The Light Echo dropped out of FTL right behind Miranda's vessel, the Kestrel's Cry. Their approach to Titan Station had been smooth up to this point, and Miranda had been hopeful that the station was either abandoned, or held down by a skeleton crew. Their plan was simple: dock with the station, grab Shepard's data from the Lazarus files, and escape.
Liara's sensors chirped a warning. She recalled something Shepard had half-whispered once on a battlefield. Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans. Miranda came over the comm channel.
"Looks like drone fighters- basic station defense models, nothing fancy. I can probably override them. Buy me some time!"
Liara's double-take could not be noted by her partner. "Me? You're the expert pilot! And there's five of them!"
"Unless you think you can hack a bloody Cerberus firewall?" came the retort. Liara grimaced and turned to her tactical readouts. With deft fingers, she powered up her weapon systems, countermeasures, and shielding system. Much of the weaponry could be automated, giving Liara the ability to focus on tactical maneuvers.
With a grunt, she launched the ship forward and unleashed a barrage of gunfire. Liara tried to ignore the perspiration forming on her brow as she pushed the throttle and manipulated the controls, bringing the Light Echo right between the two lead drones. She cried out triumphantly as the tactical control reported destruction of both vessels as she passed. Her vessel shuddered under fire, and Liara banked hard left, dropping below another drone.
Goddess this is insane! What am I doing…?
Liara brought the Light Echo around hard, coming in behind the drones. They essentially ignored her, heading for the Kestrel's Cry.
"Miranda, you've got incoming!"
"Almost there!"
Liara turned to the tactical controls and rapidly punched in a sequence. A satisfying alarm sounded as the Light Echo spewed forth a massive salvo of gunfire and GUARDIAN lasers. Liara watched with grim satisfaction as two of the drones broke apart in a fiery blaze.
"One remaining at your ten o' clock! Miranda-" Liara stopped short as the drone simply powered down and floated harmlessly past the left flank of the Kestrel's Cry.
"Well," came Miranda's voice over the comms, "that was exciting. Shall we make our landing?"
Liara wiped her brow. "Not funny," was her curt reply, but she found herself laughing with Miranda anyway.
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Liara stepped off the Light Echo into the Titan docking bay and took stock of the area. The station bore signs of disrepair: a single overhead light struggled to remain on, and the way the doors had screamed along their tracks as they opened suggested that the station may in fact be abandoned.
A stroke of luck at last? Goddess knows I could use some of that right now… wait, what's this?
"Miranda… These cargo crates… There's not a speck of dust on them. If this place is abandoned, it should be-"
A door opened on the far end of the room, a beacon of light against the semi-dark of the hangar. Liara and Miranda quickly ducked behind the crates, drawing their weapons. Footsteps approached.
"The drones didn't just launch for no reason." More footsteps. A second voice replied to the first.
"They've done it before. If they'd fix these damn sensors, we'd know if someone docked or not. Why the boss insists on working at this station is beyond me. Place is falling apart."
The pairs of boots shuffled around, as if searching. Miranda and Liara exchanged worried glances.
"I can't see a damn thing in here. Can you read the airlock controls?"
"They don't seem to be working. I doubt anyone could get these doors open anyway. Come on; let's just report it as another malfunction."
The footsteps drew away, the door opened, and closed again, shrouding the room in darkness. That was when Liara remembered to breathe.
"That was close." Miranda whispered.
Liara nodded. "So we know there is at least one active operation on the station. This is bad. We need to find out where they're working on the station so we can avoid them if possible."
Miranda clicked the tactical light on her heavy pistol. "If we can find a working terminal nearby, I might be able to find us a route to the data storage facility. This place is massive- there's clearly more going on here than just warehousing old Cerberus records."
Liara checked her Shiruken, and gestured toward the door. "Lead the way."
The pair moved quietly from one hallway to the next, leapfrogging so only one person was exposed at a time.
Goddess I wish Shepard were here. He always seemed to know exactly where to go, what to do. What would he be doing differently if he were here, right now?
To that, Liara had no answer, and so she pushed on in silence with Miranda. Several rooms from the docking bay, they found a low-security terminal. Miranda pulled up a station layout.
"It looks like they're centered on the upper levels. You can tell by how they've shunted power to certain areas, see? Non-essential areas, like the docks we just came from, only have emergency back-ups. But up there" she pointed to the diagram, "the elevators and doors all have power. Down here, " Miranda's finger dropped down three levels, "is where the Lazarus data should be. On that level, I should be able to get the data from any terminal."
Liara swallowed hard. Miranda put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll find something useful, I'm certain. Come on."
"Wait." Liara looked at the diagram again. "We can't just go running through the halls- we're bound to get caught." She zoomed in on the current level, examining it carefully. "The ventilation shafts. We can crawl through the vent system."
Miranda nodded. "Good thinking. We can probably get in over here." Miranda made her way toward the vent system in the wall.
"Miranda, wait." Liara approached her slowly. "I know you and I haven't always agreed on everything. But I want to thank you for this. I don't know if I can possibly make it up to you-"
"Liara," Miranda interrupted, "you don't owe me anything. Shepard… well, I can never truly repay him for what he's done for me over the years. If helping you brings him back- again" they shared a laugh, "then it's the least I can do."
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Liara peered through the vent cover.
"There's no one in here, but I see a few lights coming from terminals and equipment… This level still has power." Carefully, she pushed the vent cover open and lowered it to the floor. Liara squirmed out of the shaft, Miranda right behind her. She quickly scanned the semi-dark room again as Miranda made for the terminal.
"This may take some time. I don't know how much the system has changed, but if that drone system firewall was any indication…"
Liara nodded. "I've got your back. Take your time."
Goddess let this work. I need this data badly. What if it's not here? What if the Illusive Man destroyed it after Shepard turned against him? Or what if he took the data and moved it?
Stop it.
Liara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her pulse was roaring in her ears.
Miranda typed furiously at the keys. "Come on, damn it!"
The overhead lights burst on, and the doors on both ends of the room screamed open. A cadre of Cerberus troops poured in, Mattock rifles trained. One man strode forward. His armor was unlike the others: Shadow gray, seeming to suck the light in and devour it completely. It wasn't his physical presence that raised Liara's hackles; The man wasn't overly large or physically imposing. It was something more subtle- the air of cold confidence and utter practicality that surrounded him. His black mane hung in loose waves to his shoulders, and the disgustingly false smile on his face didn't reach his strangely clouded eyes.
"Ms. Lawson, you disappoint me." Miranda jumped back from the terminal, pistol in hand. She and Liara pressed their backs together, covering both sides of the room, but the situation was grim. If it came down to a firefight, they had little in the ways of cover and the enemy was superior in number. The odds were not good.
"Do I know you?" she asked, pointing her weapon at his chest. The man shook his head. "Unlikely that we ever met before. I doubt the Illusive Man made much of my operation known to even you."
"Who are you?" Liara asked, daring to glance away from the troops on her side of the room for a moment.
The man feigned shock, placing his hand on his chest. "Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Deacon Blaque." He spread his hands wide, looking around the room. "Quite the facility you've broken into here, Ms. Lawson. I'm big on 'waste not, want not', so I've repurposed much of the station from its original intent, of course."
"To what end?"
The wicked smile returned. "Project Nova Hammer."
"A lie. Nova Hammer was shut down after your men slaughtered dozens of innocents. The Illusive Man told me that much himself."
Liara's eyes narrowed. She was trying to figure out his eyes, when suddenly it came to her. "You're blind."
Blaque nodded. "From birth. But I assure you, I see considerably better than you."
"Biotics?" She ventured a guess.
Blaque nodded, clearly pleased. "Yes. I grew up on a Cerberus operating table. I've spent my entire life in facilities much like this one. Cerberus is the only family I've ever known." He stared pointedly at the pair. "A family you tried to destroy."
Miranda ejected the thermal clip on her pistol. "A pity we failed. Don't worry; we won't miss a second time."
Deacon smiled. The look on his face made Liara take an involuntary step backward. At her movement, he seemed to notice her again.
"I'm quite familiar with Ms. Lawson's file… If I had to guess, would you be Dr. T'soni?"
Liara said nothing, glancing around quickly. Her eyes darted to the terminal. Miranda's hack had finished- Shepard's biometric data was on the screen, ripe for the taking. She needed a distraction, and a way out. Going through Blaque seemed like suicide. That left only one direction.
Liara slowly moved her free hand into the pocket of her hoodie.
"What is it you want from us, Mr. Blaque?" She asked, stalling for time.
"Please- call me Deacon."
Liara's brow twitched. It was something in the way Blaque said everything- so polite, yet detached from any emotion at all.
Something is deeply disturbing about this man. He's utterly terrifying. We're going to be extremely lucky if we make it out of here alive…
Liara's free hand snapped backward, launching a singularity at the three Cerberus guards behind them. With a grunt, she quickly drew her other hand from her jacket, and threw a phosphorous grenade. "Down!" she yelled, grabbing Miranda by the shoulders and diving for cover. The blinding flash was punctuated by the deafening roar of the grenade. Shiruken in hand, Liara leaned around the corner of the freight container she hid behind. Blaque was nowhere to be found, and the remaining guards were completely disoriented. She fired quick bursts into the stunned guards, dropping each before they had a chance to recover.
"We've got to get out of here!" Miranda cried, unloading her pistol into the guards suspended by Liara's singularity. Liara didn't reply. Instead, she ran for the terminal, quickly keying a download to her omnitool. When it finished, she turned to Miranda. "I'm right behind you."