Chapter 51: The Deal with the Devil
Miranda hated that song, not only because it was more than two hundred years old, but also because of what it represented. It came from an older vision of Cerberus, one that just like the song was severely out dated. However, since joining the 'fanatical terrorist' group, Miranda had done all she could to recorrect the groups course. It had started on Luna by eliminating Kai Leng and his cult like following. Even though 'Marlboro' suspected her involvement, he had no proof though and so he merely sent her here as a punishment. She hadn't protested, the time on Virmire allowed her to capitalize on her rival's failures on Noveria. However, her time at the research base was quickly coming to an end now.
First, she killed the annoying Asari, Rana, because she was yet another reminder of her predecessor's failings. If Marlboro asked about her, Miranda would just say she was cutting loose ends so Shepard couldn't follow them to the Pangaea Expanse. To insure no one was going to follow them, Miranda put the encrypted copy of the coordinates in the steel case and the clean version up her sleeve. That way she could give someone a bargaining chip they wanted without compromising the mission too much. By the time any user broke through the encryption, Cerberus would be able to destroy the Mu Relay and stop the Reapers. She had to show Marlboro that unlike the old XO, Miranda would get the job done without making a mess. Now all she had to do was regroup with her agents on the Normandy and steal the ship. If Shepard was as good as they say, he would find another way out, and if not he didn't deserve to be invested into by Cerberus.
When she stepped outside on a balcony however, Miranda realized how much trouble they were actually in now. Geth dropships sped across the sky like a swarm of locust overwhelming the pitiful two defense towers. This was her mistake this time, since Virmire was in the middle of nowhere, she assumed that the Prothean shield would protect them. She would definitely invest in more security on her next assignment. She started running faster when she saw Sovereign, the main Geth ship start flying towards the base, it was like Eden Prime all over again.
She tapped her omni tool frantically hoping the thing didn't know she had the data it wanted, "Taylor, Taylor do you copy? Taylor if you can hear this, bring the Normandy around to the back hangar. I'll be there in two minutes."
There was no reply but, Miranda just had to hope he got the message. The bases' communications jammer shouldn't mess with their own devices but, with Sovereign in the area, everyone could be jammed. While Taylor was an extremely new member to the organization, he was already showing dedication to their goals by staying so long on the Normandy. His unwavering moral compass might become a problem eventually but, she didn't have time to worry about that right now. Her heart was pounding from the amount of gunfire and Geth speak she could here all around her. It would've been so easy to just let her fear from experiencing Eden Prime take over but, Miranda was determined to get out of this alive. She still had someone worth fighting for, no matter how far away they were.
As she rounded a corner to get to the hangar, she saw him and couldn't help but be terrified. Saren was standing in the doorway to the next catwalk but, he looked vastly different than a normal Turian. His facial structure had dents that looked like they came from a pair of fists but, they were filled in with a purple metal. Most notably, one of his mandibles had been replaced with the metal and was unmoving. His blue eyes had turned to a green color and Miranda could swear she could see tiny wires connecting to the pupil. What happened to him? If she didn't know any better, Miranda would guess he had turned into a husk like she saw on Eden Prime. However, those had been mindless drones bent on killing organics. The cold expression Saren was giving her made him seem anything but mindless. The amount of hate he had in his gaze was staggering.
Before Miranda could really do anything, he used a biotic charge to get right in front of her and grabbed her by the throat, his voice was more robotic than the average Turian, "Where is he?"
That wasn't the question she was expecting, sure they had a past but, "I don't know what your talking about. I'm the leader of this facility, of Cerberus."
Saren squeezed her throat ever so slowly and Miranda realized he had very sharp nails now, "Foolish girl, I know your lying, it's typical for you Human filth. Tell me where he is or I'll kill you."
She decided it was a good thing that she had the encrypted copy as she started to wheeze and cough, "I... ehng... you want something else... cough... You want coordinates to the Mu Rellayyy." Miranda motioned to the steel case she had, "I can give it to you..."
Saren slammed her into the glass wall, "No! I want Harper, give me... AAAHHHH!" He suddenly let her go and was clutching at his head in pain screaming. She was about to run away when a new voice said, "Assuming direct control," and threw her against the window with biotics causing her to drop the case.
Miranda felt tense now seeing his demeanor change from wild to controlled and precise, "Now then, why don't we make a deal Sovereign? We both want something here."
Still holding her in the air, Sovereign replied, "Deal? We will make no deal Human. Soon all of your kind will be eliminated and the cycle can begin again. You have no purpose or value other than being destroyed."
While he was speaking, Miranda gathered enough biotic energy to grab the steel case, "Have it your way then you synthetic son of a bitch!"
She threw the case at the side of his head at top speed making him howl in pain. He unintentionally released her from the biotic grip and she started running again. Miranda just hoped Taylor had been given enough time to get the Normandy secure, otherwise this was going to be a very short escape.
_o0o0o0o_
Kal followed the sound of the gunshot and turned around to see a similar figure to the type of assassins he had faced on Luna dead. While Ashley had been thinking about shooting Wrex a moment earlier, she had actually saved Kal's life. Sure, the distraction was never going to syphon the entire Cerberus force to the front of the base but, Kal thought that they surely would've sent their best in that direction. A moment later, a sword carved through the air slicing the cranial horn of the Salarian carrying his half of the bomb. Liara just barely managed to grab the heavy bomb in time for Wrex to kill the assassin next to them.
Kirrahe lunged to catch his quickly collapsing friend, "We have to get to the courtyard. Set off drive core."
Kal nodded taking shots at the regular security forces ambushing them, "Agreed, Liara get the bomb somewhere safe. Kaidan, Tali, follow her, we'll hold them off."
Movement was agonizingly slow as Liara carried the bomb and Kirrahe dragged his friend along the ground towards the other side of the lab. It was hard for Ashley and Wrex to see anything since it was pitch black in the room but, Kal had the advantage of a heat seaking helmet. So he had to call out the location of assassins he couldn't kill. Even though they were working well together, the sheer number of Cerberus soliders was concerning him. Where in the hell was that distraction force Adam and Feron were leading? Had they really been defeated that quickly? Something felt off but, in the scramble to take care of the bomb, he couldn't linger on the diversions failure.
The door behind them thankfully started to open helping them see better. However, Geth dropships were zipping around the sky and eventually would see them so he turned to Ashley, "Protect our other flank, me and Wrex have this side."
Wrex had other plans though and pushed Kal across the doors threshold, "You take care of that bomb kid, I'll handle these punks."
Kal was going to object but the Krogan closed the door again leaving them separated. Wrex in the lab fighting all the remaining Cerberus assassins, and all the others dealing with the bomb. His heart sank for just a moment, even if Wrex managed to survive the onslaught, he probably wouldn't be able to catch up with them in time. Jack had worried about losing people and here Kal was creating the first major loss. He had ordered everyone to not be a hero but, Kal guessed it wasn't surprising for a Krogan to be the first to break that rule craving violence.
He turned around getting ready for the Geth when Kirrahe grabbed him and pinned him to the door, "What were you thinking? Krogan in lab could download data. Steal information on Genophage cure. Make this mission wasteful!"
Kal pushed him back keeping a constant eye on the Geth ships, "We have bigger things to worry about right now, so why don't you just worry about taking care of your friend huh?" He saw Liara slowly putting the bomb down and Tali approaching it, "Tali, how long do you need?"
The other Quarian sneezed but gave him a thumbs up, "With Kaidan here, five minutes tops."
He nodded before looking over at Ashley, "Think you can hold here that long?"
Ashley gave him a pretty questioning look, "Yes...? Aren't you sticking around?"
Kal approached her to not start a panic with the Salarian's and whispered, "There were way too many Cerberus people in the lab for a supposed successful diversion. I need to make sure that the back hangar will be clear for our escape."
Ashley bit her lower lip nervously, "Splitting up is a bad idea, we should wait until they're done with the bomb then we can all go together."
He shook his head as a counter, "If I'm right, and if Geth are chasing us we'll be trapped in a three way fight while the nuke timer ticks down. We need to know what's in that hangar."
Ashley sighed looking at her feet, "Your right but I don't have to like it. Just be careful, we have no idea what things will be like in five minutes."
Kal nodded and quickly started running in the direction of the bases' back hangar. The crews safety now hinged on him securing them a landing zone.
