Treachery Abound

The searchlight went off and the gunship which it had come from continued to hover outside, its guns trained right at me. When I saw the figure, I instantly felt pure hatred and when I spoke, I could very well have been a snake spitting venom at its prey as Kai Leng stood there, brandishing his sword with a cocky grin on his face.

"You," I hissed. My team had their weapons up and were ready to fire, but Kai Leng made no attempt to attack and instead held up a little drone like the one I had seen on Omega before when General Petrovsky had us trapped behind the barriers at the power plant. It floated casually towards us and Kai Leng's voice hissed,

"Someone would like to talk to you."

I was in no mood for a leisurely chat and stormed forward,

"What the hell happened to the Asari out there?" I growled, worried about the fate of Lieutenant Kurin and her soldiers. As if in answer, there appeared at least a dozen Cerberus Phantoms from underneath the floor. These nimble little bastards all wielded swords of the same design as Kai Leng's, his blade being the one that ended Thane's life. The cocksure grin on the Cerberus Assassin's face only grew bigger,

"They won't be coming to save you. Their Lieutenant wears the same scar as your unfortunate scientists."

My limbs went numb as I thought of Kai Leng's blade slicing across Kurin's throat, covering the ground below her in the purple blood of her kind. Those Asari soldiers had fought so hard and so bravely to get here, only to be slain like lambs gathered together for a slaughter. Their fates were my doing.

I wanted nothing more than to grab Kai Leng and rip him apart with my bare hands, to watch him suffer as I killed him in the slowest and most terribly painful way possible. But I was halted by the projection drone from which the holographic image of an impeccably dressed man appeared. I had not seen anything of the Illusive Man since the encounter at the Mars archives. Much to my distaste, I found that the war had not seemed to take much of a physical toll on the Cerberus mastermind.

"Commander Gardner," he said plainly after a puff of his signature cigarette.

"How did you find this place"? I asked. A wry smile appeared on my enemy's face,

"The Mars archives… or did your Shadow Broker miss that one?"

"Show yourself," Liara barked with her weapon raised, "I promise I won't miss."

The Illusive Man headed for the beacon and dismissed Liara's threat with an infuriating coolness.

"Stick to your talents Dr T'Soni, you've helped uncover the key to subjugating the Reapers," he said as a longing hand stretched out towards the Prothean VI hovering high above us.

"Or destroying them," I quickly cut in.

"Damn it, Scott!" The Illusive Man growled, "destroying the Reapers gains us nothing!"

"How about peace?"

"They're just trying to control us," Illusive Man said with certainty, "think about it. If they wanted all organic life destroyed, they could do it with a single thought. There would be nothing left."

I remembered similar words coming from Leviathan when the great creature had me as a prisoner in my own mind, but the Illusive Man must have decided this for himself another way and I wanted to know what was going on in that twisted head.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said playing the out-of-his-depth-soldier card.

"I know them, Gardner," he replied, "I know how they think."

"I think you've gotten too close to the enemy," I spat back. With a shake of his head the Illusive Man continued to say what the voices in his head were telling him.

"No… I'm saying they've got it right. Why kill when you can control?"

"You've been spending too much time with the enemy," I told him, "they're dragging you over to their side. Their way of thinking."

"No. I just see things differently."

"If you really care about Humanity, you'll stop fighting me, you'll join me," I said. I had once almost broken through to Saren's true self, encouraging him to fight against the indoctrination before Sovereign took control entirely. Perhaps the Illusive Man had the willpower to fight back as well and see things as they truly were.

"Don't ever question my intentions!" the Illusive Man snarled, "I've sacrificed more for Humanity than you'll ever know… and don't assume you know me. My methods for fighting the Reapers are simply more refined than yours."

As I tried, seemingly in vain, to appeal to the Human being still in the Illusive Man, I could see Kai Leng pacing back and forward with his sword drawn. Around us the Phantoms had maintained an offensive posture that told us that they could leap into action at literally any second. But I knew that they would not move until kai Leng gave the order, and right now he was simply an impatient soldier waiting to engage his enemies rather than pounce at us right at that moment.

"You've forgotten everything you stood for!" I yelled at the projection of the Illusive Man. "Humanity was supposed to be Humanity's sword, not a dagger in our back."

"Poetic," the Illusive Man chuckled, "but as usual you miss the point. The world is more grey than you care to admit."

"With the Prothean data in this beacon, I can end this war, once and for all. You're either with me or against me, there's nothing grey about that!"

The Illusive Man regarded me with his cybernetic eyes for a moment and saw that I was not about to back down.

"No," he finally said, "I suppose there isn't. Leng, the Commander has something I need."

The Holo of the Illusive Man faded away but his voice lingered on just long enough to issue a final order,

"Relieve him of it, then bring me the data."

Kai Leng and the Phantoms jumped into action and a barrage of biotic attacks came flying at us from all directions. Liara and Javik both had the same idea at the same time and put up strong barriers that took the heat before my team started to fight back. Omni blades and Omni bayonets appeared on just about all of my squad's weapons as the enemy soldiers closed in for melee combat. The Phantoms were about to find that my team was a damn sight tougher and better equipped than our poor Asari allies had been.

"C'mon you motherfuckers!" James bellowed as the Phantoms swooped in. A sleek female Phantom leapt at the big American when a biotic blast knocked her sideways and Liara closed in for the kill, placing the muzzle of her submachinegun right against the enemy's face and pulling the trigger to produce a spray of red mist from the Phantom.

I was busy parrying and dodging the whirling attacks of another enemy as his sword slashed and swiped inches from me. I cut low with the Omni blade attached to my Mattock, but the Phantom skipped over it and smacked me in the face. Reeling backwards, I prepared for another attack, but I could not see my foe. Then there was the faintest noise behind me and I knew I had to throw myself forward to avoid having my back ripped open and I could hear the tip of the blade whistle past me it was so close. My leg flew backwards and I kicked my assailant right in the chest then spun round as the Phantom was rolling back onto his feet, my Omni blade piercing right through his gut. I almost removed his insides as I twisted the burning hot blade out of him. No sooner had the dead Cerberus soldier hit the floor than another one of the swift soldiers was after me. Her knee connected with my abdomen and an arm wrapped around my neck and I was hip-tossed onto the floor, my head knocking against the cold marble and shaking me right up.

A few of the Phantoms had been killed, but the rest of them and their leader, Kai Leng were all over us and most of my team had already had a near miss from those deadly swords. Out of all of us, Garrus was actually the top-rated hand-to-hand specialist on the team. Using all the advantages of being a Turian, with long and fast-moving limbs combined with a sleek form, he was holding his own against the Human Phantoms. Using his leg to deflect a sword-armed jab, he then brought his fist down on the top of his enemy's exposed back. With a horrible crunch, the blow took the Phantom down, but they were naturally able to recover quickly so Garrus leapt after the Cerberus soldier before they could correct themselves.

Trying to slash the Phantom with his Omni blade failed, but then Garrus sent a sharp kick to the enemy's knee and smashed it to bits before wrapping his hands around the Phantom's neck. With a quick spiral pull upwards, the Phantom's neck was broken and the limp body fell away from Garrus. Without missing a beat, he scooped his rifle up again but a phantom drop-kicked him in the back and sent him flying. While this happened, I let off a few shots from my Mattock at a Phantom that had forced Tali to the ground and was about to skewer her with her sword. My shots were enough of a distraction that Tali was able to bring her shotgun up to the Phantom's belly and blast her whole abdomen out through the enormous gap that opened in her back.

The fight was short-lived but hard going. Yet my team had more than levelled the playing field and now our numbers were superior to Kai Leng and his annoying followers. Javik beat a Phantom senseless with the butt of his particle rifle before stamping down hard on his enemy's neck, breaking it instantly. He stood up straight with a pained look on his face and he looked down to the Phantom's sword that had bored its way through his upper leg. With a great shout he swiped at the handgrip of the sword and snapped it off before sliding the rest of the blade through his leg to get it out. His mouth was tight and his fists clenched as green blood seeped from the open wound, but he did not utter a sound of complaint and immediately joined the fray to help Tali.

As for me, I now found myself facing off against the only one that I actually wanted to fight. Kai Leng rushed me, but I dodged aside and managed to land a kick into his gut, or so I thought. Leng used the force of my kick as he grabbed my outstretched leg and threw me around, sending me sprawling on the ground about ten metres away. He sent a biotic attack my way, and once again I was sailing through the air and crashed into one of the pews next to the beacon.

"Don't worry, Commander," he mocked, "if you want to see your Drell friend, again I'll gladly send you to him."

His sword punched deep into the marble where I had just rolled away, but he was on me less than half a second later and I furiously rolled this way and that to avoid having a hole sliced through me. I armed the Omni blade and sent a wild slash at the assassin, and although it missed it made him back away for just a moment. This gave me the time to flip myself back up onto my feet and I faced off with him, sparring violently with my Omni blade against his sword. I was unaware that all of the Phantoms had been killed by now and it was just Kai Leng himself left, this was my chance to finish him and avenge Thane.

It was now Kai Leng realised he was alone against all of us. He weaved his way through us all, kicking Tali to the ground and sliding past Ashley before throwing Javik over his shoulder. I grabbed Javik by the arm and pulled him to his feet next to me before I took Tali's hand and did the same for her. My squad formed up and readied their weapons, there was only one target to aim at now. We stood together between Kai Leng and the Prothean beacon and my heart soared. There was no way the Illusive Man was getting the data on the Catalyst. However, the assassin still wore that disgusting grin and it tore me up inside. Every second he was there, smiling away to himself, was an insult to me, my friends and everyone that the bastard had killed. Then Kai Leng said something through his radio.

"Target the supports."

The Cerberus gunship reappeared and a flurry of missiles burst free from the launch pods and screamed into the temple.

"Cover!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and everyone threw themselves at anything that offered protection. The noise of the explosions was deafening and a missile struck the support column right by me and sent me skidding across the ground further towards the side of the marble flooring, which now had begun to crack. Realising what was happening, I gazed back over at Kai Leng and watched as he walked so calmly through the firestorm towards the beacon while my friends could not hope to leave their cover without getting hit.

The gunship fired bursts of machinegun fire to keep us pinned in place and Kai Leng now activated his Omni tool and began downloading the data from the beacon, taking the Prothean VI with him. I started crawling towards him and tried to get on my feet. I had to stop him before he got the VI and left nothing behind. But the floor cracked below me, chunks broke off and faded into darkness underneath. Then I tried to take a step only to find that my foot made contact with nothing. Then that horrible sensation of falling hit me hard.

There were a couple of seconds of sheer panic as I fell down to a possibly agonising death in the dark reaches of the temple far below. Luckily, my hand shot out and I managed to grab a hold of a section of flooring that was dangling from above, but had not quite detached itself yet. My fingers dug in for dear life, and when I finally was able to hold myself steady and shift myself into a position where I could start climbing, I had to take a moment for my head to stop spinning. Taking a deep breath and barely holding back the sick feeling that rushed up from my stomach, I took careful and well-planned steps to clamber my way up the ruined section of floor. Every minute counted right now, and I needed to get back up into the temple to stop Kai Leng before he escaped.

I hoped my team would be able to do something, but I still heard the gunship firing off waves of bullets whenever any of my squad tried to move. My head popped above the level of the marble floor, just in time to see Kai Leng swaggering his way out of the temple. He spotted me as I struggled to get up, my grip on the dangling debris slipping. As he walked, he made an insulting bow in my direction and said with glee,

"Cerberus thanks you for all your hard work."

He stamped the ground and the section of marble flooring that I was clinging to finally gave way, almost taking me with it. I had just managed to wrap my fingers around the base of one of the benches. For a heart-stopping moment, I thought I was simply about to bring the bench falling down with me, but apart from shifting a couple of inches it stayed put. My grip was failing and I flailed aimlessly for something else to hold on to, the dread building inside rapidly.

Two pairs of hands grabbed me and pulled me up as Tali and Liara arrived simultaneously to help. The gunship turned with its small troop compartment open to allow Kai Leng to board, and that meant that its guns were no longer targeting us. I rolled over Tali and ran for my Mattock where I had dropped it, firing shots at the gunship as I sprinted after it. My team was following and their guns blazed away as well. However, the gunship was soon not even within view and my team and were left battered, beaten, exhausted. The worst part was that we had nothing to show for it. Kai Leng had retrieved the data and the Prothean VI and made off with it. We had lost.

It was like my nervous system had completely shut down as I stood in the entrance to the wrecked, smoking temple. I felt nothing, just crippling numbness. My mind could barely fathom what had happened or what to do next. This was not how this mission was supposed to go. We were supposed to be riding back to the Normandy with the Prothean VI in hand right now, ready to send it to Admiral Hackett where the necessary data could be extracted and the Crucible completed.

Instead, I stood looking at an entire world on fire as more Reapers arrived, throwing themselves down onto the Thessia's surface to add to the already great levels of desolation. I was breathing heavily, my fists clenched and my rifle still in hand. I could not move, my limbs felt as if they were made of stone and would not respond to my commands. There had to be some way to turn this around, to bring the victory back. I could not give up!

A hand landed on my shoulder as if to comfort me. I did not even look in the person's direction and just shrugged it off. I did not care who it was. Walking outside and watching another Reaper arrive, knocking down one of Armali's amazing, beautiful skyscrapers by ruthlessly slamming its body into it, I now saw Lieutenant Kurin and her soldiers. They were all dead. Their defence had been quickly overcome by Kai Leng's ambush, an enemy that the Asari were not even looking for and could never have seen coming, just as I failed to foresee their intervention.

"Scott?" I heard Tali call after me. I just kept walking and knelt down beside Kurin, her eyes still open and full of despair. Before she had died, she had been watching Asari civilisation crumble around her for days, then had to watch her soldiers die around her at the hands of the Cerberus Phantoms. Yet there was also a look of resolution in the unblinking eyes of the Asari officer. Even with her unit being killed all around her, she had not at any time thought of retreating or surrendering.

"I'm sorry, Kurin," I managed to say, "you and your soldiers died because of me. Every one of you are heroes, and I've wasted you all just to fail you."

Now my emotions were finally able to burst through the wall I had thrown up around myself and the tears came running freely. The least I could say was that I was not snivelling like a child, but our defeat was hitting me hard and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I had promised everyone that we would save Thessia, building their hopes up so they would fight as hard as they always did, believing that I would see us to victory. Instead, we would be leaving Thessia and the billions of Asari desperately trying to survive the onslaught of the machines. The way I was feeling right then I could only think that they were all as good as dead. Because of me.

Few words were spoken while Steve flew us back to the Normandy, but none of them were from me and when we arrived back on board my ship, I immediately headed to the War Room alone, disallowing anyone from coming with me. I could feel my friends watching me leave them with concern. However, a part of me had died at the loss of the Asari home world and the Prothean data. What made it worse was that my defeat had been delivered in the filthy hands of the treacherous Kai Leng, my arch enemy. I had been so focused on the fact, the fantasy that we had been close to ending the war. I made myself blind to any other possibilities, such as Cerberus appearing out of nowhere and sweeping our feet from under us. It was utterly devastating.

Sending off a signal to the Asari Councillor, I waited impatiently for her to call me back. Whether it took a few seconds or a few hours for Tevos to contact me, I did not know. All I had done was pace and fume and lash out in rage. Why was she not calling back straight away? I needed to get this report out of the way so we could focus on what to do next. I waited so long, it felt, for the call to come, but when the QEC started to blink as an incoming call arrived, I hesitated. I needed to make this report, but I did not want to. How could I deliver the news that the Asari home world was a lost cause to Councillor Tevos? What is more is how she would react. Would she blame me? If she did, I could deal with that. Thessia now seemed doomed because of my failure. However, what did that mean for Asari support for Earth and the Crucible? We could not afford to have such valuable aid withdrawn at a crisis point like this.

With a heavy heart and drooping shoulders, I answered Councillor Tevos' call. I was still dressed in my battle-weary armour with all my sorrows plain to see on my face, not a welcome sight for the Asari.

"Commander?" Tevos said when she appeared before me, "I am eager to hear when the Crucible will be ready to deploy. We've lost all contact with Thessia."

"Councillor… I wish the news was better. The mission…" I stammered. I hated feeling like this, beaten and without a clear picture of where to go from here.

"What happened?" Tevos demanded, her usual composure close to breaking.

"We didn't the data. We found the beacon at the Temple of Athame but before we could extract what we needed we were ambushed by Cerberus. We were defeated."

The silence that followed was crushing. Councillor Tevos kept opening her mouth as if to say something or ask a question, but the words always faltered and she would go mute again. Finally, holding back her grief before it consumed her in front of me, she said,

"I never thought this day would come… my people. What was the situation there?"

"The Reapers are there in force Councillor and the fight is deteriorating fast for our forces."

"Then you must excuse me," Tevos said as she started to cry, "but there are other matters that I must now attend to. Continuity of civilisation must be considered now."

It was not professional but I had to say something to Councillor Tevos,

"Councillor, I'm…" she ended the call as I began to speak, leaving me in tatters on the Normandy. My chest welled up with fury and my fists clenched before one slammed against the bulkhead,

"FUCK!"