SPECTRES AND ASSASSINS

CHAPTER 3: Lockdown

-Email from Sgt. Uriah Shaw to Captain Ianna Mao-

I brought up #177504 from Evidence so you can see for yourself. We caught the slag who was assembling it in one of the Tower 110's bathrooms. He got it past the detectors in pieces- metal barrel in a hollowed-out omni-tool, eezo in one of those Cision toothbrushes. The rest was plastic or ceramic. No gang ink on him, he was in a sport coat manufactured- he's got a record that dates back to when his medcard was issued, and before that, nothing.

This is way beyond coincidence. This is a pro assassin, a and he's not alone. We've got people smuggling Talons all over the station. Patrol knows it. Organized Crime knows it, everybody knows it. But when you try to talk to the Major, you hit a steel wall. Where's the Internal Affairs when you need them? Why can't we get them to open an investigation on customs? You would NOT get away with this blind-eye business if this were L.A. or Hong Kong

The Major says he's not going to screw over good police because of one nut with a pistol. But it isn't just one. Ask the Executor this - if this is the stuff we're catching, what's slipping by?

-Shaw.

Datapad found during Priority: Citadel II/ Cerberus Coup. From Mass Effect 3 (2012) by Bioware.

- Sergeant Uriah Shaw. C-Sec Security Headquarters-

It seemed just like another typical day in C-Sec Main Headquarters. Sergeant Uriah Shaw had had his plate full since the investigation on armed 'undesirables' getting onto the citadel started several weeks earlier; Commander Bailey and Captain Ianna Mao had become personally invested in this scandalous investigation, given that most of these crooks caught smuggling weapons and explosives were humans, which damaged their species credibility in an already tense environment.

Ever since the Battle of the Citadel, the multicultural and multi-species station had been re-populated with an ever increasing number of humans, due to the horrendous casualties C-Sec and the Council races suffered during the geth attack in 2183. Not everybody was happy about this, and Bailey had often come under heavy scrutiny from alien politicians and lobby leaders for allegedly not holding everybody, particularly humans, to the same law-enforcement standards.

Many humans with a background in Police work in Alliance planets applied for the vacant positions. Turians and asari used to represent approximately 70% of the whole C-Sec task force, while humans salarians and other Council allied races made up the other 30%. It was every batarian's worst nigtmare: humans had begun to rival the asari and the turians in their representation amongst the ranks of C-Sec. Moreover, the Alliance had several vessels deployed with the Destiny Ascension as part of the station permanent security fleet. Becoming a full-fledged Council race gave humanity a much greater responsibility and power, but it had also fueled the mistrust by a vocal minority.

Shaw had heard there was even a second human Spectre now, which made him feel proud. He had relived his boyhood dream, those days where he watched Spectres on action vids and dreamed of perhaps joining their elite ranks and protecting the galaxy from forces of evil and chaos. Reality had proven to be quite different from the holo-films.

"Herk, I am tired of this bull. I have Commander Bailey on my ass everyday, you are filing your reports with so many flaws that even a damned noobie could spot them a mile away! You're missing out on details that are standard reporting procedure on the Citadel. There are a few reports he has been expecting for days. Also, he's said he'll kick your ass from one end of the Citadel to another if you don't get it together before the time of his annual report."

Constable Herk calm demeanor changed in his expressive face, as the rookie's dream of having an easy day vanished faster than cheap ryncol in a Krogan coming of age celebration.

"Easy, boss. I know a few of those case files are late, and I'm still working on my style, but I have these huge load of reports on smuggled M-358 Talon guns, plus that hitman with a forged ID caught in Tower 11... Bailey and Mao just gave me all these computer files, evidence pictures and security cameras footage and I'm trying to make sense of it all".

'Rookie' was the wrong word to use. Like Shaw himself, Herk was a native of earth; a former officers of the New York Police Department. Compared to other police forces, C-Sec was practically drowning in paperwork.

Herk was relatively new in C-Sec, but not at all a rookie to this kind of job. Like Bailey, he was a native of Earth, where he had worked in New York Police Department for 15 years. Everything seemed more complicated in the Citadel, so much red tape for every single case he had to file... he was practically drowning in paperwork day in, day out. He had clashed with the often hot-headed, grizzled Commander from the beginning; even if he respected the man, he was really nitpicky with his work at times, he had the impression he was particularly rough with him.

Many of the old-hands, like officer Eddie Lang, often told him he was like that with every new agent from Earth, because he expected the best from the guys coming from his own homeworld. Most C-Sec agents, or constables, as they were officially called, including the non-humans, had nothing but praise for the recently appointed commander. They claimed he had an instinctual knowledge of when to crack the whip and when to let things go. In his case, there was plenty of whipping and very little disciplinary mercy, he reflected.

"Didn't we ask the Executor to have Internal Affairs involved on this?"Herk continued to complain, as Shaw was forced to listen to his whinging, "I'm pretty sure these guys we tracked and nailed weren't doing all this by their own means, they were hiding a large number of weapon parts. And how did they smuggle explosives past the chem-scans?"

"Yes, but there has been some delays. It seems like our beloved Councilor Udina wants to keep it all on the down low, have mostly human agents working on the issue, so it doesn't explode as a P.R. bomb under his watch. We don't want to give those alien lobbyist any more anti-human ammo to throw at us."

"Well, if at least we had more manpower working on these cases, human or otherwise, ... There really seems to be a connection, but our probing of the major mercenary organizations have given us no results. All is quiet in that front. This isn't the Blue Suns trying to muscle up in their sectors in the wards"

Spearheading the investigation, under Mao, Shaw had leaned on his sources inside the major mercenary organizations. Nothing. Even the Blue Suns had been strangely quiet.

"You do what you have to do, Herk. But just respect deadlines and follow the C-Sec case-filing style".

"Alright sergeant." Herk sighed and got back to work. It was going to be one of those days.

A terse moment passed between them, until agent Bo Tyler strolled in with a handcuffed suspect. Tyler was one of the new human agents, hired straight from the Benning militia as part of the process to bolster the force after Saren's attack in 2183

C-Sec had always given priority to applications from candidates with prior military training and experience. However, dishonorable discharges in the applicants' background would have been grounds to blacklist prospective recruits in the past. Now, they too were being considered, which had helped to increase the size of the once 200.000-strong force, before Saren's attack.

The reason for this change proposed by Udina was that C-Sec could no longer be considered a simple 'police force', there were too many threats in the galaxy to simply rely, in his words, on rent-a-cops who just aspired to get a 'comfie' patrol position in the Presidium. Some people like Shaw were not very fond of some of the new specialists brought in under the new criteria, and there was something distinctly off about Tyler. Being a good shot with automatic weapons and precision rifles could not overshadow the fact that his former superiors on Benning had formally refused to back his candidacy. His disciplinary flaws were more than evident.

"I brought one of these troublemakers who have been causing problems in Zakeera Ward lately. He was caught with a false ID and there is no record of his Citadel entry date". Said Tyler, with an uninterested, unemotional voice. They had captured quite a few of these amd they were mostly being kept in isolation cells in several C-Sec detentions centers until they figured out their connection.

"Ok, just process him like the others". He noticed the man they had just brought in had some kind of implants on one of his eyes, and was wearing a hoodie over his head. Also he looked like he had not seen the sun in years "Looks like this guy could spend a month or two enjoying the sights in Illium's Azure summer resort" said Uriah.

He took a sip from his coffee, if C-Sec HQ dark and barely flavored brew could considered "coffee", then he got back to filling out the reports his superiors had listed on the C-Sec Intranet.

A deafening noise got Uriah Shaw out of his lethargic reading mode, as he lifted his eyes from his computer screen, he saw Herk's body go limb, as his head was splattered with blood and with hole in it... In a split second, Shaw just had enough time to switch his view to Tyler, wielding a gun, and that hideous man he had brought for processing, who also had a weapon, a Talon, in his hand. He was not handcuffed. Before he had time to react, the thin man took aim and shot Uriah in his right shoulder, the high velocity projectiles penetrating his unshielded and unarmored body, pushing him backwards and off his chair.

"Son of a b**ch!", his mug crashed on the crystalline, bright floor, the coffee spilt all over him. Mixed with the dark liquid, the red of his blood gushing violently from deep lacerations in his shoulder, his flesh and C-Sec uniform fabric mangled in a grotesque way by the impact of the powerful M-358 slug. A Cerberus gun. He knew he was done for. While Tyler continued shooting in other directions, the strange, pale man walked towards him. He never said a word, Shaw tried to reach for his own gun, but his shattered nervous system could only scream back in helpless agony. The strange man looked at him with horrifying, electric-like blue eyes. They had no iris coloration, just a strange, bright blue light coming from within. He lifted his hand and pointed the gun at his forehead, while the constable managed to curl back his teeth in a defiant snarl.

Fortunately for sergeant Uriah Shaw, his death was quick.

-Ashley Williams, Huerta Memorial, Rehabilitation Wing-

Operation Chimera time marker + 00:20

Fighting in an urban setting was a horrible experience. There was not a clear distinction between enemy combatants and civilians. More often than not, the realization of whom you had been shooting at only came as the corpses were found. Sometimes, there really was not a clear difference between civilians and enemy combatants, just as the turians had concluded during the Siege of Shanxi, when the local populations also took arms to defend their homes. There was no communication with Alliance command after the turians had destroyed the orbitals and blocked any attempt of transmitting their sit rep to their allies. General Williams had weighed the chances of survival for both military personnel and civilians under his responsibility in a prolonged siege scenario, against an honorable acceptance of a defeat and the safeguarding of dozens of thousands lives. He chose the latter, not to save his own hide, but to seek the greater good, the one that would see to it that most people would see the end of the war, however it ended. He understood that throwing thousands of soldiers to their deaths for a lost cause while also condemning the populations of the major urban centers to lose everything, to an estimated 75-80% casualty ratio was NOT the honorable and sensible course of action.

General Williams surrendered the garrison, surrendered the militias, he ordered all civilian groups to depose their weapons so that the turians would not take retaliation attacks or other punitive actions against prisoners of war. They did not really know much about the turian culture yet, but they would later understand they truthfully kept their promises, whether in a time of war, or in a time of peace.

History judgements on General Williams' decision were bipolar. Some historians tried to have his name exonerated, since he picked the lesser evil and saved countless lives. Other pundits smeared his memory accusing him of cowardice, of not fighting till the last man was standing on that damned planet, covered in human and turian blood. What Ashley could fiercely affirm is that the people who did not die on that planet, they all proudly went to see him off when the Alliance removed him from command and took him to Elysium in chains. No colonel, lieutenant commander, major, captain, lieutenant, ensign or NCO who actually shot a bullet or was shot at by the turians on Shanxi ever spoke ill of him or condemned any of his actions after the liberation. But Alliance Admiralty tried to put him out of sight, as the walking reminder of a military defeat to an alien force.

There was a lot of General Williams in her father's blood. For what it was worth, Ash's father used to repeat again and again there was a lot of General Williams in her too. The events that would follow were going to put this assertion to test.

Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams moved swiftly and stealthily down the treacherous and now scarily silent hallways in Huerta Memorial rehabilitation wing. Stealth and "light feet" were the only forms of defense they had at the time. The corridors had no cover, most of them had no shields, and nobody had real body armor. He was leading a group of seven others, four off-duty C-Sec officers, one turian infantry soldier named Pancassus, an Alliance soldier who looked like he had never shot anyone, and a mysterious drell assassin she was trusting more out of desperation rather than by conviction.

Private Richards did not have 'killer eyes', in Thane's opinion. Thane had seen many men's facial expression changed by the first experiences in a real war, after taking a life for the first time. It looked like this young soldier had not seen much action yet, or maybe had been assigned to a ship for most of his time in the service. The turian veteran, on the other hand, was steady as a rock. Even through the granite expression, that was the default expression of his race, Thane could see that he had seen his fare share of violence, death and carnage. Anyone shipped out from Palaven had to.

Nobody said a word. Williams led the group, at times allowing Thane to take the lead. They just did not trust all their companions to be as efficient in military tactics or in just moving carefully enough to avoid detection. Ashley hit a corner and cautiously peeked around it. She saw an asari corpse, probably a nurse, she had bled profusely from a shot in her chest area. She was unarmed, just had a data pad and had probably been taken down while rushing from one pavilion to another while taking care of patient and trying to save lives.

Ashley had spent enough time in the care of Huerta's staff to realize that most of them cared for their patients, no matter their creed or their race. If anyone wanted to see the species of the galaxy pull together, Huerta was a prime example of how hopeless this war was going to be if they did not work together. And Cerberus just trampled all over it.

Even as Williams' heart burned with a hot rage, her cold, hardened mind told her there was not enough blood on the floor to consider that whoever had shot her, had done it a long time ago; it was probably in the first wave of the shootings, which meant the shooter could be close. She knelt down and peeked around the corner, she never made herself a target as she tried to absorb all the information with one quick glance.

Thane saw Ashley raise one of her hands. A clenched fist. Everybody stopped. One would say that the human private next to him, his name was Richards, literally stopped breathing when he saw the that fisted hand. The L.C. showed the index and middle fingers, two hostiles. If they just decided to come in the direction, they would find themselves with only an empty wheel stretcher for cover.

They were not all bunched up near the group vanguard, two of the C-Sec agents had remained in the rearguard, approximately 20 meters behind Ash and Thane. If a firefight broke out in the front and they were overwhelmed, they would also be in the line of fire if they were not careful. That is why the four men in the middle were specifically told by the lieutenant commander not to step into the middle of the hallway during a firefight. They were relatively spread out while keeping in visual contact of everyone else most of the time, but there was not a lot of room for a loose formation. Nor was room for error.

Around the corner, Ashley had spotted two tall men in heavy white Cerberus armor, like the armor Cerberus teams were wearing in the Mars archives. They seemed to have Mattock rifles. The Alliance had recovered large amounts of Cerberus-designed gear in recent operations as well as from the Normandy SR-2 when Shepard turned the ship over to their Navy.

"Open the door and we'll spare your lives!" Shouted one of the Cerberus thugs.

To call them soldiers or troopers was an offense to any person who had ever worn an uniform honorably. These were sadistic terrorists, as she had witnessed in the Mars Archives and the trail of death they had left behind. They were wearing horrible cybernetic implants under those helmets, she did not even know if they could be considered simply brainwashed humans anymore. If they had to be judged by their brutality, the answer would have been a 'no'. She preferred not to think again about what kind of surgery Shepard may have gone through while his body was in Cerberus custody.

"They won't open the lock, bring those two prisoners!" A third Cerberus agent appeared, holding his weapon against a salarian scientist's back, there was a young asari physician next to the other hostage. "You, salarian. You work here, open this door right now and we won't shoot all these fools when they come out". Their voices sounded terrifying behind those breathers.

They were all standing before the room door, with its red panel indicating it was locked from the other side. Storage room 12 read on the wall next to it. No doubt a group of people had managed to hide and lock the door when the shooting started, but they had been found but this Cerberus team.

Ashley showed another finger in her right fist, indicating there were 3 hostiles now. The corner where Ashley's group had stopped forked in two directions. They could try to avoid this group, they were distracted and they could move in a different direction without attracting their attention. Staying there just increased the chances of detection if those men started walking around, looking for an alternative entrance to that storage room, they would find them in the hallways. The fire would attract other terrorist teams.

The Cerberus operative who seemed to be in charge of that squad, aimed at the salarian forehead. "Open the door, or we'll blow it with explosives and kill you all". The salarian stood there stoically, he did not say a word. The thug caressed the trigger with his right index finger.

Williams understood that if she fired, her whole team would be in trouble in a matter of seconds. She signaled to the other corner, which also offered a visual on the scene. Thane, with a borrowed Phalanx gun, quickly moved to that position, undetected. Now he shared the same visual as Williams.

"I won't help you, I'll never ..." the high-pitched voice of the salarian was interrupted by the thundering hammer-like shot to his forehead. He fell to the floor, dead on the spot. Williams' stomach almost came out in disgust... The terrorist put a booted foot on the salarian corpse and aimed at the young asari physicist.

Williams looked at Thane. Thane nodded sideways, he was as upset as she was, but he was not so eager to intervene. The easier choice would be to take that fork to the right, and keep avoiding Cerberus men. There would not be any guarantee they would not be found or shot at by another patrol. They did not really know how many enemies they were facing. Here, they were risking to bring all Cerberus hostiles on top of them just by firing one shot. At the same time, a few shots could really save a number of lives right then and there.

Ashley Williams made a decision. There would be deaths, either way. There had been too many deaths already, she was sure Cerberus was slaughtering innocents everywhere in the station, she could not save them all...

But she could save these. The silent cocking of the Carnifex gun and how she held it over her right shoulder was the signal to everyone they were going to intervene. A quick look at the turian soldier, a scarred veteran wielding a Predator pistol and the young private, they all looked her in the eye reassuringly.

Thane observed Ashley Williams, he did not say a word, but he was as conflicted inside as she probably was. Taking the lives of these murderers did not present him an inner ethical debate, they deserved to pay for their crimes. He was sure Kolyat would have understood. He was worried because of how vulnerable they would be if they opened fire, and what would happen to the other people they had had to leave behind, in the locker rooms, if they were all killed. Everybody would probably die, unless Cerberus had some other uses for their prisoners. They did not know how many more Cerberus agents were in the hospital. At the same time, it became evident they could not hide forever, all the exists would probably be under watch by the attackers.

The young asari was trembling,as she shed silent tears. She undoubtedly knew the murdered salarian well, they were co-workers, maybe had been good friends, tending to seriously wounded soldiers shoulder by shoulder. These losses meant even more people would die when the Citadel suffered the scarcity of doctors, especially at a time of an all-out war.

The Cerberus agent aimed the Mattock, bellow her belly. "Are you going to open it or do you want a new hole in your body?" The asari did not reply, she just kept sobbing and crying, almost accepting her fate, her death for the possibility of saving the lives of all the people who had managed to hide behind that door. She would not help these terrorists

For a split second, Ashley Williams admired the bravery and defiance of this young person. Then she aimed down her sights at the man to her left. Thane read her signs and body language, took aim at the terrorist right behind the asari, who seemed like he could be ready to shoot less than a second after they opened fire. The other Cerberus operative, also wearing white heavy armor was trying to figure out a way to open the door. Private Richards and Pancassus looked ready to roll out of cover and shoot the third man.

Williams pulled her left hand up high, indicating 3 seconds. the she lowered the left hand, helped herself to hold her weapon steadily, she couldn't miss. She counted to three...

The launch of M-6 Carnifex gun had been accompanied by a great advertising campaign, with promo vids featuring a krogan warlord charging against a slender looking salarian, 'Don't you wish Carnifex was at your side?'. Fortunately for the battle-hardened marine, Cerberus armor was not krogan armor and they did not have the rough, sturdy hide over their heads for extra protection.

True to the manufacturer's promise, the Carnifex not so much as punched through the armour as it pulverised it. Ashley's two shots hit her target, whose head exploded into red mist. Thane dropped the hostile on the right, who was the next most obvious threat, before the turian and Richards moved into firing position and riddled the third Cerberus trooper, whose torso peppered by the hail of the fire. The first three or four hits impacted the third Cerberus henchman in the chest and stomach, made him stagger.

Those impacts had probably been stopped to an extent by the armor, but the following impacts from their combined fire took him down as he growled something in pain. He went down, face first against the floor, a few drops of blood came out from his helmet as its face mask open upon impact. The asari never moved an inch, she probably thought she was dead the moment she heard the first shot, she probably thought it was she who had been shot. When they approached her, she could not move, she could not speak, but Thane walked to the door and talked to the people inside.

"We have killed these three, more will come. Please, take the asari doctor and shut the door behind you. Don't make any noise". Thane spoke to the occupants inside the room, as his voice carried through.

After they confirmed who they were through some small windows in the wall, the door opened and they took the asari in. She was in shock. Ashley caught the young blue alien eyes fixated on her, with an incredulous but grateful expression. That asari would never forget Ashley Williams' face, and how a human had saved her life. In the dimly lighted storage room, Ashley caught a glimpse of several wounded patients, a couple of children, who may have been visiting wounded relatives when it all began. Maybe they had lost their whole families to the voracious jaws of war. The civilians locked the door, it looked like they were in no shape to offer help to repel Cerberus shock units.

"We're going to have hostiles inbound in seconds, everybody move. We'll avoid the passageway these three came from". They doubled back to the their previous vantage point, took the side hallway they could have taken if they had left those people behind, Ash told herself I don't regret a thing. The truth was that the most humane resolution was not always the most sensible thing to do from an operational point of view. As they marched forward, at a slightly faster pace, they stayed pressed against the walls to offer a smaller target. They would not have to wait too long before their good deed caught up to them.

- Spectre Agent Tenora. Citadel Presidium Earth Councilor Office -

Operation Chimera time marker + 00:20

Spectre agent Tenora bursted into the human embassy, flanked by a pair of C-Sec officers. The asari was an experienced Spectre with centuries of combat and wet work experience as a commando and Council operative. In the moment of the attack she was one of the few senior Spectres assigned to Embassies security duty at the time, a post that was rotational depending on different factors.

The alarms had gone off in Udina's personal terminal a few moments earlier, so their timely arrival was hardly a surprise for the the human councillor.

of C-Sec agents and an asari Spectre had come to his office on level 31. If that was not enough, a trio fo explosions and the rattle of gunfire floated over his balcony and into his office. Its original intention to relax the occupants in the different embassies with the serene view of the Presidium gardens and lakes, the balcony now gave him a glance into the chaos that had erupted minutes ago.

"Councilor Udina, we are under attack". the Spectre curtly informed, as she yanked Udina to his feet. "Preliminary reports indicate the Presidium and the embassies have been targeted by a terrorist group and we are doing our best to contain the threat. We are going to escort you all to evac point Alpha."

Udina knew exactly how the evacuation protocol worked. In case of an attack against the Citadel just like the one led by Saren with his geth horde, the first step indicated that 'principals' would be escorted to a rendezvous point with the other VIP's to be extracted and then, together, they would all be taken to an armoured patrol shuttle and then to an orbiting frigate that would immediately abandon the Widow system.

The Destiny Ascension was no longer considered the safest choice for evacuation or Council protection; as had become apparent that a swarm of geth vessels could disable it. Instead, a turian frigate equipped with a Tantalus drive, just like the Normandy albeit more limited, was the evac vessel for the Council.

A week earlier and at the behest of Udina, Jondum Bau and some other experienced Spectres stationed in the Citadel had been sent by the Council to fulfill certain dangerous tasks in the Shryke Abyssal, the Apien Crest and the Hades Gamma cluster. For example, the Spectres had gathered Intel from a number of sources in different systems about how the Quarians had acquired ship-grade war technology and how pilgrims had also been recalled from their travels to join the Flotilla. All the incoming reports had helped to strategically analyze and provide the Council and all the Spectres with a quite accurate estimation of their naval power, in case they unexpectedly took hostile actions in the middle of the Reaper crisis. There had been no more news since system after system had fallen to their relentless foe.

As a result, a smaller than usual complement of Spectres had remained in the Citadel. One of them was the recently appointed human female, whom Tenora did not know very well. Her colleagues had told the long-serving Spectre that Williams was more than just eye-candy and her appointment had nothing to do with her striking looks or that silly rumor that she might have been good friends with Udina. On the contrary, she had been told that Williams and Udina had clashed in the past, with Williams expressing a rather negative opinion about politicians in general and Udina in particular. She had to admit she did not like Udina's demeanor very much either, but she was there to protect the 'councilor', not the 'arrogant socialite'.

True to form, Udina could not help to sardonically comment: "I hope this is not one of those silly drills you enjoy so much, Tenora". He looked incomprehensibly calmed and collected while the secuirty detail hustled him towards the exit.

The other Councilors would also have a small, fast deployment detachment assigned to them by now, and they would be efficiently escorted to the meeting point. Timing and speed was of the essence, but the supposedly encripted Spectres' communication lines were mostly scrambled, so were C-Sec communication channels. Tenora had to contain herself when her two C-Sec agents had told her there was nothing coming from C-Sec HQ, the different priority channels were all dead, as if they did not even exist. Not even static or noises. Nothing. It was not these two agents' fault, and it was all indicative of the seriousness of the threat.

Most people had been evacuated from the Human embassies wing on levels 30, 31 and 32, as far as they could see. Udina noticed Commander Bailey's office had been vacated as well, there were just a few C-Sec agents, mostly turians and humans, distributing weapons and planning where to set defensive positions. This section had not been attacked yet, but most monitors were off, and it seemed like everybody was suffering a communication blackout. There was no way to contact other Citadel wards.

"This way, we have an emergency elevator." Tenora explained, as she punched the holographic button to open the door.

"I know the evacuation protocols, Spectre" said Udina, dismissively.

Leaving the Eart Councillor's office, one could turn right, to an apparently corner without exists. There, the balcony opened up through a control panel and it was possible to deploy a mobile platform to go to the lower level, but the public elevators on that side would just be as locked as the ones in their current floor. They were obviously going to use other means to reach the meeting point. Tenora opened the Spectres office opposite to the human's workplace. It was officially identified as 'Spectre Outpost NSH-80. Recent visitors to this outpost included Commander Shepard, who would sometimes work from here.

"Tenora. Asari. Spectre status recognized" said the artificial voice as she led the small group into the Spectres office, or 'outpost', they marched past a series of screens on the left and a shooting gallery on their right. There was another panel ahead of the group, although there did not seem to be anything close to an exit from this area. Tenora punched a few numbers, even as the machine scanned her retina, and the floor started moving. There was a mechanized partition on the flooring that was easily overlooked by the untrained eye. This part of the floor, with even a few seats on the left, went down a level, to give them access to a tram. Since this was an emergency tram line for Spectre uses, it was only employed in especial situations where the Citadel was compromised by an overwhelming enemy force.

Spectre offices like this one were strategically distributed across the Citadel. There was at least one in each of the major embassy sections, usually very close to each one of the councilor's offices. These Spectre outposts did not always have special Council operatives working inside, but they all had a special transportation system that connected them all, and also led to RV point Alpha. These small trams, with barely enough room for five or six people, had their own emergency power supply. In case of a disabling attack, Spectres could have access to an effective transportation system within the Citadel that hostile forces could never control. These Spectres offices had computers and exclusive comm lines with C-Sec HQ, but at the time, there was no way to communicate with them. Bailey had left the embassies to try to resolve the problem from there and coordinate an armed response against the attack, but it was hard to predict how long it would take.

The two C-Sec agents, a human and a turian, Udina, and the asari Spectre all walked into the elevator. Tenora did not say a word, she was all business at this time, so were the security men on her flanks. At least Udina was not mumbling untimely complaints or going about his routine of repeating how much more efficient things would be if he had a saying in security affaires, or if he was given more influence over the choicesmade by the new Executor, the promotions, etc This time, he was actually behaving in accordance with the gravity of the situation. He was letting them focus on their jobs, Tenora had to concede.

The small tram clanked and started moving forward and in a slight descent motion. They were headed for a secure area in the Presidium, where they would meet up with Tevos, Valern and Sparatus, as well as their security details.

-Ashley Williams, Huerta Memorial-

Operation Chimera time marker + 00:30

As it was foreseeable, Cerberus had reacted to their intervention to save civilians from a sure slaughter. Through the narrow, cover deprived halls of Huerta Memorial, Ashley and her impromptu fireteamcould not avoid patrols forever and soon engaged in a running gunfight with Cerberus forces as they were trying to find a way out.

As they were pushing forward through the wrecked hospital while using the little cover they could find, their rear guard had suddenly come under attack. Two of the C-Sec officers who were covering the rear of their loose formation were taken out, despite a valiant stand. The asari C-Sec agent had managed to crash one of the Cerberus mercenaries against the ceiling with her biotics; the helmet or the armor had not stopped the neck from breaking as it violently hit the the ceiling and then fell back down to the floor, motionless. At least four other Cerberus operatives were firing from relative safety and had responded by lobbying a grenade. Even if the asari and the human had desperately attempted to fall back, the shockwave caught them and send them flying, whamming their inert bodies against the walls.

Williams position on point, had also being compromised when a lone Cerberus henchman had appeared right in front of them. He was probably as surprised as they all were when he rounded the corner came face to face with the Spectre. Unfortunately for him, Thane was not caught off guard. Before the terrorist could react, the skilled assassin lashed with his blade at the man's hand holding the weapon. The a micro-molecular blade,sliced through ballistic armour and severed muscle and flesh, rendering his hand completely useless. Even as the terrorist howled and clutched at his mangled forearm, Thane shot him in the head. The surprised enemy fell unceremoniously to his feet.

They had to get out of that kill zone. Moving and retreating disorderly would have been a recipe for disaster, so they laid covering and suppressive fire as Richards and the turian, hustled past them. Stopping a few metres ahead, the pair immediately turned around as they took defensive positions and provided cover fire for the last men. they were pinned down by unyielding Mattock bursts. There were some metallic structural ribs in the passageways they were using for their tactical retreat; these arched beams ran vertically along the walls surface, they provided very poor cover. The other C-Sec officers were using them as they approached Ashley's position, but they were still an easy target for a trained marksman with a precise weapon. Their only chance depended on Williams, Thane, Richards and the old turian soldier managing to keep them in hiding, forcing them to take low quality shots.

"Move faster!". They still had to offer help to the two other C-sec constables. They were pulling back, but too slowly,

"I have no ammo!" shouted Richards!. Ashley realized they were not going to make it.

As they moved in their direction by turns, some high velocity projectiles hit one of the C-Sec constables in the back. The other officer managed to turn the corner from where they were laying suppressive fire. He was safe. The turian C-Sec officer laid on the floor, immobile. They all took a deep breath, there was no time for grief or self-pity. She has to keep them focused.

Cerberus tried to press their advantage, which allowed Thane to pick off another Cerberus thug, they heard the cracking of armor plates by the slug. The improvissd squad caught the crackle of "We got wounded!". A set of Cerberus arms dragged the downed man out of their line of sight.

Complete and utter silence followed, which allowed them to catch their breath. For a minute, they could not detect any Cerberus movement. They had just left a chokepoint behind and the terrorists were clearly not fools, they would not simply run head-on towards them. The Cerberus men still had a tactical advantage and were probably reassessing their stategy.

Ashley examined her surrounding, recognizing that the group was in a precarious position. Squatting at the neck of two intersecting corridors; she knew that enemies could appear from any direction. Staying put was suicidal, especially if a second squad blocked their path.

"Conserve the ammunition". She handed one of her last three thermal clips to Richards.

They had no armour, they had no shields, except for Ashley's weak shielding generator that was not designed for heavy frontline combat. Their enemy had military issue weaponry, combat hardsuits and, possibly, a numerical advantage. A grenade or a few well-placed Mattock shots would not be stopped by her flimsy shields and could spell the end for their team.

As if reading her thoughts, the hostile operatives initiated another daring move. Aware that they were vulnerable and exposed, they threw two smoke grenades, and it was a question of seconds before they closed in on them once again. Williams had seen this tactic before, they would get close enough to throw several grenades and then follow their detonation with a hard charge against their static, defenseless position. With all the smoke build-up in such an enclosed environment, they would have been wasting their ammo if they had fallen for their tactics.

"Let's go, we have to keep our distances. Don't shoot unless they make a mistake and you have an easy target" Ashley snapped, as she began to lead the group away from the corridor junction.

The operative Thane had killed laid inert next to her. "Pancassus, pick up this dead man's gear". Reacting instantly, the turian snatched up the weapon and a bandolier of grenades from the corpse.

Richards and the turian trooper took point this time, while Williams helped the shaken security man who had barely survived their last encounter. They were five now and there were, at least three healthy hostiles tailing them. After a few turns with Thane and Ash covering their retreat, their squad barged into a larger hall, full of civilians and medical staff.

Presumably, the man Thane had taken down with his blade had come from this room, were he was watching these hostages. They were all frightened but they sighed in relief when they saw Richards Alliance blues and the turian come through the door.

Ashley cursed her rotten luck. They had just run into another problem. By running into all these civilians with Cerberus in pursuit, they had just put them all in danger.

"I'm a Spectre" Williams began to quickly explain "I need to know how many Cerberus men have you seen when you were brought here"

A wounded soldier, who seemed to have been brutalized by his captors, spoke up "I never saw more than 5 together at any given time, but I knew they had at least two teams when they raided the hospital... they killed all the security personnel."

That piece of information was surprisingly helpful. If the wounded soldier's observation was proving right, that meant Ashley and her team had put a dent in Cerberus' forces. Their enemy had sustained at least four casualties so far, they had at least one wounded man. Right now, they only had visual confirmation of three or four other gunmen, their pursuers.

However, between the rest of her squad, they had one grenade, an had acquired a Mattock rifle and they were dangerously low on thermal clips. A prolonged firefight, even by using boxes and hospital equipment as cover, gave little promise of success.

"Williams, we should create a diversion here". Thane remarked, he had been extremely quiet for the past few minutes.

"So close to these civilians?" Richards protested

"No, Thane is right. You three will hold a defensive position here, outside the door," Ashley interrupted, as her mind began to formulate a plan, "move these tables to the hallway, they won't let them get closer, now!"

Hurriedly, they pushed a few stretchers, wheeled carts and tables out, just enough to make it difficult for Cerberus to storm the room. It was a lousy barricade, but the real objective was to slow them down just long enough for the Alliance officer's ploy to bear fruits.

While they were preparing the 'reception' for their guests, Williams went to talk to the scared hostages again. It made more sense now, the hospital was a low priority, weakly-defended target. She was confident Cerberus would not be expecting this kind of resistance when they planned this operation, so two teams with approximately 5 or 6 men each would have been enough, that gave them a small advantage. A very small one.

"I need someone with good knowledge of the hospital layout. We need to outmaneuver the hostiles and cath them between two fires" Ashley called out as she surveyed the frightened patient and civilians.

"I know this part of the hospital very well", maybe I can help" said one of the doctors. Her name was Revin, and she was one of the hospital specialists in medical treatments for hanar patients.

"Ok, I want everybody as far from the doors as possible These men will protect you. Doc, you're coming with us"

Thane approved her pro-active attitude, they probably had just a few moments before coming under fire again.

The wounded soldier spoke up again "I can hold a rifle, let me help you". He had half his head covered in bandages, but he seemed healthy enough to hold a weapon and shoot. It could get ugly very fast, so the Lieutenant Commander did not waste a minute.

"Alright, keep your head down, they have Mattock rifles and presumably a few more grenades". Ashley ordered, as she handed him a spare sidearm. Pancassus, you are in charge of this position now."

"Understood, Spectre" was the turian's laconic answer.

Doctor Revin led Thane and Ashley Williams past a locked door, then turned a few corners carefully and started to march in a direction that would put them directly on a path to surprise the remainder of the Cerberus commandos. She felt really uneasy leaving even more civilians behind. At least they had four people with weapons training protecting them. The only way they could get out of there alive was to go on the offensive and use the only advantage they had: they knew the hospital better than Cerberus, and now the enemy would probably believe they were making a stand in a fixed defensive position. They had to hurry to stab them through the back.

Despite their extremely precarious situation, Ashley allowed a sly smile to form in her lips as she faced Thane's direction "Let's hunt down those bastards."

Next chapter: Ghosts

Special thanks to survivor686 for his proofreading and excellent editing suggestions. Any flaw you find in this chapter is my fault, not his.

Trivia: Cerberus operation is coded Chimera, the mythological three-headed creature, with a frightening mix of different beasts body parts. It is a reference to how Cerberus attempted to take out the three non-human 'heads' in the Council to grant Udina special emergency powers.

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