Chapter 37: Dog of Hades

The Illusive Man had caught wind of the assault in Sigma 23 mere hours before it began. He'd been forced to scramble all of his nearby assets to assemble a strike team and the resultant force was less than desirable. Still, he was unwilling to forgo the opportunity to gain possession of the Collector's technology a second time. The ground forces that had been assembled numbered a little over seventy operatives.

Such a small force would have a difficult time eliminating the entirety of the Collector presence on the shipyard, let alone evict the elite units sent in by the Council, but time was against him. Like it or not, he had to act now. The Head of Cerberus punched a holographic key on his chair, giving the strike team the go-ahead.

Operative Frederick Gore was the head of a twelve man fire-team charged with gaining control of the Collector station's security. His team had actually landed before The Illusive Man's go-ahead, a mistake for which he had paid dearly. Three of his men had been hit by a Collector patrol; one of them had died from his injuries. The other two were still able to fire their weapons, but Gore decided to have them stay behind to guard their escape craft.

The Cerberus operative had been pleasantly surprised to find that the path to the security complex had, for the most part, been cleared. He led his team through the bodies of Collectors and husks, noting the types of wounds they had sustained. Many had been felled with tech attacks or standard weaponry. These casualties were of little concern to the specialist. The thing that worried him was the vast number of aliens that had been pulverized or ripped apart by biotic attacks.

Frederick was the only biotic on his team and was not particularly powerful. The injuries sustained by the corpses, however, indicated the presence of an incredibly strong biotic among the elite squad they would soon face.

Between Kasumi and Legion, Miranda's team hardly had to stop for any tech-related obstructions. The only thing even mildly slowing them down was disorganized groups of husks with the occasional Collector. With Legion's sniper rifle and the team's biotics, enemy resistance was short lived.

Judging by the stats that the geth relayed to the rest of the team they were a good four minutes ahead of all the other squads. Kasumi finished hacking a system controlling the automated turrets in an area ahead of Shepard's team and rose to examine the door panel. The bulkhead slid open before she had a chance to begin the bypass, courtesy of Legion's tandem incursion efforts.

Goto heaved a sigh and lifted her M-12 Kassa Locust SMG to shoulder height, scanning the room beyond. Jack entered the room first, checking the sides as Mordin followed directly behind. Legion was nearly smashed as the doors slammed shut, a Collector anti-intrusion program overriding the bypass.

xXx

"Not good." Mordin muttered as the panels sealed behind them. A collective moan filled the air as a fresh wave of husks clambered over the lip of the curved path.

Jack smiled wryly as she waited for the reanimated soldiers to gather into larger groups. Mordin was too busy unleashing incineration modules into the creatures to notice that his teammate was covered in a thick blue sheen.

"Need assistance as soon as possible! Being overrun!"

No sooner had Mordin finished his sentence than Jack released a primal scream and loosed a sphere of biotic power at the horde of zombie-esque monsters. The ball of energy crackled and widened as it flew, quickly expanding past each side of the husks. Solus watched in disbelief as the biotic line sliced neatly through the hostiles' soft midsections.

"Hell yeah!" Jack pumped her fist as the bulk of the abominations toppled to the ground, neatly sliced in half at the waist.

xXx

Legion cracked the encryption and inserted the digital equivalent of a piton in the collector system. The process took an additional 30 seconds, but the result ensured that the door would remain under their control this time.

The geth entered the chamber, flanked on each side by Miranda and Kasumi. Mordin and Jack stood in the middle of a pile of dead husks, waiting. Kasumi pressed a key on her omni-tool and the doors slid shut behind them.

The two quarians sat crouched in a corner, braced for another attack. Shyyn tried to calm the jittery woman next to him. She'd be no use if she couldn't aim straight.

"Relax, most of the Collectors will be busy with the strike team."

Naria stopped shaking momentarily, then started up again. "But those Cerberus operatives…"

"Won't bother us," he finished. "Not with Shepard on the station. He's too valuable to everyone, Cerberus included."

Pael seemed to find solace in his statement, but Shyyn wasn't so sure of himself. The humans might not harm the Commander, but they wouldn't have any compunctions about shooting any of the others aboard the station.

Thorrel hefted the assault rifle in his hands and re-checked the thermal clip. The simple exercise cleared his mind.

"So, about this Naria, did he say what she looked like?" The female queried, attempting to take their minds off of their current situation.

"Not much, kept saying she had a good sense o' humor though. Claimed she was always laughing at his stupid jokes."

Naria felt the tears building in her eyes and blinked them away, then snapped back to attention. She couldn't let emotion control her, not here. Her sudden resolve startled her. Perhaps seeing the Mithrean's crew die at the hands of the Collectors had sparked something inside of her. Maybe it was the fact that Ray'Jar was alive, or Shyyn's mention of Tali. Whatever the reason, Naria welcomed the feeling. Her old self was still there, trembling and traumatized, but a glimmer of strength had shown through, this was what she would focus on.

Shyyn's arm pushed her down again and Naria saw the shadows of roughly a dozen humanoids pass. Despite the fear she felt, Pael managed to keep her voice quiet. "We need to warn the team."

Thorrel shook his head and offered a terse reply. "Can't risk an open comm this close-by, they pin it, we're both dead."

The young woman gritted her teeth.

The news of Cerberus' incursions on the station had Kal'Reegar more than a little agitated, and his team could sense it. From their original eight, they were now down to six, one KIA and the other left behind with the Mithrean's last known surviving crewmember.

The quarians had already completed their task and were on the way back to the evac zone when the message came. Kal had his team dig in in preparation for the hostile forces' arrival. It was logical to assume that the enemy would have similar objectives in terms of strategic value and also likely that they would take the path of least resistance to get there.

Reegar's assessment proved accurate as the first Cerberus operative rounded the corner two minutes after his team had taken position. The quarians waited until the entirety of the enemy squad had come into view, then poured out a slew of rifle fire. Four of the humans crumpled immediately, two more were wounded, and the last six managed to scramble behind cover.

"Tech mods! NOW!"

No sooner had Reegar given the order than a trio of incineration blasts arced from the quarian positions, literally raining fire behind the Cerberus agents' cover. Three screaming forms leapt into the abyss, preferring a swift death by falling as opposed to burning alive.

The quarians were not the only group with tech attacks, and a series of overload charges detonated across the battlefield, breaking the shields of more than half of Reegar's team.

Kal ground his teeth and tossed a pair of grenades between the enemy's bursts of fire. Five grueling seconds later, a pair of dull thumps reverberated behind the hostile units' cover, reducing the remaining Cerberus units to ash.

"That was for my father, tuho." Reegar's voice was bitter as he kicked the corpse of the last enemy soldier.

Kal ordered his team forward. One of the squad had taken a few hits, but none had caused more than superficial damage. Still, the whole group knew that for any of their number, even a tiny cut could produce a life-threatening infection. They needed to get back to the battle-group ASAP.

"That's all we're going to get, John." Tali had to shout over the gunfire to be heard. Shepard rested a hand on her shoulder, nodded, and set to work priming the charge while she covered him. A series of small beeps sounded as he armed the device.

"We've got a remote timed det. Fifteen minutes once I hit the button."

The remaining two doors to the chamber opened and even more Collectors began pouring into the room. Garrus fumbled with a thermal clip and finally managed to get his assault rifle reloaded. One of the Collector 'assassin' drones tossed up a portable shield, framing its forward section in topaz hexagons.

Jacob fired off a biotic shockwave, splintering the shield into dozens of tiny fragments that seemed to evaporate in the air. Without its cover, the assassin drone was easily dispatched by a brief burst of rifle fire.

Two more of the drones popped defensive shields, but instead of leaving them on the ground, hefted them on their arms and charged the squad. Garrus felt a heavy impact and heard a warbling sound as one of the shields struck him full on. Vakarian staggered back, clutching for his sniper rifle.

The assassin drone toppled a moment later as the former vigilante shattered one of the hexagonal panels and decapitated the shield's wielder with a high-velocity slug. The second drone withered as its exposed side was subjugated to a sustained burst of rifle fire.

A pair of golden particle beams seared past Jacob, prompting the man to turn and face the offending aliens. The former Cerberus operative's blood ran cold. Shepard, Tali and Grunt were firing into what seemed like a solid wall of Collectors.

"Commander, we're not going to get through that-"

Without warning, the air around Shepard's body started to shimmer like the mirage formed by heat at the end of a long road, quickly taking on an emerald sheen. An instant later, a green sphere spiraled towards the center of the far wall, impacting one of the nearest drones.

The Collector screeched as its chitinous skin seemed to melt, flowing into the singularity like molten rock. The gunfire from the Collectors died down rapidly as several of their numbers were drawn towards the biotic gravity well. Tali sensed her jaw opening as the alien's nearest the event horizon began to disintegrate.

More than two thirds of the opposing aliens had been either killed or were helplessly drifting towards the singularity when Shepard was no longer able to maintain it. With a huff, the Commander dropped to his hands and knees. The biotic field detonated with terrific force, creating a roar that shook the room and carried the scent of ozone and charred flesh. Shepard could feel the pressure of the blast reverberate in his chest as he struggled to his feet.

"GO!" His order came out breathlessly, but still bore the force necessary to get his team moving.

Shepard stumbled for a few steps, gained his footing, and pushed forward to the center of the pack. The Collectors that had survived the blast were too shell-shocked to fire at the fleeing commandos and Tali keyed her omni-tool, slamming the chambers' doors behind them and triggering the 'firestorm' grenade she'd left behind.

Frederick watched as his team put down the small group of husks with practiced ease. After seeing so many of the reanimated shock-troops, he was at a loss for where the collectors could have possibly acquired all of the bodies.

The gunfire would have alerted the commandos on the other side of the door. The element of surprise would be gone, and he did not relish the possibility of engaging the biotic that was accompanying them. Without warning, two automated turrets on either side of the door sprang to life, slicing into Gore's squad. Two of the operatives fell in the face of the particle beam's burning wrath.

The Cerberus operative dove underneath one of the emplacements and grabbed the muzzle, forcing it at the other gun. Sickly green smoke erupted from the auto-turret as the beam burned into its core systems. Frederick charged his biotics around the turret in his grasp, warping and weakening the metal until it came loose.

The particle beam stuttered and winked out of existence as the turret came free of its mounting. Gore turned to examine his team, only three were left. A rush of cold air blasted through the door as the massive halves of the bulkhead slid apart. Two more of the Cerberus squad was put down instantly by an assault rifle and heavy pistol. Frederick rolled behind a rock, taking him out of the direct line of fire.

Gore's last remaining squad-mate dropped her weapon and sank to her knees, bringing her hands to her head in surrender. Gore kept his pistol trained on the doorway, waiting for one of the commandoes to enter his view. He was crazy! He was still considering taking on the enemy team with only one of his team alive and him being the only one armed! What was he thinking!

Gore holstered his sidearm and lifted his hands in surrender before stepping out into plain view. He knelt next to his squad-mate as a geth and shapely woman in her late twenties or early thirties approached, weapons drawn. The woman's black outfit seemed starkly fami-. Frederick caught sight of a faint mark on the lapel of her uniform. The discolored area matched the Cerberus logo, likely buffed off. Miranda Lawson!

Her cold glare burned into his skull. "Frederick, long time no see."

His old trainer lifted her pistol. "You shouldn't have come here," She lamented. "I'm sorry it has to end like this, but I've had enough of Cerberus, Shepard is my Commander now."

Gore didn't wait for her to pull the trigger but released a biotic push and rolled back, bringing his sidearm to bear. The first slug impacted her shields, then a second and a third, finally cracking the barrier. Miranda felt the impact of the fourth slug as it tore into her lung, followed by another that cut into her spine. Her world spun as her legs lost control and she collapsed to the ground.

"You sick bastard!" Jack roared. "She was my kill!" Gore barely turned in time to see the blue energy encircling her fist closing the distance with him. Miranda hadn't been the team's only biotic! Frederick's life ended an instant later as Jack's arm literally cut him in half.

Gore's last teammate grabbed his pistol from the ground. Jack was in mid swing when the bullet ripped through the top of her target's head, eliminating the last of the Cerberus operatives.

"Charge is armed!" Shepard's voice rang over the comm. "All teams, get to your evac stations!"

Revision Note:

Initially, I thought I would only be making one addition this chapter; Sp4rkyMcG7 had made a comment on the original draft that inspired the addition of Reegar's team vs Cerberus. In Haestrom, I mentioned that Reegar had lost his father aboard the Idenna during the Cerberus attack (detailed in Mass Effect: Ascension). After reading through the chapter, a few more things stuck out. The scene with Shepard's singularity felt wholly unsatisfying, and that resulted in a rework of the progress of Shepard and his team, among other things.

Author's Note:

Originally, I had planned to have Cerberus show up and help eradicate the Collectors from the base in the previous chapter, but decided to leave their involvement entirely to this and the next chapter.

In other news, I've decided that the letters "O" and "P" are tpp clpse pn the keybpard, I keeo getting them mixed uo as I write.