It was hard not to be tense. Shepard hadn't been told any of the details of Liara's mission in case Cerberus had hacked her communications, but the knowledge that somewhere, one of the two women she loved was risking her life to save the other was enough to add to the commander's already considerable stress level. Fortunately, her jailers didn't expect her to be in a good mood, so when she shot a sullen glare at Broderick as he lingered in the chow line, he didn't pay her any mind.
Eventually, the big man settled on some breaded chicken and she took his place, starring blankly at the offerings on display. The food wasn't bad; Cerberus tried a lot harder than the Alliance when it came to chow, but she wasn't hungry. She hadn't had much of an appetite since the mission to Bahak and Jack's abduction, but she knew she should try to eat anyway. It wouldn't do to be starving when it was time to act.
She still was trying to decide between the chicken and a passable looking lasagna when she got the message. Her omni-tool buzzed and she jumped to look at it, probably too quickly. It was most likely just Miranda or the Illusive Man with new orders for her, but hope was all she had, the hope that it was from…
Sender: EDI
Message: Arachne has the package. The pick-up will be public soon. Prompt action is required.
Broderick turned, his attention drawn by the hitch in her breath. "What is it?", he asked. "You win the Thessian Lottery or something?"
She closed the program. "Not exactly."
He gave a derisive snort and turned back around, reaching for a piece of cake. That was all the opening Shepard needed. She grabbed the heavy pistol he always wore at his side, and before he could register what was happening, she fired three rounds into his spine. She hated sneak attacking like this, but there were five Cerberus operatives on the ship she had to neutralize and the element of surprise was one of the few advantages she had. Besides, remembering the savagery with which he'd torn into the batarians a few days earlier, it was hard to feel too bad about his fate.
The operative collapsed to the ground in a bloody heap and everyone else in the room froze. The rest of the people there were no threat; they were support personnel like Ken and Gabby, who did all of the thousand things that kept the Normandy running, but they weren't soldiers. True, they were Cerberus employees, but most of them were more loyal to her than the organization, people she'd let stay on board after her previous coup.
"Don't worry, everyone," she told them, "Whatever happens, nobody should hurt you. Just go to your racks and stay there until you get a signal that this is over."
The crew members began to disperse, not keen to be caught in the middle of whatever was going on, and Shepard took a deep breath. Caught off guard, Broderick had been the easy one. The rest of the operatives would be ready for her and she had to keep one step ahead of them. Fortunately, she'd been planning for this.
She opened her comms up. "EDI, I need you to seal Joker in the cock-pit, and Doctor Chakwas in the med-bay." Those two were the members of the crew who'd been with her since before her death and she wouldn't put it past Miranda to take them hostage. "Also, lock down the AI core," she added, "And try to stop the other Cerberus personnel from moving around if you can manage it. We're re-taking the ship."
EDI sounded genuinely pleased at the news. "Very good, Commander. I suspected you might say that when I relayed Liara's message to you. Lockdown protocols have already been initiated."
"Great. Now, I need a path to the armory. Is anyone else down there?" She had Broderick's sidearm, and she'd been keeping a personal shield generator with her the last few days just in case, but she really needed her armor and heavier weapons to do this.
"Operative Taylor as well as 2 technicians. What do you wish me to do about them?"
"Nothing. I'll deal with them myself." She could have had EDI open the hanger doors and vent them into space, but the techs were non-combat personnel, and Jacob, whatever his allegiances, was with her at the Collector Base. Spacing him without warning was too much. "Just turn off the elevator lights. I don't want them to know I'm coming."
The elevators weren't exactly fast, but they'd never seemed to grind more slowly than right then. Shepard wished she could have given her crew some warning before she begun her little counter-coup, but the message EDI had relayed to her had been clear about the need for haste. As soon as the Illusive Man realized that Jack was free, he would've ordered Miranda to imprison or possibly even kill her. Shepard was pretty confidant she could take any of the five operatives on the ship, but not all of them at once, which was how they would've come at her if they'd had some warning.
When the doors finally opened, she saw Jacob getting into his armor by one of the weapons racks, while the two technicians were positioned on either side of the lift, trying to get it working again. They scattered as soon as she emerged, but the operative was another story. He spun around, leveling an assault rifle on her even as she aimed her sidearm at the center of his chest.
"What do you think you're doing, Shepard? You know what'll happen to Jack when Miranda finds out about this."
"Jack's safe, which is more than I can say for you if you don't put that gun down." She caught a flicker of doubt in his eyes, and she pressed it. "Listen, Jacob, you're a decent enough guy. You can't tell me that what Cerberus has been doing lately sits well with you."
"Maybe not, but I'm a soldier. Understanding exactly why we're doing what we're doing is above my pay grade. Look, I don't want to fight you but if I have…"
She hated herself for using his hesitation against him, but time was of the essence and it was too risky to do anything else. While he spoke, she looked left and moved right, unloading on him while she dove. His barriers were up but they were never as strong as Jack or Samara's and he winced under the impact of her shots, his return fire going wild.
He recovered fast though. A biotic field grabbed hold of the piled tools and weapons that lay around the cargo hold, hurling them at Shepard. A few of them slammed into her shields before she took cover behind the weapon's bench but once she was shook off the impact, she realized Jacob had inadvertently given her a gift. A couple of concussive grenades were among the detritus hurled at her and she armed one of them and threw it back. The operative rolled out of the way, but he only managed to partially evade the blast.
Using the opening she'd created, Shepard leapt out of cover, time seeming to slow as she closed the distance between them. Jacob picked himself up from the wall the grenade had knocked him into, but it was too late to evade her attack. The butt of her pistol crashed down on his still-unarmored head, and he clutched at it as blood poured down into his face. Jacob managed to throw a kick up at her, but she side-stepped his booted foot easily enough, and when her second blow slammed into his cranium, he went limp.
Once she was sure he was alive but out cold, Shepard put on her own armor and gathered up her weapons while she considered her next move. That's Broderick and Jacob down, which leaves Rooker, Callis, and Miranda. "EDI, what's the status of the other Cerberus operatives?"
"Operative Lawson is…" The was a scratching noise, like nails on metal as the AI's voice flickered in and out. "Lawson is…."
Shit. "EDI, are you all right?"
"Shepard… There… Interference…. Unknown…."
EDI's voice trailed off and Shepard cursed herself for having been so overconfident. I should have known Miranda gave in too easily on the AI shackles issue. She must have hidden some virus in EDI's systems in case I tried something like this.
She was no engineer; the only thing she could do was take back the ship and either make Cerberus undo the damage to EDI or get Tali to try and fix the AI once she was back on board. Fitting the final pieces of her armor into place, she picked up her rifle, some more grenades, and a few extra thermal clips before heading back to the lifts. The comms were down, but thankfully, whatever Cerberus was doing to EDI didn't seem to be impacting the ship's basic systems yet and the elevator doors opened immediately when she pushed the call button.
Her first destination was the crew deck. Without EDI active, she had to assume the remaining operatives were loose and that the lockdown might be lifted, which meant Doctor Chakwas and Joker were in danger. I just got out of one hostage situation, no way am I letting these sons of bitches put me in another one.
She didn't get very far off of the elevator, though, before hostages became the least of her problems. Before she could turn the corner to the med-bay, a flash of light caught her eye and the glowing, orange form of Rooker's drone came into view. Even as Shepard spun to get a better shot at it, the drone let out a pulse of energy. Shepard dove to the ground, but the blast still caught her shields, the muscles in her forearm spasming beneath her armor. Rolling back to her feet, she fired a burst into the center of the drone, temporarily disrupting its cohesion before dashing around the deck's large central support in search of its controller.
It wasn't going to be that simple. As she rounded the corner, Callis spun out to meet her, her heavy pistol leveled at the commander's torso. The slim blonde operative fired even as Shepard fell away from her, the bullet impacting into the commander's armor. She winced under the impact but still managed to kick at Callis' ankle and the operative's leg buckled, dropping her to one knee.
She steadied herself before she collapsed though, retaliating with her biotics. A powerful pulse leapt from her hand, hurling Shepard across the room and into the wall. Her head swam from the impact, and when she fired back, the shots were unfocused. Only a few of them struck home, stopped easily by Callis' barriers. The operative rose and fired again, but Shepard rolled out of the way successfully this time, the bullets slamming harmlessly into the deck next to her.
From the ground, she tossed a grenade back at Callis, but even as it flew through the air, Rooker's drone was reforming. There wasn't time to worry about that yet though, as she scrambled to get clear of the blast radius of her own explosive. A flash of light filled her vision, and before it could clear, a fresh attack from the drone struck the center of her chest. Pain started in her sternum and spread outward, making her limbs twitch even beneath her armor. Her rifle clattered to the ground, and she instinctively clutched at her chest. While she tried to regain her equilibrium, Callis struck again. Out of the smoke, the operative leapt at her, a biotic field enveloping her fist.
Danger focusing her, Shepard's own hands shot up to meet her attacker, and the momentum of the attack sent both women to the ground, with Callis landing atop the commander. Her face was streaked with soot, and there were burns on her body, but she was relentless, trying to press her glowing hand down into Shepard's chest. Her position gave her the better leverage and inch by inch, the commander's arms were being forced back. Her torso still hurt from where the drone had hit her, but if she let that blow connect, it would be a hell of a lot worse.
Just before Callis could plunge her fist into Shepard's chest plate though, the commander kicked upwards, the back of her knees making contact with her attacker's spine. Callis lost her balance, and Shepard threw her up and over her body, the operative landing on her back. She tried to flip back to her feet, but Shepard was a split-second faster. Her omni-blade slid out of its casing and with a growl, she whirled around, thrusting it into Callis' chest. The blade sliced through her ribs and into her heart, and the operative's mouth had scarcely opened in shock before it closed once more, her body slumping back to the ground.
No sooner was she dead though than Shepard had to dive to avoid the drone's next strike. Fortunately, she only caught the edges of the blast, and scampering back to her feet, she pulled out her pistol and two more shots in it's center disrupted the glowing ball once more. Rooker had to be nearby to controlling the drone and so Shepard turned back around the corner, finding the operative standing near the entrance to the med-bay, banging away frantically on her omni-tool.
As soon as she saw Shepard, she threw up her hands. "Please don't kill me," the brunette blurted out, evidently not so brave when actually face to face with an angry Spectre. "It was just a job, honest. I'm sorry about everything and about shocking you and…"
"Just stop it." She kept her gun trained on the engineer's head, but she didn't really want to shoot a surrendering prisoner. "What did you do to EDI?"
"It was Miranda. She had me upload the virus when you wouldn't let her put the AI shackles back on. It scrambles EDI's cognitive responses and severs her links to system command and control sub-routines."
"Can you disable it?"
"Yeah, with a little time. But Miranda has the override codes. That'd be faster."
Shepard shook her head. "Fine. I'll deal with you later, then."
Taking a pair of omni-cuffs out from her armor, she was in the process of securing the shorter woman to a nearby table when Miranda's voice cut in over the comms. "Shepard, stop what you're doing this instant. I have Joker, and if you don't surrender, I will kill him."
Fuck. Right back where I started. She took a deep breath, and decided that wasn't quite true. She'd come too far to give up now, and besides, Miranda didn't have nearly the kind of control over the situation that she'd had with Jack. As much as Shepard hated to risk it, it was time to play hardball. "No. You do what you think you have to, but I'm through taking your orders."
She made for the elevator to the bridge as Miranda snapped, "Do you think I'm bluffing, Shepard?"
Her voice was cold, but Shepard still wasn't sure she entirely believed the threat. "I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but I don't think you want to. Is this why you joined Cerberus? To put a gun on your own people, just so you could leverage somebody else into working for you against their will?"
Shepard stepped onto the lift, and there was a long pause before Miranda responded. "Sacrifices have to be made, Shepard. The Reapers need to be stopped, and it doesn't matter whether I enjoy doing what that requires or not."
Seconds later, the doors opened and the commander crossed the now-deserted CIC, heading towards the cockpit. Miranda was waiting for her there, standing behind Joker, her pistol pressed against his temple. The commander made no move to raise her own weapon yet. Jacob, she hadn't tried very hard to talk down, but he didn't have a gun to her crewman's head, and she still hoped she could get through to Miranda.
"Are you really certain stopping the Reapers is what the Illusive Man is all about? Sure, he wants them dealt with, but he also wants to be the king of the mountain when it's over. He spent billions to bring me back to fight the good fight, but then he had you stick a dick on me, just so he could control me, control my children."
Joker's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at her statement but she was more worried about saving his skin than what she was doing to his fantasy life.
"It's for the good of humanity," Miranda protested. "You are an asset towards that end."
"It's for the good of the Illusive Man. Forget the aliens; we're all human, and look what he does to us. Would you really want to live in a galaxy he ruled? Would you want your sister to live there?" There was a slight flicker of doubt in Miranda's eyes at the commander's words, but she didn't lower her gun, not yet, and Shepard continued. "We beat the Collectors, Miranda, and we did it together. All those people, from all those different species, working as one team is what took them down. That's what it'll take to have a chance against their masters, and it'll never happen if one man is trying to make everyone dance on their puppet strings."
Joker swallowed hard, concern for their situation blotting out his obvious desire to ask about her revelation. "I'd listen to her. Seriously, between Shepard and the Illusive Man, I'd pick Shepard to stop the Reapers every time. Look at what she's already pulled off."
Miranda ignored the pilot's comment, instead demanding, "What about the rest of the operatives? Did you kill them?"
She sighed slightly. "Callis and Broderick yes, but Jacob and Rooker are still alive and I don't want to have to kill anyone else. Undo what you did to EDI and I promise all of you can take a shuttle and go in peace. Please. Liara has Jack. It's over now. I'm not working for Cerberus any more, no matter what you do. All you can accomplish now is to make sure that more people die. Maybe it'll be you. Maybe me. Maybe Joker. How does any of that help humanity or stop the Reapers?"
Miranda had always been hard to read, but not this time. Her shoulders slumped and she lowered her gun, the mask of the ruthless operative dropping to show a rare vulnerability. "Very well. You… may have a point. I'm not saying you're right about the Illusive Man, but further bloodshed doesn't serve anyone's interests." She raised up her omni-tool and entered a quick series of commands. "There. EDI should be back to normal once her systems finish rebooting. Give her my apologies, and you as well, Joker. This was not about hurting you, only…" Her voice trailed off, the operative seeming unsure of how to finish her sentence, and instead she just turned to leave the cockpit.
Shepard let her go. She could see that it was more than a tactical problem that was making Miranda retreat. Her faith in Cerberus might not be gone, but it had been shaken. She wouldn't come after Shepard again.
"Sure, no problem," Joker quipped as the operative left. "I don't mind being used as a hostage. It's all in day's work." Shepard, though, barely heard him. Her arms fell to her knees, but even though her body ached and there were a hundred details to still to see to, one reassuring thought overrode all of that: It's over.
Of course, it's not really over quite yet. We've got lots of personal problems to work out, so let me know what you think of these latest developments and stay tuned.