Location: Outskirts of Endeavor colony, Ontarom –Elena Flores' residence.
Year 2182
For a new colony, this particular apartment felt old. Instead of standard atmospheric grade steel, the designers of Ontarom thought it was Earthy enough for concrete materials. They were wrong.
The sand, rain and lightning storms took their toll on the mortar and now the building was well on its way to being condemned. Thankfully it was the only of one of its kind next to the more modern living blocks across the sparse sand dunes. This was very much the 'under development' quarter of the new colony.
"A nice one that girl," Mrs. Ortega, the old resilient land lady, said as she led the way to Elena's apartment unit. "Always pays her rent on time. Never a complaint about her."
Liam was only half listening. The walls had his attention, every crack was perfect for a sensor or camera but so far he saw nothing. The air was heavy with the stench of sweat, piss and garbage that he wondered momentarily if this was really the right place. It was hard to imagine a low life merc living here, let alone a Cerberus officer.
The lights flickered, unable to decide if they were on or off as they finally stopped at her door. Unit 117 gleamed in the low light, reflecting Mrs. Ortega's omni-tool as she raised a wrinkled hand to activate it.
Liam grabbed Mrs. Ortega's hand before she could wave her omni-tool over the door's keypad. The land lady gave him a questioning look. "You said you're with the base?" she asked casually, as if people grabbed her all the time.
"Yes, just a friend." Liam let her go and activated his credentials with a flick of the wrist. "I'll take it from here, thanks."
The gears were slow to move but eventually something akin to suspicion finally made its way to her features. "Is she in trouble?"
"No. Her birthday's coming up soon, I thought I'd surprise her," Liam said, resisting the urge to draw his pistol and move past her towards the door. The last thing he needed was a terrified nosey civilian in possible crossfire. "We just need some privacy."
Mrs. Ortega nodded knowingly. "I thought so. You're too handsome to be just a friend."
Liam played up the slight sheen of embarrassment as she passed him by with a twinkle of happiness, no doubt ready to share the news with everyone who had ears.
When she rounded the corner he drew the paladin and moved in.
The spartan apartment made his standard living quarters on X-19 look royal. There was no real threshold, any guest would find themselves right inside the living room after crossing the door. Hearing the swish of the entrance closing, he waved his omni-tool and sealed it shut behind him. Not in the mood for company.
It was a bachelor pad so there wasn't much in the way of a living room. A cheap black couch with bits of leather peeling off was set in front of an old 21st century plasma TV. The raggedy red carpet didn't look to be hiding any mines, but he steered clear nonetheless and moved further in.
Slowly prowling around the small apartment, Liam checked each window spanning the kitchen and leading into the bedroom for bugs. The adrenaline rush of securing a hostile zone eventually wore off when he cleared the makeshift bedroom, sectioned off from the rest of the apartment by removable walls.
There was nothing.
The whole place was bare, except for a few appliances, bedding and furniture. Either she took a vow of poverty or this place was already picked clean, likely by Cerberus.
Lowering the pistol, he double backed to the bedroom. The respectable dresser still had every drawer on its hinges. Inspecting the fine wood coated with a thick layer of dust, he opened the top drawer, moving all the way down to the bottom. All of them slid smoothly and all were empty. He backed away, frowning at the scene.
When a top secret organization threatened kill you, forget clothes and food, all that mattered was mobility. 'Keep moving' as the Villa instructors loved to stress. A forged ID, credits and a weapon were the required travel documents for any good contingency plan. Every infiltrator knew that so it only made sense operatives for a top secret branch would follow the same line of thinking.
Yet, Elena's drawers were empty. More than that, they were in meticulously good condition. No one ripped them from the dresser in haste and no one scuffed the lacquered finish in their hurry to run.
The closet was the same. Nothing there but dust, not even scratch marks from the hangars. Either Major Flores planned her defection in advance or Cerberus...no. He wiped the thick layer of dust from the hanging rod. Nobody had been here since Elena left. Which he guessed happened right after Kahoku received the message.
Slowly backing away he stared at the weird scene. It made sense for Cerberus to grab her at work or failing that, wait for her to come home and retrieve her belongings. But it didn't look like they caught her here and let her pack before taking her away...unless…
Rushing back to the entrance Liam stared in horror at the miniscule blinking red light atop the doorway. Acting on impulse, he sent a quick surge of overload at the object and dove into the apartment hallway, shielding himself from the impending blast.
A moment passed.
Then another.
Getting up, he brushed the dirt from himself and cautiously approached the doorway again. Waving his omni-tool, he scanned the contraption and found the wire connecting the blinking sensor to the C4 buried into the door's panel. The wire was connected to a blown fuse and that's why he wasn't breaking bread with the big guy right now.
He collapsed against the wall, sinking to the floor as relief flooded over his being. Stupid rookie mistake...
o~O~o
Location: Cuddy's restaurant, Endeavor colony, Ontarom
Year 2182
Nothing beat breakfast at Cuddy's, the only decent place to get a beer and burrito before noon in Endeavor. Other shops followed the ridiculous no alcohol until twelve ban, some took it further and didn't sell it at all. It was the colony's latest overreaction to some vandals: less booze, less crime.
Yeah right.
He watched one of the cute waitresses sashay her way past him. They had the best service around here. This little kiosk right at Endeavor's center attracted all walks of life. From business men glued to their omni-tools, to the cute kids having a date in the far corner, everyone loved a meal here. It was the only restaurant around built on an open concept. No stuffy walls and cold steel, just a few palm pillars, a roof and viola.They had the perfect hut to eat under, safe from the sun's rays but perfect in its natural atmosphere.
Jeremy took another swig of his tasty illegal beer. Didn't matter what bans you put on the stuff, people would always get a hold of it and keeping it away from them was like dangling a hanky doused in gasoline over a firepit. Civilian politics never made much sense, Alliance wasn't any better until they transferred him to Cerberus.
These people weren't bound by ridiculous government restrictions or bureaucratic bullshit, they gave him his resources and backed the fuck off. Pure heaven at the time. Now the former tier six operative was stuck chugging beer and hiding out in a developing human colony while waiting for this Cerberus threat to blow over.
Plans for L4 implants along with his pet project Phoenix were still mobile in his gray box. Being able to fall asleep while reading his notes was the sweetest dream that ever came true. Finally, there was no twelve hour separation between accessing his research, it was available to him all the time and he was free to actually get something done! It would've been great if not for one annoying thing—it's been six months and no one was coming. Hemade off with ground breaking research and nothinghappened. No splinter groups, no assassins, nothing.
He knew he hid his tracks well but he was no fool. He was a biotic-tech researcher, not a master spy. They were bound to find out that their data was missing eventually. Yet here he was celebrating six months of living on the run, and by on the run he meant hiding right under their noses in a colony only hours away from Cerberus' underground research facility. It was almost insulting. Did they really think so little of his work that they wouldn't send a single operative to try and take it back?
Chomping down on a burrito he watched all the clueless civilians going about their daily lives, happy in their ignorance. Smiling, he tried to imagine life as a regular, one of those carefree folks who didn't have to worry about their workplaces being infiltrated or shit blowing up.
Smearing his greasy hands on a nearby napkin he stopped smiling. No, he wouldn't trade his life for another. Cutting edge tech, Cerberus funding, nothing beat the total freedom they gave and he was aching to get it all back.
Flores was a good officer but this time she was probably just overreacting. A real splinter group would've picked him off by now.
A micro-field of energy pulsed across his arm. Nearly dropping his burrito, he recovered when he realized it was just his omni-tool, still cloaked but sending out a notification.
He did a quick sweep for suspicious faces and found none. Waving the tool to life he nearly spat out the chunks of meat grinding between his molars.
The silent alarm was activated.
Shortly after his tier split, he made sure to bug Elena's room as a precaution. It's not that he didn't trust her but he wanted to be sure there were people really after them. She didn't mind, but only asked that he had his ass well off planet after that night.
Feeling guilty for not following through on his end, Jeremy abandoned his food and rushed in the direction of the sky tram terminals. If nothing else, at least getting a positive ID of their spooks would help the others avoid them.
o~O~o
Location: Briefing room, Cerberus Frigate 'Albatross', drifting the outer orbit of the Newton System in stealth mode.
Petrovsky watched with pride as his two most trusted officers scrutinized the ridiculous mission briefing. The Illusive Man cleared Banes to hunt down the tier six operatives, but although he issued a no kill policy, Petrovsky didn't believe Banes would actually hold his end of the deal.
"I do not understand. Why clear this now? Six months after the fact, surely they are either dead or defected to the black market," Sveta said with a hint of her Russian accent intact, looking up from the profile with accusatory eyes. She was always a quick one.
"These operatives hold top secret plans. They've had time to sell, destroy or bring them to the Alliance and they have not done so. That tells us they're very comfortable where they are," Petrovskyreplied in a tone that let them know he agreed but had no choice.
"Or they are dead," Dimitri said, adding his own glare to the mix while cleaning a part of his Volkov X sniper rifle. The Russian marksman was the best Petrovsky had the pleasure of serving with. There was no one better to trust with your back than Dima.
"We are holding onto the hope that they are not," Petrovskysaid.
"What is worse is that you want us to work with Banes," Sveta said, pushing her datapad away. "This mission is too delicate for his temper. You want us to persuade defectors, you need someone more...persuasive."
Dima's mouth twitched into a slight smile as his dark eyes sparked with lust beneath the shaggy curls of his hair. "Like Miranda."
Sveta's only reply was an eyeroll.
The two were like fire and ice. Dima was the calm one while Sveta liked to forge ahead and make progress. Both were driven but their drive came at the cost of their Alliance blues. Thankfully Cerberus knew their usefulness.
The General looked between his two operatives. Sure this Miranda had a reputation for being the best, but other comrades regarded her as standoffish and the last thing he needed was yet another loose cannon on his ship. Banes was enough trouble already.
"We trade Banes for Miranda? I'm in," Dima declared, putting a piece of his dismantled rifle down.
Petrovsky looked to Sveta, expecting an objection but surprised to see agreement.
"At least with her I don't worry about a mad man," Sveta said as she flicked the long single braid of her brown hair back.
Considering his words carefully Petrovsky took his time. Sure he could petition to have Banes transferred and replaced with this Miranda, but he didn't like testing the Illusive Man's patience, especially since Banes already felt like his responsibility. Petrovsky was too proud a man to just pass his troubles down the chain of command. That's what those varren back on Earth did and he was not one of them.
"We work with Banes," Petrovsky said, leaving no room for argument. Dima and Sveta were too loyal to say anything further, another thing he respected.
A loud cackle at the door confirmed his earlier suspicions of Banes listening to this meeting, but he let it go. There was peace of mind in knowing he wasn't terrorizing the other crew at this time.
"Look at that, Ivan. I ask for a ground team and you give your left and right arm," Banes said, striding to sit next to Sveta and put a glowing blue arm over her shoulders. But his operative was far toodisciplined to do anything but stare him down. "I like his attitude. Don't you Svetlana?"
Dima watched with hooded eyes, as he re-assembled his rifle. Those who didn't know him well, assumed all the shaggy hair falling over his eyes would obscure his marksmanship. Petrovsky was lucky enough to see them all proven wrong.
Now was the best time to diffuse tension. "Banes, operatives Timoshenko and Aramov will assist you—"
"Cut the titles there, Ivan." Petrovsky could see Sveta debating whether or not to break Banes' arm. "Sveta and Dima, we're one big happy family, aren't we darling?" Banes inquired as his feral eyes glanced between them.
He was on enhancementsagain, there was no doubt. Without test subjects he proceeded his earlier experiments on himself. The Illusive Man warned him about that and also warned him to observe but not intervene. After all, if Banes killed himself there would still be a lot to learn from his body.
"We work for Lieutenant-General Petrovsky," Svetlana stated firmly, inches away from Bane's face as he held her close. She didn't show any discomfort. Emotions like that were useless if not deadly in front of an enemy, Petrovsky remembered teaching her that one.
"Forgive me," Banes replied with a grin while attempting to draw her into his lap.
Sveta lashed out, slamming his shoulder joint with full force. It would've dislocated from the socket in a normal man, but Banes only laughed as she recoiled, cradling her fist.
Dima was up with his side weapon, when Petrovsky yelled, "ENOUGH!"
"Do it!" Banes beckoned, pushing Sveta away and rising to the point of Dima's sights. "Come on Mr. Marksman, I'm dying to test ballistics. Do it."
"Weapon down, Aramov," Petrovsky ordered, clamping a fist over the barrel and wrenching Dima's rifle down.
Banes slowly shook his head, unable to contain his malicious glee. His muscled arms strained the openings in his torn-sleeve dress suit. Thick unnatural veins flowed over the sides now, they were not there before. He was definitely experimenting again.
"What have you gone and done with yourself, Armistan?" Petrovsky asked, forgetting the golden rule.
"Progress!" Banes, rubbed his arms, showing them off for display. "Overdid the power. An easy fix. Nothing to worry about." Switching from Dima to Sveta who hadn't moved from her rage laden seat he said, "We're close to Ontarom now, strap your belts kids we're going to have some fun."
With another hollow laugh, Banes strode away, leaving them to his carnage. He didn't have to look at Sveta to feel her hard boiled gaze.
"He's not well," Dima said, putting words to everyone's thoughts.
Petrovsky agreed but this was their reality now. "We work with him."
o~O~o
Location: Firebase Dagger, Ontarom.
Firebase Dagger's satellite fields didn't have rooms so they had to make due and find a space free of cables, techs and eager ears. That place was opposite the Array Control and out ofsun's reach.
The techs dubbed it The Dark Side.
Despite its ominous name the dark side offered shade. That was enough to warrant a meeting while the crew unloaded on a platform below.
All things said and done he was impressed and happy that they managed to land the Dub so close to the station. The ship would offer great orbital defence against any air strikes while the 180 person ground crew had no trouble securing a tight perimeter, effectively beefing security to Alliance level standards.
Even now he could see the ten portable platforms that would serve as temporary outposts. The jarheads ran cables up to the flood lights that would illuminate the hungry mouth of the rainforest at night.
"A bug?" Captain Flores inquired.
Liam nodded in confirmation, leaning over the rails studying the hurried workers below. "I disabled it. But there's a chance the signal went through." He could see the tension in her shoulders remain long after her exhale. A pang of guilt washed over him. "I'm sorry—"
"Were— were there any leads on Elena?" The uncharacteristic hitch in her voice didn't go unnoticed. For the short time he'd known her, Captain Flores displayed the uncanny ability to make everything sound decisive and strong, like an order. But her latest question begged for reassurance.
Unable to speak, he rode the wave of emotions surging to the fore. Maybe it was instinct. Or maybe it was the beginning of heat stroke. But the resurgence of emotions he thought were long dead screamed at him to say something comforting.
But nothing came.
"Commander?" Her authorities voice grounded him. A flash of concern in her brown eyes brought him back.
"There was no sign of her," he said slowly giving his mind time to get back with the program. "But the place suggests she had time to pack. It's a good bet she's still on the run." It was the best he could offer without lying.
Captain Flores looked away and scrutinized the satellite fields around them. He could understand. After all if Fi or John were missing the last thing he'd want to do is guard some satellite farm.
"I'm going back tonight," he said, trying to give her some hope.
She turned on him sharply. "Forget it. That location is compromised now."
"Exactly. If Cerberus is involved they'll check on the place," Liam explained, trying to give her hope without sounding phony. It seemed to be working as she listened intently. "Nabbing an agent might get us some leads on your sister or at least the circumstances around her defection."
Gently running a hand through her shoulder length hair she paced their small space, considering her options.
Deciding to sell the perfect opening he added, "I set an alarm of my own. It'll let me know when Cerberus decides to check in." Liam gestured, activating his omni-tool and showing her the alarm status which showed green. No breaches, so far.
Flores leaned over to study the indicator. The soft strands of her hair teased his neck, but he didn't say a word, trying to remain focused. He could sense her doubts about his new sensor, but it was the only good news he had and they both knew it was worth the risk.
A small cough drew their attention.
A young female Alliance tech snapped to attention with a salute before offering a stream of apologies. "I'm sorry, Captain Flores, Commander Shepard. I...didn't mean to interrupt."
When they didn't respond in kind she looked nervously between them. They must've given the wrong impression to this young woman, standing so close in a secluded area. Shaking the effects of being caught off guard, he returned the salute.
"At ease," Flores said, dropping her own salute. "You are?"
"Comm. Specialist Traynor, Ma'am." The girl looked ready to disappear under Flores' gaze. "Colonel Brock wanted a word with you up on the control array," Traynor explained.
"He's here?" Flores inquired, as something in her tone belayed disgust.
"Yes Ma'am, I can show you the way," Traynor offered, motioning forward.
Captain Flores returned her attention to him. "Find Preston. See if he needs any help."
"Understood," Liam complied. He could see then tension build in her shoulders even through her armor.
But the nervous tech cut through again. "Um..."
"What is it, Traynor?" Captain Flores asked irritably. Her body language changed and the calm veneer was nowhere to be found. Either news of Elena hit her hard or she had some kind of history with this Colonel.
Traynor shuddered and looked down in embarrassment. "Forgive me, Captain. But...he wants to see Commander Shepard as well.
"We'll be right there, Traynor. I know where it is," Liam said, giving her the perfect exit. She seemed grateful and saluted before scurrying away up the ramp.
Flores started to follow, but he called to her. "We'll get your sister back, ma'am."
"I know," Flores said with finality, putting the subject to rest. "This is something else. Brock and I tend to butt heads. He'll try to boss you around just to piss me off." She continued onwards adding over her shoulder with a weak smile, "Do me a favor and indulge the poor bastard."
There was no escaping politics no matter where you went. Relieved, Liam fought the beginnings of a smile. He was happy to know there was something he could do to cheer her up in the meantime, "Gladly."
A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews guys! They're really motivating and totally make my day. I do want to clear some things up though, Vega is not an infiltrator. Sorry if I've given that impression but he only transferred over with Liam he's not part of his original squad. Vega is an arms master (quartermaster in our speak).