Horizon Revisited
An hour of searching revealed nothing about Sanctuary that I, or the rest of the galaxy, did not already know. It had been set up very shortly after the Reaper invasion started, and by all accounts thousands of people had flocked there following the promises of shelter and protection. Members of every species had seen it as salvation when the galaxy around them was crumbling under the relentless assault by the genocidal machines. The fact that Horizon was a Human colony and had suffered a previous attack from the Collectors obviously did little to put refugees off of going there.
The facilities included housing of various qualities with running water, independent power supplies, food and even shops where a selection of luxury items could be bought by those who still had the credits for them. The staff of the facility were largely volunteers from the huge population of refugees. If they did a pre-determined number of weeks working at the front desks and processing those running from their homes behind them, they would be upgraded to better accommodation.
The full-time staff, and any company or companies that funded Sanctuary, remained a mystery and raised questions in my head. I supposed that people did not question these irregularities because they were just glad to have somewhere to go and did not want to bite the hand that fed them and their families. Sanctuary had appeared so quickly after the Reaper invasion as a highly developed series of buildings and compounds with its own infrastructure and rail network. Someone had to know what was coming to create such a place in time: That someone could very well be the Illusive Man.
Having learned very little, but feeling more confident than before that we were on the right track in tailing Kai Leng, I went to bed and cuddled up to Tali, her body wriggling back against me until she was right up against me. She said something in her half-asleep state but I did not hear it, I simply enclosed her in my arms and went to sleep. In my heart I knew that our trip to Horizon was either going to be a massive waste of our time and all we were going to find was Sanctuary full of happy, relieved people sheltering from the war, or something terrible was happening there within the shadows.
Callum.
That little innocent boy from Vancouver was right there in my nightmares again. I could see him so clearly that I felt myself reach out for him in the real world. He cried out for help, his voice full of the terror of that day when I saw the Reapers begin to lay waste to my planet. I charged forward to reach him. The dead trees loomed over me and the whispering was incessant. So many voices called out to me, so many voices of dead souls called for help or vengeance. The dark shades that surrounded me, yet never came any closer as I moved towards them, were looking at me and judging me. Among the voices I could Hear Mordin's short, sharp method of speech. I heard the electronic tones of Legion, the deep throaty words of Thane.
As I attempted to get to Callum, I saw a pair of eyes looking at me from one of the shades. I approached in wonder, the eyes were so familiar and yet seemed so full of pain and estrangement. When I got too close, the pair of questioning eyes disappeared in a flash. They reappeared up ahead and I chased them again and again. The eyes, a hazelnut brown and deep, full of memory and feeling, were taking me closer to Callum.
The little boy that I remembered from that fateful day back on Earth all those months ago was within sprinting distance when I finally heard a voice coming from the fading eyes that haunted me.
"Make it count, Scott…"
The words slammed into me with the force of a hurricane when I clearly heard the last words that Kaidan had ever said to me. I hoped that I had lived up to his dying wish. I had fought so hard against every enemy that had come my way, and if we found our longed-for data on the Catalyst, we could be within the finishing stages of this war. I was not religious, but if there was an afterlife and I was destined to see Kaidan there again one day, I would love for him to greet me with an outstretched hand and a broad smile and say,
"Thank you, for not forgetting me."
As soon as I heard Kaidan's words, the vision of his eyes disappeared and in the space that they had occupied, Callum now materialised in front of me. I felt that something had changed in my dream. Every time that I had had this bloody nightmare before, Callum would burst into flames just before I reached him, but now I reached out again in the hope that I would make contact. Then, perhaps, I could make sense of this dream. My fingers were inches from Callum when there was a blight blast of light and I was sent sprawling on the ground. I wanted to scream, but all around me there was only silence and I just lay there. The pain felt so real that if I woke up now, I was sure I would feel it just the same.
Finally, sound returned to the empty, dead plain that formed my dream-world, and it was horrific. Callum was screaming and wailing, shouting for someone to help him, for someone to find his mum and dad. His pleas escaped his mouth so fast that I could barely catch half of what he said, and his crying drowned out most if it. I leapt up to go and help, only to watch him once again start to burn. Bright red flames licked at my face and I was forced away, falling on my hind as the little boy's formed disappeared in the anger of the fire.
In the background, I faintly heard that awful synthetic roar that signified a Reaper. Callum was gone, taken by the fire, and I turned to see the enormous metal monster bearing down on me. Every time one of its feet landed on the ground, it was like an earthquake was shaking the entire world, then the red light appeared. The Reaper charged its weapon and the beam came zooming out, weaving its way through the dead husks of trees and coming towards me fast. I ran. I ran as hard as I could, but it was not enough. The air around me became hot and my vision blurred until the searing heat was right behind me.
I shot upright in bed and lashed out with my fist, connected with the bedside light and knocked it to the floor with a loud clatter. My chest was on the verge of exploding and my teeth were clenched as sweat covered me all over.
"Fuck sake!" I groaned under my breath trying to regulate my breathing to slow my heart down. Then those two gleaming orbs came into my view as I strained my eyes at the sky-light.
"Scott, are you ok? Do you need me to do anything?"
Tali's voice sounded terrible, my outburst had evidently scared her and perhaps I had been shouting in my sleep. I fumbled for her hand and took a hold, Tali placing her other hand on top. I could really feel myself shaking and I swallowed a wail back.
"I… no," I stuttered, "I just need to shake it off."
"But that was the worst I've ever seen you," Tali said, "and… was Kaidan there?"
It hurt to think of my oldest friend as a person whom I could only ever see in my nightmares now.
"Yes," I answered sadly, "he was there. I heard him say… you remember what the last thing he said to me was?"
"Make it count," Tali said. Kaidan had been her friend too, but she knew that his death was always going to be the hardest for me to get over. "Scott. Do you know how many times you have fulfilled that promise since Virmire? You have never let Kaidan down, not once."
"I've fought as hard as I can in every battle I've fought, never gone against my morals and stayed true to what I believe is my purpose. I wish he was here with us now, sitting talking shit with James, or arguing with you about which Omni tool is the best make."
Tali laughed,
"You make us sound like geeks."
"Sometimes," I smiled.
Tali came closer, her legs brushing mine.
"You have to remember though," she said carefully, "that if Kaidan was here, then Garrus and Ashley wouldn't be. There are two dozen Salarians that owe their lives to Kaidan's sacrifice as well. That's why he did it. Kaidan weighed up his life against the twenty plus others that would have been lost and urged you to save them instead. He wanted you to choose them. You've never disappointed Kaidan."
"And the boy I keep seeing in my dreams?" I asked. "I think he is supposed to represent all of Humanity… and I keep seeing him burn, turn to ash and fade away in front of me. I think it's a warning. For all our efforts against the Reapers, they're still winning…"
Tali looked at me from behind her mask, ponderous glowing eyes checking me over. She was trying to find words to console me, but I moved first.
"It's ok, Tali. I'm done letting myself get down about these things. I've done far too much of that. We just have to keep moving forward. When we get to Horizon, I want to find answers, and then we just keep fighting. No matter what."
"You're so strong," Tali said with admiration, "I'm so lucky to be with you. And I don't just mean "as your wife". I mean, to be following a man whose will and determination is so powerful that we might just manage to survive this war! If anyone can defeat the Reapers it's you, Scott, that's why it seems like you always get landed in the worst situations… you are our galaxy's biggest hope."
Feeling slightly better after our chat, I lay down again with Tali for a few hours more, though I did not get one wink of sleep. The Normandy was approaching Horizon and I made sure the team was fed and ready to go.
"You know the drill, check weapons, power armour and do a comms check. We don't know what we'll find at Sanctuary, but it serves to always be prepared."
"What if all we find is thousands of terrified refugees?" Ashley asked. "A team of armed soldiers, and Commander Gardner, could cause a problem. It might start a panic."
"Only if there is a problem to be found in the first place," I speculated. "We're searching for a connection with Cerberus. If Kai Leng is there, I want him dead. Understood?"
The team were firmly on board with the idea of getting revenge on the Cerberus assassin after both the Citadel coup and Thessia. He had caused enough trouble for one lifetime.
"We're going to come out of FTL soon, Commander," Joker said from the bridge, "we'll scan Horizon as soon as we can to get any readings. Hopefully, let you know what you're walking into."
"Appreciated," I chuckled. In truth I did not like having absolutely no information to work with on this mission, and Admiral Hackett was right to have reservations about the Normandy going there.
Joker had the Normandy in orbit around Horizon and was performing the routine scans. All we were getting back, however, was static.
"Samantha was right," Joker said, "she said Kai Leng's signal was being actively blocked… and it looks like this is where the scrambler is. I'm getting no communications coming from the facility."
"Then it's up to us once we reach the ground," I said. I headed down to the shuttle where the team embarked on the Kodiak and Steve flew us down to the planet."
"Remember the last time we were on Horizon, Scott?" Garrus asked. I thought about seeing all the colonists who had been frozen in place by the Seeker Swarms, the eerie silence that had greeted us when we had first landed. Then there was the heart-thumping battle in the spaceport with the Collectors when we were powering up the defence guns to hit back at the enormous ship where the poor colonists were being taken.
"Wasn't the best way to see a new planet," I quipped. "I didn't know that Samantha was from here at the time. We must have run past her at some point."
"I wish our reunion had gone a little better," Ashley said as she looked at me. Our heated argument was the one time that I had truly thought I had lost a dear friend because of my allegiance with Cerberus.
"So do I, Ash," I said, "but if we can track down Cerberus from here then they are history!"
"Damn right, Commander," she wore a broad grin.
"How's it looking out there, Steve?" I asked as the Kodiak began to descend sharply. My pilot brought up images that the cameras were capturing so we could all see.
"Definitely signs of battle, Commander, the front of the facility's a mess!"
"But who was fighting?" Tali asked. The front of Sanctuary had been hit hard by something very large and very powerful. Structural damage was heavy and there were fires burning at various points throughout the buildings. Plumes of smoke covered the sky with a thick black cloud that would block out the sun once we had landed. Then the radio crackled into life to the surprise of us all. The first few incoming transmissions were completely useless as they were pure static, but there was definitely a signal trying to get through so I persevered and continued to listen. As we closed on Sanctuary, the signal gradually became stronger until, finally, I could comprehend it.
"This is Oriana Lawson. Stay away from Sanctuary! It's not what it seems. You must listen to me, they're using…"
The signal went offline entirely and we heard no more, but I had heard enough.
"Oriana? That's Miranda's sister! If she's here then Miranda can't be far away."
"That's our link to Cerberus," EDI said.
"Take us down, Lieutenant," I ordered Steve. This was it. A real hope of finding the answers that we, and the entire galaxy, needed.
"Lots of damage, Commander," Steve said as the side door of the shuttle opened and we all had a good look at the scene with our own eyes.
"But no activity whatsoever," Garrus observed as he scanned the LZ. I was the first to jump off the shuttle and land in the front plaza in front of the main doors to Sanctuary. I turned to my team and gave them my orders,
"Cerberus does not get the jump on us this time."
My squad spread out to take cover at numerous positions to check all visible positions ahead of us before we started to advance. Half the squad would go forward while the others covered before it was their turn to catch up. The radios were dead so we would have to stay within earshot of each other for the duration of this investigation, but then I heard a very quick burst of something in my headset. It was gone as quickly as it had come, but I checked with the rest of them and they told me that they had heard the same noise.
I had taken one step forward when there came a far larger boom that rocked the whole area and a shuttle emblazoned with Cerberus insignias came crashing down from above. The vehicle slammed straight into the viewpoint above the main door, shards of metal showering the place and flames erupting from the front of the shuttle. A few Cerberus soldiers desperately clambered out and went to scatter, but upon seeing us down below they took cover and dug in for a fight.
However, Garrus was more occupied with that had brought down the shuttle in the first place. A Reaper Harvester landed on the roof nearby as if to see if it had done enough damage, but when the Cerberus soldiers opened fire on the monstrous flying beast, the Reaper pounded their positions with a few heavy salvos of cannon fire.
"Stay down and out of sight," I told everyone and they all dived into the nearest hiding spots.
"I'd rather get into Sanctuary than have to deal with that thing," Tali said as she crouched next to me, though she did switch to her assault rifle in case we ended up fighting the Harvester at range. Gladly for us, the Harvester was not hanging around and more Cerberus shuttles were seen lifting off from other parts of the compound. The winged terror took off to bring more death and destruction to our enemies.
"I thought Cerberus and the Reapers were getting along," Ashley said.
"About time they started killing each other!" James growled.
"And what here is important enough that the Reapers decided to attack?" Liara added.
I told everyone else to stay down for a moment while I took a few careful steps into the open. I checked the crash site and the balcony where the Cerberus troopers had been through the scope of my Mattock. I could verify at least three dead bodies, but I knew that I had seen more than that come out of the shuttle when it went down. There would have been a few bodies that I could not see from this lower position, but I could not be sure.
"Everyone move up with me but keep near cover," I finally said. I had not seen anything, but my instincts were still telling me to be on alert. There was just the slightest flash of movement on the higher level and I screamed for everyone to get down. A bullet hammered into the ground behind where I had just been, and then I heard the sound of the shot resounding through the plaza.
"Sniper!" I yelled the warning, "Cerberus sniper still alive on the balcony."
"Where did you see him?" Ashley shouted back. The team began firing single shots at various points on the higher level while I tried to determine where I had seen the figure dart from one wall to another.
Everything had happened so fast, my mind had barely even managed to comprehend the threat when I had ducked.
"We either kill him or get past him. Get smoke out and head for the entrance!"
The grenades went out and I let the smoke fill to conceal our movement as we ran for the gates, but a few shots landed nearby and Javik was quick to spot the shooter. His biotics flared up and he tried to lift the sniper, a woman, but her shields enabled her to shrug off the attack. Javik roared and brought his rifle up and fired a beam right at her head which melted on impact. Now we could proceed without a threat lurking around at our rear.
The gates to Sanctuary had been damaged in the Reaper attack, but they were still able to partially open, allowing us to slip inside. Despite the plethora of evidence that a heavyweight fight had occurred there, I could imagine the place when it was in operation. There were rows upon rows of seating where the refugees would wait patiently to be called to any of a number of front desks where they would have to divulge all their details to begin the process of being given shelter. The hall was huge and the roof made of glass to allow that lovely Horizon sunlight in. Sanctuary did have a very welcoming feel to it, combined with promises of safety and being provided for it would be easy to draw not hundreds, but tens of thousands to this place.
I wondered what kind of conditions the people fleeing the Reapers would arrive in. Many would have been petrified by the horror of the machines that were sweeping the galaxy clean of all life. I imagined people sitting in the waiting areas with wide eyes and hungry bellies, children crying as they struggled to understand what was happening or because they wanted their parent, or parents, back that were never going to be seen again.
Another detail I noticed were the signs on the walls and on the doors declaring the strict prohibition of all types of communications equipment. This order was given under the pretence of maintaining security and avoiding bringing the attention of the Reapers to Sanctuary.
"I still can't figure out if this place was actually genuine and Cerberus might just have been working in the background, or if they are responsible for the whole operation," Garrus said aloud.
"Someone had to fund the establishment of such a facility," Liara said, "and the secrecy under which it must have been built is suspicious now that I think about it."
"You didn't hear anything about it before the war started?" James said, "you know… being an info broker and all."
Just for a second, I saw a smile appear on Liara's lips. From time to time, it still gave her a little satisfaction that so few of even our closest circle knew of her true identity. I was not even sure that she had told her girlfriend Samantha yet. Liara simply replied,
"Nothing."
Through the windows on the ceiling, I could see the tower that was situated in the centre of the Sanctuary premises. Cerberus shuttles still flew by now and again but now I spotted a group of three come from the tower and zoom off in a totally different direction to the rest. The pattern of the Cerberus flights seemed to suggest that they were in full evacuation mode, but these ones were either just trying a different direction to get away from the Reaper pursuit, or they still had a mission to carry out.
"That tower there," I pointed it out to the rest of the squad, "that's where we need to go."
"The paths leading to the rest of Sanctuary are all locked down and disabled," EDI said, "it could take considerable time to get through them."
"Over there," Javik said, "that open door leads to an observation deck. There could be another way from there."
"It's as good a start as any," I agreed, "everyone move and watch for Cerberus or Reaper forces."
The way to the observation area was a little out of the way and could easily have been missed if we were not investigating thoroughly enough. Moving through the processing area, we came upon a squad of Cerberus Dragoons who had just finished off a Ravager and a few Cannibals.
"Shame they're not on our side," James said quietly beside me, "if they can kick Reaper ass, they could really help us."
"I wouldn't trust them with all the Reaper tech stuck in their skull," Tali countered.
"But if we find Miranda," I said, "we can trust her."
"What does she look like?" James asked.
"Hot blonde, Australian accent," I replied as we prepared to ambush the Cerberus soldiers, "trust me, James, you will know her when you see her."
"Blonde?" Tali cocked her head in question, "she has black hair."
Only now I realised that I had not told anyone about Miranda talking to me privately on the Citadel during a quiet moment to myself. She had gone on the run from Cerberus after we had destroyed the Collector base. When the team dispersed on Illium, she had had to go on the run from the Illusive Man as he sought to make an example of her for her betrayal, one measure being to change her appearance. I should have remembered sooner, as it could have given my friends greater context about what could be going on here on Horizon.
Using a partition of wall to obscure ourselves from the vision of the enemy troops, we closed in and took positions at either end, preparing to attack from two angles.
"Garrus, on my count get a grenade into that squad. EDI and Tali, drain their shields with overload and the rest pick off your assigned targets."
The Cerberus soldiers were tending to one of their wounded while the others kept watch for Reaper reinforcements. They seemed to be watching the observation area which told me that there was definitely something over there to check out. I gave my squad mates their individual targets to take out and we stacked up ready to spring the ambush.
Garrus and I threw our grenades at the same time and they went off with two great bangs before the Cerberus troops could run, three of them were taken down. Tali and EDI used their Omni tools to strip the shields form the rest and Tali nailed one in his flank with her shotgun. The rest of the team burst around the corner and fired selective, well-aimed shots at the last remaining soldiers until they all lay dead on the ground, blood beginning to pool beside them.
The attack took less than five seconds and not a shot had been fired in our direction. Without stopping, we headed to the observation area and found that we could be facing a dead end. There was nothing except a little seating area that looked over a purpose-built interior lake, a dead Cerberus Dragoon floating face down on the surface.
"Where to now, boss?" James asked.
"The Cerberus soldiers were watching this approach like they were expecting something to follow them," I told everyone, "there is something here."
I focused on what I could see. A security panel by the edge of the lake and a computer terminal that flickered away with static. Or was it just static. The longer I looked at the screen, the more there seemed to be an image hidden behind the crazy display of black and white fuzz.
"EDI, can you sort that terminal?"
The AI made short work of the disturbance and a still image of Miranda could clearly be seen.
"She is hot!" I heard James say.
"Simmer down there, Muscles," Ashley grimaced. If Miranda took the time to leave a message for any that came after her, then it had to be important and could blow this whole mystery wide open. I played the message and although the picture did not change, I could clearly hear her voice.
"This is Miranda Lawson," her voice was stern and full of worry, "if you've made it this far, then you're either desperate or stupid. Listen to me! This is not a refugee camp. This is a Cerberus facility run by my father, Henry Lawson. Turn back now, there is no help to be found here. All communication is being blocked from the central tower."
There was a pause and the suspense was killing me as I waited for more information. But the last words of the message were Miranda's grim order,
"Sanctuary is a lie. Stay away!"
We were all left trying to put the pieces together once Miranda's message finished, but I knew that I had a better idea than the rest so I filled them in.
"A while ago I was sitting by myself on the Presidium when this blonde woman sat down next to me," I started, "it was Miranda. She basically told me that she had been on the run from Cerberus ever since she had left the Normandy. Miranda is extremely protective of her sister Oriana and she said that she had gone missing, and that she knew her father was involved."
"Well, it looks like we've got all three Lawsons here then," Garrus said. "But why would her father work with the Illusive Man?"
"Her father wants to build a dynasty that will last forever, and Miranda and Oriana are part of that," I replied.
"Miranda and Oriana aren't… they weren't born naturally," Tali explained to James, Ashley and Javik. "He grew Miranda, designed her to be perfect and trained her throughout her life. Thing is, she didn't like it and ran away to Cerberus for protection. When Henry couldn't get Miranda back, he just grew another daughter, Oriana."
"So Miranda takes it upon herself to rescue her younger twin from her father and gave her to a normal couple, completely unaffiliated with Cerberus or anyone really. She wanted Oriana to have a normal life like she never had. However, she was always looking out for her from behind the scenes. They only met for the first time when we were fighting the Collectors," I explained. "Miranda's father has power, money and influence and it appears that the Illusive Man made him an offer. But what for?"
"That's what we need to find out," Liara said. "What Henry Lawson is doing for Cerberus, and if he knows where the Illusive Man is."
"But we need to catch up to Miranda and help her if we can," I told everyone. "If she loses Oriana… well it's probably the only thing in the galaxy that could break a woman like her."
Garrus checked the security terminal and found that the lake could be drained away and so he activated the system. With a huge gurgling sound and a rushing noise, the water quickly started to disappear, revealing a network of pipes underneath.
"Why would they even need to do this?" Javik asked.
"Because they needed to hide something," I said immediately. EDI scanned the pipes and the built-in tech inside them,
"Commander, these have Reaper technology integrated into them."
"You mean Cerberus has found a way to interface with Reaper tech?" Tali was horrified, as were we all.
"This is going to be a bad day," Garrus added helpfully.
"C'mon," I took the first leap down onto the newly revealed floor below, "we have a back door into the facility. We keep moving."
As soon as we went through the first door, a heavily reinforced metal door designed to withstand serious punishment, all the grandeur and illusions of a safe haven disappeared. The feeling that I got from my surroundings were more like something in a factory or some kind of industrial environment. There were security devices in place in this hidden sector, but they had been disabled ahead of us and I was willing to bet credits on that being Miranda's doing.
"No refugees ever saw this part of Sanctuary," Javik commented. Eventually we found ourselves in a control room, but the power to the main computer and connected systems had been cut. On our left, in front of where the main control centre was facing, the room looked out over a large, cavernous room equipped with what looked like ranks of pods along the sidewalls. In the darkness it was difficult to make out, so EDI tracked down the power switch and flicked it on.
The vid-screens in the control room activated and displayed footage which had been recorded here. We all looked on as a horrific scene played out in front of us showing us just what Cerberus had been up to here.
"What… What am I seeing?" James asked. The big man, usually so calm and able to make light of situations, was absolutely rocked by what we were all seeing.
"They're just killing them?" Tali wailed in shock. On the screens we were seeing Cerberus personnel forcing refugees of all species into the pods that I could see below us, the tanks were filled with some kind of gas and the people started panicking, freaking out. They screamed in agony and begged for mercy, to know why this was being done to them. I felt my heart stop in my chest as my faith in humanity seemed to completely evaporate right there on that spot. How could anyone do this? What dark reaches of a person's conscious would they have to go into to commit these crimes against all that was good in the galaxy?
Like Tali, I thought that Cerberus were simply killing the refugees for some sick experiment that they would run on the corpses. However, Ashley suddenly tried to attract our attention to the screen that she was watching, but the words caught in her throat and she looked close to tears. The vid was almost the same, except it showed what the gas did to the poor people it was inflicted upon. Husks. Whatever concoction Cerberus had created had turned the refugees into Husks, and while they did remain trapped in the tanks, they furiously tried to fight their way out. Cerberus staff bustled around terminals and equipment that took readings of the beasts that they had created.
"What the fuck do they gain from this?" I said angrily, "they're just making more troops for the Reapers."
"They're all indoctrinated idiots, remember," James seethed in fury.
"No," Liara said, "not all of them. Remember Jacob and the scientists we rescued from Gellix?"
"So some of these guys just believe in what they're doing? Think it's right?"
"Just because we do not agree with it does not mean that everyone else would feel the same," Liara replied.
"The Illusive Man has a lot of… devout followers that don't need to be hearing Reapers whispering in their head to follow his orders without question," I said. "But still, we kill any Cerberus that we see. The refugees deserve a lot more than that, but it's all we can do at the moment."
"Damn right," Garrus agreed, his hands gripping his rifle tightly. My team wanted Cerberus blood, but now more than ever, I wanted to meet Kai Leng again and dispense my own justice upon him. Revenge was not something I usually held to. But in extreme cases like that, it was absolutely the right thing to want.
Something occurred to me then. My eyes turned towards the glass panel wall that looked out over the processing plant below and I headed over to the main circuit board. I felt tense as I reactivated the power to the plant, not knowing what I would see, or if I even wanted to see anything. The bright lights burst on and immediately sent hundreds of Husks scattering in all directions as they reacted to this new stimulus. They roared and ran, climbed and searched for new prey. The Husks were of almost every species, but they all acted the same. Mindless killers roaming for anything that the Reapers told them to slay, slaves to their will.
Now, some of them saw us watching them from above and began climbing up the walls towards us. One jumped up and hit the glass right in front of me, able to stick to the surface and trying to figure out a way to get to me. The way they scuttled around gave me the creeps and I turned away as more Husks appeared. They were all over the glass panel by now, looking in at my team and I, ready to tear us apart if they could get their mutated hands on us.
"You know we need to go down there," I said to everyone. There was a lot of clicking as they all double checked their weapons. "Miranda made it through here, so we have to as well. Whatever happens, keep firing and get to that central tower. Sanctuary has to be shut down!"
Just outside the door of the control room, we were presented with a staircase heading down to where I assumed we would enter the processing room, and the horde of Husks that plagued that section. But there was another checkpoint in the corner of the room and I saw another sign that Miranda had left a message behind her. The terminal blinked in the gloom and while the team set up a perimeter, eyes watching the door below with unblinking eyes, I set the vid to play. She was far more hurried than before and kept checking behind her like enemies were close behind.
"Reaper forces have made a mess of the facility. I'm shutting down the power to the processing plant to lock them in. It should keep them out of the entrance as well."
There was nothing else as Miranda bolted off to continue her mission. If anything else, it told me that she had come this way and I drew my rifle to continue on, knowing that there was tough fight through the next door. But EDI caught my attention,
"Commander! There is more on the terminal. It is Kai Leng."
My focus was entirely on the vid screen as I saw that hated assassin enter the frame. My fists were clenched into balls and my nervous system felt alive with a burning passion to wring the bastard's neck.
"I hope Miranda knows he is here, otherwise she is in grave danger," Liara said with concern.
Kai Leng's hand went to his ear piece and I heard him reporting in. I could not hear the person on the other end, but I knew without a doubt it had to be the Illusive Man.
"Miranda Lawson has arrived sooner than expected. Want me to deal with her? Understood, the research data won't slip by us."
Just as Miranda had before him, Kai Leng took off in a hurry with his sword unsheathed.
"We need to double time it, people," I ordered. "Kill the Husks that get in our way, but we can't spend time cleaning the place outright. I want Miranda safe, and Kai Leng dead."
"Get in line," Tali said.
My squad positioned themselves halfway down the stairs, lined up like a firing squad, and I went down to open the door. My instincts told me that we were going to face more Husks than we could possibly manage, so whittling down their numbers as they mindlessly charged at us seemed like a good way to start. Assault rifles, submachineguns, shotguns, tech attacks and biotics were all at the ready when I opened the door, dropping a grenade behind me as I sprinted back up to rejoin my friends. The howls, shrieks and grunts of the Husks filled my ears as a thousand of them seemed to flood through the door. When my grenade went off, it was the most enemies I had ever seen ripped apart in a single moment.
Liara laid down a singularity on the stairs that trapped dozens of the Reaper creatures in its pull before Javik hit the singularity with a warp attack that caused a biotic explosion, smothering the stairs and walls with the blood and bits of the Husks caught in it. The guns of my squad shredded the enemy ranks to pieces and when one of my soldiers needed to reload, they would throw down a grenade to kill more Husks while their weapons were out of play. It was a complete massacre. The flow of Husks only died down when they had to start climbing over the mounds of their own dead, and that was when I ordered my team to start advancing.
With their reduced numbers, we could start hitting individual targets instead of simply shooting at a wall of Husk bodies. I took James, Javik and Garrus forward with me over the mass of corpses that covered the entire floor around the open door. We fought our way in with our rifles and Omni blades before bunkering up to allow the rest of the team to follow while we covered them. As they ran headlong into us, the Reapers were easy pickings, but there were just so many of them that it really tested our reflexes. Being able to switch from one target to another and place the shots in the right parts of the body to take them down time after time was something only the very best trained soldiers could do. Fortunately, my entire squad was made up of those very best.
Amid the chaotic yet increasingly sporadic fighting, we found ourselves in an office that was just off the side of the main processing plant. The computers were all still on and the chairs pushed away from the desks which said that the Cerberus personnel had left in a hurry. But a data pad was left abandoned with the title "Henry Lawson: Log 132.7" at the top. If it belonged to Miranda's father, the director of this sick operation, the Intel on it could be of extreme importance.
"I've spent the last week making small adjustments to increase processing efficiency," a very intelligent, Australian voice said. "There is no shortage of subjects. Indeed, I'm told there's a long line outside the main gate. The deception is an unfortunate necessity, time is very short."
"Monster," Ashley growled, "he didn't even bother to see the state the people he was tricking were in. He doesn't care! It's just a case of "send in the next one" to him."
"He won't be getting away with it for much longer," I told her.
"Unless the Reaper's have gotten there first," James added.
We were now entering the main floor of the processing plant, filled with Husks naturally, when I also saw movement on the metal walkways on the opposite side of the room. Unlike before, I could now see Marauders and Cannibals skulking around on some of them. They had a clear vantage point and could pin us down from their raised position. The offices ran along the entire side of the hall, however, and there was another door at the far end so I quickly came up with a plan.
"James, take Garrus and Liara along to the other door and wait for us to start engaging the Husks. Once we've drawn them to us, I want you three to focus on the enemies on the upper level. They are in a good position to shoot at us but they have no cover so you need to take them out quickly."
"Got it, Sir," the Lieutenant replied and immediately headed off with my Turian and Asari friend in tow.
Tali, Javik and Ashley were covering our door when I gave the signal for my group to push out and distract the enemy shooters. EDI launched an incineration attack into a crowd of Husks which set a bunch of them alight, then Javik hit them with a Warp at the same time which ended with a huge explosion. We all looked at each other quickly in amazement. No one had thought of combining tech and biotic attacks before and now we all realised we had a potent weapon on our side.
"Incinerate and warp guys," I said over the comm so all could hear it over the rattling of gunfire. I now sent Tali to join James' group so that she and Liara could employ this same tactic when they began their attack. Lobbing grenades and pumping the chests of Husks full of bullets, I finally called for the second squad to attack before the Reapers above could keep us pinned.
The result of this flanking attack was devastating to the enemy. Liara and Tali wiped out an entire squad's worth of enemy soldiers with one of the tech/biotic combinations. Meanwhile, James' machinegun tore another to pieces in spurts and showers of Reaper blood. Garrus picked off any Reaper troops carrying scoped weapons which they could use to snipe us, then once he had thinned their numbers, he led the charge of second team with his assault rifle blaring. The enemies above were dealt with and now any Husks still running at us in the processing plant were caught in the perfect crossfire from my two teams and died in scores.
While Tali, James, Garrus and Liara kept up their attack, I lead my own onslaught and rushed through the plant, gunning down everything as I went. The rest were behind me, but my blood was pumping hard and I blazed the trail ahead of them, leaving piles of dead Husks behind me. The last of the beasts was eventually the only thing remaining behind us and the exit. It tried to grab me but I ducked, used its own momentum to throw it over the top of me then drove the butt of my Mattock through its skull.
"That was some kick-ass shit, Loco!" James said.
"There's something else," Liara handed me a data-pad that she had found in an office.
The data-pad contained another of Henry Lawson's logs dating from a few days after the last one I found.
"We've confirmed the results of Cerberus experiments involving the Husk creatures," Henry's voice said, "A crude but necessary first step in decoding how the Reapers communicate. The key is how the Reaper signal interacts with the nanites implanted in the subject's body. It's early yet, but we are making progress."
"Good for him," Garrus said with a grim tone.
"So they're trying to find out how the Reapers communicate with each other? Or how they dominate their troops?" I asked.
"They are trying to figure out how the Reapers Indoctrinate organics," Javik stated, "I have seen this before in my cycle, but it had been going on for far longer. The abominations that were created were..."
Something clicked and I knew exactly what the Illusive Man would want to gain from this,
"The Illusive Man wants to Indoctrinate people himself," I said, "that's the only motivation behind… all of this."
"He grows more dangerous every time we hear about him," Garrus agreed. "The sooner we find and kill him, the better I'll feel."
"And the sooner we can focus on the Reapers without checking over our shoulders for Cerberus stabbing us in the back," Ashley stated.
Moving through this dark, hidden part of Sanctuary was like going through some awful museum of the dangers of playing with science. Of playing God. We walked past rooms where a Banshee had been locked in for study, the creature stared blankly out at us, her mouth hanging open and her eyes savage. The glass had evidently taken a beating as the Banshee had tried to break out, but had held so far.
My team found more of Henry Lawson's logs from room to room. One described how the process of mutating a Human or a Turian into a Reaper trooper was based on the Reaper nanides attaching themselves to the adrenaline, or cross-species equivalents, that rushed through the being's body when pain was inflicted upon them. In this way, the person would be turned into a Reaper freak in a matter of minutes in some cases. I hated to admit it, but had Cerberus not resorted to these barbaric methods to get their findings, these were the kinds of things that the races facing the Reapers could do well to know. Any Intel against the Reapers was golden, but where it was coming from could matter just as much.
Keeping our eyes peeled for any more signs of Miranda's path through the facility, we tracked her to another terminal where she had left a vid ready to play.
"…Heading to the tower to disable the communications scrambler. I have to get word out! Some refugees are turned into Husks, some are indoctrinated and sent to the Illusive Man. Whoever's left is used in experiments. The data indicates that my father is trying to figure out how Reaper indoctrination works."
"Tricking the refugees with food and shelter only to turn them into test subjects," I said as I wanted to put my fist through the Illusive Man's face, "and for what?"
"Your choices will become less appealing as time moves on, as the Reapers devour your galaxy," Javik told me. I tried to imagine what desperate measures his people would have resorted to back in their war with the machines after it had been waging after two hundred years of never-ending fighting. But our war was still in its first year and there was no way I wanted to see us sink to such atrocities in my lifetime. Tali, however, had picked up on another piece of information in Miranda's message.
"Miranda said that some subjects are sent to the Illusive Man! If we can find that data it might lead us to him."
"Good catch," I said. "C'mon, Miranda is heading to the tower and we need to be there with her."
Our path took us up a floor to a containment lab with computers fanned out around pods arrayed along the side walls, some with dead Husks and refugees still inside. It was a grisly sight to behold. One of the Husks still had some of the skin that had belonged to the Human that it had once been. The way it had twisted and contracted, tearing and ripping all over the place was enough to make my stomach turn. Ashley did not even want to look, horrified that other Human Beings were the ones responsible for doing this. We only had a short time to bear witness to these crimes as the door at the far end opened and a wave of Cannibals and Marauders came bursting in. The lab echoed with gunfire as my squad deployed themselves to cover every avenue that enemy could use to close in on us.
Bullets whizzed by me and smacked into the walls and tables, smashing computers and shattering the glass on some of the pods. Garrus got the fright of his life when the pod he was taking cover behind was hit and he was showered with sharp fragments of glass and the Husk inside fell on top of him. He threw the dead beast off of himself and shouted a loud curse, taking a grenade out and throwing it into a group of Cannibals.
"Heads down!" He yelled and we all ducked down. The grenade went off and we immediately went on an all-out offensive. I put four rounds through the torso and skull of a Marauder as I advanced. EDI flanked a pair of Cannibals and ripped them apart with her rapid firing submachinegun. Liara and Ashley caught a Ravager in a crossfire and gouged away at the Rachni mutant with their guns, spouts of the poisonous blood running out of the creature from a thousand different holes.
Every move my squad made was perfect in its execution, from all their experience from the battles we had been through by this stage. As they performed one combat action, they were already planning their next. James swung around a corner, nailing one Cannibal in the face with the butt of his rifle, shot the guts out of another, then turned back to the first one to finish it off. It was over in minutes, but in the trail of destruction behind us we had left at least twenty dead Reaper corpses.
This mission was beginning to test me. What we had learned about the fates of all the thousands of refugees that had come here had infuriated and haunted me at the same time. The fast-paced interior fighting in cramped spaces was hot work and the sweat was dripping from me. We were also in a race against time, as I knew that Miranda was somewhere ahead of us, possibly fighting the same kind of resistance all by herself. The talented operative could handle herself well, but backup was never something to pass up. She was a friend that I sorely wanted to help in this mission that was deeply personal to her. If she lost Oriana, then Miranda would be lost to us also.
The lab also contained more of Henry's logs and we recovered them. One stated that being able to create the Husks was a "success" which earned a great deal of scorn from my team and I. One spoke of how they were not "true" Husks, but the fact that they still reacted to Reaper signals was the really interesting part, the part they wanted to work much more thoroughly on. Henry marvelled at how the sheer numbers of subjects that they were experimenting on was doing the science for them, overwhelming repetition was sorting out the little details for the Cerberus scientists, enabling them to work so quickly to unravel the mysteries surrounding Reaper communications.
How could he turn murdering such a huge amount of innocent, desperate civilians into unimportant statistics that he could casually talk about over lunch? How could someone have lost all their Humanity and still consider themselves alive? Among the multitudes of data from Henry and Cerberus, we found another vid from Miranda who sounded more determined than ever, and when I played the vid I understood why.
"…Heavy resistance outside the tower! If you're receiving this, I've got evidence you can't ignore, confirmation that my father is working for the Illusive Man."
Miranda had uploaded a copy of a log that she had found, a vid-call between the Illusive man and henry.
"I have your report on the process, Mr Lawson," I heard the Illusive Man's voice say. "Cut to the chase, can you do it?"
"Theoretically control is possible, yes," Henry said, "the Reaper subjects we converted are responding, but it's difficult to maintain."
"I thought that might be the case. Not to worry, Henry. With Sanctuary's help, we'll get it sorted."
The vid ended but another dated from a couple of weeks later then began to play straight away. In this vid, Henry was far more encouraged as he happily announced to the Illusive Man that he had "done it!"
"We've found a way to co-opt their control signal," he informed the Cerberus leader. "As long as Reaper troops remain in close proximity to our signal, we can control them indefinitely."
"Excellent news," Illusive Man, in contrast with Henry's glee at their success, sounded just as calm as ever. "And how can we extrapolate this technique to apply to the Reapers themselves?"
The wind seemed to have been taken out of Henry's sails as the scale of such a daunting task was plain for all to see,
"That's a much bigger challenge!"
"He's talking about controlling Reapers? Is that even possible?" Ashley was astounded.
"I don't know," I replied, "but we do know why the Reapers attacked Sanctuary. This place had become a threat."
"So they came in to crush the place," James said. "It sounds like Henry had built something like those artefacts that the Leviathans have. If the Reaper soldiers get too close, then they're easy prey for them."
"Then we should be glad that it was not Cerberus that found the Leviathan," Liara said, "imagine what they would do with such a potent weapon."
"I'd rather not," Garrus commented.
"So, this is bad news for the Illusive Man," Ashley said with a grin,
"And good news for us," I exclaimed, "we finally have our link to Cerberus!"
I copied the vid to my Omni tool and headed for the far door to head for the control tower when Tali called out,
"Wait, Scott. There's more. It's Miranda!"
I checked the screen and saw Miranda advancing down a hallway, her submachinegun at the ready to drop foes that appeared ahead of her. There was already a trail of dead Reapers behind her, but there was a sudden movement and Miranda sensed it, spinning around to face the new threat. Out of nowhere, Kai Leng dropped down from the ceiling, knocking Miranda's gun out of her hands and proceeding to engage her in hand-to-hand combat, his sword reflecting the lights from the roof. The video cut out and I felt ice creep up my back. There was no waiting to be done and I was off like a shot, my friends struggling to keep up behind me. I had been too slow to save Thane from the Cerberus assassin. I was not prepared to watch Miranda die too.
My squad was only able to catch up with me again when I was engaged by Reaper forces. I had already struck down three of them with my Mattock by the time they were in a position to help. We were travelling through what seemed to be an endless tirade of containment laboratories. Cerberus would have been able to run experiments on hundreds of unwilling prisoners at a time. A Ravager sat at the other end of the current lab while Cannibals tried to go around our sides. But I brought out my Widow and sent three heavy shots thundering through the beast and almost split it in two.
With the Ravager no longer able to pin us down with its heavy cannons, we were able to outmanoeuvre and outfight the Cannibals. The last one died with a blast from Tali's shotgun that took half of its shoulder off. As we proceeded, I clocked another of Henry's logs and played it for the team to hear. This time he was far less than happy and seemed like a different man entirely from the one who had been reporting unprecedented successes to the Illusive man.
"We have underestimated the strength of the Reaper signal! They are actually here! The Reapers somehow know what we've learned about them. They have a weakness. I'm compiling our research data to archive before it's too late. Cerberus sent troops to defend the facility against attack, but against the force that the Reapers have sent, it may not be enough."
Remembering the pile of dead Cerberus and Reaper corpses back in the entrance hall, I privately thought that it looked like the Cerberus soldiers had put up a very effective resistance for a while. However, knowing that Kai Leng was here led me to believe that his mission would not have been to save Henry Lawson, but to retrieve his data.
This proved to be the last of Henry Lawson's logs that we found and, after only a few more brief battles with Reaper troops, we reached the elevator that would take us up to the tower. A part of me was deathly afraid that we would find Miranda dead, Kai Leng standing victoriously over her body. If he was here, then he was a dead man. Of that I was certain. As the elevator ascended, I put my fears to the back of my mind in case the team saw through me.
"I hope Miranda's ok," Tali said, mirroring my thoughts.
"She will be," Garrus assured her, "that woman can kick ass and is hard to put down."
Garrus and Tali had fought alongside her before while we had been seeking to destroy the Collectors and knew her almost as well as I did. If Miranda was hurt, it would be more than just me that Kai Leng would answer to.
The doors to the control room for the entire Sanctuary facility slid open revealing a scene of a brutal fight that must have only finished minutes before our arrival. The lab had been blasted and shot to hell, the glass overlooking the main processing plant was cracked and on the verge of falling to pieces. Right in front of the window stood Henry Lawson, he had the same brilliant blue eyes that were one of Miranda's most prominent features, but also wore the same stern expression. He had a woman who looked strikingly similar to Miranda locked in one arm and a heavy pistol in the other.
As we entered, the gun swung to greet us, but then back to where it was pointing just as fast. Our guns were trained on him, but while he had who I assumed to be Oriana as his Human shield, I would not give the order to fire. I checked where Henry was aiming and saw Miranda slumped on the floor. She was alive, for which I was overjoyed, but clearly wounded and worn out. Her eyes slowly came around to see who was now entering the scene. When she saw me, it was like she received a second wind. With some effort, she managed to pull herself off of the floor and stood to confront her father while my team and I surrounded him.
"Scott, don't let him take her," Miranda pleaded weakly. She was not hiding how afraid she was for Oriana's safety. At hearing my name, Henry's eyes fixed on me straight away,
"Commander Gardner, excellent timing."
"Put the gun down," I warned him.
"Not likely," he refused. "Oriana tried to shoot me. Miranda's venomous influence no doubt."
"I'm sorry she missed," I said, "where's Kai Leng?"
"I don't know. Gone," Henry admitted, "He took my research and left us here to die."
I bristled at this news. Knowing that the snake had slipped free from me again was enraging. But I had to stay focused on the situation at hand, my revenge could wait another day.
Miranda's eyes were not leaving her father and Oriana and I could sense her trying to formulate a plan to free her sister from Henry's clutches. However, she was still suffering from her fight with Kai Leng and having to support herself on the table.
"Are you ok, Miranda?" I asked. She took a step towards her father, but Henry was on high alert and saw her. The pistol was aimed right at Miranda's chest and my friend dared not move another inch.
"That's close enough! All of you. Kai Leng didn't finish the job… but I will."
"This madness ends here," Garrus growled.
"On the contrary," Henry suddenly said, a gleam in his eye. "Now that the Reapers are taken care of, we have a way out."
"Let her go," I hissed at him. Oriana was looking at her sister, begging her to save her from their mad father. But if any of us made a move towards Henry or tried to stop him, there was nothing we could do to stop him from shooting Oriana. One option was to shoot a bullet through Oriana's shoulder. The bullet would have enough velocity to go right through her and hit Henry behind her. It would not kill Oriana, but I decided that that was my absolute last resort.
"Gardner… please," Oriana said.
Those minutes were filled with tension, and every second that passed I wanted to kill Henry Lawson more and more. The atrocious crimes that he had committed here were at the forefront of my mind. All the suffering and death that had happened here was because of him and his ruthless pursuit to gain a bit of Intel on the Reapers.
"What exactly do you think you've created here?" I asked him.
"Hope!" Was his immediate response. "Few people have the stomach to do what is necessary to survive. What we learned here will save countless lives. I will be seen as the saviour of the Human race."
"I highly doubt that," I told him. He genuinely believed that what he had done here was acceptable, that all these people had been tortured to death for the good of the galaxy. He was a disgusting Human being, but I had to figure out this situation fast. Changing tactics, I lowered my weapon slowly,
"I have no problem with you, I just want Oriana and the research data."
"You want a lot," Henry spat back. Drawing on what Miranda had told me about her father in the past, I offered him a deal that someone who valued his life above all else could not refuse.
"You get your life in return. How much is that worth?"
I seemed to get through to Henry and he was silent for a moment, glaring at me in contemplation. When my comrades lowered their weapons as well, he seemed to see that I was being serious. I wanted to kill him, but if it saved Oriana and obtained us what he had learned about the Reapers, then I was prepared to let him walk out. I had far bigger foes to worry about than one mad scientist. Henry looked between Oriana and I, then he made his decision. He pushed Oriana towards me and she immediately sought refuge behind Tali and I. Henry still had his gun raised at me and he started edging towards the elevator,
"Fine, you can take her. But I want out alive, deal?"
A blue burst of energy lit up the room. With the impact of a freight train, the energy slammed right into Henry's chest and sent him flying backwards into the glass window. The window shattered, lacerating and tearing away at the man before he fell fifty metres to a grim and messy death on the ground below. It was fitting that he died where he had sent all of his helpless test subject to be mutilated.
"No deal!" Miranda snarled as she powered down her biotics.
Miranda could not have been to Oriana's side quicker.
"Are you alright, Ori? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine," Oriana said with relief, "I just wanna get out of here."
Miranda was so happy that her sister was unharmed, her smile telling everyone what she was feeling. She hugged her younger sister,
"You're safe now! I promise. I won't let anything happen to you."
She looked over my way and told Oriana that she just needed a minute. The blonde Miranda came over to me and I could see the marks of her fight with Kai Leng on her face. Cuts and bruises marred the usually perfect complexion and I could tell that Miranda's confidence had taken a real knock.
Miranda was, however, grateful that this whole episode was over and could not help but hug me in thanks. I gave her a comforting hug and when she released, she said,
"I never imagined that it would be you of all people that came behind me."
"We caught a break," I told her. "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine, really. I don't know how you managed it, but I'm glad you're here."
"How did you do all this?" I asked her.
"Finding my father didn't take long after I confirmed that he was working for the Illusive Man. Just had to follow the lies," she said sadly. "Once I saw what this place really was, I couldn't just walk away."
"That was brave," Tali said in admiration.
"Things got really complicated when Reapers showed up," Miranda gave the Quarian a welcoming smile, "and Kai Leng."
"You survived," I said, "not many people could do that."
"When you mentioned he was involved, I took a few precautions. Probably saved my life. Thanks for that by the way," she gave a small laugh.
"Miranda, this whole thing was a massive risk," I said to her, "you should have told me, I would've helped."
"I know that, but you have a war to win, Scott. This was my fight, it's been a long time coming. I just wish Ori didn't have to see all this. Even if we win this war and she returns to a normal life… she'll never be able to forget."
"About your father…" I started, but Miranda cut me off with a sudden fire.
"I'm not sorry he's gone, I'm sorry if that sounds cold."
I remembered how Miranda felt about her father, the way he had brought her into being not to be his daughter, but to be a subject in yet another of his tests to produce the perfect Human Being. It was difficult to see how Miranda could even still bear to use the word father to refer to Henry Lawson.
"I understand," I told her. She relaxed again and looked over at her beloved sister with a smile,
"It's finally over, for both of us. We can stop running."
The others were searching through some of the computers for any data relevant to what we were searching for, anything that could give away the Illusive man's location.
"How we doing?" I asked the squad.
"The research data is gone but we've got basic facility information. Shuttle arrivals and departures, Cerberus included," Garrus answered. "No direct links, but it's a start."
"We'll pull out the drives to be analysed by the Alliance," I said.
"I can do better than that," Miranda suddenly said. She was holding a tracking device in her hand and she handed it over to me. "I planted a tracer on Kai Leng before he took off. If you act fast, you'll track him right to the Illusive Man."
It was as if a prayer had been answered. I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders as I now held the solution to the Cerberus problem in my hand.
"You really do think of everything, don't you," I said, almost laughing with happiness. The rest of the team felt just as I did and we now gathered around to check the device.
"Not quite, but nobody's perfect," she laughed.
"Thanks, Miranda," I said sincerely, "this is exactly what we need!"
"Thought you might need some good news after… well after everything."
"What's next for you two?" I asked, motioning over to Oriana.
"Get her somewhere safe," Miranda said, "get these scratches cleaned up."
"Ok. Stay in touch, Miranda."
"I will, don't worry. Once I know Ori is safe again, I plan to see if the Alliance needs a hand. I came across a lot of Cerberus Intel while I was looking for Ori. They might look down their noses at me but… they can't be choosey at this point."
I gave Miranda a direct communications link to Admiral Hackett and told her that she should not have too big a problem with him, especially when I had vouched for her personally. Miranda took Ori to leave, but before she exited the room she turned back once more,
"And Scott? Tali? Congratulations by the way."
She nodded at the Promising Bands on our arms and left.
"She doesn't miss anything does she?" Tali chuckled. "I'm… I'm glad we were able to help Miranda."
"Me too," I agreed, "let's make sure everyone knows about this place. Disable the jammer and let's get the hell out of here."
"Too much happened here that I don't even want to think about," Ashley said, "I think we've had enough of this place."
The warning that Miranda had tried to get out of Sanctuary now began to play on a loop so no ship entering the system could possibly miss it. Even though the facility had effectively been destroyed and would not be able to continue its sick research, we wanted to make sure that there was no risk of people falling for the ruse again.
We had a way to find the Illusive Man and the Prothean data that would allow us to complete the Crucible. As an added bonus, we had managed to save a close friend along the way. Despite this, however, Sanctuary had still been a terrible ordeal that would take a long time to get over. I thought Thessia had affected us badly, but now even Liara seemed to be dwelling more on what we had seen on Horizon. When Cortez flew down to pick us up, we were all eager to lift off and get away, to leave the tainted ground of the planet behind us.
I wasted no time in forwarding all the data we had found, including details about Miranda's tracker, to Admiral Hackett. If I knew the Admiral, he would start developing a plan for taking Cerberus out of the war straight away, and there was no way that I was getting left out of the plan. Everyone on my team had a score to settle with the rebellious faction and the Illusive Man, for Thane, for Thessia and for all the people who had been killed on Horizon. This was our chance to finish them.
As soon as I was back on the Normandy, I called Admiral Hackett. Judging by how quickly he answered, I guessed that was waiting for me to contact him.
"I wasn't in favour of your diversion to Horizon, Commander," Hackett said, "too many unknowns. But I was wrong."
"Sanctuary had to be shut down, Sir," I said. "What they learned there wasn't worth all those lives.
"It's useful Intel," the Admiral admitted, "but you're right. All those refugees, all that slaughter… just to study indoctrination. Part of this mad plan to control the Reapers! The cost was too high. Do we have a location on the Illusive Man?"
"Not an exact location yet, Sir," I told him, "Kai Leng travelled to the Horse Head Nebula and is still in transit. So we know the cluster but not the exact coordinates. I'm patching your systems into the tracker so you can monitor him as well."
"Understood," Hackett said, "as soon as we know the location, we're going to hit it hard. The Illusive Man won't be around to help the Reapers for much longer. We can take Cerberus out of this war permanently! You did a hell of a good job, Commander. Finding Cerberus and the Prothean data is now your top priority. Report back to the Citadel for some rest until we're ready to launch our attack. I'll contact the other species to bring them up to speed on what's happening. Cerberus has made an enemy of every race in the galaxy, I'm sure they'll all want some payback."
"Agreed," I said, "you might also receive a call from a Miranda Lawson soon. She has a wealth of Intel on Cerberus and wants to help."
"She's very welcome to," Hackett said, "I remember reading her dossier that you gave me. A woman with her skills and contacts will be invaluable to our war effort. Hackett out."