Chapter 4 – "Cain"
Originally, the planet Shepard found while scanning was going to be an idyllic farm planet, full of simple people who were strangely unaware of events outside their small community but who were otherwise non-descript. Over the course of several 'away missions' (think Star Trek), Shepard and his crew would uncover oddities and discrepancies before finally uncovering the truth about the clones. Initially they would make the wrong assumption, believing the clones were the Cerberus agents responsible and the women were innocent. Shepard would then be disabused of this notion with the reveal that the women were not only aware of the situation, but were behind the whole thing. I even toyed with the idea of an apparently misogynistic society on the surface (men treating the women like medieval property), which would cover the truth of an unseen societal arrangement which was almost completely the opposite.
This idea fell apart due to in-story time constraints. Shepard and the Normandy simply don't have the free time to spend days or weeks casually dallying on a remote planet while the Reapers are busy doing their thing to Earth and the rest of the galaxy. This revelation wound up affecting large parts of the plot, leading to the somewhat rushed feel of events in the story.
This is the penultimate chapter of "Project Gemini". Enjoy.
The sun had already set by the time Shepard's work group returned from the fields. As before, the wives awaited them at the edge of the settlement. Shepard had instructed each of the men to act as they normally would; stressing that, until they made their move, the wives would have to suspect nothing.
Shepard searched for Liara, finally noticing her near the kitchen fires. Just like the previous night, Shepard took the proffered bowl of soup and led Liara over to their spot by the noisy generator. While scooping out a spoonful of soup, Shepard felt an odd shape in the bowl.
"A master keycard," Liara explained around a mouthful of soup. "I swiped the blank from the research lab and recoded it to work on all the doors."
"What about the Normandy?" Shepard asked, raising his spoon as if to blow on the hot soup. "Were you able to let them know what's going on?"
"Not yet. Most of the women were there working on something. I think they were trying to get in touch with the Illusive Man." Liara responded.
"Then time is running out. The men I worked with are talking with the others tonight. Things are going to come to a head soon. I need to find the armory, or whatever they're using for weapons, and make sure they can't use them against us."
"You'll need that key then. Their system security is light so I should be able to hack in and monitor things from one of the offices without being noticed. But you'll have to move fast."
Shepard put the bowl down, surreptitiously palming the small ID card from the bowl. "We move tonight. Those weapons need to be secured before things up here come to a boil. Once we have the weapons and the women are restrained, we'll call the Normandy down, get everyone on board, and get out of here before Cerberus arrives."
"Don't forget the data, Shepard. I don't think you want Cerberus starting this experiment all over again as soon as we go."
"You're right. Once we've got the women restrained, do what you can to purge the data while we're loading. Anything else?"
"Just be careful, Shepard. The Illusive Man was right about one thing: we can't afford to lose you, especially not now."
That night Shepard searched around the bed, hoping to find a trigger or switch to activate the lift down to the underground lab. On her previous visits to the command bunker Liara had used the main entrance located in the medical clinic. However, she agreed that there were probably lifts in each of the residences to make it easier to bring unconscious clones in for emergency treatments and procedures.
According to the men Shepard had talked to, each of their wives slept on the right side of the bed every night, so Shepard began by examining that side of the bed while Liara kept watch. Sure enough, a small cover on the head board just behind the pillow lifted to reveal a small switch. Getting back on the bed and motioning to Liara to join him, Shepard flipped the switch, causing the bed to slowly lower into the floor.
Shepard tensed as the lift came to a stop in a darkened lab. Quietly getting off the bed, Shepard snuck to the door as Liara began activating the nearby computer. Seeing no one in the hallway outside, Shepard returned as Liara finished hacking into the computer system. Bringing up a floor plan of the complex, Liara pointed to a small room at one end of the facility. "Armory", she said in a quiet voice before pointing to another room, this one more towards the center of the facility "Communications". Finally she moved her finger to a point about midway between the two.
"This is us. This room is as good as any, so I'll stay here and try to keep you off their sensors." Reaching into her pocket, she produced a small earbud communicator and a vocalizer patch, which she handed to Shepard. As Shepard put the earbud in place a message crossed the screen before them.
"It looks like something is going on up above." Liara said, switching to a live feed of the surface. An image of the central platform appeared, showing several men gathering in the orange artificial light along with a group of the women who looked increasingly alarmed. Shepard recognized Alex and Marcus among the growing crowd.
"It's starting. I'd better get that armory secured before things turn violent." Shepard said, turning away from the computer and towards the door. "Keep me informed if anything changes."
"Yes, Commander."
Shortly after leaving the room, Shepard heard Liara's voice in his ear.
"Shepard, it looks like Dr. Martin was able to make contact with the Illusive Man. He's sending troops to collect the clones."
"Understood. What about the surface, what's going on?"
"The clones are saying something. It looks like they're angry. One of them is pointing at the women. Wait, a group of the women are confronting the men. Tempers are starting to fray out there, Shepard."
"I'm almost at the Armory now. Do you see any weapons? Are any of the women armed?"
"No, not that I can see. Right now they're acting confidant but they're definitely afraid. They're probably waiting for their commander to do something."
"I'm at the Armory." Shepard said then paused, hearing footsteps coming down the hallway. "Sounds like I have company. One sec." Shepard ducked behind a bulkhead as a group of women ran down the hallway towards the armory. As they passed, Shepard jumped them from behind, tackling the women and driving them to the floor. Elbows and knees cracked on the hard floor as he landed on the women, stunning them long enough for him to quickly grab their heads and slam them into each other, knocking them unconscious. Remaining crouched over the bodies, Shepard listened intently for sounds of more company.
Hearing nothing further, Shepard pulled the unconscious bodies towards the armory door then used his keycard to open the door and deposit them inside. Searching the shelves and racks Shepard quickly found his armor and weapons which he immediately began donning. Suddenly the door opened to admit a disheveled Dr. Martin, apparently just awoken from her sleep by the disturbance on the surface.
"I don't care how panicked you fools are, I'm not going to let you destroy all of our hard work just because the subjects caught wind of the experiment." she began in a sharp voice, obviously continuing a previous argument and oblivious to Shepard's presence. "Listen, all we have to do is use the knockout gas to put them to sleep. Then we'll be able to take our time getting them all re-prog…" Dr. Martin trailed off when she finally noticed Shepard in the room and the pistol aimed at her head.
"You'll be able to do what, Doctor? Wipe their memories? Reprogram them into mindless cattle?"
"Shepard! What are you doing here?"
"The experiment is over, doctor. No more clones, no more memory wiping, no more playing God. It's all over." Shepard flicked the pistol briefly away from Dr. Martin, indicating she should move away from the door.
"So you're behind this? I should have guessed, as soon as I saw you with that mongrel alien filth. The Illusive Man told us you were a rogue agent. He wants you apprehended you as quickly as possible." Dr Martin slid towards one of the equipment racks, eyes flickering over the shelves, looking for a weapon.
"Not going to happen, doctor." Shepard suddenly lashed out, his fist hitting Dr. Martin in the face. She immediately crumpled to the ground, unconscious and leaning against the equipment rack. "And that's for that 'mongrel alien' crack."
Resuming his search of the armory, Shepard found a small closet filled with ammo crates. Removing the crates, Shepard stuffed the bodies of the two researchers into the closet then locked the door using the nearby panel. Returning to his gear, Shepard finished reloading his pistol, which had been used quite effectively to threaten Dr. Martin even in its unloaded state.
"Liara, I've got the doctor knocked out. Two of the researchers are locked up in a storage closet over here. What's the status on the surface?"
"Not good, Shepard. A full-on fight has broken out. We've got scuffles between the clones and the researchers all over the place. No weapons so far, but it's only a matter of time till someone remembers those farming tools. A couple of the clones pulled the children aside and are sheltering them in one of the buildings."
"Dr. Martin mentioned using knock-out gas. Can you disable the emitters from where you're at?"
"Let me check." Liara went silent for several long seconds before returning. "No, they've locked me out of those controls. It looks like they found my hack and they're disabling it."
"Alright, I'm on my way to you with the doctor, maybe we can use her to regain access. We'll head to the command center and take control there."
"Acknowledged, Shepard."
Shepard returned to the lab dragging the unconscious Dr. Martin and waited on guard while Liara donned her armor and weapons, reclaimed from the armory by Shepard. Re-equipped, the pair made their way through the hallways, Liara guiding them using a map she loaded onto their Omni-tools. At one intersection they ran into a group of researchers armed with riot sticks, probably sent to locate Dr. Martin and subdue Liara. Liara made short work of them, lifting them into the air with her biotics and slamming them repeatedly into walls, ceilings and floors. Finally she let them go, dumping their battered bodies to the floor.
Shepard took aim at several points, but hesitated. For some reason he was unwilling to pull the trigger on the researchers, who he felt were still non-combatants despite their arming themselves with basic weapons. He wanted to scold Liara for the savageness of her attack, but decided she was probably just releasing her stress from the last couple days. Instead, Shepard checked them for consciousness and vital signs before continuing towards the command center.
They arrived at the command center to find a group of four researchers clustered around the main monitor, watching events unfolding on the surface. "Get your hands up and back away from the terminal." Shepard declared, stepping into the room with his pistol raised and threatening. "Now!"
Liara, floating Dr. Martin in the air with her biotics, followed him into the room as the women gasped and spun towards Shepard. Slowly they raised their hands and followed Shepard's directions to a corner of the dark room, where Liara tied them up along with Dr. Martin, who was starting to regain consciousness.
Once the researchers were secured, Shepard returned to the primary monitor, a large screen filling almost the entirety of the wall upon which camera feeds covering most of the surface and the underground facility displayed their images. It appeared that the fight on the surface was coming to the end. Most of the women had surrendered and were sitting clustered on the central platform under guard by a large number of clones. A few researchers still fought, but were slowly being overwhelmed by the stronger, tougher clones.
Beside Shepard, Liara work hurriedly at the terminal. Finally she looked up at Shepard. "I've got the gas emitters disabled but long range sensors are showing a Cerberus frigate in orbit. Shepard, it's launching shuttles."
"How long until till they get here? Do we have time to evacuate the clones?"
"Shepard, they're already…" A sudden roar of engines presaged the landing of two Cerberus shuttles in the middle of the settlement. "…here," Liara finished.
"Alright, contact the Normandy, have Joker take out that frigate before it can send down any more troops, then send Jake and Garrus down with the shuttle. I'm going to head to the surface and do what I can till they get here."
"It's too late, Shepard" Dr Martin called from the corner. "Those troops will back up my team and put down this little rebellion of yours. Surrender now and maybe we'll find a place among your brothers for you."
Shepard opened his mouth to argue with the doctor, but was interrupted by a sound from Liara. On the screen, the Cerberus troops had cordoned off the area and separated the clones from the researchers. "Shepard, go! Before it's too late."
Shepard ran from the room, guided by Liara's map towards the main elevator out of the underground facility. While waiting for the elevator, Liara kept him apprised of events on the surface.
"Shepard, they've got the clones mostly subdued. Some are putting up a fight but they're being beaten down quickly. The researchers aren't fighting, but they aren't being treated any better. Hold on, they're bringing the children out of the building. Wait, what are they…? By the Goddess, Shepard, hurry! They're shooting the children!"