Log 17
Date: 28TH OCT 2186
Location: SEATTLE RUINS, WASHINGTON, USA
I hate Cerberus. Oh and Udina (a lot) but Cerberus have gone from a mild annoyance a few years ago to my most hated enemy and I'm counting the Reapers in that list. I'll give you the full story in a moment but before that I just need to vent. Right now our only focus should be the Reapers, they're an ancient, apocalyptic enemy of the entire galaxy so you would think they'd be the first priority for everyone. But not for Cerberus, since the start of the war they've made no attempt to fight the Reapers and have made several attempts to sabotage our own efforts.
And what they have done now? It seems like the Illusive Man and all of his goons have completely lost their minds. They could be indoctrinated obviously but how could that even happen to an entire organization without being noticed. I don't buy it, not unless the Illusive Man's got some Reaper tech squirreled away in his headquarters (wherever that might be).
No I think he's just gone insane with his desperation to gain power. Shepard once told me the Cerberus philosophy has always been very simple: anything is possible if you are sufficiently determined. Mix in a total lack of morals and you get a cult of fanatics prepared to do anything to achieve their increasingly insane goals. Doesn't help that they've been copying a few tricks from the Reapers like putting implants into their troops, turning them into hybrid monsters. The Illusive Man can now build an army of programmed super soldiers, utterly obedient to his will. I don't think it's much of a surprise he ended up going on a power trip after that.
Returning to where I last left off, we'd just arrived at our temporary base just a short distance from our raid on the Reaper Processing ship. I made my previous log entry there and then settled down for awhile to watch the remains of the enemy base behind us. There were some people I knew I would need to speak with soon (like the General unfortunately) but I wanted to make certain the enemy weren't coming after us first.
It was about an hour after we'd arrived before we saw much sign of activity at the compound. Eventually a small fleet of Reapers (three destroyers and a capital ship) glided silently into view. As soon as they appeared on the horizon everyone grabbed whatever cover they could and stayed there. We all stayed that way for some time not even daring to try and sneak a peak at the approaching ships. If they saw us we would all die, it was that simple as that. Eventually and very slowly I inched back towards the open just enough so that I could see.
The light was starting to fade at this point, a storm was coming in that darkened the sky and gave us a little more cover. I'm not really sure if that would impact the Reapers ability to find us in any way but I was grateful for even the slightest edge.
Once they'd arrived at the site of the battle the Reapers worked swiftly and efficiently to erase every trace of their ruined base. The Capital ship only stopped long enough to pick up the damaged processing ship and fly off with it. Once that was done the Destroyers started opening fire on the surrounding area. As the explosions began across the countryside I could hear the sounds of panic coming from behind me. Two of the Reapers were focusing their 'attack' on the remains of the compound, steadily wiping it off the map. The third, hovering high above us was firing shots randomly throughout the area, at the trees, the hills even the lake (not sure what they hoped to achieve there). The Reaper was turning the valley into a burning vision of hell and I watched transfixed by the carnage. It wasn't until the screaming registered with me that I focused on the situation at hand again.
I headed back down into the relative (a word here meaning imaginary) safety of our makeshift shelter. Inside people were frantic, several of them tried to push past them to get to the exit. I held them back with the help of my soldiers and had to bellow at them to get their attention (I wasn't too worried about keeping quiet anymore, we couldn't be heard over the bombardment outside in any case).
"Everyone stay calm the Reapers are just trying to frighten us." I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
"If you try to run you'll only risk attracting their attention. Staying here will be safer."
"You should listen to the Admiral folks, he knows all about defensive strategy," General Coberg added.
I ignored the General and focused on keeping everyone calm and more importantly out of sight. I looked around at these frightened refugees huddled in this overgrown shack, most of whom still didn't know me and asked myself how I could get them to trust me. Do I even deserve their trust? Staying put was logical, it was the right decision tactically but that wouldn't mean a damn thing if the next shot landed anywhere near us. I couldn't guarantee their safety and I could see in their eyes that they knew it, the doubt was spreading. I remember thinking to myself, this is a war of course it's dangerous, I'm just trying my best to give you a chance to survive.
I realized then that they didn't need any false promises, the best thing I could do for them was to offer them some hope. So there in that in little shack, in the fading light to a backdrop of explosions I told the prisoners a story. A story of bravery and heroism, a story of the help that would come for us one day, the story of Commander Shepard.
One day people will read this (I hope!) and think I idolized Shepard too much. Yes he is on a mission to bring help to us but he is still just one man. Spectre or not that's still a slim chance to pin your hopes on. If moments like this one prove anything its that the Commander has become more than just a soldier, he's become a symbol. He helped us to survive that night. One day after the war's over I'll find the words to thank him.
In the morning all the Reapers were gone as well as everything else. Their ship had been carried away to be repaired and set up elsewhere, their base had been vaporized. I ground my teeth in frustration, our greatest victory to date and after the Reapers 'housecleaning' all sign of it was gone. I shook off the thought, the escaped prisoners were the real victory and the Reapers couldn't take that away.
Today we planned to interview as many of the escapees as we could to look signs of possible indoctrination before we escorted them back to the base in Seattle (In the confusion I may have 'accidentally' arranged for the General to be checked over at least three times after which he seemed more than a little grouchy). While that was going on I checked in with Major Coats group which had sheltered elsewhere after the attack (it was a 'avoid putting all our eggs in one basket' kind of thing).
"Rough night, huh Admiral," he remarked as he approached.
I nodded "How were things with your group?"
"Everyone was pretty jumpy when the shooting started but I was lucky I mostly had trained soldiers with me. How did you manage with civilians in tow?"
"You just have to give people something to believe in."
"I guess so."
"How bad did your squad get hit in the battle? I haven't had time to look into it until now."
"We lost seven men in the assault, couple more badly injured, I've sent them on ahead to Seattle."
"Damn, I'm sorry."
"We'll make the Reapers pay for it sir, don't worry."
"Well let's get back to work." I said gesturing towards the long line of people waiting for interview.
The interviews themselves were... Tedious and not very informative. I sat at a makeshift desk with a junior officer speaking to the prisoners one by one. A few of them were clearly indoctrinated but very far gone. They didn't know where they were, what year it was or even their own name. Most of these were docile (one did try to throw himself at me though, so he's being treated for a broken nose at the moment) so we just took them prisoner. Maybe someone can find a way to help them someday but in the meantime they don't seem like too much of a threat.
It worried me that we were only finding indoctrinated in the final stages. We had a list of possibles but it was based on such slim evidence. I resolved to send these groups to some of our outlying outposts in the villages, try to keep them away from Reaper signals (and critical areas!). At about midday a soldier pushed past Dr. Serov (who'd been hanging around me all day, probably planning to pester me about getting to his lab again) approached my desk and saluted.
"What is it Corporal," I asked, grateful for the reprieve from the interviews that were taking longer than anticipated.
"I've come from Seattle sir. We've just received a message from Admiral Hackett. He's responded to your request for intel on any Earth based Cerberus operations, all the info is on this pad for you. Also he's finally received confirmation of the Turian/Krogan alliance against the Reap-"
I didn't hear the rest, I heard a shot and fell backwards off my stool. At first all that registered was the feeling of crashing to the ground, the pain in my arm. I looked round and saw Dr. Serov aiming a gun at me, grinning from ear to ear. Several soldiers were aiming their weapons at him but they had no idea what to do. As I lay there I tried to make sense of it, was he indoctrinated? Why wait until I was surrounded by soldiers to attack, what had been the trigger? The pain in my arm made it harder to think but then I recalled what the Corporal had been saying before the attack.
"He's with Cerberus, stop him!"
There were three soldiers around the doctor, two opened fire on him but he moved so fast the shots passed right by him. I saw one of our men go down, hit in shoulder by the crossfire. I yelled at them to stop but already someone else had come running in to attack, shouting as he did so. They tried to smash the doctor over the head with the butt of a rifle but Serov grabbed their arm and within moments had his gun pressed to their head.
I propped myself up as best I could, leaning against my desk so I could see what was happening more clearly. As the scene came into view I groaned, it was Will with a gun to his head. In the background I could see Jeff had already thrown his weapon down and was pleading with Serov to let him go.
"Doctor Serov," I called out loudly to get his attention. I desperately needed to regain control of the situation or people would die, Will first.
"Let the kid go doctor. Your Cerberus enhancements seem to be more than capable of keeping you safe."
I was referring to the implants we've been told are being put into Cerberus soldiers now. They make them faster, stronger and more obedient but I didn't know they made it possible to dodge bullets until then.
"Well yes they do appear to be performing quite nicely after I made a few modifications. I'm faster and stronger than any of our troops now, well except for Kai Leng of course."
"Leng? Is he here too?" I asked. Leng was an Alliance soldier that got dishonorably discharged and ended up as an enforcer for the Illusive Man. We shared a brief and violent history, it was only by sheer luck it had ended in my favour.
"Hardly, though that's quite a sore point for him. He's quite annoyed you stayed behind on Earth Admiral. He'd been hoping to finish you off personally."
"Seriously though, just let the kid go. Whatever might be happening in the rest of the Galaxy there's no point in us fighting down here on Earth. Seeing as we're both stuck here we might as well work together to save as many lives as we can. I'm sure you're aware I don't normally approve of Cerberus but if your goals are still to benefit humanity, we might be able to work together just this once."
Did I believe what I was saying? I'm not really sure what I would've done if he'd agreed. I could have tried to make it work but I don't know if I'd ever be comfortable to trusting him.
"No, no I don't think so. It's a fine sentiment Admiral but the Alliance doesn't have anything to offer us and somehow I doubt you'd approve of our plans. Here's a better idea, I'll walk out of here with this kid and maybe drop him off once I'm safely away. Oh and once you've got him back I'd hurry off to that base in Seattle and start evacuating. My scouts already know where it is and once I return to my lab so will the Reapers."
"What?" I almost screamed the word at him.
He laughed "Think of it as a small distraction to keep you off my back for a few days. If you're quick most of you should survive."
Looking at my injured arm I replied
"Don't forget I still owe you a bullet doctor and I'm a better shot than you are."
With that he laughed and moved off, several people had walked over from the group of prisoners while we'd been talking and now walked off with him (lackeys of his I guess). As he moved away Lara stood between him and the way out but for the first time she was slow and hesitant, I guess the code forbade her from attacking while an incident was in play (or something). She started to move forward with purpose but three of the Doctor's supporters threw themselves at her and by the time she'd dealt with them (I won't go into details but let's just say they'll probably survive) the Doctor was getting away.
"I'll go after them seeing as your Asari is useless." said General Coberg.
"The code-" Lara began but the General cut across her abruptly.
"Yeah whatever, I'm going. You two with me," he said pointing at two guards who were still standing.
He headed off in pursuit and we broke out some of the Medi gel to treat the most badly wounded. I ordered everything packed up and made ready to leave. No point worrying about leading possible indoctrinated to Seattle now, the Reapers would find out about the base soon enough thanks to Cerberus.
"We need to be ready to leave by the time the General gets back," I said (or preferably just before).
Unfortunately the General did make it back before we were ready to leave although unsurprisingly Dr. Serov wasn't with him.
"I got your lad back," he said pushing Will towards me. "And I managed to capture one of theirs," he added indicating the other man he had with him.
"And the men you went out with?"
"Serov ambushed them, they were killed."
"Goddammit," the General hadn't been back 24 hours and already managed to push our casualty rate higher (but we probably wouldn't have gotten Will back without him nevermind the prisoner).
"Let's get out of here."
We marched back quickly and in silence, I spent most of the trip reading up on Dr. Serov. According to the somewhat sketchy Alliance intel on him he was in fact the Scientific Director for Cerberus, their number one top scientist. He actually ranked more or less equal with General Oleg Petrovsky, Cerberus's leading military officer. Petrovsky had been captured by Shepard while trying to protect his conquest of the Omega space station (most of the details in the report came from him). We don't know anything about Serov's past up until his recruitment into Cerberus by the General. After that Petrovsky describes him as quickly climbing through the ranks to eventually be counted among the old guard most of whom had fought in the First Contact War (despite the doctor being far to young to have fought in it himself).
Although Petrovsky has thus far refused to reveal the specifics of any of the doctor's past projects we've been able to determine he was mostly focused on work involving the creation of supersoldiers. It wasn't known that he possessed cybernetic enhancements but the report did note that the implants were becoming increasingly common even among non combatants. There were some vague guesses as to the kind of resources and troops he might have a assigned to him but who could say if they had survived the initial invasion? Oh and it mentioned that Serov was suspected to be hiding out in a secret facility on Illium (given the throbbing pain in my arm, I think that intel might not be completely accurate).
It took us six hours to march back to the base in Seattle so by that time most of the day was already gone. Our shuttles had already flown ahead of us so we were greeted by scenes of packing and evacuation. There was a long way to go yet but we were making good time so I went to check on the comm room.
To my surprise there were a dozen calls that had to reach me while I had been absent. I activated the system and sent a call request back hoping to hear what it was about. Within a few minutes an image of Admiral Hackett materialized in front of me.
"Good to see you again Anderson, how did your raid against the Reapers go?"
"Well enough, that is until Cerberus put in a surprise appearance."
I swear I've never seen Admiral Hackett looked shocked before today, didn't know he could even manage it.
"Cerberus again? What did they do?"
"Again? What have they done up there now?"
"You might wanna sit down for this one Admiral," he began.
I slumped into a seat and waited for him to continue.
"We've just been informed Cerberus has attacked the Citadel."
I sat bolt upright.
"The Citadel? How? Surely Cerberus doesn't have the resources to pull off a stunt like that."
"They had help," Hackett continued. "From Udina. He disabled a lot of our security protocols so that Cerberus could land an invasion force on one of the upper docking stations. They were able to overwhelm Citadel Security checkpoints-"
I lost track of what Hackett was saying as I felt rage boiling inside me, Udina had betrayed us?
"-but eventually the attack was repelled." Udina was saying when I focused again. "Unfortunately Kai Leng escaped and we haven't had any luck tracking him so far."
"So Leng was involved too. Damn, wish I'd managed to put him down when I had the chance. Do we have any idea why Udina did this?"
"The prevailing theory is that he was using Cerberus support to stage a coup, with Leng brought in to eliminate the Council leaving Udina in charge. Our best guess is he was hoping to use the position to leverage more support for Earth. Unfortunately we're not able to ask him in person, he was killed during the assault."
I thought back to my last conversation with the man, he'd said 'I'll do whatever it takes to bring help to you', had I helped him rationalize the attack?
"It likely that faulty logic was brought about by indoctrination but so far we haven't found the source," Hackett continued.
"Don't assume there is one. I knew Udina well enough to know he may have done this on his own initiative. He was a patriot and he always did try to do things his own way."
"Surely he couldn't have thought he could control Cerberus? They might've let him rule for awhile but ultimately they have their own agenda."
"It's hard to say, maybe he thought he could influence them, he's been doing the same with others his whole career."
"Well I'll take that possibility under advisement it may help our investigation into who may have helped him pull something like this off. In the meantime what's this news about Cerberus on Earth?"
I filled Hackett in on everything that had happened in the raid while at the same time all my thoughts were focused on Udina. 'I hope history remembers me for what I tried to do' well he'd be remembered, he'd made certain of that. Not the legacy he'd hoped for I'm sure but would it have been different if he'd won? Taking control of the Citadel was achievable but being accepted as leader of the Council races? Not a chance, in this crisis they're barely helping each other, maybe once humanity's needs were ignored out of bigotry and snobbishness but times have changed. Even if Udina had ascended that last step, the one he's been chasing for his entire career and gotten humanity equal or elevated status with the other races the Reaper threat means they still wouldn't rush to our aid.
"So Serov is on Earth?" asked Hackett bringing me back to reality.
"I saw him myself, he's here and appears to have resources at his disposal. He mentioned a base of his but we don't have its location yet."
"Do you have any leads on that Admiral?"
"We captured one prisoner as they tried to escape, we'll see if he talks."
"Understood, from what we know Serov has mostly been involved in-"
"Supersoldier project, I read the file. Do we know what projects of that type Cerberus has active at the moment?"
"We've learned of a project named 'Phantom' involving implanting troops with Reaper technology to make them faster and stronger not to mention more obedient."
"Yeah, I think we saw some of that today, the good doctor has even implanted himself. Are there any other projects up and running that we know of? I'd like to avoid any more unwelcome surprises."
"The only other one we've heard about is Project Adjutant but we believe that was shut down when Shepard helped retake Omega."
"What did that focus on?"
"Creating some sort of virus that mutated its victims into a strange form of Reaper soldier that Cerberus was able to control. If you find any evidence of it Admiral standing orders are to completely eradicate it at any cost."
"Understood, we'll get to work on tracking down Serov."
"This could be a big win for us Admiral, Serov may have key intel that could lead to Cerberus's defeat. Good hunting, Hackett out."
We're down to a skeleton crew now at the base, we should have at least another day before the good doctor can reach a communicator and set the Reapers on us. I've been trying to sleep but my mind is just too busy. It's been, less than two months now I guess? Just two months ago Earth wasn't occupied, Udina was still alive and most the galaxy still thought the Reapers were made up. Now we're hiding in basements from the monsters zooming over our heads. We're all just getting by one day at a time, it's terrifying to think this might be it for us, just more and more of this with no end in sight. I'm not the only one feeling this way, I've spoken on the QEC to some of the other resistance leaders around the globe. We're not a breaking point yet but people are starting to look towards the future and wonder if there's going to be one.