Log 18

Date: 30TH OCT 2186

Location: SEATTLE RUINS, WASHINGTON, USA

Woke up the next day feeling refreshed (no nightmares for once which is a bonus. I've heard Shepard's been having some sort of really eerie ones where everything's in slow motion. Personally I'd prefer them over ones involving being chased down by shrieking Husks!) Had another brief talk with Shepard on the QEC, praised him on curing the Genophage and discussed the Cerberus attack with him. I didn't think it would be a good idea to trouble him with details of the fight back on Earth, his full focus need to be on getting help for us and building this Crucible thing. He doesn't need motivation to help Earth, details would only make him take bigger risks to get help here faster.

Thanks to the Medi gel my arm's getting better quickly (I swear that stuff's a miracle in itself, when it runs out we'll all be in a lot of trouble). I spent the morning supervising the rest of the evacuation (wounded arm plus rank still gets you out of heavy lifting even these days). The shuttles were the biggest issue, our best bet would be to wait until the last moment to launch them all and hope some got through safely (if they set out too early the Reapers could spot them and calculate their launch site).

Despite having to evacuate the base (which is no minor issue) the day was going pretty well and we were still riding the high that followed our victory over the Reaper processing ship. Not to mention that the new alliance between the Krogan and Turians was bringing some unexpectedly good news to our door for once. Word was that the Krogan were flooding onto the battlefields of Menae and a joint Krogan/Turian task force had even launched an effort to liberate the Volus homeworld of Irune. Bringing the Krogan into the war has given us all some much needed breathing space. Hopefully we can use the time to dig our heels into the territory we still have left.

Of course the relative peace couldn't last the whole day and before midday I was called about a dispute between Coberg and Lara T'Ren.

"Oh boy," I thought to myself, the General and the Justicar both had very strong personalities to say the least. Preventing the base from being torn apart by Biotics was going to take some careful diplomacy.

When I arrived the corridor was absolutely packed with the General and his men on one side and Lara and about half her crew on the other. Everyone was shouting but if you were handing out prizes they'd have to go to Lara. In between the two groups stood Xi Chan and the Colonel maintaining a hopeless attempt at achieving order.

Sighing at what I realized had probably been an inevitability I retuned my radio and broadcast a high pitched whine through the speakers. The General's men who were all wearing headsets got it the worst (one or two actually dropped to their knees so I may have overdone it). I pushed my way to the front and Lara calmed her own crew for me.

"So, who's going to be the first to try and explain this mess?"

"This vile creature," began Lara indicating the General. "Was about to use tactics unworthy of his uniform, or any uniform for that matter."

"Oh and I suppose you have a better suggestion?" Asked Coberg.

"We should not demean ourselves to such acts regardless of the consequences."

"No asked you to like it princess, just go meditate somewhere and we'll get on with it."

"The code demands that I intercede in matters that involv-"

"To hell with your pointless code you-"

"Enough." I said loudly as the room started to descend into bickering again. "Neither of you has told me what the hell's going on yet."

Lara drew herself up to her full height.

"I apologize Admiral such arguments are unbecoming of a Justicar. There was a... disagreement when I learned that General Coberg intends to torture the prisoner for information. The code forbids such actions unless in the defense of innocents which I do not believe is his goal."

I turned to face the General.

"I can understand that you want to get information that might prove useful. The prisoner is being difficult then I take it?"

"We haven't had a chance to get near him yet thanks to that crazy Asari."

"You'd torture him without even attempting to convince him to talk willingly first? Is this how you usually run things General?"

"You want to quote some Alliance protocol at me Admiral? Take a look around, all the old rules are gone now. We are literally facing the end of humanity and you want to stand on principle?" Coberg raged

"He won't tell us anything unless we force him to."

"If our opening move is force, then that's a self fulfilling prophesy," I replied but the words rang hollow in my ears. I didn't want to listen to what he said, I know it's the wrong thing to do but if there was no other way? I'm not sure what I would've done, the General was like Saren back at the refinery, reaching for the ruthless option immediately. I'd never begin that way but would that mean I was giving the prisoner a chance or just trying to delay the hard choice awhile longer? I had a massive headache throbbing behind my eyes making it hard to think, already I could hear some of the crowd wanting to start up the argument again.

"Whatever's going to be done, it'll be done by me. I'll interrogate the prisoner." I heard myself say. Good word that, 'Interrogate', not as harsh as torture or as gentle as interview. 'Nice and ambiguous, could go either way that word,' I thought cursing the situation I had found myself in, from what I'd heard Cerberus operatives didn't break easily.

So in less than an hour I found myself sitting across a desk from the prisoner. We'd been lucky he hadn't been given obedience implants or interrogation would have been a waste of time. My strategy in these situations is always straight forward, remain calm, dispassionate, detached. Nothing the prisoner says can affect you because that would mean he has power over you.

Examine the person sitting across from you carefully. See everything, pay attention to the details, his appearance, his body language, the expression on his face. Everything you see helps build an impression of the man (or woman) you're dealing with. Don't ignore your first impressions, instinct can often tell you things you've only spotted on a sub-conscious level but don't rely upon them too heavily either. Ideally I would already have access to a vast amount of intel about the subject. Always learn everything you can before speaking for the first time.

In this case? The prisoner was young, early to mid twenties I would guess. No scars or injuries to speak of except for a slight cut on his right cheek. It could be from a fall but my guess is he cut himself shaving (not uncommon when in a high stress environment like a war zone. You can worry so much you stop paying attention to what you're doing). He'd been wearing Cerberus armor which we'd confiscated, designed for an engineer. He'd kept himself in reasonably fit shape but I wouldn't have marked him as a frontline soldier. And he was nervous, that much was plain from the expression on his face.

A good start, hopeful in many ways but I had to be careful. It could all be an act, to make himself look like an easier target than he really was and garner useful sympathy from the interrogator. Still I had to start somewhere so I opened with:

"Officially you've been charged with terrorist offenses against the Alliance and humanity."

I saw his eyes widen in shock, good. I took no pleasure in torturing the boy but sometimes you have to make them understand they're facing serious consequences.

"It's a shame really, given your academic record you could have done so much with your life. And you've thrown it away to join Cerberus."

I was guessing here, we didn't have any record of the kid not even his name but it doesn't hurt to imply you know more than you actually do. It's a gamble that can backfire badly if they call you out on it but he was young and already an engineer, I figured I was playing the odds.

"The whole world's at war, I had to do something!"

I nodded slowly as if considering his argument.

"Of course you did. As I recall Commander Shepard was once in a position to make the same choice and did the same thing as you. Maybe you heard about that? The Commander regrets his decision back then, he felt he didn't have a choice. But you do have one now."

"They'll kill me, you don't know what they can do."

"You know it's the right thing to do and we'll protect you once you've told us the truth."

And on and on it went, sympathizing with his situation, calling on his sense of duty, making subtle threats about the consequences of his actions when I had to. He was in tears by the end, not exactly my finest hour. But he did tell me what I wanted to know, a location for Dr. Serov's research lab. God only knows what kind of fresh hell he's brewing up in there but we're going to be shutting him down, permanently.

We set out the next day for the location our guest had provided us with. I'd woken up with a headache again, the rest of the previous day hadn't gone very well (got to bed at one in the morning, far too tired to write anything). The General had tried to insist on having access to the prisoner after I had finished interrogating him to "verify" the information.

Given the prisoner was barely more than a boy (and I was fairly sure he'd told me the truth having been pulled into something far worse than he'd ever planned on) I'd decided to spare him the General's attentions. Coberg was furious at my refusal (or just at not being in charge any more generally) but I managed to convince him that I'd done what needed to be done myself. This in turn left Lara scandalized at the suggestion that I was willing to stoop to such levels to get information. Trying to reassure her that I hadn't would only serve to give the General more excuse to do so himself.

I found myself going back and forth between the two throughout the evening playing diplomat. The truth is I needed the support of both of them in this fight. The General was widely respected in Earth military circles prior to the war. News of his survival and rescue had already convinced surviving army officers of various countries to co-ordinate with us. On the other hand Lara's small network of Justicars around the globe brought hope to millions. The Justicar's legendary status allowed them to inspire resistance fighters in a way no one else really could (OK maybe Shepard could but he's currently assigned to help some scientist on the Citadel look for something called the 'Leviathan of Dis'. Hackett claims it could help with the war but it sounds like a wild goose chase to me). The latest reports suggested that Singapore was only holding on thanks to the presence of a Justicar. As I understood it she was keeping the fighting spirit alive while the Reapers burned the city street by street.

But in trying to placate everyone I only ended up aggravating both sides. Needless to say I went to bed feeling pretty angry and frustrated myself that night. It feels like a bad omen, a night like that just before we head out on a raid but we can't stay here either way. The Reapers were getting close as we prepared to leave (we'd actually abandoned the main Seattle base at this stage and hidden in a small safe house).

Not many of us were left at that stage, two dozen at most standing around in someone's house. It was a strange contrast, us ambling around in battlearmour carrying rifles among the forgotten laundry and other everyday clutter, a half eaten meal on the table downstairs. This had been someone's house once. Abandoned with no signs of violence it was like a final monument to the concept an ordinary life that was rapidly disappearing. I wondered briefly who might've lived here before we arrived and if they were still alive.

Not the kind of place you'd expect to be planning an assault on a terrorist organization from certainly but that's what we were doing.

"We're establishing an encampment just a few miles east of the city, you should really come with us Admiral, you don't know what you might come up against." Said Colonel Travis.

"That's true, it's also why we're going," I replied. "We'll take our small force and scout out the area, find out what Cerberus has waiting for us. Once we have a clearer picture of the situation we can plan our next move."

"Our next move being an assault on these Cerberus bastards," Coberg grunted.

"You won't hear any argument from me," I said before turning to face the crowd of assembled officers.

"Anyone volunteering to join this mission raise your hand."

Predictably Will's hand was the first to go up, followed not long after by his father Jeff who looked rather less keen. I was distracted from this however when to my surprise Xi Chan raised his hand as well.

"Are you sure about this? It'll probably be dangerous."

"I've heard that Cerberus likes to keep a lot of technological tricks up their sleeve. You could use someone on your side that knows a few."

Last of all Lara T'Ren and General Coberg raised their hands.

"The code requires that the unjust be punished, Cerberus fits that criteria."

I glanced at the General.

"What? You're expecting a speech from me too? Let's just get on with it."

"Alright then, you all know what to do. Safe travels to you and your men Colonel, everyone else with me. General I need a word with you before we leave."

I led Coberg outside so that we could get some privacy. When I was sure we wouldn't be overheard by those inside I turned to face him.

"Am I about to get a dressing down Admiral?"

"I'd cut the jokes if I were you," I said, giving him a look that made it clear that I was serious.

There was a full minute of tense silence before the General replied. I had anticipated him getting angry, maybe even throwing a few punches when I tried to lay down the law. To my surprise he backed down instead.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Old habits can be hard to break."

"I need to know if I can trust you in future and that you won't cause me more problems than you solve. That nonsense with the prisoner yesterday..."

"You killed two Reapers at Vancouver, you rescued me from that godforsaken place. You've proven that you're the right man to lead this fight so I'll follow you wherever you lead. Hell I'll even make nice with the Asari if those are your orders."

He saluted me and then after more assurances went back to the others to prepare for the mission. That had gone better than expected but I worried he had simply told me what he thought I wanted to hear. Unfortunately I didn't have time to stand around worrying about it. We needed to get going before the Reapers arrived.

We set out in a brisk march northwards as early as we could after that. The intel we had said that the base was on the north bank of the Skagit river, where it gets close to Lake Shannon. Traveling (more or less) direct it would be about 65 miles to reach our destination or about three days (plus any time wasted hiding from Reaper patrols). The conditions were still good (although there were some storm clouds ahead) and I settled into the long haul, ignoring the Reapers descending on Seattle behind me.

Before long Jeff walked up alongside me.

"Can I speak with you for a minute?"

"Of course, what's on your mind?"

"I'm worried about Will."

I opened my mouth to speak but Jeff interrupted me.

"I know he has a right to help defend us just like everyone else. I know he'd be a target even if he didn't have a weapon in his hand and that it might be better if he learns how to protect himself."

"But?"

"Ever since he was a little boy he's only ever wanted to help other people. To be a hero to them if he could."

"He's a good person."

"He is a very good person and I'm afraid what it might cost him. I've seen him when he's around the other soldiers, always pushing himself, trying to outdo men who've been training for this sort of thing for years. He never stops trying to help and he never thinks about himself first."

I closed my eyes, feeling guilty at his words. He was right of course, I'd seen it as well in the way he rushed into a collapsing building to try and rescue more people. I'd been concerned at the time but it hadn't properly registered with me until his father explained it that matter of fact tone. Will might well be the very, very best out of all of us and this war might well destroy him. I made a promise then to Jeff and to myself, one I never thought I'd hear myself making. I promised that Will would come back home to his mother when all of this was over.

I've never made that sort of promise before because in combat there are no guarantees. You can't be certain that anyone you're bringing into the fight will walk away again. But this is one life I will not let the Reapers have. I've seen enough children die, enough families destroyed. I'll make sure that Will goes home, even if it kills me.