian, he wouldn't have tried to telegraph the move to everyone in the room. Maybe Garrus hadn't completely let go of his fear towards him from what happened two years ago despite their conversations on the Normandy. That just made it more important for him to succeed this time.
He growled deeply while spreading medi-gel on the stump to his hand. Explosive rounds were good at leaving permanent damage and he didn't have time to get a replacement hand right now. The application of the gel was messy since he had lost his left hand, he wished Nihlus was here. The Turian would've nursed him back to health and probably would've had make up sex with him. The Geth was his next best option for a clean application but, it was powered down to allow both personalities freedom once again now that the fighting was over. Hopefully Rael wouldn't remember what happened so Saren wouldn't have to deal with arguing over the morals of what he had done. Legion might not be the most intellectually stimulating conversationalist anymore with only one logic core but, he understood that the Reapers had to be stopped at all costs. Even if that meant sacrificing relationships to get it done.
Rael's green optical sensor looked at him a few minutes later, "What happened to that Human you shot?"
Saren turned his attention to flying the shuttle into the gas giant, "You mean the annoying distraction to our mission? I'm not sure we left after I shot him.."
Rael had a suspicious tone, "And where's Garrus? Was he an annoying distraction to the mission as well?"
Saren sighed showing the stump where his left hand should've been, "Garrus and I had a disagreement over the best way to go about the job and we got separated. He's safe with Shepard now, though they're probably sharing a prison sentence in an Alliance facility over their work with Cerberus."
Rael's tone was meant to make him think, "And that doesn't upset you at all? The idea that the only way you can settle disagreements with your brother is through violence?"
Saren ignored the question, of course a part of him was upset. He practically raised Garrus from the day he was born so, Garrus should automatically trust him to make the right decision for the both of their safety. Unfortunately, he could already hear Garrus saying that kind of thinking led him to working with Sovereign in the first place. While Saren couldn't argue with that, he wished Garrus would see that decision was what he regretted more than anything else in his life and he wasn't going to do it again. He could've certainly emoted more but, Saren felt like showing too much emotion was a sign of weakness. And in the past, being stoic had allowed him to hide from Garrus his many breakups and reunions with Nihlus. Getting the Reaper code and helping to stop their invasion was going to be the only way he could really atone for all his actions.
Legion answered for him, "The situation required sacrifices for us to be able to continue our objective. It is impossible to criticize Saren's methods without having been present yourself."
Rael responded sounding irritated, "I would have been present if you hadn't taken over my motor functions."
Legion's metal flaps bent down to signal he was angry, "You were the one to open that possibility when you took matters into your own hands to remove Saren's control chip."
Rael's voice grew louder in frustration, "Where would we be if I didn't do that Legion? A Cerberus lab? Maybe killed by the Collectors. Either way, I made the right choice and you know it."
Legion was about to shout back when Saren raised a hand, "Both of you shut up, I hear something.."
Drip, drip, drip, what was that? At first, he looked down at his hand thinking maybe some of the medi-gel hadn't sealed properly on the stump causing blood to drip. Remarkably, while it wouldn't win any awards for looking pretty in some medical journal, the wound was sealed and dry. His next fear was a section of the Kodiak's engine was ripped off in the turbulence outside. The gas giants winds were strong enough to do that to a civilian ship not prepared for that sort of thing. Since no alarms were going off in the cockpit that meant it was something inside the ship not connected to it's systems. Legion was the next best candidate but, he didn't see anything and he didn't remember the Geth taking any fire on Illium. That thought made him think about the brief exchange with Shepard. Oh no, the Alliance soldier had shot at the cryo pod.
To confirm his worst fear, Rael moved to the back of the pod, "Keelah, that has to be half of the coolant and the temperature is rising. Whoever is in here is going to wake up any minute now no matter what I do."
Indoctrination had taken years for him to fully succumb to so, he shouldn't necessarily worry. It wasn't likely that whoever was inside that pod was the same killing machine he was by the time Eden Prime rolled around. Still, the Shadow Broker intended for an Ardat-Yakshi to transport this thing in a cryo pod for a reason. Saren would like to think the Broker was just taking extra precautions for his own safety having seen what Saren could do at the height of his power. He couldn't help but worry about the immediate threat of an indoctrinated being waking up in the small quarters of a Kodiak shuttle. Even if he was at full strength himself, there was no way he could kill an agent for the Reapers without utterly destroying the room around them. Killing one indoctrinated agent wasn't going to be enough to stop the Reapers, he needed to pass this problem off before they woke up in his lap.
He sped the ship towards the Shadow Broker's hangar ignoring the risk to the hull, "Legion keep an eye on that pod. If it starts to open I want you to empty a clip in there to make sure nothing comes out, understood?"
Rael hesitated trying to be the voice of reason, "We don't even know what stage of indoctrination the person inside this pod is in. What if we could convince them to go to another pod and freeze them until we can cure them."
Saren glared back in his direction, "Do you really want to take that risk when we are this close to getting to the Processing Hub? It'll be better for their memory if we kill them when they wake up instead of letting them ruin their own legacy, trust me."
With that argument out of the way, Saren landed the shuttle with a speedy thud. Not waiting to see if they had hit any of the other ships in the hangar, he opened the shuttle door and started pushing the cryo pod out. The sooner he could make this delivery, the sooner they could be on their way to the Perseus Veil and this being waking up not becoming his problem. He ran past a room full of Humans sitting on the floor which he thought was odd but he kept going towards the Shadow Broker's office. His mind was telling him to slow down, that this had to appear extremely suspicious but, right now he just kept moving. All he needed was the coordinates to the hub, and he needed them before all out hell broke loose inside the ship.
A Salarian guard halted them at the door to the office, "The Shadow Broker was expecting Morinth to be with you for the drop off. Where is she?"
Saren knew it was pointless to lie to the man that knew everything already, "We ran into complications and I left her behind to ensure the Broker received the package."
The Salarian chuckled seemingly amused by what he said, "You might have made the wrong call with that one. I'll let you through. Have fun dealing with him when he's angry."
Saren prepared himself for a fight in more ways than one when the door opened. He was immediately struck by the sheer amount of data flowing up and down the back wall of the room, behind the massive Yahg. His eight yellow eyes were staring at the two of them as though they were children entering a candy store. The data the Broker collected by the minute was worth hundreds of thousands of credits so it was only natural to assume someone would try to take that for themselves. In another life Saren may have considered taking him down if the Council ordered him to do so, his SPECTRE days were long ago though. Now, all he wanted was the coordinates for the Geth Hub and then he would be leaving.
The Shadow Broker slowly got up to his feet from behind his large desk, "I seem to recall asking three individuals to deliver this package to me and I am only seeing two in front of me. Would you like to explain yourself Saren?"
Saren wasn't intimidated despite the menacing tone, "I'm sure you've already seen the recording of what happened. What you should be caring about is the fact that I was able to get this thing here at all. Cerberus were down my throat with that bombing and if it wasn't for Shepard I wouldn't be standing here right now."
Miranda's voice came from behind them, "Every member of Cerberus alive is on this ship. Whatever you encountered had to be Lazarus. Now, do any of you want to explain to me why this cryo pod has a trail of coolant from all the way back in the hangar?"
He wanted to strangle her, or maybe just hit her over the head. The success chances of getting the coordinates from the Broker hinged on him not knowing the being inside was going to wake up until they were long gone. Not only had Saren failed to bring Morinth here but, he had also failed to bring the package here in one piece. He hadn't wanted to fight for the data before because of his condition and now his desire was even less because of the fact that the Broker was a Yahg. With the information out in the open though, Saren didn't see another way to get what they needed peacefully. Maybe Lawson would help him, they made a good biotic team on Sovereign and she didn't seem to like the Broker if her tone was anything to go by. How would he even communicate that kind of offer when the Broker was standing right here?
Not having much of a filter anymore, Legion answered with, "When the Alliance engaged us a stray bullet must've punctured the coolant line. At the current rate of temperature increase, the subject should be awake at any moment."
Saren tried to brush the comment aside, "The important thing is you have your package and you have time to put them in another pod. I lived up to my end of the bargain, it's time for you to do the same."
The Shadow Broker grabbed something from under the desk, "You cheat me out of my best defense AND time to think of something else? Then you have the nerve to expect your payment? I will make sure you will die here and now."
Miranda moved to grab the back of the pod, "We can talk about payments and retribution later. Right now we need to take this pod to the nearest airlock and shoot it out to the gas giant's atmosphere. We can't risk having a living breathing indoctrinated person on this ship."
The Broker revealed he was holding a gun usually attached to fighter craft when he pointed it at Miranda, "You will take that pod back to your lab immediately. You are just going to have to deal with a live test subject until I can acquire another pod."
To her credit, Miranda just started moving the pod, "Working with another version of an indoctrinated Saren is suicide for every person on this ship. Your just going to have to shoot me if you think that's the best option for your survival."
The Shadow Broker's voice was cracking, almost as if he was in a panic, "Studying indoctrination is life and death! You will follow my command or I will kill all of your people!"
Saren reached around to grab his pistol while raising a browplate, "Life and death for who exactly? Forgive me but, I can't help but notice this seems to be awfully personal for you."
He was prepared for the shooting to start when the entire ship shook as Miranda was just reaching the door. His hope was that it was merely a strong gust of wind from the gas giant but it happened again a few seconds later. This time the lights flickered on and off in the office as well. Why would they possibly be losing power when this ship was supposedly collecting energy from the wind around them? After a third booming shake that almost sent him off of his feet, Saren knew the answer was clear, they were under attack. Wasn't the ship invisible to sensor systems because it was in the storm? Either the Broker had a mole or someone had used a tracker to get here. He glanced at the cryo pod having a feeling he knew where the tracker came from.
The Shadow Broker dropped his weapon to tap his omni tool, "Glyph, I need a status report now."
A synthetic voice floated into the room, "It appears as though the Normandy has found us, and is opening fire on our shields."
The Broker groaned in anger towards himself, "I shouldn't have trusted Leng to honor our deal. Seal all entrances and bunker down while we charge the main canon." He looked back up towards the three of them, "We are going to have to put this discussion on hold while I deal with the defense of my ship."
Saren shook his head and drew his pistol in his right hand, "I'm not going anywhere without those coordinates. Give them to me now."
The Yahg was about to speak when a gasp from behind him made his stomach flip inside out, "Huh... Huh.. Where..? Where am I?"
Saren carefully turned around to see a Drell had emerged from the pod. The same Drell he had worked with on the Normandy, Feron. This was going to complicate things considerably.
