Session Three; Chisholm (Part Two)
Miranda seemed shaken, Kelly noted. Something was upsetting her.
"Have a good sleep?" Kelly asked.
"More or less," Miranda said quietly, her eyes roaming around the room.
"So," Kelly said, attempting to get the session back on track, "You assaulted Karnak's station in a decommissioned fighter you bought off of the black market."
Miranda nodded and then turned her head to Kelly, her eyes were open; stunned. It was as if she had just woken from a daydream, "Yes."
'Tell me what happened next," Kelly urged her, stepping around her desk and sitting down on the couch next to Miranda.
"Yes, yes of course," Miranda murmured, glancing back at the door she'd entered through moments ago, "We boarded by jumping from the hatch of our fighter to the remains of the guard's spar. There was a pressure locked door near the corridors that linked the spar to the central section, we got in through there and proceeded with the mission."
Curtz helped her remove her suit. Above them, klaxons sounded and red warning lights pulsed in a hypnotic rhythm. Like the last, dying beats of some giant monster's heart. She stepped out of the space-suit and ran a hand down the cold, metal surface of her breastplate. Curtz handed her assault rifle to her and she took it with a brief nod.
"Let's move," Was all she said.
And so they did. Moving as one, clearing corners and stepping over the twisted debris that littered the corridors with startling agility.
Curtz' hurdled a twisted structural support. A single blue bolt of light cut across Miranda's vision and smashed into Curtz' chest. He flew backwards, landing on his back with a heavy thump. Miranda tightened her grip on her rifle and fired off two quick bursts down the hallway. The gun kicked against her shoulder, but only lightly.
She couldn't even see her target. But the rounds would keep the, down while she got to cover.
"Curtz, you alright?" She asked, firing off another burst as she ducked into cover, taking a knee behind a knocked over reception desk.
"Yes, ma'am," He said with a groan, rolling onto his front and scrabbling into cover ahead of her, to the right, "Shields stopped it."
"You see them?" Miranda asked, peeking her head out. Another stutter of gunfire cut towards her and she ducked back as it blasted a messy hole into the wooden desk she hid behind.
"Yeah, down to the right, about twenty meters ahead," Curtz raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger. There was a sharp cry from up ahead and Miranda ducked her head out long enough to see a Turian fall sideways from behind a support column; a bloody hole opened up in his chest.
"Anymore?" Miranda asked, leaning out, her gun up.
A bullet smacked into the wall next to her head and she jerked back for a second. There! Her gun kicked back again and again as she banged shots off at her target.
"Got him," She hissed as a Batarian collapsed from behind his cover; half his head sheared off by gunfire.
She motioned for Curtz to move up. He acknowledged her with a nod and started moving forward. As they moved forward, heading down the long narrow corridor toward the dance floor, they began to hear screams.
Miranda pushed the thought of Alteia from her mind and kept moving, covering Curtz' back.
"Screams?" Kelly asked, a slight look of revulsion on her face.
"Yes," Miranda nodded and then, noticing the look on Kelly's face, sighed heavily, "The explosion briefly knocked out the lights in the room where the dance floor was. People panicked. Karnak's guards opened fire, nearly cut down all of them, even killed some of their own in the cross-fire."
Kelly made a disgusted grunt, "Karnak killed them?"
"No, his guards did," Miranda bit her bottom lip briefly, "I knew him. Better than I knew most of my allies, there's no way he'd willingly give an order like that. It was the thug's he'd hired panicking."
"Thugs?" Kelly asked, her curiosity aroused.
"Yes," Miranda rolled the word around on her tongue, "Thugs. Guns for hire. He kept his men, the loyalists, the extremists, the people he'd drawn to him through his charisma and charm, he kept them close to him. Away from the regular guests."
Kelly coughed once, "That must have made him difficult to get to."
"Yes," Miranda nodded, "It did."
The screams had stopped.
That was the worst thing, Miranda decided.
She lowered her gun and stepped toward the door, "Get ready."
Curtz nodded and stepped up next to her, aiming his gun at the slight space in between the double door.
She tapped in a series of commands into the door's control panel.
It slid open with a faint whooshing sound.
They stepped through the door together, guns up and aiming down the barrel.
They could barely see the ground for bodies. Blood and gore caked the dance floor. The twisted remains of party-goers and guests lay everywhere, as if they'd been thrown aside by some angry god.
"Christ," Curtz said softly. His gun dropped for a second.
That was all the Asari waiting in the shadows to his right needed. She stepped inward, placing her leg between his and threw him backwards; he stumbled, losing his balance and crashing to the ground. His rifle bounced away across the floor.
Miranda turned in the blink of an eye and pressed her gun into the Asari's chest. She felt something hard, round and metal press against her temple in the same instant.
"Lawson?"
Miranda let her gun drop; she knew that voice.
"Alteia," Miranda smiled, "Good to see you survived."
The barrel pressed to her head slowly came away, "Hmph."
Curtz got to his feet and retrieved his gun without a word.
"What's the situation, Alteia?" Miranda asked, scanning the room with her gun.
"Almost all the guests were killed, there might be some survivors on the lower levels, but I doubt it. As soon as you hit the place, the lights went down and everyone started shooting. It was crazy. Karnak tried to stop them, but the guards just kept firing," Alteia shrugged and gently slid her pistol away into the holster on her thigh.
She stepped over the corpse of a guard who had nearly been bisected by automatic weapons fire and lifted the shotgun he had clutched in his dead hands, "He fell back towards the fermentation plant, with Arctys in tow. Corlezia went the other way; heading downwards into the lower levels."
"Corlezia?" Curtz asked, confused.
"Matriarch Corlezia, an anti-human activist turned terrorist," Alteia explained quickly, "She's the reason I signed on for this."
"Any idea on how to proceed?" Miranda asked, sheathing her rifle in the mag-holster on her back and bringing up a display of the station on her omni-tool.
"Yes, actually," Alteia said, a note of happiness appearing in her weary voice, "The fermentation area would be almost impossible to assault with an army, let alone just the three of us. But, there's no way out of there except back through here. So, Karnak will either have to stay in there and risk us having enough weaponry to blow the bottom half of the spar up, or he'll come down here and try and push through to the lower levels, where Corlezia was headed."
"So what's to stop us from blowing the place now and leaving?" Curtz asked, staring at the map of the station that hovered before him.
Alteia pointed at the lower levels with a single blue finger, "These lower levels where everyone came aboard, that's where all the ships are. However, with the guard station destroyed the only people with clearance to leave are Arctys and Karnak. So Corlezia is trapped there until Karnak joins her. She can't leave, but neither can we."
"So we're stuck in the middle of two heavily armed groups who both want us dead and both need to come back through where we are?" Curtz asked, his voice fraught with disbelief.
"Alright," Miranda said at last. Both her companions turned to stare at her.
"Curtz, get up on the top floor, secure the entrance to the fermentation plant; anti-personnel mines, grenades, holograms to distract them anything you can think of to stop or delay Karnak from coming back through here without damaging the structure," Miranda tore her combat webbing free from her body and handed it over to him, "Here's my explosives, use them well."
Alteia pulled two long, black tube-shaped devices from her garter, "Flash-bangs, might buy you some time if they try and storm through the door in a group."
Curtz nodded, relieved to be given an order that made sense, "You expecting me to hold this room by myself, ma'am?"
Miranda smiled, "As only a Cerberus soldier could, Curtz. Keep on the radio, do not engage unless you have to."
Curtz moved with a purpose, heading for the upper balcony that overlooked the dance-floor.
"And us?" Alteia asked, already knowing the answer.
"We're going to go down and kill the Matriarch," Miranda said, a crackle of blue energy ran along her fore-arm and danced across her fingertips, "It's been a while since I've used my biotics in a real fight."
Alteia's eyes opened wide, a thin smile appearing on her face, "Corlezia isn't alone, she's got an entire unit of Asari Commandos down there with her. Have you ever faced a squad of Asari Commandos before?"
Miranda shook her head, "Few humans have. But I'm not your average human."
She pulled her rifle free and gave an appreciative grunt as it slid open; each part locking into place in perfect, practiced unison.
"Let's move."
"Corlezia was a powerful biotic, I take it," Kelly said, resting her arm on the back of the couch.
"No, actually," Miranda said quietly, "She was skilled with what she had but far below the average in terms of sheer power. Her Commandos were the real threat."
"Hmmm," Kelly nodded slowly in understanding, "Shepard fought a Matriarch and some Commandos before, as well. On Noveria?"
Miranda nodded, "Yes, I've read the report."
"She said it was a tough fight."
"I'd imagine it was; Benezia was a powerful biotic and a strong willed woman and her Commandos were top of the line soldiers. Corlezia's had grown lazy and complacent ransacking human trade vessels and murdering civilians."
"Gruesome," Kelly murmured.
"Yes, and bad target practice," Miranda smiled darkly.
Alteia entered the departure station first, with Miranda moving in, in the space of a heartbeat, behind her.
Miranda swung the barrel of her gun around the room in a tight arc, scanning for targets. There were none; none that she could see, at least. The docking station was a mess of various ships of all different sizes. Above them, three floors up, a thin walkway stretched out into the central control hub which overlooked the cavernous room.
The ships were locked into large steel racks which held them there with large round magnets attached to their bases. The ships were a varying assortment of fighters, transport ships and shuttles. Each one a different size, make and type.
They lined the walls and rose up in giant stacks of metal in the centre of the room. Far to their right, on the other side of the control hub, sat the exit doors. Gargantuan in size, they made up the entire right wall. On the other side of their translucent surface Miranda could see stars twinkling dimly.
She stepped forward, moving in front of Alteia and stepping around a stack of shuttles that stretched up far above her.
To her left, through the haze of metal chassis' she could see a large doorway and beyond that a set of stairs stretching upward. She motioned that way and began moving.
A loud-speaker crackled to life high above them.
"Welcome to my parlour, said the spider to the flies," The voice was dark and deep and hoarse, like rich chocolate flowing over broken glass.
"Corlezia," Alteia hissed, gesturing to the control hub that hung in the air above them with the barrel of her shotgun.
Miranda nodded, then took another cautious step forward.
"Ah, Alteia, is that you, dear?" Corlezia's voice came from everywhere at once, "Well now, let's see what I can do to make your stay here a little more comfortable..."
There was the rough sound of machinery grinding and coughing and then a harsh squeal, "...and a lot more permanent."
The stack nearest to them let out a low, wailing moan.
"Oh shit!" Alteia hissed, "Run!"
The magnets holding the tower of shuttles in stasis de-activated. The shuttles themselves hung in the air for a moment, then came cascading down. Metal screeched as it clashed together. Miranda dove forward, a shuttle eight times the size of her smashed nose-first into the spot where she'd been standing moments before and then was smashed aside by another one crashing down into its side.
Alteia ducked as another came down, the air whistling around it, and then flipped end over end as it crashed into the ground. It passed over her head with an inch of space to spare and crashed into the base of another tower of vehicles.
"Who's fucking idea was this!" Alteia barked as she hurdled an overturned ship, narrowly avoiding being crushed by another one flying down.
"Head for the doorway!" Miranda yelled, she scrabbled to her feet and then bolted flat out.
Metal flew in every direction; a tidal wave of bent chassis smashed together and chased them down the narrow space between the stacks. Alteia turned and let out a strangled roar; raw energy flowed through her body and burst forth from her hands. The ships smashed against a wall of blue light and then held still.
Alteia stepped back, slowly, purposefully. Her arms were outstretched and straining with the pressure of holding back near a thousand tons of twisted metal.
"Come on!" Miranda barked.
The biotic shield flickered once, then blinked out of existence. Alteia ran for the doorway. Miranda ducked aside as the Asari leapt through, followed by the clashing wave of metal that chased her.
Miranda rolled onto her side and coughed once, dust clogged her sinuses. But otherwise, she was okay. She felt something warm pressed against her and slowly opened her eyes. Alteia stared back at her, a look halfway between indignant fury and utter shock filled her face.
Miranda coughed again, pushed the stunned Asari off of her and stood up.
"Is..." Alteia coughed once, picking up her shotgun from where it had fallen, "...is every one of your operations like this?"
"Not quite," Miranda said, her breath coming in ragged gasps, she glanced around for her rifle and realized it was missing.
She drew her pistol free with a deep gasp of air and flicked the safety off, "Come on. This bitch is going to pay for causing me so much trouble."
Alteia allowed herself the relaxation of a small grin, "That's what I like to hear, Lawson."
Curtz' voice burst over Miranda's ear-piece, "You there, ma'am?"
"Roger that, Curtz, we're here," Miranda responded, breathing heavily, "Just ran into a bit of trouble with our exit strategy, is all."
"Roger that, ma'am. I'm seeing movement on the upper floor. Figured you'd want to be kept notified, looks like a lot of infantry," Curtz' voice was far too calm to be natural, "I could really appreciate some company here; I don't think the explosives are going to make too big of a dent."
"Roger that, Curtz, we'll be back as soon as we can," Miranda responded.
Alteia gave her a quick nod, "What's the situation?"
"Grim," Miranda said quietly.
"Did you know how many men Karnak had coming back through the station with him?" Kelly asked.
"No," Miranda said, "Not exactly."
"But you knew it was a lot," Kelly said, as more a statement than a question.
Miranda paused for a second, "Yes."
"I see," Kelly said quietly, looking away, "So you knew that Curtz' wouldn't be able to hold them off?"
"Yes."
There was an explosion in her ear-piece as she ascended the first set of stairs, "Curtz, you okay?"
"Fine, ma'am," Curtz voice came back; strained with concentration, "They've hit the first set of charges."
A second explosion crackled across her ear-piece, "Curtz!"
"I'm fine, they've hit the second set, they're moving slower now, but they'll be near the door soon!"
Gunfire rattled across her ear-piece and she swore.
"Engaging!" Curtz yelped, then the line went dead.
'Shit," Miranda swore under her breath.
She hurdled the rest of the stairs, leaping up them in long strides. Alteia followed behind her, running with her shotgun pressed tight to her shoulder.
At the head of the stairs was the entrance to the walkway; an oval shaped doorway which two Asari stood behind, aiming assault rifles at the head of the stairs. Miranda shot them both dead without breaking her stride, her pistol's barrel blazing red hot as she put a neat, clean double-tap into each of their chests.
Ahead, on the walkway, two more Commandos waited. They opened fire, their shots thudded against Miranda's shield and threw her to the ground. Her finger spasmed on the trigger as she fell, a burst of gunfire tore into the ceiling.
Alteia leapt over her fallen form. Her shotgun barked once and slammed one of the Asari back over the walkway's railing. She fell backwards with a scream that split Alteia's ears. The second Asari spun to aim at her. Alteia flung a wave of biotic energy at her with her right hand; the air crackled and the smell of burnt ozone flared up her nostrils as the energy collided with the Commando.
The Asari soldier was flung backwards into the air, smashing against the ceiling high above with a sickening crunch.
"Miranda!" Alteia called.
"I'm okay," Miranda responded, pulling herself up to her feet, "Stupid mistake."
"Your soldiers are dead Corlezia!" Alteia screeched, aiming her gun down the walkway at the central control hub.
The square, walled off room had no response.
Then the speaker overhead crackled to life, the voice was no longer taunting or mocking, the voice was completely cold, "You're dead, you little slut. As soon as you take a step toward this room I'm going to tear you apart."
Miranda looked questioningly at Alteia.
"No way she can do that," Alteia whispered back reassuringly.
"Good," Miranda responded, gripping her pistol with her left hand as she raised her right up high above her head.
Her hand tightened into a fist as light danced across her knuckles.
"Ready?" Miranda asked quietly.
"Of course," Alteia said, stepping forward, aiming down the sights of her shotgun.
"Now!" Miranda yelled, hurling her closed hand forward. A ball of azure light flew forward and slammed into the door to the hub. The entire front wall of the hub, door and all, crumpled inward like a tin can. The roof creaked and sloped downward with the sagging weight.
Alteia sprinted the length of the walkway in an instant and then leapt inside through the twisted, shattered remains of the doorframe.
There was a screech of surprise from inside. Then a gunshot.
A half a minute late and Alteia came back out, the front of her dress stained with blood.
Miranda sized her up briefly, then nodded, "Let's get moving."
"You went back for Curtz?" Kelly asked, unable to hide the hint of surprise in her voice.
"Didn't read that far ahead, I take it?"
"No," Kelly shook her head, "I'm sorry Miranda, but I assumed you'd..."
"Leave him?" Miranda nodded, understanding, "I thought about it, but I guess part of me thought I might be able to get back in time."
"Ah," Kelly said, her mouth forming a silent 'o' shape.
"I didn't, in case you were wondering."
Karnak stared down at them, his face impassive and unreadable. He was slender, for a Batarian and a long, thin scar ran across the top of his head. It cut cleanly across his two top eyes. Neither one was open.
Curtz knelt at his feet, the barrel of Arctys' pistol pressed against the back of his head. His mouth had been gagged and his eyes blindfolded.
A squad of soldiers lined the balcony; Batarians, Turians and Salarians, all with their guns pointed downward at Miranda and Alteia.
"Throw your weapons towards me," Karnak said slowly, purposefully, his voice steady.
Alteia moved to throw her shotgun, but Miranda stopped her with her hand, "No."
Alteia looked at her, confused.
"He's going to kill him anyway," Miranda said evenly, her voice steady.
Karnak nodded, "I'm glad we understand each other, Miranda Lawson."
Arctys fired. Curtz crumpled forward, his body smacking against the ground with a wet thud.
"You bastard!" Miranda snarled, her whole body involuntarily sparked with bright blue energy.
Arctys drew a bead on Alteia next, his slender, clawed hand completely steady.
Karnak stopped the Turian with a wave of his hand and leant forward onto the balcony, "I am going to leave now, Miranda Lawson. I am going to leave now unmolested, unharmed and you are going to stay, for a moment at least. I will leave you a ship, do not worry, and some medi-gel for her."
Miranda realized what was about to happen a second too late. Arctys' pistol spat once more and Alteia yelped with pain as she crumpled backward, blood staining her side.
"Son of a bitch!" Miranda brought her own gun up and aimed at Karnak as she dropped to a knee beside the wounded Asari.
"I am going to leave and you will not follow me," Karnak explained slowly; his lower eyes blinking in rhythm with the odd cadence of his voice, "And then, when you finally do track me down as we both know you will, I will stand ready to show you the true hypocrisy of the human utopia. Do we still understand each other, Miranda Lawson, Cerberus spy?"
Miranda pressed her hand to Alteia's wound and didn't look as she responded, "Get out of here, you bastard. While I let you."
Karnak nodded and then smiled slightly, "Thank you, Miranda Lawson, for not making this difficult."
Their footsteps clanged on the stairs as they came down from the balcony.
As they exited the stairwell, they found Miranda's pistol following them. Karnak strode softly across the dance-floor stepping gently over the twisted, burnt and ruined bodies that littered it.
"Karnak," Miranda called after him, softly, "I am going to kill you."
Karnak turned back to face her. Then he nodded solemnly, "Not quite yet though, I think."
Without another word between them, Karnak pulled a medi-gel container from one of his soldiers' combat vests and threw it across the room. It fell at Miranda's feet.
"Goodbye, Miranda Lawson."
"He let you go?" Kelly asked, stunned.
"Yes," Miranda said sourly, "He kept his promise. So did I."
"But why?"
"Karnak understood death better than anyone I'd ever met," Miranda said slowly, "Certainly better than I did. He knew that killing me wouldn't change anything."
"Then why kill Curtz?" Kelly asked, relaxing back into her seat slightly.
"To prove a point," Miranda nodded, "To show me that it wouldn't ever end. 'Violence begets violence', his words. He knew who I was, he'd gained information on me at some point, probably after I killed Getholk. He was trying to tell me something."
"Tell you what?"
"That this cycle that created us both, this cycle of death and mistrust and paranoia that made us into who we were at that moment, the cycle that had us pointing guns at each other, it wasn't ever going to end," Miranda said bitterly, "I was a thesis to him, a canvas with which to paint his opinion of the world and show it to everyone; to prove that he was right and they'd always be wrong."
Kelly gasped, "I'm so sorry, Miranda."
"Don't be, after all, he was right," Miranda brushed a lock of hair away from her face, and in that moment Kelly saw just how old and wearied Miranda Lawson truly was, "Are we done here?"
"Yes, yes, I think so," Kelly said. She moved to put her hand on Miranda's shoulder. But she was already gone.
End Session Three