The nightmare began like it always did.
She was unable to move, unable to speak. An uncomfortable prickly sensation spread out over her body.
Fear welled up in her as she stared out through the transparent lid of the narrow capsule she was imprisoned within. And then four glowing eyes peered in at her as long, talon-like fingers tapped the glass in front of her face.
Paralyzed by terror, Kelly looked away from the horrible insect-like face and noticed someone in the pod next to hers. The woman was older, but very pretty. Kelly looked on as the woman was suddenly consumed by panic, her hands frantically thrashing against the interior of her own coffin-like prison.
Then the woman howled in pain and Kelly watched in horror as she began to dissolve before her eyes, disintegrating into nothingness.
The harsh rapping of a hand against her capsule brought Kelly's focus forward again. But where the Collector drone's face had been before now was a handsome, older man with glowing blue eyes. "Your sacrifice will be honored, Miss Chambers," he uttered before taking a drag of a cigarette.
And then she felt it. The tingling of her skin rapidly turned to an awful burning sensation. She raised a hand in front of her face and recoiled in agony as her fingers melted away. Kelly pounded on the lid of the pod with her remaining hand and tried to scream. But no sound would come from her dissolving vocal cords. And the man with glowing eyes just stared back, indifferent to her suffering.
Her eyes rolled back into her head and her body began to hemorrhage and seize. And then in a final thunderous shudder of pain, she exploded within the pod and blinked out of existence…
Kelly bolted awake, shouting as her heart raced uncontrollably.
She took in her surroundings. There were no Collectors, no pods. The lights within the Normandy's crew quarters were dimmed and the area was vacant except for Crewman Jenny Goldstein who had been resting in the upper bunk across the way from Kelly.
Startled awake by Kelly's shouts, Goldstein peered over at the red headed woman. "Are you okay, Kelly?" she asked in an unnecessarily hushed voice.
Kelly stared back at Goldstein with wild, unfocused eyes for several seconds before she managed to rein in her racing pulse. "Yes, I'm fine," she said breathlessly. "I…. It was just a nightmare. I'm okay. Thank you, Jenny"
Goldstein continued to look over at Kelly with concern and then smiled sympathetically. "I get them too," she said and then paused, pushing the sheets of her bunk around. "I know you're the counselor and all, but if you'd like to talk, I'm here for you."
Kelly swallowed, feeling her parched throat. "That's sweet," she said, regaining her composure. "Thank you, Jenny, but I think I'll be fine."
Goldstein watched Kelly for another few moments and then smiled again before lying back down under the blankets of her bed.
Kelly swung her legs over the bunk and placed her bare feet on the cold, metal floor. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was drenched in sweat and the white cotton tank she'd slept in was sticking to her cold, clammy skin.
Sighing heavily, she stood and quickly retrieved her toiletry bag and a fresh uniform from the footlocker at the end of the bunk and then wrapped a thick, gray robe around herself.
Fleeing the crew quarters, Kelly hastily crossed the short distance to the women's head. Finding the compartment mercifully empty, she tossed her bag on the counter near one of the sinks, hung her robe on a hook along the wall and stripped off her drenched underwear. Tossing her soiled garments in the corner, she claimed the shower stall closest to the back of the room.
As the droplets of the Normandy's recycled, hot water beat down on her skin, Kelly allowed the horror of the nightmare to recede back into the dark corner of her mind where she compartmentalized the trauma.
Emerging from the shower a few minutes later, she grabbed a nearby towel, patted herself dry and wrapped the rough cotton around her body as she returned to the sink where she had left her bag.
Looking up at her reflection in the mirror, Kelly noted the bloodshot, weary appearance of her eyes. Despite the hot shower, she still felt the dull throb of pain just behind her right eye. And though she logically knew the headache had nothing physically to do with it, she couldn't help but visualize the tiny explosive charge that was surgically implanted within her eye socket, near the optic nerve, patiently waiting for the signal that would someday end her life.
Finishing getting dressed, Kelly quickly ducked back into the crew quarters and dropped off her bag, robe, and dirty sleepwear. She glanced around the compartment warily before reaching into the concealed compartment of her locker to retrieve the tiny data drive Kai Leng had given her, and then dashed out again to start her shift in the CIC.
Emerging from the lift, Kelly nervously walked out and immediately saw Miranda Lawson standing at the top of the short flight of stairs that led to the Normandy's Galaxy Map interface.
The XO was dressed in the white and black, form-fitting uniform she typically wore onboard the Normandy and intently staring into the three dimensional display. The psychologist in Kelly understood that the provocative outfit was a mechanism Lawson used to convey power and confidence. But seeing her now, Chambers could perceive the doubt and tension in Miranda's body language. Something was uncharacteristically eating away at the operative.
Kelly then ducked her head and hurriedly moved over to her station to the right of the Galaxy Map. Quickly glancing back up at the XO, she could see the woman's knuckles had gone white as she was grasping the railing with a death grip. Kelly knew that Miranda was distressed over the Commander's absence. Shepard still hadn't returned since he ordered the Normandy to flee through the Bahak relay and rendezvous with him here in the Sol system.
Lawson was madly in love with Shepard, Kelly was sure of it. The thought made her smile to herself as she reflected on the irony. Both she and Miranda had been explicitly ordered to engage the Commander romantically and attempt to draw him closer to Cerberus. But unexpectedly, Lawson's feelings for the man had become genuine. Kelly was still uncertain how she felt about that. A little jealous, maybe?
Looking over her left shoulder, Kelly noted that both Garrus Vakarian and the quarian, Tali, were standing near the Commander's private terminal on the other side of the Galaxy Map. The two aliens were both standing with arms folded, speaking quietly with each other as they furtively glanced up at XO Lawson, as if they were impatiently waiting for an order. They too shared Miranda's tension.
Sighing, she quickly logged on to the terminal and accessed her messages. Ignoring the half dozen emails from crewmembers requesting counseling sessions, her eyes were drawn to the message from her sister, Veronica Chambers.
Kelly briefly imagined how comforting it would feel to read a message from a close sibling, to be able to share her experiences with someone who she loved and who wouldn't judge her.
But of course, Veronica did not exist. Her sister was an elaborate fabrication, meticulously created by Cerberus to enrich the operative's cover and add nuance to her fictitious background. And above all else, Veronica was a mechanism for Cerberus to convey coded instructions to the Normandy's mole.
As she grasped the tiny data drive in her left hand, Kelly clicked on the email and learned of her new orders.
The older shuttle clanked around as is beelined for its objective. There were four individuals aboard: Dr. Amanda Kenson, Garrus Vakarian, Kasumi Goto, and of course, John Shepard. Each of them sported fresh cuts and bruises, evidence that their extraction hadn't gone according to plan. No serious injuries, luckily enough, but the quartet's energy was depleted after such intense fighting. Kasumi had taken the pilot's seat leaving Garrus, Kenson, and Shepard in the back.
Kenson had given a lengthy explanation on the situation, about how her team had discovered a reaper artifact, the countdown, and their plan to take a massive asteroid and launch it at the relay. It was as they'd feared. The Reapers were only days away from reaching Bahak, which would serve as a launching point for their invasion. Time was of the essence, the project needed to be activated now.
The Reapers weren't what was occupying Shepard's mind. At least, not at the present moment. Shepard instead was preoccupied with dissecting Kenson. Something was off about the woman. Not because she was a black ops operative, Shepard had dealt with plenty of those and had been one himself, so he knew the behaviors and personalities that came along with it. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was causing alarm bells to go off in his head.
Throughout their escape, Shepard had felt Kenson stealing glances at him as if she were sizing him up and down. She knew her way around the batarian prison despite intel suggesting she had never been there nor had any information of the layout.
When she had begun to explain her plan, Shepard had interjected immediately questioning the veritability of her intel on the Reaper's arrival, as blowing up an entire system was a drastic measure. Kenson had paused for a brief moment, then said that the artifact her team had been emitting a pulsing signal that had grown stronger each day and suggested a timeframe for the Reaper's arrival. The timeframe matched up exactly with the data Shepard had downloaded from the Collector base. But the most damning evidence of all, to Kenson, was a vision she had received from the beacon. "Similar to the type of vision you had on Eden Prime," as Kenson had put it.
Mentally he had tensed up, but made sure is body didn't betray any of his suspicions at the moment. From the look he'd exchanged with Garrus, the turian sensed it too. He was almost certain they were walking into a trap of sorts. And he was nearly positive that Kenson was indoctrinated. Every single bit of knowledge he'd acquired on the indoctrination process aligned right with Kenson's behavior. A plan began to formulate in his mind.
"Is something bothering you, Commander?" Kenson asked.
Shepard looked at her grimly. "Just the info you've given me. If what you are saying is true, then we have to act fast. I thought we'd have more time."
Kenson nodded understandingly. "I feel the same way myself. Knowing what we know is quite dreadful, isn't it?"
"Knowing about the Reapers and their capabilities isn't exactly a fun fact." Garrus dryly remarked.
A moment of silence fell across the three in the squad compartment, each lost in thought.
"ETA one minute. You mentioned an access code, Doctor?" Kasumi said over the intercom. Her normally bubbly voice seemed far more serious than normal. She must be sensing that something is wrong, too.
The shuttle's engines sputtered off and emitted a metallic clanking sound before finally going silent. The doors opened and out stepped Kenson, Shepard and Garrus following suit and Kasumi emerging from the pilot's seat. The hangar they found themselves in was small, big enough for only one or two more shuttles, and had crates haphazardly strewn about. Cleaning clearly wasn't a priority as trash could be found hiding behind the crates, brushed out of sight and therefore out of mind. Directly ahead of them, no more than 10 meters was a set of pneumatically sealed, made out of thick steel and painted a sterile white.
Above the door and fixated on the wall was a massive clock of sorts. It was counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to what Shepard guessed was the time they had before the Reapers' arrival. If the timer was indeed accurate, they had less than 3 days until Harbinger came to crash the party in Bahak. 3 days to activate the project, IF this was indeed accurate and there was no other option. Arotoht's population of 300,000 would have to be evacuated or be annihilated by an explosion "equivalent to that of a supernova, if not surpassing it."
"Above the door is the countdown until the Reapers' arrival, which I'm sure you've already figured out. We've had to smuggle in parts for massive eezo thrusters which we've installed on this asteroid. They've already been programmed to set course for Bahak's relay." Kenson explained as she directed the group towards the set of doors.
"So why haven't you activated it?" Shepard asked. In his peripheral vision, he saw a guard tense up as he noticed Shepard's presence, as if he were preparing for combat. Something is definitely not right here.
"Right before I was captured it wasn't a question of could we, but rather should we. The resulting explosion would wipe out the entirety of the Bahak system."
"Not an easy choice to make," Shepard replied.
"Not an easy choice to make at all," the gray haired woman echoed. They were right in front of the door when Shepard made his request.
"Doctor, before we go in I'd like to consult with my squad on possible evacuations for Bahak." Shepard said. He wasn't really asking for Kenson's permission.
"Oh, you needn't Commander. We already have plans in place that you are more than welcome to review if it pleases you," Kenson curtly replied.
"If it's all the same to you, Doctor, I'd still like to consult my squad," Shepard firmly stated.
Kenson hesitated for a moment, looked at Shepard and the crew, before finally replying with a forced smile.
"Of course, Commander. I'll be in the next room when you are ready," Kenson said before abruptly turning on her heel and briskly walking into the next room.
Shepard gave a hand gesture to Kasumi and Garrus, signaling them to come over.
"Shepard, something's not right here. It feels-" Garrus started before Kasumi cut him off.
"Shepard, I'm almost certain we're walking into a trap. Kenson's whole demeanor is setting off alarm bells in my head, alarms that have kept me alive." The thief said, her voice laced with apprehension.
"I am with you on this. Something's definitely very wrong with this whole setup. If shit hits the fan-"
"When shit hits the fan," Garrus corrected.
"When shit hits the fan, I want you two to secure a shuttle and get back to the Normandy to call for backup. Kenson has no doubt set up comm jammers, so any attempt to contact our ship will be fruitless."
"Shep, we may not be able to secure a shuttle. We need to take this one as we have no clue as to where the others are, and I count at least twenty guards in this hangar alone, all with safeties off. It's highly likely that there are a lot more further in the base that could be here in a moment's notice."
"I'm acutely aware, Kasumi. That's why I'm going to hold them off."
"You can't be serious, Shepard." The turian angrily said. "I'm not leaving you behind.
"I don't plan on it, Garrus. But if it comes to it where I won't be able to join you on the shuttle, you two are still going to rendezvous with the Normandy and get help."
"Shepard I-" Garrus started before being cut off.
"That's an order. You don't have to like it, but I expect you to follow it. Same goes for you Kasumi. And when you're on the shuttle don't make any attempts to contact the Normandy until you are out of the system. Am I clear?"
Garrus wanted to protest but knew it was useless. Shepard had made up his mind, and the plan was likely the best one any of them could conjure up given the current circumstances. Letting out a sigh, the turian agreed and so did Kasumi, albeit reluctantly.
Their meeting adjourned, Garrus and Shepard made their way to Kenson, leaving Kasumi behind to guard the shuttle. Making their way through the set of double doors, they found Kenson sipping on a cup of tea and looking at a data pad.
"Ah, there you are Commander, and Garrus. May I ask where Ms. Goto is?" Kenson warmly said, but the end of her sentence took on a more serious tone.
"She's going to relay some information about the situation back to the Normandy so they know what's going on." Shepard flatly responded.
Kenson frowned ever so slightly before resuming her feigned pleasantry. "Of course, Commander. Now if you'll follow me, I'll show you Object Rho." She gestured down a short hallway that led to an adjacent room.
When the doors opened, Shepard's heart dropped. Standing right in front of the was a black, lovecraftian pillar, standing at least 6 meters tall with tentacles flowing upwards, and left no question as to the origins of the artifact. It made rhythmic vibrations in the air that one could feel simply by breathing in. This was definitely Reaper tech. And there were no safeguards or barriers around it. Object Rho was completely exposed.
"Isn't it magnificent?" Kenson said, her voice filled with awe.
"You have the Reaper artifact sitting out in the open?!" Shepard exclaimed. "Kenson…this is not good."
Shepard heard the subtle click of the safety on Garrus's rifle being turned off. The tension was palpable. It was as if the room had been doused in gas, and they were watching a lit match fall to the ground.
"You take me for an idiot, don't you?" Kenson said with disdain in her voice. "We have an energy shield around it, Shepard. But that's besides the point."
Even though he couldn't see it, he felt a gun being pointed at him. Across the room, all guards had their weapons raised at Shepard and Garrus.
"Now, Shepard, be a dear and have you and your friend surrender your weapons and no one will get hurt." Kenson said with a smug smile. She was positive she had them now.
Shepard scoffed. "Why the hell are you doing this?"
Kenson replied with a neutral tone. "The same reason behind all my work. The advancement and preservation of humanity."
"Ah, Cerberus. Should've known you fuckers wouldn't leave me alone."
"Tut, tut. Drop your weapons, or else we open fire." Kenson said with a forceful tone.
"How 'bout I drop you?" Garrus angrily replied.
"3…2…1-" Before Kenson could finish the countdown, Shepard and Garrus had sprung into action. Shepard tossed a flashbang and smoke that detonated as soon as they hit the ground, allowing Garrus to safely release an EMP which disabled the shields of multiple hostiles. There were a total of 10 guards in the room, plus Kenson. 11 v 2, not exactly fair odds. For the 11, that is. Taking cover behind a table, Shepard popped up and fired two three round bursts, killing two men with perfect headshots. A third guard was quickly brought down by the powerful crack of Garrus's sniper, a massive hole now blown through his head.
Shepard popped up again to cover Garrus as he reloaded and brought down another guard with a single shot the the chest, right through the heart. If the man wasn't dead yet, he would be soon. The tide was turning in their favor when a massive door opened up on the other side of the room, spitting out at least 15 guards in full combat gear.
Shepard weighed his options. While he and Garrus were incredibly skilled, he didn't like their chances of staying here considering the reinforcements that had arrived and the ones likely on their way. If they both retreated, however, they could regroup with Kasumi and GTFO.
"Garrus! Fall back to the shuttle, I'll cover you!" Shepard yelled at the turian right as he sniped a guard. He nodded wordlessly and hastily made his way towards the exit, exchanging fire with the enemy. As the doors opened he saw several dead guards around the shuttle just as it's engines turned on, no doubt Kasumi in the pilot's seat ready for a quick exfil. Garrus made his way up the ramp as the blast doors began to open above them, which would allow the Kodiak to escape.
There wasn't enough time. The guards were right behind him and would descend on the shuttle before it could even take off. They needed time to escape.
Garrus turned as he reached the shuttle, making eye contact with his best friend. His best friend who was no longer following them and instead took cover in front of the entrance to the hangar.
"Shepard! We have to-"
"Go back to the ship, now! This isn't up for debate!" Shepard cut his friend off. He gave one final look at Garrus before hitting the button that locked down the entrance to the hangar and closed the door.
Rounds were hitting the metal crate in front of him, emitting sparks as the slugs came into contact. Shepard took a deep breath in. Let's dance. Before he could emerge from his cover, pain washed over him and he collapsed to the ground. The last thing he saw was Kenson's face looking at him, that same smug smile directed at him. Then, his world went black.
They had been gone for 17 hours. 17 hours with no contact on a mission with minimal intel, and she wasn't on it. Miranda's hands were gripping the rail of the CIC, her knuckles turning white. Her gaze was far away, lost in thought and worry.
She didn't doubt that Shepard was more than capable of handling himself, nor did she doubt Kasumi or Garrus, but still she found herself fretting over a situation she had little control over. She hated it when things weren't in her control. She'd been reluctant to let Shepard go, citing the lack of real time intel and support. But if Hackett had asked Shepard to do something, then Shepard would do that thing no matter what.
Miranda wasn't fond of Hackett for this particular reason, one among many. She had deep rooted mistrust for Alliance command, as in her eyes they were incompetant and inefficient, coupled with a crushing amount of bureaucracy. Hadn't enough been asked of Shepard? He carried out every order, saved the galaxy twice now, and never once complained. He always went above and beyond. It was as if it was expected of him. Shit gone south? Call in Shepard.
Maybe a part of it was that she didn't like how they constantly put him in harm's way for often inconsequential reasons. A year ago, Miranda wouldn't have been as worried, as stressed. Yet now she found herself wrought with emotions that she had once defined as weakness. It was still weakness in her eyes, but less so now.
All Miranda could do was wait. Wait and think. Was Shepard in trouble? Had he been hurt? Was he even alive? Miranda took a deep breath. Shepard is fine. He probably needs to maintain radio silence for the sake of the mission. He has a squad and is heavily armed. Shepard is fine.
She was about to go make herself a cup of tea when Joker's voice came over the intercom.
"Hey Miranda, there's a shuttle inbound. They've sent all the proper codes including the captain's personal one. I'm gonna guess that the shuttle was damaged when Shepard was blowing shit up and he broke the transmitter. So, do they have permission to come aboard?"
"Yes, of course. I'll meet them in the hangar." Miranda felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, all her anxiety fading away as she received the news that Shepard was returning. She was still miffed over her fears and planned to scold Shepard as soon as he got off the shuttle, telling him that next time, she was going with him.
She smiled at the thought of Shepard. The elevator doors opened and Miranda stepped out into the shuttle bay just as his shuttle was arriving. The craft was in bad shape, barely spaceworthy. They may be wounded.
She looked to some nearby crewmen and gave them the order to prep first aid supplies should the need arise. Alright Shepard, you bastard, never make me worry like that again. And for such an offense against me, I believe I deserve to be rewarded.
Her heart sank into her stomach when the door opened revealing Garrus, one arm around Kasumi who'd been shot in the leg, his face tired and covered in dirt. There was no Shepard.
The turian stumbled forward and coughed as he let go of Kasumi to allow her to receive treatment. His eyes showed pain. Guilt.
"Where's Shepard?" Miranda demanded, her voice laced with worry as her pitch increased by an octave. Garrus took a deep breath before explaining.
"The whole thing was a Cerberus trap, and we walked right into it. Kenson's Cerberus. We were ambushed by at least a platoon of heavily armed soldiers…" Garrus started to trail off, the entire time failing to make eye contact with her.
"Goddamnit, where the FUCK is Shepard?!" Miranda yelled, uncharacteristically losing her cool.
"Shepard knew we wouldn't be able to send a distress call to the Normandy. He locked the doors on us to hold off Cerberus so we could escape. He'd already discussed a plan with us earlier, but I objected, and….and…" The turian rambled, the weight of leaving his best friend behind, despite Shepard's strict order to do so, sinking in. He was acutely aware of the relationship between Miranda and the Commander. For Miranda, a suffocating feeling of dread had washed over her as her mind processed the situation.
He was injured. Captured. Or even….no. He's alive dammit! We're going after him. Now. And I'm going to have a talk with this Amanda Kenson.
Swallowing her cocktail of emotions, Miranda began to bark out orders. She wasn't going to lose him. Not now, not ever.
Miranda was the superior pilot and took up station in the Kodiak's cockpit as Garrus and Grunt prepped for a hot arrival on the asteroid's surface. Clearing the shuttle bay, she punched the shuttle's thrusters and turned toward the massive asteroid as the Normandy peeled off and sped away to take up station a safe distance away and stand by to evacuate the doomed system.
The descent was rapid, as Miranda gunned the engines and plunged the craft toward the deck, keen to avoid the debris trailing the enormous meteor. She scanned the surface feverishly, looking for a spot to touch down as they approached the hardened facility EDI had identified earlier. She brought the Kodiak into a gentle left-hand bank, circling the base, and then spotted it. There was a large blast door at one end of the facility that looked like an entrance to a hangar large enough to accommodate small shuttlecraft. A makeshift landing pad was just outside the doors.
Miranda tapped the comm to speak with her squad in the back. "Stand by for combat landing. ETA one minute." She focused on bringing the unwieldy ship down as fast as possible when the sharp warbling sound of the Kodiak's threat sensor sounded.
Miranda's eye's shot to the tactical display and she recognized two Trident class fighters right on their tail and closing fast. They must have been hiding on the opposite side of the asteroid as they approached and then swung around just above the surface, avoiding their LADAR scans. "Hang on back there," she called out over the intercom. "We've got company."
But then four disruptor torpedoes were in the air, streaking toward the shuttle. Miranda thumbed the countermeasures on her stick and dozens of iridium encased plasma decoys exploded from the Kodiak's aft launchers. She then pulled the craft into a hard starboard roll and accelerated toward the deck.
Two missiles struck the countermeasures saturating the area where the shuttle had been an instant before. A third warhead tracked wide, failing to match Miranda's hard turn as she goosed the thrusters and put the Kodiak into a sharp dive. But the fourth missile kept pace and impacted the shuttle in the aft section. The port engine disintegrated and they were pitched into a violent spin, hurtling toward the surface.
Miranda was thrown hard into her safety harness and then pressed back into the pilot's seat as the mass effect field generators failed. She struggled to regain control of the crippled shuttle as they headed toward the surface at over eight hundred knots and what would undoubtedly be a spectacular fireball upon the asteroid's surface. But then the shuttle's emergency systems kicked in and compensated for the loss of their port engine. She was able to stabilize their attitude but the Kodiak was trailing a thick stream of gray smoke and the acrid smell of burning electrical components was beginning to fill the cabin. The tough Kodiak had saved their lives, but she wasn't going to remain airborne much longer. Miranda scanned the surface and quickly reacquired the landing tarmac next to the facility's hanger. "Hold on!" She called out to her companions in the squad compartment. "We're coming in hard."
Leveling off the Kodiak, Miranda throttled back the power on the remaining engine and lined up the approach to the surface. Despite her best efforts to cushion the landing, they hammered into the rocky surface and skidded another forty meters toward the facility, coming to a halt a short distance from the hangar doors. Miranda exhaled and felt a twinge of pain in her ribs where the harness straps had dug into her during the crash. She checked the tactical display, relieved to find it was still online, and located the two fighters. They were swinging around for another pass, coming back to finish the job.
Ignoring the pain in her side, Miranda hit the release for her safety harness and climbed out of the pilot's seat and pulled on her helmet. "Garrus! Cobra launchers! They're coming around again," she called out and made her way into the squad compartment.
Vakarian and Grunt were already shouldering the hand-held missile launchers as Miranda squeezed out of the cockpit. The bulkheads around the shuttle doors were pretty well mangled, so they were going to have to use the emergency releases to exit their dying bird. Miranda collected her Locust SMG and a combat pack from the munitions locker and nodded toward Garrus.
"Do it, Grunt!" Garrus commanded. They simultaneously yanked down on the red and yellow handles on either side of the shuttle and a rapid series of explosive bolts fired outward, tossing the two heavy armored doors several meters away from the shuttle.
With a trained efficiency of movement, Garrus and Grunt each leaned out a side of the ruined shuttle, acquired their targets and fired the hypersonic missiles. Miranda jumped out of the ship as the missiles were still in the air and sprinted toward a personnel access port just to the right of the heavy hanger doors. As she ran, she could see on her in-helmet tactical display that a missile had found its target, striking one of the fighters and sending it cartwheeling out of control and into space. His wingman had managed to avoid the second missile, firing off a shower of countermeasures as the small craft peeled away from the downed Kodiak.
Miranda reached the door and immediately set to work breaching the base's interior, knowing they likely had only seconds before the surviving fighter would swing back around for another strafing run. She activated her Omni-tool and pressed the interface against the door, initiating a bypass protocol EDI had prepped for them in advance. A few seconds later the heavy titanium bolts released and the display panel to the right of the door turned from red to green.
Garrus and Grunt arrived next to her a moment later, assault rifles drawn and at the ready. Miranda turned to Garrus and nodded as she grasped the access latch and yanked the door open. The turian then pulled a grenade off the harness on the front of his battle armor and popped the safety cap.
"Flashbang out!" Garrus yelled. He waited a moment to hear the muffled bang of the grenade's detonation and then led the team through the hatch. They entered in tight staggered formation, the auditory and visual filters in their helmets automatically shielding their senses from the disorientation effects of the stun grenade.
They found themselves in the large open space of the facility's main hanger. Grunt pulled the airlock door closed behind them as Garrus and Miranda spread out in opposite directions, methodically sweeping the area with their weapons.
"Clear," Garrus said through his helmet mike.
"Copy," Miranda confirmed and lowered the barrel of her Locust a fraction. Looking around, she saw a lone Kodiak class shuttle with the markings of the batarian Hegemony. It was an older, well-worn model, but still looked intact. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that they at least had another option available to get off the asteroid as their own ride was a smoldering heap on the other side of the blast doors.
"Normandy, XO Lawson. Do you copy?" She waited a few seconds and sent the message again but the only response was harsh static over their comms. Checking her Omni-tool, she turned toward Garrus. "There's a jamming signal being broadcast from the facility. Nothing's getting through."
"Nothing's gonna be easy today, is it?" Garrus said and got underway again.
Across the hanger bay, Miranda identified the reinforced doors that appeared to be the way into the facility's interior. She dashed across the room toward the hatchway with Garrus by her side and stopped near a console. Miranda could feel the heavy footfalls of Grunt trotting up behind her as the krogan made his way to join them.
"Hold on," Miranda said. "I'll try to bring up a base schematic and internal surveillance." She scanned through the terminal's display rapidly, looking for the right sequence of inputs "There," she announced. "I've got a layout, but cameras are either offline or blocked from this node. But the base appears to be fully pressurized and has a breathable atmosphere."
Garrus was at her shoulder, his Mattock assault rifle wedged in the crook of his elbow, muzzle pointed to the ceiling. "Any sign of Shepard?" he asked.
Miranda shook her head in frustration. "Negative. And I'm still unable to locate his suit transponder. But this facility isn't that large," She pointed to a spot on the screen where a cluster of compartments were labeled Operations, Med Bay, and Armory. "I say we make our way there."
Garrus looked down at the point on the screen where Miranda was indicating. "A lot of choke points along the way."
"Agreed," Miranda said. "But we don't have much choice. This place is going to be vaporized along with the rest of the system in less than an hour.
Miranda hit the door's access code, brought her weapon back up to the ready position and fell in just behind Grunt as the heavy doors slid open. The fearless krogan squeezed through the opening the instant the doors had parted wide enough to accommodate his massive frame and swept the next room with the barrel of his rifle. Miranda and Garrus followed immediately behind.
"Ten o'clock," Miranda said over the squad channel, indicating another door across the room.
The three methodically cleared the next several compartments as they made their way toward the base's primary operations room. Moving along a long corridor, the team passed through empty personnel quarters, a small mess and rec area, and a large research lab. They encountered no resistance and no sign of any personnel at all until coming to the junction of three intersecting corridors. Miranda again tapped into a console near the center door, this time having more success with the base's security interface, and managed to bring up a portion of the internal surveillance feeds. She gasped and then quickly motioned Garrus over to the console. "This is up ahead, just past Operations Control," she said.
Garrus peered down over Miranda's shoulder at the display. What looked like a near platoon strength group of soldiers was hurriedly pushing someone forward through a corridor ahead. The man was being hauled along by a pair of soldiers in heavy battle armor, followed by another dozen troops. The prisoner had either been heavily sedated or was injured, as his legs were dangling and dragging along the floor between his escorts and his head hung limp to the front. Even with the grainy quality of the vid imaging, it was unmistakably Shepard in his N7 armor, minus the helmet.
Miranda suppressed the panic that welled up in her and focused. "They're taking him to a secondary hanger bay," she said and pointed to the base schematic she'd pulled up on her Omni-tool. "They must have transportation waiting there. We have to hurry."
"Let's go!" Garrus cried out, preparing to charge the enemy as redemption for leaving his friend behind.
Miranda grabbed the turians arm to stop him. "Hold on. I think I can slow them down at the next hatch." She furiously typed away on the haptic interface of her Omni-tool, locking down the door ahead of the soldiers with a complex encryption algorithm. "There. That will buy us a minute or two."
"Well done, Lawson," Garrus said and then gazed back at the facility's schematic displayed on Miranda's Omni-tool. He pointed to a spot a little bit ahead of the group carrying Shepard. "We can intercept them there."
The team double-timed it down the next corridor and through an adjacent storage room running parallel to the route the soldiers were taking Shepard. Reaching the last hatch that separated their squad from their incapacitated Commander, Miranda and Grunt assumed positions on either side of the door as Garrus took a knee and swapped his Mattock for the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle he was so deadly accurate with.
"I'll take the one on the right," Garrus announced through their squad channel. "Grunt, pop some smoke and get ready to turtle up in front of Shepard."
"Got it!" the krogan roared.
Miranda gave a curt nod and then hit the panel beside the hatch, parting the metal doors and revealing the soldiers' flank.
With blinding speed, Garrus acquired his target and fired an armor piercing round through the helmet of the nearest man holding Shepard, killing the soldier instantly. A fraction of a second later, Miranda grasped Shepard in a powerful biotic field and pulled him from the surviving escort and toward the hatchway.
Grunt tossed a smoke grenade into the compartment and then with surprising agility, lunged over the Commander's rapidly approaching body and came back down on the floor with a thunderous boom. The krogan maneuvered his heavily armored body between Shepard and the momentarily stunned troops and began firing indiscriminately through the billowing chemical smoke.
Garrus popped off another quick round and then sprinted the few meters to where Shepard's lifeless body rested just inside the doorway. He grabbed his friend's arm and dragged him the remainder of the way into the compartment as Miranda joined Grunt in hosing down the hostiles ahead of them with full automatic fire from her SMG.
"He's clear!" Garrus shouted as he pulled Shepard away from the chaos. "Grunt, fall back."
The krogan backtracked through the door while he continued to fire his assault rifle, roaring with rage as enemy rounds plinked off his thick body armor. Miranda emptied a full magazine as Grunt made his way back into their compartment and then slammed her hand up against the control panel, bringing the doors together again, and then sealed the hatch with another quick hack.
The hail of rounds impacting the other side of the door echoed throughout the room as Miranda scurried on her hands and knees to where the Commander was lying on the floor. She flung her combat helmet off and grasped Shepard's unprotected head with two gentle hands, turning him to face her. His eyes fluttered slightly, but he didn't rouse. She tried to suppress the fear boiling up inside her.
Garrus kneeled down next to Shepard's body. "How is he?"
Miranda frantically looked over Shepard and glanced down at the medical scanner readout on her left arm. She could immediately see he had taken heavy damage to his battle armor. There was a jagged hole in his armor right by the joint of the chest plate and left shoulder. His left arm was bleeding from several impacts that had breached his suit and there was a nasty looking gash on his upper left thigh that looked like it was caused by a heavy blade of some kind. "Injured, but stable," she said and applied a generous dose of Medi-gel to the wounds. "He's lost a lot of blood and looks heavily sedated." Miranda reached back to the combat bag slung over her shoulder and produced a multi-use injector. "I'm going to give him a stimulant," she said and plunged the needle into his neck with care and precision.
Shepard's eyes immediately shot open and he gasped for air as the synthetic adrenaline and purifying cocktail spread through his veins. He thrashed for a moment and made a frantic move to jump up off the ground as he looked around wildly. But then Garrus placed a strong, restraining hand on his shoulder and applied enough pressure to hold Shepard still.
Miranda placed both her hands on Shepard's chest, trying to calm him. "John, John! It's okay, it's me."
The Commander's vision seemed to regain focus as he met Miranda's blue eyes. "Miranda?" he said breathlessly.
Miranda smiled reassuringly and nodded her head softly. "We're here, John. We've got you," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. She could see him relaxing, the drug-induced disorientation fading, as he registered the team's presence and looked up to see Garrus and Grunt standing nearby.
Shepard slowly propped himself up on his uninjured arm as Miranda helped him upright. His ragged breathing was beginning to even out as the Medi-gel and chemical painkillers coursed through his body. "Kenson's Cerberus," he said. "The Reaper threat's real, but the Illusive Man has been bankrolling this place. They're going to take out the relay and the whole damn system with it."
"Way ahead of you Shepard, already filled her up to date," Garrus said as the turian slapped home a fresh thermal clip into his sniper rifle. "We've got about a half hour before this place is a galactic memory."
Shepard looked slightly bewildered as he met his friend's eyes and then turned back to face Miranda.
She nodded grimly. "Terminal velocity has already been achieved," Miranda said. "There's no way of stopping it now. We've got to get back to the hangar and get off this rock." She looked over Shepard's wounds again. "Can you walk?"
The Commander reached out and put a hand on Miranda's shoulder and the two rose to their feet together. "I can do more than walk," he said and looked over to their krogan friend, who's armor was still smoking from the beating he'd taken shielding Shepard from the soldiers' gunfire. "Grunt, you look like I feel," Shepard said. "Got something for me?"
Grunt gave Shepard a crooked grin and chuckled. "He, he. Here you are, battlemaster," he said and tossed the Commander an Avenger assault rifle.
On the other side of the door the sound of gunfire had stopped. Miranda dashed back over to the console and linked in her Omni-tool to the vid feed. "Looks like they've decided it's not worth chasing us down," she said. "I see a half dozen dead on the floor, but the rest are evacuating. No sign of Kenson." A pity. She simply wanted to have a talk with Kenson. Not kill her, at least not yet.
The squad then dusted themselves off, checked weapons and ammo, and prepared to head back toward the shuttle hanger. Miranda collected her discarded helmet and then took Shepard's injured arm and placed it around her shoulders, taking some of his weight as he held the Avenger ready in his right hand. Garrus took position on point and Grunt fell in behind as the squad set out to retrace their route back to the batarian shuttle they'd spotted earlier.
They hadn't gone farther than fifteen meters before they heard a distant, muffled boom and then the floor rumbled under their feet.
"What the hell was that?" Miranda asked as she came to a halt with Shepard draped over her shoulder.
Garrus rushed over to a nearby console and interfaced his Omni-tool to access base systems. "Damn," he said. "They just took out the shuttle. We need another exit plan."
"Where's the Normandy?" Shepard asked.
"She should be close, but there's a localized jamming signal blocking communications," Miranda said.
"Alright," Shepard said, the strength returning to his voice. "Let's get to the control center, kill that jammer, and call in our ride."
The group reversed direction and ambled back down the corridor. They cut through a maintenance storage area and came to the door leading into the facility's operations center. Garrus and Grunt rushed over and took up position on either side of the hatch as Miranda and Shepard set up a short distance away and crouched behind some nearby metal crates.
Vakarian and Grunt exchanged nods as Shepard propped his Avenger atop the crate he and Miranda were taking cover behind. The turian then punched the access panel for the hatch, Grunt tossed in another flashbang, waited a second for the detonation, and then the pair swung into the room with rifles at the ready.
A few seconds later, Miranda and Shepard heard Garrus give the all-clear and the couple rose to their feet again and joined their squad in the control room.
It was a large, open space with dozens of consoles and equipment clustered around a holographic map of the system at the center of the room. As Miranda and Shepard passed though into the compartment, their gaze was drawn to the thick armored windows that lined the walls across the way. Appearing alarmingly close, the mass relay was prominently visible beyond the horizon of the asteroid.
Garrus gestured toward the view through the windows. "Disconcerting, isn't it?"
"Shit," Shepard said under his breath. "We don't have much time."
Miranda helped the Commander over to the primary bank of consoles along the wall near the windows and set him down in a chair. As she got to work accessing the facility's systems, Garrus and Grunt spread out to either side of the room, covering the two hatches that allowed entry into the compartment.
"Here, I see it," Miranda announced. "Give me a second and I can disable the signal." She furiously typed commands into the console's interface and a moment later several screens around them flickered to life. "There, it's offline. And I have access to the entire facility now."
The Commander leaned over and tapped a button on the console in front of him. "Normandy, this Shepard, do you copy?" Shepard said.
After a few seconds of static, Joker's voice came through over the comm. "We read you, Commander," he said. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Same here, Joker. You still in the neighborhood?"
"Affirmative. We're just a few minutes from the asteroid you guys are riding."
"Copy," Shepard said. "We've lost our ride and could use a pickup. Pronto."
"Copy that. We're on our way to you now, Commander. Figured that rock wasn't exactly a five-star cruise ship."
Miranda gave Shepard an anxious look. "We have less than twenty-five minutes, John."
Shepard looked up at her and managed a cautious grin. "Don't worry, they'll get here in plenty of time." He reached over and grasped her wrist. "Just like you did."
She sat down in a nearby chair and scooted over to face him, checking over his injuries like a mother hen. The leg wound was still bleeding pretty badly. "I'm going to apply more Medi-gel to your leg," she said and brought out another applicator from her pouch, softly applying the compound to his wounded thigh. "I can numb the shoulder more, but I'm afraid you're going to need surgery to repair that joint." Miranda made to treat his mangled limb but Shepard seized her hand gently to stop her.
"Save it," he said. "I can manage the pain and don't want to be doped up anymore before we get off this rock."
Miranda gave him a tired smile and placed the trauma applicator back into her pack. She exhaled and met Shepard's eyes again. "Don't you ever do that to me again, you bastard," she said and then leaned over and planted a tender kiss on his lips. "Remember, I told you not to die on me. So help me I will bring you back to life again only to kill you again."
"I didn't forget," Shepard said and smiled, still holding onto her hand.
She touched her forehead gently to his for a long moment and then pulled away to glance around the room. Scanning their surroundings, she looked back at Shepard. "We need to find you a helmet for that suit," she said, motioning out through the windows that looked out onto the asteroid's surface and the cold vacuum of space beyond. About seventy meters directly in front of the facility's control center, across a rocky but predominantly unobstructed landscape was an elevated landing platform large enough to accommodate a small cargo ship or frigate. There was a clear, man-made path between the base and the tarmac used to bring in supplies. They'd have to cross that distance and get to the tarmac for pickup.
She turned to the console next to her and punched in a few commands, bringing up the base schematic. "Here," she said and pointed to a location on the display. "It looks like there's an equipment locker by the secondary airlock out to the surface. We should be able to get you sorted there."
Shepard opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as the vid screen next to them came alive and a man's familiar image appeared on the screen. "Shepard," the Illusive Man said, exhaling smoke from his cigarette. "I'm glad to see you're still breathing. I had hoped that Kenson would manage to bring you back so we could speak in person, but I suppose I'd rather see you free than vaporize with the rest of the Bahak system. A pity nonetheless, I was looking forward to having a chat face to face."
Shepard glared back at the Illusive Man's image. "Quite an operation you've had going here," he said. "But why the hell drag me into this. You knew damn well the Reapers were inbound to Bahak."
"True," the Illusive Man said. "But it was important for the galaxy to understand the lengths you would go to stop the Reapers. Kenson's arrest provided a useful opportunity to add your face to the undertaking and solidify your association with Cerberus. You'll be tied to us more than ever now, Shepard. But I'm afraid your role in exterminating the population of an entire system will not be looked on fondly by the Council. Nor will the Alliance welcome the inevitable war with the Hegemony you've instigated. But rest assured, while you're languishing in custody for your crimes against the galaxy, I will do my utmost to ensure your sacrifice to stop the Reaper invasion is not forgotten."
"You're a bloody maniac," Miranda said.
The Illusive Man's cold, glowing eyes turned to the former Cerberus operative. "Miranda, in many ways, you're more of a disappointment to me than the Commander," he said. "You understood what we were trying to accomplish. And you turned your back on a leading role in the upcoming revolution. It was a fatal error on your part."
Miranda glared back at her former employer. "I think I'll get over it."
"I'm not so sure, Miss Lawson," he said. "While Shepard's former colleagues will merely imprison him and marginalize his influence on galactic matters, your fate, I'm afraid, will be much more uncomfortable. I don't believe you'll have the opportunity to live out that life with Oriana and the Commander you've been fantasizing about." He paused and took another deliberate drag of his cigarette, relishing the knife he was twisting. "But I suppose I should take some responsibility. In retrospect, it was a mistake for me to order you to get close to Shepard. You lost perspective."
"I gained perspective. You're no better than my father!"
Miranda's eyes flashed with rage but then flicked over to Shepard. The Commander had narrowed his gaze as he stared back at the Illusive Man's image, but he hadn't flinched at the revelation.
"This isn't over," Shepard said coolly. "You think you've won, but I promise you I will not be down on the mat for long. I'm coming for you, so you'd better prepare your sorry ass." Shepard gave a smug smile.
The Illusive Man shrugged. "You may not like what you find, Commander," he said. "Good luck, Shepard. I believe you'll need it." The feed then abruptly died and the console screen returned to a grainy black and white snow, although not before Shepard could give the Illusive man the bird..
Miranda looked at Shepard apprehensively. He met her gaze with an odd look in his eyes. "Forget it," he said dismissively. "Let's just get off this rock."
Miranda winced slightly and nodded. She took Shepard's left arm and again swung it over her shoulders, helping him up from the chair and taking some weight off his injured leg. Garrus and Grunt were standing just behind the couple. She hadn't noticed their approach while the Illusive Man was speaking. "Are you kids ready to go?" Garrus asked.
A few minutes later, Miranda was in the lead with Shepard as the squad set out through the facility's secondary airlock and began the trek across the asteroid's harsh landscape. The two stumbled along the path leading toward the elevated platform in the distance, the Commander's injured left arm again draped over Miranda's shoulders. Shepard held the Avenger ready in his right hand and Miranda grasped the Locust with her left. Garrus and Grunt followed close behind and slightly off to the sides.
Large, modular storage containers and bulky mechanical equipment for the base intermittently bordered the path they were traveling along. They moved toward their objective as quickly as possible, but as Miranda was encumbered by Shepard's armored bulk, the team's progress felt painfully slow as the rapidly nearing relay loomed ominously ahead of them.
As the group approached the halfway point of their short journey, Miranda's in-helmet tactical display lit up with new threat vectors. About a dozen security mechs had just powered up and were targeting their little column. She quickly looked to her left and saw a LOKI Mech rising up from behind a crate, leveling its M-3 Predator heavy pistol at her and Shepard. Miranda immediately swung her Locust toward the threat and let loose a burst of fire, catching the mech in its gun arm, disintegrating the synthetic's right side and tossing it backwards into the jagged rocks. Shepard simultaneously engaged a pair of LOKIs that were ambling toward them from the right, approaching with a slow, mechanical gait. He sprayed the two mechs with full auto fire from his Avenger, taking out their legs and then finishing them off with another efficient burst while the synthetics were still splayed out on the ground.
Behind her and the Commander, Vakarian and Grunt were both opening up on a swarm of mechs that had appeared at the rear of the squad. In their haste to get to the platform, they had walked right into the ambush. Dodging and returning fire on the run, the team scurried further ahead along the path and sought out what little cover was available.
Shepard fired the Avenger from the crook of his arm, taking out another cluster of mechs ahead of them before the bolt of his rifle locked back on an expended thermal clip. "I'm out," he announced.
"Here," Miranda said and allowed her SMG to dangle muzzle down from the combat sling it was lashed to. "Toss it and take this." She reached her free hand across her body, pulled the M-6 Carnifex sidearm from her thigh holster, and thrust it into Shepard's right hand.
Shepard seized the heavy pistol and immediately sighted the next hostile mech at their two o'clock, dropping it with two precise rounds that split the robot's alloy skull in half and toppled it backward amid a shower of sparks.
Miranda caught sight of another cluster of LOKIs emerging to their left that were moving to flank the team when the sudden rumble beneath her feet caused her to stumble.
"Shit!" Garrus called out over their squad channel. "We've got a heavy."
Directly ahead of the team and blocking their route to the landing platform, a YMIR Heavy Mech erupted from within its storage container and began a lumbering advance toward them. Miranda and Shepard immediately pulled each other down and took cover behind a collection of storage crates. But the mech had already sighted them and opened up with its twin mass accelerator canons, spraying the area with superheated projectiles.
The hail of automatic fire disintegrated the meager cover the two had hunkered down behind and began to bite into their battle armor when Miranda let go of Shepard and quickly formed a powerful biotic barrier to reinforce their protection. But the intensity of the mech's assault quickly exhausted her and the translucent blue shield began to fail.
Then Miranda caught the low bark of a high caliber weapon to her left. She looked over her shoulder and saw Grunt slowly advancing on the YMIR, firing his heavy Claymore shotgun from the hip. The krogan's arrival relieved the pressure on her and Shepard as the heavy mech turned its auto cannon on the new target. Miranda heard a howl of pain from Grunt as he staggered, taking several canon rounds off his right ankle and foot.
Shepard rose back up through the fragments of mangled crates that were partially covering him and took careful aim with the Carnifex. He unloaded the remaining four rounds of his pistol's mag into the side of the mech's armored head, causing the YMIR to shift focus again. Then Miranda inhaled deeply, drew upon her remaining reserve of energy and fired the strongest Warp attack she could muster. The strike hit the mech square in center mass, causing it to lurch to one side as the shifting mass effect fields went to work at shedding its reinforced ceramic armor plating.
Shaken by Shepard's gunfire and Miranda's biotic assault, the YMIR turned its left arm toward them as the rocket launcher concealed within the limb emerged. But before the mech could square up its aim, a single powerful shot struck its recessed head and knocked it senseless, sending reverberations throughout its synthetic body. Miranda glanced back behind her and saw Garrus calmly standing atop several fallen LOKI mechs, his M-92 Mantis pressed against his shoulder. The turian then methodically chambered another round into the powerful sniper rifle and fired the kill shot.
The second round from Garrus' rifle again hit square in the center of the YMIR's armored head. The impact took out the mech's primary imaging sensors and disintegrated the casing of its cognitive array. The YMIR shook violently for several seconds as its systems failed catastrophically, fell backward onto the rocky ground, and then detonated in a huge explosion that rained fiery debris all along the pathway.
"I think that's all of them," Garrus announced and then rushed over to check on Grunt.
Miranda and Shepard, still on their knees and surrounded by the debris of a half dozen polycarbonate crates, slowly rose back to their feet and dusted themselves off. "You alright over there, Grunt?" Shepard asked.
"Argh!" Grunt roared over the squad comms. "I'm fine!" The krogan was gingerly putting weight on his right foot where his armored boot had been mangled by the YMIR's auto cannon.
They were only a dozen meters from the landing platform when Miranda once again heard the warbling sound of her in-helmet threat alarm. "Oh for the love of god!" she cried. "What now?"
The team turned their heads in unison and looked behind them, identifying the latest threat. Approaching at high speed and less than two hundred feet off the deck, the surviving Cerberus fighter was bearing down on them as it lined up a strafing run.
Miranda's heart sank as she realized they were completely caught out in the open and had no heavy weapons left to contend with the aerial attack. She tried desperately to call on her biotic energy and conjure up another barrier, but she was still drained by the effort to take down the heavy mech.
But then she heard a sharp whoosh from behind and a split second later the fighter was blotted out of the sky, disintegrating spectacularly as it was struck by the unmistakable molten metal projectile of a Thanix cannon. The squad reflexively ducked down as the Normandy thundered over their heads, scattering what was left of the Cerberus fighter against its reinforced shielding and began a hard portside bank to return in their direction.
Shepard exhaled deliberately. "Damn fine timing, Joker," he said over the comm.
"You're welcome," Joker said in his typical sardonic tone. "I suggest you guys double-time it unless you're looking to do a little self-tanning."
"We're not stopping to pick you flowers," Shepard said. "Bring her in hot."
"Copy that, Commander."
Miranda resumed her position next to Shepard, throwing an arm around his torso and helping him cross the last few meters to the spot where the Normandy was beginning its final descent. The frigate's forward ramp was already lowering as Joker prepared to execute a fast combat pickup, barely allowing the skids to touch down. To her left, she caught sight of Garrus helping Grunt along. The krogan was hopping along almost comically on his good foot.
The Normandy came in at a low angle, kicking up dust and debris all around the team as they thundered up the ramp and into the forward cargo hold of the ship. "Dust off, Joker," Shepard shouted through the comm as the team cleared the hatchway. The ramp had only just begun to rise behind the team as Joker hit the throttle and pulled the mighty ship back off the surface and out into space.
As the four battle weary companions made their way aft toward the Normandy's elevator, yellow warning strobes blinked in the depressurized compartment. Then the ramp closed with a solid thump and sealed behind them. The strobes changed to a pale, solid blue signaling the restoration of the deck's atmosphere, and the squad quickly abandoned their helmets. Shaking her hair free of the tight bun it had been tied in, Miranda finally allowed herself to feel a small measure of relief. The team then piled into the lift, their armor still smoking from the punishment they received on the asteroid.
"Grunt, straight to Chakwas and get that hoof attended to," Shepard Commanded. The krogan grumbled in response, but the elevator floor was already slippery with orange fluid leaking from Grunt's foot.
Miranda gave Shepard a worried look. "You should do the same, Commander," she said. "I'm concerned about that leg."
Shepard turned to his XO and smiled weakly. "In a bit," he said. "Let's get to the CIC first."
They stopped the lift at the crew deck and were met by Chakwas and two other crewmen. Garrus helped drag Grunt out of the elevator and toward the Medical Bay as the crewman did their best to assist as the krogan irritably brushed them aside.
Seeing his wounds, the doctor gave Shepard a disapproving look that wordlessly told him to follow her to the Med Bay. But the Commander waved her off with the promise to come back down as soon as the ship was out of danger. Miranda could only shrug when she met Karin's eyes, knowing her injured partner wasn't about to consent to proper medical care until he saw the Normandy was safely out of harm's way. The doors slid closed again, leaving her and Shepard to ride up to the next level.
Miranda looked over hesitantly at Shepard who was now leaning against the side of the elevator, breathing deliberately with his eyes cast downward. "John…" she started quietly.
He looked up at her with an intensity in his eyes that made her feel a little uneasy. "Not now, Miranda," he said. "We can talk when we're out of this mess."
Miranda opened her mouth to say something else, but then the elevator doors slid open and Shepard made to exit the lift. She took a hold of his arm again and the two walked gingerly out into the CIC. As the couple emerged on deck, crewmembers turned their heads and watched in fascination as the Commander and XO, still clad in their battle scarred armor, staggered over to the primary command terminal near the Galaxy Map.
"Joker," Shepard said breathlessly "Status?"
"I'm lining up the relay now, Commander," Joker responded. "ETA forty-five seconds."
Shepard nodded approval. "EDI, anything getting off Aratoht?" Shepard asked.
"I detect nine ships of various sizes ascending from the colony," EDI said. "However, I do not anticipate that any of the vessels will reach the mass relay ahead of impact or have sufficient time to clear the impending explosion via standard FTL, Commander."
Miranda watched sympathetically as Shepard swallowed and absorbed the grim news. She was nearly overcome with the desire to comfort him. This isn't your fault, she wanted to tell him. But now was not the time.
A few moments later, the Normandy entered the relay's mass-free corridor and was instantaneously transported back to the Sol system, emerging from the Charon relay. Miranda watched Shepard limp up the short flight of stairs to the Galaxy Map and select the Bahak system's data feed. The Commander bowed his head slightly as the holographic representation of the batarian system flickered and then went out completely, severing the link from the rest of the relay network. The Alpha Relay and the Reaper's shortcut into the rest of the galaxy was gone. And with it, nearly three hundred thousand batarians had been snuffed out of existence.
Shepard remained atop the Galaxy Map platform for a long minute or two, staring down into the sea of star systems and relays. When he finally spoke again, it was with a weary tone. "EDI, anyone else make it out of the system before we lost the relay?"
"Recorded data suggests that at least one small craft departed the system ahead of the Normandy," EDI said. "The vessel likely carried the hostile forces you encountered on the surface of the asteroid. No other ships appear to have made it through the relay before it was destroyed."
Miranda glanced down at a nearby terminal and saw that telemetry was coming in from various probes and remote listening posts within the vicinity, confirming the complete destruction of the Alpha Relay and the eradication of the Bahak system.
Shepard nodded his head slowly as he absorbed the magnitude of what had just occurred. "Understood."
Behind the Commander, the elevator opened and Garrus came striding out, still cradling his Mattock assault rifle. Shepard turned at the sound of the lift doors opening and looked at the turian. "How's Grunt?"
"He'll live," Garrus said. "He's not going dancing anytime soon, but it's nothing Chakwas can't sort out." Garrus glanced over at Miranda who was standing a little off to the side, a pained expression on her face, and then looked back to Shepard. "Have we established contact with Tali and Mordin yet?"
Shepard furrowed his brow as he limped back down the Galaxy Map platform stairs. "What do you mean?"
Miranda looked up and cleared her throat. "Commander," she said. "I left Tali and Mordin in a Kodiak at the original rendezvous coordinates, in case you managed to escape."
Shepard looked over at his XO and nodded. "Got it," he said and offered her a tired smile.
The look made Miranda feel slightly better, but also a little sad. "EDI," she said. "Please patch us through to Tali's shuttle."
"I am attempting to raise the shuttle now, Miss Lawson," EDI said. "However, as of yet there has been no respons—." EDI's voice abruptly cut off and her holographic representation flickered and disappeared.
Miranda raised an eyebrow. "EDI?" Miranda said just as half the Normandy's internal lights went out and numerous haptic interface consoles died.
Shepard looked over to Miranda with an uneasy look on his face as emergency lighting flickered on around the CIC. "EDI, talk to me?" he said.
Joker's alarmed voice came over the comm a moment later. "Commander, EDI's gone completely haywire. She's totally offline along with most of our primary systems, including propulsion and weapons. We're dead in the water."
Miranda rushed over to a nearby terminal and began to frantically scan through the ship's subsystems, searching for the cause of the Normandy's sudden distress. She flinched when the first indication of the problem became evident. "We have a serious problem, Commander," she said in a tense voice. "EDI's subroutines are being attacked by a powerful virus. It's suppressing all her higher processing functions and crippling most of the automated systems." Miranda exhaled in frustration and slammed her fists down on the console. "I'm completely locked out."
Shepard walked the few feet over to Miranda and leaned over her shoulder, studying the display. "A virus?" he said incredulously. "How the hell did that happen?"
Miranda cycled through more screens of data. "Hold on. I'm trying to at least track down the infection's initial access vector." She then recoiled from the terminal and looked up to face Shepard. "Shepard, it originated from somewhere in the CIC."
Shepard, Miranda and Garrus all cast their heads around the CIC, searching for some visible sign of the attack on the Normandy's AI. Emergency strobes were flashing at multiple terminals and the absence of the steady hum of so many of the ships systems was jarring.
And then Miranda's eyes settled on Kelly, standing like a statue in front of the Yeoman's terminal, staring straight ahead and with a distant look in her eye. Chambers had gone gray and there was a solitary tear slowly making its way down her left cheek.
Miranda eyed Kelly with a cautious look. "Chambers?" she said.
Hearing Miranda, Shepard and Garrus both turned to face the Yeoman, fixing their gaze on the redhead. Kelly was a petite woman, but as she stood before the command staff of the Normandy, she seemed to shrink even further and her lower lip quivered.
"Kelly, what did you do?" Shepard asked, his tone alarmed and rife with disbelief at the betrayal.
Kelly slowly turned from her terminal and met Shepard's eyes, a tortured look on her face. "I'm so sorry, Shepard…" she said. "I'm so, so very sor-." The woman's head snapped back violently as a look of bewildered shock spread over her face. She locked eyes with Shepard, her expression full of desperation and fear, and then her right eye was crimson with blood and her body went limp, collapsing to the ground.
Shepard crossed the few feet to Kelly in a heartbeat, catching her in his arms just before her lifeless body struck the floor. "Doctor Chakwas to the CIC! Medical emergency," he called out and knelt down on one knee, cradling Kelly in his arms.
Miranda rushed over to Shepard's side and knelt down next to him and Kelly. She could see immediately that the woman was dead, recognizing that an ocular implanted explosive had just obliterated her frontal lobe. Still, Miranda checked for the pulse she knew she wouldn't find and then placed a gentle hand on Shepard's arm. "She's gone, John," she whispered.
Shepard looked gut-punched and there was a far off look in his eyes. Miranda looked at him with anguish, mourning for Kelly's loss but also feeling incensed at the blow that had been struck to the man she loved.
Joker's voice crackled over the overhead comm a moment later. "Commander, four Alliance frigates just dropped out of FTL eighty klicks off our bow," he said in a strained tone that was utterly devoid of his typical humor. "They're hailing us now… The captain of the lead ship is demanding we stand down and prepare to be boarded."
Shepard looked over at Miranda and stared into her eyes for what seemed like ages. Vaguely aware of Garrus standing nearby, she gazed back at the Commander with a look of helplessness. Then the turian defiantly pulled back on the action of the Mattock assault rifle he was still holding, making Miranda jump.
The sound rocked Shepard back to the present. He looked up at the turian and slowly shook his head. "Not this time, old friend," he said. The Commander then carefully lowered Kelly's head to the floor, closed her eyes with a gentle brush of his hand, and rose back to his feet. He stepped over to the nearby terminal and activated the ship-wide comm. "Normandy crew, this is Shepard. Prepare to be boarded by Systems Alliance Naval personnel. Stand down general quarters and do not resist. I say again, stand down. That is all." He then turned to Garrus with a stoic expression. "You better get back down to Medical and make sure Grunt doesn't kill anyone."
Garrus remained planted in front of Shepard for another few moments, staring back at the Commander with a stubborn look on his sharp, turian features. He then gave Shepard a curt nod and silently turned back toward the elevator.
"Joker, signal our surrender to the Alliance Captain and issue docking instructions," Shepard said.
"Aye, Commander."
Shepard and Miranda remained on the CIC as the first Alliance Navy soldiers filed through from the primary airlock at the bow, where the lead ship had secured its docking coupling.
Several minutes later, the Normandy was swarming with a full Alliance SpecOps platoon. Miranda watched scornfully as the Alliance soldiers spread out across every deck, going about securing the Normandy in an almost casual manner. She found their presence on Shepard's ship repugnant and their black battle armor kits almost sinister. And there was something about the way these soldiers carried themselves that made her think of the ambush she and John had survived on Illium only a short time ago.
Dr. Chakwas had also arrived on deck. After quickly assessing that there wasn't a thing she could do for poor Kelly, she had begun tending further to Shepard's nasty thigh and shoulder wounds.
As the Alliance soldiers moved about the CIC, Miranda remained close to Shepard when an officer in dark blue battle dress and flanked by two other soldiers in full armor came purposely walking toward them. The three men stopped before the Commander and XO and the officer briefly glanced down at where Kelly's body rested on the floor before looking back up at Shepard.
He was a smaller man than the Commander, but possessed a lean frame and deep-set eyes. His physique was unimposing, but Miranda sensed malevolence in the man that she found unsettling. His expression was severe and pitiless.
The officer silently evaluated Shepard for a long moment before speaking. "Commander Shepard, my name is Major Richter of the Systems Alliance Intelligence Service," he said.
"Major," Shepard nodded and fixed the man with contemptuous glare. "I think I ran into some of your friends on Illium a few days ago. You need to teach them manners. Don't you know it's rude to interrupt shore leave?"
Richter didn't flinch at the allegation. "I haven't the slightest idea what you mean, Commander," he said in an emotionless voice. "I am here to take you into custody and impound this ship."
"On whose bloody authority?" Miranda said. "This is a Council Spectre's vessel and crew."
The Major turned his gaze toward Miranda and regarded her with vague curiosity. "As of 0930 today, Citadel standard time, the Council has revoked Commander Shepard's status as an active Spectre," he said and turned back to Shepard. "You no longer have any authority to operate this ship in Alliance space."
Shepard coughed violently and forcefully, startling Miranda. "Sorry I'm allergic to bullshit, and you reek of it. What is really going on?"
Another Alliance soldier then approached and saluted the Major. "Sir, all decks are secured," the man said. "The turian and krogan were a handful, but they're both prepped and ready for transport. The quarian and salarian are missing, as are the two Kodiak class shuttles on the manifest. There's also no sign of the thief, Goto."
Miranda's face remained impassive as the soldier briefed the Major, effectively masking the relief she felt. She was thrilled to learn that Kasumi had evaded these men. Garrus and Grunt had powerful friends and family within their respective governments and would no doubt be promptly returned to the turian and krogan authorities, but there was no telling what these people might do to a notorious criminal like her Japanese friend. Miranda was even thankful that she had ordered Tali to remain behind with Mordin. The quarian government held very little sway with the Alliance and a man like Richter would surely have relished the opportunity to interrogate their young engineer. As for herself, a feeling of foreboding was steadily rising in Miranda's gut.
Richter exhaled deliberately and gestured toward Shepard. "Secure him," he said.
The two burly soldiers that had been flanking the Major moved forward and placed their powerful hands on Shepard's shoulders. The Commander brushed the first man's grip aside angrily. "Oh no you fucking don't," Shepard said angrily, quickly taking the man's arm and breaking it in textbook N7 CQC training.
Before he could resist any further, the soldier that had briefed Richter pounced on the Commander and produced a nasty looking electronic baton. He jabbed the prod into Shepard's injured shoulder joint, buckling his knees as ten thousand volts sent amps shooting through his body and emitting a cry of pain. Then the other two soldiers jumped on Shepard and shoved him hard into the console, repeatedly hitting him and jabbing him with the baton. He was unconscious within seconds.
"Bastards!" Miranda shouted in fury. An aura of blue-toned energy crackled to life around her as Miranda's biotics flared. But then a cruel hand grabbed her neck and dug into her skin with terrible strength. She swung her head around to face the attacker just in time to see the butt of an assault rifle come brutally down upon her right temple.
Stunned, Miranda fell to her knees and struggled to remain conscious. She was vaguely aware of doctor Chakwas' furious shouts of protest when the second blow took her directly on the back of her head.
Miranda collapsed to the ground and her world went black.
Author's Note:
Hey! Finally getting to points where I'm writing full sections, and I'm really excited. I posted this chapter prematurely because I couldn't wait. Things are getting exciting, aren't they? Just a little warning that the next few chapters will be very much M rated for violence and disturbing content. Any recommendations? Let me know!
Yours,
amc555
minor edits 1/6/22