I do not own Mass Effect. Bioware does.
Mordin was on his knees, hooking up the equipment to keep the gas canister stable. Opening the valve, a clear vapor began to quickly seep out into the violent winds, off to distribute among the krogan populace.
"Commander, just distributed another one! Will move out in a few more minutes!" Mordin informed Garrus.
"Keep it up! We're doing well so far!" Garrus encouraged.
Robin found a nearby perch and began scanning ahead in search for more suitable spots with Liara standing next to her. The winds continued to curl around them as Liara and Robin took the time to disperse the canister of spores. In the meantime, Garrus took the time to call Okeer's crew.
"Okeer, this is Commander Vakarian. We've marked the map with the locations we've covered. I assume progress is going smoothly on your part?"
{Everything's going well so far. My team had to shoo off a Thresher Maw, but it wasn't too problematic,} the warlord reported, {we did have a small head-start on you, but we're only ahead by a single local. Given the map right now, we're almost a third of the way done.}
"Fortunately," Garrus quipped, "we still have some canisters yet to be set into place."
The last of the current canister Liara and Robin began emptying.
"The last one has been deployed!" Liara called out, "we should be good to go!"
Garrus turned his attention back to Okeer.
"We'll be heading out in a bit. Expect another twenty-five minutes of radio silence."
Returning to the shuttle, they lifted off and moved onto the next site. During the flight, Robin held onto Garrus while she watched the scenery from the shuttle. Down below were horrors that Earth had briefly visited before its inhabitants forever turned its back on for fear of destroying their only home. Tuchanka had been laid waste to over centuries by nuclear warfare. The radiation began to wear off, but the environment had been left desolated by the ancient conflicts. Similarly, the ground was littered with bombed infrastructure, left to forever rot.
"It's not much, but it's home," Wrex muttered.
Robin didn't say anything, yet she nodded in acknowledgment.
"Maybe not too far gone," Mordin whispered guiltily, "maybe new life will be born beneath this blood-stained sand."
Another while of silence passed before the shuttle finally reached its destination. Exiting onto the dune, the group could see in the distance below a large, flat platform with what appeared to be a large drill supported by three legs in the middle. Down below were a few krogans facing off a giant centipede-like creature.
"Ah, the rite of passage," Wrex said, "harrowing trials against the various beasts of the wastelands."
Robin's eyes widened while she blinked, examining the giant creature.
"Is that supposed to be a Thresher Maw?" Robin asked.
"Yeah. I took one down during my trial as a teen," Wrex answered, thinking back to his youth, "it was a pain in the ass, getting through the armor, avoiding its acid, and avoiding it when it resurfaces."
"I think I can see a definition of a dog eat dog world," Robin commented.
Mordin went straight to work on the next couple of gas tanks.
"Thresher Maws will prove problematic during reconstruction. Spread easily between planets, eggs nearly impossible to completely check."
"Problematic how?" Wrex asked. "they're animals: big and stupid. Besides, they die like everything else. It can't be too problematic."
"So how do we make sure the Thresher Maws don't attack the canisters?" Robin clamored, "repel them?"
"So long as the teens are down there, they shouldn't be a problem right now," Wrex reassured, "besides, these things usually don't leave their nests unless they pick up heavy movement on the surface, like a large caravan, an explosion, or anything that would generally signify the presence of food. The shuttle landing and our mere footsteps won't lure it."
Robin nodded before she scanned the area for a suitable spot to set down the canister in her hands.
"The only time mere footsteps would set them off would be if you were to walk right through their nest," Wrex added, "we do our best to mark those sites, but they're significantly harder to tell on uninhabited planets. At least from a distance."
It didn't take long for Tali'Zorah to find a suitable spot.
"The scenery is admittedly beautiful for being war-torn," Tali sighed, looking at the horizon.
Garrus walked back over to Mordin.
"So, this treatment. You never tested it on other species?"
"No. Saw no need to. Thought subjects from target species would suffice. Why do you ask?" Mordin blinked.
"Just nervous. That's all," Garrus replied, "before we leave the system, I want everyone to undergo one last medical checkup to see if we aren't suffering from any resulting maladies."
Liara couldn't help but blink since she was standing near Garrus and Mordin.
"Are you…still worried about us?" Liara asked.
"The vast majority of people aboard the Aran'tar at the time of the leak were not part of the intended target species, so of course I'm still worried. Even the most basic of medicines can function vastly different between species," Garrus retorted, "for all I know, it could start causing cancerous growths on the majority of the turian crew, myself included."
By then, Robin found another suitable spot and set down the canister.
"This should work," Robin said to herself.
Tali picked up her emptied canister and brought it back to the shuttle.
"We're almost done here," Tali informed.
While Liara wasn't looking, Wrex walked up to the canister the asari brought out. Seemingly empty, he picked it up when he suddenly was sprayed in the face with remaining residue.
"Paugh! Uugh! It's like a face full of bug-spray!" Wrex coughed.
"It shouldn't kill you, Wrex. Stop complaining," Garrus chastised, "you done, Robin?"
"Yeah," Robin nodded.
Garrus marked the next part of the map.
"Keep going to the next site," Garrus ordered.
{Don't you dare turn your back on us, Anderson!} Toby Dunn yelled over the transmission, {if you side with the turians, you will do time for treason!}
Anderson groaned in disbelief as he folded his arms, not thrilled to receive a transmission from the President.
"Correction: my loyalties still lie with the Alliance," Anderson corrected, "while I can understand how my actions would be seen as such, there are plenty more who would disagree, myself included. I had spoken with other individuals within the Alliance, namely politicians, about your dealings. The general disposition on your administration is largely unanimous."
Keagan, who stood beside Anderson, nodded in agreement.
"Feel free to continue digging. The young commander here has provided more than enough to convince the audience. If it's any consolation, I will be attending the hearing," Anderson chuckled as he hung up, "it's a good day, Commander Shepard. We've won, and you're to thank."
{Again, thank you, Anderson,} Brendan replied.
"Unfortunately, that's all the good news you haven't heard up until this point," the admiral continued, "I don't have any more leads to provide you going forward. All I can say is to keep up the manhunt."
{Yes, Admiral. I will k— ep o— ching th—} Brendan's speech and image began to distort from connection disturbance. {Ad— son? So— interf—. Can you he—?}
Anderson was left bewildered at the sight of the cut in transmission.
"Commander?! Commander! Can you hear me?!" his words fell on deaf ears as the red words 'connection lost' were projected.
He quickly changed frequency.
"Major Kyle," Anderson ordered, "get your division to the Citadel Station. Commander Shepard was posted there when his transmission cut out. Get there and find out what's going on!"
{Sir, yes sir!} Kyle nodded.
"Admiral? Admiral!" Brendan panicked.
The feed suddenly cut out altogether.
"Shit! We're being jammed!" Miranda exclaimed testing the other frequencies to her dismay.
Saren drew out his rifle as he left the conference room.
"What's happening out there? Are we under attack?" Saren demanded.
Brendan and Miranda followed Saren out of the conference room and down the hall. Fortunately, short range communications still worked.
{Sir, Cerberus vessels just arrived out of the Mass Relay. Orders?} the pilot asked over coms.
"Fall back to the apartments. Get as many troops suited up before you leave. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can. Out," Brendan ordered with Miranda and Saren close behind, "we'll be picking up Robin's friends on the way to the hideout. We'll need to know Cerberus' full plan before we properly know where to start."
{Right away,} the pilot nodded.
The trio quickly rushed to the apartment complex where Robin's friends lived. Rushing to the door, Brendan mashed the doorbell before turning to face the other direction, waiting for possible hostiles.
{Hello?} Joker greeted over the door microphone.
"Joker, it's Brendan, Miranda, and Saren," Brendan explained, "the Citadel is under attack by Cerberus, and we're regrouping with my unit until we can figure out what's Cerberus' next move."
{Oh, shit!} Joker exclaimed, {really?!}
"Yeah! Don't waste time packing, let's go!" Brendan ordered.
Soon enough, Jack, Kasumi, Kaidan, Ashley, and Jeff exited the door.
"What's going on? The hell are they doing?" Kaidan demanded.
"From what we do know, Cerberus is making a large push," Saren answered, "until we know the full extent of the situation, we'll just have to keep low."
With that in mind, Saren, Brendan, Miranda, Joker, Kasumi, Jack, Kaidan and Ashley scurried away from the apartment complex. After Brendan had worked citizenship for he and his men, the whole unit rented several apartments as temporary barracks away from Alliance territory. Brendan rushed up to the door and hastily unlocked the door. He entered to find the entire crew of the Normandy, waiting for him.
"Is everyone here?" Brendan asked.
After a quick headcount, the group further retreated into the lower wards to avoid being caught by Cerberus troops. Still, they cringed when they heard gunshots from a distance. Long since having left the Presidium, the group wandered the lower wards, looking through closed down shops and back alleys to possibly camp out in until they can figure out what to do. Scouting through an abandoned hotel, the team moved in and set camp.
"Everyone else will stay here," Brendan instructed, "I, Miranda, and Saren will be heading back out, finding a Cerberus goon, and asking him what their business is here on the Citadel."
"You'll be ok, won't you, Commander?" Kelly asked softly, her voice trembling with concern.
"We will," Brendan confirmed, "but until we know what's going on, we're stuck here. Keep an eye on everyone, Vega."
"You got it, Loco. Give 'em hell," James saluted, going to a hidden position by the door.
A few refugees from the higher levels finally began to trickle down, taking refuge in the lower areas of the Wards. Continuing on, the group found a Cerberus squad, consisting of an operative, two troopers, and an engineer with a deplorable turret, terrorizing the civilians they ran into. Taking cover with his rifle, he turned to look at the others.
"Four around the corner, three troops and an officer. We'll try to take down those soldiers before apprehending the officer. Sound like a plan?" Brendan suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," Miranda nodded.
Approaching the corner they hid around, the three landed well-placed headshots on three of the soldiers before Brendan shot the operative in his lightly armored legs, sending him falling to the ground in fiery pain.
"Got him!" Brendan whispered.
Hitting the operative with the butt of his gun, Saren lifted the unconscious operative onto his shoulder.
"I have him. Let's go."
Brendan, Saren and Miranda scampered out of the area before any troops could detect the commotion. Running into a mall, the group ran through the doors leading into the series of crannies and nooks that were the employee-only sectors. The operative groaned with pain as Saren put him on the ground.
"Lawson. I should've known it was you. Having fun?"
Brendan slugged the operative hard across the head.
"Formalities can come after the interview. Cerberus is acting awfully brace coming here. Care to explain?" Brendan growled.
"You have to come up with an excuse to convince me," the operative spat.
Miranda simply stared.
"No need. Your omni-tool will help fill in the picture," she huffed, scattering the operative's brains against the wall in front of him before ripping the omni-tool from his arm.
"These have a back door to them for quickly removing information," Miranda instructed, "keep watch while I retrieve as much data as possible, Cerberus does track vitals through the omni-tools they wear."
Brendan and Saren kept a constant eye down the corridors while Miranda worked as quickly as she could. Finishing up, they quickly made their way back to the hideout.
"Any progress?" Jack asked.
"Besides the fact this attack is purely out of desperation?" Brendan asked, "this is an all-or-nothing mission for them. They've rushed in with every last vessel they have at their disposal, taken control of the Citadel, closed the station, and jammed most outward coms."
"They've also got the Council," Saren added, "this'll make our approach much harder without outside help."
The entire Normandy crew and Robin's friends instantly cringed. They couldn't help but worry about what could become of the Councilors, the Primarch or even Nihlus. To add insult to injury, leaving the Citadel to get help was impossible. What more would it take to get the Illusive Man to get the entire Citadel to surrender and hand victory to Cerberus?
