XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A bead of sweat dripped from Emily's brow. "With your Alliance N7 training you adjusted well, but as you can see Spectre training is on another level for a reason." Jondum remarked as he stood close by watching intently; "Combining the best and brutal aspects of the council races military doctrine. We have created a versatile and brutal regiment only a few can endure. There is a reason the Spectre ranks are so small."

"No kidding," Shepard growled out.

What Jondum didn't tell her, is his regiment was the most brutal. As the Commander was put through the wringer, he was evaluating what to teach her, and see what she could and could not accomplish. "I am heading back to Sur'kesh today, whilst I can get you a pass to non-classified areas, I will be going where you cannot follow. So you can choose to stay aboard or come with me. Your choice, Shepard."

"Of course I am coming with, seeing the homeworld of the Salarians? I feel honored even being allowed nearby. STG keeps even some of its best allies away at times." Getting a towel, Shepard made sure to recover her body without showing any fatigue, even though she was feeling the pain from the training.

Per Jondum's request, the two were bound on a Salarian cruiser bound for Sur'kesh from the Citadel. Since then Emily has been going through multiple physical exercises and well as mental ones. Jondum was a harsh teacher, but so were the hard asses in N7. And she was enjoying it, as well as taking her mind off losing her brother.

Despite the exhaustion, she felt excited to go to the Salarian homeworld. She had been to several Asari colonies and even the homeworld itself with Naruto. So this was a new experience for her.

It did not take long, and the ship landed. The outpost was small and hidden within a waterfall, but it served well as the two came out from the ship into a fluorescent light biome, organic lighting from a variety of plants on the ceilings as low light pathway indicators on the floor pulsed with different lights. "Not every base is like this, but I do find this one a good one to show allies. We may be scientifically gifted, but our world has always been organically refreshing. Welcome to Mobile Base Pai'guo. Named for a folktale of a warrior hidden in the water who killed tyrants."

Naruto would like that. Emily nodded as they strolled through the base. A few Salarians gave her a quick hello or watched her as she walked with Jondum. "Take it you don't get many other races coming here."

"As I said, a few allies. In the city, we have several other races that live among our people. Turian, Asari, Hanar, Drell, even some humans."

As they walked Emily took stock to everything around her. Naturally, there were research areas, but also military training with many Salarians going through multiple exercises. Along with weapon's training, stealth, as much as can be taught. "Your people are hard workers."

"We have to be given our short lifespans. Forty years might not seem much, but one can live a good life in what they can do every day."

Stopping near an elevator, Jondum turned to his trainee. "This is where I go further in. Try not to be too curious around here, we've had... Several incidents where others pressed buttons randomly. Needless to say, the messes caused us much trouble. I will return shortly."

As he left, Shepard went to look around. With everything going on around her, she decided to focus on finding more information about software and technician training. Though not exactly what she wanted, she found a room dedicated to combat-engineer training, with a current course about the uses of malicious code to hack into machines like the Geth and how to use them rather than destroy them, for a short time at least.

In the room was a lone Salarian working on their Omni-tool. "Encryption session will be in on hour." The Salarian spoke in a feminine voice. Emily never could tell them apart. The female Salarian turned and noticed who was in the room; "Ah, Commander Emily Shepard."

"So word got around."

"Indeed, Jondum gave us the full rundown on you. I am sorry for the loss of your brother."

Emily gave a nod thanks; "And you are?"

"Oh! Apologizes. My name is Tisal Zizori." The female Salarian gave a small bow before shaking hands. "I oversee the training software and technicians."

"Then I'm likely going to be with you the most besides whatever else Jondum has in store."

Tisal nodded; "I read. It will be curious to see how you fare."

With a slight hum, Emily had a hunch. "So it's not just being here, but he already has my name down for your class. An hour you said? Unless Jondum has something for me to do, I'll be there. Pleasure meeting you, Tisai." She offered a hand with a smile.

XxX ~the Citadel ~ XxX

When Garrus thought of being a Spectre you just started after an evaluation from another Spectre. Turns out it wasn't the only other way. Much to his annoyance. Currently, the Turian sat by a console going over information that one must learn to be a Spectre. "I never saw Uzumaki or Shepard going through this." He quipped as his mandibles twitched.

Standing next to him was another Turian with white plates and black markings in full Phantom armor. "While their induction into our ranks was quick due to recent events we did send them both these documents to go over."

"Given who brought you into the Spectres I figured the council had some words with you. Avitus Rix."

Rix shrugged; "People can say whatever they want. I don't care, whatever happened to Saren won't be my fate. Why I'm retiring in a few weeks."

"You're defending him?" A growl came from the former C-Sec.

"He was a brutal bastard; no one will ever question that. But the Saren I remember had a code when I met him. Yeah, he was no fan of humanity after his brother got killed by Mercy during the relay incident. But he wasn't petty like the Batarians. Hell, he protected a human woman at some club on a colony planet from one who wanted to torture her." The Turian Spectre shook his head; "At any rate, it's done with and he's dead. Let it be Vakarian."

A low grumble came from Garrus but kept quiet as he worked.

Not being one for the bullshit, Rix sat beside the sniper. "Want my bottom line so you can stop growling at me? Ten years ago, he disappears for six. Before that, he was nothing but the best Spectre that a Turian could become. The moment he hits Eden Prime, he's covered in prosthetics and a Geth army at his back. The Saren you killed, I would have wished for the chance to knock his block off. So no, I am not defending the monster you and the human siblings took down. But don't go thinking that the monster he became was the monster he always was."

"...Guess that was true enough." Garrus begrudged with a long sigh. "So what does a Spectre do when he actually retires?" Better to change the subject.

Rix shrugged; "Figure that out as I go."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Huffing on the floor, out of breath after seven hours of combat training with Jondum, Shepard found herself sitting up in her own sweat. "You don't pull any punches. And what was that crazy move? It looked like something Wrex would have done."

With a small grin, Bau crossed his arms. "I've learned a few techniques to rival, and even emulate, Krogan combat and ritual movements. Even know how to hurt them with a good head smash maneuver."

Emily had to say she had a newfound respect for the Salarians and their military regiments. In the last five days had been a pure test of her mental and physical prowess along with her skill as a tech. And she has loved every moment of it.

"Ready for more?" Bau questioned as Emily got back to her feet.

"Let's go."

Just as she got into a stance, they were interrupted by someone coming into the room. "Excuse me for intruding, but we have a call coming in for Shepard. She's being hailed by someone aboard the Quarian Flotilla, a Tali'Zorah Vas Neema. Formally Nar Rayya, who I believe was a former comrade? She says she has important information to deliver."

Bau nodded. "I see. Take a break, speak to your friend. I'll be waiting for you here."

"Thanks, Bau." She grabbed her uniform and put it on as she went to the secure channel, knowing that was the only way to get and send calls and messages through the base. As soon as Tali came on, she smiled. "I suspect Congratulations are in order, you've got a promotion onto a ship. Nice work."

"Thank you, I only got this far thanks to you and Uzumaki, along with everyone on the Normandy. The Geth data and tech we recovered has been a boon for the Flotilla." Tali paused as she looked down for a moment; "I only wished I was calling under better circumstances."

That garnered Shepard's attention; "Something wrong?"

"You could say that. Five days ago one of our ships was attacked by Cerberus."

"Cerberus?" Eyes lighting with fire, the dark-haired Commander was instantly ready to find out more. "What happened? And is everyone alright?"

"Yes, mostly. The Idenna sustained damage, we lost a few of our people, but we managed to push them back because it was only a small group of invaders. We believe they were here to retrieve a young girl who is a potent Biotic. We had two Alliance personnel from the Ascension project here with her, trying to guard her against Cerberus."

"And are they all ok?"

"Yes. In fact, the security officer and the young girl are preparing to go on an expedition with some of our own. I'll tell you about it later, but the teacher returned to your Ascension Project. Their names, ranks, and what we know about the entire endeavor will be sent your way, including the information on Cerberus we managed to find. Sadly, it's not much. Omega, the Ascension Project, some chemicals and strange devices. Nothing pointing to their true intent here. Maybe you can find something I didn't." Tali sighed. "This was a mess, and Cerberus almost got away with blowing up several ships if it wasn't for the humans who were there."

The Ascension Project, a Grissom academy endeavor for children to harness their biotic abilities. It's a far cry from the disaster that was BAat and what Alenko went through. And in Naruto's case, he was sent to that Asari in their cross-species initiative. Emily recalled another who did that but not the name.

"Hmm, wasn't Anderson's old flame the head of that? Focus…"

"Can you relay any information from the Flotilla to me?" Emily questioned.

Tali nodded; "I was already going to. Outside of my people, I only trust you... And Naruto with this." Grief crept in her tone.

Closing her eyes, the redhead took a long sigh; "I wish he was here too." She opened them to look at her Quarian friend; "I'll checkup what's going on. See if I can find Cerberus while at it."

"Thank you, Shepard. And if you find anything about why they attacked us, besides the biotic girl, then please let me know."

With a smile and nod, the dark-haired Commander waved. "Will do. Take care Tali, keep in touch." As the video shut off and the information was finalized and delivered to an OSD, Shepard instantly put it into her Omni-tool.

Bau was there watching her. "I take it this is the first since the base you took out a while back? Cerberus has been gaining traction of late."

"Not a good sign given all the nightmare projects I and Naruto found while hunting Saren." Emily lamented. "And they were bold doing something with the Grissom academy and Quarian flotilla. I need to check this out."

"Of course," Bau nodded; "These people are an insult to your people, moreover they are a danger to everyone in Citadel space. If you need resources I will provide all I can from the STG and Spectres."

"Thanks, Jondum."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

After a quick lunch, of which Emily was glad that Salarians shared the same amino acid compound for food, she decided to hit the Ascension project, find out what happened from the woman she saw in the files, a Kahlee Sanders "She is the daughter of Grissom himself, teaching at his school, and was that old flame of Andersons. Maybe I should give him a message regarding what she's been up to."

Boarding a transport, she was sitting down when Jondum came up to the door. "I'll be expecting a message when you are ready for training again. Until then, I have my own assignment to worry about. Stay safe"

With that, she was lifted off and on her way to the most ambitious school the Alliance had in space. Where Biotics and technical geniuses were given the best education for the betterment of humankind. "Without the immoral experiments..."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

It had been a few years since Emily had been to the Petra Nebula. Given that her last shore leave at Elysium had turned into a small scale war with pirates and slavers. But it was near the colony where the Jon Grissom academy station floated in space. As Emily's shuttle appeared from the relay she whistled absently whistled. "This place is massive."

Resembling a cross with a sphere at the center, Emily guessed the symbolism likely eased the more Abrahamic religious sort. Ascension was only one part of what this place gave for youths. Ranging for all manner of educations for future generations to come.

Soon her comm became active; "To unknown shuttle identify yourself." A man spoke in an authoritative tone

"This is Commander Emily Shepard of the Alliance and Council Spectre. I heard of the incident that occurred several days ago and came to investigate."

"Emily Shepard?" Now a female voice spoke up; "David's protégé?"

That cocked a brow from the commander; "Captain Anderson did train me, yes."

"I'm Kahlee Sanders; I'll have one of the hangers open for you. Welcome to Grissom Academy."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

As the brief conversation ended Emily sat her shutter down in a large open hanger. Outside the shuttle stood a woman in her late thirties with short blond hair and blue eyes. Dressed in a formal Alliance outfit. Beside her were one guard and a man in civilian clothes. As the shuttle door opened Emily strolled out to be greeted by the blond woman; "I'm Kahlee Sanders." She extended her hand for which Shepard took.

"Emily Shepard."

"I heard what happened at the Citadel; with everything going on here I haven't had time to get a hold of David. How is he?"

The Commander heard the concern in her tone but stayed silent; "The Captain is fine. Currently promoted as the human councilor."

A snort escaped Kahlee as she grinned; "Oh he will be having fun with all the politicians."

"I feel he will try keeping them in line, if possible." The off-putting yet warm tone of the woman before her had been something she was not used to in military complexes. "Then again, this isn't strictly military."

Kahlee smiled, sensing the uneasy stare. "Civilian talk aside, I heard you are here about the incident regarding Cerberus? Whilst we sent out a report about the incident a couple of days ago, you're in a Salarian ship. I take it you knew about the attack earlier than that?"

"I have a friend on the Flotilla, a Quarian who was part of my crew during the hunt for Saren. She got in contact with me, gave me a lot of the details. Sorry to hear about what happened with the young Grayson. Thankfully she's alright and finding her own way with the Quarians expedition fleet. Shall we head inside?" Emily at least let herself relax; at least until they reached the point about the agent they had in custody

Kahlee sighed as she walked with the commander while the other two followed; "We detained the man who is with Cerberus. Dr. Jiro Toshiwa, if that's even his real name. He worked with Gillian, as well as injected her with something he stated was to amplify her Biotics."

"Was Gillian hurt?"

"We honestly don't know what he gave her. I have people working on traces of the chemical we could find. Gillian is perhaps one the single greatest Biotics I have ever seen outside of your brother and Lieutenant Cora Harper. However, Gillian had high functioning Autism."

"Some would name it unidentified evolutionary properties. In a Biotic, it would be dangerously unstable and prone to violent outbursts, which is why they are usually not with social groups, normally only a few friends. But digressing, I am assuming whatever he gave her was either a cause or catalyst alongside this unique medical diagnosis. How long until we can find results for what they gave her?"

Impressed by Shepard's medical know-how on Biotics, Kahlee took the question to thought. "Well, given it has only been a week since the injection... We can assume anywhere between a couple of weeks to a couple of months, maybe faster if we sent it off to a genuine lab, but I would rather this stay where I can see it. I've been through too much to let anyone I don't personally know without a doubt they are good people touch anything that's affecting those around me that I care for."

Emily could respect that, this woman likes to keep things in-house. And in all honesty, she couldn't blame her. Especially if there was the risk of a Cerberus agent in the possibly hiding in the ranks. The two ladies went to a comfortable silence as the four walked through the halls of the academy. Out of the corner of her eye, Emily could see students of all ages paying attention to them. "Imagine these kids are a handful?"

Kahlee snorted; "They can be, but wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here. These kids are the future and I will make sure all of them are safe and have the tools they need when leaving here."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Going through another long hallway, they reached a door where two guards were posted. "We've kept him in this room. Most secure and out of the way from the kids." Kahlee explained as the door slid open to a storage room.

Inside sat a young man of Asian descent in a medical uniform. His eyes turned; "You got the big guns, bringing the hero of Elysium here, Kahlee." His voice was casual as he sat back on his chair. "What can I do you for Commander Shepard."

Kahlee only rolled her eyes while Emily crossed her arms. "Why not drop the act Dr. Jiro. If that is your real name."

"It is, I didn't lie about that."

Shepard came up to the table and was calm and collected. "Then, Jiro here's the rundown. You were in possession of a strange compound that was injected into a little girl that went out of control the minute you did it. You are confirmed as a Cerberus agent. By every power I have with my rank, I can have you put in a cell in the farthest reaches of alliance space with an army around you so you can't do anything but rot. Let's make this easy. You tell me what that compound was, why you gave it to Gillian, and why your illusive man has these experiments being run on children under the alliance's purview."

Scoffing, the man just turned his head away. "Got nothing to say to you. Lips are sealed."

Kahlee came up beside him and smirked. "Maybe I need to put you in another talkative mood... This time I can squeeze harder."

After a moment of silence, the Commander could see the dude sweating. She gripped his shoulder. "Jiro, you chose the hard way. If you want to survive, then you talk. Or, you can find yourself in pain." Without warning, her Omni-Tool sent a jolt through him, making his body lock up and his breath stop, gasping for a moment to collect himself. "I have fifty levels of shock therapy. That was just the taste of level 1..."

Jiro grunted as he shook his head; "Knew you were the rough type Kahlee. But you'll just be wasting your time. I won't talk."

"Really? That loyal to a group who do inhuman acts for the 'betterment' of our people?" Emily snarked out.

"We never said we were saints Shepard. Look at humanity compared to the Salarians, Turians, and Asari. We're centuries if not a thousand years behind."

Kahlee shook her head; "So the ends justify the means so we can catch up? What you did to Gillian-"

"Will advance humanity. She could rival if not surpass the late Commander Uzumaki and he was our species only natural biotic. We need to strive to become like he was. To the point can use biotics naturally like the Asari. As big as an anomaly he was, that is the finish line for us."

Emily glared. "And get there no matter who dies in the process?"

"Evolution isn't pretty. Sure, if there is a Hell we'll likely be going there. But I'll pay any price if it means our species advances onward."

"Lovely... A true believer…" Emily felt a headache coming. These were the types she hated dealing with.

Grabbing the back of his head, Emily took a deep breath. "Yeah? Well, let me tell you something. The more you do horrible grotesque and evil things, it makes the entire race seem dangerous, so those more advanced will see us a threat... they then kill us all because you assholes thought you needed to advance us prematurely and because you are all racist pieces of SHIT!" She slammed his head into the table, so hard that when she let go he launched back and on the floor.

Jiro was gasping through the bloody nose he had, trying not to swallow the gross flem of mucus and blood. "The fuck!?"

"Cerberus is not going to help humanity survive, they will kill humanity for their own goals. Because if Cerberus were so beneficial to the entirety of humanity, they wouldn't kill innocent lives, kidnap children, and throw HUMANS away like SCRAPS!" Picking him up by the neck of his shirt, the Commander glared into his eyes. "For an organization that speaks of being better. You lot seem to hate your own kind as much as the other races you tend to spit on! This is why I am going to take you all down... Oh, and thanks for the data." She head-butted the prick and then set him down, huffing as she took an OSD from his tooth that she knocked out. "Electrical static in the mouth? Had to be a hidden data pack."

Kahlee blinked a few times as Jiro was now unconscious with his head on the table; "Not like your brother I take it."

"Don't have the temperament he did with people." Emily lamented dryly while holding the tooth; "Can look this over and see what it has."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Rix grunted as he blocked a strike from Garrus before grabbing his fellow Turian's arm and throwing hard onto a training mat. "You fight with anger. Anger keeps you sharp unless you let it overtake you."

Garrus only groaned as he got back to his feet. "By the Spirits, I knew Spectre training was tough, but the hand to hand made what I learned from the military look like, as humans say, amateur hour."

Next to tech, weapons, Avitus had been putting through his paces. "We blended the best of council races martial combat together, cultivated it till it reached what I think is the best hand to hand Martial skills in the galaxy... Outside Justicar training."

Grunting, the blue armored Turian got up and into a stance. "Heard Justicars have something so dangerous only one out of ten survives the full training." He threw a hard jab, keeping at a distance knowing that his strength was his reach.

Rix didn't let him stay far, stepping into the punch and causing his trainee to try and side-step out, only to roundhouse kick Garrus hard in the knees, making him fall flat on his back again. "Well, seeing as hardly any Asari try for the training anymore unless they are pure combat Matriarchs, one in five is not that harsh. But what's really punishing, only one in thirty outside the battle-hardened Matriarchs survive. And so little of them join, it's almost an eighty percent chance of death."

Garrus shrugged off the pain as he got back to his feet. He recalled Naruto telling him he had some basic Justicar training. All the blond said was N7 had a lot to learn. "So let's see what we got before reaching the Asari."

A chuckled came Rix; "Love that attitude!"

After an hour, and with Rix once again taking Garrus off his feet, but not without Garrus twisting his legs and landing a solid hit into the shoulder of the Turian Spectre, the door opened up to a new arrival. "Missing anything good? Or is my teammate going to lie there all day?"

Garrus looked up to see Emily in the room smirking. "For your information-" a groan came out as he got back on his feet. "Rix is one of the better Turian hand to hand specialists in the Spectres. It'll be tough to get a hit in any way."

"There is always someone better out there." Rix spoke with a shrug before extending a hand to Emily; "Avitus Rix."

"Emily Shepard." She took his hand with a good shake. "How's my partner doing?"

"He's got a lot of room to grow. Better than most I've seen in my time here." He paused; "Need him?"

Emily gave a nod; "Got some encrypted information I'd like to go over with her. Cerberus related."

Rix hummed and stared at her, but noticed she was not going into more detail. "I see... Will this be a quick exchange, or are you off for some hunting?"

"Depends on him, but I think Garrus and I will be heading out. Sorry, Rix." She turned and got Garrus out of the room.

The Spectre hummed more as he watched them leave. He chose to go see one of his other Spectre allies, who were on the hunt for Cerberus Intel as well. "I wonder what Tela Vasir has to say about Cerberus and shadow information..."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Emily filled in Garrus while the Turian took a small breather from the hour sparring session; "Bold bastards for going after the Flotilla. But hurting kids..." Garrus growled; "All for some sick notion to advance the species."

"We need to bring them down before they do even more damage all in the name of human advancement..." Emily sneered as she remembered Dr. Jiro's words.

"So we are going to go over the data of those files?"

Emily nodded; "See what they have been doing and hopefully find any leads we can use. Maybe to some agent or bases, we can bring down"

"All in favor of that," Garrus smirked in Turian fashion.

An hour of decoding later and Garrus found a set of coordinates. "Hey, this one is a fresh update... Only a couple of days old. Think they are still there? It goes to an old facility out near the Terminus."

Reading the report, though, she was not about to jump until she knew what was there. Not much, but enough. "Seems they were preparing to get to the Flotilla before the Gillian thing. It might be where they staged the attack. We can gather more information there. But we have to hurry, Cerberus has been known to quickly get in and out of places.

"Agreed, we should get an extra gun for this in case we end up in a firefight." Garrus nodded. "Should I get Rix?"

"If you think he can help, but we'll have to give him a fast explanation without revealing too much about the mission at hand. It's my mission, not a Spectre one." Though part of her was worried Rix would try something.

As he went, Shepard checked a little more of the data and found some code to try and recreate for the datapad she was working on. She found one locked bit of code filled in and smiled. "That's interesting..."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

As Emily geared up beside Garrus, Rix adjusted the sights of his assault rifle. "Guess this will be as you humans say my last hoorah before retiring." The Turian was given a quick summary of what was going on and decided to help out. Since this was an alliance mission he did not ask questions. For which Shepard was grateful. "Where are these Cerberus guys at?"

"The Hades Nexus," Emily clarified; "They were smart enough to pick a region where no Alliance was stationed."

As they hit the relay, Garrus and Shepard got a message from an old friend. Liara sent a voice message they listened to. "To my friends. I apologize for sending this out of the blue, but I am going to be out of contact for the next few weeks. I have found out something, something dangerous. I believe someone has found and stolen, the body of the late Commander Uzumaki. After going through secret channels, I found that someone is interested in buying him, so I am off to find out whom and get his body back. If I do not make it back, please find the coordinates linked, all my information on this endeavor is there. Good luck, may the goddess guide you."

Time slowed to a halt for both Emily and Garrus as shock bore on both of their faces "They what..." She muttered in almost a whisper.

Rix thought for a moment as he heard the message; "Since your brother was the first natural human biotic, I can guess a lot of black-market scientists would love to exam him."

Shock soon slowly turned rage as Emily lashed out and punch the side of the shuttle. Her breath was heavy. Her teeth gnashed as she growled.

"Hey!" Rix yelled while commanding the shuttle. "Keep your focus."

"Keep our focus?" Garrus quipped back equally angry.

"Right now we have a mission, vent that anger out on Cerberus. And once that's done you two can deal with what is going on with Uzumaki's body."

Looking over the message, Emily grunted in frustration before crossing her arms and trying to relax in her seat. "We trust our friend... If Liara needs help, we will hear about it."

Nodding, her Turian friend could only accept and agree for now. Rix was closing in on their destination, humming as he thought about the potential risks of such a situation. They all chose to let it slide. As the station was coming into range, Rix announced their arrival. "We're closing in. I'm getting some life signs, but only two shuttles in the bay. I am unsure what they are currently up to, but if they are on the way out, we better hurry."

Grabbing her helmet, Shepard stood up. "Get us in nice and easy, and no raising the alarms. When we get in, we jack their transport with explosives in case they try to escape."

Their shuttle hit the atmosphere of Karumto. An earth-sized planet, but extremely uninhabitable due to its Carbon dioxide and ash from the multiple active volcanoes. The terrain was a hell-scape of rocky jagged mountains and lava. The last place a person would expect someone would put a base at. Perfect for a terrorist group that wanted to remain incognito.

"I suggest we wear helmets till we enter the base," Rix remarked casually; "And expect it to be a little hot down there Shepard."

Emily said nothing as she fixed her weapon and put her helmet on. Garrus looked to his fellow Turian; "I think she is too pissed off to care."

A grunt came from Avitus as he checked the scanners. "And we have one base. Inside a damn volcano. And people call Krogan crazy." Maneuvering the shuttle he landed it just out of the base's range. "We have to hoof it a bit but better than being shot at."

Emily pumped her shotgun; "Let's send these fuckers to hell."

Rix put on his helmet along with Garrus as the human punched the hatch button to open the door; "And I thought Turian and Krogan females were the fiercest." The Spectre muttered.

"Shepard will surprise you." Garrus quipped as they moved out.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

The Cerberus base was built into the bedrock of the volcano with one access route they could only find that was guarded by LOKI and YIMIR mechs. Something that got Emily's attention from their cover. "Those are new mech types from Hahne-Kedar. But they weren't supposed to be deployed until several months from now."

"Guess this Illusive Man has some deep pockets," Rix remarked.

Gearing up her Omni-tool, Garrus watched as Shepard grabbed a grenade that looked different than usual, and then a blue light came on. "What do you have there?"

"A little trick I learned from day two with Jondum's tech pals." She tossed the device and it made some noise, drawing in the mechs before bursting with electrical power and shutting the mechs within the radius of the door down, the overload blowing their motherboards and their chests popping out into holes from the damage "Overload EMP grenade, custom made. I kind of went overboard with the power output, but no one knows the limits of these mechs I combat yet.

With the mechs down they dash towards the door as Emily hacks the side terminal. With quick fingers, the light above the door turns from red to green and slides open. "Let's move," Shepard whispered as the trio went inside.

Sojourning through a long hallway, they reach another door which opens to a MASSIVE coordinator connecting to multiple rooms of various natures. They stuck to the shadows as they saw movement. "How the hell did Cerberus make a place like this and no one noticed?" Garrus whispered.

Emily shrugged "Figure that out later."

Some Cerberus operatives in coats were carrying out some boxes when Emily snatched out and grabbed on, Garrus the other as the two locked the mouths shut. Rix kept an eye out around the corner for anything coming. With pistol to head, the Commander spoke low. "You're going to tell us what Cerberus is doing here, and where I can find every ounce of the information under lock and key, with the said key to any locks holding me from that information. Do it, and you live to see another day. If not, I take you out and find a way in anyway."

"Research and development, as well as military operations." The man spoke fast. He pales as Garrus leaned in.

"What are you techs working on?"

"Weapons, armor, mechs, ships, as well as biological studies..."

Rix kept guard as Shepard asked; "Where do we access all the information?"

"Archives are at the bottom..."

"Much appreciated..." Shepard knocked hers out, Garrus following suit. She looked to Garrus and Rix. "We need one of us to get these guys to the shuttle. I need to go in, which of you two will take care of this?"

As the two Turians looked to each other, Garrus made his argument. "Rix, you can tie them up outside, follow us in afterward. I'll stay with my partner." Though hesitant, he saw Rix agree and get the devices to hold the two scientists. "Thank you." The two team members started slowly progressing to the archives.

"Let us try not to start a ruckus until after we get all the data," Emily remarked quietly as they stuck to the shadows. "Then we can turn this place into a smoldering crater."

Garrus grinned; "I like that part."

Though the base was running, the only humans here seemed to be the two they met, as everything else in every other lab was being packed up by mechs. Though small, the base had considerable depth in the volcano. Sneaking through to the bottom level, the two managed to find where Archives was, and thankfully they saw only three guards, but they were actual people. As they waited for Rix, they overheard the guards talking. "Think the scientists have gotten everything cataloged for those new bots?"

"I don't know, we still haven't gotten the all-clear. Hope the next gig is in a cooler place, this volcano was not what I signed up for."

"No, you signed up to see Quarians in body bags. I still don't get why that op failed, who was running it?"

"Some dude named Pel, all I know is they captured no Quarians, and Pel is MIA. Keep sharp, we still have a job to do."

"What I miss?" The two looked to see Rix coming in and kneeling next to Garrus. "I noticed a distinct lack of dead mechs and human bodies. I'm guessing you have an after-objective scenario planned?" Seeing her nod he hummed. "Well, if we can detonate the nearby power supply, the explosion should rupture the bedrock enough to cause the volcanic activity to ruin this entire station."

"Sounds like we found out all hell breaks loose option." Emily looked to the guards. "We get in there, get everything we can about this base, and get out. Garrus, want to set the charge?"

"Get to do the fun part, why thank you," Garrus smirked as he and the others moved in a blink out of the shadows. Their action was so fast they caught the guard by surprise. But were dead before they could fire a shot. Once done Emily goes to the console while Garrus goes to set the charges.

Rix looks at one of the Terminals; "I'm guessing morality left these people ages ago."

"Most are just bigots and racists, the rest are even worse. Truly believing everything they are doing is to advance humanity. Not caring about making enemies along the way."

Rix kept an eye out. After a minute or so, he looked behind him. "Having trouble?"

"No... Worse... I found trouble..." She started the download. "Everything was in the process of a shutdown, I revered it to get the data, which means we might have mechs on the way if they detect that. Get ready, I'll keep getting the data." She tried everything to get the data faster, but her Omni-tool was not fast enough for such a dump of data. "Come on..."

Thankfully the detection didn't happen, but as soon as the data was saved on her Omni-tool she heard the alarms blare. Garrus came back fast. "We need to go, the mechs are coming down!"

Grabbing more EMP grenades, she filled them with every ounce of Omni-gel she could in order to overpower the mechs. She distributed them. "Short fuses, activate on the throw and keep out of distance if you want your shields to stay intact!"

As soon as they heard the automated sounds of walking Garrus and Rix threw some grenades. At that moment all hell broke loose. A swarm of LOKI mechs made their way towards the archives as the trio tore their way through them. In between were some human Cerberus guards who also attacked.

"I think we pissed them off," Rix quipped from his cover beside the others.

"And here I thought we were making friends!" Shepard grunted as she kicked a gun from a guard's hand and then grabbed him and her shotgun, blowing through his chest and using him as a shield as she tossed another grenade and started running towards it. "Garrus, the moment we hit the hangar, blow it!"

Seeing this, Garrus was unfazed as he ducked behind cover and sniped a head clean off. "On your order, Shepard!"

"Brutal, Shepard! Do you think we'll have the time to leave?!" The Turian Spectre yelled form his cover as two Mechs tried to blast at him. The halls were flooding with them now, even with more dropping from the Grenades that took out Shepard's shields. "Or the ability to with these many on our tail?!"

"We're getting out of here and blowing this place to hell Avitus," Emily yelled with certainty as they kept on the pressure against the Mechs.

Thankfully the EMP bombs were working as well as they took out the final wave, managing to get to the hangar bay. The rest of Cerberus, mostly scientists plus a few guards, were trying to load up and take off. But Rix planted bombs on them, so as they got into their own shuttle they launched with their 2 scientists and left, blowing the station and the shuttles along with them, sending the base and everyone still inside to a molten mess.

Sighing, Emily sat in her seat and started looking through the data. "That was standard levels of stress. Like when we went after Saren a bit, huh Garrus?"

Garrus groaned as he sat beside her; "Keeps the instincts sharp enough."

The shuttle cleared Karumto's atmosphere; "And if anything shows Cerberus they are not as safe as think." Rix offered in his words.

Emily looked to her Omni-Tool; "Have a lot of data to go over. Get a feeling I'm going to be up for some long nights."

Rix nodded "Hope it helps out against these bastards."

Something hit the net code again for the secret OSD and made the dark-haired woman smile. "I know it will..."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

A day later, Garrus is listening to the call to Tali. "You're kidding! This... Is way more than just a Biotic child in our care!"

"I know. It seems that they wanted to take the Flotilla's live ships, or at least one, and attempt to lessen your numbers dramatically. Their Intel shows your live ships could become very dangerous mega-dreadnaughts if you loaded them up with sufficient weaponry. And of course, they were going to experiment on many of your people when the corpses rolled in. I hope the Intel I am sending you is helpful and able to deter any of their future attempts."

"Thank you, Shepard. I hope you made those bastards pay dearly. Keelah se'lai."

"I take it that wasn't the only data?"

Shepard turned to Garrus. "Not at all. There's enough data here to keep me hunting for a week if I keep at it. AI research, biological fusion research, that base had a few links to many others I need to go check. Something tells me I'm hitting the tip of the iceberg here, and it's looking like they are trying to make a singular power to use against us."

The Turian grunted; "Not alone you're not."

"..You sure? Your still training;" Emily paused.

"These guys have shown they are a dangerous threat to every person alive. Being fanatical only makes them more so. They have to be stopped before causing more harm."

Shepard slowly nodded; "Alright, we take them out and learn what all they have. Maybe use it against them."

"Agreed. Though I may never become a Spectre if I keep leaving my pre-Spectre training evaluations." Garrus looked to where Rix was stationed, doing some drills with other Turians. "Still... This is important. Not just to everyone else, but to us too, Cerberus wasn't exactly friendly when we were still hunting Saren. I'm all in, Shepard. I'm with you until you deem me unable to follow." Deep in his soul, he could feel that declaration solidify like the Spirits themselves were blessing him with the strength to always follow his promise, no matter how hard things got.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX ~ xx ~ XxX