"Tom, deal with her reinforcements, everyone else, target that Merc leader!" Shepard said, snapping orders out real fast.
While everyone was busy shooting and getting shot at I took cover and engaged my tactical cloak. I still think it's a real cheap way to win, because it seems much harder to see in real life then it does in the games. Good thing it's also the class that gets wounded the least, because I hate getting wounded, it's a huge drag sitting in a hospital bed all day.
I flanked the Merc commander's reinforcements by taking a side route that had a lot of boxes as cover. Mainly because I didn't plan on catching a stray bullet and having it destroy my cloak. I got a couple head shots across their defensive line, which caused shit to hit the fan, since about four Mercs turned around and started spraying every single thing with bullets, and they were shredding all the cover, I could barely get two more shots off before my position was showered with bullets.
Fortunately by that time the Merc leader had been dealt with and most of the Mercs got shot in the back by Shepard's team. The whole firefight lasted a total of four minutes, but it seemed so much longer than that.
"Tom, you alright? They dumped a truckload of ammo on you." Jacob asked.
"My shields took a few hits, but I'm fine, thanks for saving me, again."
Jacob chuckled. "I guess that's a normal thing now isn't it?"
"Another day in the office, is it wrong that I consider near death experiences normal now?"
"Can we go now? I want to make sure Oriana is safe." Miranda said, paranoid.
"She said it guys, move out." We all piled into a second elevator behind Shepard. The elevator took about five seconds to reach the floor where all the civilians were. I saw Oriana and her extended family right across from us.
I could tell Miranda was no where near as stressed as she was at the beginning of this mission. "There she is... safe."
"Hey, don't you want to go talk to her?" Shepard asked.
"No, the less she knows about me the better, I can't interfere with her life."
"You can afford to be normal right now Miranda, we'll wait here, you deserve the downtime." Shepard said.
"Now that I think about it, sure I'll go see her." She walked over to go see her sister.
"I guess it all works out for her in the end doesn't it?" I said.
"Yeah, I'm glad she's happy, she always seems like she's in tight control of her emotions, it's good to see her like this." Jacob said.
"It's good to see a family reunion, I miss my mom sometimes." Was all Shepard said.
Miranda talked to her sister for about ten minutes, she even gestured to us once, I guess to show she had friends.
"Thank you.." Miranda said as she came back to us, she was in tears.
We returned to the Normandy after that, it all went by in a blur, I guess I can relax a bit now, we only have two more missions, Legion's loyalty mission and the suicide mission. I took off my armor and went down to the crew deck in the elevator, I needed a coffee. It seemed to take a little longer then normal to come up to me, I guess that's because someone else was using it.
I rode down to the crew deck and walked to the mess area. Miranda's door closed just as I entered the area. I grabbed a cup of coffee. I absentmindedly surfed the extranet, just to have something to read. I felt like there was something I was supposed to do, something that was essential. The realization was like a slap in the face. Jack was confronting Miranda right now.
I immediately paged Shepard on my Omni-tool. "Uh, Shepard we have a situation on the crew deck in Miranda's office, they're having a serious fight with each other right now, you need to get down here." There was a pause.
"Can you stall them?"
"I can, but for a limited time, get down here as fast as possible." I said before opening the doors to Miranda's office, revealing two powerful biotics.
"I will smear the walls with you, bitch!" Jack shouted.
"Tom, what the hell are you doing here?" Miranda inquired forcefully.
"Shepard isn't going to like this, I'd recommend you guys stop, now for my sake, but your own."
"You can't tell us what to do! And besides, this bitch is asking for it." Miranda's biotics flared.
"The cheerleader won't admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong." Jack said darkly.
"You were an accident of a rouge facility, you weren't supposed to have all of this biotic potential."
"Shut up bitch! Just because it was rouge facility doesn't mean Cerberus wasn't behind it!" I had to do something, I don't think I'll be able to stall much longer.
"Woah, stop this! You guys are going to tear out a bulkhead at this rate!" I shouted before stepping in-between them.
"I've had enough of you Tom, always snooping around, see how you handle this!" Jack shouted before unleashing a throw on me.
XXXXXXXX
I raced down the crew deck and opened the door to Miranda's office. Only to see Tom get thrown to the wall right beside the door frame.
"Oh hi Shepard, I uh, I think I'm done for the day." He said weakly before falling unconscious.
"What the hell do you think you too are doing?! You just impaired a crew member!" I shouted.
"Jack, I can understand your rage, but there is no excuse for injuring someone else because of YOUR anger, especially since he wasn't involved in that fight at all. That is unacceptable, and I won't tolerate that kind of behavior on my ship, fall in line, or get OUT!"
"And you Miranda, let your personal opinion get in the way of the mission, which is absolutely unacceptable, and extremely unprofessional." She cringed when I made that statement. "Both of you need to put aside your personal hate of each other or both of you will get off my ship, is that clear?!" I scared them into submission.
"Yes Commander." Miranda said stiffly, Jack nodded her head numbly and left the room.
"Good, I don't want anymore fights from either of you, otherwise I will follow up with my punishment." I stated before dragging Tom out from the room.
"Geez, what happened?" Garrus asked as I stepped outside with an unconscious Tom with me.
"Let's just say he 'tried' to stop a fight, he was actually stalling for me, it didn't turn out to well for him, I'm taking him to the Doctor right now."
"I don't think I'll question you further, just get him to the Doctor." Garrus said, very slightly shaken when he realised who was behind the fight.
I don't blame him, there were two very powerful women in that fight, and if that had gotten out of hand we might've had to hospitalize someone, at least I only have Tom suffering a concussion. I dragged him into the Med bay where Chakwas was.
"Oh dear, what happened now? Tom got out of here only several days before now."
"Concussion I think, he hit a wall from what I believe is a throw, he'll be fine right?"
Chakwas looked at Tom. "He'll be fine with a little bit of rest, he'll have a couple bruises on his face and maybe a black eye, try not to overwork him for the next day." She said.
"I'm going to plot a course to our next destination, I'll leave him here." I made way for the elevator after that, I sure hope we don't have any more of these fights, at least I'll be able to deal with them if another one comes up.
I was about to press the call button on the elevator when it suddenly opened, Tali was there.
"Oh hey Shepard, how are you doing?" She asked politely.
"I'm doing fine, although I had to stop a fight that went on in Miranda's office."
"What happened?"
"Jack and Miranda were fighting, I couldn't get there in time since I was upgrading my armor when it happened, Tom stalled for me, but it came of the unfortunate cost of a concussion."
"Oh, that doesn't sound good."
"It isn't, he won't be conscious by now, but it won't hurt to check, I need to go plot a course for our next destination now, bye." She nodded and left the elevator.
I guess now was the time Tom started getting injured, he hadn't got a scratch on any of our previous missions, he was luckier than most, he always seems to get to all the good overwatch positions really fast, and he almost never has his shields down, but that's to be expected from an infiltrator, they tend to get the least wounded when in battle, due to being able to cloak.
I envied him in that sense, I never understood technology very well, I'm only good with instructions, nothing else. It evens out in the end though, I have much better training in shooting things, and I'm able to run ten miles with a full kit.
"Joker, have we approached the Mass relay?" I asked.
"Yes Shepard, awaiting orders from the Galaxy map."
"Alright, I'm entering the coordinates now, do you see them?"
"Yes, and Commander, why are we entering the Perseus veil?"
"Legion has something he needs done in the Heretic main base, that's where we are heading, proceed to the coordinates."
"Yes Commander."
...
XXXXXXXXXXX
"I'm here again?" I looked around, I was in the grey void again, the one where I talked with that Leviathan.
"Yes."
"I didn't even have the ring with me this time."
"The first time you used the device it infected you with a temporary virus, which allows limited neural connection from a set distance away from the nearest device."
"Right, what is it you want with your 'servant' now?"
"We wanted to inform you about the end."
"You mean the end of Mass Effect 3?"
"Yes, the four endings chosen were very one sided victories. If Shepard chooses control he would eventually become indoctrinated."
"Would she be like a new Harbinger?"
"Yes, that is the outcome of the 'Control' ending. The second ending, synthesis would result in lasting peace, however the Reaper intelligence, the one you know as the 'start child' wouldn't experience the perfection, and eventually would order the reapers to exterminate all sentient life and the cycle would begin again."
"That's understandable, what about the last two?"
"The ending you refer to as 'destroy' would kill the reapers, and it would end the cycle, but it would also kill EDI and the geth, although this isn't as of calculate risk as the other 'endings' it would disable all technology for an undetermined time, creating chaos, although this is the best possible ending."
"And of course the fouth ending, do nothing pretty much explains itself."
"Yes, even with every current space faring species' combined might, there is a very very small calculation that you would have sufficient firepower to destroy or render all Reapers inoperable."
"So what are we going to do?"
"We have a plan."