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REPUBLISHED DUE TO ANOTHER SITE GLITCH. SORRY FOR ANYONE THAT READ THIS CHAPTER ALREADY.
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"Often when we guess at others' motives, we reveal only our own."
(Mara Sov)
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Xawin, October 14th, 11:27 AM, 2184
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The heated situation earlier had left me feeling slightly warmer under the armor despite how chilling the air around me was. This woman, Miranda Lawson, held herself in a way that suggested she was the real leader of this group, but I dismissed these thoughts after giving the situation more time to roll around in my head. Her defection must have been a sort of gut reaction made in the heat of the moment, because she obviously hadn't been planning it.
It was clear to me that she wouldn't have left Cerberus if the risk of losing all her work wasn't there. While I rightfully suspected her of having ulterior motives and had quietly instructed Kirva to keep a close eye on her, something about her felt slightly more genuine than not. Genuine or not, she was willing to risk the wrath of her own organization and come down here.
I needed more information from her, and a hell of a lot more time to think about it. Time, however, was not a luxury we had at the current moment.
After carefully explaining our extraction plan to the seven, I radioed in to inform Mal of our situation.
"Delta to Alpha, we have secured our objective and are preparing for exfil." I announced over the encrypted channel, waiting for a moment before getting a response back.
"Affirmative Delta, things still look clear on our end." Mal replied, the signal mildly shaky due to the inclement weather outside. "We will continue to hold position and let you know if we spot anything."
"Roger that." I finished, cutting the transmission before turning back to the group. "Alright, line up and get ready!"
All seven of them lined up, four going to our Mako and three going to Weir's. They fired up their electric blankets, wrapping themselves up as tightly as they could as the temperature noticeably rose inside of the compartment.
"Masks on!" I ordered as they pulled the rebreathers over their faces, hiding their facial features. "Alright… five…. four…. three… two… ONE!"
I opened the hatch, sucking any remaining air out into the atmosphere as everyone ran to their respective Makos. The entire process lasted for less than ten seconds, but in the end everyone managed to reach their destination without falling down in the snow. We ushered our four in, hopping in behind them and immediately closing the hatch.
Dimitri gunned the engine to generate more heat as the atmosphere equalized. The scientists, Sterling, Watterson, Kaznyk, and Lawson were all visibly shivering, still wrapped in their blankets.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked, pulling my helmet off as they all did the same.
"Y-y-y-y-e-e-a-h…" Watterson shuttered, breathing heavily into his hands before putting them under his arms. Kaznyk pulled the blanket over her head and sobbed quietly, the stress of the situation likely having gotten to her.
"My god… I've never… ever experienced… such bloody awful… cold…" Sterling forced out, clutching his blanket so hard that it looked libel to tear as he rocked back and forth.
"Can we go now?" Lawson asked in a deadpan, staring forward into empty space with bits of snow still stuck in her jet-black hair.
I looked back at Dimitri, gesturing to him with my head as he nodded in return and began the drive back to the Explorer.
Unlike how it had been on our way over, the drive back was completely silent other than the sound of the Mako itself. No one spoke a word, not one. Dan had a look of disgust on his face, Dimitri forced himself to emit as neutral of a face as possible, and I could only imagine Kirva was praying silently to herself that one of them would attempt to make a move on us. Especially Lawson.
"Delta, Delta, this is Alpha, do you read me?" The comm suddenly crackled, breaking the relative silence as we all turned our heads at the source of the noise. "Respond now!"
"This is Delta, what is the situation?" I asked quickly, knowing deep down in my gut that the situation had taken a sudden turn.
"We had a brief engagement with one of those stealth ships, Cerberus markings confirmed!" Mal furiously explained, sounding as if he was in a near-panic. "We managed to damage it before it slipped through the atmosphere. You've got to move fast, last we could tell before it dropped off our sensors, it was heading for your landing zone!"
"Shit!" I non-eloquently finished, looking at Dimitri. "Gun it!"
And gun it he did. We went from doing 40mph to well over 60, flying over hills so fast that he had been forced to use the built-in thrusters to keep us from rolling over. Before we knew it, an armed shuttle soared overhead, firing down at us.
"Piss off!" Dan shouted from the copula, throwing his helmet off and firing wildly at the shuttle while we were on the move. He pierced the kinetic barriers, hitting one of the engines before it limped off ahead of us.
"He must be looking for a place to intercept us." I theorized, looking up into the copula at Dan. "Keep your eyes open, they might have missile launchers.
He nodded in acknowledgement to me as the comm crackled again, this time from our ship.
"Where are you guys?! We need to get out of here!" Greg shouted through static, as thumps of cannon fire could be heard in the background. "We've got hostiles on us, and we can't use our GUARDANs in atmosphere!"
"We're almost there, we had a run-in of our own!" I replied, quickly pulling the mouthpiece closer before the communications suddenly cut out on us. "Greg? Greg?!"
I had no idea of knowing what was happening for several moments. Less than a mile away from the landing zone we felt an earth-shattering vibration go through the earth beneath us, even while on the move.
"That felt like a ship crash landing." Watterson remarked from the back, a look of dread clearly seen on his face.
"Or exploding." Sterling somberly added, sending a tinge of fear through me as we rolled over the final hill.
Watterson was right. The Cerberus frigate that had attempted to slip past the Idenna could clearly be seen lodged in a nearby mountain, flames visible even from this distance covering most of the ship. They didn't expect the Explorer to be equipped with turrets, and paid the price for trying to make a pass at her.
The battle was certainly not over, though. Two shuttles were flying below the range of the Explorer's cannons as both them and the ground troops they had dropped off fired on the ship with heavy weapons. They hadn't spotted us yet.
"Dan, focus on the shuttles! Dimi… run the little bastards down." I ordered, lowering my voice as Dimitri nodded. He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, going even faster than before as the troops ahead finally took notice of us.
Dimitri drove straight for the largest group, five foot soldiers. As two of them dove out of the way, the other three attempted to level their heavy weapons at us. They weren't quick enough, and we plowed into them. Even through all of the Mako's armor, I could hear sickening thuds as one of them splattered on the windshield and the other two got crushed by the massive wheels. The other squad attempted to make a run for a nearby group of rocks for safety, but they weren't fast enough. They met the same crunchy fate as the other squad.
Dan leveled his fire at the two shuttles, focusing on the one he had already damaged. Aiming for the same spot, he finally succeeded in knocking out one of their engines and sending the craft into an uncontrollable spin. It crashed into a nearby cliff face, exploding moments later as the second shuttle retaliated. It fired on us with heavy cannons, nearly taking down our barriers before Dan lucked out and placed a 155mm round directly through the cockpit window. It soared towards us, nearly crashing into the Mako before coming to a stop in the snow.
Before we could turn around and finish the job, one of the two surviving soldiers hit us directly with a missile launcher. It knocked all of us to the left side of the Mako, along with Dan who fell out of the cupola with a gash on the side of his head.
"мать засранец!" Dimitri shouted in native Russian as sparks flew from one of the interior panels near his head, forcing him to cover his face as the Mako slammed into one of the larger rocks.
"Oh god, we're gonna die!" Kaznyk screamed in a panic as I quickly ran over to Dan to see if he was alright. He had been knocked cold from the impact with the inside of the cupola, but was still breathing as far as I could tell.
Before anything else could happen, there was another explosion outside, but not near us. I ignored it for the moment, applying some medi-gel to Dan's head before pulling myself into the cupola to get a better look outside.
I saw Greg and Lenlo standing in the open hanger bay, shooting down at the surviving two troopers. Greg was using a grenade launcher of some sort, sending large clouds of snow into the air as Lenlo fired on them with an M-15 Vindicator. A few seconds later, the gunfire stopped as both soldiers laid dead.
"You guys alright in there?" Greg called out on his omni-tool, looking down at us.
"Jesus Christ, you guys are a sight for sore eyes!" I replied back as Dimitri pulled himself back into his chair as gave the engines some more life. "Thanks!"
"Forget thanking me, let's just get the hell out of here!" He quickly dismissed, running back into the hanger as we rolled inside with a heavy clunk.
We wasted no time sealing everything up again and getting everyone out of the Mako. I quickly assigned Kirva and Lenlo to watch our "guests" while Dimitri and I carried Dan up to the infirmary as carefully as we possibly could.
"My God, what happened?" Lydia asked in a shocked tone from the nearby projector as we placed him into the automated ICU.
"Slammed his head into the interior of the Mako, then fell out of the cupola." I answered, quickly pulling off his chest plate so the scanner could get a better reading. "Quickly, do a cranial scan."
She nodded silently, running the machine for a few moments before looking back to us. Her face told us everything we didn't want to know before she had even begun speaking.
"He has a concussion, along with a… hairline fracture in the parietal bone below the surface of the laceration. His brain impacted on the left hemisphere, knocking him cold." She diagnosed, sounding understandably shaken as she spoke. "He'll wake up and heal with a few stitches… but I have no way of knowing what kind of short or long-term damage this will result in."
She stared into space for a few moments, as if examining a book before making eye contact with us again.
"Please leave. I have delicate work to do." She ordered in a domineering voice, actually surprising me as we both left the room without another word.
Once outside of the med bay, the stress of the situation finally rolled over, culminating in me indiscriminately kicking the hell out of the nearby cabinets in a blind rage. It took Dimitri pulling me away by my shoulders before I finally realized what I was doing.
"You need to take control of yourself!" Dimitri shouted at me in his booming voice, making me think deep down that he was about to sock me in the face. "This is not what crew needs!"
"The only crew I care about right now is him!" I shouted back at the tower of a man, beginning to lose myself again. "Why is it I'm always the one who has to be calm, the one who always makes these fucking decisions?! I never wanted to do this, I never even wanted to leave Reach! Now look what's happened!"
I threw myself against the wall as tears streamed down my face, my emotional state overwhelmed.
"Sean, your job is one no man or woman ever wants, but it is one that is necessary." He rationalized after allowing me to vent for a minute, crouching down next to me with a look of pity clearly etched on his face. "You cannot give up on us. We need you."
I sucked my gut in, forcing my breathing back to normal as I wiped the tears out of my eyes. I stared forward for a few moments before looking back up at him.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry." I apologized, letting myself sigh in the face of everything. "It's just… difficult. Being in charge of so many people, seeing them hurt, my own best friend… it's beyond demoralizing."
Dimitri silently nodded in acknowledgement, standing back up and offering me his hand. I accepted it, getting pulled back on my feet.
"We are all here for you, Sean." He said, giving me a heavy-handed pat on the shoulder as I forced myself to smile.
He was right. I had to be a good example for my crew. It's what they deserved.
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MFV Explorer, October 14th, 4:31 PM, 2184
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I walked into the hanger where Kirva and Lenlo sat, seeing our four defectors sitting quietly in the back of the hanger. Our ship lacked any holding facilities, something I hadn't expected to ever need. The most we had was a corner of the room with a few stools where they sat under the watchful eye of my crewmates. Only now that we were out of harm's way did I have the time to focus on the features of each of these people.
Watterson was an older-looking African-American man with a closely trimmed haircut that had begun greying. His face was filled with developing wrinkles which had the effect of making him look much older than I believed he was.
Kaznyk was a younger woman who appeared to be of Asian descent, with jet-black hair that reached her shoulders. She wore glasses, something that was considered a rarity these days, and held herself in a way that made her look small and nervous.
Sterling was a good-looking man with a crop of brown hair that was very carefully styled, and I knew from his accent that he came from somewhere in the British Isles. I could tell just from looking at his face that he was exhausted.
I had already memorized the features of Lawson's face during our brief confrontation, and didn't need to focus on it for much else. What struck me was that she didn't sit with the other three, further supporting my theory that she had defected for completely different reasons.
As I walked over, they went silent and tracked me with curious, yet cautious eyes.
"I got you guys some MREs, figured you might need something to eat after everything that happened." I explained, walking past Kirva and Lenlo and handing the three of them each one Meal, Ready to Eat pack. They were military field rations that had changed surprisingly little since their introduction in 1981.
"Beef and Cheese, huh?" Watterson read off in a joking manner before shaking his head with a smile. "Last I read, these things could kill you."
"Maybe if you were a serviceman back in the nineteen-nineties." I dismissed, allowing myself to crack a smile. "Nowadays, it's more along the lines of… bad cooking."
"Bad cooking can still kill you." Sterling added, ripping open his MRE and removing the disposable plastic packs.
"I'd eat up while you can, we'll be at Arcturus in less than an hour and I have no idea what the food is like there." I finished, gazing at Miranda who looked as if she hadn't even noticed me.
I walked over to her, handing her the last MRE as she gave me a look that seemed to consist of nothing but silent annoyance and contempt.
"You know, for someone who wanted to defect, you sure don't seem too grateful." I said, shooting her the stink eye as I prepared to walk away. Before I could, however, she spoke up.
"I know who you are now." She spoke up, causing me to turn around and face her. "Dr. Sean Michaels, former member of Task Force Cerebellum and co-creator of the Nemo-Michaels reactor system… hard to believe you'd come to the rescue of people who you despise."
"Implying I had a choice." I remarked with thinly-veiled sarcasm, leaning against a crate as I focused entirely on her. "Tell me, you seem like one of the "spook" types… if you really are serious about leaving your organization, then why don't you tell me why Cerberus has such a hard-on for my crew?"
Of course, I already knew Cerberus's motives behind why they wanted us, me and Dan in particular. The question was, would she tell me the truth, make up something completely different, or outright refuse to tell me anything? Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for my question to be answered. She narrowed her eyes on me before crossing her legs and leaning towards me.
"I'm pretty sure you already know why." She shot back, eyes like daggers. "I know you were on The Barn, and were involved partially in its destruction."
She knew about our Spatial Distortion Device project, that much was established. Still, I was willing to call her bluff.
"Unfortunately, we weren't told much while we were there." I lied, maintaining my relaxed posture as I kept as neutral of a tone both vocally and physically as I could. "Like I said, if you're really serious about permanently defecting and resuming work on Project Lazarus under our banner, you shouldn't have any problem giving me a little information."
That got her attention real fast. She broke her eye contact with me, closing her eyes and sighing before looking back up at me with a friendlier expression.
"Cerberus is interested in you and your partner, Dr. Daniel Nemo, because of a project you two supposedly worked on many years ago called the Spatial Distortion Device. I don't know what the device was supposed to do, but do know The Illusive Man was very interested in it." She began to explain as I held back the urge to smile at my successful ruse. "He attempted to have this thing built back in 2178, but because the engineers and physicists he chose didn't have the same in-depth theoretical calculations that you two developed… well, let's just say it didn't work."
"Please elaborate." I asked in a deadpan, wanting to know exactly what she meant by this.
"According to the reports I've been able to read, when they attempted to use the device, it ended up creating a neutron explosion powerful enough to kill anything within a fourteen-mile radius and level the entire facility." She answered, actually causing my eyebrows to shoot up.
"Hot damn, I didn't think you could screw it up that badly." I shook my head, allowing myself a huff of amusement. "I hope they aren't planning on building any more of them."
"I doubt it." She responded, sounding far more genuine. "The destruction of both devices and their facilities has totaled over nine-billion credits. The Illusive Man shut down the Tartarus Cell indefinitely and had its resources liquidated three months ago."
I was mildly surprised that I was not only getting information out of her, but information that I hadn't known before. It was frightening to know that Cerberus had already tried building our SDD before and to such disasterous consequences, but I felt a little better knowing that it wasn't likely to be worked on again anytime soon.
"So, you don't actually know what the device does, huh?" I questioned, focusing on her eyes again.
"No, all the files pertaining to the project were isolated from all other cells." She answered without any hint of dishonesty in her voice. "All I know is that it had something to do with supercharged particle fields."
"Well, since you've been nice enough to answer my questions, I don't see any harm in telling you what it was supposed to do." I started, knowing there was nothing I could tell her about it that could be used against us. "Our Spatial Distortion Device was designed with the express purpose of creating traversable wormholes that could go anywhere in the universe. Almost like a teleporter, but capable of so much more."
This resulted in something that I hadn't actually expected to see from her. A look of genuine surprise.
"What? How is that even possible?" She asked, now looking at me with severe doubt.
"Well… maybe I'll tell you further down the line." I denied, not wanting to push the boundaries of this "relationship" too hard in any direction. "Anyways, eat up. We'll be at Arcturus soon."
With the conversation finished, I nodded to Lenlo and Kirva as I walked by, bouncing around this new data in my noggin. If she knew this much, I couldn't even imagine how much more she could tell us and the Alliance. I was still reluctant to work with her in any capacity, and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to secure her release. If she did end up above Reach, I'd have to keep a very close eye on her.
She knew a lot more than she was letting on. I could feel it in my gut.
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MFV Explorer, October 14th, 5:25 PM, 2184
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I sat in the med bay, watching my best friend lay there without any movement other than light breathing as I awaited the call that we were approaching Arcturus. Despite everything Dimitri said and all the obvious facts in front of me, I still couldn't help but blame myself for what had happened to him.
Dan laid there, face completely blank and upper head wrapped in a thick bandage. There was a large bruise forming on the left side of his face from the impact, along with swelling. Lydia was extremely angry with Dimitri and I. She blamed me in particular for allowing this to happen, and I couldn't help but agree with her to some extent.
In reality, this wouldn't have happened if Dan had kept his helmet on during combat like he was supposed to, but the idea of blaming him for anything right now was too much to handle. I was hoping he might regain consciousness before we docked at Arcturus, but that wasn't likely to happen.
I heard the door to the med bay open, revealing Biss who was still carrying himself in the same, shy manner.
"Captain s-sir, we'll be within communications range of Arcturus in four minutes." He informed as I stood up from my stool and slowly walked over.
"Well, I suppose you and I should get up to the bridge." I said, stopping in front of him. "Let's go."
"Yes sir." He quickly agreed, following up behind me.
"So Biss, how was your first real combat experience?" I asked without looking back as we walked the stairs up to the next deck.
"Being honest, sir, it was terrifying." He answered, nearly shuttering as he spoke. "I thought that ship was going to crash into us with how low it was flying."
"Well, I heard you handled yourself very well during it all, and I wanted to personally tell you that I'm proud of you." I remarked, stopping and putting my hand on his shoulder. "As soon as we're finished with our mission here, I'm immediately going to pull together some resources and organize that research assignment you wanted."
"Really?" He responded in near disbelief before straightening up his posture and giving me a salute. "I-I mean, thank your sir!"
"Your welcome Biss." I finished, exiting the stairwell with a bit more levity in my chest.
Inside the bridge, Greg, Sira, and Dimitri were already here. I quickly made eye contact and nodded to each one of them before taking a seat in my chair.
"Are we within range yet?" I asked, leaning backwards in my chair as anticipated the moment we could see the station.
"We're getting close, shouldn't be much… wait, there it is." Sira answered from the communications console. "We've established contact. Should I send our access codes?"
"Do it, then open up a line with one of the operators." I quickly ordered, watching the outside view as I opened up my line with Mal and Weir. "We've begun transmitting the access codes, stay close so they don't get confused."
I got acknowledgment blinks on my screen from the two ships as a large object became visible in the distance.
Arcturus Station was big. Nowhere near the size of the Citadel, but still an impressive feat of engineering. Its main section was a Stanford-torus type structure that spun to produce gravity while four long docking lanes protruded outwards. These lanes were in constant use as a fleet's worth of traffic moved to and from the station at any given time. They were also used for the bulk of the Alliance's shipbuilding efforts.
In addition to Hackett's Fifth Fleet which was stationed here, the entire station was defended by a complex series of GARDAN arrays and Mass Accelerator cannons. Various sensor nets were in place to detect any possible ships trying to slip through unnoticed, and I was betting that their internal security force was staffed by the finest soldiers in the Alliance Navy.
All in all, I think I could relax to a reasonable degree while here.
"MFV Explorer, this is Alliance Control." The communications console crackled, drawing my attention back to the bridge. "We have received your access codes. Priority docking has been authorized. Please procced to Docking Bay 39. The SSV Thermopylae and MFV Idenna will dock in bays 40 and 42. A security team will meet you."
"Thank you, Alliance Control." Sira finished, taking in a deep breath as she sat back in her seat and closed her eyes. "I need a vacation."
"Heh, don't we all." I joked, getting Greg and Dimitri to smile as we pulled into Bay 39. The clamps secured our ship with a solid clunk as a cradle extended out from the station to our airlock.
We left the bridge, seeing Lenlo and Kirva had no trouble getting Sterling, Lawson, Watterson, and Kaznyk up here. They were all lined up, hands secured with stun cuffs.
"Alright… we'll be handing you all over to Alliance Intelligence once we're over there." I addressed, looking at each one of them. "Just do what they say and answer their questions. I'll let them know you came willingly and without protest to make things a bit easier."
"I appreciate it." Sterling said as I nodded my head to him.
"OK, let's get moving." I ordered, walking into the airlock first as they followed up behind me. Dimitri, Sira, Kirva, and Lenlo stayed in the back to make sure nothing funny happened. Richard was staying on the ship to keep an eye on Dan.
Not a word was spoken as the cycle came and went, finishing to open the outer airlock and reveal the long cradle hallway. Unlike other ones I've seen, these had windows that gave you a good view of the stars outside. I glanced at them as we walked, resisting the urge to stop and gawk.
Once on the other end, we were greeted by a squad of eight Alliance marines in full combat gear and an officer wearing a slightly more casual version of their dress blues.
"Captain Michaels, good to meet you." He greeted, giving me a firm handshake without breaking eye contact. "I'm Lieutenant Barnes, I've been assigned to handle the defectors from this point forward."
"Understood. They didn't cause any trouble, so I wouldn't worry about them trying anything." I finished, standing aside as they all walked to the other side. "I hope to see you all again someday, hopefully with cleaner records and Alliance uniforms."
They all walked off, Miranda peering back at me through the corner of her eye as they walked away. I knew what she was thinking, but I needed more time to think on everything before risking everything we've accomplished to let her work on Project Lazarus.
"Well, I suppose I should go with them, make sure the exchange goes smoothly on both ends." Greg stated, putting his hand into his coat pocket and pulling out several credit chits. "Hackett knew you'd be here without any money, so he pulled together some basic funds so you can buy some food or products while we're here."
"I thought I was going to be allowed to request supplies?" I questioned with some confusion, remembering the deal I had made with the man.
"You still are." He corrected in a deadpan, handing each of us one of the chits. "These are for personal use, and are an extra thank you for your service to the Alliance. See you guys later."
As he walked off, I stared at the credit chit in my hand, small ideas going through my head before I focused on one.
"You guys wanna go grab a pint?" I asked as I turned around to face them. They all got amused looks on their faces, looking to one another before nodding.
"Sounds like good plan." Dimitri agreed with a smile as we began walking.
Another awful day in the life of a ship captain. Beer was only a coping mechanism, and one I was wise enough not to abuse. I would be praying for Dan's health until the end of the day, and hoped he might be able to join us before the end of our time here on the station.
…
A/N: Lots of things are happening, and everything is moving at a million miles per hour. We still have no idea if Miranda and the other scientist are genuine about everything, but that's for another day. Sean has politics to deal with now, and he's not looking forward to it one bit. The future is uncertain, but let's hope it's a bright one.
As always, I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism! Stay tuned!