Chapter 60: Mars

Red like iron
Red like blood
Red like fire
A world of war

James followed Terra through the cargo bay to the armory Ashley was standing at, peppering her with questions to demand what just happened. Every one hit her like a punch in the gut, reminding her what the answer was so hard that she couldn't deny it. She finally announced to both of her fellow marines that they were leaving.

James didn't take it well. "Then drop me off someplace, 'cause I ain't leaving!"

Terra could only take so much. "Enough! Don't you think I'd rather stay and fight?! We can't do it alone. We need to get to the Citadel and that's that."

James simply waved her off. He clearly wasn't satisfied.

Neither was Terra. She should've been. She was free of her confinement, restored to her status in the Alliance, back on the ship she adored—everything she'd been hoping for over the past six months. But Anderson had put his life on the line to protect Earth, under fire from the Reapers themselves, a sign that the monsters would soon be everywhere across the galaxy. She couldn't be satisfied until every last one of those robot squids was dead.

"Commander," a familiar voice sounded over the PA, "can you hear me?"

But she would take her joys where she could find them. "Joker? Is that you?"

"Alive and kicking. We've got an emergency call coming in from Admiral Hackett."

So the admiral was OK. She could safely maintain her hope. "Patch him through."

The connection was fairly scattered, but she was able to discern the most important patches of the conversation: Earth was about to officially be occupied by the invaders, so he was ordering the Normandy to the Prothean Archives on Mars before they lost control of the system. From what she could hear, it sounded like Liara was there, so Terra didn't waste time ordering Joker to take them straight to the red planet that was less than an hour away by FTL.

"Mars?" Ashley asked even as they got ready, "What does he think we'll find there?"

"I don't know," Terra shrugged, "But if it's worth the detour to give us an edge over the Reapers, we need to move fast." With that, she opened the armor locker. There was her N7 armor, still in its place and in perfect shape for her use. She couldn't help a small smile as she took it. "Grab your gear."

They suited up and got in the shuttle. By the time they reached Mars, they were ready to move out. EDI was quick to inform them that they couldn't establish communications with the research outpost and a sandstorm was moving in that would interfere with their own COMMs. They would have to move fast. So Terra led Ashley and James through the LZ in the direction of the facility.

It wasn't long before they encountered a difficulty. In this case, the obstacle was a squad of Cerberus executing the Alliance personnel stationed there. Terra only needed to see this to get her blood boiling. She only gave Ashley and James two seconds of warning before she sniped down two of the troopers, bringing the rest to open fire.

"They know we're here now," James commented as he readied his weapon and joined in the assault.

The troopers didn't stand much chance against the three of them, at least not after they'd gotten the drop on them. Once it was clear, Ashley spoke up. "What's Cerberus doing here?"

"Good question," Terra agreed.

"You mean you don't know?"

Terra wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I was trying to track their operations for nearly a month and even EDI couldn't find what I needed. Why would I possibly know what they're up to now?"

"I didn't mean anything by it! I just think…you know, it's a pretty big coincidence."

After what happened on Horizon, Terra figured it was best to give her friend the benefit of the doubt. Given how sensitive this subject was to her, though, she couldn't deny that part of her resented the implication. Luckily, she was able to let out that frustration on the next group of troopers they stumbled across near the entrance. She told herself she would take out all her other frustrations and fears on any others they found inside, then she took the chance to investigate. "They didn't come here in force. Just a few vehicles."

"Must have had help from the inside," James said, "No way they could take the whole place otherwise."

Terra concurred before leading them into the entrance and activating the airlock.

While the door was sealing behind them, Ashley stowed her weapon and stepped up. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but I need a straight answer."

"Ash—!" Terra started.

"This is serious. I know you hate Cerberus on principle, but they still rebuilt you, gave you a ship, resources—"

Terra finally put her foot down. "Let me be perfectly clear about this. I never trusted Cerberus. I never worked with Cerberus. I took their help to take down the Collectors at first, but I cut ties halfway through the mission. I've not even had contact with them since the week I destroyed the Collector base, and I have no idea why they're here or what they want!"

James graciously intervened here. "Shepard's communications have been monitored ever since she came to Earth. The only contact she's had has been with Palaven, no one else. No way Cerberus is still behind her."

Ashley seemed to calm down and dismiss the thought now. Maybe it was the reminder from hearing Palaven still came first (or tied for first with the Alliance) in Terra's mind, maybe it was her conviction in defending her current stance, maybe it was simply because she finally saw Terra's side of Horizon. Whatever the reason, she sighed. "I'm sorry, Shepard. It's just—"

Before she could finish, the elevator finished pressurizing, allowing them to remove their helmets. Terra did so first, shaking out her loose ponytail over her left shoulder and her bangs over her right eye. Then she turned to look Ashley in the eye and say it plain: "You of all people should know what I really stand for, Ash."

The conversation didn't get the chance to continue before they entered the facility itself. The elevator had arrived only one second before they began to hear things moving nearby. No sooner had they taken cover from what they could tell was gunfire from the vents than a vent overhead was kicked open. A certain asari dropped down from the vent and then threw a biotic field up after her, capturing the two Cerberus troopers chasing her in a Singularity and leaving them vulnerable to two decisive shots from her pistol. And then a few more just to make sure they stayed down.

Terra smiled as she realized who it was. She stood up, holding up her hand when James attempted to take aim. "Easy there, lieutenant. She's with us."

At the sound of her voice, the asari turned to face her with a smile. "Shepard!"

"Liara," Terra smiled back, hugging her.

Liara sighed. "I was worried when the reports came in." She stepped back, giving her former commander a look of sympathy and concern. "They hit Earth hard?"

Ashley walked over, saddened by the reminder. "Yeah. It was hard to leave like that."

Liara turned her sympathetic gaze to her. "Ashley. I'm sorry."

Ashley simply nodded.

"We were told you might have some answers for us," Terra finally said.

Liara smirked. "I do."

"Hallelujah!" James exclaimed as they followed Liara to the window, "Some answers! Finally!"

"I was contacted by Admiral Hackett," Liara explained, "He wanted me to use my resources as—" She caught herself when she remembered Ashley and James were there. "—as an information broker…" Terra smirked knowingly. "…to track down some information on holding off the Reapers. I think we found a way to stop them in the Prothean Archives."

For the first time, Terra didn't feel afraid to let her hopes rise. "You found something? What is it?"

"Plans for a device. A blueprint."

Not much, but still more than they had when they arrived. "Then we need to get to it before Cerberus does."

"So it's a race to the Archives—" James concurred.

He was cut off when another Cerberus squad arrived, attempting to break through the door.

Terra quickly readied her rifle. "We got trouble."

"Bring it on," James smirked.

Having now seen him in action, Terra would have liked to keep him around, but her strategic side demanded otherwise. "Not this time, James."

"What?!"

"If Cerberus gets past us, I need you guarding the exits."

"But—"

"Now, lieutenant!"

James saw now why most people never argued with the commander. He quickly went back to the elevator and let her send him back down.

Terra, Ashley, and Liara were all able to find cover, but the Cerberus squad still had the higher ground. That was easily resolved with the same tactic Liara had just used on the ones in the vent, a Singularity pulling them from their cover to an exposed position so Terra and Ashley could snipe them down. Once it was clear, they were able to climb up to the newly opened door and head through. There was another small contingent of Cerberus troopers in the next room, but Terra was able to duck down out of side under a rail long enough to sneak around, pull one of them down from over the rail, and then slam her omni-blade down into his chest.

She really loved this new gadget.

All the way through the facility, they were met with troopers trying to slow them down. Not to mention signs of the brutality with which they had taken the facility. Cerberus claimed to stand for humanity and yet they had assaulted and decimated an entire human outpost to steal the one thing that might save Earth? Terra already despised them. Now she wanted to track down every last one of them, tear them apart with her bare hands, and stomp on their graves for good measure.

On the other hand, Liara, Terra couldn't help but note, seemed to be blaming herself. She wouldn't have buried that three years ago, but she was burying it now, focusing on the task at hand. It was admirable given the circumstances, but not healthy in the long run. Terra was going to have to talk to her. She started to reach this conclusion when they had to disable a security terminal and starting seeing footage of what had happened, including of one Dr. Eva Coré who had arrived about a week ago. No one but Terra would've seen the tension in Liara's stance or the guilt behind her eyes. Not for long, she told herself before leading her friends onwards.

When they went outside to cross to the next section of the facility, things got more complicated, as things were wont to do. Not only was Cerberus already moving across to the Archives, but the sandstorm was also getting closer. Terra attempted to contact James and tell him to be prepared to watch their back only for his signal to drop and finally cut out. She couldn't reestablish the connection or link to the Normandy. They were on their own until the storm cleared up.

The next area they came to was the last straw where Terra was concerned. Some Cerberus goon had cut power to the area and disabled the airlocks with half the facility's personnel inside. Terra was ready to rip someone's spine out when suddenly the shutters on the observation deck opened. Terra was angry, not stupid, so she quickly turned off her flashlight and hunkered down, leading Liara and Ashley to follow suit while they waited for a chance at a sneak attack. Terra listened to the conversation the Cerberus troopers were having for a moment, listened for a chance…

"Should we open the windows?"

"No! Not unless you wanna decompress this room, too!"

…oh, really?

On second thought, Terra smirked viciously and fired a grenade right through the window. The Cerberus troopers were unfortunately wearing helmets, but they were still too startled to react and thrown off-balance by the rooms attempting to equilibrate. Half of them were caught in the blast, leaving the rest open to simple gunfire. All of them were down in less than ten seconds.

"Well played, Shepard," Ashley smirked as they jumped through the windows to the next security terminal.

Liara restrained her own impressed reaction, instead heading over to re-pressurize the room. They were almost cleared to proceed when they discovered a vid of what had happened.

What had happened was that Dr. Eva had shot the security officers and then hacked the system to cut the power.

Liara had been hiding it well, but now even Ashley could tell she was shaken by guilt and self-doubt. Once Terra finally nodded to Ashley to let her handle it, Liara turned to lean resignedly against the table. "I should've known the moment I met her. I was just so focused on finding a way to stop the Reapers…"

"Stopping the Reapers is what we should be focused on," Terra pointed out, "If we don't, none of this even matters."

Liara sighed. "I know." She turned to Terra. "How do you do it? How do you carry everything at times like this?"

"Honestly? I don't do it alone. I have people I can count on behind me. And if that's not enough, I find purpose in thinking about what I would lose if I fail."

Liara shook her head. "That's a terrible burden."

"It is. But it's one I don't mind bearing."

That was why Liara admired and respected her. She just wished she could live up to it so easily.

"Come on. We need to move fast."

Liara nodded and returned to leading them through to the next area, the one where they could call a tram to take them across to the Archives.

Guilt and self-doubt were one thing. A turret aimed right at them was quite another.

"Is that the only way in?!" Ashley demanded.

"It's the only way I know of!" Liara responded.

Terra groaned as she worked out how they could proceed. It looked like there was cover along a clear path around the corner, but they would have to time their movements carefully. "We'll have to skirt around, stay low!"

Ashley nodded. "I'll go first!"

They moved in short bursts. First Ashley, then Terra, then Liara. Whoever was moving draw its attention long enough for the others to get in position to trade cover, an act through which Terra at least got to practice her combat rolls. Once they were around the corner, the turret lost line of sight on them, giving them free reign to wander into the security room and shoot every last Cerberus trooper within in the head.

After they had cleared the room, however, they naturally hit another complication. "They shut down the system," Liara told them, "I can't call a tram from here."

"Maybe we don't have to," Ashley said thoughtfully, "We could find a short-range transmitter, helmet-to-helmet, and convince them we're one of their squads and the Alliance forces have been taken care of."

Terra smirked. "I like it. See what you can find."

Liara watched Ashley leave.

Terra noticed. "What?"

Liara sighed. "The lieutenant-commander has become quite capable."

Terra simply nodded, thinking back to how things had been on the SR-1. "Yeah." After taking a moment to check her weapons, she followed Ashley out to check on her progress.

Ashley was fiddling with the armor on one of the Cerberus troopers' corpses. "He's got a transmitter in his helmet. If I can…" Suddenly, the helmet opened, the sight within enough to make her recoil with a groan of horror and disgust. "He looks like a Husk!"

Terra looked for herself. The lifeless eyes had the same cybernetic glow, veins blackened and wiry with a fluorescent purple glow. Her reaction made Ashley's look mild. "I knew they were heartless, but this is sickening."

Ashley looked between the body and Terra. "That…that could've been you, Shepard. For all I knew…"

Terra would've been appalled that Ashley dared to compare her to this abomination. But the fact was that there had been a time she had thought the same thing, that Cerberus had used their monopoly on her body to change her, and it was only when Chakwas gave her a head-to-toe scan that confirmed her cybernetics were clean that she believed Miranda had actually refrained. Garrus had shared her concerns, even Tali had. It was only Joker and Liara and technically Wrex who had looked at her the same way. She couldn't blame Ashley for fearing what might have happened and letting that fear drive her actions. It certainly explained why her actions on Horizon had been so forceful. If they were going to be working together again, Terra was going to have to address this now. "They didn't, Ash. I made sure of it. I'm still me. They wanted me exactly the way I was." She smirked. "That's what came back to bite them."

Ashley smirked briefly. "Yeah. I guess so. I'm sorry, I just…I still have to get used to this."

Terra nodded. "I know. Take all the time you need. We're still friends. …I'm right here."

Ashley nodded back and stepped to the side.

So Terra took the transmitter and made use of it. "Hello, this is…Delta Team. Anybody there?"

"Where have you been?! Never mind, what's your status?"

"We're at the terminal, waiting for extraction. All hostiles terminated."

"Copy that. We're on our way."

Ashley smirked conspiratorially. "Think they bought it?"

Terra smirked back. "We'll know soon enough."

They had. They regretted it immediately. Every Cerberus soldier on the tram fell to gunfire and biotics from three different angles, leaving the tram open for Terra and her friends to hop on and ride across. Their path was delayed when an explosive broke the tram line and caused their transport to stop moving until another could come their way with Cerberus reinforcements, but all that happened was that Terra hopped across onto the other tram to retaliate. The last one standing survived so long solely by the grace of his shield, so Terra placed her foot under it and kicked it forward with enough force that it would've knocked him in the face had he not been wearing a helmet and still served to unbalance him long enough for her to grab it through the slot and slam it into him with enough force that he tumbled out onto the red sands below. It was then a simple case of commandeering the tram to carry them the rest of the way. The last of the Cerberus forces were positioned outside the Archives themselves to bar the way. It was the hardest fight yet where this mission was concerned, but Terra wasn't letting them get in her way. Liara destabilized them for Ashley to wear them down and then Terra charged in to unleash all her inner rage on every single one she could reach. In no time at all, the opposition was defeated and they had reached their destination.

Looking at the Archives, Terra was immediately reminded of the Prothean beacons that had incited all of this. Liara was able to access the contents through a console rather than a Cipher, but it was clearly meant to function the same way, storing information for organic access. Terra couldn't help but wonder what all was contained within this device that she could learn from but that no one else could see.

Judging by what happened next, she would never get an answer. "Shepard."

That voice drew her and Liara both to draw their guns and take aim at it, only to find it was a holo-comm.

But it was still the Illusive Man. "An amazing race, the Protheans. They left all this knowledge. But we've squandered it."

Terra scoffed. "I hope you're not planning to try 'talking me down' like on the Collector Base. Unlike you, I actually care what happens to the Reapers' victims."

"See, that's where we differ, Shepard. Where you see a means to destroy, I see a means to control. To dominate and harness the Reapers' power."

No matter how much she disliked him, this was the first time she thought he was genuinely insane. "Earth is under siege with the rest of the galaxy soon to follow, and you're hatching a scheme to enslave the Reapers?!"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. You've always been shortsighted."

"And you've always been a selfish racist, but I didn't let my feelings compromise my people's safety!"

He waved her off. "Arguing is pointless. …I already have what you're looking for."

No sooner had he said so than Liara saw for herself. "Shepard! The data isn't here! It's being erased!"

The Illusive Man smirked as if he had won. "Goodbye, Shepard." Then he disappeared.

Terra was about to lose it. "How is he doing it?!"

"It's local," Liara explained, "There's someone else in the system."

As if on cue, that was when they heard a struggle across the room. Ashley, who had been securing the perimeter, was thrown back from a security terminal as Dr. Eva herself raced out of it. "SHE'S GOT THE DATA!"

That was all Terra needed to hear to run as fast as her cybernetics could carry her. Somehow, the Cerberus doctor was able to match her speed, but she was too determined not to keep up. The doctor tried to throw obstacles in their path by closing doors, knocking things over, and sending out incineration attacks, but Terra was able to maneuver around all of them. Ashley and Liara were keeping up, but not fast enough to help overtake their target. All Terra could do was push harder to get close enough to tackle her, all the while attempting to reestablish contact with James and the Normandy so they could get help pinning her down. The sandstorm was still creating too much interference, but she was finally able to catch up when they reached the roof.

Until a Cerberus shuttle flew in, Dr. Eva diving aboard so it could immediately fly away.

"NO!" Terra stopped when she realize she couldn't jump on after them, instead turning desperately to her COMM, "James! Normandy! ANYBODY!"

She finally got a response when a shuttle began to fly in. "I got this one!" James' voice came over the COMM. The Alliance shuttle dove for the Cerberus shuttle, slamming straight into it and knocking it back onto the roof in a fiery crash. James quickly landed and got out to help Terra, Ashley, and Liara start searching.

Just as Ashley was helping Liara start moving, though, the Cerberus shuttle's door began to rattle, finding flying off to reveal Dr. Eva standing in the flames. A robot. Ashley quickly pushed Liara out of harm's way and readied her gun.

Only for the robot to disarm her, grab her by the helmet, and begin slamming into her the remains of the shuttle.

"ASH!" Terra moved without thinking, drawing her pistol and opening fire. One shot to the robot's wrist drew its attention and made it drop Ashley but also caused it to start charging at her. So she emptied her clip on its head until it finally collapsed. She wanted to tear the thing apart, but it still had the data they needed, so she instead told James to grab it while she doubled back for Ashley.

The Normandy left Mars just as the Reapers began to move in. EDI and Liara were able to recover enough of the data for them to consider the mission a success and head for the Citadel, but Terra couldn't call it a success. Ashley was unresponsive. The entire Sol System was lost.

How much more were they going to lose?