I do not own Mass Effect. Bioware does.
Taking the opportunity to check on his crew, Brendan passed through the mess hall to see his sister and her friends talking at one of the tables. The N7 commander strode along towards his sister.
"Are you alright?" Brendan asked, "you seemed especially shaken after Garrus was hospitalized."
Robin couldn't help but sigh.
"To be fair," Robin admitted, "I was worried he wouldn't make it."
"If Garrus is the man who got you out of hot water, I'm sure he'll live to say he survived a direct blast from an RPG," he reassured.
Robin nodded and placed her hand on Brendan's.
"I know you two haven't talked about it too much," Brendan continued, breaking eye contact, "but what did you guys have planned once this mess is cleaned up and Cerberus is dealt with?"
"Would it count if I wanted to petition to legalize interspecies marriage, especially in Alliance space?" Robin scratched her head.
"Once this mess is cleaned up, who says you can't?" Brendan encouraged.
Robin smiled in response, yet it didn't take long when she and Brendan felt the Normandy take off. All Robin could do was wait during the flight, so over the course of a few hours, she and Jack played a puzzle game on their omni-tools, determined to see which of the two would get the highest score.
{Commander, we're coming in over Thessia, approaching the Athame Botanic Gardens. Liara informs me we are currently over Larissa. It's a nice view, you might wanna come see,} the pilot informed.
Brendan, Robin, and the others walked to the bridge to have a good look of the asari metropolis below. Asari architecture was almost completely lacking in angles, and largely composed of flowing curves to form towers that would scratch the clouds. The buildings and the various layers left shifting holes like tunnels that reached down into the metal and concrete jungle below. The shorter buildings almost resembled stadiums from Earth with the woven net-like beams supporting the top of buildings. The asari also put a heavy emphasis on the use of glass in their architecture, making the buildings sparkle like diamonds in the sun light.
"Wow! It's incredible!" Kaidan commented.
Ashley responded by placing her hand on Kaidan's shoulder.
"Damn, quite a place for Cerberus to hit," Brendan admired.
"I'm bringing us into the hangar area. All crew brace for landing procedures," the pilot announced over the ship intercoms.
Slowing down, the Normandy entered a hangar area before the magnetic clamps locked onto her hull, keeping the vessel in place for the docking bridge to attach.
"Well, grab your gear, guys. We're heading out," Brendan ordered.
Once the squad took the time they needed to gear up, Brendan, Robin, Saren and Liara disembarked the Normandy first with the rest of their squad following suit. The team exited onto the platform following Liara, as she had the most experience with the location. As they walked through the asari metropolis, Liara gave a well rounded description of the places her mother had taken her before during the trip to the gardens.
"I do apologize if I hesitate. It's been a while since I was last here," Liara said, pausing for a moment.
"That's ok," Robin reassured while she observed the tall buildings, "it's just amazing here."
"Your mother does know we're coming, right?" Saren asked.
Liara nodded.
"I notified her ahead of time," she confirmed.
"Good. Miranda informed me their plan is to act quick and deploy the chemical agent. She'll slow them down long enough for us to make an entrance and stop the weapon test. Until we arrive, she's forced to take a low profile among the Cerberus forces," Saren continued.
"So we act faster," Brendan finished.
Liara led everyone along the walkway, familiar with the directions to the facility. As they approached the facility entrance, they could see an Asari Matriarch in a yellow dress directing staff outward. Turning her attention to the group, she walked forward and greeted them.
"Little one, I'm grateful to see you're alive, but you shouldn't have returned. And Saren Arterius, it's a pleasure to meet you, but I wish we could meet under better circumstances."
"It could always be worse, Matriarch Benezia. Have you evacuated any remaining staff? It's critical we keep as low collateral damage as possible," Saren greeted back.
Benezia nodded before she tilted her head towards Robin and Brendan.
"I'm surprised you would prefer to work with humans over Hierarchy forces, Spectre," Benezia prompted.
"The herbicide is designed to remain ineffective towards life forms native to Earth. I've heard plenty of horrid side-effects from Doctor Orange's predecessor, so humans might be able to successfully contain it without being negatively impacted," Saren replied.
Robin remained calm as she took a step forward.
"Well, I'm pleased to meet you," Robin greeted, extending her hand, "Ambassador Robin Shepard at your service."
"An honor," Benezia replied, returning the gesture, "I hope you have a plan to combating today's attack."
"I hope so," Robin nodded.
Brendan walked forward to introduce himself.
"I'm not nearly as well-known, but my name is Brendan. I'm commander of the nearby Alliance detachment and the ambassador's older brother. Cerberus won't be holding back when they move in, but we just might have an inside man to help delay them enough for our opportunity to stop them."
Benezia nodded before she led the squad inside. First, they had to step into the decontamination area, where they were sprayed with antiseptic and had to stand for a few minutes to let it air-dry.
"We collect various plant species from across the galaxy in this building. Usually for medicinal research," Benezia started as they exited decontamination into the main entrance, "we practice great caution going in and out of this building. Both for the sake of what's in here and what's outside. Take these plants for example."
The team walked by a chamber with a window looking into a room of tropical foliage.
"The fruit from those plants consists of sugars that most sentient life has not evolved with. It functions almost like a neurotoxin, heavily degrading the higher brain functions after prolonged consumption."
James felt a chill sent down his spine.
"Right now, we just keep a sample here, in case something possibly applicable does come up," the Matriarch finished.
"Is there a universal venting system?" Saren asked.
"We exercise plenty of caution," she answered, turning to the Spectre, "each chamber is isolated from chambers where plants from a completely different environment are present. When they do attack, they all have to expose each chamber one at a time."
Robin listened while she examined the exotic plants they passed by.
"Their best chance would be to hijack the security office where the door controls are. Even then, the chambers have airlocks that are designed to only have one door open at a time. Even if you're forced to fall back and regroup, they'll still be slowed significantly by the facility design," Benezia finished.
Kaidan nodded in agreement.
"At least we have some advantage here," Kaidan commented.
"According to Lawson, they've had spies come through and analyze the architecture," Saren explained. "she'll have sabotaged the equipment used for pumping in the agent into the chambers. It'll give us enough time to get the drop on them."
Kasumi carefully examined the vents in search of anything unusual.
"She said to set up an ambush," Saren continued, "let them enter. The troops they bring will be more manageable I'm inclined to agree."
"Right," Brendan nodded.
Still, Benezia led the squad further through the facility.
"Alright gents, listen up," Brendan started, now with his entire unit present, "we're limited in numbers here, but hear me out. We'll be baiting the Cerberus troops in and taking them out when they're inside. Their weakness is the fact this is the asari homeworld, forcing them to act quick. Once inside, wait for the equipment stall to catch their attention before coming out of cover. As a final note, watch where you fire. This facility runs on sealed environments to keep many of these plants stable, meaning no frags; you will only use flashbangs and well-placed EMPs. Understood?"
"Oorah!" his fellow marines answered.
"Good. Get to your assigned positions and wait on the agreed signal."
The team quickly scattered across the facility to their hiding spots before Miranda's Cerberus cell arrived. In the meantime, Saren had Robin, Liara, Kaidan, Ashley, Kasumi and Jack accompany him.
"I can see how you've made it as far as you have, commander," Saren complimented as he drew out his rifle from his back holster.
"Thanks," Brendan nodded, "maybe if the whole plan goes well, we might have a chance at victory against Cerberus in the future."
Tali fidgeted with the local coms.
"As Kal says, 'kill them with bug bites', right?" she replied.
Robin let out a small chuckle.
"Better find some bugs that bite then," Robin mused.
It didn't take along for the entire squad to scramble into position. Saren received a ping on his omni-tool.
{All arrangements are in place on my side. I assume you are in position down below?}
He hastily wrote back:
{Down here with an Alliance squad. We're in position for an ambush. Are we still attacking on the breakdown of the gas pumps?}
{Correct. We'll be coming in using a stealth system to hide our energy signature while we approach and deploy. Just keep an eye out for my sister and make sure she gets to cover. She's wearing her hair in a ponytail with a blue band,} Miranda responded.
She quickly followed up with:
{We're making our final approach. See you groundside.}
Saren nodded to himself before he held his own position, scanning the surroundings in case Oriana was in the area.
"They're making their approach. See if you can pick up anything over local coms," Saren ordered Tali.
"Understood," Tali nodded.
A few more minutes of dreadful silence passed among the group until Tali checked the radar in her omni-tool.
"They seem to acknowledge an unidentifiable vessel has entered the nearby airspace, but have been unable to detect any energy signature," Tali reported.
"That's them, alright," Brendan replied, "and it sounds like they've got the same sort of stealth systems the Normandy has."
Not too long after, a patch of the ceiling above exploded, followed by numerous Cerberus troops rapping down.
"Move out! Get that pump set up and get to work, form a defensive perimeter to keep the locals away, and get to work on the next one once the first chamber is complete! We won't have long until local authorities act on our presence," Miranda barked.
"That's a lot of hostiles out there," Brendan muttered, risking a quick peek from cover.
More troops continued to drop in from the Cerberus transport outside. They began to form a perimeter around the building, aiming their guns to intimidate any locals from entering.
"Just stay low," Saren ordered as gunshots and screams rang in the distance.
"What's the progress on that pump?" Miranda asked.
"Almost set."
The nearby technicians continued installing equipment in one of the controls for the environmental hubs. All the while, some of the technicians began moving the agent out of the transport.
"We're ready. The Doctor should be fully administered in—"
*PAFF*
The Cerberus technician was sharply interrupted by a loud explosion followed by a trail of smoke from the pump.
"Dammit! This'll take me some time to fix!"
Rising from cover, Brendan and Saren began to open fire upon the Cerberus troops in the open.
"There's the signal! Light 'em up!" Brendan ordered over the coms.
"Copy that!" Vega nodded.
"Operative Lawson's made her move! Remember the briefing!"
Suddenly, as well as shooting at the Alliance troops, the nearby Cerberus soldiers trained their weapons on Miranda and fired. Tossing a warp behind her, she quickly ran to cover before returning fire. Between firing rounds, Robin figured this could be the sign she'll need to search for Oriana. Miranda was quickly proving herself to be much more competent than her former colleagues in combat. With seemingly little effort, she danced around their gunfire, softened them up with her biotics, then finished them off with a couple pistol shots.
"Operative Lawson is advancing! Fall back before she can retrieve Priority Tw—" the soldier was yelling through his omni-tool before Miranda suddenly shot his brains out the other side of his helmet.
Witnessing these recent actions gave Jack some confidence, so she started emitting her biotic field. As gunfire below continued, one of the transports overhead fled the scene. Miranda was left distraught as she watched the vessel fly off, leaving her vulnerable for a moment too long. Knocking her on the ground, a Cerberus engineer was about to finish her off before Saren gunned him down. While Jack sprinted ahead to give the Cerberus troops in the area a good fight, Miranda staggered back to her feet.
"Keep pressing! Doyle, get to work on that pump and shut it off, we'll cover you," Brendan gestured, keeping pressure on what remained of the Cerberus forces.
While Doyle scrambled towards the pump, Robin and Liara set off to locate Oriana, hoping she might still be in hiding.
Rolling behind cover to slip a new thermal clip into his rifle, Saren turned to Miranda over the gunfire.
"Where's your sister? I haven't found her yet."
"Don't bother, she's not here! The Illusive Man had informed the others about my messages to you, and have retreated with her," Miranda replied, ducking under more fire.
"Argh, dammit!" Saren growled, "now what?"
Saren didn't think the Illusive Man would eventually find out about Miranda's dissent. Still, he remembered Robin and Liara left a moment ago, so he sent a quick text in his omni-tool before he returned to battle.
{They made off with Miranda's sister. Resume eliminating Cerberus forces, nothing we can do.}
It was only minutes later before Doyle succeeded in shutting off the pump, so now all the squad had to do was drive the Cerberus forces out of the facility. By now, despite their remaining numbers, the Cerberus forces were in full retreat, and most left the facility before local authorities finally arrived. With the plan sabotaged, Brendan, Saren and Robin's squad headed over to the facility foyer.
"Well? Now what?" Brendan asked as he walked up to Saren.
The Spectre looked over his shoulder to see Miranda talking with the Illusive Man on her omni-tool.
"She says that she's still willing to help us, but she also asks we help her retrieve her sister," Saren grumbled, "I can understand."
"Do you think this was all a ploy to capture Oriana?" Robin pondered.
Still, Robin made a brief glance at the Cerberus operative herself, knowing the Alliance would still hold her accountable.
{What did I ever do to you?!} the Illusive Man demanded over the com-link, {for eight years, I've protected you and your sister and this is how you thank me?!}
The former Cerberus Operative continued to pace as she talked with the Illusive Man.
"Believe me when I say I still believe in the advancement of the human race, but I don't believe that is your true end goal when you have numerous projects with clear goals lying outside of those defined boundaries. History has judged individuals for good reason, and I'm not going to be judge based on the commands of a madman. With that in mind, take a long good look at my last report. Consider that my resignation. I don't have the time or patience to sit down and write a letter."
{No one dares to stoop to aiding the turian terrorists behind my back,} the Illusive Man growled over the com-link.
"And under your yoke, humanity will only be driven to disaster," Miranda hissed before ending the call.
Miranda shook her head and sighed in disbelief before she turned on her feet and shuffled over to Saren, catching his attention.
"I assume the Illusive Man didn't take your actions well, did he?" Saren commented.
"He has a very detailed vision of a perfect universe. Unfortunately, he's got quite an ego and doesn't allow room for compromise," Miranda answered, rolling her eyes, "I know it wasn't part of the initial deal, but I want to get my sister back."
Saren nodded while he placed his hand on Miranda's shoulder.
"So, do you want a second chance?" Kasumi asked.
"He's a madman with power. That doesn't end well for either side of the conflict," Miranda answered simply.
"If it means tying up loose ends for you, then we'll do it," Saren offered.