Hours later, in the orbit of Lusia.
Shepard: -On the way to the bridge- Any information about the place we are going to?
Barla Von: It's the Central Command of the Asari Sixth Fleet. The facilities are located on the outskirts of Monoi, abandoned, too damaged to use them again as headquarters. Nowadays only one communications antenna which is remotely controlled works, but as the asari have given it to the civil sector there is no military presence. We're alone.
The door of the bridge opens.
Captain Oszol: -He goes towards them- It has been a great honor for this one to take such prominent passengers. In ten minutes you'll be at the spaceport of the city.
Shepard: The spaceport? Can't you drop us off right in the objective? It will take us long to get there from the city.
Captain Oszol: This one would be pleased to bring you nearer to your destination, but it believes there will be riots in the landing zone and the ship is not made for that.
Arnius: -Talking to himself- Je, "riots".
Barla Von: When the mercenaries get what they want from the doctor they will get rid of her. Time is a critical factor.
Captain Oszol: It understands. It doesn't have any shuttle, but it can go without an escape pod if that's all right with you.
Shepard: We can use that.
Captain Oszol: It only has room for three, the one who stays here will be brought to Monoi.
Shepard: Thank you, captain.
Captain Oszol: This one wishes you good look in your mission.
Shepard chooses Javik and Barla Von to go with him. They get inside the escape pod and activate the expulsion system. Little by little the planet comes near.
-O-
The Third Fleet has stationed in the orbit of Eden Prime, planet on which the Alliance concentrates numerous efforts to recover its farming production. Now that it is in safe territory the repairs begin.
EDI: Incoming transmission from the SSV Logan.
Joker: Pass it to the cockpit. -EDI opens the communications channel- Admiral.
Admiral Singh: Lieutenant Moreau, you've done a great work. Your actions have saved many lives of the Alliance. I'm not surprised that Admiral Hackett has you in such high esteem.
Joker: Thank you, sir, we're glad to have been helpful. Even so I regret that the Colossus managed to escape.
Admiral Singh: True. It escaped, although at the cost of many casualties in its ranks… This time they've won, but we're still alive to confront them again.
-O-
The previous headquarters of the Sixth Fleet are placed at the top of the mountain. The slope is steep, only the landing zone, currently occupied by Tazzik's frigate, allows the access to the facilities. Of the two thick towers on which the impressive parabolic antennas locate only one is still standing. The other lies next to the antenna that it supported, their remains scattered mix up along the fall. Due to this, only the lower catwalk by the base of the west tower offers a place to land the pod, although the margin for error is minimal. As for the GARDIAN cannons which protected the area only two are left, the others are nothing more than scrap metal, and there is no trace of the automatic anti-infantry turrets. On the highest point is the main building, placed on a two-leveled platform which is reached by climbing the endless stairs which start in the landing area. There are nothing more than few projecting meters of the bridge which linked the platform to the demolished tower, and from the one of the west tower the main girder and part of the railing still endure, but not the floor, so in order to access to the functional antenna the asari have put provisional scaffolds. Even though that it cannot fulfill its original assignment, the place is still useful, so the key points of the structures have been propped up to prevent their collapse and then what is left of them do not fall into disrepair. Everything is calm except for the troops of the Broker who occupy the place. The entrance to the main building is fortified with a barricade and a heavy machinegun, the stairs are very well covered.
Shadow Broker Agent: -Looking at the sky- A ship is coming!
The mercenaries run to their posts. The escape pod brusquely decelerates and it almost does not manage to land on the catwalk. From the bridge a large group of agents of the Broker aim at the intrusive vehicle. Shepard, Barla Von and Javik get out through a hatch on the opposite side to which the enemies can see. As soon as the Commander shows up a rain of fire begins. When the shooting cease they run until covering next to the tower, where the troops stationed on the bridge cannot hit them. However, others have come down the stairs to reach the catwalk and advance towards them, but they quickly eliminate them.
Javik: How are we going to get there? They'll riddle us from the bridge!
Barla Von: It will take us too long to eliminate them all!
Shepard: No, I have an idea. Do you see that scaffolding? We could blow it up.
Barla Von: Hmm… Yes, that could work, but I'll need covering fire. I have to get very close and my shield boost won't be enough against so many enemies.
Javik: You won't get far with that machine gun covering the area, I'll handle it.
Shepard: All right. Now, go!
The volus comes out first and runs until he reaches the stairs, the prothean follows him closely and Shepard advances rearward shooting at the enemies of the bridge. When Javik reaches the first rung he fires and sustains the beam of his particle rifle against the head of the machine gun's gunner, finishing him as soon as his kinetic barrier falls.
Javik: Foolish primitives! -He turns to the bridge to support the shots of the Commander- In my cycle mercenaries knew how to cover behind the shield of a mounted gun!
The Shadow Broker agents concentrate fire on those who return it, which allows Barla Von to get close enough to the bridge so as to deploy recon mines. In a matter of seconds an explosion takes place in the midpoint of the scaffolding, two more in the ends which support it. The volus moves away while the temporary structure gives way, dropping the enemies posted up there.
Shepard: Move!
Without the suppression fire they can climb the stairs eluding the shots which come from the barricade, and when another agent gets in the turret they have already reached the first level of the platform, where they cover. The mercenaries regroup. Javik shows up and uses his biotic pull to then slam the gunner against one of his companions. With lift grenades they bring several enemies out of their cover and eliminate them in the air. Those who stay still oppose to leave their position. The team climbs the last flight of stairs and after opening up a breach in the fortification they clear the area. When there are not more of them, Barla Von unlocks the doors of the building and they go in. The floor is full of rubble. The counter of the security post is split in half and numerous bullet impacts cover the walls. Purple and greenish red marks can be seen too wherever they look at, which indicates that during the invasion the reapers had to deploy ground troops to bring under control the asari assigned to the Central Command of the Sixth Fleet, maybe in an attempt of capturing the facility to obtain any information they could use to eliminate the fleet with the largest number of dreadnoughts in the Asari Navy. They continue through the only unblocked corridor, the automatic turrets which protected it are broken up. There are burns everywhere. They reach the room of the end, where they take the elevator and go down to the command room. As soon as the doors open and they take five steps several flashbang grenades explode.
Shepard: Move back!
Before they can return to the safety of the elevator three asari vanguards use their biotic charge against the team, bringing down Shepard and Javik. Barla Von, however, dodges her carrying out a cartwheel, and when she turns to finish him he is not there. He reappears behind her by deactivating his tactical cloak and fires his Paladin. The first bullet brings her shields down, the second ends her. The one going against Shepard turns to eliminate the volus with her shotgun, but he generates an energy sphere around him which throws an electric shock to the vanguard, and while she is stunned he hurls her a recon mine at her feet and runs to kill the asari who is going to execute Javik. When the stunned vanguard recovers Barla Von detonates the mine, smashing her. The Commander and the prothean stand up.
Barla Von: -With naturalness- Clear.
Javik: That has been… impressive.
Barla Von: Thanks. They cost me a fortune, but I knew that someday the light intensity regulators would come in handy.
The room is not very big: a curved wall with a straight one on which there is the door which overlooks the command room. Across the door…
Tazzik: Finally the download has finished. Now it's your turn to annul the last block. -He tightly grabs Liara's handcuffed hands and puts them on the terminal. On the screen infinite numbers appear, which start to rearrange. When the process finishes he releases her-. See? It wasn't that hard… -He takes the Carnifex that he has on his belt- Well, you're no longer useful. -He puts the pistol on her head- Smile, asari, you're going to embrace eternity.
Shepard: -At a few meters and coming closer while aiming with his Avenger- That's not going to happen, Tazzik! If you pull the trigger you're dead.
The last two Shadow Broker agents present aim at the Commander. Tazzik is still pointing at Liara.
Tazzik: You're late, I've finished transferring the Broker's network to my ship's computers. I already have what I came for.
Shepard: You won't go anywhere, this time you don't have numerical superiority. -Tazzik holds his defiant look- Release her.
Suddenly an explosion creates an opening on the ceiling and through it nine mercenaries fall using their rocket boots. They place themselves between Tazzik and Shepard.
Tazzik: Kill them!
Liara begins to feel how a great power seethes from her inside. The team is forced to move backwards in order to cover behind some terminals. Tazzik returns his look at his prisoner, the asari is wrapped up in a biotic cloak, concentrating her energy. Before the salarian can pull the trigger Liara throws him through the air.
Shepard: Keep pushing!
The first agent falls under the Commander's fire. The asari, after breaking the handcuffs, walks towards Tazzik, who goes sore on all fours in the opposite direction to her so as to get his pistol back. The door of the command room opens and a badly injured mercenary comes in limping with an M-920 Cain. Neither Shepard nor his team see him, as he is behind them, but Liara does. Although she wants to put an end to the menace the salarian means she knows that if she does it she won't be able to save her companions. Without hesitating even for a second she turns aside of her target and runs towards the Commander, knocking down the mercenaries who are interposing with her biotic, and when the Cain fires Liara creates a barrier to protect them on which the projectile impacts, causing an enormous explosion at a few centimeters from her. Much of the energy is absorbed by the barrier, but the one who fired volatilizes and that part of the room suffers heavy damages. Shepard leaves the terminal behind which he was covering and places himself between her and the agents, and thereupon his companions follow him and stand beside him. Tazzik takes advantage of the situation and flees through the hole of the ceiling while his last men give him time to escape retain the Commander. When the energy of the explosion has completely dispelled Liara helps to finish the last three agents left. In that moment the racket of the frigate's thrusters turning on comes from the outside, it is about to take off.
Barla Von: He's going to escape!
Liara: -She hesitates momentarily- No, we know too much. -She realizes what Tazzik is going to do- He's not fleeing…
Liara runs to the central computer of the room followed by the others. She finds the command she was looking for and reactivates the systems of the control center. The doctor diverts power to the GARDIAN system, which after activating shows its operability status on the screen.
Liara: -Worried- We barely have anti-aircraft capacity, I hope it's enough against the torpedoes… -While typing in- Shepard, the tracking system of the turrets is damaged, the two must be controlled from here. -Indicating him a gunnery terminal- Sit there, switch on the HUD interface and focus on the torpedoes. If just one hits us we're dead.
Barla Von: And the ship?
Liara: I have something special for it.
Shepard: Understood. -The Commander sits at his post- Who will operate the other turret?
Liara: You. The other terminals don't work, you'll have to alternate the control of both. Use that to prevent overheating.
Shepard assents, but he know it is not going to be easy. When the HUD interface has loaded he sees through the camera of the turret. Of the different indicators he quickly identifies the heat one. The Commander begins to destroy the first torpedoes. Meanwhile, the doctor makes a tridimensional holographic map of the area appear on the screen, centered on the facilities, and after typing the appropriate command the view moves away and shows one of the three planetary defense batteries which still protect the capital.
Javik: I like it, with that firepower we'll put an end to it.
Liara: I can hack that mass accelerator with -a warning in red color appears in the middle of the screen- Don't tell me this now… The antenna is not connected to these facilities! You two, go to the tower and connect it! Hurry! -They both obey-.
The GARDIAN system is in worse state than they thought. The cannons heat very fast and radiators are ineffective to dispel heat. They will not last long.
Barla Von: -In the elevator- Does she refer to the tower whose bridge we blew up?
Javik: I'm afraid so. We'll need to improvise.
The Commander keeps intercepting all the torpedoes that Tazzik's frigate launches while Liara finishes adjusting the parameters of the antenna for when it gets connected. Outside, the prothean keeps the balance with difficulty walking on the main girder of the bridge. The volus seems to be doing a little better, but not much. Shepard pushes one of the turrets to the limit in order to bring down a torpedo at a few seconds of the impact, leaving it incapacitated.
Shepard: Damn it! We just have one left!
Liara: -Through intercom- Will you be long? We're running out of time!
Javik: It's almost done!
Suddenly the warning showed on the screen disappears. A mechanical creak indicates that the antenna is aligning.
Liara: Good work! Come back!
When the communications link has established Liara hacks the planetary defense cannon and marks the ship as target. The frigate moves away and returns firing more torpedoes against the base.
Shepard: We're about to lose the last turret!
The frigate moves away again, giving time to the immense mass accelerator to place the ship on its point of sight. When the ship turns and goes towards the facilities the cannon makes the first shot, which hits the target. The second do not hit, but the third does, bringing down its shields. The next makes heavy damages in the ship, but it does not seem to stop. Tazzik will not give up, not with victory at his fingertips. He knows that if he launches the torpedoes even closer the Commander will not be able to destroy them, and then it will be a matter of evading the mass accelerator flying at ground level. The ships makes evasive maneuvers and other shot fails again, the salarian prepares for launching one broadside more. Barla Von and Javik appear through the door to watch the outcome on the screen.
Liara: -She still feels the pressure of the Carnifex's barrel against her head, the words "smile, asari, you're going to embrace eternity" Tazzik said echo in her mind- You first.
The mass accelerator opens fire and the shot strikes the frigate, which violently bursts. The camera of the GARDIAN turret shows on the screen how the explosion disperses its remains along the slope of the mountain at dozens of meters below the facilities. Liara relaxes and Shepard leaves his post.
Liara: -She sighs of relief- Tazzik is history.
Shepard: Yes, and you recovered your biotic.
Liara: -She smiles- I'm glad I could help.
Shepard: -He comes and stands beside her- And now what?
Liara: I'll continue dismantling the organization. In a certain way Tazzik has contributed to it, with his ship destroyed my network is lost for the most part. Nobody could recover it.
Barla Von: But there must be other secret facilities left. And more agents…
Liara: I know where those bases are. And in relation to the agents, we've eliminated most of them. Those who didn't join Tazzik have probably disappeared.
Shepard: What if he revealed them your identity?
Liara: I don't think so. His plans were too daring, Tazzik wouldn't give more information than necessary to those who hadn't joined him yet to prevent me from finding out. The remaining agents won't be a problem.
The four leave the room and get into the elevator.
Shepard: Any idea of how he could discover who you are? We can't let this happen again.
Liara: Yes. To begin dissolving the organization I ordered many agents to shut down certain facilities with the excuse that their security had been breached. One of them was Tazzik. -They get out of the elevator and walk towards the exit- I didn't send him to Terra Nova, but for the files from Cerberus we discovered there I'm sure that on the way he found coded data on which my identity was revealed. That's why he went to Terra Nova, that facility is the only one which has the few encrypting codes of Cerberus I had.
Barla Von: But that doesn't explain how he knew you were dismantling the organization.
Liara: That place was a communications booster, utilized to disperse information and orders making difficult any possible tracking. My instructions to shut down facilities had to go through there, and by knowing my identity Tazzik would realize there were too many vulnerable bases to be true. He would understand I was putting an end to the organization, and with it he had the perfect excuse to convince the others that following him and killing me was their only chance of survival.
When they come out to the outside and begin to go down the stairs they see that a shuttle comes down on the landing zone. Once they get there, with their weapons raised, several asari commandos go out and aim at them. The officer recognizes the Commander, and after ordering her people to put the weapons down the team does the same.
Asari officer: What brings Commander Shepard to a place like this?
Shepard: -He invents a story to protect Liara's identity- We pursued a band of pirates up to here. They were planning to use the antenna to divert civilian freighters and hijack them. Fortunately we ended them before they could carry it out.
Asari officer: Have you hacked our planetary defense cannon?
Shepard: It was necessary. We had no other way to stop them.
Asari officer: I'm going to need a lot more details.
Shepard: I'm sorry, it's Spectre's business. The planet is safe, but the investigation is not closed yet.
Asari officer: Spectres… -Annoyed- My superiors won't like this… -She sighs- Anyway, do you need transport to the city? I see yours -she indicates the escape pod- won't take you too far.
Shepard: We would be very grateful.
Asari officer: -She speaks to her commandos- Go inside and collect any information you can about what has happened here. -Looking at the team- Get in.
The five get into the shuttle. Liara sits next to Shepard, rests her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. Mission accomplished.
-O-
A black shape observes the space through the window of his dreadnought. Many of his subordinates have not got used to the spaciousness of the galaxy which surrounds them yet, but he seems to feel comfortable contemplating the infinite. What he craves to conquer.
Legate: Supreme leader, we've just known that the detected shipyard is safe now.
Supreme leader yahg: -He turns his head to look at him- I want the alpha in charge of that ship to come to see me. He only had to gather resources without attracting attention. He needs to understand the price of his lack of discretion.
Legate: It will be done in that way.
Supreme leader yahg: -He observes the space again- Which are the progress?
Legate: Almost all ships you've assigned to the invasion are already here. You were right, several have been spotted by the species which populate the galaxy, but there have been no more problems so far. Nobody seems to have followed our steps up to here, your distraction plan has worked.
Supreme leader yahg: As I expected the Shadow Broker has not risen to the occasion. Those inferior creatures are easy to manipulate.
Legate: We've also tuned up the cruiser you ordered to leave adrift. We prepared it as you told us and that salarian found the information about the Broker's identity we left him, he never suspected the ship was abandoned intentionally. I recognize although he couldn't eliminate the asari his interference was very effective.
Supreme leader yahg: The unworthy served our purposes by distracting that information specialist, and he did it better than expected. She is the only one who could have adequately investigated the sightings and have tracked us up to here… But it's too late for them. -He walks towards the legate- Begin the preparations. Now nothing can stop us.