…

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."

(Henry David Thoreau)

…

Presidium Docking Ring, November 20th, 2:09 PM, 2186

…

Climbing up to the top of the maintenance shaft, I was careful not to make too much noise, knowing a space like this would echo even the smallest sounds. All we needed to do was clear a small hole in the docking ring to reach the Presidium, then fight our way to the Tower. It was my best guess that the Director and his lieutenants were up there, controlling the show. We'd find a way to kick them off of their throne, that much was certain.

"Admiral, aren't there automated security measures in the docking ring?" Reegar asked as we climbed, getting me to stop and look down at him for a brief moment.

"Nope, just some full-spectrum scanner checkpoints." I answered, continuing to climb as I spoke. "I'm sure there's some goons running around out there somewhere, but they can't possibly have enough men to run security over the entire ring."

I then froze as I heard a series of clanks above us, distinctly metal-on-metal. I was almost immediately able to tell it was the sound of LOKI mechs.

"Me and my damn mouth… sounds like there are mechanicals up there." I remarked, slowly making my way up the last few rungs of the ladder.

I peeked my head up, seeing the ladder lead to an open maintenance room. I watched as two heavily-modified LOKI mechs walked out, their hands and feet covered with various shades of blood. On the side of the room, a pile of C-SEC bodies sat on the ground, having clearly been dragged in by said mechs. I shook the image from my head, beginning to suspect I was becoming desensitized to the sight of body piles.

I moved up to the doorway as my men began climbing up behind me one-by-one, doing their best to move quietly. It was clear we were very close to one of the major C-SEC locations based on the gear sitting around, though it was obvious most of them had been shot, not asphyxiated like the others. Before another thought could enter my head, my comm burst with static for a moment, getting me to pull myself back into the room.

"Sean? Sean, is that you on this frequency?" I heard a hushed, familiar voice ask, as I realized what had just happened.

"Miranda? How'd you find this channel?" I asked in complete surprise, making sure my mask's voice emitter was turned off.

"I discovered Bailey had created it, and he made mention of Confederation forces that had infiltrated the station. I correctly guessed it must have been you. I wasn't able to make contact with you until you got far enough from the jammers in the Wards." She clarified, sounding slightly distressed. "Listen, we don't have much time. The Normandy is trapped outside of the docks near your location, and if we break the cloak to send a shuttle in, we'll be blasted to dust. We need your help."

I paced for a moment, knowing this would likely be quite a deviation from our original objective. Even so, I wasn't going to leave my friends out there to die.

"Alright, what do you need us to do?" I questioned, ready to accept whatever our new objective was about to be.

"We need you to retake the nearest Air Traffic Control center and override the lockdown on the docks." She explained, getting me to nod my head as I realized how difficult this was likely to be. "Do that, and we'll be able to safely get aboard and help retake the station."

"Understood. What kind of timetable are we looking at?" I asked, wanting to know how much stealth they had left.

"About 42 minutes. We've been running all ship systems on minimal power." She answered, getting me to breathe deeply.

"Understood. I'll contact you once we've reached our target." I nodded, killing the connection and turning back to my team, who were just now finishing their climb. "Alright, this'll probably go better if we split up and draw Cerberus towards two different locations. Reegar, me and your men are going to assault the nearest ATC center. Largos, you and the rest of the men will continue through the docking ring and cut a hole through through their defenses. We'll keep them moving, and force them to respond to two different threats. Understood?"

I received various acknowledgements from my men as I raised my rifle, peeking back through the door to see it was still clear outside. We moved quickly and quietly in separate directions as I used my map to find the closest location.

"Sir, are you sure we can trust this woman?" Reegar questioned, sounding rather skeptical. "It could be a Cerberus trap."

"I'd trust her with my life." I reassured, knowing Miranda was on our side, especially Shepard's. "You'll do the same, and put those thoughts to rest."

"Yes'sir." He nodded as we walked down the hallway, hearing the pitter-patter of feet further down the hallway. I stood against the corner quietly with my rifle at the ready, turning the corner to see it was just a Keeper.

"Jeez…" I breathed, feeling a sense of relief as I lowered my gun.

The brief calm I had felt was suddenly interrupted as several shots rang out in the corridor, killing the Keeper and barely missing my head by an inch or two. I quickly dove towards the other side of the corridor as shotgun rounds could be felt hitting my barriers, putting myself opposite of Reegar and his men. As I caught my breath, I peered past the corner, seeing it was those two bulky LOKI mechs. One carried a Katana shotgun, the other was armed with a Cerberus Pulse Rifle.

I looked back to Reegar, gesturing that there were two down the hallway as I pulled out my last grenade, arming it. He and his men stacked up as I briefly cooked the explosive, tossing it down the hallway. It exploded with surprising force as the ORIONs laid down a suppressive field of fire. Once the gunfire had stopped, I was shocked to see one of the mechs was still crawling towards us. I quickly fired five more rounds into its head, getting it to stop. A split second later, it violently exploded, sending shards of metal everywhere.

"Jesus… they have these bastards rigged to explode." I exclaimed, lucky to not have been hit by the shrapnel. Now I knew why the grenade seemed to explode with more force than before, I detonated the explosive inside the other mech.

"That's different… they have reinforced armor and barriers, and can carry more than a handgun." Son pointed, out, nudging a piece of it with his foot. "This could be a problem, Admiral."

"I know, they're obviously more resilient than the old LOKI models." I nodded, checking myself to make sure none of that shotgun blast pierced my barriers. "Keep your eyes open for more of them, and don't let them get too close."

They nodded as ee quickened our pace, finally leaving the side halls and entering one of the ATC centers from below. They were nestled between the docks and the Presidium, providing an overview of the Wards once you were inside. We were still in the bottom of the center though below the lobby, and based on the sounds we could hear one level above us, we had a fight waiting for us.

"Sounds like they know their robots got blasted." Gata remarked, sounding enthused as he kept his eye glued on the panels for movement.

"Good, I was hoping for a straight-up fight. We've got Marines to avenge." Yaelo said, sounding surprisingly bloodthirsty as she hefted her anti-material rifle.

"Keep your head cool… we're going to do this the smart way." I ordered, a devilish idea entering my head as I stared up at the ceiling and its support columns. "Hey Jora, rig two of your demo charges beneath the floor here… and here."

"Why would you want… oh." She began to protest, before understanding what I was asking for. "Sure thing, sir!"

"Should I even ask what the plan is, Admiral?" Reegar asked in a worried tone, watching as Jora rigged the charges.

"We're gonna give them a bit of a surprise." I grinned as the charges were armed, little red lights switching on. "Get to cover, and be ready to move once its safe!"

We all huddled behind a junction, barely protected as the explosives detonated, filling the corridor with fire, smoke, and debris as screams could be heard. We quickly switched our thermals on, allowing us to see perfectly through the smoke. As we had hoped, the floor had collapsed into this level at a slant, giving us a ramp of sorts to walk up into the next level. With the smoke covering our approach, we eliminated the stragglers left in the lobby, as several others retreated.

"Gata, Son, Jora, with me! The rest of you, secure this lobby and make sure no more get inside!" I ordered, following the survivors up the stairs that led towards the back of the building. Most of the ATC center behind the lobby was made of various "cells" filled with holographic displays, allowing the operators to see everything going on.

The problem was that they provided ample opportunities to hide from us. Their normally dim interiors were instead completely dark, having been disabled and re-routed to the CTO office. It was there we'd be able to disable the dock's lockdown and get the Normandy safely inside the station.

We inched through the ATC cells, making sure each of them were clear as we moved towards our objective. We saw the Cerberus troopers flee in this direction, but they had seemingly disappeared.

"Where are these bosh'tets?" Son asked out loud, shining his flashlight into another cell as three smoke grenades were dropped from above, instantly filling the hallway with thick smoke. I quickly switched back to my thermals, seeing five figures turn the corner at the end.

"Get to cover!" I yelled, diving into one of the cells with Jora as Gata and Son took several shots trying to get out of the way. Gata managed to find cover, but Son caught a pulse rifle round right in the side of his abdomen, knocking him to the floor.

"Come on, kid!" Gata yelled, running back into the open to pull him to cover as Jora and I fired back from our position, suppressing our attackers long enough for him to get Son to cover. "You good? Are you still with me?!"

"That jo'der got me right between the plates!" He grunted in pain, pulling out a canister of medi-gel and injecting it directly into the wound. He screamed in incredible pain for a moment as I leaned back out and fired into the hallway, suddenly noticing they were gone.

"Where'd they go?" Jora asked as I moved back into the smoke, knowing we were asking to be flanked staying in the cells.

"I don't know. Keep your eyes sharp." I ordered, moving slowly as to not make too much noise. The thermals couldn't pick up anything, and I knew for a fact they were still here somewhere.

I inched forwards with Jora right behind me, every single one of my senses on high alert. I knew these weren't the standard Cerberus grunts, they were far more skilled. I knew they must have been operatives, possibly the same that would have reported to The Illusive Man back in their hayday. I had to admit, I felt a sense of fear, knowing this wouldn't be just any fight.

As if some sixth sense had been activated in my brain, I quickly aimed my rifle upwards and fired into an opening in the ceiling, managing to nail an operative who had been hiding there. She screamed as the rest of them lept into action from the cells. I whipped around and nailed one of them in the chest as a second kicked the pulse rifle out of my hands, knocking me back as they attempted to fire another one of those "palm guns" at me like the operative back on Pragia. I grabbed their hand in time to dodge the shot, squeezing it hard enough to break it in several places.

Jora kicked one of the attackers in the chest, hard enough to make them leave a dent in the wall where they impacted. She fired her Talon at the second, missing as he dodged out of the way, swooping down and knocking her arm against the wall. He quickly pulled out a knife, stabbing her in hand and pinning it to the wall in a single motion. Jora yelled out in immense pain, throwing her head forwards and headbutting him hard enough to knock his mask off. I finished off my second attacker with my Carnifex, flipping around to aim at the man, who had pulled out his own Talon and aimed it at Jora's head. She was unable to stop this, and he was too far away to be attacked physically.

"I'd put that down if I were you. Someone might get hurt." He mocked as I focused on his face, recognizing him. He was the chinese man who murdered Sterling and Keller two years ago back on Arcturus Station, the same I had spotted in the tram the very same day. Kai Leng.

"You." I identified, keeping my grip steady as I aimed my Carnifex directly at his face. "You have a lot to answer for, you bastard."

"The same could be said for you, doctor. You've killed your fair share of my people." He rebuked, his icy eyes still just as sharp as they were before. "Put down the gun and walk away, or she dies."

"I put down the gun, and you'll kill her anyway." I pointed out, knowing a trick when I saw it. "Put that gun down, or I'll make sure you die a painful death."

"Kill the bosh'tet, Admiral!" Jora yelled with pain, trying to pull the knife out of the wall with no luck.

My heartbeat slowed as I focused on his narrowed eyes, trying to decide what to do. I wasn't going to abandon one of my soldiers, and I certainly wasn't going to let the bastard go. As it turns out though, I didn't have to decide. A shot rang out down the hallway, nailing him in the hand and forcing him to drop the weapon. Gata ran forward with his rifle drawn and Son limped behind him, sidearm held with his free hand as he held his side with the other.

Now, disarmed and with a broken hand, he tried charging towards me with another knife, only for me to shoot him in one of his kneecaps. He immediately fell to the ground, trying to get back up only for me to shoot him in the other knee, immobilizing him. He rolled around on the floor, bleeding profusely from the legs as he glared up at me.

"Not so smug now, huh? You son of a bitch!" I yelled, stomping on his functional hand and getting him to scream out in pain. "Stew there for a bit, I'll be right back."

I walked over to Jora and helped her pull the knife out of the wall, getting another pained grunt out of her. Gata and Son finally arrived, looking around at the carnage around us.

"Gata, disable the lockdown and find a dock for the Normandy. Son, make sure those other ones are dead and pull security." I ordered, getting wordless replies as I turned back to Jora, applying medi-gel to the hole in her palm. "You gonna be alright?"

"I'm going to have a nasty infection later, but I'm functional sir." She nodded as she breathed deeply, obviously trying to dissuade any of my fears. "Good to go."

"As long as you're absolutely sure." I reluctantly agreed as she injected herself with emergency antibiotics, breathing a sigh of relief. I turned back to Leng, who was trying to crawl towards my gun, leaving two trails of blood behind him. "How about you, tough guy? Wanna bleed out on the floor?"

He ignored me, continuing to crawl towards my gun in a single-minded effort. I shook my head, walking back over and picking up my pulse rifle, finally getting a good look at the pained expression on his face.

"Hey, douchebag, I'm talking to you." I said, kneeling down next to him. "You gonna tell me something I want to know, or should I let my angry Marine here have her way with you next?"

"I won't betray the Director, or anyone who sacrificed their lives to get here." He grunted, propping himself up on his elbows. "Kill me now and get it over with."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" I observed, already able to tell this wasn't going to go anywhere. "Unfortunately, you don't get the easy way out. I'm not going to kill you, I'll drag the rest of your pitiful life out as long and painfully as possible."

"Your threats mean nothing to me." He remarked as I rolled my eyes, having heard this song-and-dance before.

"That's a shame." I feigned, standing back up and turning to Jora. "Go on, do some damage, but keep him breathing."

"Yes. Sir." She said with added emphasis, walking over and pressing her foot against his back, forcing him back down to the floor. She pressed with increasing force, applying pressure to his spine as I could hear air wheezing out of his lungs. "You better tell the Admiral what he wants to know. This armor gives me enough power to crush you like a twig."

"...no…" He squeaked out, barely able to breathe as blood pooled heavily at his legs.

"Enough, we'll let tight-lips here keep his secrets. It's not like Cerberus has any left to surprise us with." I mocked, unable to understand the mentality of these people. "Put medi-gel on his legs, bind his arms, then lock him in one of these cells. We'll send somebody to scoop him up and make him answer for his crimes later."

"Yes'sir." Jora nodded, picking him up with Son's help as Leng glared at me in silent fury.

I didn't do this out of any sense of mercy, that much was obvious. I wanted him to pay for his crimes in a prison cell somewhere, that would be more than enough torture for a lifetime. He'd pay for the murders of Sterling, Keller, and any others that he had killed over the years.

"Sean, we're docking now. Thanks for the assistance." Miranda radioed as I smiled, turning my thoughts back to the task at hand. "Shepard and the rest of the team will be along soon to help assault the Presidium."

"We'll meet you there." I agreed as Jora and Son slammed the door shut on Leng, putting him in complete darkness. I turned back to Son, seeing he had applied a patch to his armor in addition to the medi-gel. "Things got pretty heated there for awhile. You still good, soldier?"

"It burns, it hurts to move, and I'm floating in antibiotics, but other than that my armor scanners say I'm stabilized." He nodded, leaning against the wall as he placed both hands against his knees. "I'm not gonna let a suit puncture take me down for the count, sir."

"I suspect I wouldn't be able to stop you regardless." I joked, watching Gata walk back towards us.

"Docking Bay D-24, sir." He announced, getting me to smile. "The controls are locked, they can't reverse the lockdown."

"Good. Let's go." I finished, running back towards the lobby with my men in tow.

…

Docking Bay D-24, November 20th, 2:41 PM, 2186

…

I ran alongside my ORIONs, feeling a sense of urgency as we finally reached the docking bay. We had begun running into plenty of civilians, mostly refugees who had been locked in the holding areas where the Council had set up emergency housing. Now that the lockdown had been lifted, many of them were trying to get out, fighting back against their would-be captors in any way they could. I wanted to stop and help them, but we needed to meet up with Shepard and regain control of the station first.

I had to admit, from a tactical standpoint, the uprising below in the holding areas was proving a useful distraction. Cerberus had completely abandoned the upper levels of the docks in an attempt to control the flood of people rising up against them below.

Inside D-24, we watched right as the Normandy slipped inside the shields, finally deactivating its cloak. They immediately began dumping all their stored heat, creating an orange glow that gave the Phantom-class an interesting look from this angle, especially with the dark wards silhouetted behind it.

"Yaelo, Jina, Gata, provide security. Jina, Son, check those wounds first, then join them." Reegar ordered, walking over next to me as the cradle arm began extending towards the ship. "So that's Shepard's ship, huh? Looks a bit different than ours."

"Alliance R&D stuck their fingers in the internals, and added a few of their own improvements when they weren't busy breaking what was already there." I joked, crossing my arms as I admired the sight, rifle slung over my shoulder.

The moment of calm was shattered as several more of those modified LOKI mechs appeared from the direction of the Presidium, firing their weapons as they charged towards us with seemingly reckless abandon. I quickly crouched and took aim with my pulse rifle, nailing one of them in the torso and getting it to explode into a cloud of debris.

"Where'd these all come from?!" Gata yelled over the gunfire, dodging another shot as he used a departures bench as cover.

"They must have been sent through here to stem the tide of people below!" I guessed as several more of them poured through a doorway further down. Yaelo managed to take down three in one lucky shot with her rifle as Son and Jora held themselves back and provided covering fire with their own weapons.

Though we were able to keep the tide of LOKIs back, my heart dropped when the cargo elevator at the end opened up, revealing another one of those OGRE mechs. Its appearance alone was enough to make all of us seek cover, heavy footfalls being heard as it made its way towards us.

"Son of a-!" I shouted, cut off as one of the OGRE's heavy mass accelerator rounds ripped through my cover, putting me right by the inner airlock door.

Suddenly, said door opened, revealing Shepard, Garrus, Jack, and Tali, all armed to the teeth.

"Catch you at a bad time?" Shepard remarked with a smile on his face as they rushed in, Jack throwing up a biotic field as Garrus took the head off one of the LOKIs. "What's the situation, Sean?"

"A bunch of Cerberus mechs, and a big bastard we can't pen." I pointed out as he raised his head over our cover, getting a better look for himself. "It's got kinetic barriers for days, and is immune to small-arms fire. Not even my marksman's anti-material rifle can punch through it."

"Any weak spots?" He questioned a split second later, taking another glance.

"The "head" embedded in its chest is the only real weak spot, it'll focus on whoever's shooting at it." I remarked, drawing on my memory of the previous fight. "We'd normally be able to overload the generator on its back, but that hallway is too narrow to flank it from here."

"Jack, push those smaller ones back. Garrus, target that head in its chest and lure it in closer. Tali, go around through that security checkpoint and be ready to overload that generator." He immediately began ordering as they followed his commands to the letter. "Can your men provide covering fire?"

"You've got it." I smiled, turning to Reegar and the others. "ORIONs! Clear a path and keep those smaller ones down so Shepard's team can get a clear shot! Yaelo, keep that ORGE focused on us!"

"Understood, sir!" She yelled, firing another heavy round into the OGRE, its barriers deflecting the round right into the floor beneath it.

Jack kept her barrier up as Yaelo and Garrus continued to lob rounds into the OGRE. Tali jumped across several barriers into the abandoned C-SEC checkpoint, blowing the head off one of the LOKIs with her shotgun in the process. Shepard hefted one of my older plasma rifles, melting layers of ablative armor off the OGREs chassis when he wasn't busy turning the smaller ones into slag. My ORIONs had formed a firing line, and had focused most of their attention on stemming the tide.

As the OGRE passed the checkpoint, Tali lept out from behind cover, quickly hitting the OGRE's generator with an overload and stunning it. We all immediately opened fire with everything we had, turning the front of the OGRE into swiss cheese. As if on queue, it began sputtering as it initiated an overload, creating a glow that could be seen through the holes in its armor.

"Get your heads down!" I yelled as we took cover, the OGRE violently exploding. The shockwave took out the checkpoint and several LOKIs around it, collapsing the ceiling in the hallway and blocking the way through.

"Tali! You alright!?" Shepard shouted as the smoke settled, several metal panels slamming into the floor around where the OGRE once stood.

"I'm fine, Shepard." She nodded, walking back through the other end of the checkpoint without a scratch. "What was that thing?

"They call it the OGRE. The Director was apparently building them before their production facility was taken out by some friends of ours." I answered, checking my armor for any punctures or dings. "ORIONs, status!"

"We're good to go, sir." Reegar replied with a three-fingered thumbs up, getting me to smirk as I turned back to Shepard.

"Commander Bailey is over in a station in the Tayseri Ward, coordinating what manpower he still has left. Cerberus lured most of them into the stations with an emergency alert and spaced them." I explained as quickly as I could, wanting to tell Shepard what the story was. "We flew through the transit tunnels to avoid Cerberus, and managed to get here with most of my men. Disabling the lockdown opened up the entirety of the docks, not just yours. It looks like we've got a full-scale uprising on our hands."

"We can't save them without taking back the Tower." He shook his head as I mirrored the expression. "Going in through the front entrance itself would be suicide, they'll have it fully reinforced by now."

"So what do you suggest then? We can't fly up, we'll be shot down almost immediately, and none of our C-SEC shuttles are stealth rated." I pointed out, trying to figure out what was going through his head.

"There's another way." He smiled, taking out his helmet as Garrus narrowed his eyes.

"Oh no… we're not actually doing this again, are we?" He groaned, still leaving me in the dark.

"Doing what?" I repeated, my eyebrows shooting up in puzzlement.

"When Sovereign attacked years ago, Saren shut off the elevators. With no other way of getting there, we walked up the Tower on foot." He smirked as he slipped on his helmet, sealing it with a hiss. "Point defenses can't attack us that close to the surface of the tower. We'll just have to fight whoever Cerberus sends out after us."

"What if they signal one of their ships to help?" I questioned further, trying to cover all our bases.

"That's just a risk you'll have to take, boy scout." Jack remarked, cracking one of her usual smiles as she adjusted the tightly-fitting light armor she was wearing.

I focused my eyes on Shepard for a moment, going over all our options in my head. I knew that climb would take a long time, and I knew my suit's CO2 filters were only rated for about two and a half hours. Though it was an undesirable situation, a longer time investment seemed much more preferable to throwing my men to their deaths in a battle against a heavily entrenched position. We didn't have the heavy fire support needed to take the base of that tower, it just wouldn't work.

"Fine. A hike to the Tower it is then." I reluctantly agreed, manually switching my helmet back over to vacuum mode as I turned around and radioed the rest of my men. "Attention, this is the Admiral. We've linked up with Commander Shepard, but the Tower is a no-go and we're executing an alternate plan of attack. I want all remaining Confederation forces to locate defensible positions and stay put until further notice. Good luck, and stay safe."

I received the usual round of confirmation pings, though one of the squad leads hadn't given his. I breathed deeply, turning back to Reegar and the rest of my ORIONs.

"Alright people, for this one we'll be following the Commander's lead. He speaks with my authority, so follow his orders to the letter." I explained, watching Shepard swap out the plasma rifle for what appeared to be some odd-looking variant of an Avenger. "Do I make myself clear, ORIONs?"

"Sir, yes'sir!" They saluted, getting a genuine smile out of me as I turned back around, the rifle having caught my eye.

"What's that, Shepard?" I inquired, taking a closer look.

"It's called a Valkyrie, N7 special issue." He answered, holding it up for me to see. "Think of it as a cross between an Avenger and a Mattock."

"Sounds good to me." I nodded, trying my best to hype myself up for this walk of ours.

This would be interesting, that's for sure. While I didn't like the idea of going back outside, I understood we had little choice at this point.

…

A/N: One vacation week and a bunch of shitty humid days later, and here we are. It was hard to get the motivation to do this one with everything going on in my life at the moment, but things are so close that I want nothing more than to reach the climax of the story. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review telling me what you think.