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Espacole and Spork

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"I hate it."

"Will be fine, Kasumi." Doctor Solus assured her, pacing along the outside of the science facility's hull like he wasn't a few inches of armored pressure-suit away from death by everything from radiation to depressurization. He turned and paid her a nod, "Will protect you."

"What, with your fuckin' 'no killing' policy?" Zaeed snorted, shoving past her and moving over to a stretch of glass about two feet in diameter. Kneeling, he grunted, "C'mon, thief. Crack this egg for me."

"Right…" She sighed, joining him and kneeling in the black. She slipped a bit, as her mag-boots lost purchase, and Mordin was behind her, both hands on her shoulder holding her still while she got her grip back. "Sorry. Hate exo work…"

"Will be fine." Mordin assured her, "We have you. Right?"

"Yeah." Zaeed murmured, turning and reaching over to lay a comforting hand on her bicep. "Nothin' gets you 'cept through me. So, long as I'm breathin', ain't nothin' to be scared of."

"Right." She smiled, nodding and flicking her arm a meaningful look. "I appreciate it, but, um… I need that?"

The glass panel was a simple maintenance entry, and its security was just as simple. Comparatively, at least. It was still Cerberus protocols, but between EDI opening up a security packet to her and her own programs, it was a cakewalk and the depressurization protocol kicked on inside. The hatch slid open soundlessly and she sighed, leaning forward to go in as the last of the pressure inside, barely a gust of wind at this point, pushed out-

"Ah!"

"Fuck!" She felt hands on her drag her back as Zaeed stepped in between her and…

The corpse drifted out of the maintenance hatch with wide, blood-shot eyes and an open mouth, entrails stuck against the woman's face. Kasumi watched her turn through the empty space, drifting away as the other two calmed down and turned to watch it. She wasn't hurt, not even a little, dressed in a Cerberus jumpsuit and clutching a datapad in her other hand.

"Oh fuck." Kasumi sucked in a breath, "Oh fuck, oh fuck- I depressurized the chamber! I-I didn't even."

"Not your fault." Mordin hushed her, yanking her around and grabbing her by the helmet, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Already dead."

"How can you know that?!"

"Data-pad." Mordin said, "Maintenance uniform."

"If you'd tried to decomp her," Zaeed said, "she'd have stopped you. Had access, no doubt, to get in there in the first place. Unless you fought her, she'd have stopped you. Wasn't you, kid."

"Right." Kasumi breathed, "Right… W-We should, um, get the 'Pad, then. Access could be-"

"No, don't."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"We, uh, won't need it, kid." Zaeed assured her, "We got you."

"EDI sent over access codes." Mordin added, watching the woman finally drift out of reach. "Better to leave her. In peace. Intact."

"You're right." Kasumi said, watching her drift away and feeling that silent terror rush through her. The terror that, if there'd been more pressure, she could have hit Kasumi. Struck her face-plate, cracked it, and- Nope. She shook it off and said, "We need to get inside. Try and locate maintenance-central, see about the power."

"Right." Zaeed nodded, turning and collapsing his rifle, trading it for a Predator, "I'll head in first. Doctor, you after."

"Understood." Mordin nodded, "Bravo Team entering."

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"Warning : Level Unpressurized. Class One Ex-Suits Required for all Cerberus Personnel."

"I guess that makes it official." Garrus sighed, his Avenger slung across his chest as the internal airlock doors opened silently to admit them, the sound barely carrying in the near-zero atmosphere. Shaking his head, he turned a bit and said, "On me. We sweep in, quick but clean. How copy?"

"Clear."

"Understood, Friend." Penny nodded, rolling her shoulders to stretch against the fitted maintenance suit she'd borrowed for the machine, one hand trailing around to the over-large backpack she and Grunt had put together to carry her swords. She caught him looking and smiled through the thin, resistant glass of her mask, "It is fine, Friend. The seal for my cables is tight. And besides, I only need air to speak."

"Convenient." Thane murmured, "But are you sure?"

"I do not have lungs, so…" Penny shrugged, "I should be alright. Radiation in space is more concerning, but so long as we are in here, and I am in my suit out there, I am space walk ready!"

He rolled his eyes…

And swept around the corner.

Their selected infil-site was at the end of a corridor, so he only needed to check one way. And he found the hall clear but dark, and dreadfully silent. The primary power was down, which they knew, but that meant the primary lights were off. And since this was a Human-centric facility, there were only the most basic red back-lights. Two of which were cracked, sputtering blood-red intermittently up the hall. Which built on the near-to-no atmosphere silence to fill him with dread.

But with no contacts, he waved for them to follow and advanced past the other air-locks he peeked into and towards the far corner, further into the facility.

He rounded another corner and came into a storage zone, about as large as the Normandy's cafeteria. It was dark, crammed full of shelving units themselves overflowing in supplies. Tools, food, medicine, imaging samples from the Reaper that Garrus knew couldn't hurt him but eyed anyways as they passed around the outer edge and then in, along the far wall to the next hallway access. It was a proper door, though, with a viewport at the top that he peered through as they formed up on it.

"Dark." He reported, "No contacts…"

"Why are we seeing no one?" Thane murmured, voice flanging in concern. "The base was raided. These supplies have value. Including to research."

"Friend Thane is right." Penny murmured, "It's far too quiet. I do not like this…"

He didn't either - his instincts were screaming at him to brace himself. But for what, he couldn't be sure. Couldn't even guess, beyond the obvious. But 'the obvious' would have been looters, and looters would have hit here as soon as they settled in properly. If only to look for food, drinks and any scientific data they could send back to the Hegemony. 'The obvious' would be here shooting at them right now, not… Not wherever they were right now.

"Focus up." He warned, "Whatever's going on, we'll handle it."

"And we're lucky that the low atmosphere makes hearing us difficult." Thane added, "It is… Convenient."

"Mhm." Except that it went both ways, "We're breaching. Can't see anything."

"Gotcha."

"Understood."

Slowly, he took a breath, and keyed the door release. It unlocked and slid forward firth a green release light, to go into the wall-socket to the side, and…

Got stuck whirring quietly before it withdrew back into its closed position. He tried again and it failed again, whining quietly. After a second, he flicked the two standing behind him, angled on flanking positions, and grimaced. Turning back he grunted a warning and slammed his shoulder into the door as hard as he could at the same time he hit the door release. It shuddered, whined almost soundlessly, then the light flickered a warning orange that stayed.

Backing away, he sighed, "Commander, Delta is obstructed. Permission for Penny to cut through?"

"Granted." The woman answered, voice staticy and distant.

"Acknowledged." He nodded, stepping to the side and bobbing his head at the door. "Crack this egg for me?"

"Of course, Friend." She nodded, flicking three of her swords out and around, spinning around her arm. She paid him a smile as she stepped by, stretching her wrist against the tension of the black Cerberus maintenance suit she'd donned for the op.

The energy that collected was smaller than usual, focused and localized just above her fist, and she used it to cut along the edges of the door, painfully, mechanically careful not to breach the a few silent, tense seconds, the door fell in towards them and Penny held it up with a hand, straightening and turning to them with a smile partially hidden behind the open-faced visor of her helmet. When he nodded, she pushed it through the gap-

And leapt away.

The bodies that collapsed in were both Batarian. Or so he guessed, kneeling over the headless corpses, by the different uniforms. Dull grey with yellow lights and brown highlight patterns, rather than the blacks and whites of Cerberus uniforms. The weapons were abnormal too - blocky shotguns with blades fitted under the barrels. Perfect for boarding, and maiming instead of killing, and he'd have bet the rounds were solid slugs that would fire off slowly, to punch holes instead of rip and tear through targets.

"Slavers." He nodded, "As expected."

"But where are their-"

"Doesn't matter." Garrus cut her off, standing and shouldering his rifle as the tension mounted in his chest. "We'll find out eventually but… Hopefully it's just Cerberus survivors, fighting in the installation."

"An odd sentiment." Thane murmured, "A Turian hoping for Cerberus fighters."

"Yeah, well, strange world we live in, eh?" He sighed, "Commander, Delta has encountered dead Batarians. Slavers. Possible Cerberus survivors." He waited for a response, for a long moment, and then his mandibles clicked anxiously. "Delta, Commander? Copy?"

"No answer?" Thane asked after another moment, cocking his head and asking, "Normandy?"

"Delta, Normandy." Garrus asked, "How copy? Normandy, break, Normandy, break. Delta reporting loss of contact. How copy?"

"Nothing…"

"That is not good…" Penny murmured, her complicated backpack opening up and letting another series of blades come out of her cloth pack, spinning around her arm readily. "I dislike this. Should we backpedal and try and make contact?"

He took a moment to think, fingers tapping at the edge of her firing chamber housing, and then shook his head. "No. We keep moving. Ships outside were drifting - jammer net must have intensified. Normandy's comms should be able to punch through anything else."

"Alright…"

"Understood."

Quiet, now, they stepped over the body and into the next room.

It was a commissary, with a wide half-circle desk set right in front of the storage access door. Like a store, almost. It was pitted by bullet holes, and splashed by blood, as they'd expected after seeing the two bodies. A Cerberus Assault trooper lay over its far end, head on their side and Avenger on the ground under his outstretched fingers. Another two of them lay in the seating area that stretched out in front of the long service desk, one spread-eagle on the floor while another lay crushed into one of the metal tables. More Batarians were there, too, scattered around the desk and just inside the three doors they'd obviously been defending.

But…

"They're all facing the same way." Thane murmured, "And they're all…"

"Missing their heads." Garrus nodded, heart-rate picking up. "If a Cerberus soldier isn't doing it-"

"Contact!" Thane suddenly barked, uncharacteristically harsh and loud in his ears.

Garrus turned, but something slammed into him before he could, hurled him away with the power of a jackhammer to his side. He slammed into the service-desk hard enough it caved under him, and his armor plating cracked along his back. Along with a few of his ribs. Adrenaline slammed into him next and he turned, wrenching his rifle up and around as the… Thing turned to meet Thane.

It was a four-armed monster of metal and bone, with a massive cone of something fleshy protruding from a rotund torso that two stubby legs sprouted from at odd angles.

It turned to meet the Drell assassin as he stepped into its guard, Predator sliding in to bark a shot into a joint of its leg. The monster spasmed, fleshy cone rippling intensely in a soundless scream, but it just threw itself back, legs coming up as two of its four arms took its weight and the others snapped up, aiming a pair of punches for the Drell's side. He spun away from them without seeing them, sliding to a knee and lashing out with a thrown knife wreathed in Biotic fury that slammed into the monster hard enough to pitch it off its feet.

It worked, but the monster only rolled back again, coming up with its bulbous end up and heaving itself forward to come back for the Drell-

Before a pair of high-intensity energy beams carved into it, melting away its flesh with a wash of black smoke until a limb fell away. The monster ignored it, spinning and yanking a corpse nearby up, hurling it at the girl as she stepped in front of Garrus and offered him a hand. A blast of laser sent the corpse flying away and Garrus grunted as he came up, raising his rifle and peppering the monster.

"Circle left!" He ordered the android, "Krios, keep it off-balance! Disable its limbs!"

"Aye!"

"Understood."

They moved immediately, Penny throwing a hand aside and sending a burst of energy into the far wall, propelling herself to the side as Thane leapt the other way, flanking the Abomination from all sides. It responded instantly, one arm yanking up a table to hide itself from his rifle fire while two others engaged the Drell as he leapt into melee-range again. It warbled silently as the assassin put rounds into its fleshy bits, ripping hunks of meat and metal away. But, after a moment, Penny found her target-

And a large, triple-beam burst of fire slammed into its cone-shaped part, meting it away in a spray of metal and meat and… Skulls, which rolled away in a splash of bloody-bone white and red, bouncing across the floor as Penny alternated her fire, carving away three more of its limbs with blasts of fury. It turned, and Garrus opened fire with special, armor piercing munitions that ripped through the sole leg it was somehow holding itself up. It didn't come apart, but whatever he hit weakened it enough that it staggered, dropping its table-shield entirely.

And, finally, it fell, collapsing in a shuddering heap in the middle of the room.

"Is it… Done?" Penny asked quietly, "Did we win?"

"It seems so…"

"Reaper tech." Garrus growled, "Polendina, melt it."

"Yes, Sir!"

While she did that, Garrus growled and turned his head, "Delta, Normandy, Commander- Anyone on this freq. Please, do you read?"

No one answered… And Garrus sucked in a breath as Penny turned to him, her grisly task finished for as little as her wide smiled said it'd bothered her. He waved them towards one of the doors with a sigh.

"Keep moving- We need the lockdown lifted so maintenance can cycle on power and life support." He sighed, "Just… Keep your eyes open."

"Yep!"

"Understood."

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"Docking bay secured, Commander." Legion reported as they stepped off of the Kodiak and into the round, white cargo airlock that let into the facility. It turned to her as Nikos and her Krogan spread out ahead of them, under their pair of watchful rifles. "What are your orders?"

"I-"

"Bravo Team entering."

"Commander, Delta is obstructed. Permi- Penny to cut- ough."

"Not granted." She answered, "Define obstruction. Vakarian?"

"Communications are down, Commander." Legion reported quietly, "We have pinged the Normandy forty one times as well. No connection. We suspect jammers on the drifting ships have crossed over, intensifying their blockage."

She eyed a wide splash of blood along one of the walls, devoid of any corpse to own it, and frowned. "Sure. Let's hope it's just that…"

"Shepard, Commander?"

"Nothing." She sighed, raising her voice, "Nikos, Grunt, take point. Anyone on comms, Alpha is breaching the main access to the facility's Reaper access concourse."

Only static answered her, and Shepard sighed.

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Lea Rosenwulf :

Oh you don't wanna know what's in the vents.

I mean, neither does Kasumi, but one of you gets a choice, lmao.

Kishinokurobi :

Actually, TIM's scene was planned when I wrote Penny's lol. And hey, welcome to server, ping me if ya need lmao. And I needed the Legion line for some levity before…

This starts, lmao.

Joe Cola :

It's IMPLIED that a lot of security WAS in place, the team on-site just started ignoring it. Likely due to indoctrination. We don't, however, hear MUCH about it, admittedly, so yeah. My main change was in adding additional security, set farther away from the facility so as to be less likely to be affected by the Reaper.

The Geth-Quarian arc is shortly after this one!

Arguable Reader :

I got plans, no worries.

Wynn'tr :

I got plans! Lol.

As stated before this isn't PURE Renegade. It's just mostly that. Blending further into Paragade as we go, as you may have been seeing. Glad you like it.

Saif Omar :

No one wants to be on this mission lol.

Sebine :

Sebine, pls.