CHAPTER TWENTY
Reaction
"Monitoring the local relay is standard procedure for clandestine bases," Kirrahe said, leaning over the star system projected onto the primary CIC display. "Especially isolated ones. Simple tactics."
"Cerberus isn't known for being careless," Kara agreed. "I think we should hit the base as soon as we arrive. If we jump to FTL straight out of the relay, we could be there in an hour. No time to organize, or destroy evidence."
"No time for us to plan, either. Why not wait, watch the enemy, and attack when your Admiral arrives?"
Rear Admiral Kahoku was, according to his profile, a fairly mild man. A skilled tactician and by-the-book strategist, he commanded one of the fifth fleet's rapid response groups; nine cruisers, and eighteen frigates, with a total compliment of about five thousand personnel, including twelve hundred marines. He took attacks on his soldiers personally, which was why she believed he was serious about hitting Cerberus. He valued loyalty above all else in soldiers, to him, and to each other. "He could've made a deal with the Defense Committee; they give him the Cerberus cell responsible for the death of his team on Edolus, he gives them me."
"You don't trust him?"
Kara shook her head. "It's his report of an assassination squad infiltrating Arcturus Station. The Defense Committee needs Cerberus to look small and marginalized, because they're supposed to be fighting it. Killing admirals inside Alliance HQ is anything but." Of course, there was always a chance they had slipped through with help from someone in Intelligence or station security, under orders from above or not.
"Then I agree, an improvised attack plan would be best, Captain," Kirrahe said, rubbing his long chin thoughtfully.
"I want the bridge staffed for possible combat before we exit the Yangtze relay," Kara told him. "If this is a trap, we'll be allowed to land a ground team, so there won't be serious resistance in space until after we're down."
"Dropping out of FTL on the far side of the planet will allow the Normandy to remain hidden."
Kara nodded, and walked around the central station. "How much time have we got?"
"Twenty-six hours."
That was four hours to exit their current relay jump, then another of twenty-two hours to the Yangtze relay. Twenty-four hours had already passed since her meeting with the Geth, and making final arrangement for its journey to the Citadel, which would leave them two days to neutralize the base before Kahoku arrived. "I'll take Ash and Tali with me. The Normandy will remain in orbit, while we take the Ke'val down." She turned to face him again. "If an hostile fleet shows up, your priority is to save the ship."
"Yes, Captain," he said. Somehow, she suspected that he might disobey. Perhaps he believed, like Tali, that her beacon encounters made her essential to stopping Sovereign. Since Virmire, she had come to believe it herself.
Kara could have tried to persuade him, but she trusted his judgement, and she had no use for subordinates that blindly followed orders. Instead of trying to argue her case, she simply nodded. "I'm going to get some sleep," she told him, before making her way down to the crew deck and into her cabin. As she locked the door behind her, she immediately noticed the young asari asleep in her bed.
Liara lay on her side, with her face pressed into the thin, standard-issue pillow, as though seeking whatever trace of Kara's scent that clung to it. She looked so peaceful, safe, a faint smile on her lips, and a handful of blanket clutched between her fingers.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she leaned down to pull off her boots. The asari had returned each night, since the meld, six days ago now, and shared her bed. They talked, and kissed, and grinned at each other when they woke up, but nothing more. That was fine, though she hoped Liara did not hesitate out of shame at her own inexperience.
Smiling, Kara ran her fingers along the pale, dark-flecked fringe that separated Liara's face from her crests. Then, swinging her legs up, she slipped beneath the cover, and fitted herself into the curve of the asari's body. She rarely had much difficulty falling asleep, but of late the tone of her dreams—all that she remember of them—was lighter.
Warm fingers were tracing a slow pattern against the bare skin of her side. Kara moaned softly, sliding her leg against Liara's. In the silence, she heard what might have been a tablet against her desk, and then another hand pressed against her skin, rolling her onto her back.
Kara could almost feel the asari's blue eyes on her, and smiled broadly. She opened her own eyes, reluctantly. "Hey," she whispered softly. "You were waiting up for me."
"Yes," Liara agreed. Kara had broken off from studying another stack of reports in the early evening, returning to her cabin for a few hours sleep. If all went according to plan, they were set to depart the Normandy at around 0300, and she had wanted to be well-rested. She had slipped out of her shirt because she found it more comfortable, which made it easier to relax and drift off, though she was pleased to see desire her body evoked, simmering in the asari's eyes.
"What time is it?"
"About 0100," Liara said, using the standard Alliance mil-speak numbers. They were easier for Kara's sleep-clouded brain to translate than Thessíe numerals. She smiled, reaching up to touch the asari's soft cheek.
"We've got some time, then," she said. About forty minutes, if she wanted to be dressed and ready when the Normandy exited the relay into the Yangtze system. She needed to be in the CIC, in case of surprises.
Liara reciprocated her caress, brushing hair from her face. "Kara, let me come with you. I have to… to keep you safe. I guess that sounds silly."
"No," Kara replied. She understood the impulse, demanding that she leave Liara behind, to keep her safe. When it came to missions, though, she tried to choose the best team for the circumstances. In this case, the technical expertise to hack into Cerberus' database, and another human. "I get it, Liara, but I have to put the mission first."
Sighing, the asari settled beside her. "It's not like that. It's staying behind I can't stand. All I feel when you're out there is helpless and afraid, and I can't focus on my work. At Solcrum, I spent the entire mission in the CIC, waiting for news. At least if I'm with you, I can watch your back."
And maybe sacrificing herself for her lover? Kara did not find that thought comforting. She wanted to spend many a pleasant year with the asari, and though she commonly felt that way at the start of a relationship, she would not dismiss it. Maybe Liara was different, or maybe not, but she intended to find out.
"I love you, Liara," Kara stated, meeting the asari's gaze.
Her face flushing in the dim light, Liara propped herself up, a seductive smile on her lips. Her hand, fingers splayed, slid across Kara's stomach, and paused at her side, pulling them together. "I love you."
As Kara watched Liara's face move slowly closer, the asari's hand resumed its wandering. Their lips met in a series of quick kisses, teasingly, like the warm fingers that slid lightly over her breast.
Almost two hours later, Kara strapped herself into the Ke'val's rear compartment. They had found no ships waiting for them near the relay, and not so much as a frigate in orbit of Binthu, though they had confirmed the presence of a small complex on the surface. She anticipated a trap. Even without the Normandy's advanced stealth systems, they were ways to hide a ship. Behind the planet's small moon, for example, or another planet. From now on, though, that would be Kirrahe's concern. Hers would be to deal with whatever resistance they found on the surface, possibly without support.
Sighing, Kara closed her eyes, and thought back to Liara's farewell, in the armor just a few minutes earlier. The anxiety and fear she had spoken of in their cabin added an almost desperate passion to their kiss, her wandering hands defeated by ceramic plating and ballistic cloth. Did she wish that she had not broken off when they did, going beyond caresses?
"Captain, we're ready to deploy," Ilan'ne's voice informed her, the salarian pilot firmly settled in the forward compartment. "Captain? Captain?"
"Take us out, Tanan," she ordered hastily. She needed to put the moment out of her head and focus, before her distraction put the mission at risk. They could hardly feel the shift as the vehicle powered up, the artificial gravity reducing slightly as the Ke'val's inbuilt system took over from the Normandy. It exited the frigate's cargo bay by using its eezo core to generate thrust, before its hydrogen/oxygen primary thrusters took over.
"Hey, skipper," Ashley grinned, seated beside her in the crampt space. "You're looking a bit flushed. Maybe you're coming down with something? A bad case of the blues?"
Kara frowned at the dark-haired marine. "Is that a problem, Chief?"
Ashley stiffened. "No, sir!" she declared quickly. If she still harbored any anti-alien sentiments, she managed to hide them well enough. "I just prefer something with a bit more thrust, myself."
"Like Wrex?" Tali asked, her tone teasingly innocent, a surprisingly quick response to alien innuendo. Her engineering crew must have been offering helpful pointers.
"Agh, no!' Ashley protested, crossing her arms as she glared across the cabin. She turned to Kara. "Would that even work?"
Kara's experience with galactic culture had not included naked krogan, of either gender. She knew they were functionally similar to humans, but there was a wide gap between functional similarity—internal fertilization of ovum resulting in live births—and physical compatibility. Even human males and asari were not—despite appearances—physically compatible. A krogan male and human female could, probably, work out something that was mutually pleasurable, but it was unlikely to approximate either species' conception of intercourse. The same was true for the reverse, which was why human/alien relationships were not easily definable as straight or gay. They were something entirely different. At least the imagery had successfully banished Liara from her thoughts.
"I'm no expert," she shrugged. "Give it a try and report back."
The craft began to shudder, buffeted about by the planet's turbulent lower atmosphere. They would reach the ground shortly, and from there cover the last few kilometers to the base, hopefully undetected.
"You know, I think I can happily live in ignorance."
"If that's what you want," Kara laughed. She was not all that interested in looking up the answer, either—part of the excitement of sex with a new species was figuring out how things worked. And they didn't always. They didn't have to. There were more than ten billion humans in the universe, and they were few compared to the populations of the Council races. One could always find someone more compatible, from the same species as often as not.
Ashley smirked. "Did you notice, Tali? I think we cured her."
"Shepard, this is Kirrahe. We have incoming. Alliance patrol cruiser with Cerberus markings, and fighter compliment. No sign that we've been sighted. We're resuming our position on the far side of the planet."
"Acknowledged, Sevis." Kara punched a fist-sized hole in the barriers of a Cerberus trooper who was firing at them from atop a pile of crates, and shot her in the head. Judging by the low quality of their equipment, the troops they'd faced so far were more diversion than obstacle. Bait for the trap, the teeth of which took the form of the cruiser in orbit. "Ash, move up. We need to locate the control center before they start dropping more troops."
That had been their improvised plan. Infiltrate the base and disable its anti-air defenses, leaving the Normandy free to land with reinforcements. Secure the base, recover any information and equipment of value, then overload its reactors. If they could capture the control center, and turn those defenses on Cerberus, then the cruiser's compliment of troops would be trapped in orbit.
They no longer had time to waste wading through recruits, though. Rolling out of cover, she rushed forward to Williams' position. Ahead of them, another crude blockage filled the corridor, and she counted at least eight Cerberus troops behind it. "Grenade," she ordered softly.
Ashley nodded. Pulling one from her belt, she lobbed it down the corridor. Focusing on the space beyond the barricade, Kara summoned a biotic field in the middle of the recruits, just enough to prevent them escaping the explosion.
As soon as the blast of heat and light faded, Kara charged the toppled pile of crates, with Ashley right behind her. Together, they finished off the survivors. "These boys are green as hell, Shepard," the marine noted, unhappily. "I wouldn't send 'em off on a fucking picnic, forget a firefight."
"We still can't get caught between them and their reinforcements," Kara said, cautiously approaching an intersection. A scattering of bullets greeted her, as she peered around the corner. "Stand down and you won't be harmed," she shouted.
In response, one of the troopers tossed a grenade in their direction. Kara heard it bounce once, and instinctively flipped it around with a biotic field. The cry of surprise from the Cerberus troops, as their own weapon returned to them, was cut off by another explosion.
Had they even been prepped on basic counter-biotic tactics? There were sound reasons why the asari had never used thrown explosives. They were too easy to redirect.
Sighing, she gestured for Ashley to take the lead. It was easy to oppose Cerberus, as though it were simply some faceless enemy, but it always came down to people. Kids, whose circumstances in life had somehow made the organization look like an attractive option, indoctrinated or drugged into throwing their lives away.
"Kara?" Tali said, appearing beside her. "Are you okay?"
Kara nodded. The quarian had been watching their backs, through most of the running battle, and held off a few of the troopers on her own. One of the salarian engineers had shown her how to cause a feedback loop that ruptured the eezo cores in captured Cerberus assault rifles, turning them into improvised grenades. "What are we even doing here, Tali?" she asked.
"Fighting Cerberus?"
Were they, though? She didn't even know what they were expecting to find. Was this an important facility, or a mere outpost? It didn't take much counterterrorism expertise to know how limited a blow they were striking. "I hope so."
"Captain," Ilan'ne's voice interrupted, "a shuttle just landed with twelve troops. They're headed in behind you. Should I engage?"
These would better trained and equipped, meant to pin them down until they could be overwhelmed. If the cruiser were packed to capacity, there could be nearly two hundred fighters waiting to be shuttled down. At twelve people a trip, each of which took thirty minutes, they had perhaps two hours. Less, if there was a second shuttle. The salarian could buy them time, but would make himself an obvious target. "No," she decided. Perhaps with the next drop, but not yet. "Keep out of sight, and report as more arrive."
"Got it."
"More soldiers…" Tali muttered, her shoulders drooping slightly. "Kara…"
"I know," she said, laying her hand on the quarian's arm. "Let's go."
They rounded the corner, walking quickly past the remains of the last barricade. Ashley had already scouted the next intersection, and waved at them to hurry. "Control center's right here," she stated, as they approached.
That was a relief, depending on what waited for them through the heavy door. She anticipated a final surprise, meant to keep them securing the room. As soon as she and Ashley had taken up a position bracketing the door, she pressed the controls.
The first thing to capture her was the large display that dominated the far wall, currently showing a tactical overview, split between the situation in space, and on the ground.
Then she noticed the man standing before it. He was close to her height, black haired, and wearing bulky black armor. An assault rifle hung from his back, next to what appeared to be a sword. "Spectre Kara Shepard," he said, in a raspy voice that dripped with contempt, "traitor to humanity. I've been looking forward to this."
Over his shoulder, one of the hostile markers moved towards his in time with her steps. Kara released the seals on her helmet, pulled it off, and passed it to Tali. "Start working on the turrets," she ordered quietly. "Ash, secure the door."
The man turned. His features suggested some asian heritage, but she did not recognize them. "Should I know you?" she asked.
Dramatically, his hand rose to his back, and he drew the sword from its holster. "I'm humanity's sword."
That was ridiculously pretentious, but that was an accurate assessment of Cerberus' mission. "Forget the introduction. Let's just get this over with."
The Cerberus agent grinned, swinging his weapon. "Fine by me," he declared, and charged.
Kara began with an attempt to penetrate his barriers with a biotic field, but his suit compensated for the attack. She sidestepped his first swing, holstering her pistol as she did, then settled into her familiar combat stance. They did not have much time to settled this, before his reinforcements arrived, but she tested him carefully as he continued his assault. Swords were not a common weapon, but among those small manufacturers that stamped them out for collectors and hobbyists, some integrated the necessary mass effect cores and circuitry to make them effective against modern armor. If he were a biotic as well, it could make for a dangerous combination.
Fortunately, he seemed unaware that his odd shifts in momentum were her doing, the result of biotic fields too weak for his suit to register, something she would have experienced as minor feedback. Even with her interference, his sword came closer than she liked. After a few minutes at most, he overextended enough for her to catch his sword-arm, punching him twice in the face before slamming his wrist into her knee. The weapon clattered to the the floor, and she kicked it away.
He swung his free hand at her, but she released him and ducked the blow. She nudged him momentum up, letting him overbalance, and wrench him up arm behind him as he flailed, and drove him head-first into the nearest console.
The man slid to the floor, and lay there, staring up at her with a dazed look in his brown eyes. Not waiting for him to recover, she jabbed a sedative from her medkit into his neck. "Tali, status," she said, as she stood, and turned towards the tactical display. The map of the facility showed that his reinforcements were almost on top of them. On the other half, a shuttle appeared to be departing from the cruiser.
"I just need a minute," the quarian said. "The turrets are online, but I'm having trouble with—"
"Captain," Ashley declared loudly, from her post near the door. "We've got company."
Kara drew her pistol, looking around for solid cover. "Just keep working, Tali."
Kara had taken to glancing up the tactical display at random intervals. The cruiser was a problem, and not easily dealt with, considering her resources were limited to an infiltration frigate and a light tank. It remained in low stationary orbit over the base, watching and waiting for her to make a move. The shuttle, carrying a second load of troops, had gone down under fire by the base's GARDIAN turrets, but they were still trapped on the surface. The Ke'val could not outrun the cruiser without leaving the atmosphere, where they would be overwhelmed by a swarm of intercepters.
A closer look at the display had revealed Cerberus' ship to be a Vancouver-class cruiser, a pre-contact design. After the fleet reassessment that followed the war, the new Geneva-class was drafted to fill the modified light cruiser role. Rather than pay the prohibitive costs of modernization, the Alliance mothballed or sold off the older ships. Ships of its class were capable of landing on a planet with Binthu's gravity, a slightly weak .8g, which presented possibilities. The limits of their thruster output and fuel supply required most starships to divert barrier power to their mass effect core, making an assault by the Normandy a real possibility. The base's air defenses, if properly target, could also work, but they had limited range.
Tali had suggested using the Cerberus agent, either willingly, or by faking his voice. His name, acquired from his omnitool, was Kai Leng, a former N7 operative whom Cerberus had busted out of prison. He hadn't kept records of what he did to get discharged and locked up, but it was easy enough to guess at it being some sort of anti-alien hate crime. She had stripped him of equipment and locked him in a containment cell, along with his surviving troops. She doubted he could be convinced to cooperate, which was why she told Tali to get started, while she attempted to discern just what the rogue organization was doing with the base.
From what she discovered, Cerberus had been doing experiments on something they called 'thorian creepers'. The emaciated creatures resembled biochemically-converted husks, previously intelligent creatures who'd become mindless slaves. Harper's original plan had included them as part of the trap, but had failed to find a means of controlling them. They had intended to use them in their trap, but her rapid assault had ruined their plan. In the end, though, it seemed that Leng wanted the pleasure of defeating her all to himself, and for that reason alone they might have failed.
Cerberus had purchased the creepers from ExoGeni Corporation. She recognized the name as belonging to a 'frontier corp', companies that founded colonies on credit, and then exploited their contract-bound populations. Most of the time. Brynja's homeworld of Álfheimr was one such world, kept in poverty by constant payments on their debt and pirate raids.
In this case, ExoGeni had planted the colony of Zhu's Hope on a world called Feros, in the Attican Beta cluster. The description in Cerberus' database mentioned extensive prothean ruins, spanning much of the surface, once home to an estimated eighty billion people, probably a regional center of government and trade. The corporation had hoped their colonists would ancient city, recovering valuable artifacts. Perhaps that was just what they had found, a device that somehow turned people into creepers. A, or the, thorian could also be something else entirely.
Whatever it was, she found herself contemplating yet another intervention. First Saren, his geth, then Cerberus. Now, an Alliance-based corporation. She'd never come closer to walking away from her career than she had five weeks ago on the Citadel, while she waited to learn the Council's decision. Now, she found her self-image turning again into the heroine, ready to fucking tilt at windmills. It didn't matter that she always managed to win, she hated the role, the presumption, and the admiration from those who hadn't a clue what any of it meant, the very same people whose inaction made hers feel necessary.
"Tali, are you done yet?" she asked, hoping to smother her bitter anger in activity, or at least distraction.
"Just about, Kara," the quarian muttered, leaning over one of the operations consoles. "I've managed to write a filter into the communications protocols. Anyone speaking through it should sound just like Leng, but it isn't ready yet…"
Kara sat down in the next chair, and watched her in silence for a moment. She had an intensity about her when focused on her work, and the results were always excellent. Her combat skills had also continued to improve, with the benefit of some STG training. She had killed her share of Cerberus troops.
She sighed. It wasn't what she wanted, to turn an innocent young quarian into a soldier. A killer. "You've come along on a couple of missions now, Tali. Is it what you expected?"
The quarian turned her head, her glowing eyes focusing on Kara's face. "Sort of," she said. "It's exciting, I guess. And terrifying. All the blood is pretty gross. The geth go down so cleanly, and the vids make it look cool, but—"
"The first time I killed anyone," Kara interrupted, smiling faintly, "I threw up."
Tali half-nodded. "Cybernetic stomach," she noted. "There are lots of things you can't do when stuck in a suit all the time. Anyway, you got used to it."
"That's not something to be proud of, Tali."
"No," Tali agreed, entering a few holographic keystrokes into her console, before turning back to Kara. "I'm not sure I understand it, either, but I don't really understand you. Not that I don't like you. I do. You're, uh, sweet, but, uh…" she trailed off with a charming awkwardness, and resumed her work with an embarrassed shrug. "And, uh, done."
Kara smiled. "Thanks, Tali. Let's give it a try."
Tali switched on the system, and Kara contacted the cruiser in orbit. She knew they'd only get once chance.
"There will be no negotiations, Shepard," the captain responded, cold hostility evident in his voice. "Surrender yourself and the Normandy, and you won't be harmed."
"This is Leng, fool," Kara replied sharply. The captured former marine had not seemed the respectful type, after all. "Shepard is secure. Land the ship so we can bring her aboard."
"At once, sir," the captain said.
Kara closed the channel, and turned to the tactical display. The cruiser began to move immediately, leaving its fighter wings in orbit while it began to descend. "We'll wait until they're within two kilometers before opening fire," she said. "Tali, if they manage to land, we'll have to make a run for it in the Ke'val. Let Ashley and Ilan'ne know to be prepared."
"Of course, Kara," the quarian nodded.
She hoped this would work.
"Ma'am, the Normandy's H/O fuel reserves have been refilled, and we've transferred all the supplies we have space for. We're back to two months worth of food, water, and so on, with the exception of turian rations. Doctor Chakwas and Orlanis have checked everything for surprises, and it's all clean."
Kara nodded at Keyx's image on the small ops display. "Good. We'll join you once I've spoken to Kahoku, and Leng is secured."
"Aye, ma'am," he nodded. She closed the channel.
Kara leaned back in her chair. After two days of restless waiting, she found herself in dire need of some sort of forward motion. Some news from Liara's efforts would have been ideal, just what she needed to distract her from digging too much into Cerberus' files. Instead, they hadn't spoken since she left the ship, so that she felt both impatient and alone.
She slid her headset back over her ear; "Ashley, tell Kahoku I want to see him now." She suspected that the admiral had delayed their meeting as an attempt to establish a dominant position. Such games were a waste of time, and served only to annoy her. "Mention that we've rigged the base reactor to overload."
It wasn't just a means of forcing the Kahoku's hand. As she did not have the forces to secure the base, and did not trust the Alliance to do so for her, it was her only real option. The Cerberus prisoners would be transferred to the Isandlwana, and hopefully end up in a cell somewhere. Harper might have Leng freed again, but he would have to risk additional resources and personnel. Either way, he would be denied the base.
"We're on our way, sir," the black-haired marine replied, after a brief delay. After her resignation from the Alliance navy in disgrace, it was no wonder that the company of an admiral made her uncomfortable, and she had expressed a desire to return to the Normandy. Kara had refused.
She did not have long to wait before the greying admiral, wearing armor and flanked by a pair of marines, arrived. He waved for the marines to wait outside the control center. Ashley, wearing a discomfited expression that mostly concealed her embarrassment, hesitated briefly, but followed him through the doorway. "Shepard, you're not going to blow this place," he began brusquely.
"I'm in charge here, Kahoku," Kara stated quietly, before settling in to watch him in silence. After the ambush he ordered on Edolus, she had no intention of following his orders, even had she entirely trusted him. Nor was his disapproval of her actions resolved by their mutual dislike of Cerberus, or their need to work together.
"Cerberus is a human organization, Spectre. As the ranking Alliance officer present, this base is my responsibility. I appreciate your help, but I'll take it from here."
She shook her head. "The Alliance is incapable of stopping Cerberus," she said, pointing him to a nearby chair. "The Defense Committee prefers to cooperate with them."
Kahoku's eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "You'd better have evidence to back up an assertion like that."
"Of course," she said, smiling faintly. Leng's omnitool held more information about wider Cerberus operations than the base's mainframe, including records of Jack Harper's plan to capture her. It was careless of him to keep them, perhaps too careless, but arrogance was a common failing, and the details fit the narrative she expected.
Thirty days had passed since Kara had first contacted Kahoku about the failed ambush on Edolus. The trip from Arcturus Station to Binthu took twelve days, leaving a short span of eighteen days for his investigation, long enough to draw the attention of Cerberus and the Defense Committee both. When he contacted the Shadow Broker, Harper knew immediately, though he did not know what information the admiral received, or what he agreed to pay.
Kahoku had gone to his CO, Admiral Steven Hackett, with the information, but neither man could authorize a raid beyond Alliance space without permission from the Defense Committee. So, expecting support, they had gone before it. The Committee had refused, citing political concerns over sending even a small fleet so far into the Traverse. This was no more than fifteen days earlier, just as pirate raids on the outer colonies were increasing, and the point was fair.
Events did not stop there, however. The Committee contacted Harper, or the other way around, and together they reached an accord; Cerberus could eliminate Admiral Kahoku, and in exchange Kara would be turned over to the Alliance. The hit squad on Arcturus Station forced Kahoku to abandon proper channels, and turn to her for aid. The Binthu base was emptied of valuable personnel and turned into a trap, plans for which were finalized in the last few days. Leng knew that the Normandy, its position tracked through the comm network to the Armstrong Cluster, would arrive first. She could be isolated and trapped, then used to force her crew into surrendering. Once they had been secured, Cerberus might have attempted the same trick on Kahoku and the Isandlwana.
It took two hours to go through the evidence, allowing the admiral to decide the implications of each piece for himself. When she finished, he sat quietly, just watching her. He had almost certainly wondered if she could be trusted, a valid concern from his perspective. Like many of his fellow admirals, he had made his reputation during the first contact war. Twenty-six years was no small amount of time to dedicate to an organization. His loyalty to the Alliance would not easily be challenge by a renegade, not when her evidence could be dismissed as fabricated, and her opinions as propaganda.
He would, however, accept custody of Leng and the other prisoners, and return with them to the Alliance, hoping that their capture and interrogation would redeem him, and provide some answers. It wouldn't. Not knowing what kind of evidence he had of their involvement, the Defense Committee would have no choice but to discredit him. His association with her, disobeying orders, dealing with the Shadow Broker and even risking an escalation with the batarians, they were charges that might stick in the public imagination.
Kara frowned, running her fingers through hair much in need of washing. "Admiral, you don't have a choice in this. You either trust me, or you end up in an Alliance prison cell."
"Or both," the Kahoku sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I'm not a political man, Shepard. I just tried to do my job, and keep my men safe. I should never have gotten involved with this."
He shook his head, and straightened up, his expression tired. "I believe in finishing my fights," he continued. "What is it you want me to do?"
"Fight back," she stated. "If the Defense Committee is working with Cerberus, then you have a duty to oppose them."
"With what?" the admiral snapped. "My men are the only resource I have, and there's no chance I'd put them up against their own government."
Nor would she have asked it. If the allegations were sufficiently strong, and enough opposition gathered within the fleet, the current members of the Committee could be forced out. She didn't know how much difference it would make. The Alliance itself was an institution created by corporate interests, and could not effectively be used against them. She doubted that it could even be turned against Cerberus long enough to dismantle the organization.
"If you want Cerberus stopped, you'll have to find a way," she said. "I have my own responsibilities."
The admiral nodded, slowly. She could almost see him assembling allies in his mind, other admirals and officers, politicians. A perfect recipe for a PR show of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Note: Cleaned up the running battle, somewhat. Didn't give Kai Leng any more respect. I added the scene with Liara to provide a little foreshadowing, and made Kahoku more resistant to Kara's orders.