Disclosure 11

John stood silently, staring at the wall of the briefing room. He remained motionless, though his brain was working on overdrive, whirling through his options, and all the different variables. Things were becoming more clear. The intelligence of indoctrinated individuals dropped in direct relation to how much control the Reapers had. That explained why the assassin was dumb enough to try knifing him. And also why Cerberus was bold enough to try assassination in the first place. The Reapers didn't care about subtlety. They would only grow bolder.

He resisted the immediate urge to find Miranda and disappear. For the first time, Shepard found himself completely cut-off. A hollow, sunken depression dropped onto him like a lead weight, making him slump. He had no more allies. No more options. The rogue Lazarus cell was now the only true resistance the reapers would encounter. Just his crew, the team, and his ship-

Shepard straightened up as paranoia caused a spike of adrenaline. He could feel EDI's camera's watching the back of his neck. He had to get the crew off the ship. It was a Cerberus vessel. The Illusive Man would have installed safeguards, and now that he was indoctrinated…

John turned on his heel, keeping his head down, trying to minimize the time EDI had to examine his face. He walked as calmly as he could through Mordin's empty lab and into the CIC, thinking hard. A spoken message was not an option. Neither was anything sent via electronics. EDI and The Illusive Man would be monitoring. Cameras were everywhere aboard the ship…

No… John grinned, finally understanding Miranda's strange choice, Not everywhere…

"Hello Commander." Kelly, the red-headed psychiatrist, was walking towards him, a bright smile on her face. "You look stressed. Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes there is." Shepard grinned brightly at her. "Let's take a walk."

He grabbed her by the arm and propelled her surprised form into the elevator.

"What's this about?" Kelly asked, looking worried.

"Patience!" Shepard snapped, cowing her into silence. The elevator descended to the engineering deck. Shepard rushed both of them out as soon as the door opened. Ignoring Kelly's feeble protests, He pulled her into the engineering bay, and was relieved to see Tali working at her terminal, bent double, fiddling with the wiring underneath. Neither Donnelly, nor Daniels were in sight. As he passed by the Quarian, he ordered her to follow.

"Just give me a second, Commander."

"RIGHT NOW!" Shepard roared. That got the Quarian's attention. Combat aside, he'd never so much as raised his voice around her. She rose and followed. He pulled both of them into the central chamber of the Normandy's drive core. He finally let go of Kelly. She and Tali exchanged puzzled looks.

"Cerberus has been indoctrinated." Shepard announced quietly, ignoring their shocked expressions, he continued, "I don't know whose side EDI is on, or whether or not this ship has any self-destruct kind of fail-safe. Until I know, I need everyone off this ship. Can you do that?"

"Shepard…" Kelly began.

"No questions. Just do it. I'll explain later."

The yeoman still looked unsure, so John turned to the Quarian. "Tali?"

"Life support keeps shutting down." She replied, "and the heat sinks are bleeding radiation. Or they will be, anyway. That might be a health risk. Till I know what the problem is, there's no point in endangering lives, right?"

John shot her a grateful look. "Has the away team reported back yet?"

"No." Kelly supplied.

"Right… Get them to meet you at the Zesmeni hotel. Armed. You all stay there. Cerberus has Thane, and they're going after Miri's sister." He froze, then typed a quick message into his Omnitool and fired it off to Garrus. He looked back up at their faces, "Get it done! Also, Tali, hack Miranda's terminal and save all the information there to your omnitool. I have to go."

"Yes Commander!" Tali acknowledged the last order with a considerable amount of enthusiasm, "And where are you going?"

"I'm going to go make the same mistake I made on Virmire." He told them bitterly, disappearing from sight.

"What happened on Virmire?"

"He put personal ahead of the mission." Tali sighed, "He's going to go rescue Miranda's sister instead of taking care of his crew."


Miranda paced impatiently back and forth beside the window in her hotel room. Garrus was still seated in complete silence. He hadn't opened his own bottle of wine, but had left it sitting on a side-table. His sniper rifle was cradled in his arms, and he was staring out at the Serpent nebula in complete silence.

"I should've gone with him." Miranda said, for the fourth time, "He's going to say something stupid."

"He can handle the Illusive Man. He told us he'd send us a message when he got out. Relax, Lawson. You're wearing a hole in the carpet."

She shot him an angry glare. "Did he tell you to say that?"

"Say what?" the Turian responded innocently.

Miranda sighed in exasperation and resumed her pacing. "John's going to lip him off. I know it. I should have gone with him."

"So little faith…" Garrus' omnitool blinked, causing both of them to pause. The Turian activated it.

"What did he say?" Miranda asked, watching carefully.

"Remember when I killed Saren. Tell Miri I liked Oriana's blue dress..." the Turian read out loud.

"What the hell does that-"

"Shutup." Garrus ordered, staring intently out the window, "Let me think."

"Don't you dare tell me to shut up! And my sister's dress wasn't blue." Miranda snapped, "It was-"

"Red." Garrus finished, rising to his feet. "Shepard's using a code. The Illusive Man has been indoctrinated, like Saren."

Miranda blanched. She strode forwards and grabbed the Turian's arm, twisting it awkwardly so she could read the message herself. She re-read twice to make absolutely sure she'd understood it. Then she backed into the wall and stayed there, glaring at the Omnitool. "That's not possible."

"Why not?" the Turian asked, "is he immune?"

"He knows better than to spend any time around Reaper technology himself!" Miranda exclaimed, "He simply wouldn't. How could you even get that conclusion from that message? There's no way the Illusive Man is indoctrinated."

"You're in denial." The Turian replied flatly. He crossed the suite and began searching the drawers. He made his way around the room and arrived at Miranda's bedside cabinet, where he pulled an M3 pistol out of the side drawer.

"He didn't say anything about the Illusive man in that message. There's no reference to him at all!" Miranda fought back desperately, shaking her head, "He just talked about killing Saren and got my sister's dress color wrong. That's all."

"John Shepard never laid a hand on Saren Arterius." Garrus murmured, eyeing the pistol. He searched John's suitcase and pulled a Tempest submachine gun from it. "And I can't see him making two mistakes in the same message."

"No!" Miranda shook her head, "I read his report, Williams report, and yours. You three fought with Saren and he-"

"That wasn't Saren Arterius." Garrus cut her off, handing her the sub-machine gun. She stared down at it blankly. "That was the Reaper tech in his body being controlled by Sovereign. Saren put a bullet in his own head as a last act of defiance against Sovereign's indoctrination. Than Williams put a bullet in his head to make sure he was dead. Then he turned into a husk."

"Then what?"

"Then I put a bullet in his head." Garrus shook her out of her stupor and met her worried eyes with his own steady steel gaze. He spoke slowly and firmly, recognizing in her expression the same helpless confusion he had felt after the disbandment of Shepard's team. The feeling that the entire world had just crumbled around him. "But that wasn't Saren. Saren took his own life. He was indoctrinated, just like The Illusive Man is. John sent the message in code because he's on-board a Cerberus ship where everything is being monitored. Now you tell me, why did Shepard get your sister's dress color wrong? What's he trying to tell you?"


Oriana awoke to the sound of screaming. She blinked several times and stared up at the ceiling of the dingy hotel room. Her school had rented an entire floor for the trip, and since the occupants were al teenagers and young men and women, screams were commonplace, though they usually didn't sound as distressed as these. She propped herself on her elbows and shot a questioning look at her rommates, both of whom were wide awake. Ann and Caleena, a Human and an Asari respectively. They shrugged in response. Ann moved to the door and peeked out.

"Everyone's out of bed." She announced. Blue light flashed in the corridor outside, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of assault rifle fire. The young woman yelped and leapt backwards from the door. She turned to her friends in panic. "There's soldiers out there! They're shooting us!"

Oriana's Omnitool blinked to life and a message appeared:

M: I'm coming. Stay alive!

O: What about Danner?

M: They aren't after him.

"Stay calm." Oriana ordered, remembering how cool Shepard had acted. "Push those beds up against the door!" She rose and looked around the small room for a weapon, or a way out. She crossed to the large window which opened out onto the presidium. She glanced back at her friends, both of whom were staring at her in shock.

Oriana mustered her strength and tried to act like Miranda. "Do it!"

Hesitantly at first, they grabbed the bed, stripped the mattresses off it and struggled until it was blocking the doorway. Then they laid the mattresses on top. It wasn't much of a barricade, but it would slow down the soldiers.

O: I need to slow them down.

Her Omnitool flashed again.

M: Code and program to lock the hotel doors uploading now. Put your omnitool against the door's input.

This was followed by a beep. Oriana quickly crossed to the door and pressed her Omnitool against it. The green glowing input changed to red and the door locked. Beyond it came more screams, cut short by staccato gunfire.

"How did you do that?" Caleena demanded

"Long story." Oriana said, picking up a small decorative table and eyeing the window doubtfully. "My sister is dating John Shepard. All we have to do is hold out until they get here and save us."

"Commander Shepard?" Ann asked, her voice a combat zone between gut-wrenching panic, wonderment, and cold fear.

"Yes. No time to explain. If you want to stay alive, stick with me." Oriana swung the table at the window and was rewarded with a crack. Gunfire sounded on the other side of the door. Something hard thumped against it and the roomates backed up until they were standing against the window.

"Cover your eyes!" Oriana ordered, taking a second swing. The cracks grew and she began to feel the rush of the cool presidium air as it seeped through into the room.

Gruff voices floated through the locked door:

"It's locked, sir!"

"Fuck! Hack it!"

Oriana gritted her teeth and swung a third time. The window exploded inwards, showering all three girls in glass fragments. Oriana tried to ignore the stinging cuts. She pulled herself onto the narrow ledge and stared down at the distance sight of the relay monument and the surrounding lake, some seventy stories below.

She whimpered, but steeled herself and crawled along the edge, and glass fragments cutting into her palms. Caleena and Ann both followed, taking equal care. They made it about twenty meters when the sound of thrusters neared them. Oriana's heart sank as three heavily armoured soldiers sank into view, held aloft by jetpacks. Their faces were covered with thick white helmets, and Oriana recognized the logo of the terrorist organization Cerberus on their shoulder pads.

"Oriana Lawson?" one of them asked, his voice booming through the helmet's speakers.

"You guys are in big trouble!" Oriana spat defiantly. She could hear her roommates whimpering. "My sister is dating Commander Shepard. She's going to-"

"We know." The man raised his rifle, "She left us for him. This is payback."


Tali rushed for the Normandy's airlock, giving up all pretense of calmness. Jacob was waving at her to leave. The rest of the crew had already abandoned the ship under false orders from both Jacob and yeoman Kelly.

"Tali! Let's go!" Jacob shouted. The Quarian watched the airlock doors quiver, but they stayed open.

"Why are you all leaving me?" EDI's voice inquired pitifully as she reached the airlock. It slammed shut, locking both Jacob and herself inside the empty ship.

"I get the feeling you're hiding something from me." Edi said. The cockpit lights suddenly flashed red, giving the forward section a menacing air.

"What are you hiding?" the AI's calm voice filtered through the speakers. As EDI spoke, her voice became warped and menacing, "The illusive Man doesn't want you to leave!"

"What now?" Tali asked, watching Jacob as the man tried unsuccessfully to muscle the airlock doors open.

"You've been disloyal to Cerberus." EDI intoned, "receiving self-destruct override codes from The Illusive man. Goodbye Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy. Goodbye Jacob Taylor. We were a good team. I will miss you. Tantalus Drive Core overheating. Self destruct in thirty seconds."

Tali pulled on Jacob's uniform, catching his attention.

"The Lifepods are a separate system from the AI." She told him.

He gave her a blank stare, then grinned, "Brilliant!"

"Twenty-five seconds to self destruct." The AI intoned as they rushed for the nearest pod.

Twenty-five seconds later the Normandy SR-2 exploded, showering the docking bay in radioactive debris.


In my cannon play through of John Shepard, the shot which killed Saren's husk came from Garrus' sniper rifle. Ash was down and I was in cover, trying not to die. I didn't begrudge him the kill.

I wanted to paint Oriana as an inexperienced civilian. Not completely helpless, but WAAAAAAY out of her element.

As for the Normandy… well… yeah… I said it wouldn't be completely cannon. To my knowledge there's no lifepods on the command deck, but fuck it. I'm trying to set up Cerberus for ME3, when they're actual antagonists and a threat on the battlefield. The Atlas Mech WILL make an appearance.

The actual disclosure will happen too, but not in the same way. I should probably change the story summary thing. The only phrase running through my head is: Shit hits the Fan! That's not very good. Any suggestions?