Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all its characters belong to Bioware (so does the screen of their new video game. Have we all seen that?)
This Is It
"Is it just me, or are these compounds a little…empty?" Garrus said as he climbed back into the Mako.
"They're not putting up much of a fight," Wrex said bluntly.
"Let's just move onto the last one. Maybe there'll be something more there." Ashley holstered her rifle and was the last in, closing the hatch behind her.
"Shepard?" Garrus looked over at the Commander expectantly.
Shepard sighed. "You're right. I was expecting something more – and I still believe there is more. The type of operation Kahoku described…there's no way this is it."
"What're you saying, Commander?" Kaidan asked.
Shepard guided the Mako over a nearby ridge. "I'm saying maybe Cerberus is a lot bigger an operation than we think."
"Kahoku said it was just a splinter group. Even the Council has written them off as some low-life terrorist organization."
"We of all people know the kind of threats the Council is wiling to just 'write off.'"
The conversation was interrupted when the Mako's shields started absorbing turret fire.
Shepard sighed. "Why is it always shoot first?" Shepard was still mostly curious about the splinter group, and based on the way things had ended up in the last two compounds, was becoming concerned that no one would be left to answer his questions.
The squad worked through the compound's defenses easily, climbed out of the Mako, and waited for Tali to hack the door. The squad streamed in and proceeded to dispatch the negligible number of personnel inside. Shepard had been the first one in and took down the commando standing behind the first corner. He ran out in the open and waited for one of the researchers to try and throw him with their biotics, but easily avoided the attack. Once he did he ran over to the researcher, grabbed him in a chokehold and pulled him against the wall, just barely saving him from one of Garrus' shots.
Shepard waited for the gunfire to die down before coming out of cover.
"Shepard, we're picking up an enemy contact at your location on the radar. Need any help?"
"I'm good, Garrus. And try not to shoot him when I bring him out."
"You're the boss."
Shepard dragged the scientist out and threw him against the wall at the back of the compound. Shepard stood directly in front of him, and the rest of the squad formed in a kind of half-circle around him.
"You're with Cerberus?" Shepard asked, squatting down.
"Yes."
"So you're willing to cooperate. That's good." Garrus shifted his rifle in his talons threateningly.
"Your organization left a beacon on Edolus to lure Alliance soldiers into a Thresher Maw nest. Why?" Shepard continued his line of questioning.
"Thresher Maw? I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No. If there were experiments being conducted on Thresher Maws, it wasn't because of my cell."
"Typical! Shepard let's just take this guy out. All he's going to say is that it wasn't his fault!"
Shepard ignored Ashley's angry outburst. "Your 'cell?'"
"That's right. All of Cerberus' projects are divided into separate cells. Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about any cell other than my own."
"Commander! He could be lying!" Kaidan shouted.
"I don't think so," Shepard said. Yes, the scientist was wearing an annoyingly smug look, but only, Shepard believed, because the fear that had led to the creation of cells – of the discovery of one operative leading to the compromise of others – was paying off.
Shepard turned back to the researcher. "And what did your cell do?"
"Our cell was charged with cloning rachni soldiers that could be used as shock troops and training as well as studying Thorian Creepers."
"Creepers?"
"Like the ones in the cage behind you."
Shepard kept his eyes on the researcher though the other members of the squad looked back to see what he was talking about.
"Why study them?"
"To recreate their toxins to use as a weapon and understand their invulnerability when crouched to use as a defense."
"Shepard, you can't seriously believe everything he's saying? Why would he cooperate with us that much?"
The researcher laughed and looked up at the lieutenant. "Because I'm not ashamed. What Cerberus is doing is right. Unafraid."
Ashley spit on the scientist and swung the butt of her rifle into the left side of his face.
Shepard quickly gripped her gun in one hand and stood up. "Control yourself, Chief."
"Yes, Commander," she said, her eyes still flashing with anger.
Shepard returned to the scientist. "What's the point? Of studying them, training them, controlling them."
"Isn't it obvious? To preserve humanity. To uplift it. To ensure its survival no matter what the cost."
"Even if it means murder?" Kaidan said angrily, motioning to Kahoku's body.
"Especially if it means murder. That's something, after all, your precious Alliance just isn't willing to do, is it?"
"If your cell had nothing to do with Edolus, why is Kahoku here?"
"Your Admiral bought information on our location from the Shadow Broker. We were the ones compromised, not the cell responsible for your Thresher Maw. We had to be the ones to clean up the mess – that meant taking care of him."
"And thanks to the same channels you used to find out Kahoku was onto you, you knew we were coming and decided to clean up shop."
"Look who's catching on."
"Shepard!" Tali called over excitedly. "There're coordinates here for another one of their bases!"
"Is it already on your omnitool?" Shepard stood up and looked at Tali.
"Yes!" Tali sent the coordinates over to Shepard's omnitool. He walked over to the terminal and swiped his omnitool over it.
"Shepard, what're you…"
"Erasing it."
"What? Shepard what the hell is going on?" Ashley looked over to where Shepard and Tali were standing.
Shepard took a breath. Moment of truth.
"I'm letting him go and I'm not going after the other base. And I'm making sure the Fifth Fleet doesn't either." The Cerberus scientist's eyes widened at Shepard's words.
"What? Shepard, these bastards killed a whole platoon of marines! You're just going to let them walk away!" Ashley had walked up to Shepard now, and was yelling into his face.
"It wasn't their cell. I don't hold them responsible." Shepard was fighting the urge to deliver a ridiculously contorted argument that would let him get his way while appealing to Ashley's sense of morality. Or better yet, to just shoot the scientist and be done with it. But that wouldn't feel right. It would just be him hiding all over again.
"It was still the same organization, Shepard! And even if it wasn't their cell, they still killed Kahoku!"
"I…"
"You what? What could possibly justify that?"
Shepard squeezed his eyes shut and took a moment. When he opened them again, his face was firm and his eyes unrelenting. "If they managed to pull off this research, I'd say it was worth Kahoku's life. That's why I'm letting him go."
"Shepard, he's a murderer!" Ashley was outraged and she wasn't hiding it.
"God, Ash, stop being so damn naïve!" Shepard finally let his anger slip. "You don't think the Alliance or the Hierarchy or the Republics don't constantly make sacrifices so they can maintain their edge on each other? Cerberus is the same – only willing to go further and, quite frankly, do more. Progress comes at a price."
Ash grit her teeth in anger. "I don't believe this Shepard…"
"Believe what? That I value the many over the one? I do. I always have."
This time it was Tali who spoke up. "Value the many? Don't you mean just humanity? He said himself he only wanted to use the rachni as shock troops!"
"He also said they were clones. And these creepers…they're not even sentient. Am I so wrong for valuing the lives of humans over that?"
"You're not, Shepard. And I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice a few krogan to end the genophage." Wrex came up besides Shepard, who felt a surge of relief now that he was no longer alone.
Shepard looked over at Garrus. "I may not agree with you on Cerberus, Shepard, but it's not like I don't understand being willing to sacrifice or kill for a higher cause."
Kaidan walked over to where Ashley stood. "I'm sorry, Commander, but I can't agree with you."
"I'm not demanding that you do, Alenko. But this is my decision and you deserved to know why I made it. But let me make my orders clear: this man is not to be harmed and those coordinates are not to be forwarded to anyone not in this room. I do not tolerate insubordination."
Shepard turned to the researcher. "You can go." The scientist stood up and jogged from the room. As he did, he made a mental note to suggest Shepard as a possible Cerberus recruit.
Shepard and his squad made their way back to the Mako in awkward silence. Shepard's face was unreadable, but underneath he brimmed with inner discord. Had he just created an irreparable rift between himself and the others? Had he just torn his team apart for selfish dogmatism?
A/N: Hopefully you guys see why I had to drop psychoshep. So that's the last side mission for now, though I'll probably have some more of those time-in-between chapters before Feros. As much as I want Shep to change, I still believe in preserving some of his core values. Rest assured there's still a ways to go from here, but I wouldn't consider his siding with Cerberus backpedaling.
