5/11/2210
"What I'd like to know, is how Cerberus knew we were coming." Garrus asked bluntly, the turian's gaze flicking between those assembled in the Normandy's conference room.
Shepard frowned at his friend's words, unsure as to how best approach the subject. Almost a day had passed since the mission had passed before a meeting was finally called to discuss their next move. Shepard would have called the conference sooner, but his team's accumulated injuries had made him opt to wait until everyone had rested and recovered. He'd been hard pressed to even justify giving everyone that long; every minute they waited was one minute Cerberus got closer to their goals.
Shepard opened his mouth of answer; but before he could the holographic image of Liara hovering over the center of the large emitter spoke in answer to Garrus' question. "I am afraid the only answer is that I am to blame. Cerberus likely allowed me to discover the locations of those two bases; anticipating that we would launch attacks on both locations. From there it would have been a simple matter of preparing."
The asari sighed, shaking her head sadly. "I should have suspected something was amiss, I discovered those bases far too easily. At the very least I should have anticipated the possibility."
"You can't blame yourself for what happened, Liara." Shepard countered. "I was the one who walked right into the trap, not you. I should have known something was wrong as soon as we got inside or-"
He felt a hand grip his shoulder softly then, Tali's voice softly cutting him off. "Nor can you blame yourself for what happened. We all walked into that trap John... Cerberus outsmarted all of us."
While Shepard said nothing in response to her words, he moved a hand up to his shoulder to lay on her's; gently squeezing it in a gesture that carried his answer more clearly than any words could.
Thank you.
"Still, what I don't get is why Cerberus went through all that trouble." James frowned, speaking up for the first time. "Unless I'm missing something it seems like a hell a lot of effort just to kill us."
Shepard exchanged a quick glance with Tali. Besides Liara, who he'd told what had happened when he reported back to her following the mission, only himself and his lifemate were privy to what Cerberus's goal had been in setting the trap. "Killing us wasn't the only thing Cerberus was after..."
Pausing only long enough to collect his thoughts, Shepard recounted what had happened after he and Tali had split off from the rest of the team. He focused most of his attention on how he'd found the prothean code-matrix seemingly unprotected inside the vault, of the vision he'd seen after he first touched it, and finally of how it'd been exactly what Cerberus had wanted. Throughout it his team watched him intently, none of them even moving to speak until after he finished
"Cerberus needed me to reach the Code-Matrix since it would recognize me as a prothean because of the cypher. That's probably the only reason they even attempted such a risky trap to begin with." Shepard frowned as he finished, falling silent.
For a time no one spoke, each of those present appearing pensive as they considered what he had said. At last it was Kaidan who spoke first, voicing the thought that was on everyone's mind. "If you're right, then Cerberus can access all the prothean data they recovered, right? Like the data storage device they beat us too in those prothean ruins a few weeks back. That's bad."
"We can only speculate at this point." Liara answered. "We still know too little to say for certain how close Cerberus is to the Darkforge, or even what it is and what they intend to do with it once they find it."
"Wait, didn't Cerberus also have that device they stole from Noveria? I know its not important now since my daughter managed to steal it back from those bosh'tets; but wasn't it designed to bypass the need for someone with a prothean's mind? If they had that, why did they even need to trick John into touching it the first place?" Tali asked, cutting into the conversation.
It took Shepard a moment to remember what she was talking about, recalling what Liara had told him about the device his daughter's team had attempted to retrieve from a research facility on the frozen world.
"From the schematics Ria was able to get me after Noveria, I gathered the device is as likely to function correctly as it is to destroy itself and the code matrix its used on." Liara explained, the holographic projection of her appearing thoughtful as she added. "My best guess is that Cerberus decided to only use it as a last resort because of this very risk, at least not when they had other options."
"Still, this is just speculation. Cerberus getting it to work though, that can't be good." Garrus noted, his mandibles twisted into the turian equivalent of a frown.
"At best Cerberus is merely closer to their goal..." The asari sighed in response.
"...And at worse they have everything they need now." Shepard concluded, bitterly. Despite knowing that he couldn't blame himself for what had happen, the thought that he might have inadvertently handed Cerberus the last thing they needed to locate the Dark Forge didn't sit well with the spectre.
"It is entirely possible." The Liara agreed soberly, though her mood seemed to grow brighter as she added. "The one positive is that your daughter's team managed to recover a device which with luck should allow them to activate the Code Matrix they recovered some time ago without the need of your... unique talent."
"Now that you bring it up, has Ria reported back on progress with that?" Shepard asked, turning his full attention to the asari's holographic projection.
"No, but I did consult with Ria earlier today on the procedure she will need to go through to activate it. She'd said that she planned to attempt to do so as soon as the rest of her team could be present ." Liara replied with a shake of her head. "I imagine that they could be attempting it as we speak."
. . . . .
"So we're sure this will work?" Laura asked skeptically for what felt to Ria like the dozenth time.
"Assuming it doesn't blow up in our faces, yeah, it should work." She replied, frowning as she gazed at the device. With Kel's help it had taken her a only a matter of minutes to hook up the Eridu Technologies created device to the Invisible power grid. The task of installing an array of sensors to the device, so they could keep a close track the massive amounts of energy output, had been more difficult; occupying over an hour of time before the two quarians were confident that the additions would not affect the device's functionality in any way.
"Creator-Shepard does not jest: the considerable magnitude of energy generated by the device makes the potential of an catastrophic failure an altogether probable outcome. " Core announced over the Invisible's overhead speakers.
"That's why we're doing this in the cargo-hold and not in engineering. "Ria replied slowly as if speaking to a child, annoyance icing her words. "This way if it does go badly it won't damage anything important on the ship."
"While you are indeed correct about the probability of the ship being damaged in the case of a severe overload; those located inside the cargo-hold at the time of the detonation will face an high probability of injury." Core retorted.
"That's what the barricades are for." Ria sighed, motioning with a hand to the makeshift wall they had constructed with the largest and heaviest storage crates they could find.
"Even with the constructed barricades we calculate the the worst case scenario of catastrophic failure has the potential to deal fatal injury to those within the cargo bay." The geth retooled sharply, speaking far quicker and with more energy than Ria was accustomed to.
"Am I detecting concern, Core? Are you worried about us?" Ria teased, looking upward to gaze 'towards' the geth's disembodied voice.
"This unit was merely warning that my calculations show that this venture puts yourself and the rest of your team at undue risk. It was only logical we voiced these concerns." Core replied indignantly, as if the suggestion that he'd acting on emotion rather than rational thinking offended him.
Sighing, Ria returned to making last minute adjustments to the device. Just as she finished tightening the last bolt securing one of the sensor's into place; she heard Laura step forward once more and ask: "You should take Core more seriously Ria. It sounds like this could end very badly."
"Hey, I offered to be the only one staying behind to activate it. You, nor anyone else, has to be here when I turn it on." Ria replied, brushing off the thin layer of dust that had accumulated on her legs.
Laura shook her head at that suggestion; a weary smile crossing her lips. "We're not about to let you take all the risk." She replied before turning to add with a shout: "Isn't that right, Tarran!"
"She's right!" The turian replied, waving from behind the makeshift barriers. "Though if its all the same to you, I'm going to be staying back here until we're sure this thing doesn't spontaneously combust... or knowing our luck, tear a hole in space and time."
"Of course if that happened it'd probably just lead to parallel universe where all of us are evil of something." Ria grinned as she scanned the device with her omnitool.
"Dammit, and to think I was looking forward to not having to fight my evil clone today." The turian grumbled sarcastically.
Shaking her head with bemusement Ria finished up her scan. Seeing that everything was in order she glanced over her shoulder and called out, "Kel, since Tarran's being a five year old can you bring me the Code Matrix?"
No sooner had she given the order than the blue clad quarian hurried out from behind the barricade of crates, brushing past Daron who stood with his back against a wall just inside the 'safe zone'. Coming to a stop he presented her the prothean device in question; the metallic sphere in the center of the crystalline cube warping in size even as Ria gazed upon it.
"Thank you." She nodded, taking the device from Kel; who quickly retreated back behind the barriers. Turning her attention to Laura, she added: "You better go too, I can handle this from here."
As the human women trotted off in compliance with her orders; Ria knelt besides the device. Hefting the code-matrix, she slipped it into the alcove set into one side of the device, which clicked snugly into place.
"Alright, if no one has any objections, I will start the countdown to 'mirror world'." Ria announced, garnering a collection of sighs in response to her jest. Still, no one raised any objections to beginning, so after a moment Ria began her countdown. "Okay, 5. 4. 3. 2. 1..."
Sucking in a deep breath, Ria pressed the activate button set into the device, which immediately began humming, the inside awash with a bright green light. Without sparing it a second glance, Ria turned and sprinted back to the far end of the room and behind the barricade.
Outside the device hummed with greater intensity, which was broken only by loud noises almost like the boom of thunder, only more high pitched. The device rattled and shook as the energy continued to intensify, cracks forming around the edge of the alcove where the code matrix was placed.
"Warning, energy levels exceeding recommended parameters." Core intoned as green bolts of electricity began flying from the device, singeing the ground where they struck.
Before the young quarian could respond, the humming reach a crescendo followed by a echoing bang that dwarfed those that had come before. The device vanished in a burst of brilliant light and heat. Ria's eyes snapped shut, and she lifted her hands in a futile attempt to shield herself as a concussive wave thrown off by the detonation crashed into them.
The expected pain failed to materialize, even as a deafening cacophony of crashing bangs filled the air around her and the others; which continued on for several horrible moments before dying down to an utter Calm. The resulting silence was broken only by a faint hiss like the sound of escaping steam.
Opening her eyes, Ria saw that in a small circle of ground free of the shattered debris that were all that was left of the barricade they'd constructed. Glancing around she that Daron now stood at the center of their group; gathering that the mercenary must have reacted fast enough to shield them from the explosion. If he hadn't been here, or had reacted any slower, we'd all be dead. Ria thought, a brief moment of panic gripping her as she realised how close their brush with death had been.
"Well, that went well." Tarran coughed, blinking at the dusk clinging to his eyes. "Everyone okay?"
"Yeah, was close though." Ria replied. Overhead the Invisible's light's flickered on and off, their dim light failing to cut through the billowing smoke that obscured the area where the device had located. "Core, status?"
"Power surge overloaded primary barriers on non critical systems. Switching to back up power." As the geth spoke the lights flashed back on to their original brightness, a faint hum filling the room as vents began filtering out the smoke that had filled the cargo-bay.
"I guess its too much to that the code-matrix survived that." Laura noted bitterly.
Ria was about to grudgingly agree with her friend's analysis; only to notice a faint shimmer of green light in the center of the cloud of smoke. Holding up a hand in motion for her friends to wait where they were, Ria cautiously approached, reaching the spot as the smoke began to clear.
Amongst the ruined remains to the device sat the code-matrix, appearing completely unharmed. More than that, the crystalline martial now was infused with a faint green light that shone even against the bright lights overhead. Cautiously Ria bent and after a moments hesitation picked up the prothean artifact. Even though her suit blocked out most sensation, Ria was surprised to feel a faint warmth emanating from it.
"It worked..." Ria breathed as her team hurried over to her, disbelief filling her voice. "It actually worked."
Before anyone could respond, she turned and started towards the elevator. "Come on, I have to show this to Liara in the conference room!" Ria waved for them to follow, elated that something had gone right for once.
. . . . .
"Alright, lets see if this works" Ria announced a few minutes later after she and her team had gathered in a circle around the small table in the center of the Invisible's conference room. Carefully she set the still glowing code matrix in the center of the table; before withdrawing the prothean data disk from the metal case she had retrieved from where it'd been stored in one of the armory's weapon lockers.
Following the instructions Liara had given her, Ria reached out to hold the small, bone white disk of metal half a foot over the now active prothean artifact. She only had to hold it there a moment before the code matrix began pulsing with light.
Hesitating, Ria did as she'd been told to do and willed her fingers to release from the disk. Her fear that it would fall the minute she let go proved to be unfounded, the disk hovering motionless where she left it above the code-matrix.
With nervous excitement flowing through her, she watched on with widened eyes as a beam of green light shot forth from the shimmering cube to bathe the disk in its brilliance. The disk began to spin, alien symbols dancing around its surface as the light pulsed at a rate that increased with every passing second. Soon the flashes became so rapid that she could barely differentiate one from another.
Then the pulses began to slow to a faint throb like a distant heart beat. The disk slowed its revolutions to a leisurely pace as the beam of emerald light blinked out of existence.
"...Did it work?" Tarran asked, peering at the disk with a look somewhere between awe and suspicion.
"I-I think so," Ria answered, her voice wavering with nervous anticipation as she reached out and plucked the prothean data drive from mid air. The code matrix seemed to shimmer as she seized the disk, but otherwise showed no change.
"Creator-Shepard." Core intoned over the room's speakers. "Place the data drive on the center of the table. In addition to the hologram projector, there is a scanner that should be sufficient to read the decrypted data disk."
Nodding, Ria carefully moved the still glowing Code-Matrix to the side so that the disk could be placed in the dead center of the table. As soon as the young quarian moved her hand away a circle of white light appeared under the disk, shining in stark contrast to the dark material of the table's surface.
"Processing data now..." Core announced.
A minute crawled by as Ria waited impatiently for the Geth to continue. She began to tap her foot, and another minute passed. Another minute passed, forcing her to fight to urge to pace around the room as her impatience began boiling over.
"Data retrieved..." The geth said just as Ria started to fear he would never speak.
"And?" Ria asked impatiently.
"This data drive contains no information on the sought after artifact known as the 'Darkforge'."
A chorus of competing cries of disbelief and anger filled the room at Core's announcement. What each said then was known only to whoever spoke it; any words becoming uninterpretable in the roar of overlapping shouts.
"You mean we-"
"-it doesn't have..."
"Bullshit we did all tha-"
"-was the point of-
Only once the shouts had begun to die down this the Geth speak in reply "This data appears to have alarmed you."
Ria opening her mouth to reply only to be silenced as the disembodied voice continued: "We did not wish to cause you distress, but we are afraid to inform you that's its of your own creation. You never let us finish: while the disk itself contains no information of the Darkforge, in it is stored code disguised with the purpose to allow retrieval of data on this artifact from any of several prothean archives."
For a time no one spoke as each of those present processed what Core had said. Then at last Tarran broke the quiet. "And here I'd hoped we'd finally gotten some answers. Nothing can ever be easy can it?"
"Without luck, no, no it can't." Laura replied, the human woman's frustration at this turn of events evident in her voice.
For her part, Ria said nothing as she stared at the data disk sitting in the center of the table, an uncomfortable uncertainty filling her veins.
"So, um... what do we do now?" Kel asked nervously a moment later, snapping Ria from her daze.
"Now?" Ria sighed, biting her lower lip as she pondered what their next move should be in light of Core's announcement. "Decide what we do next."
. . . . .
"If everyone else has had their fill of discussing what went wrong, I think we should start discussing what our next move is." Garrus said, cutting through the silence that had hung over them since the conclusion of the discussion regarding their last mission's disastrous results.
"And once again Cerberus is one step ahead of us." Shepard shook his head while staring a hole through the bulkhead with frustration. "We need to find their base and crush it before this gets too far out of our hands."
"A sound idea, but with one fatal flaw: We do not know the location of Cerberus' base. Nor do we have any leads to build our search off of." Liara frowned.
"True." Shepard sighed wearily, "Still, unless anyone has a better idea I'd like to see if we can figure out where Cerberus might be located."
"Doesn't it seem likely Cerberus' base is similar to the one they used last time? A station located in some remote corner of the galaxy?" Kaidan suggested thoughtfully.
"That is what I fear. If so, then it will be impossible to locate such a headquarters in a timely fashion." Liara agreed.
The asari's words seemed to sober those gathered in the ship's comms room, everyone falling silent as they considered the matter with dower expressions on their faces. A minute passed before Tali suddenly perked up, the quarian engineer lifting her gaze as an idea occurred to her. "Wait, we're going about this all the wrong way. Last time Cerberus had numerous ships, so their base had to be isolated." She exclaimed, excitement filling her voice.
"Yeah, so... what's the point?" James frowned.
"The point is, in the past month we haven't detected a single one of their ships. Nor has anyone at any of the locations they attacked. Cerberus must have stealth drives on the their ships just like the Normandy's." Tali explained.
"-Which means they have less need to pick an isolated location for their headquarters." Shepard finished, smiling as he realized what his lifemate was suggesting. "And because of this they are more likely to have picked a location that allows them to travel the galaxy unimpeded."
"Exactly." Tali beamed from behind her mask. "This doesn't help us narrow down our search, but it does make sure we're not looking in the right place."
"Still doesn't change the fact we have no leads. The galaxy is a big place, remote regions or no." Kaidan noted.
Shepard said nothing, wracking his brain for anything that could tell him where Cerberus' main base was located. If Tali's guess is correct, that they have stealth drives like the Normandy's, their base could be anywhere. Shepard frowned to himself. If I were in charge of Cerberus, where would I make my base of operations. It'd have to be somewhere that could easily be defended, especially since they don't have the indoctrinated army they use to. It'd be somewhere that no one else could get to easily, somewhere no one would expected.
Somewhere no one would expect. He thought to himself again. Somewhere hidden in plain sight.
. . . . .
"I'm not one to run away from a fight, but now I think we might be getting ahead of ourselves." Laura frowned, her eyes locking on Ria's with a piercing gaze filled with concern. "Shouldn't we try to get this data to someone who can use it better than us?"
Ria considered this suggestion for a moment before shaking her head. "No, you heard what that Cerberus assassin said back on the station, he sounded like he was suggesting Cerberus already has everything they needed to locate the Darkforge. We don't have enough time to convince someone else of its importance, nor for them to get us access to a prothean archive."
She hesitated for a moment, her voice taking on a more somber tone. "And even if we had the time, this was our task. We started it. We had a friend die for it. I intend to finish it."
Laura stared at her for several moments, the human woman's gaze unwavering as instants became seconds. Then, just as Ria feared she would continue, Laura conceded at last. "Alright. If we are going to do this, we still need to figure out where we're going."
"Shouldn't be too hard." Daron interjected with a frown "There can't be too many prothean archives we can use."
"We don't need to figure it out." Ria replied, smiling behind her mast at the assortment of questioning looks she garnered at her statement. "I already know where we need to go."
"The prothean archives on Mars?" Tarran asked with a frown. "That's the only ones I'm aware of."
Ria shook her head. "No, too far away. It'd take us half a week or more to reach Sol from here. Besides, there's one other place I can think of. One that I'm surprised you and Laura haven't remembered yet."
Laura and Tarran both gave her equally confused looks at this, both appearing at a complete loss.
"I'm surprised you two haven't considered our parent's history more." Ria replied, her smile growing into a smirk. "The answer's practically in plain sight."
. . . . .
"Hidden in plain sight." Shepard repeated to himself out loud, realizing with a jolt he suspected with utter certainty where Cerberus' main base of operations was located.
The whispered exclamation drew questioning looks from his team, with Kaidan asking: "What was that?"
"I know... well, not know- have a hunch where Cerberus's headquarters are. Its a long shot, but my gut tells me I'm right." Shepard answered, looking at each of those watching with a confident smile gracing his lips.
"How?" Liara prompted, wanting an explanation behind his words.
"Cerberus has to have built their main base somewhere they can defend easily, they don't have the army they use to. Being remote like last time wouldn't do them any good if they are discovered." Shepard explained, tapping a finger against the table for a moment before continuing. "We all expected Cerberus to have a station somewhere in remote space; so what better way to defend their base by putting it the last place we'd ever think to look. Hiding it in plain sight, somewhere that only they could safely reach. I can think of but one location that fits the bill..."
"You don't mean..." Tali breathed, trailing off as she spoke. It was not a question.
"Yes, the Cerberus base is hidden beyond the Omega 4 Relay. I'm sure of it." Shepard answered,
No one spoke for several stunned seconds, an utter quiet falling over the room. Then, hesitantly, Tali spoke, shattering the silence. "It makes sense... You'd need a Reaper IFF to pass through safely to begin with, and besides the Normandy no one but Cerberus ever had access to one."
"-and if all their ships have stealth drives like the Normandy, they could pass to and from the Omega 4 Relay without being noticed." Garrus added, excitement tinging his voice. "The only way anyone would noticed is if somewhat was watching the relay very closely, which as far as I am aware no one was."
"Exactly, for that reason the remnants of the Collector base is the only place where Cerberus wouldn't have to worry about discovery or large scale assault." Shepard nodded.
"What's more, after the war no one ever bothered to see what Cerberus was doing past the relay." Liara added, speaking slowly as if still trying to fully process what Shepard had said. "The prospect of reconstruction after the war took precedence, and after... well after no one really wanted to commit the resources to it."
"Wait, weren't all of the Mass Relays damaged when the Crucible fired?" James cut in with a frown. "I doubt that anyone bothered to repair the Omega 4 relay."
"True." Liara agreed, but after a pause added. "However, some relays, particularly those further away from the Crucible when it fired due to its energy dissipating somewhat over distance, were not as severely damaged. Such relays still partially functioned, though the damage made them dangerous to use as they often proved to be severely inaccurate compared to fully functioning ones."
"Also, who's to say Cerberus hasn't managed to repair the relay in secret over the past twenty years." Shepard added. "If they managed to go completely unnoticed for this long, who's to say they couldn't also fix the relay during that time."
For a moment no one spoke, each mulling over what he'd said.
"How are you sure your guess is correct?" Kaidan asked thoughtfully. "I trust your judgment Shepard, but we can't afford to be wrong on this. We don't have the time for a wild goose chase."
"I don't know for sure." Shepard conceded, hesitating before adding: "But... it feels right to me. You'll have to trust my instinct on this one Kaidan."
The biotic nodded in acceptance, raising a hand in surrender to his point.
"If you're right Shepard, then Cerberus probably has the place heavily defended." Garrus broke in with a deep frown. "We can't do this on our own."
"Don't worry, I already have a solution for that problem. It'll take a few days at the least, but I don't intend to go in alone." Shepard replied, with a grin. "Liara, you and me will have to work out the specifics over the next few days; as organizing this sort of thing is your expertise."
The asari looked confused for a moment, then her eyes widened almost imperceptibility in comprehension. "I'll get to work on contacting the needed parties as soon as this meeting is adjourned."
Nodding, Shepard turned his attention back to the rest of his team to address any additional concerns they might have. Seeing that no more questions were forthcoming, he took a few steps back from the table so every member of his team gathered was in his field of vision.
Looking between each of them in turn, the spectre saw that each stared intently on him with looks of expectation; each waiting for him to speak. Clearing his throat, Shepard spoke. To the onlookers his voice seemed to carry a sense of authority and confidence so strong that it washed aside any fears and doubts. "Its not going to be easy, but we don't have much of a choice. I for one am going through the Omega 4 Relay, no matter what it takes. I'm tired of Cerberus having an edge on us, its time we put an end to this."
. . . . .
"Where?!" Laura and Tarran asked in unison, exasperation clear in their voices.
Ria grinned behind her mask, taking a step back from the table to address her gathered crew. Swallowing the barely noticeable pang of nervousness, Ria spoke in a confident tone that drew the eyes of all the onlookers to watch her intently.
"There's only one place I can think of that's close enough. Somewhere that was a large enough prothean research facility to have data archives that might possess the information we need." Ria paused, moving her gaze over each of them in turn before continuing. "But more importantly its somewhere my parents visited on their adventure; and I can't possibly think for a better destination near the end of our own first journey."
Ria glanced upward, raising her voice to a address the ship's 'AI'."Core, set a course for Ilos."