The entire galaxy was rocked by a major resolution from the Turian Higharchy. Primarch Adrian Victus ordered the Turian Councilor to initiate a vote to denounce the Alliance and remove it from the council. Additionally, all Higharchy forces were ordered to withdraw to Higharchy controlled space and is willing to begin negotiations with the Turian Republic. The announcement caught the Coalition and even Phoenix off guard.
However, the Republic, led by Solona Vakarian, has made it clear that if the Higharchy wants to negotiate, it must do so through the Coalition itself. This move has sparked rumors that the Coalition is in the process of becoming a permanent political organization, with many member nations stating that the Citadel Council has failed to bring an end to the war and sees the Citadel Council as a failed experiment.
The Higharchy's decision to break away from the Alliance was made after the chains that bound them together were shattered. This happened when the Alliance lost its hold on Harbinger, resulting in significant loss of political and financial power. Victus had been waiting for an opportunity to sever ties with the Alliance and saw it with the failed UN and Alliance votes, but he stayed loyal to the Alliance up until the votes and lost much of his prestige as a result. Unfortunately, this resolution has come too late in many regards, including the Turian Rebels' independence. He must now acknowledge their independence, at least for the time being, and give this new Coalition some space while he prepares for something grander.
Following the Turian Higharchy's surprising resolution, the Asari Republics and the Salarian Union issued similar orders to their councilors. However, both governments still consider Phoenix, as well as Commander Shepard, to be terrorists and believe they should be held accountable for their crimes against the states. In contrast, the Turian Higharchy did not make any further accusations and instead rolled back many of their previous policies.
Due to the capture of the Reaper Husk, by Phoenix, which had been holding the Turians in place and without its financial and political power the Alliance was unable to prevent the Turian Higharchy from breaking away. Consequently, the Alliance has lost much of its former strength and is now a mere shadow of its former self.
--
Sara Anderson, a well-known infiltrator and "target killer," is being escorted down a hallway to an integration room by a dozen Phoenix soldiers and several light mechs, and if they could have fit it one heavy mech, serving as an armed guard. Many operators observe as Sara's identity is revealed and she is led down the corridor. Upon entering the room, she sees a Phoenix interrogator standing next to Shepard.
Sara is led to a chair in the room, where she sits down with handcuffed hands on the table. The Phoenix interrogator informs her that she is in a lot of trouble for her attempted assassination of Commander Shepard, and that her actions will not go unpunished. Sara simply smiles and looks at her old friend.
"I will only speak with Shepard alone," Sara declares, speaking hoarsely as her throat is still sore but finally recovering.
"Very well," the Phoenix interrogator agreed, standing up to leave as Shepard took his place. "Answer our questions, Sara, and you will be treated fairly," Shepard added with a sharp tone.
"The Alliance truly has broken you, Edwards," Sara remarked, using Shepard's exiled name.
"It's Shepard, Miss Hackett," Shepard replied, surprising the integration team by using Sara's old last name.
"Very well, Shepard. What do you want to know?" Sara asked, leaving Shepard wondering what she was up to.
"Why are you doing this? Why did you help us and then turn against us?" Shepard asked, deviating from the script provided by Phoenix. Shepard knew that Sara wouldn't give direct answers.
"I helped you when I believed that whatever you were doing was for the greater good. I believed in you and your cause. But a false flag operation? And having Phoenix shoot you?" Sara replied, speaking hoarsely. Shepard looked at Sara. Sara still having a hard time believing what she was saying and learned.
Shepard spoke matter-of-factly, "I can hardly believe this is coming from you, of all people. You, who were trained to be a weapon, to kill. You've taken out Alliance, Higharchy, and now Phoenix. You've even ordered a few false flags, too."
"You're right, I have," Sara admits. "Me, not you. The Paragon of Humanity. At Akuz, I was surrounded. You saved many that day, including Garrus." Garrus name no longer carries the same weight it once did, and Sara notices this as she looks at the stern-looking Shepard.
"After the war, all I wanted to do was retire and disconnect from my old life," Sara continues.
Shepard cuts to the chase and asks, "Who do you work for, Sara?" Sara chuckles at Shepard's question and smiles.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she replies, enjoying the moment. "Don't worry, old friend, you'll find out soon," she adds, her tone smug. Then, unexpectedly, she says something that catches Shepard off guard.
Sara leans forward on the table and says, "Shepard, you know I never miss my target. My targets tend to never get up, but I was told not to kill my target yet. I will end you. I just can't kill you."
"That may be true, but at least you can't cause us any more problems. You can't end me here," Shepard states, to which Sara just smiles and starts to laugh a little.
"What's so funny?" Shepard asks.
"Do you really think your little room can hold me, Shepard?" Sara states, Shepard just looks at Sara with a questionable look.
"Yes, you can't get out of here, and no one is coming for you. This station isn't known to our allies, the Republic, or even the Alliance," Shepard states with a small grin.
"Do you want to know my orders right now, Jane?" Sara asks, and Shepard is intrigued.
"Sure, go ahead and tell me, Sara. But why would you tell me now?" Shepard asks.
Sara states, "You'll see, Shepard. My orders for right now are to find the nonexistent Phoenix base and tag it for bordering," leaving Shepard in shock. "You did a good job stripping me of my equipment, but you forgot something," Sara says as she points to her eyes, which start to glow as her cybernetics begin to work.
"Damn it!" Shepard exclaims as she stands up from the table. "All hands, prepare to repel boarders! I repeat, prepare to repel boarders!" As Shepard finishes announcing her orders over the station's PA system, she hears a click and a thud. She turns her head to see Sara leaping at her and grabbing her face with her hand, slamming the back of her head against the wall before going limp. Sara keeps her head against the wall.
"Let me out, operative," Sara orders, causing the interrogation team to become worried at seeing Shepard limp form.
"If you kill her, Anderson, it won't help you," the Phoenix Interrogator warns, eyeing Shepard.
Sara attempted to negotiate with the Phoenix interrogator, "Please, your little cage won't keep me in here. I'm just giving you the option of letting me out with Shepard not permanently damaged," she said. After a few moments of hesitation, the interrogator pressed a button to release her.
Sara immediately made her way to Shepard's side and retrieved her pistol from her holster, laying her gently on the ground. As she walked out of the interrogation room, she faced the Phoenix Interrogator and his team with the pistol drawn. The group was on edge, their own weapons pointed at her.
"Don't even think about it!" screamed one of the Phoenix operators as he moved to take Sara down. However, the lights suddenly turned off, and Sara's eyes quickly adjusted to the dark. She deftly moved out of the way of the operator's charge and swiftly turned around to grab the back of his neck, slamming his head into the bulkhead.
Then Phoenix Interrogator tries to land a punch on Sara, but she grabs his arm and pulls him towards her, grabbing the back of his neck as well and slamming his head into the console. As the Interrogator slumps down, Sara opens the door to the interrogation room and sees two Phoenix guards standing next to the door. She grabs one of the guards' helmets and slams him into the other guard before running down the hallway.
As she reaches the end of the hallway, the PA system comes alive with the announcement that Alliance forces have entered the system and to prepare to repel boarders. Sara is about to move down the hall but notices at least a dozen Phoenix engineers running down the hallway and decides to remain where she is. After they pass, she runs down the hallway, and an explosion is heard.
"The PA system blared with a warning, 'Alliance troo... Republic troops have entered the station!' Sara sprinted down the corridor, dodging explosions that rattled the walls. Just as she turned the corner, a bomb detonated nearby, flinging her to the ground and slamming her against the wall. She staggered to her feet, clutching her side as blood seeped through her fingers. Seeking refuge in a nearby guard room, she burst in to find two guards inside. Without delay, one of them lunged at her, attempting to tackle her. But Sara sidestepped him, snapped his neck with a swift move, and turned to face the other guard who was frantically trying to establish communication. Ignoring the pain in her side, she approached him, snatched his helmet, and bashed his head against the console."
Sara limped over to the locker and swung open its doors, revealing a Phoenix Demolisher Engineer Uniform and a first aid kit. She grabbed the kit and shuffled to a nearby table, wincing in pain as she removed her tunic. Suddenly, Shepard's voice crackled through the radio of one of the Phoenix operators, "Fugitive Sara Anderson has escaped! Execute on sight! Repel all borders! I say again, execute Sara Anderson and repel all borders!"
--
Few moments earlier
In the integration room, Shepard and her team began to regain consciousness. Shepard groggily rose to her feet, her head pounding. As she stepped into the outer integration room, she saw the Phoenix guards kneeling on the floor. The Interrogator sat slumped against the console; his face deeply embedded into it. One of the guards lay unconscious on his back. Shepard approached the other guard and asked, "You, okay?" as he began to stir.
One of the guards couldn't help but make a joke in the midst of the chaos, "Ugh, anybody get the ID number of that Reaper?" he quipped as he positioned himself against the wall. The other guard groaned, "I've been better, Commander."
Concerned for his team's well-being, Shepard asked, "Operative, are you okay?" just as an explosion rocked the station.
"She wanted to be caught, and we played right into her hands," stated the Phoenix Operative as he rose to his feet. "Do everything you can to not let her leave this station," ordered the Interrogator as he walked out to see two Phoenix Guards kneeling outside.
"Alliance tro... Republic Troops have entered the Station. Republic Troops have entered the station," blared the PA system.
"Republic...?" Shepard stated, surprised.
"What are we going to do, Shepard?" asked the Phoenix operators, worried.
"The only thing we can do," answered Shepard, bringing her hand to her radio. "Fugitive Sara Anderson has escaped! Execute on sight! Repel all borders! I say again, execute Sara Anderson and repel all borders!" she ordered.
--
The sound of a PA system fills the air as Sara tends to a wound on her side by tightening the bandage. She searches for medi-gel but comes up empty, so she dons her new Phoenix uniform and retrieves her gear she found from one of the weapons locker. After attaching her blades to her belt and grabbing a SCAR rifle, she puts on her helmet and exits the guard station.
As she walks towards her objective, she sees Phoenix operators jogging past her. Eventually, she runs into Shepard, who is directing the operators to their stations. Sara overhears some operators expressing feelings of betrayal towards the Republic. When Shepard notices Sara's engineer uniform, she sees the dark crimson color on her white tunic, and sees that she is holding onto her side, likely due to an injury, she calls her over.
Sara's injury has progressed to the point where she can no longer feel anything. She hopes that she won't have to fight her way out since she's not confident in her ability to do so. Shepard orders an operator to the left to get a medic to tend to Sara's wound, and Sara responds, in a different voice than Shepard is used to hearing from her, by expressing thanks as the medic did his best but she need more advanced treatment..
Shepard then orders Sara to proceed to the medical bay, luckily the data center is in the same direction, located deep within the station. Sara limps her way there, holding her rifle pistol still holstered. She uses her cybernetics to scan the area and sees that there are only three people inside the center.
Sara prepares to open the data center, activates the keypad, and uses her cybernetics to find and enter the correct code into the keypad. As the door opens, the Phoenix operators inside don't acknowledge her presence. Without hesitation, Sara raises her pistol and fires at the operator in front of her, causing them to drop to the ground. The other two operators then turn towards her.
The operator to Sara's right drops to the ground as the other operator draws her pistol, but she is quickly neutralized as well. Sara then limps over to the main data center and, like before, cracks it open. As she starts to look for what she needs, her omni-tool goes off.
"Shadow? I hope you've reached the objective?" A Turian female's voice can be heard on the other end.
"I'm here, Chairman. Once I have your intel, I'm going after Shepard," Sara responds to the Republics leader.
"I understand why you want to, but you can't just go after her. She is too politically powerful," Solona Vakarian, tries to convince her otherwise.
"I will do it, but first I will deliver your intel. Found it...the Horsehead Nebula?" Sara says as she downloads the data. "I have your intel. Get a shuttle to Hangar 2. I'll be ready for extraction," she adds before ending the call.
From her vantage point in the command center, Shepard watches as Republic soldiers engage in a fight with Phoenix Operators. She quickly realizes that it's all just a diversion and that they are after something or someone else - Sara, she suspects. The timing of the Republic's attack and Sara's escape was not a coincidence.
As Shepard studies the CCTV footage, her attention is drawn to a lone engineer who catches her eye. Shepard's memory is jogged by the dark spot on the engineer's tunic, which should be white. She remembers a similar engineer whom she had let go earlier. Although the engineer looks like the same one. She can't help but think it's Sara.
Realizing that this could be a lead to finding Sara, Shepard calls over two operators to follow her as she makes her way out of the command center.
Sara grits her teeth as she clutches her side, trying to stem the flow of blood that is rapidly staining her once-white tunic a dark crimson. As she turns the corner, she spots two Phoenix operators, but her attention is soon drawn to the sight of Shepard entering the hangar, pistol at the ready. Without hesitation, Sara draws her own pistol and takes it off safety, preparing for a confrontation. Sara rounds the corner pistol raised.
The two operators attempt to raise their rifles, but Sara is faster and manages to take them both down. She approaches the door and scans it, but to her surprise, she finds no one inside. Sara breaches the code on the door and opens it, her pistol raised and ready.
"Shadow actual here. Need pickup now," Sara whispers into her Omi-tool as she limps towards the open area of the hangar. She removes her helmet. Her blonde hair shining with sweat. Suddenly, she hears Shepard's voice behind her, ordering her to stop. Sara turns around, her hand still on her side, blood seeping through her fingers. She smiles weakly at Shepard, Sara's expression betraying nothing but pain.
Sara grits her teeth and speaks through the pain, challenging Shepard with the words, "Or what Shepard... You will shoot me?" She urges her friend to remember who she truly is and how much better she can be, insisting that it's not too late for her to change her ways. Despite the blood flowing down her leg and pooling under her boot, Sara can see a shuttle approaching, offering a way out of this dangerous situation.
Shepard hesitates, her pistol shaking in her hand. She knows that she could end the threat to her new empire by taking Sara out now, but the thought of killing her oldest and dearest friend gives her pause. She realizes that if Sara is right, she owes her friend a debt of gratitude for helping her have the life she had before the Reapers and for life she had that the Alliance took from her.
As the shuttle lands, Shepard lowers her pistol and walks away. The Turian Republic Troops then help Sara up into the shuttle, and a medic starts treating her with plasma. The doors close, and Shepard watches her friend depart, hoping it's not for the last time but dreading what the future may hold.