Chapter 5
There was hardly any chatter amongst the trio in the shuttle back to the Normandy. Shepard was still trying to process what he saw back at the abomination of a Cerberus hideout. How did a supposedly pro-human organization justify killing innocent humans, the humans they fought for, for research? To Shepard maybe it was better he didn't understand least of all he become the monster the Illusive Man is, but he couldn't help but ponder over this again and again after seeing that Alliance soldier ready to shoot a Cerberus scientist down in cold blood for the thresher maw on Akuze, then when he saw what Cerberus had turned Jack into. They weren't out there to help humans, they were out there for power and no one was going to convince him otherwise. His thoughts stayed strong and burned brightly even after the shuttle had gone through space and returned to the Normandy. Everyone jumped off the shuttle, even Shepard, but he wasn't really paying full attention as he walked to the elevator at the front of the cargo bay. The other two were purposely, though not rudely, trying to ignore him so he could have some breathing space to calm down. When they came out of the Normandy's shuttle they saw another shuttle opposite them of quarian design with a quarian shuttle pilot and Raan stepping out of it.
"Thank you Commander for your service to the Migrant Fleet, we couldn't have done this without your help," Raan thanked sincerely.
"It was a pleasure Admiral," Shepard replied modestly, "here is your eezo back by the way," Shepard and Reegar pointed to the large shipment of element zero strapped to his shuttle.
"Shepard has a way of pleasing crowds," Tali added in complementally.
"Now I see why you look up to him so highly Tali," Raan commented in understanding, "Reegar, your mission is done, let us go back to the fleet."
"Actually ma'am, whatever Cerberus was doing it seems it's bigger than any of us thought it was. With Shepard's permission, I'd like to stay onboard the Normandy for slightly longer," Reegar replied.
"We could sure use the help Reegar, welcome aboard," Shepard said cheerfully.
"I understand – wait, what do you mean by 'bigger than we thought?' Raan asked confused.
"Element zero was being taken to a research lab," Reegar explained, "we saw some experiments being performed on biotic humans, brutal but unusual. Something's up and someone needs to get down to it. We have a lead that can probably be followed up on this ship."
"I see, just inform us when the fleet can help in anyway, this fight does mean a lot to us, and thank you, all of you for what you are doing," Raan requested as she went back into her shuttle with her driver and they headed out back to the fleet with the Fleet's stolen element zero. Shepard seemed to have calmed down now and took out the bronze Cerberus symbol with the river behind it from his armour.
"Let's go get this looked at," Shepard ordered holding out the symbol for the quarians to see. They nodded as Shepard brought out his omni-tool to call Miranda and Jacob into the briefing room.
Shepard walked into the briefing room in the formal attire Kasumi got him with the two humans operatives on the left hand side of the room within poking distance of the large table in the centre and the two quarians on the right hand side of the room equally close to the table. Shepard took this as a sign that the quarians didn't trust the two Cerberus operatives but he ignored this as he took out the bronze symbol once again.
"You two, do either of you recognize this?" Shepard asked looking at the former Cerberus duo as he handed them the symbol. Miranda took it into her right hand and examined it closely as Jacob stared at it over her shoulder.
"I don't suppose this is-" Jacob found it hard to finish his question.
"No doubt about it," Miranda confirmed confidently as usual, "Styx Company, the river that keeps humanity running."
"Styx Company?" Tali asked.
"They're another Cerberus cell," Miranda explained, "mercenaries who kill for interesting technology, human and alien alike. They operate out in the Terminus systems where said technology is relatively easy to find and send back to the Illusive Man."
"Any technology in particular?" Shepard asked interested.
"Anything that advances the cause of humanity," Jacob answered, "but given the Illusive Man's interest in biotics biotic technology is usually what they prefer."
"They were in fact conducting tests on human biotics," Reegar informed.
"Not surprising, they were probably running tests on it first before sending it back to HQ," Miranda stated.
"Here are some pictures of what they were doing, here take a look," Shepard informed as he brought out his omni-tool to show the rest of the team pictures of the facility they destroyed. First he showed his picture of the neatly aligned body bags filled with the corpses of human biotics.
"Doesn't surprise me," Jacob commented making no effort to hide how put off he was by Cerberus's actions.
"Hold on, there's more, and this one might surprise you," Shepard warned as he flicked to his picture of the bullet ridden husks Shepard left at the base.
"Oh my god, husks?" Miranda asked shocked.
"What were they doing with husks?" Jacob asked equally shocked.
"Probably has something to do with human advancement somehow," Tali suggested.
"The fact that they weren't in cages seems to lead to questions as well," Reegar pointed out.
"Question for another day. Here is one final thing I want you both to see." Shepard flicked to his final picture, the one he found the most interesting.
"Is that… a skeleton?" Miranda asked confused.
"Yeah, a prothean skeleton made of element zero," Shepard confirmed.
"That's messed up," Jacob commented.
"EDI thinks that Cerberus may have been using this skeleton to aid in their biotics research, like they could replace some bones in the human body with an element zero substitute to enhance biotic power."
"Whatever Cerberus is up to it's something big, we can't let Cerberus keep killing humans for these experiments," Miranda declared passionately. Tali gave her a sideways look from behind her visor.
"I never thought I'd hear you say that," Tali replied in a passive aggressive manner.
"I've turned against Cerberus Tali, you should know this," Miranda rebutted crossing her arms. A third argument on the ship was the last thing Shepard wanted amongst his crew.
"Focus guys, we need a plan to take Styx Company out," Shepard declared slightly irritated.
"That's pretty extreme Commander, you sure about this?"Jacob asked concerned.
"The Illusive Man doesn't even care about humanity, not really, as shown by how he wanted to preserve the Collector base, he just wants power at any cost," Shepard explained confidently, "and he's only going to hinder our ability to fight the reapers. Any resources we can take away from them now the better. Miranda, you said they operate out in the Terminus Systems?"
"Yeah but I don't actually know of any hideouts they have. Any Styx operatives I've ever met by chance happen to be either on Omega or Illium."
"Alright, I have a plan," Shepard declared as he hooked up his omni-tool to the rest of the ship's communication network, "Normandy team, I need every combatant to assemble in the briefing room." He then switched to private comm with his turian best friend.
"That includes you Garrus, your calibrations can wait."
- And that is the fifth installment of my first ever fanfic to post on the internet. This story isn't done yet, not by a long shot so remember to review, favourite and follow up on future chapters. Cheers!