SPECTRES AND ASSASSINS

CHAPTER 7: A Williams' Honor

"In valor, there is hope"

Tacitus, Roman Senator and Historian

-Ashley Williams. Citadel Presidium – Shalmar Plaza –

Operation Chimera Time Marker 01:25

For brief moments, the soft breeze of the Presidium's artificial environment cherished Ashley's face, her cheeks wet with sweat drops and slightly reddened with a mix of rage and the stress of combat. The fresh air had briefly helped to sooth her irregular breathing. Her consciousness had barely managed to block the physical extenuation. The gas-polluted lungs were seriously challenging her rigorous Alliance training and fitness, a rough coughing was a reminder of their predicament in the Presidium tunnels. The notion of any modicum of rest was suddenly wiped out by the fires of hell raining over the Council and their beleaguered bodyguards.

Words could not describe the carnage Lieutenant Commander Williams was witnessing. The Cerberus ambuscade had caught their vanguard flat footed, they were all KIA or wounded in a matter of seconds. Her weaponry specialist training kicked in intuitively as she was capable to recognize the gear used by their assailants: automatic and semi-auto fire from Mattocks, Harriers and Raptor rifles, with interludes of short, controlled M-25 Hornet bursts. Members of the security detail had used some smoke grenades, but this had only intensified the enemy fire and forced their hand.

Everyone held their breath when the ground quaked at the landing of an Atlas war mech on the charred tiling of the terrace. The enormous machine impact on the ground sent a shockwave that was felt more than 15 meters away.

"Everybody, stay down!" Said the Amaterasu-born marine, as she peeked over one of the parked vehicles they were using as impromptu cover. Quickly and with minimum aim, she managed to take a few shots at the hostiles in the upper levels, but it was for naught. They were capitalizing on their advantageous location and actually fighting as coordinated, trained unit, not as the Batarian irregulars she had faced in the Black Ops conducted in the Terminus systems. Supported by a barrage of suppressing fire, a detachment of Cerberus terrorists, clad in their bulky armor, also jumped on of the Shalmar Plaza flanks. Their boots were equipped with small mass effect generators that kept them from simply splatting against the floor when they jumped from the elevated ledge, and complicated things even further when they turned the firefight into a close quarters skirmish with only one possible outcome.

Through the smoke, Ashley trained her Carnifex at the nearest enemy and shot. She hit the target, but the shields protected the man from serious damage. Not far from their location, a group of Cerberus had already engaged Spectre Tenora and some C-Sec operatives in ferocious hand to hand combat. One enemy operative was on top of the Asari, trying to crush her wind pipe with the weight of his body applied to a Mattock rifle, firmly held against the Asari's neck. Williams shot and hit the terrorist on the chest, then Tenora managed to roll out of sight, still entangled in a deadly wrestling match.

"We have to rush to the elevators! We have to take advantage of the confusion!" Councilor Udina seemed to have taken the lead, among the indecisiveness and fear that seemed to grabbed a hold of Tevos and Sparatus . "Williams, you need to come with us, we need your protection!"

Ashley appraised the situation in a millisecond. A short staircase was a few yards away, and by approaching the elevators they were going to be less exposed to enemy fire from the upper level. Her instincts green-lighted the suggestion.

"It's your duty, you have to come!" Insisted the human politician.

"Go, go go!" shouted the Alliance officer, as she rushed the councillors through the chaos and death around them. It just took a few seconds to reach the landing past a small flight of stairs, with the battle raging behind their group more ferociously than ever.

-Senior Spectre Tenora. Citadel Presidium – Shalmar Plaza –

Operation Chimera Time Marker 01:25

An armored fist had broken Tenora's jaw. Amidst the slaughter, the Asari could taste the sour flavor of her own blood in her mouth. A towering Cerberus agent had pinned her against Shalmar Plaza's floor, but not before a high velocity slug had gone through her torso. He was holding her wrists now, their wrestling is what prevented her from channel her Biotic powers against this foe, and it prevented him from shooting her a second time.

Goddess, has my time come?

The enemy operative took advantage of his helmet face mask and head-butted it against her face once more. She felt teeth shattering and her nose bones snapped broken with a rough noise.

The impact of several high-velocity rounds on her attackers' chest gave her the respite to free one of her arms and push the human away with her biotic powers. She felt light-headed due to the blood loss, her face muscles were all numb now, as her body tried to remain functional despite the trauma to her blueish visage, her neck, her abdomen… She tried to draw on her willpower, desperate situations in the line of duty is what Spectres signed on for. She set her eyes on her enemy, who was awkwardly getting to his feet as his right hand moved to his side arm. Tenora rushed towards him, her resolve fueled by a mixture of rage, desperation, survival instinct and the best training she had received as an Asari commando. She closed in the distance in less than 2 seconds, but the Cerberus agent raised his gun and fired the weapon almost at the same time as Tenora unleashed a biotic discharge through her still functioning arm. With or without contact, the momentum and power of her display lurched the terrorist 10 metres back, until her foe's hopelessly weakened body hit a wall with a loud 'crunch' sound. She had done it before, the impact would have probably broken the back of any humanoid in Council space and it was not the first enemy she had killed in this fashion.

Die, son of a bitch

As if she had fulfilled the last purpose in her long life, the Asari crumbled to her knees, her nerve system was overflowing with pain and her body was shutting down; she barely managed to feel the terrible burning skin of her chest with the tips of her fingers, all drenched in dark blood, before her ruined face felt the cold floor as her body lost all her strength and willpower.

By the Goddess Athame...

-Kappa-05-12. Subject formerly known as C. Talavi. Citadel Presidium – Shalmar Plaza –

Operation Chimera Time Marker 01:26

Pain

The Cerberus implants were severely damaged, just like his whole back felt like it had been stabbed a hundred times, and then nothing. His body was a broken toy, just like the mind control network that guided his perceptions and actions. Talavi could feel the grip of Cerberus Control Center loosen as he regained just enough free will to try to lift his left arm and touch the punctures where projectiles had penetrated his white body suit, but his limbs were not responsive. The biotic powers employed by his foe had been too much to handle for his body suit, which was not designed to resist such a display of Asari lethal skills. His enemy had collapsed face first on the floor, around ten yards away from where he was laying down as a broken toy.

There was another consequence for the now fading central command signal, that lurking dark presence that had been kept at bay started to take over him. The acute but mesmerizing shrieks bore into his head as water would leak through the fissures of a broken dam. Somehow he knew there was more than one of those beings reaching out to him. Their influence could be felt in the back of his mind now, a strange and exotic language that was not blocked nor suppressed by a man-made signal.

He could finally think of his family without his thoughts being suppressed or deemed inappropriate. His sister, an engineer in the Systems Alliance Navy, she had always been smarter than him, and he knew she was out there fighting the war. What had he done while wearing Cerberus colors? What could have possibly been a good reason to murder, sabotage and kidnap children on behalf of this terrorist organization? The actions in which he partook while receiving orders from Cerberus Command did not seem now to have furthered any purpose in favor of Humanity. He now remembered his misgivings during training and how surgery and implantation had changed his views, led him under a path he would have never taken.

There was no possible redemption for all the crimes he had committed.

His vision became blurry, the more his vital strength escaped from his broken boy, the more intense the drilling in his brain became. They will never take my alive.

The dark tentacles finally held a solid grip over Chris Talavi's persona, but to no avail. The young man passed away, lumped by a wall. A thin smile had formed in his lips before rigor mortis had set in his corpse. His last thoughts had been for his sister.

- Commander Shepard . Citadel Presidium. En Route to Shalmar Plaza -

Operation Chimera Time Marker 01:28

Commander Shepard's back hit the wall with violence after a 10-yard dash. A small squad of Cerberus agents lurked ahead, but they had not spotted his team yet.

The N7 marine activated the communication device in his helmet and, while keeping his voice low, re-established the link with C-Sec.

"Any luck contacting the Council?"

Commander Bailey's voice came in much clearer than the last time they had talked, "Negative, and most of their guards are dead or their cardio readings are so low that I would consider them officially KIA. Good news is that the vitals from the Council's transponders indicate they are in the proximity of Shalmar Plaza. The only stable reading I'm getting from their security detail is Williams"

Ash… Shepard was relieved to hear she was alive, after all the destruction and death he had witnessed, this was the first piece of good news since the operation had started. He trusted her, maybe they still had a chance. Leaving Thane behind with a grievous wound had been a hard choice, but the mission took priority.

"Roger. Where are they going?"

"The shuttle pad above Shalmar Plaza. The elevators are just 30 seconds away from where you are, but it's hell out there".

"We can handle ourselves. Bailey, I'm asking this as a personal favor. Make sure your people rush the drell to the hospital. He's a friend"

"Will do, Shepard. I got news confirming Huerta Memorial is secured"

'Excellent. Shepard out'

Garrus was carefully scoping the enemy with the sight of his sniper rifle. He was all-business during this mission, the Citadel was had been his professional milieu and he had been specifically trained for emergencies like these. Shepard was glad to have brought him along.

"Four hostiles, Shepard. There might be more using stealth suits."

The Alliance commando peered around the corner and quickly confirmed Garrus' assessment.

"Alright, give us thirty seconds to reposition ourselves for flanking, then take out as many as you can, we'll open a second front with grenades"

"I got you. Just like in Sur'kesh", Vakarian nodded.

In actual combat scenarios, unnecessary verbiage was an issue, this was far from the unrealistic scenes in war holo-vids; the lives of Ashley and the highest Council authorities may depend on their quickness, and once more he was glad he could rely on people with actual military training.

-Ashley Williams. Citadel Presidium – Shalmar Plaza Elevator to Landing Pad–

Operation Chimera Time Marker 01:29

The four walls of the elevator vibrated with a low humming as the mass effect fields pushed their metallic cage upwards. Williams saw the small screen numbers change rapidly, but not fast enough. She noticed how Sparatus and Tevos exchanged nervous looks. By contrast, Udina seemed more collected, keeping a steady rhythm in his breathing; his gaze was fixated on the little screen, with a calculating expression. No word was spoken about the butchery they had just escaped from, but their silence was in itself an ominous conjecture as to the fate suffered by those they had had to leave behind.

A minute had passed, in what felt like an eternity, when the first shots and small explosions could be heard outside the elevator, echoing throughout the tunnels. The Lieutenant Commander was sure the rattle, partially deafened by the thick walls surrounding them, was coming from below. They were too far away from Shalmar Plaza already to be simply hearing the byproducts of the hellish skirmish.

"That was close! They're chasing us in the shaft" the Asari councilor said.

"Alright, we aren't out of the woods yet, but I beg you to remain calm, we are minutes away from our evac transportation". Ashley tried to keep her poise and composure, to reassure the civilians. Realistically, there was no way they could just calm down when a small army of terrorists, armed to the teeth, were chasing you after mercilessly killing dozens of people. The only time she would relax was when the enemies laid down at her feet, riddled with holes or when the shuttle had taken them all far from this hellhole. Their transport stopped twice, it seemed someone was trying to slow them down by manipulating the controls. Ashley tried to input her security codes in the control panel, but nothing happened. During the second interference, they all noticed how the thrumming of automatic weapons and small explosions grew closer, but no projectile was affecting their own transportation pod directly. After brief moments of silence and inactivity, the platform resumed its movement.

"Spirits", muttered Sparatus, "Tevos, if we manage to survive this, I..."

"Silence now, Councilor", interrupted Williams. It was the first time she had seen the otherwise stoic Turian this rattled, you could spot true fear in his avian features. It was very rare to see a Turian like this, but surely their predicament warranted the externalization of his insecurities. Without eyes on the enemy outside, the truth was that she needed to listen and estimate how far behind the enemy was.

Just as a deadly silence had shrouded this confined space, a sudden loud and violent thump on the elevator's roof made it clear someone or something heavy had landed on it. It did not even take a millisecond for the Spectre to react.

"Gunman! Get down!" Shouted Williams as she aimed and fired her Carnifex handgun against the top of the lift. The high-caliber weapon pierced the metallic alloy with ease, unfortunately, there was no human-made noise coming from the rooftop indicating she had hit her target.

In a timely fashion, the elevator came to a full stop with a clanking sound and the doors opened; Ashley managed to shout a desperate "Go!", while remaining behind her charges, covering their retreat. Udina motioned the Turian and Asari councilors to follow him down a relatively narrow corridor, the rendez-vous point was very enar, she could feel the fresh air of the presidium touching the back of her head, and the smell of burned metal from the impacts of her weapon.

There was someone still on top of the elevator, no doubt about it. Assassins who would have no problem stabbing her through the heart to get to the councilors, those Alien politicians whose ulterior motives she oftentimes failed to understand, but the very people she was sworn to protect. They moved swiftly and closed the blast doors behind them, locking them with an Spectre security override. When Ashley turned around she immediately understood the surprised gasps she overheard coming from her companions. The landing spot was right there, but the C-Sec shuttle was a charred ruin of burned metal and smoke...

"Damn it, Cerberus hit the shuttle! Everybody get down!".

She knew it was a dead end, and there was no point in rushing blind back to the elevator. There was no apparent exit in this landing pad, except for a suicidal free fall into the lower level. In this isolated location they would be an easy prey for Kai Leng and his modified assassins. A mechanical buzz sound made her realize that someone had managed to overcome the security override she had employed to protect their retreat.

When the door hissed open, all Ashley could think of is how her Carnifex slow firing cadence would probably give her time to take one or two bastards down, she had no idea if Tevos was any good using biotics in combat. It had been a really short service as a Spectre, maybe the shortest in the Spectres' long history, but if she had to die right then and there, she would go down swinging. A Williams would not have it any other way.

Everybody held their breath when their pursuers crossed the threshold... but much to their surprise, instead of seeing the masked faces of merciless assassins, three familiar people appeared through the door. They all efficiently fanned out on Commander Shepard's flanks and closed the door again. Unexpectedly, she was confronted with the man who saved her on Eden Prime, the man who saved her on Virmire and the very man who challenged Citadel space laws and risked a court-martial to stop Saren and the Collectors; and despite their differences, the man she loved. Were they here as rescuers or executioners? Were they now safe or was it all a ruse? Instinctively, she did not lower her handgun, not until there was some explanation to this conundrum.

"Shepard?!" - Asked Ashley, her voice transparently conveyed how perplexed she was.

She understood that only a Spectre's omnitool could have overridden the locked door so easily. But what was he doing here? As far as she knew, the Normandy SR-1 was in an undisclosed distant system conducting secretive missions as part of the war effort. The presence of Garrus in the group helped to dissipate the bewilderment she felt, but only to an extent. The tense silence was finally broken by Udina´s exasperated voice:

"Shepard is blocking our escape, he's with Cerberus!".

"Everybody, hang on! Shepard, what is happening here? How did you manage to cut through the Cerberus squads?"

"You know me better than this, Ash. We had to fight our way here, guided by the councillors' transponder signals". The commander´s voice was calm but firm. However, it did not escape to her the fact that they were all armed to the teeth and had not made any gesture to appear any less threatening.

"I knew the old Shepard, before Cerberus. Right now I'm not sure who I am dealing with".

Williams' skepticism was no so easily appeased. She could not easily forget the carnage they had witnessed in Shalmar Plaza. For the past hour, all she had done was fighting Cerberus terrorists and see civilians and other bodyguards massacred by a relentless, ruthless enemy; she could not just simply relax and blindly trust the first person coming through that door allegedly offering assistance. Her soldier programming that had prepared her to shoot anyone crossing the door frame a few seconds earlier, and it was this training that had kept her alive so far.

Despite Shepard being a comrade in arms in the Alliance special forces, he was the last person she expected to see here. It made no sense, it looked far too convenient. Moreover, Shepard was a soldier that, for some time, the Alliance authorities had considered a rogue operative in consort with a terrorist organization. The fallen hero who had come back from the dead, thanks to Cerberus black science.

Shit

Sensing the volatile nature of this encounter, one of Shepard's squad members directed the barrel of an assault rifle towards Williams.

Damn it, what are you three doing here when you weren't even supposed to be in the Citadel? Why are you aiming your weapons at me? Where have all the Cerberus agents gone?

Regardless of this hostile move, nobody had shot yet. Despite this, the marine did not lower her Carnifex. She was not going to just shoot a fellow Alliance soldier without sufficient evidence, but she was not going to make herself an easy target without a proper explanation. For the first time in her military career, she had openly hostile targets right in front of her but she could not really bring herself to pull the trigger. Instinctively, she shuffled her feet and positioned her body in the line of fire between the new arrivals and the councillors.

As if Shepard had somehow read her mind, he barked an order, "Everybody, stand down!" Garrus and the other Normandy crew member lowered their weapons. So did Williams, but not completely.

Shepard was a sworn Spectre, just like her, How the hell had they ended up confronting each other like this? What kind of rampant madness had led them to a stand off where she was training a highly powered hand cannon at the man who had stood by her side when the Geth all but destroyed the entire Eden Prime colony? The marine officer with whom she had taken down Saren and averted the Reaper invasion just a few years ago?

"We don't have time to negotiate. You've been fooled, all of you. Udina is behind this attack, the Salarian councilor confirmed it". Shepard was growing impatient, a sense of urgency conveyed in every word he uttered

"You have no proof", retorted Udina, with a hint of disdain.

"There were Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us. If you open the door, they'll kill you all"

Ashley Williams understood this quandary was leading nowhere. Taking a deep breath, she made a choice completely based on her gut, as she would later try to rationalize; her trust in Shepard was stronger than the urge to follow Udina's direct orders. She had qualms about betraying her own oath as a Spectre, but she turned around to face the human politician nonetheless. Was her action a form of high treason? She would leave that to philosophers and lawmakers.

"I'm gonna regret this..." Ashley looked down briefly, she was exhausted and felt a needling pain in her spine... and in her chest...

"No, you won't" countered Shepard. His gaze was understanding, without a glint of reproach.

"Councillor Udina, step away from the console" Ashley ordered, she was not raising her voice at this point, she had a knot in her stomach and her vision was blurry, but the assertiveness in her words was such that it left him no doubt that she would shoot if necessary. Slowly, she took a few steps towards the other group.

"Stupid grunts! To hell with this!" Udina knew the plan had failed, he probably thought his only recourse was opening the door and hoping not to get hit in the chaos of a savage crossfire.

It all happened very quickly, Tevos tried to stop the human representative, but he shoved her violently to the floor and pulled a hidden gun from his elegant and expensive garments.

"He has a gun!", shouted Shepard

The sound of a sole gunshot drowned the fearful cries of the two surviving politicians. In order to protect the Alien councilors and human interests, Ashley had had no option but to kill the very person who had vouched for her Spectre candidacy. It did not feel like a moment of victory or like a successful mission, she had technically left her feelings for Shepard to supersede her vows as a Spectre and killed a person she was sworn to protect, unacceptable conduct under normal circumstances.

Yes, she would have to be held accountable by the Spectre code, but first and foremost she was a Marine, and a Williams.

Ashley had learned from her honorable grandfather, based on the treatment the General received after the capitulation in Xanshi, that making the best decision in desperate times was rarely rewarded with medals and parades. But that man, while wearing the heavy manacles of unwarranted ignominy had honorably faced the consequences of his decisions and so would she, like a true Williams.

Next Chapter: Trials and a Requiem

Special thanks to survivor_686 for his invaluable assistance.

Thanks to all the messages I got encouraging me to continue with the story. The next chapters and the epilogue are underway