*Gasp!* A new chapter, already? How can this be?!
Well, I'm sort of a workaholic… and an insomniac. Sleep is just something other people have to worry about. Thanks again to my Beta neilin, who patiently suffers through my mostly rubbish ideas.
The theme song for this chapter is 1.000.000 Lightyears by Amaranthe. I just can't stop listening to the damn thing – probably one of my new favourite songs. Now onwards: to the chapter!
Chapter 5: Cerberus, The Convict and The Krogan
"Commander Shepard is ashore" EDI's synthesised voice sounded in the intercom of the Normandy as the airlock of the ship opened and closed with a series of hisses, Miranda leaning against the CIC with her arms crossed before her. "XO Lawson has the deck". At the machine's announcement many members of the crew promptly turned towards Miranda and saluted – something that had been unthinkable in her days as director of the Lazarus cell – before they went back to their affairs and their own allotted tasks. This was Shepard's work, she grumbled internally as she went for the door to the armoury, her heels clicking against the metal deck of the main CIC deck of the Normandy SR-2. He was the one that kept saying "At ease", "copy that" and "sit-rep" to the members of the crew that were former Alliance military personnel, and slowly but surely their Cerberus habits were chipped away at until the soldiers of old emerged from the cocoons of para-military, cell-oriented terrorism.
A mere twenty days into the project, and already Miranda's authority was second to Shepard's. She didn't like it, not one bit, and now there were only a few members of the crew she could count on as being loyal to Cerberus and not Shepard left. Chambers, Patel, Rolston, Hawthorne, Hadley, Matthews – as far as Miranda could tell, those were the ones she could count on if Shepard went rouge and acted against the interests of Cerberus. Would they be enough to sabotage the ship and kill Shepard should that happen? Perhaps… Jacob could have been of great help, but Miranda had always been uncertain about the man. He was too emotionally invested in the Alliance, held on too tightly to his notions of Morality. He took to Shepard's charisma like a bee to honey, and he could no longer be relied on should the worst come to pass.
Not that it would, Miranda internally remarked as she made her way through the armoury and into the hallway to the communication's chamber, the table in the centre of the room lowering and integrating with the floor to form the rest of a holographic interface by which she could communicate with the Illusive Man. She had to admit that their operations, so far, had gone smoothly. Already they were garnering good will with the Terminus systems and recruiting several specialists for their squad. Shepard himself, as well as the ever trusty Vakarian, Massani and Taylor, had gone to recruit their newest addition at the prison ship Purgatory while professor Solus stayed behind and kept working on the Collector countermeasure and Miranda… well, Miranda had Cerberus business to attend to.
The interface rose around her and suddenly it was as if she was standing in the great glass viewing chamber of Cronos station, the office of the Illusive Man which she had visited quite a few times in the flesh, in attendance before the Illusive Man and the rest of the Cerberus council, a blazing, raging sun behind their illustrious leader as he waited for the meeting to commence. As Miranda surveyed the situation she could not help but think back to Shepard's questions about Cerberus asked six days earlier.
"Who are you? What is your leadership?" No one knew the Illusive Man's name, least of all the people who worked with him, and Miranda suspected at times that he himself had forgotten it long ago. His real name didn't matter: he was the Illusive Man, the leader and, perhaps, founder of Cerberus, the man with the resources and the conviction to drive their organisation forwards and the one with the clout and connections to hold the cells together. He worked out from Cronos station and directed the individual projects undertaken by Cerberus with the aid of the cell directors.
"Besides the Illusive Man? Sarah Harkness has been with Cerberus since the beginning". Miranda wasn't supposed to know what was going on in the other cells – that was their contingency plan, as each cell operated individually of each other and only coordinated in rare council meetings like that one – but she had heard things about the Overlord Cell that were… distressing, even to her ears. Sarah Harkness was even more void of scruples then the Illusive Man, if such a thing was possible, an iron woman with a former mercenary background who ruled her cell with an iron fist and absolute isolation, and she stood in the centre of the seven cell directors arranged before the Illusive Man. "She's probably the closest we have to a secondary leader. She's getting old, but her expertise and insights can be… valuable". She had neglected to mention to Shepard that the most likely advice the iron lady was to give was to glass the project from orbit with a Phalanx-laser bombardment and rebuild it from the ashes upwards.
"Other than Harkness and the Illusive Man…? Rackham is our most brilliant mind and our chief scientific advisor". Chao-Fei Rackham was more than brilliant – he was a highly functioning savant, and out of all the cell directors only Miranda herself could batter minds with him on an equal level. Beyond that he was utterly ruthless and cared nothing for the people under his command, viewing them more as interchangeable pieces of machinery and fuel for data and statistics than people. He ran the Phoenix Cell, their longest running project and cell meant to enhance the biotic potential of mankind, and despite his methods his ways had given great result.
To the right of Rackham and Harkness stood Toronaga, chief of the Vulcan Cell which Miranda knew virtually nothing concrete about, despite her spies in the other cells. The man had a cybernetic arm and a black face-obscuring visor before his features at all times, but his other sole outstanding feature was that he had a tendency to reach for a Buddhist rosary when speaking to the others during the council meetings, as if internally praying or asking for absolution for sins imagined. His cell was the one that was potentially the one most likely to drive humanity into a golden age, as his project was the one to steal or otherwise acquire advanced weaponry or other technology from the other races of the galaxy and retrofitting it and reverse-engineering it for human understanding and use.
And to the rightmost of Toronaga was Oleg Petrovsky, the General and chief military leader of Cerberus's armed forces, the Atlas Cell. A grim and determined man, he was a former Alliance Rear-Admiral who had grown disillusioned with the Alliance mission of getting along with the other races after the end of the First Contact war, and had served Cerberus faithfully ever since by leading its military division. "Toronaga, Petrovsky and Fuller are the ones in charge of our main divisions: technology, military and espionage". Miranda was sure that Shepard would have absolutely loathed the man should he ever had met him.
Emma Fuller, formerly Cara Thatcher, formerly Jessica Henderson, formerly Simon Chasten, formerly Therkil Haartbrandt, formerly Kimberly Jackson, stood to the right of Miranda and the left of Harkness, hands loosely clasped behind her back, her clothes non-descript and extremely common as opposed to the more ostentatious uniforms of the other cell directors. She was the one that coordinated the largest Cerberus initiative of them all, the Hecate Project, governing over nearly three dozen small cells all over the galaxy and council space. She was their answer to the Shadow Broker, and only by the grace of her absolute loyalty to the Illusive Man did she keep the information branch of Cerberus afloat. Miranda had worked for her before she had been given her own cell.
And last was the Doctor, known to his own cell as simply the Director, the leader of the Orcus cell over which he exerted intense and complete control. Miranda knew little about the man whose holographic image was to the left of her own, other than that he was polite to a fault, never removed his tinted shades and always spoke in a polite and sensible tone, a civil exterior hiding no doubt something truly vile. His base of operations was called the Barn, and his mission involved examining the biology of other council species – but beyond that Miranda knew nothing. Her spies had great difficulties in penetrating the security of his operations, but she was confident that they would succeed in the end.
Beyond the seven heads of Cerberus and the central intelligence that directed all of them there were two other people in the chamber with them: Jana, the Illusive Man's secretary and bodyguard, and him. Miranda herself hated the man, but most others simply regarded him with abject terror and distant, reproachful fear – the chief lieutenant of the Illusive Man and his personal assassin, his blade in the night: Kai Leng, the Viper. He stood by the Illusive Man's side as a shadow phantom, blade at his hip and visor before his eyes, smirking cruelly at Miranda. By the look she knew that he was giving her she had the strange desire to shoot the man right in his smug face – but that would have to wait. She had usurped his position as the most valuable operative of the Illusive Man, and she didn't doubt it for a second that one day the two of them would have to… resolve their difficulties. Preferably in a locked room filled with weapons out of which only one of them would emerge alive.
"Miss Lawson" the Illusive Man noted, smoking absently as he gave only a single look Miranda's way. "I am so glad that you could join us. Twenty days into the Lazarus project's second phase – how is Lazarus doing?" He swept his robotic eyes over the other leaders in attendance and curved his lips downwards ever so slightly. "Please do wait with your report to the council, Lawson. Mrs Harkness: how is Project Overlord proceeding? According to plan?"
"Well enough for the purposes of the council" came the rapid reply from the no-nonsense old woman. "There is nothing that neither you nor the other cells have to be concerned about. We have the resources to maintain both Overlord and the subsidiary projects Firestorm and Firewalker. The Overlord Cell have no needs at this juncture".
"Reliable as always" the Illusive Man noted with a nod. "You are to be commended for your consistency of performance, Mrs Harkness. General Petrovsky" he turned his eyes to the man in question "any updates worth mentioning?"
"The Atlas Cell is arming and preparing itself for war on the Collectors and the enemies of mankind, as per your orders" Oleg provided easily, his posture strict and militaristic all the while as he spoke. "Upon your order we will be ready to strike. The galaxy will behold the true might of Cerberus!"
"Your zeal is exemplary, General" the Illusive Man smiled slightly at him and thanked him with a nod. "Operative Fuller: any information applicable or helpful to the other cells?"
"I have some for Lazarus" she replied in a smooth yet utterly forgettable voice with a glance Miranda's way "but that information is already en route. Other than that: Oleg, there's a contingent of radical fundamentalist anti-Turians that I am keeping under surveillance on Elysium. I'll send the specs and coordinates your way – it's up to you to decide if you want to recruit them or not. That's all for me, boss".
"Thanky, Operative Fuller" the Illusive Man gestured at her and turned his eyes on Rackham. "Now, I hear that you have some… budgetary concerns regarding the funding of the Phoenix Cell. Please voice your concerns to the council, professor".
"You are putting too many resources into Lazarus, sir" the scientist spoke directly and to the point, Miranda narrowing her eyes dangerously at his holographic image. "And now that you are expanding on the efforts of the Vulcan-Orcus joint project-"
"How come you know about that?" Toronaga's emotionless voice drifted from his visor as he questioned his fellow cell director while the Doctor offered nothing but the slightest hint of a smile.
"I have people within your ranks, engineer" Rackham said that last word like it was disgusting to taste on his tongue. "Just as you have people within Project Phoenix. Illusive Man" he turned back to their leader "not only is this project endangering the loyalty of some of our… most illustrious operatives, but it also sucks much needed resources from the other cells. Project Domination-"
"Is the most important project we are undertaking right now – after the immediate concerns of Lazarus, of course" the Illusive Man spoke and shifted his gaze to Miranda. "And speaking of Lazarus – how is our Commander doing? Still loyal and hard at work, I hope?"
"Loyal to the Alliance, perhaps" she replied to him, knowing that all the other cell directors in the room were staring at her, judging her, looking for the slightest weakness in her operations or chink in her armour through which they could drive a dagger into her heart and take her lofty position for their own. "He shows no gratitude towards Cerberus for resurrecting him or giving him back his ship. Any good will he has… seems to be directed towards me personally". One would think that such an admission would be a weakness, what with showing a growing relationship between her and Shepard perhaps judged as a frailty, but the truth was that it only made her position stronger. If Shepard preferred working with her over others then her position as leader of Lazarus was strengthened.
"Can we stop sinking all of our cash into that sink, boss?" Fuller drawled from aside, crossing her arms over her stomach. "Lazarus is alive. The mission is underway. Now let him be useful and make his own way instead of leaching off our funds. Phoenix isn't the only Cell groaning under these impoverished conditions, boss".
"That is true – our resources, though considerable, are finite" the Illusive Man agreed before he turned back to Miranda. "Operative Lawson… since Lazarus is alive and the second phase of the project is well underway judging by your written reports, and the needs of Project Domination are… considerable, I find myself in the position of having to cut most of your extensive funding. Do you have any immediate expenses?"
"We still require top-of-the-line weapons and armour" she protested softly and shot a look at Toronaga's empty visor "but as long as the Vulcan Cell can provide us with such on a regular basis at no expense I suppose all is well. I had, however, intended to propose the establishment of a permanent field base in the Omega Nebula, as a safehouse for Lazarus or a secondary base-"
"Can Lazarus not provide you with any backing in this matter?" the Doctor questioned in a voice as slick as slime, to which Miranda shook her head.
"Shepard is a military officer, not an engineer. His specialties lies in destruction; not construction I'm afraid" Miranda informed him, but silenced immediately when Harkness cleared her gravelly voice pointedly.
"Use that, Operative Lawson" she suggested. "He is a soldier and a mercenary now – and there are plenty of people in the Terminus systems that need elimination. Someone is certain to offer gratuitous payment for the deaths of their rivals. I hear that Aria T'Loak of Omega is issuing a total war on the Blue Suns. She is bound to pay handsomely for their destruction".
"That is indeed an appetising suggestion, Mrs Harkness" the Illusive Man pondered, eyes still locked on Miranda. "I would say that this is an opportunity, Operative Lawson – Lazarus can actually provide us some direct monetary recompense for the resources we've spent upon bringing him back to life. Lazarus took down Saren the rouge Spectre and all but singlehandedly stopped the Geth invasion of Alliance space, so a few scattered mercenary encampments shouldn't pose any actual threat. The Collectors are silent for now, so seize this chance fully and intently". He took a deep inhalation from his cigarette and furrowed his brow slightly at her. "As for your request for a field base in the Omega Nebula – permission granted, but you must use your own resources in building it. Based on the quite extraordinary performance Lazarus has already demonstrated, all due to you, Operative Lawson, I'm granting your complete executive authority over the Lazarus Cell".
"This is absurd" Rackham snorted, but Miranda didn't care about the others or their jealousy in the slightest. Complete executive authority – she was essentially given free reins and a carte blanche on what directions the cell would be taking. As long as she provided the funding herself and reported to the Illusive Man every now and then she could do anything she wanted within the context of the cell – recruit more people, build bases, expand or change their focus and obligations, promote and hire operatives to whatever positions she saw fit, and more, so much more. Essentially all but the last vestigial pieces of red tape fell away from her grasp of the project – her project. Nothing could check or curb her authority anymore except for the Illusive Man himself. The things she could do with that kind of power…
Kai Leng looked for moment like he had gotten an entire bag of lemons forced down his throat, and the sight was even more satisfying than getting to assume direct control of her project. "It seems someone pays enough attention to recognise my genius" she looked to Rackham and gave him her best glare, sending him staggering backwards to the amusement of Fuller, the Doctor and Harkness. "If that was all? I have preparations to undertake".
"The meeting is adjourned" the Illusive Man agreed with a nod. "Carry on as you are, all of you. Our time is coming, and soon we will have to step out of the shadows and march to war. The galaxy will know us, and behold the Cerberus".
"Behold the Cerberus" all of them, even Kai Leng and Jana, repeated before the Illusive Man terminated the council meeting, the holographic interface around Miranda switching off and sliding down to leave her once more in the conference and communications room of the Normandy. As she stepped away from it her mind was racing with the possibilities that lay before her, but she kept her outward features full in check as she made her way through the CIC and to the elevator, retreating to her office on the crew deck of the Normandy.
Only when she was safely behind the door of her office and had engaged privacy mode did she allow her grin to show upon her face.
Oh… where to start, where to start? First of all – if she was going to make the best of this she needed information. Knowledge was power, and knowledge was the basis of all subterfuge - and all warfare was based on deception. If she was going to operate her cell in the Terminus systems then she needed to know the ins and outs of everything that went on there. She needed a network of her own, and contacts. Having never been prone to laziness she wiped the grin off her face and went to work.
She could use Fuller's network of spies on Ilium and Omega… though that woman would never share information with Miranda freely. So she contacted someone she had worked for before – a hacker named Lisa – asking if she maybe could get her a backdoor into Fuller's system, off the record of course. She would be compensated richly if she did, and if she kept her mouth shut about it. Lisa was, after all, the one she trusted to keep her own Lazarus project files safe from the snooping eyes of the other cell directors, lest a few pictures of Lisa in bed with an Asari find her way to her very affluent father who would, given his retrograde view of the galaxy, most likely disown her. After all… why use only the stick or the carrot when one could use both? What was the Krogan proverb again: offer one hand but arm the other?
Then she set about building her own network on Omega – she would have preferred Ilium, but they would have been expecting her to do that. If she was given full control of the cell she could do nearly anything, and so she decided that she would set up a base there on Omega, close under the protection of Aria, who now owed her a great deal and possibly even her crown. But where? Gozu district was tempting, given how out of the way and dank that place was, but human agents moving about the district in great numbers would attract a lot of attention from a not overly welcoming populous. The same was true about Kenzo district, though the large amount of guns in that district made it a much more tempting choice. The Fumi and Tuhi districts were too affluent, Doru too poor – no, the answer was Kima. And she had just the property in Kima district that could serve as her headquarters there. She promptly looked up the access tunnels and the schematics for the western edge of Kima district and wondered if one could widen the bulkheads at the edge of the district to lead to the old wharfs clinging to the outside of the station. One could even construct a hidden dock there without too much trouble, one connected via tunnels to Archangel's old safehouse.
She contacted a few of the people she had come across in Omega during her visit there with Shepard, chief among them Aria and Daniel, the doctor's aide that had been Mordin's second in command before he had been left responsible for the Gozu clinic proper. To Aria she extended an acceptance of her earlier offer to help her take down the Blue Suns in the Omega Nebula, to Daniel she offered her full economical support to the clinic… if he could keep her informed of their doings and the popular opinions around Omega. Purely so that she knew he and the clinic were safe, of course. And she carefully inquired about that Batarian Shepard had befriended. It never hurt to have some local muscle on your side, even if they were aliens. If Shepard worked with aliens so effectively, then why couldn't she?
She also called up Trina, her chief of personal on Minuteman Station, where the operations were in the process of being dismantled. She arranged with the woman, whose loyalty was ensured by Miranda's continued funding of her daughter's schooling, to take as many as the project's resources – the spare shipside fabricator, radar and scanning equipment, servers, a secondary AI-core, some rudimentary security mechs – and have it all loaded into a shuttle bound for Omega in greatest secrecy. Miranda would hack into the security network and the logs on that station to ensure that nothing seemed amiss to the new overseers of the next project on that station.
Having done all of it, and in the process of downloading logs and schematics from Aria's internal security system, Miranda leant back in her chair and took stock. She needed to draw up plans, see what more things she could direct from aboard the Normandy without having to go to Omega in person. The ire she had felt before over Shepard taking over her crew and project had evaporated. He and his squad, as well as the Normandy and its crew, were now not the full extent of her power but simply weapons in her arsenal, and she could use these weapons to fill up that arsenal with other options and more options for her to use. It was all to fight the Collectors – but she needed every card on hand that she could possibly have. And it all hinged on Shepard's support. "EDI" she spoke to the empty air of the office, breaking privacy mode. "Patch me into Commander Shepard's communications. I need to speak to the shore party".
"Certainly, Operative Lawson" the gentle and polite female voice supplied in all of its synthesised glory. "Warning" EDI said then, earning a scowl from Miranda. "Combat protocols initiated. Shore party is currently in active armed conflict. Connecting your office to the shore party's internal communications, Operative Lawson. Stand by".
"Oh, for the love of" Miranda growled and put her hand to her brow, palming her face in frustration. Why had she even expected anything else from Shepard? "Commander" she said as she could tell she was connected to his coms. It wasn't hard to tell given the sounds of periodic gunshots, screams and explosions transmitted into the air of her office. "Wasn't this supposed to be a simple transaction? Buy the convict and get off the ship – wasn't that how it was supposed to go?"
"Well, they thought I was more valuable than Jack and tried to sell me" Shepard replied in a testy tone even as his Crusader shotgun boomed as he fired death and destructions into the ranks of some mercenaries who really should have known better. "I have no intention of ending up as some Krogan's pleasure slave. I haven't extended the circumference of my rectum nearly enough to even consider it! So naturally there was some… civilised disagreement". Another shot rang out, followed by Garrus excitedly hooting "Scoped and dropped!"
"Just try not to get our recruit killed" Miranda sighed and rubbed her forehead. Ugh, he was giving her wrinkles, wasn't he? "We have a few… changes of policy in effect on this mission now, Shepard. I'm calling a staff meeting once you're done bringing carnage to the undeserving. Make sure that Jacob, doctor Solus and Vakarian are there with you".
"Got it!" he seemed to nod, followed by some heavy stomping, a mighty crash and then a gurgle from the dying thrashes of an unlucky Turian mercenary. "I think I need to change my loadout" he then said to her in an almost conversationalist tone. "With this brain trust at my back I don't need to go around with the Typhoon like I'm a caveman with a club. I think I'm ditching it when we get back to the ship. Hey, Zaeed! Would you like this thing?!"
"She's way too fat, you wanker!" Zaeed roared back over the coms. "Too fucking heavy! I like my girls slender and easy to handle!"
"Stop feminising your guns, you crazy human" Garrus complained loudly even as they fought, and Miranda heard Shepard sigh while Jacob assured the Turian that it certainly wasn't something all humans did – which Garrus already knew given how he had served aboard the previous iteration of the Normandy alongside quite a few humans, a fact he soundly informed Jacob, who, in Zaeed's words, felt like a "right fucking ninny".
"Shepard" Miranda spoke to him, surprised at how soft her voice was over him and his issues with the squad. "The Illusive Man is cutting our funding. If you find anything that could be useful to us in our mission, anything at all – guns, armour, provisions, medi-gel, supplies, credit-chits –"
"Steal it?" he wondered, to which she confirmed. "This is what the staff meeting is going to be about, isn't it? Ah, well, might as well take everything that isn't nailed down. We're killing them anyway, so I guess it isn't too morally bankrupt. Zaeed's been stealing all the chocolate aboard this ship anyway. We'll talk this over in greater detail once I'm back aboard the Normandy".
"Good" Miranda nodded even though he couldn't see it. "Lawson out". With that signal EDI cut their conversation short and leaving her once more alone in the office. Letting out a deep exhalation she wondered if she could count on him for all of this she was planning. Perhaps what she needed was to recruit her own people and team for her own undertakings… but when would she ever had the time or the resources needed? It was better to stay along with Shepard for now until an opportunity presented itself for her to truly shake up the way things ran in Cerberus. The Illusive Man kept saying that a war was coming, and the Cerberus needed to be ready to take on anything and everything the galaxy could throw at them. Right then, so soon after her promotion, she was inclined to agree with even more than she usually did.
Only two hours later she was confronted, however, with a woman that would turn the entirety of her world upon its head.
Jack, the one they had gone to Purgatory to recruit, had turned out to be nothing what she had expected. Violent, self-destructive, completely psychotic – yes, she was all of that, but that Miranda had expected. However she had not expected her to be a woman, for her reputation had a decidedly brutal and one would say decidedly masculine air of overcompensation about it. But a woman she was, violent and foul-mouth and covered from neck to heel in tattoos, often overlapping when there wasn't any space for the patterns to spread out, the hair on her head a shaved stubble in which geometric patterns had been cut, and she wore little else but a belt around her upper half in some idiotic fuckwit's idea of modesty combined with combat boots and cargo trousers as she sauntered onto the deck of the Normandy after Shepard and the boarding party, toting a shotgun and a pistol and absolutely radiating hatred for the insignia upon Miranda's uniform.
Jack was, according to the dossiers, one of the most, if not the most, powerful human biotic in existence. No, she was one of the most powerful biotics in history – period. Her powers were on par with those of the Krogan shamans of the ancient records and the oldest of living Asari matriarchs, and her willingness to use those powers shone through constantly in her every violence-prone actions. She was fierce, chaotic, undisciplined and compulsory rude and crude as well as completely unhinged and unpredictable.
Miranda absolutely hated her even at first glance. She was almost glad to know that the feeling was mutual.
"Welcome to the Normandy, Jack" Miranda said to the other woman as they stood in the communications and conference room together with an absent-minded and tired Shepard and a Yeoman Chambers who was trying desperately to merge into the wall in an act of terrified self-preservation. "I'm Miranda, Shepard's second-in-command". She was trying, despite her near reflexive dislike for the other woman, to be polite, though by her appearance she didn't trust her one bit and thus was intent on laying down some ground rules before this lunatic tore the Normandy apart. "On this ship we follow orders, so-"
"Tell the Cerberus cheerleader to back off, quarterback" Jack ignored her – ignored her! – and looked to Shepard over Miranda's shoulder as he was leaning against the wall a ways behind her with his arms crossed before him. "I'm here because of our deal".
"Miranda can let you into the system". What?! She turned around in a whirr and levelled an arctic, positively katabactic, glare his way, wondering what the hell he had promised this psychopath to get her to join their suicidal crusade. "Jack said she wanted a look at our Cerberus database in exchange for joining us. Let me know what you find, Jack".
"Hear that, precious?" Jack spoke onto Miranda and stepped closer to her, gleefully smirking and moving as if to offer challenge. "We're going to be friends: you, me and every embarrassing little secret".
"I can't let you do that" Miranda informed her in no short terms and looked over to Shepard with an icy glare, staring back to the bald convict when the elfin woman's scarred features contorted in betrayed rage. "Not only would I not let scum like you into our system, but I do not possess the means to access the entire database-"
"Then you better get those fucking means, stat" Jack threatened immediately, interrupting Miranda – who did not, in the least, like to be interrupted. This woman was more infuriating that Shepard!
"I don't have access to any files that aren't part of discontinued projects or my own cell's database" Miranda tried to levelly explained, noting internally that she truly hadn't – not yet, anyway, not until her hackers came through. "That is how Cerberus works. Each cell is independent from the others and works-"
"Don't tell me how Cerberus works, cheerleader bitch!" Jack snapped and was suddenly far too close for Miranda's comfort, teeth bared in a wolfen growl that was as primal as it was savage and hungry for conflict and chaos. "Your fucking scientists raised me! I spent my first fucking years in a cell in one of your shit facilities!" Suddenly Jack grinned victoriously as she beheld Miranda's expression. "Seems you didn't know that, cheerleader. Seems you're not as important as you think you are".
"You better watch your bloody mouth!" Miranda snapped back, her biotics whirling around her as she clenched her fists tight so hard that her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. Jack seemed to return the favour, the smaller woman suddenly blazing blue in a terrifying haze as aeonian flames raged around her.
Before things could get violent and out of hand Shepard was there, stepping in between them like a referee at a boxing match and pushing them away from each other, steel in his gaze and iron in his arms. "Stop this" he rumbled "both of you! The Collectors are abducting thousands of colonists, destroying everything our species has achieved in the galaxy, and we're the only ones who can stop them. If we fight amongst ourselves thousands more will be lost. Check your privilege" he looked from Jack to her and then back to Jack. "And save your hate for them. You two keep a deck apart at all times: that's an order".
Jack stared back at Shepard until her rage seemed to fade into the background and a smile grew upon her elfin lips. "Huh. You're more of a boyscout than a quarterback, aren't you?" She turned and stomped towards the door, a slight swagger in her slender hips that Miranda noted for some reason unknown to even herself. "I'll be reading through your secrets down in the hold or somewhere near the bottom. I don't like a lot of through traffic". As she left the room she didn't even look back at them as she laid her final threat. "Keep your people off me. Better that way".
Miranda stood glaring after Jack for the longest time, her brilliant mind conjuring up close to nineteen thousand extremely visceral ways to make that psychotic woman forcefully shut up, and Shepard and Kelly, forgotten, stood awkwardly by the side until the Commander cleared his throat. "So… not the most stabilising element, then? She's pretty handy in a fight, though. She took down three heavy mechs on her way out of cryo all on her own. A freaking biotic goddess – that's what we have here".
"Commander" Chambers pointedly cleared her throat and stepped away from the bulkhead she had been hiding against.
"What is it, Kelly?" Shepard wondered at her, and Miranda wondered at that. Had he fraternised with her too? His degree of personal interaction with the rest of the crew was nothing short of astounding – but she supposed it was quite alright. Kelly, after all, was utterly loyal to Cerberus, and given her personal report with the Illusive Man she might have well be ordered to… get close to the Commander. Such an archaic thing to ask – it did infuriate Miranda, and more than it feasibly should have – but Chambers most likely wouldn't mind.
"May I offer my own professional opinion on the psychological state and makeup of our newest recruit?" she wondered, to which Shepard nodded. "I know she'll be solid under fire. Her tattoos are beautiful – as colourful as her past, I'm sure. But her attitude suggests deep… personal issues. She pushes people away, yet she more than likely approaches sex casually. I think that not even she understands her own motivations. I would not be surprised if she makes advances on you. If you want her respect think twice about accepting-"
"Whoa!" Shepard lifted his hands and urged her silence. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa – let's just wait a second here!" Miranda noted internally that it was a good move from Chamber's side: making the Commander dubious about the notion of pursuing a closer relationship with the anti-Cerberus hatemonger, thus pushing him out of the way from her influence upon his loyalties. "I'll do my best not to piss her off, and as for the sex stuff, pardon my French: she might be hot, but I'm not dumb enough to even try to get my groove on with her!" His mood changed, and he snuck a sideways glance at Miranda, who cocked her head to the side, before he looked back to Kelly. "Besides, she's not my type".
"Noted, Commander" Kelly nodded and headed for the door, giving Miranda long and meaningful look as she did. What was that about… and why was Kelly winking from the doorway when she left? Was she trying to tell Miranda something? She would have to have a long talk with that woman in regards to the new state of things and the new chain of command.
"Sorry about that" Shepard said then, as they stood alone, trying to calm down the obviously furious Miranda who was struggling to regain her normally so icy demeanour. "Well, I should have figured. LawBringer versus the incarnation of Chaos… I'm usually better at reading people than that. Must be the concussive blast I took to the head from that warden on the Purgatory-"
"It's irrelevant, Commander" she interrupted him firmly, trying to ignore the words that bald woman had spoken that were burrowing their way into the depths of her brain. Seems you're not as important as you think you are. She wondered when Lisa was done with constructing that backdoor into the Phoenix Cell's database – she had an extensive amount of research to do. "Summon the others here. We better have that staff meeting sooner rather than later".
Shepard did so, and had EDI promptly call up most of the important officers of his ship and crew. Garrus, in the aspect of being gunnery chief, was summoned, as was Jacob, armoury chief, and Mordin, chief science officer. He summoned Chakwas too, even though she, as medical officer, was under Mordin's technical authority, and engineer Gabriella Daniels, who would stand in for their eventual chief engineer, as well as Chambers, his Yeoman and assistant. Zaeed came too, for some reason, having been discussing past campaigns and glories with Garrus and wanting to come along to see what all the fuss was about, and all in all the lot of them arranged themselves around that great table, chatting amicably amongst themselves while Miranda stood in a grim silence to the side of it all, some small part of her wondering if what the bald woman had said had been true.
"Okay, people, here's the sit-rep" Shepard spoke severely from the head of the table once all of them had gathered, ushering silence. "Entire human colonies are disappearing, abducted in the thousands by the Collectors for unknown reasons. Little is known about the Collectors except that the way to their home world lies beyond the Omega 4 mass relay, from whence no ship has returned. Our mission is this: investigate these disappearances, find a way to take the fight to the Collectors, and ultimately go through the Omega 4 relay and get the abducted civilians back out of there. It's our one ship against the might of an entire species, on a quest to go where no one has ever come back alive from. I've been told it's a suicide mission" he settled back and gave a cocky half-grin to his people. "But I intend to prove that, and all of them, wrong. Ilos, Virmire, Elysium – I've beaten the odds before, and you can count on me doing so again".
"The Illusive Man put a lot of resources in the commencement of this project, as well as the recruitment of Mr Massani" Miranda went on and tried to cut to the chase. "Now he counts on us to bring in our own resources and fund our own actions. In short he has cut our main Cerberus funding – but in return he has given us complete freedom in how we proceed in this operation. Any targets we wish to pursue, anyone we wish to go against – we've been given an opportunity to reshape the Terminus systems, maybe even the galaxy. I would suggest starting by working to bring down the mercenary organisations around the Omega Nebula. Aria T'Loak of Omega has offered a great deal of credits if we help her in her war upon the Blood Pack, Eclipse and the Blue Suns".
"Never thought I'd see the day when I'd be doing mercenary work" Garrus grumbled dourly and supported his carapaced head on his clawed hand.
"What's so bad about mercenary work?" Zaeed protested from aside, Miranda shooting him a look as he was not part of their staff and thus had no business attending their meeting. "You get paid to do what you love, you know? Travel to exotic places and blow them up, meet exiting new people and kill them, work with great bunches of soldiers who you then dissolve in acid after you steal their share of the pay…"
"Yeah, it's all perks" Jacob shook his head at that and looked to Shepard. "Sir, I still think we should reach out to the Alliance. The Corsair program proved that they need people who can operate in the Terminus off the records and outside the books. They're bound to pay us for-"
"I'll put my feelers out, maybe try to get a hold of Admiral Hackett" came the reply on reflection. "But until then we need to earn our pay. Fuel and upgrades for this ship are expensive, and someone needs to fund Mordin's research. Luckily mercs more or less run the Terminus systems, so we can strike with impunity as long as Aria gives us the go-ahead. And it gives us the chance to iron out our tactics, get us all trained up for taking the fight beyond the Omega 4 relay. Miranda, how much money do we need to keep this operation afloat?"
"Lodging and provisions for the crew are provided on our expense aboard the Normandy" she spoke as she flipped through the open tabs on her datapad and brought out the relevant data. "Beyond that there is the issue of pay. Cerberus standard pay for missions like these are five hundred credits a week for personal expenses… and for any active squad members in the field there is, of course, the option to enact hazard pay".
"No" Shepard shook his head and earned some protesting grumbles from Jacob, whose private purchases relied on him having a layer of extensive padding in his bank account. "Our people are joining us for other reasons than credits. I won't cheapen their efforts by trying to buy their loyalty. Standard pay only, at least until we build up a cash surplus. How much is Aria offering?"
"Her latest offer is about eliminating the Blue Suns base on the planet Korlus" Miranda said and brought up her files on the matter of that scrapyard planet, as well as Aria's message regarding that planet and the kill-order she had enacted on it. "She offers fifty thousand credits, on the table, no questions asked, for the destruction of the base and the head – I've no idea if she's being figurative or not – of its leader, Jedore. However the world is a bit of a Blue Suns stronghold, and they have anti-aircraft artillery warding their perimeter making infiltration… difficult".
"Then haggle with her" Shepard urged his XO intently. "Get it up to eighty thousand if you can. Korlus has a lot of downed ships as far as I can remember, it being a junkyard world and all, so maybe we can pick up some heavy plating for the Normandy while there".
"You think that we need heavier armour for the ship, Commander?" Jacob inquired, to which he nodded back.
"I know this ship is state-of-the-art and top of the line, but if we're going to go through the Omega 4 relay I'm not about to take any chances. If this ship is all we've got I want it to be invincible when we take on the Collectors. Garrus – reach out to your old contacts in C-Sec, see if the Council or the Hierarchy are developing any cannons with real punching power. Mordin – that countermeasure needs to be functional ASAP, but if you have any ideas on how to increase the effectiveness of our weapons and armour you jump on that, got it? Jacob – make the rounds amongst the crew and the squad, make sure that they have what weapons they need. If they have any requests you get fabricating immediately. Also requisition whatever armour we need from Miranda's contacts. Chakwas – make sure the med-bay is up to stock and that we've got all the medical supplies we might feasibly need. Daniels – run through the Normandy's systems. I want to know everything we can do to optimise the combat performance of this vessel. Miranda – you handle our requisition orders and make sure we don't go over budget. Once the bargain with Aria goes through we head for Korlus, stat. That's all – if nobody has got any questions?" Silence reigned in the room after Shepard's long triade and no one raised their voice in protest. "Noted. We reconvene in seventy two hours for reports and updates. Dismissed".
"Ah" Garrus sighed in contentment as he stood away from the desk and followed Zaeed out the door along with the rest of the crew, leaving Shepard and Miranda alone in the communications room once again. "Military discipline. How I've missed it".
"Copy that" Jacob said the Turian's way while Zaeed muttered "Speak for your goddamned self" before the door slid shut behind them, cutting short any sounds in the room and leaving it in silence, Miranda and Shepard both still frowning as they leant over the surface of the long table in the centre of the room. "Are we doing the right thing?" Shepard looked up at her, asking, a query in his voice that was of great severity.
"Honestly, Shepard?" she wondered, to which he nodded. "The proverbial ball is in the Collectors' side of the court now. All we can do is make ourselves ready and prepare for the fight that is to come. As long as we have no way through the Omega 4 relay or the countermeasure for their swarms ready there is nothing proactive we can do".
"Yeah, I know… still, us running around and playing mercenaries while the colonies out there are in danger – even if the Collectors haven't attacked anyone since Freedom's Progress it still feels like a betrayal". He shook his head at it all and pinched the bridge of his nose, something he tended to do when frustrated. "What's the plan now, Miranda? You're in charge now, as I understand it – which means that I'm supposed to take my orders from you and you're supposed to take your orders from me. It's one clusterfuck of a ranking mess".
"How about this?" she began to suggest. "You have your mission directive, and you follow it. I offer direction and advice, but on the Normandy you run the show. I still report to the Illusive Man, you keep on distrusting Cerberus, and nothing needs to change. I just organise my own agenda via extranet uplink when I'm not with the shore party".
"That's the problem, isn't it?" he shook his head. "The chain of command ends with me, unless you or the Illusive Man tells me to go kick some Collector ass. I've never done that before. The closest I've ever come to running my own show was on Elysium or when I was chasing Saren – and even then there was the planetary governor in the first case and the council, Hackett and Anderson in the other. Who do I go to if I mess it up? If this all goes to hell, who can I count on to finish what we started?"
"There is no one" Miranda informed him, feeling almost cruel for cutting into his argument like that but knowing that she needed the Commander to have his head in the game and his instincts on sharp alert. "You might feel lost without the red tape, Shepard, without it telling you what's wrong and what's right. But it's not there anymore, and even if the security is gone it can't hold you back anymore. You're your own man now, Shepard. You're free".
"As long as the Reapers are still out there the war's not yet over" he spoke back at her in a dark tone. "Until this fight is won or I die I will never be free… but someone's got to fight this fight, and it might as well be me". He rumbled in frustration at himself and his own sophistic ways and stepped away from that table, looking apologetically at Miranda. "Sorry for laying this on you. I just need to vent sometimes, you know? I'll try not to make a habit out of it".
"No need to apologise" she shook her head as together they headed for the door to go back to their respective businesses. "My door is always open to you if you need to talk, Commander".
"Ah, I'll bother Garrus instead if I need to take a load off" he dismissed her offer, though she could tell that he appreciated it as they rounded the science lab and came out into the main area of the CIC deck. "But… I'm glad it was you I was stuck with. From your summery of the other Cerberus higher-ups I'm pretty sure that you are the least shitty option".
"I am going to take that as the compliment it was meant" she informed him as they stepped into the elevator to move downwards through the ship. "By the way, one of our possible recruits is on Korlus. I forgot to mention it earlier – a Krogan warlord named Okeer".
"Krogan, huh?" he wondered, his poor mood morphing slowly into a smirk. "Sounds perfect".
The mission to Korlus had been both a success and a failure – something Miranda had thought impossible. However she was quickly coming to learn that Shepard had the ability to muck even the most fool proof of plans up and still somehow come out on top.
He had gone to recruit a sniper for his team on Omega – and had nearly gotten that same sniper killed as well irrevocably upset the political balance of the entire Terminus sector.
He had stepped aboard a prison ship with the intent of retrieving a single biotic for his squad – only to later slaughter his way through prisoners and guards as the station security tried to capture him and sell him.
And now he had gone to Korlus to recruit a warlord – only to end up with the warlord dead, his lab and research destroyed and his valuable base bombed and gassed into oblivion. Only a single subject of the scientist Krogan remained and had been taken aboard the Normandy to… she wasn't sure if Shepard was going to let her transfer that comatose Krogan specimen to the Orcus cell for a healthy sum of credits from the Doctor or if he was actually going to wake the damn thing up and ask it to join them. At least the Blue Suns on that planet had been eradicated.
"Small mercies, I suppose" Miranda sighed by her terminal three days after they had set course for Korlus, noting with profound disinterest as Aria's payment went through to her Lazarus Cell shadow accounts, the full value being eighty one thousand two hundred and sixteen credits offered to them as a reward for a job well done along with the promise of additional payment if they kept levelling mercenary bases in the Terminus systems.
Miranda herself was immensely tired, having barely had time to take a shower and a snack to get up her energy after following along with Shepard, Mordin, Zaeed, Garrus, Jacob and that psychotic biotic Jack to the surface of Korlus. Not that she had been forced to do very much in that combat situation, as she had merely hung back and offered support to the others as they, with the help of some rouge Krogan experiments, tore the mercs to shreds. But Korlus had been swelteringly hot, smellier than Omega, and their trek through the spaceship graveyards of the Blue Suns base had been long and gruelling – not to mention that she had gotten acid all over her uniform when a Blue Suns tech-trooper had gotten past her defences for a second. She hadn't been hurt, but she was still quite peeved as she was down to her last good catsuit uniform. She supposed she could have EDI's fabricators in the armoury make her a new one – when Garrus wasn't hogging the damn foundry to make his highly specialised custom Turian rifle. Maybe she could take the opportunity and design the suit herself – something more formfitting, less modular with black reinforcement over the back and arms that was thicker than her original. Perhaps she should just strive to match her Commander and make it all black, with gold instead of red to symbolise her Cerberus-
A mighty crash shook the ship from beneath her, snapping her from her thoughts to leave her fully awake and furiously active. "EDI, status report – now!"
"Certainly, Operative Lawson" the machine replied and buffered for a few precious second before it answered. "Commander Shepard has awoken the Krogan specimen retrieved from the lab of warlord Okeer in the portside cargo hold directly beneath your office. Should I bring up the security camera feed to your personal terminal?"
"No – I'm going down there" she snapped back and zipped her catsuit all the way up, activating her kinetic shields and biotic barriers by connecting the shields module to the centre of her back and reaching for the gun in hidden compartment in her desk, one of several weapons she had hidden around her office and cabin. "Tell the Commander to hold on – I'll be down there momentarily".
Storming through the crew desk, past startled and frightened members of the crew and a bleary-eyed Garrus who had been busy painting in the few discrepancies in his facial markings that had been chipped away at by mercenary fire from their last mission, thinking them safe as they were in the middle of a blue-shit back to the Omega Nebula. She didn't tell him to grab a rifle or to come along – for he had done both already, and in silence the two of them descended through the ship via the elevator as another crash shook it. Once out of the locomotive box they found themselves side by side with a profusely cursing Zaeed who marched together with them to the portside cargo hold and slid the door open, guns held at the ready.
The two inside didn't seem to notice them, but Shepard was still alive to Miranda's immense relief, held and pressed against the wall of cargo hold bulkhead by the neck by lumbering beast that seemed to be two parts angry Krogan to one part human baby, judging by the orange gloss of its skin and the fragmented and not yet morphed-together state of its skullplate. "Not your name – mine" the Krogan spoke to something Shepard had said, its voice vaguely familiar to Miranda's ears. "I am trained, I know things" its face, its massive and teeth-filled maw were just inches away from Shepard's head "but the tank… Okeer couldn't impart connections. His words are hollow".
At least the creature was not as attached to Okeer as Miranda had feared, going by how it had been raised by a madman scientist with a near genocidal agenda against all other Krogan suffering from the genophage. Still, it was armoured, rabid, and big – but Shepard, not taking his eyes away from the beast, held up one hand to the side as if to usher Garrus, Miranda and Zaeed to stand down. "Warlord, legacy, grunt…" the creature went on, stopping at that last word with a ponderous considerence. "Grunt. 'Grunt' was among the last. It has no meaning. It will do". It seemed to focus back on Shepard, bright baby-blue eyes as intent as they were rageful. "I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me".
"You wouldn't prefer 'Okeer' or Legacy?" Shepard wondered in calm curiosity as if he wasn't about to be crushed by a six and a half hundred pounds heavy Krogan, and Miranda had to give it to the man – he had one hell of a poker-face even as he silently pulled his N7 Eagle from his hip and pointed it to the Krogan's midsection without it noticing.
"It's short" came the rumbling answer. "Matches the training in my blood. The other words are big things I don't feel. Maybe they fit your mouth better. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. I will do what I was bred to do – fight and determine the strongest – but his imprint has failed. Without a reason that's mine one fight is as good as any other. Might as well start with you".
"I have a mighty ship and a strong crew, a strong clan" the Commander, still deadly and calm, informed the Krogan, giving the Normandy sale's pitch like only he could. "You'd make it stronger".
"If you are weak or chose weak enemies, I will have to kill you" the Krogan warned.
"Our enemies are the Collectors and entire armies' worth's of foes. They are worthy – no doubt about that" the Commander went on, smiling then.
"Hmm" the Krogan seemed to ponder it for a few long moments before it agreed with a hearty nod. "That's… acceptable. I'll fight for you, Commander Shepard". Son of a… he actually did it. Miranda, Zaeed, Garrus – even Jack who had come along to see what all the noise was about, were stunned and in awe.
"I'm glad you saw reason" Shepard's smirk grew triumphant as he poked the Krogan's armour with the muzzle of his pistol, causing it to look down and chuckle, impressed.
"Ha!" It was amused and happy all at once as it released Shepard and backed away, Shepard holstering his pistol and rubbing his now aching but free neck. "Offer one hand but arm the other. Wise, Shepard. If I find a clan, if I find what I… I want, I'd be honoured to eventually pit them against you". Suddenly he looked up and aside to find the four people standing in the doorway to the cargo hold, their rifles, pistols and shotguns all drawn on him. "Humans, three of them, and a Turian. Okeer tried to make me hate all" the young Krogan remarked but didn't move, seemingly not as prone to the bloodrage as other members of his species. "Lucky for you he failed. Two of them are females of your species" he looked to Shepard in slight confusion. "Are they members of your harem? Okeer's training suggests that such is the proper place of a female aboard a warship, and they seem to dress for-"
"He's lucky he's an infant – otherwise I'd rip his fucking head off" Jack snarled and stomped away back into the undercrofts of the engineering deck where she had made her home, leaving only Miranda levelling an icy glare at the young Krogan who seemed to be taken aback.
"Grunt – meet some of my squad, my best warriors. Garrus, the Turian with the sniper rifle, is my brother in arms and has been for years. Zaeed is the older human, who has fought in more wars and battles than can be counted. And Miranda, the female, is the deadliest one of them all" he informed Grunt in no short terms. "Your training seems faulty in lots of places, Grunt. We'll have to go over this at a later point. Squad – meet Grunt. He's just been born, so he doesn't have a surname yet".
"You really do get all goddamned sorts, don't you Shepard?" Zaeed shook his head and left to resume throwing daggers at the image of his most hated rival and oldest foe like he had been before the waking of the Krogan interrupted him. Garrus left too, not wanting to be in the same room as an unstable and "pure" Krogan until Shepard had left a deeper mark on it given the history their two species had with each other, leaving Miranda still glaring at the young Krogan, who was starting to fidget under her icy gaze.
"Don't worry about it, Grunt" Shepard laid a hand on the massive brute's shoulder, and though he jerked at the contact he stilled with a shudder and the touch seemed to calm him down somewhat. "Her stare used to do that to me in the beginning too. Now it's actually pretty cute". Miranda's glare shifted recipient, making Shepard squirm just a bit despite his bravado. "Okay, Grunt – now you apologise to the pretty lady for being such a sexist".
"I-" Grunt looked to Shepard, a little outraged at the suggestion, before meeting the Commander's eyes and reluctantly hanging his head as he turned back to Miranda. "I'm sorry" he rumbled in a defeatist tone and scraped his armoured and clawed foot at the ground. "I won't suggest that you're Shepard's property ever again".
"Good – apology accepted" Miranda nodded Grunt's way and holstered her pistol to the hanger on her hip, narrowing her eyes at Shepard. "Please inform me the next time you do something like this, Commander. Do see me in my office after the staff meeting in two hours".
"Someone's going to get spanked" Grunt muttered after Miranda turned to leave, followed by a deep, drawling chuckle that somehow reminded her of Wilson, the scientist back on Lazarus Station that she had killed. "Heh heh heh - owie!" he protested as Shepard head-butted him to make sure that he stopped making stupid jokes at his expense.
"I told you to be careful" Miranda said onto Shepard later as they stood around the long metal, glass and plastic table in the communications and conference room on the Normandy's CIC deck, the burly Commander a little bruised from the earlier mission and much more bruised from playing and/or fighting with their newest recruit but in an upbeat mood even after the profoundly meaningless and tragic death of warlord Okeer. "I told you to be careful" she repeated sourly "but what do you do? You go ahead and open the tank and unleash a crazed Krogan on the ship like Captain bloody Krik".
"Who is this 'Captain Blood-Kirk'?" Garrus wondered aloud, but was given a blank shrug by Mordin and long looks from all the humans in the room, telling him to ask at a more opportune time when their XO and Commander weren't busy telling each other off. "Oh, well then… Shepard, how is the Krogan – Grunt? Any… indications that he wants to peel off my fringe and repurpose it as an ash-tray?"
"The massive baby Krogan fell asleep, tried after all the excitement" Shepard answered Garrus, causing a soft "Ahw" to come from doctor Chakwas, before he turned back to Miranda. "And what else was I supposed to do? Unless you haven't noticed our squad's sort of low on heavy hitters right now. Especially considering the tactics I have in mind for our collective military doctrine…" he drifted off and shook the mild concussion from his head, looking to the others. "Alright, everyone: report. Miranda, how are things on your end?"
"The funds are cleared, Commander" she informed him with a sigh. "Just an average day on the Normandy, I guess". And, indeed, it was.
And so we drop the curtain on tonight's performance. Actors, take a bow!
A/N: And so brave Shepard leapt inside
with a face as dark as that of flying night
Gleaming black flashed fiercely about his body
and he had two guns in his hands
None but a God could withstand him
as he threw himself into that gateway
and his eyes shone like fire!
Ugh… I'm reading the Iliad again for school right now. It only strikes me now how much of an absolute cretin Agamemnon is made out to be. Perhaps the story was in need of an overt antagonist, and somewhere out there in the mists of time is a lost story were Agamemnon is made out to be the hero? We will, in all likelihood, never know.
Next mission is going to be a while, as studies are sort of getting in the way – but it's a doozy. Can you say arma-fucking-geddon? I'm sure you can J.
Read and Review, dear readers, and DFTBA!