"The personal, as everyone's so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. [...]Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. [...] Time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life and that it's nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal."

-Quellcrist Falconer in Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

-Martin Luther King

"I don't even call it violence when it's in self defence; I call it intelligence."

-Malcolm X

888888

The following chapter may be ideologically offensive to some people - mind, then again I guess those people wouldn't follow my stories anymore anyway, but you never know...

888888

The mood on Elysium was tense to the brink of explosion. People were talking agitated on every corner of the streets, and there was only one topic: The Battle of the Ansuf Desert. The main human media channels on the extranet tried to keep it down as much as possible, but hardly anybody on the colony ever used them for news anymore. Various asari news outlets had seen and seized the opportunity and now offered human focused programs, bringing news from human space to a human target audience, but through an asari outsider view many people trusted more to be objective than they trusted human media these days.

So on Elysium, there was no playing things down. Elysium boiled. There was no doubt in the colony's collective mind who had been behind the 'mysterious' mercenaries camp in the Terranovan desert. All that equipment found there - brand new human military equipment - could only have come straight from its producers, from various human corporations. It seemed clear now they were entirely willing to use violence if it could keep dissent in line. And the backlash was unbelievable. The colonial parliaments of Terra Nova, Elysium and Eden Prime openly discussed expropriation of corporate property. Public figures on the three colonies were lamenting the lack of protection the Alliance offered, and some demanded radical steps to change that. There had been three instances of mobs burning down corporate offices already on Elysium. Fortunately, nobody had come to harm because police always had arrived timely enough on the scene - however, it had always seemed strangely lacklustre to also protect corporate property. And that even though the colony now suddenly, within days of news of the battle, had a Special Police Force of its own, fully armed and equipped with the same sort of equipment as Terra Nova had.

In short, the colonies were arming up while their people demanded to strike at the corporations right now. Everything in the Alliance seemed to go to hell.

And Tisiphone was enjoying it intensely. [1]

She had thought it all over when she had heard the news of Shepard's death. The man who for the first time in fifteen years had given her a glint of hope was suddenly gone. The man who had been so enraged by the injustices done against her and her fellow victims that he had dared to directly go against the Alliance, and to hell with the consequences. Not for his sake, or the for some deeper purpose but simply because it had been the right thing to do. Simply because he thought the mass abduction and torture of children, including the death of some, and its fifteen year hush-up should cause such a reaction in every decent person. He had been unique, and after he had died, Tisiphone had assumed everybody would forget about her and the other BAaT survivors again. Just as everybody already had for fifteen years straight.

She had tried to throw herself into her work, but there had been only so much to do at the crammed, hidden installation in deep space Shepard had basically gifted to Kyle's group. The former Major himself, who despite his less than stable mind did truly care for all of his followers, had been visibly anxious and worried about her. She had thought she had lost everything, yet again, and she had possessed no outlet for her restlessness.

But then this had happened. The crisis in the Alliance. The escalation. People were even willing to dance at the brink of violent confrontation over the topic. Finally, after all the time. It's beautiful, no doubt about it. Just beautiful. For the first time in years, Tisiphone was well and truly moved by humanity. Even if it was just the smaller part of humanity. Maybe humanity is actually redeemable. Her thoughts hardened. But not the Alliance. The Alliance needs to be destroyed. She knew that was a utopian dream, but that meant she simply would enjoy every defeat of the Alliance, every bit of trouble it went through, every setback it suffered. She did see the Alliance as enemy, and why not? After all it had been the Alliance who had first struck against her. What loyalty did she then owe to them?

In fact, very soon now she would have the chance to do her part towards that end. A strike for biotic rights, directly against the Alliance. And, just to add insult to injury, something actually organized by the Alliance's very own Councillor. A wry smile flashed up for an instant on Tisiphone's lips. She was enjoying this all very much indeed. She could hardly await the night. The only negative thing was that Goyle had told her that during the day they would get a new expert, somebody versed in technological matters. She had not liked that one bit. She knew everybody in her group. She had gone through several instances of direct action [2] with any of them. This night would not be the first time she had employed violence. She was no rookie in this, and she had no patience or trust to have any rookie 'experts' in her group. However, Goyle had assured her that person would be absolutely, totally devoted to Shepard's ideals. And since the Councillor was the instigator of the whole action, Tisiphone would have to be content with that.

It had been totally unprofessional, but after several hours in the group's hideout, Tisiphone just had to go out. She had been so full of energy like rarely before and her undirected pacing had annoyed quite a few of her comrades. Besides, she just had to see, had to feel the mood in the colony. And she had not been disappointed.

Of course, there were always some trying to justify the crimes. There were always some egoists who would rather wallow in an illusion that their society is superior, instead of facing the crimes it has committed. After all, it was very easy for them to dismiss the atrocities. They had not suffered them.

Tisiphone walked by several one family houses. At other times she, as an Earthborn, might have marvelled at the luxurious use of space, but now she was reminded how Michael had lived in a house like these. Before he had come to Jump Zero. Where he had met Jeanne [3]. Where he had died. Tisiphone remembered her utter helplessness, her utter impotence to do anything about it after they all, the survivors, had been dumped in '69. She had basically screamed for people to listen, but nobody had. Nobody had cared what had been done to her. Nobody had cared for the dead children. Nobody had cared and nobody would care for all the pain she and the others would still suffer, because of what had been forced onto them.

Nobody had ever cared. And now conservative news screeds called the efforts of Eden Prime and Elysium treason, called Shepard a traitor. For wanting justice. After everything the Alliance had done to her, to dozens of others. Once again, it all came to Tisiphone at once. How she had been abducted. How she had not seen sunlight for years in her prison far out near Pluto. How she had not seen her parents for years, because as she had learned later Conatix had blocked all visits and had spread lies about the biotic kids. How the turians... the turians... How they all then had been dumped, and she had not been able to even try to see her parents again, and due to the classification of events no psychologist would see her, either. Even that was refused to her.

All that rushed into her mind. How... Oh god. Not now. Not here in public. Tisiphone's heart began to race. But enough how she would always stand out because of her height, if she had a flashback and a fit of panic and rage here in public and now everybody would remember her, and that a mere hours before the direct action. She breathed heavily and haggardly. Her vision seemed to blur as a blind, furious rage echoed through her mind. A strangely undirected rage against everything and everybody, a primeval need to simply smash everything she saw around her. She wanted vengeance and was confronted with her impotence to ever gain it. That was the worst part. She had lived fifteen years with that impotence, this helplessness to ever get justice. She only had frustration and anger and ever so often it would just well up and overwhelm her.

She gnashed her teeth and suppressed a howl, all the while unsteadily walking back towards the hideout. She had to get out of public, now. All muscles in her ached for a fight, for destruction. She barely had the self-control to get out of other people's way, but she knew in her state she could see the slightest odd view as a provocation and totally lose all self control. All this hate in me... she blamed the Alliance for it for obvious reasons, and this only made her hate and anger grow more. The Alliance had killed Jeanne, and had left a wound with Tisiphone that would never, ever close. All she could hope for was to hurt them before inevitable going down in some fight. She could not be made whole again anyway.

Somehow she managed to stumble back to the hideout. She hoped nobody had followed her. She was not in a state to check. The others immediately knew what had happened. They knew her. Comforting arms closed around her, while finally Tisiphone could howl out her rage to the sky.

…...

Dun-dun-dun-duuuh...

The famous first sounds of Beethoven's symphony no. 5, first movement, again poured through Tisiphone's earphones, while she sat in her tiny room in her group's hideout. Thus fate knocks at the door. It seemed fitting to her. The symphony started on that dark note but eventually reached a surprisingly uplifting fourth movement. Per aspera ad astra. In her case that was of course wishful thinking. There would be no happy fourth movement for her. She would never be able to cast down the Alliance and extract true justice. But at least she would be able to do some harm now, and that thought had helped her to come down from her rush. It would have to be enough.

Something from the outer room disturbed her music. Something was going on there; it sounded unrestful. With a sigh, Tisiphone rose - and nearly would have fallen back on her seat again. A sudden flash of searing pain had hit her head. Not that, too. Not now. But then of course, this had been going on for fifteen years. One more thing to accuse the Alliance of. One thing why any suggestion of her 'getting over it' was ridiculous. BAaT was long over. But not only the memory, also the pain remained. She would have to grab some painkillers, but first she had to look at what was happening and what caused the unrest.

When she entered the outer room, with her eyes flinched together to a narrow stripe and her hand rubbing her forehead, she saw much commotion in it. People were surrounding something or somebody. They moved agitated, and there also were some shouts. Finally, one of the group, a small man she only knew by his given name, Yong, spotted her.

"A quarian," he shouted to her, "they've sent us a goddamn quarian!"

Tisiphone made her way through the group, and indeed she saw a female quarian standing there. Where most of her species had rather simple envirosuits, this one had adorned hers with pieces of purple cloth. She had her arms crossed in front of her and seemed quite unmoved by all the unrest in front of her. There was something familar about that pose.

"Tisiphone," she just greeted the biotic - who recognized the voice. She had only heard it shortly, but that at a very important moment.

Tisiphone looked at Yong. "No, not just any quarian." Then she turned to the group. "Ungrateful fools! This quarian was with Shepard when he gave us our current home base." Lots of 'Oh's and embarrassed looks followed. Tisiphone turned to quarian again. "Talia, I think the name was?"

"Tali," the quarian corrected her. "Our benefactor has sent me to here. Given the reception I got, I was a bit unsure I had reached the right address."

Tisiphone smirked. "You're far from home. A long trip just to get us an electronics expert."

Tali hesitated a bit. Her icy demeanour seemed to warm up a bit. "It was a request I could not refuse," she said somewhat enigmatically. "The action is scheduled to begin in a few hours. We should get ready."

It was a valid point, and indeed everybody began to assemble their gear, to check their weapons over and over again, or went through the mission plan again. So did Tisiphone, but Tali's presence still bothered her a bit. The quarian had been with Shepard, so she could be trusted, but her being here still was very odd. So after a while, she approached her alone.

"Excuse me if I still do not quite understand," she began, "but your presence here is puzzling."

"I suppose it is," Tali admitted without great enthusiasm. She was typing something on her omni-tool.

"If I understand your culture correctly, the Admirals must have given you leave," Tisiphone continued. "I wonder why that is."

Tali stopped her work and looked up. "Our benefactor has promised a handsome reward to the Fleet for my use here, and has paid all transport costs. Besides, given her position, the Admirals thought it wise to be in good standing with her."

"She paid for you, and rather much, too, apparently?" Tisiphone asked. "Why? I mean, I'm sure your talents with the omni-tool are outstanding, but surely a human hacker would have worked as well."

"My talents are outstanding," Tali confirmed brazenly. "But more to the point, our benefactor is risking very much with all this. If the Alliance should find out, she would be in deep trouble. End of her career for sure, maybe even deadly trouble. She could not entrust the mission to a random human hacker. She needed somebody she could rely on."

"And she can on you?" Tisiphone pushed on. "Please excuse my persistence, but just why are you in all of this? You call her 'our benefactor', but you're an outsider. It's not your fight."

"It's Shepard's fight," Tali replied with some aggression. "And his fight is my fight. If I can contribute to it, I will."

Something made click in Tisiphone's mind. Carefully she said: "You and him...I already suspected something on Presrop, but you actually were... together?"

"Yes," Tali just confirmed. "Is that a problem for you?"

Tisiphone growled slightly. "A problem? For me? It would be a problem to all of those retarded 'humanity fuck yeah' types. The same sorta people who... well, you know. You've been on Presrop, after all. Listening to the stories. It's those kinda people who'd have problems with that. Me, I... I just never really considered that."

"Jon told me it had been much the same with him at first," Tali said with a mixture of sadness and nostalgic amusement.

"Hell, if it angers the humanity first crowd I'm even all for it," Tisiphone continued. "Fuck'em. I just wished... I just wished everybody could be happy, so if you two were..." She shrugged.

"Jon had a very high opinion of you. I can see it was justified," Tali answered. "Our benefactor knew I would never sell her out, no matter what. No matter any prices offered or threats made. So she invested heavily in getting me here."

"Welcome aboard then," Tisiphone said. "Let's strike at the Alliance. For Shepard."

…...

Actually, the strike would not really go directly against the Alliance. Not against a government building, or a a navy base, or any other Alliance institution. However, it would hopefully still bring down an Alliance scheme, one of those wonderful illegal behind the doors deals that showed how rotten the Alliance still was. And if it succeeded, it would be a great help to biotics.

The overall political situation in the Alliance was chaotic. The protests on Earth, the dissenting colonies and Goyle's Council all had put much pressure on the Alliance government to finally, finally investigate the matter of BAaT. However, so far the government had always ignored this pressure, and of course this had only further fanned the flames. And now, after the Battle of the Ansuf Desert, there simply was no evading the matter anymore. However, even now the government tried at best symbolic gestures. No talks about extended reparations to the victims or about tribunals to get them justice. Just small steps to divert attention.

One of those was the government's solemn promise to disband the database it had on biotics and biotically gifted people in its space. Using that database, the Alliance had been able to keep tabs on biotics and watch them very closely. An additional layer of surveillance non-biotics did not have to put up with, a control instrument against BAaT survivors, and of course a convenient list for potential recruitments. Should the Alliance ever decide on a compulsory draft for biotics, it would be able to use that database. However, following the Battle of the Ansuf Desert, as a 'gesture of good will', the government had announced to disband and delete it.

Only that, to the surprise and shock of absolutely nobody in the know, it did not actually intent to do that. The official database would be deleted, yes. There would even be a great show, demonstrating how the files could not be found anywhere on government computers anymore. But already now a copy of it had been sent to a cabal of corporations, who had been charged with maintaining it and keeping it updated. It was all just a giant scam.

Fortunately, Council Chairwoman Goyle had found out about this, and had taken steps to thwart that scheme. As it so happened, the Alliance government could not flood the entire extranet with the data. They could not even make and distribute too many copies of it. After all, information and data got their value from exclusivity. People always said the extranet does not forget, but in fact with privileged or restricted information it could. And that was exactly what Goyle intended to happen.

She had found out that a copy of the databanks on biotics had been transferred to Elysium, to a server of Hoshichiri Heavy Industries. Hoshichiri was one of the biggest human corporations, essential to the Alliance due to its several mining interests in the colonies, but also big in industrial manufacturing. Since it owned most of Terra Nova's invaluable platinum mines, it was chafing especially hard under the new anti-corporate sentiment there and elsewhere, and there were many accusing the company of having supported the mercenaries in the Ansuf desert. So it was little wonder they would cooperate with such a government plan.

Goyle's counter to that plan was relatively simply and straight forward: Tisiphone and her team would get Tali inside the corporate facility, where she could access Hoshichiri's internal network, delete the databank and upload a virus that would scour the network for even more copies and delete them, too. Then the group would physically blow up the facility's servers, and make a clean getaway. Hopefully. Goyle had said she knew somebody who knew somebody who could twist the arm of some people at the facility, so hopefully there would be less guards than normal. But she had not been able to make any promises.

In any case, the facility the servers were located in had been well chosen. With its high walls, cameras, drones and barbed wire everywhere, it looked like a forbidden fortress, right in the middle of an industrial area. There was no way Tisiphone's group of nine people could storm it in an open assault. So instead, they used the most cliché way possible of infiltration: They walked through the local canalization. Goyle had provided them with maps of it. Seven people, plus Tali, four male and three female, six of them biotics and three of them BAaT survivors. All of them armed and with weapons drawn, walking in a single file.

Finally, they reached the exit that would hopefully lead them to the Hoshichiri facility. Tisiphone spoke up: "All right everybody. Be careful now. You know the drill: If we should be found out, we have no benefactors, no connections, nothing. If we are captured, even Tali here will be a rogue refugee from the Fleet. And yes, local police doesn't like Hoshichiri overly much. Doesn't matter. They'll still chase us, so don't get your hopes up. We need to make a clean entry, strike hard and fast, finish our objectives quickly and then make a fast fighting retreat. Understood?"

Various 'ayes' and nods and the like responded to her. Tisiphone opened the hatch above her and moved out of the canalisation. As planned, she found herself in a small, quiet backyard within the wider facility. It proved to be barely large enough to hold all eight people in the group. From there, the group moved silently into a larger inner yard. Keeping close to walls and buildings, they remained in a single file, aiming their guns all around them, keeping everything under observation. However, no security personnel seemed to be present. Goyle's contacts seemed to have been productive.

There still was electronic security: Surveillance cameras, electronic locks, alarm systems. However, all those things might as well have not been present at all. With just some few simple commands on her omni-tool Tali disabled them wherever they went. Tisiphone realized that the quarian had spoken the truth: Her talents were in fact outstanding. Most likely she would eat the security protocols in Hoshichiri's internal network for breakfast.

They managed to approach the facility's electronic command centre without seeing a single guard. However, their secrecy would only go so far. That was the part of the plan Tisiphone did not like at all: It only relied so much on stealth. There would be a battle, and hence their exit would in fact have to be a fighting retreat. However, she also realized there was no alternative to that. They had to enter that room, if only to blow up its servers once Tali would be done, and of course it would be guarded.

Tali looked up from the lock and nodded. Tisiphone raised her hand, made sure everybody was alert - and then waved the attack.

The security guards had no chance. Only six of them were in the room, and they were immediately hit with a barrage of bullets and dark energy. Tisiphone supposed she should feel sorry for them, since after all they were merely doing their job. There was no telling if they were bad people, if they would obey every order. But purely emotionally, she could not muster the sympathy. The Conatix guards at Jump Zero after all had only done their job as well. It was not exactly a fair comparison, but then this was not her rational ethical judgement, just her gut reaction. Rationally, she justified it with that this after all was what security was hired and got money for. And thus she growled as she hit them with everything she got. Dark energy flowed through her arms, as pressure built up in the inside of her head.

Immediately after the last guard went down, Tali began to work on the computers in the room. Tisiphone's group began to split up: One person stayed right next to the quarian, as her personal guard. Another one began to rig the electronics to blow them up later, and a third did the same to one of the room's two doors - if security guard tried to come from there they would get a nasty surprise. That left Tisiphone and three of her people to concentrate on guarding the remaining door. For a group only working together now and then, with hardly any training, it was a nice display of professionalism.

Tisiphone nervously handled her gun while trying to keep every angle around herself covered. She hated having to wait, but for the moment being it was Tali's show, so her own first priority was to keep the qurian protected. Still, it took a toll on her nerves. Nothing happened and she struggled with her own forced inactivity - until everything seemed to happen at once.

"Got it," announced Tali - and at the same time, security guards were storming in from the door opposite of Tisiphone's. The explosive charges attached to it proved useless.

In an instant, Tali threw a grenade at the approaching enemy force, and then ran towards the other door. "They must've hacked the charges, let me see if the ones at the servers are clear," she told Tisiphone.

Tisiphone cursed. She waved her people to take cover behind the door. "They mustn't reach us or the servers!" she told her people. "Bullets or biotics, just keep them in their door frame!"

By that time, the shields of several in the group had already faltered. The enemy force was surely two or three times larger, and were held up only by the bottleneck situation they faced. With circumstances like that, Tisiphone wondered how they'd ever get out of the facility again.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali cursed. "I had to set off the charges, to keep them from being disarmed. Detonation time in... less than thirty seconds. Run!"

Tisiphone's group did just that. Hastily and in panic, everybody turned and ran. Several of them were hit by enemy bullets in this state of confusion. As the group ran aimlessly through the building, half of them were injured. At least two needed medical attention beyond just medi-gel, and that fast. They felt the extreme ends of the explosion's shockwaves in their back. At least the mission is a success. Now we just need to get out.

This proved to be difficult, though. As soon as they left the building, a searchlight hit them. "This is the Elysium Special Police Force. Surrender now, or we will be forced to employ lethal means."

SPF? I'll enjoy the irony once we're out here. After all, whether on Elysium or Terra Nova, the SPFs had been founded as a way of covertly arming up, mostly against the large corporations. However, officially they still were the 'SWAT teams' of their respective police forces, so of course they would also handle cases such as this - even if it meant protecting such corporations.

She looked at her people, exhausted and wounded, and for a while considered surrender. Surely, as the Elysian authorities were vaguely sympathetic with their aims, they would not treat them too badly and the injured people would get the medical aid they needed. Then again, none of them had actually anything lose. Tisiphone knew that feeling, to have nothing worth living for. And what about Goyle? Or Tali? Chances were if the team was captured somebody would drop the Council Chairwoman's name, and even if not, Tali in any case would have a life of exile before her, as the Migrant Fleet would have to deny any involvement. Like hell. We'll go down fighting.

"Get cover," she shouted, "let them chase us! Don't become too easy targets!" She bared her teeth. The hunt's on.

The group fled through several smaller backyards. Tisiphone could hear commotion and unrest behind them, following them. Their predators were catching up to them. And she had no idea which ways to use in this part of the facility, no idea where they could enter the canalisation underneath.

They arrived at a building near the facility's wall. Several large barrels were stacked near it. "Get in cover here! Await them here!" Tisiphone ordered. Might as well make our stand here.

Everybody obeyed, including Tali. However, she still looked around everywhere, scanning for ways to escape the situation. And apparently she found something: "Tisiphone? I think we can use those vehicles."

She pointed along the facility wall. Through an opening between it and another building small shuttle craft could be seen on an adjecent yard. Tisiphone had to admit it was worth a try. And if anybody can get them open and running, it's her. "All right everybody, you heard her. Run for it!"

By then the hostile forces, Hoshichiri guards and SPF, had already closed up to them. A hail of bullets followed the group's run. In the end, Tisiphone and Yong had to drag another woman behind them, who was close to unconsciousness. Hastily, they loaded her into the shuttle. As Tisiphone had predicted, Tali had already beaten its lock in no time and was sitting in the pilot chair.

The small craft, designed for only six people, became quite overcrowded. Tisiphone was wedged in between wounded, moaning people and nervous, sweaty people. However, she found that quite acceptable as long as the shuttle would take them away.

"Where are we going?" she asked Tali.

"Away," the quarian simply answered. "Huh, this thing has shields. Good for us, I suppose."

Shields? I wonder what Hoshichiri was planning. And it was a good thing indeed: As the shuttle rose into the air, it was hit several time by fire from the ground. Such a hail hit it that its shields overloaded, and the bullets could penetrate the hull underneath. However, no critical systems were hit. The engines whined loudly as Tali accelerated the shuttle to full speed, quicker than any of the safety locks removed by her would have allowed. It darted away, simply straight away into the night.

"So, do you have any ideas where to go?" she asked Tisiphone.

The biotic pondered this. Elysium. Sympathetic to our cause, but for now hostile territory. No holdouts here... no wait, there is one. "This thing, has it space capacities?" she asked.

"Uh..." Tali answered surprised. "Orbital at best. I wouldn't try to land on the local moon, much less try to reach other planets. Anything less than that should be okay, though."

"Perfect," Tisiphone answered. "Where do you think they'd welcome biotics on the run?"

It took a moment, but then it hit Tali. After all, she had said that Shepard's fight was her fight, so she probably had followed the news. "Grissom Station. The occupied Ascension Project."

After Shepard's leak of the BAaT files, a wave of outrage had hit the Alliance. The current escalation was in a way still based on that initial outrage. Much of it had been against the Alliance, but unfortunately, in a telling and condemning statement about humanity, most of it had been against Shepard. However, in the biotics' community, among the people most directly affected by all that, things had been different. Among them, there had been a near unanimous condemnation of the Alliance. And so, several instructors of the Alliance's Ascension Project, some of them BAaT survivors themselves had gone on strike, and they and some older students had occupied the parts of Grissom Station housing the Ascension Project. Since most parents had recalled their children, and most new enrollments had been cancelled after the publication of the BAaT files, the protesters hence held an empty part of an orbital space station occupied. They had done so for months already, further protesting the Alliance's crimes. If we don't find sanctuary there, where else?

The shuttle turned its nose upwards and rose into the starry sky, as much as the extra weight of its too many passengers allowed.

…...

Of course, approaching a partially occupied space station unannounced was not exactly unproblematic. It took many irritated calls, several waiting circles and many rerouting attempts, until they could approach a docking bay that was in the hands of the protesters. This all took about an hour, and yet strangely, as soon as they had left the atmosphere, nobody was chasing them. Tisiphone did not doubt that the Elysium SPF would have had the ability to do so, but most likely they chose not to. And in an ironic twist of fate, considering that the Three Colonies also complained about the lack of protection the Alliance offered, there was no Navy warship in orbit, either. It had something of poetic justice.

When Tisiphone finally got to leave the overcrowded shuttle, she entered a small docking bay, hardly larger than the shuttle itself. And unfortunately, it seemed just as crowded as the shuttle itself. Agitated and shouting people were everywhere, curious about the new arrivals, anxious to see them. However, after a moment, the crowd quieted down. A man made his way through it. He appeared more worn down, more exhausted than he should be at his age, weighted down by a life of hardship and injustices. Hardships and injustices Tisiphone knew very well, just as he knew that man. His eyes widened. Traitor! Or not anymore; she had followed the news, had seen what he was up to, how he had finally denounced BAaT.

She knew she and her group were dependent on his goodwill, yet she could not hold herself back. "Mitra," she said icily and full of disdain. "I see you have turned your back on your Uncle Tom ways."

The crowd shouted. Tisiphone had apparently managed to provoke them. And Mitra Hendel[4], security chief of the Ascension Project on strike and BAaT survivor, paused. His brows narrowed. "You must have a pretty good reason to come barging in like this if you think you can allow yourself statements like that."

It really had not been the wisest thing to say. However, it had been the first time Tisiphone had seem Mitra since Jump Zero in the person. She had known what he had been doing all the time already before, and she detested it. She loathed him for it. Him, and others like him. It had been a great shock to be told that her hero of youth, Kaidan Alenko, had in fact joined the Alliance Navy. Joined the Alliance Navy, despite all the crimes committed against him and me and others! As if the Alliance somehow had a right to do so and now everything was okay! Shepard would say that after all Kaidan and Mitra had just been victims, too, and hence should not be blamed. And they had been, Tisiphone knew that very well, just as she had been. But to her that made it only worse, it made those people traitors. It was maybe a bit odd for her, an African, to think so about people of European and Asian descent, but whens he thought of Kaidan and Mitra, the historical term 'house negro' came to her mind.

Either way, she would not regret speaking the truth, no matter the outcome. She would hold her ground. "Since as we all know solidarity with your fellow victims has never been your strong suit, I can thus indeed hardly expect you to act simply on that. As it is, I ask you for help and sanctuary because we just succeeded in a big strike for biotic rights."

"Seeing in what way you arrived here, you mean you have created more trouble," Hendel observed coolly.

"I did," Tisiphone admitted. "Do you seriously have a problem with that?"

Interrupting the conversation with a groan, Tali made herself heard. She spoke up sarcastically: "Maybe we can skip the part where we try to kill each other with sheer coolness? Let's discuss this in civil manner."

Hendel only now seemed to notice the quarian. He looked at her surprised. "It's not that easy. People are nervous and will only become more so... ah. But you haven't heard the news, have you?"

"The news?" Tali asked.

Mitra nodded and raised his omni-tool. A holographic image appeared. It seemed to be from one of the human targeted asari news channels. An image of a planet appeared, and besides it an asari speaking.

"The colonial government of Terra Nova, in a common session of parliament and cabinet, has with a 2/3 majority passed and proclaimed a Declaration of Non-Compliance, to take effect immediately. Starting from today, the colony of Terra Nova will not be following instructions from the Alliance government, stop all financial payments, and will pass laws regardless of the legal situation in the Alliance.

The Terra Novan government has assured that this is not a secession, that they still consider themselves part of the Systems Alliance and that this is only a temporary measure. They have announced they will remain non-compliant with the Alliance government until such a time as investigations into BAaT are started, tribunals are held, reparations are paid and until investigations are started into corporate involvement in the Battle of the Ansuf Desert. Furthermore, they demand greater protection by the Alliance Navy, tighter market regulations and anti-trust laws and more employee friendly labour laws.

After months of the Alliance government ignoring the demands from Terra Nova, Elysium and Eden Prime, it is now widely believed that it has been the Battle of the Ansuf has finally pushed Terra Nova over the brink. In the current crisis it so far has always been the most radical of the three colonies, as a majority of its population sees the Alliance as having failed them in the X57 incident. Furthermore, for several years already, the colony's dominant mining industry has seen several labour disputes between the miners and the companies owning the mines. So it is not surprising Terra Nova now would be the first colony to take such drastic action.

Still, it bears repeating: Terra Nova, humanity's largest colony, had just declared itself to be in non-compliance with the Alliance government."

The docking bay fell silent.

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[1]Remember her? Tisiphone was introduced in Chapter 19 of TFHS. A BAaT survivor and member of Majoy Kyle's cult, and implied part-time biotic terrorist. While personally not believing in Kyle's cult of personality, she took part in it because it offered a home and community to several desperate biotics, some simply shunned and ostracized by society and others BAaT survivors themselves.

[2]I.e., terrorism.

[3]Tisiphone as child.

[4]From the novel Ascension. (What is this Deception you speak of? ;) )

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Well, that was kinda fun. Yes, our protagonists are terrorists, and Tali took part in a terrorist attack. Hey, don't say I didn't warn you! But it was fun to write so much hate. I have been told my story is already so full of it, but it seems a so much more appropriate and even satisfying reaction than the (to me) utterly, utterly depressing passivity and acceptance of Kaidan, for example.