Chapter 26
Sam had slept for five hours. After the meeting yesterday, the commanders vanished with Liara to make some final preparations. She wondered if they had rested any, the nervous tension of this mission, for them something special in this case, was visible. Sam had not to asked if they wanted her to come and join them upstairs later, she had decided it was better not to ask. She was a little disappointed that both hadn't talked to her, but there was probably more important things for them to do. She shouldn't worry now. When she rolled out of her sleeping pod, she felt relaxed, a small excitement of the upcoming mission but that was OK. Things could become very interesting. On one hand, maybe they find the clones down there and on the other side the thinking about the artifact made Sam curious. Her curiousness had grown since she and EDI found out of about the mysterious device and her gut feeling was telling her that it was something special. But for now she should move her ass and get ready, being late for duty was not a option. "EDI?"
"Yes Samantha, how can I be of assistance?" the AI responded.
"Did we reach the orbit of Mindoir yet?"
"Negative. We are presumably reaching the planet in 45 minutes." The AI reported in a casual manner.
"Ah OK, thanks EDI."
So there was still enough time to have a shower first and then go to the mess hall. Sam grabbed her wash bag and a towel and left the chamber.
Half an hour later she entered the kitchen and joined Joker at the table. Her breakfast was a small one, only tea and some muesli. Of course she should eat a decent meal before the mission, but a full stomach could cause malaise and unwanted pressure.
"Hey Sam." Jeff greeted her friendly, sipping on his coffee.
"Hey Joker. Good to see you, I wanted to visit you anyway..." She looked at him with an apologized glimpse. "Because of the scene in the cockpit."
"Don't worry." he answered with a smile but Sam wasn't pleased. "I didn't want you to get in trouble..."
"Oh it's no problem. Sometimes I have a big mouth, but all I want is the best..." he patted her shoulder.
That must be the big brother gene, Sam thought. It was a good feeling when somebody cares for you like this. She didn't have siblings and always wanted a sister, but her parents didn't fulfill that desire, regretfully. She shot back a smile. "Did she shout at you?" she asked and took a spoon of her cereal.
"Yeah, a little but I'm used to it." he sighed. "No problem, just take care of yourself. The story of the elevator is already doing the rounds on board."
Oh please...no
Sam groaned, why couldn't anything be kept a secret on this damn vessel. The normandy was full of gossip, she shook her head in incomprehension. "Chakwas had a good grip on both and besides I don't believe they really could hurt me, but thanks for caring." she shot him a warm smile.
When EDI entered the mess hall, Sam remembered something else. She wanted to push things between the flight Lieutenant and the AI a little bit. She needed a good plan, maybe a date of three. Left on their own they wouldn't get any further, they needed a helping hand. When they visited the citadel next time, they should go out for some distraction and she would force things in the right direction. She grinned in anticipation. "Joker I thought about going out next time on Citadel. Just you, EDI and myself. What do you think?"
The flight lieutenant rose his head with suspicion, lifting his brows. "A date of three?"
Sam answered quickly. "Not a big deal, just going out and having fun, chilling...as good friends. " She underplayed the suggestion, he shouldn't noticed her plan of hooking him up with the AI.
"Hmm, OK if you like..." he finally answered. "And what do you have in mind? Going to Purgatory?"
Sam negotiated. "No better something else. We need distraction from the war and the bad news it carries. I'll think about it...and tell you later."
"OK..." Joker said.
EDI interrupted the conversation. "Samantha. We are approaching the orbit in 8 minutes. All squad member prepare and get ready, mission starts in 30 minutes." EDI indicated.
Joker finished his coffee. "I should go back to my workplace. Time to relieve the autopilot in the cockpit." he stood up and started hardly to shuffle to the lift.
Sam looked after him with compassion.
Poor guy...
She hurried and ate the rest of her muesli then hit the road to the shuttle bay. Downstairs she directly went to the locker and took the armor out to get dressed. But she noticed something was different, she realized something unusual. When she examined the breast plate, she saw no alliance loge on it anymore. She was irritated, why should anybody remove the logo, for what reason?
Strange...
She put on the full armor and went back to Steve and James. The marine was preparing the weapons for the mission, while Steve readied the shuttle. The rest of team followed a few minutes later. The commanders were not the last ones this time but Sam wondered about their armor. It was a another one, no N7, no signs of alliance on it and thereto an Archon visor that covered their eyes. When Kira followed as last and didn't wear her standard one too, it became clear that the team was not on official alliance business today.
Jane confirmed her assumption when they joined the rest of the team. "We are not alliance soldiers today and you won't mention the name Shepard, are we clear?"
Everybody nodded in understanding then Sam requested. "And what are we then? I mean, if anybody asked about our.."
Jennifer responded immediately. "Mercenaries, who travel trough the terminus system. We are on transit."
OK... definitely no happy homecoming...
"Ma'am I'm ready for departure." Cortez declared.
The redhead pointed to enter and everybody jogged inside. During the flight, Jane repeated some of the mission's parameters. "...So, team RED will be dropped down at a distance of 1 kilometer to the possible hideout. Team Black near the center of the colony. Stay in radio contact, I want you to report anything and remember what I told you about the clones yesterday!"
"Yes Ma'am." No objections from the squad.
Sam wondered and pondered about the look of the clones. Of course they physically would be like Jane and Jennifer, having the same genetic code, but do they have the same scars? Do they distinguish themselves in their manner, in the way of fighting? How to define them from the real ones? Is it possible to discern them anyway? Her thoughts were interrupted when Cortez announced the landing. Team RED was on the move first. Jane left the shuttle, nodding to her sister and said. "Good luck." Jennifer repeated the gesture.
Oh...no jokes or stupid sayings today
It was a bad omen for the upcoming job. If they don't wisecrack, they're not relaxed and feeling good, the strain was sensible. When the door closed again Jennifer sighed and faced her team. "When we arrive at the colony center, talk with as few people as possible. I don't want any attention down there!"
The shuttle came grounded a few minutes later. Garrus and EDI alighted first followed by Sam but before she could leave, Jennifer grabbed her hand holding her back. "Samantha, we had a lot to do yesterday... sorry.." she murmured with a guilty conscience.
"It's alright. " Sam responded and gave her an affectionate look and pecked her cheek. "I understand..."
...
The main part of the colony wasn't a big one, no surprise Sam thought to herself, the population was only about 2300 citizens. But nevertheless the infrastructure contained all decent services, the most noticeable was the big logo of Walnos industries at the export office in the middle. From the distance, several huge farms with big storage buildings and areas of cultivation could be seen. The center had a small apartment block, obviously for the small service sector. Sam spotted a bar and a few shops at the left and some research labs. The energy provider was a small power plant two kilometers outside to the west. The streets were not frequented very much, only transporter with stuff Sam couldn't identify. All in all, Mindoir seemed to be a lovely, peaceful countryside
It reminded her of horizon and she felt the desire to return home. The landscape was similar, green woods, a familiar blue sky and light breeze. The difference to horizon was the soil structure, Mindoir had fertile ground and steady climate conditions, that was apparently the main reason for agriculture and no other industry. On a hill far away she spotted a plasma cannon, part of the defense system. Those could be very useless and inefficient, Sam had experienced this for herself on horizon. When the collectors arrived, it didn't matter if they had cannons or not. Bad memories, she should forget about that, the other feeling the familiar view awoke was homesickness. She thought of her parents and their small apartment. Hopefully they'll win this damn war and she could go back. She missed her family, she wrote emails but it wasn't comparable to the feeling of the embrace of her mother. Whenever she sent a message she didn't tell about the dangerous missions or her unusual relationship or whatever this was. If her parents knew, they would freak out for sure. So she pretended to be a shy, harmless specialist, doing her job next to the galaxy map on the most famous ship of alliance.
Jennifer held on for a moment and watched with precise eyes the picture in front of her too. Sam and the rest stopped and waited behind, saying nothing. Apparently the commander needed some time to look over her former home and take in the picture. "It's different...They rebuilt it...but...it isn't the same anymore." she muttered in a low voice.
She probably compared the actual condition with older memories. Sam couldn't imagine how this must feel, to return to this place now. Her curiousness forced her to ask. "When were you here last?"
Jennifer gave her a stiff look, she fixed her eyes then answered. "About 30 years ago..." and walked forward.
Sam bit her lip, that had been a bad question and she felt sorry. Apparently they never had set foot on their home planet again, after the awful raid. The reaction was a clue for not going into detail concerning that topic. But she wondered, she read that the colony had earned the right to carry their likeness in its seal, which implied that they should have been here at least one more time or must have a connection to this place. She faced the turian. "Garrus the colony seal contains.."
The turian cut in. "They invited them for a memorial ceremony a few times, but they never came back here."
"Ah OK..."
"Bad topic, babba." he pointed to follow.
Shortly before the beginning of main street the commander stopped again and addressed The AI. "EDI, I don't believe this will work, but try a scan.." she ordered.
EDI reported after trial. " I'm afraid, scans are not possible. It's blocked by a disturbing signal."
Jennifer sighed. "Of course, I didn't expect anything else...Where can we get access to the network?"
"Well maybe, we should go into that bar and I turn on my turian charm.." Garrus suggested.
"No casanova, asking questions raises attention and we don't need that." the commander negotiated and scratched her head.
Sam noticed Jennifer was nervous, it was an atypical manner for her. Normally she was resolute, hundred percent focused and always knew what exactly to do in the situation, just on top of things.
EDI spoke. "Can I make a suggestion?"
"Go ahead EDI..." the commander said.
"Well, we need a terminal with internal networking and we should find one in the export office. I could try to establish a link to the main computer. If that works, we can get access to the data from everywhere."
"Fine EDI, how long do you need for that link?" Jennifer asked.
"Estimated time: 25 seconds...by easy access." EDI reported.
Jennifer's comm signal beeped once, she pushed the button on her ear.
"BLACK this RED, over?" Jane's voice said.
"RED go ahead..."
"BLACK, we're approaching the target. Several persons present, copies are not visible from this distance. Preparing attack and start in 10. " the redhead explained.
"Copy that RED, we're still searching for an access point." Jennifer answered.
"BLACK understood, good luck. Over and out!"
Jennifer faced the rest of team. "Let's move.."
When they strolled through the building along the main street, the local residents watched the newcomers with a scowl. Sam saw Jennifer inspecting everything very precisely. She didn't comment but her facial expression told Sam she was disappointed and not happy with the things she saw. They walked on for a few minutes until they spotted a young man at the roadside. The guy was observing the group, just like he was looking out for something. Finally he came along and positioned himself in front of the commander to look at her. Jennifer was irritated and barked in a harsh tone. "What's your problem?"
He just grinned back at her "You're Jennifer Shepard, right? I recognize you from the pic, wow you're a hero here..." the young man babbled exited, obviously he was a big fan.
"Get lost!" Jennifer barked stressful.
But the young man was unimpressed and spoke on. "I'm Konrad, I'm your greatest fan, I have everything about you and your sister." His eyes shone with pride and enthusiasm, he ignored her anger.
"Beat it! I'm not Shepard!" Jennifer snarled to him. "You are mistaken." she got angry.
Sam feared she would hit the poor guy if that went on any longer. Garrus and EDI watched the scene without any reaction, they didn't meddle. Sam pondered about the option to intervene, the fact that "Konrad" had recognized Jennifer was bad for the mission, they needed to convince him of the opposite but the excitement in his face was already to big. Jennifer looked at the swallowing fan with a mix of anger and confusion. She rose her right fist but then dropped it down again, after she remembered where they were standing at the moment. Pummeling the crazy fan in the middle of the street was a very stupid idea.
Konrad smiled at her. "That's soooo cool. You're so famous, especially here. Is your sister here too?" he didn't notice the attempt for a hit and became more enthusiastic. "Wow..when I tell the others..." he started to wave about his hands.
Jennifer's expression faded to distress and she sighed, she gave in. "Schhhhh..." she put a finger on her mouth. "OK, you're right."
"Ha I knew it from the beginning. I'v read everything about you. I have a poster section at home about the glorious Shepards... savior of the Citadel..." he swallowed.
Sam twisted her eyes, he definitely was crazy. The episode of cerberus and all the bad stories on the reckless commanders didn't seem to dampen his excitement. Jennifer carefully looked around. Fortunately nobody else had taken notice of his crazy fan show, no attention from anyone else so far, but now they had to get rid of that idiot as soon as possible.
Jennifer cut in. "Ya ya, fine Konrad. Come with me..." she pointed to the side of the contiguous building. Konrad smiled in anticipation, no idea what he expected now ,but he followed Jennifer like a stupid faithful little dog. The commander lured him far away from the street until they were not visible anymore. Garrus remained at the corner and kept lookout, while Sam and EDI followed behind the duo. Jennifer waited for Konrad to join her position then gave him a sweet smile. Sam saw a glint growing in the fan's eyes, Konrad was happy.
Goddess.. he's so disgusting...
Sam was confused and wondered what the commander had in mind, but then she realized she wanted shit him.
Oh you damn idiot...you're not really believing...
Jennifer lunged out and hit him with one punch, knocking him out completely. His body dropped down like a wet sack.
"We don't need fans..." she shot in Sam's direction. "And we don't need anybody running around the colony and telling everybody that we're here..." she commented then looked around to spot a kind of container. She went to it, opened the cap and inspected the contents. Sam could smell it must be garbage, the stench was awful. The commander grinned and returned to Konrad to get out a roll of tape from her belt and began duct-tape his mouth then she cut some string and trussed up his hands behind his back. After the package was bound perfectly, she winked at EDI to come along and pointed to the container. "EDI, could you be so nice...?" she asked with a grin.
"Of course, Shepard. " the AI responded and took the body and carried him to the container to dump the poor guy inside then she closed the gap. In the meantime Jennifer watched out for a box and used it to ballast the gap then she rubbed her hands declaring. "So problem is solved...Let's go..."
The AI faced the commander. "Shepard, I think you lost an admirer just now. Does it bother you?" EDI asked.
"No EDI, I'll get over it..." Jennifer shot back with a grin. "...I told you, we don't need fans..."
Somehow Sam felt sorry for this idiot, but she had to admit he was kind of strange, like one of those nuts fans you often read about on the extranet. When the commander spotted her worried look she said. "He'll wake up again, sooner or later...Otherwise he would have ran around telling everybody we're here, no other way..."
Sam nodded. It wasn't the nice way to get rid of him, but she was right. If they noticed their arrival too soon, they would be over the hills and far away quickly. And of course, they didn't want to give them a reason to move the artifact or anything else out of range.
They returned to the street getting a smile from Garrus and continued on their way. 3 minutes later the commander stopped in front of the export office, giving instructions first. "We go in and keep them occupied. EDI hurry up, I want a sign when the connection is established!"
"As you wish Shepard."
Afterwards they entered the office to spot an older guy greeting them. "Ah customers.."but when he took a deeper look he twisted his head. "..you don't look like customers..."
Sam took the floor and approached him while EDI moved slowly in the direction of the terminal. "We are on transit..."
Boom...!
They heard an explosion in the distance and focused on the window. The guy was perplexed. "What the hell...?"
Jane...What a timing for distraction...
Boooom...!
Another explosion. For a moment the man was still distracted by the noise but then he looked over his shoulder and spotted EDI on his terminal. He turned immediately, walked back to his workstation. "Stop! What are you doing? You can't..."
Jennifer reacted quickly. "Screw it." she said and drew her weapon to whack him over the head with her pistol to make him drop to the floor. His forehead got a small laceration and started bleeding, but she didn't care and turned faced to the AI. "EDI, how long?"
"Well I detect some security software, time will increase to 53 seconds to hack the firewalls." was the answer from the AI.
"Fine. Garrus, make him a nice package and hide him somewhere in the back of the office." she ordered.
"With pleasure Shepard..." the turian laughed and pulled the body to the rear room. The commander moved to the front door, keeping an eye on the outside. Sam perceived her gaze, Jennifer was pondering and something else with her mind. The specialist carefully neared and placed herself behind the commander and spoke with a low voice. "Are you alright?"
"Hmm..yeah...just memories..." Jennifer mumbled but didn't turn.
"Where did you live back in the days?" Sam asked while stroking her back. She waited a few seconds, but she didn't get an answer, maybe she better not ask about the past. "OK, you don't have to tell me...I'm sorry for asking..."
"Outside...one kilometer to the north..." she pointed a finger to a clump of trees. "It was a nice place..." her voice sounded sad.
"Commander, I'm finished. I have direct access to the network and all colony data." EDI announced and killed the mood.
Thank you EDI...
Jennifer left the door and ordered the returning turian to guard the door. "OK, check it now." she ordered.
Sam went to EDI's side at the terminal and searched for the plans of the power lines supply. She found a schematic depiction of the colony. "OK, I have a plan...hmmm according to this..all cable ways to the plugged current collector have the same power demand. No difference from the farms to the colony center..hmm...wait." Sam said while the commander waited eagerly.
"A huge part of the energy from the main source is being redirected to ... an unknown target...it's not using the cable ways to the other connection points...it's going into the ground.." Sam looked up and concluded. "It's the power plant.."
"What? Under the plant again? Cerberus is not creative, I expected one of the farms outside..." Garrus said.
"Well to be exact it is not a cerberus facility. The power plant belongs to Walnos industries." EDI explained.
"..and we don't know what Walnos industries is exactly." Jennifer shot in. "Probably another dummy company of cerberus..."
EDI reported. "According to my information: Walnos industries is a human founded firm mainly dealing with export and processing of agricultural and industrial products. Additional they invest in several researches in cooperation with the ExoGeni Corporation. Their head office is located on Feros."
"We know ExoGeni Corporation, they are no angels either." Jennifer commented. "It doesn't matter anyway, if they hid a secret lab under the damn plant, we'll go there. Let's move and get out of this strange place." she stomped out of the door and the rest followed.
They left the centrum behind then Sam spoke to the turian. "Well, it makes sense. It's outside and directly connected to the energy source. The best for a high tech lab."
Jennifer ran with fast speed ahead, activating her comm signal to contact her sister.
"RED this is BLACK, over?" …no answer. "RED this is BLACK, do you read?"
Then they heard a noise and a clipped signal.
"sssssssssssss BLACK ssssssss found sssssssssss hard. Sssssssss stuck in sssssssss base. ssssssssssssssssss on site sssssssss careful ssssssss repeat ssssssssssss"
"RED...Say again! I cannot copy..." Jennifer said.
"sssss flown ssssssss base ssssss careful ssssssss" Jane's voice became weaker.
"RED, repeat!" Jennifer ordered but the signal was getting worse. Then she faced the AI. "Fuck, apparently connection problems. EDI, can you improve the signal?"
"Negative. There is too much interference. The hideout could have an interfering transmitter in its direct surroundings. This has to be turned off, I can't operate from my position here." she reported.
"OK...EDI try to establish a clear link to my sister. If it's going to work again, I wanna know immediately!"
Notes: That's my imagination of Mindoir, similar to horizon with a few different details. Coming up next: clones, fights and new insights.
Thanks to ScarletBones for the ideas and help.
And thank you for following the story...