Chapter 13
"So," Jack asked, turning her head towards the column of smoke and the small fleet of transports hovering in the distance, "Do you think we ought to look into that shit?"
Miranda sighed. Every time she thought their mission was back on track, something else cropped up. "I hate to get diverted, but probably. We need to know what Ford is up to, and perhaps get more information about the inner city forces those civilians mentioned."
"All right then." Jack nodded and then gave her a shrug. "At least we'll probably get to kick some Cerberus ass while we're at it."
In spite of her words, Miranda didn't hear the usual bloodlust behind them. It almost seemed more like Jack had said that because it was expected of her. It seemed that this planet served up enough horror to quench even the most bloodthirsty appetite.
The two of them made their way north, guided through the streets by the fire and smoke. Soon enough, these were joined by the sounds of gunfire and screams, and as they rounded an abandoned hardware story, Miranda got her first look at their source. She quickly pulled Jack behind the burned-out husk of a long destroyed skycar. Careful to not give their position away, Miranda peeked her head around the rusted metal.
Numerically, the two sides shooting it out in the streets appeared to be fairly well-matched, with about 15 to 20 fighters on each side, but that was where the similarities ended. The aliens were a rag-tag crew much like the one they'd seen before; a collection of different species armed with the weapons they'd managed to loot. Some of the asari in the improvised army wore suits of Cerberus armor, but the rest had only clothing for protection. A small percentage of the non-humans seemed to have military training, but the majority of them were just operating on rage, and their overall organization was haphazard at best.
The Cerberus forces were a very different story. Well-armed and armored, they were arrayed across the street in a sensible formation, laying down a withering fire on their enemies. They reminded Miranda of the Cerberus forces she'd fought against during the Reaper War; heavy assault troops with a few Nemesis snipers on the flanks, not the militia they'd seen before.
"Well fuck," Jack whispered. "Looks like we pissed Ford off enough to send in his real troops instead of the dumbasses we've been cleaning up 'til now."
Miranda's side still had a dull ache where she'd been stabbed, reminding her that not everyone they'd faced had been so soft, but she still couldn't disagree. This was definitely a level of force Cerberus hadn't deployed before. Judging by the bodies she saw scattered on the ground, the aliens had started out with a numerical advantage, but were now losing it, with many of their remaining fighters already injured and bleeding.
Yet just when all seemed hopeless for the alien rebels, Miranda heard a loud war cry thunder through the air. She snapped her attention to what appeared to be an old courthouse set directly in the center of the battlefield. A flood of a dozen or so turians and krogan charged out with weapons in hand. What they lacked in organization they made up with in firepower and enthusiasm. The Cerberus troops turned to greet this new threat but quickly found themselves overwhelmed. As the last of them fell dead to the concrete, the surviving force of about twenty aliens let out a victory cry.
Jack actually managed to sound impressed. "Guess they're not so hopeless after all."
Miranda nodded. "Perhaps this rebellion might actually have a chance."
Suddenly the sound of thrusters hit their ears and the celebrating alien soldiers turned their attention to the sky, where three heavily armored shuttles now hovered above the battlefield. The non-humans didn't waste time opening fire on the Cerberus transports but the doors to the shuttles still slid open despite being a good 25 feet off the ground. What followed made what little hope Miranda had gained die a quick death.
A squad of troops leapt from the shuttles with unnerving coordination. The first trio of the reinforcements hit the ground at nearly the exact same time, landing with a loud thump just as a second and third waves followed them. When the troops had finished off-loading, a fresh squad of nine stood in formation before the alien rebels who ran for cover while reloading their weapons.
The difference between the usual Cerberus fighters and these new arrivals was immediately apparent. The soldiers were dressed in matching suits of bulky, black armor and even without them, Miranda wagered the men or women inside stood at a minimum of 6'5. Their faces hid behind helmets that sported tinted visors that stretched across most of their upper face. In their hands, Miranda saw large, menacing assault rifles that almost appeared fit to be mounted on turrets.
The aliens snapped out of their stunned trances and opened fire. Miranda expected or perhaps hoped to see the combined fire of the twenty aliens tear the nine Cerberus troops to shreds but instead, the front line of the Cerberus squad outstretched one hand each as the tell-tale blue glow of biotics surrounded them. Bullets ricocheted off the surprisingly strong barriers and Miranda barely saw the shield waver before the alien's assault ceased.
The non-humans looked to each other in silent terror just as the soldiers retaliated. Some of them unloaded their rifles on the exposed aliens while others struck with powerful biotic attacks that produced a series of high-energy explosions in their enemy's ranks.
Miranda's eyes widened as she watched the bulk of the alien force being torn apart in seconds. Beside her, Jack gritted her teeth as a pair of krogan were lifted into the air by the trooper's biotics before being torn in half. The surviving aliens ducked behind cover and opened fire once again but any fool could see how hopeless it was.
Jack's body glowed blue but just as the convict prepared to jump to the aid of the surviving aliens, Miranda pulled her back into cover. "Not this time, Jack," she whispered.
Jack looked like she wanted to object but after she gave one more look at the battle the biotic field around her dissipated. "Then what?"
Miranda pointed to a large, neoclassical building across the street with marble columns and a wide staircase leading up to it's entrance. "We need to get off the street where the shuttle pilots can see us and wait for them to move on."
"Fuck that. I'm still in charge here right? We don't pussy out of a fight with Cerberus."
"Look at that." Miranda pointed back to the battle as one of the troopers took off the head of a turian running for cover with a blast from his rifle. "Ford is the mission, not saving these idiots. They are choosing to get themselves killed. I'd like to think you're smarter than that. We still don't know what we're up against here, and it's clearly very dangerous."
Jack let out a groan. "Fine."
"Follow me and keep low." Miranda turned back to the battle and found the troopers' attention was still fixated on eradicating the few aliens who remained standing.
With Jack following close behind, she ran through the open street, thankfully not drawing any fire at first. However, once they had made their way halfway up the marble stairs, their luck ran out. Miranda jumped back as a round soared through the air just in front of her face. She spun around to see that two of the troopers had broken away from the pack while the rest finished mopping up the non-humans.
Jack's biotics flared up again but before she could strike, Miranda grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the cover of the building. A tattered, red banner stretched over the lobby: Typhon Historical Society and Archives.
"Two we can probably handle," she hissed by way of explanation, "But if we fight them out there, the rest will join in and nine at once seems like a bit much."
"I wanna know who those freaks are," Jack snapped, "Because that back there was brutal."
She shook her head. "They're nothing I've seen before, but clearly they're biotics. Beyond that, it's hard to say. We can worry about it after we kill them."
"Fair enough," Jack agreed with a laugh.
A quick scan of the room suggested that the best place from which to make their stand was the solid-looking reception desk and the two of the scampered across the faux marble floor and took cover behind it. As they waited for the troopers to follow, Miranda's mind raced. Whatever these things were, they were clearly formidable. Biotics, yes, but beyond that, they had advanced combat training at the very least. Probably gene therapy and other treatments to achieve such an impressive stature as well. Typhoon had been a troop training facility and these elite troops were clearly the best products of that work that Ford had to offer.
Seconds later, two of those products kicked open the door to the archives, storming inside in unison. Talking was not on their mind. The pair came in guns blazing, their heavy assault rifles spraying down the lobby even before they bothered to look for their targets. Several of the rounds embedded themselves in the desk, but mercifully it was thick enough to shield them, at least for now.
Once the hail of fire had moved past their position, Jack leapt up from behind the desk, her biotics flaring bright. A massive shockwave flew from her hand and impacted into the two Cerberus soldiers, but they weren't going to be taken out as easily as most of her targets. The blue of their own barriers crackled into being, and though they were pushed backwards, they weren't felled.
Miranda followed her partner's lead, opening fire on the Cerberus soldiers with her pistol. Several of her shots struck home, but even the ones that penetrated the barriers only impacted on the heavy combat armor the biotics wore, not eliciting any visible signs of pain.
She didn't get a chance to strike again. Now that their enemies knew their location, they wasted no time in responding. One of them raised his hand and a powerful biotic field ripped away the front of the desk while the other concentrated his fire on the two women who had sheltered behind it.
Miranda winced as the bullets impacted against her and Jack's combined barriers. Their shields were potent, but the power of the weapons was still enough to make her strain with the effort of keeping them up. She didn't want to have to do it for long, and so she dove to the left to escape the line of fire, even as Jack scurried to the right.
The gunner chose to focus on Jack, while his partner turned towards her. A second biotic blast flew at Miranda, but this time she was ready for it. A warp of her own met his attack and when their powers collided, the air glittered with a shower of sparks. Miranda managed to follow up a split second faster than her attacker, putting three more shots from her pistol into his chestplate. They barely staggered him though, and she was forced to retreat once more when he returned fire with his heavy rifle.
The rounds from the trooper's rifle ripped through the marble support column to Miranda's right as she ran for cover. Sensing that her opponent couldn't be avoided for long, Miranda dropped to the ground. The bullets flew over her head in a loud, constant barrage. She braced herself on the tiled floor with one hand as her other glowed bright blue. Her entire body went numb as she let out the fiercest biotic strike she could muster. The warp soared across the lobby, and the trooper tossed his rifle aside and braced himself. Just as the strike was about to connect, he fired off a counterattack with both hands, and the ensuing biotic explosion sent both Miranda and Jack flying through the air.
Miranda spiraled to the ground, her pistol flying from her hand before her body collided with a display case housing a series of holos. She looked from the glass-littered floor and saw the two troopers still standing; strong as ever.
Jack had landed not far from her. The biotic spit a glob of blood to the ground and looked to her partner. "Fuck this," she snarled and her fist primed up again, an animalistic rage in her glowing eyes.
The pair of troopers didn't underestimate her, bracing themselves for Jack's response. The convict let out a loud scream as she unleashed hell. The flare hit its mark and the bright eruption of power forced Miranda to shut her eyes. The shock wave from the blast shattered the remaining glass in the lobby as the two troopers were finally thrown from their feet in spite of their readiness.
Miranda scrambled back up but before their Cerberus opponents could regain their own footing Jack struck again. Miranda watched in awe as she lashed out at the marble support column the troopers had already nearly cut in two with their rifles. A strong field manifested around the column and in one fell swoop, Jack ripped it from its base and brought it down on her enemies. One of the troopers managed to roll away, but the other was not so lucky. The heavy slab of marble crushed the armored biotic, leaving only his gloved hand reaching out from the rubble as a thick pool of blood formed beneath it.
Jack stood in the center of the circular atrium, her chest heaving for breath as her whole body trembled. The surviving trooper emerged from the dust of the shattered marble, his footing stumbling a bit before he set his sights on Jack. The soldier's helmet seemed to have taken the brunt of Jack's attack, it's visor now cracked down the center, and they tore it off. What stood before them was no man but in fact a woman with a mane of red hair. Her skin was a sickly pale color, her piercing blue eyes narrowed as she glared at Jack. She carried none of the husk-like features Miranda had expected to see, in fact it appeared like there may have been a time when this woman was considered very beautiful, though that was before whatever experiments had been done on her. Now, she didn't even speak, merely snarling as she charged.
Jack was without question the most powerful biotic Miranda had ever seen but even she had her limits. The convict raised her hands and her barriers as the female trooper tossed strike after strike, but it was clear they were faltering. Amidst the stone debris and shards of glass littering the tiled floor, Miranda saw her fallen pistol nestled just a few feet away and she dove towards it, snatching the weapon up and pulling the trigger without hesitation. The bullet sunk into the red haired trooper's temple and blew her brains out the other side. The tall woman somehow staggered one last step before she thundered to the ground, stone dead.
Jack's hands feel to her knees and she slumped over, panting heavily. "Screw those things. Us two, them zero." She paused, taking a second to catch her breath. "Nice shot, cheerleader. Definitely packed a punch though."
"You're not wrong about that. Which is why I recommend we get far away from here before their friends show up looking for them. It won't take them long to finish up those aliens outside and I don't think either of us wants to deal with seven of their friends."
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Not to sound like a pussy but I don't know how much longer I can go without something to eat," Jack said. Miranda could see the sweat dripping down her skin and practically hear the rumbling of her stomach; biotics used up a lot of calories and the convict had just been using hers at a high level.
"Then let's hope there's a back exit to this place." Miranda turned to leave but Jack stepped towards the body of the Cerberus woman. "Jack?"
Jack waved a hand. "Hold up," she said as she knelt down beside one of the corpses. Something had clearly caught her eye.
The redhaired giant of a woman laid in a puddle of her own blood, the exit wound leaving her head in a grotesque state. However it wasn't the woman's face that had Jack's attention but something else that had been covered by her mask.
Below the woman's rounded chin and running down her neck were two deep scars that had discolored her skin a bright red. Jack reached one hand out and traced her finger along the marks until her path was cut short by the collar of the woman's armor. With one charged hand Jack tore back the chestpiece and revealed the ends of the scars just above the woman's collarbone.
"What is that?" Miranda asked.
Jack turned around, grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled it down so Miranda could get a good look at the matching marks on Jack's own neck. "Looks pretty fucking similar don't it?"
Miranda feared she didn't need to ask but she did so anyway. "How did you get those?"
"How do you think?" Jack rose to her feet. "Cerberus."
Miranda crossed her arms. "Come on, we should move."
"Hold up. Back on the Normandy you told me that you didn't know about Pragia, that Teltin was just a one time thing."
"As far as I knew it was."
"You better be on the level with me, cheerleader."
"Jack, I'd hope that if I'd proven one thing to you in the past few days it's that you can trust me. "
There was no response, and Miranda decided to take that silence as acceptance. Without another word the two of them hurried through the archives. As with so much on colony worlds like this one, the building was designed to look expensive without actually spending the money. Shiny synthetic facades, covering up pre-fab construction. This one just happened to be filled with a variety of trinkets: a piece of the first human spaceship to touch down on Typhoon, holos of early colonists, and plenty of other junk Miranda would be just as happy to watch burn.
Fortunately, the rear door wasn't too hard to find, and soon enough the two of them were back out on the streets of Typhoon. There was no immediate sign of pursuit, but Miranda didn't want to take any chances. Not until they were several blocks away did she finally slow down and let them rest.
"God, this place just delivers one shitshow after another, doesn't it?" Jack grunted. "Just when I think it can't get any uglier, we've got giant biotic goons running around killing everyone. Ford really fucking needs to die."
"You'll get no argument from me," Miranda agreed, "And you just may get your chance soon enough. Look."
Jack turned to where she was pointing: Ford's tower, finally no more than ten or so blocks away. "Now that's what I'm talking about. I was starting to think we'd never get to that place."
You and me both.
"It seems we have, but let's not get careless. We need to approach this place carefully; somehow I don't think that muscling our way in is going to be possible. It's going to take recon. Right now, it's strictly surveillance, followed by some food and rest before we actually go in after him."
"Yeah, sure." Jack sighed. "Same as usual." Her fatigue was clear, draining away her usual eagerness for the kill or desire to screw with Miranda.
"We do have one advantage: with so many of Ford's men out scouring the streets for our alien friends, this place shouldn't have quite as much security as usual. I'm sure there are still plenty of soldiers inside but maybe we can get close without getting spotted at least."
"Heh. I guess at this point I'll take whatever breaks we can get."
The two of them resumed their trek down the streets but more slowly now, which was a relief. Miranda might not have burned off as much energy as Jack fighting the troopers, but she still badly needed some food.
I suppose we'll have to find a restaurant to loot or something.
Her whole life, whatever the dangers she'd been in, the simple things like food had always been available. No more. It didn't bother her as much as others might have thought however. Miranda was not a soft woman, and while she might have enjoyed some of the finer things in life, she was by no means defined by them. In that moment she would have gladly eaten an Alliance standard MRE without even giving it a second thought.
They continued to move through the streets in silence. The bodies and signs of battle Miranda had come to expect grew littered each block they passed. While in the outer city Miranda could find numerous bodies of Cerberus soldiers joining the alien rebels but here there was little but non-human blood painting the streets. Fresh non-human blood. Miranda covered her nose and mouth with the hand not holding her pistol. The stench was unbearable.
"Compliments of those big assholes back there?" Jack asked.
"Most likely."
Jack kicked the stiff head of a fallen krogan as she spoke. "If these guys hit this hard, why haven't we seen them before now?"
Miranda looked up to the tower which was now close enough that it towered over them so high that she could no longer see the top. "Because Ford doesn't want to let everyone know his full strength. And because he only really cares about protecting what's in there."
"And what do you think that is?"
"I have no idea." Miranda pointed to a rusted fire escape that reached from the street to the top of a five story building. "We should be able to see what kind of external security the tower has from up there."
Jack made a gesture in its direction with her hand. "Lead the way."
Miranda scrambled up the rusted staircase. The fire escape let out a moan as they climbed, and for a moment she feared the whole thing might come crashing down. The thought was good for a chuckle. After everything, to be killed by a rusty staircase would have been a cruel joke, and she was thankful that they reached the top before getting to the punchline.
The roof of the building was relatively empty despite the communication relay rod that stretched ten feet up from its center. Miranda found it odd that this dilapidated building was once noteworthy enough to have a vidcomm expensive enough to reach out of system, but the thought quickly left her mind as she and Jack came to a stop at the edge of the rooftop. Miranda had been right, it provided them with a perfect vantage point to one of the tower's entrances. She had expected to find some security outside but even still...
Jack shook her head. "Son of a bitch."
The entrance was an ordinary door, and it wouldn't take her hardly any effort to crack it's lock and walk into Ford's stronghold. However the large barricade flanked by two heavy turrets, an Atlas mech suit, and the squadron of at least twenty of those same heavy troopers who had just annihilated the aliens would prove slightly more challenging to pass. And there's probably more inside, maybe a lot more. She didn't bother counting their opposition, merely turning away so that she could sit down with her back to the tower.
"So...it's bad. So what?" Jack was trying her best to sound optimistic. "You're supposed to be smart right? We'll figure this out."
No, Jack. No we won't. This is a battle we can't win.
Notes- We are almost at this story's climax! We have some very exciting stuff planned for this final run of chapters. Sorry for the delay in updates as usual, it's been a busy month. The Next Rise of the Asari chapter is underway and will be out shortly. In the meantime I hope you'll share your thoughts with Revan and I in the reviews!