CHAPTER 32: TOOMBS
Commander Shepard watched the Normandy's progress on the cluster map. The stealth frigate had been ordered to investigate Ontarom Newton system at flank speed due to a tip from Alliance intel about a Cerberus base. How they obtained this intel, she had no idea, and the terse message, sent once again via one time pad, had said nothing about sources. To be fair, Herschel was very far from the comm buoy, so only short messages could be sent with any sort of accuracy. But she would like to know something else about why they redirected so quickly, and she'd also like to know why Fifth Fleet thought they could get there fastest. Newton contained the relay they had taken a few days ago to deal with Saleon, and she found herself wondering why other Alliance forces couldn't get there faster.
Shepard let out a deep sigh. She knew that, at some point, she would have to broach Cerberus with the crew as well.
"Fifteen minutes out from deceleration outside of Newton," Pressly said, snapping her out of her musings. "All systems nominal."
Shepard nodded. "Pressly, get Chase up here to relieve you, then take the conn."
The navigator replied, immediately messaging the first lieutenant, who only took about a minute to take Pressly's place.
Five minutes later, Shepard was in the cargo bay. "Kaidan, Ashley, Tali: suit up."
She got three affirmative responses, and she removed her pants and t-shirt as she took out her armor and undersuit from the locker. Checking the diagnostics, she frowned as she saw that she once again had to replace the biotic medical interface on her armor. She walked several steps to retrieve the replacement part from a drawer. She still waited on her armor from Kassa; due to her very small size, it had to be custom machined and fitted when she picked it up, and despite being a Spectre, and despite the order being placed weeks ago, it wouldn't be on the Citadel until tomorrow.
She quickly pulled on the undersuit, then stepped out to begin donning the armor proper. Kaidan came out a minute later, performing the same process as her in silence.
The elevator door opened and both Ashley and Tali exited the elevator, laughing about something that quickly fell to silence on seeing their CO's expression. The sounds of armor being secured into place, normally drowned out by conversation, echoed throughout the small bay.
Ashley finally couldn't stand the sound of silence anymore, finally piping up with a question. "Commander. What do we expect to find on Ontarom?"
Shepard sighed, pausing for a couple moments before speaking. "Most of it is classified. From what I know, there is a research base with some bad guys. We need to take out the guards and see what the researchers have been up to."
"Simple enough," Williams replied hesitantly.
The commander sighed. "It's…something I just found out about recently. I don't like leaving you all in the dark, but…" she shook her head in frustration. "I can't really talk about it. Something I was only briefed on a few days ago. I'll see if I can tell you the basics when we get back."
"Fair enough," the chief responded, though the tone of her voice betrayed the fact the NCO wasn't at all satisfied with the answer. "Do you deal with this frequently on special operations?"
"Far too often," the commander sighed again with a shake of her head. "Do this, but don't do this or this. Don't think anything, don't ask anything, and definitely don't say anything."
Joker's voice came over the comm. "Dropping out of FTL in 5…4…3…2…1…now."
"IES engaged."
"No contacts on the scope."
"Link us into the comm buoy. See if we have an update in the queue from Fifth Fleet before we land," Shepard ordered.
"Yes ma'am."
The fireteam finished suiting up a minute later. The chief finally stated, "I'll let you drive today if you want, skipper."
That comment brought a quick laugh from the commander. "You didn't learn after the last time I drove?"
"Hey, I'm in a good mood, skipper! It's been a pretty slow few days at FTL. Repairs will give me something to do!"
Shepard grinned, though it didn't have all of the usual mirth and sparkle that her smiles normally had. It also faded faster than normal. The four of them climbed into the vehicle.
The chief and lieutenant powered up the vehicle while the commander and Tali sat in back. A minute later, Williams drove to the center of the cargo bay, centering the vehicle on the center of the electromagnetic catapult. The system was in standby, and after a moment the light changed from orange to green, indicating the interfaces were latched. The system was ready for powerup.
"Ghostrider, Chief Williams, comm check."
"Chief, Ghostrider, Lima Charlie."
"Copy, Ghostrider. We're ready to launch."
"ETA is three minutes to IP."
"Sensors, Shepard, send out an active scan to the facility."
"Aye aye, ma'am." There was ten seconds of silence before the crewwoman at the sensors console replied, "There's a small transport landed about twenty meters from the facility. Civilian specs, FTL capable…hold on." There was another five second pause. "There's residual heat radiating from the hull. It wasn't enough to detect from background infrared radiation from the planet. Give us another minute up here and we can estimate how long it's landed."
"Copy that, Service Chief." It was a straightforward calculation, but it took time to accurately determine the rate of cooling and the associated details, which in turn would allow them to estimate how long the ship had been there.
"Someone else is hitting this facility?" Alenko asked.
Shepard nodded. "Correct. We're trying to figure out who and why."
"You mean…they're not Alliance?" he asked in a bit of surprise.
"We don't think so, but they likely have Alliance training."
Williams glanced to Alenko, but the lieutenant kept his expression as impassive as possible.
It took just over a minute for the chief to respond over the comm. "Commander, assuming the hull composition, the atmosphere's makeup, and a high speed reentry, that ship has been on the ground for about ten minutes."
"Good work, Chief."
Ashley gave Kaidan a quick look, who sighed.
"Thirty seconds to IP," another voice called out moments later.
Everyone aboard the vehicle ensured their five-point harnesses were secured. The cargo bay had been cleared of personnel minutes ago.
The cargo bay doors opened, and the Mako was buffeted by heavy winds that entered the cargo bay and exited out the back along specially designed vents.
"Ten seconds."
"Launching in 3…2…1…" the chief pressed a button and the catapult fired, propelling the six-wheeled vehicle out of the cargo bay.
Shepard clutched at her harness after the quick burst of acceleration, then the sudden weightlessness from free fall. After about thirty seconds, the thrusters began firing to slow their descent, and the positive gees increased just before the jolt as the vehicle touched down.
Scarcely had the vehicle slowed down than the chief slammed on the accelerator and the vehicle surged forward on the grass.
"Commander, who exactly could have gotten here first?" Chief Williams finally asked.
Shepard's breath hitched as the chief sent the Mako airborne for a moment as the vehicle cleared a small hill. "Not sure," came the cryptic response after a pause as she adjusted to the chaotic motion of the Mako. "Unknown if they are hostile." She then let out an exasperated sigh. "Fuck it, they can reprimand me," she replied.
Both Alenko and Williams traded a sharp look. Shepard rarely swore, despite being in the military, and they had almost never heard her curse like that before.
"There's evidence that some people…engineered the thresher maw attacks on Akuze, and the maw we encountered on Edolus. It is highly likely that those were ambushes set up by those same people," she said. "There," she said sourly, tapping her armor's camera. "To whoever watches this armor cam and mic, you can now bust me for simply telling my crew why the hell we're deploying to this Godforsaken planet."
Despite the commander's words reminding them about the armor cams and mics, both Alenko and Williams looked at each other in shock, with the lieutenant looking to the commander. "Those were…deliberate attacks? Someone wanted the thresher maws to attack marines?" Ashley asked.
"It's highly likely," Shepard said quietly.
"Keelah," Tali said quietly.
The Mako turned a small hill to see the entrance to the facility just fifty meters away, which was mostly buried in the side of a cliff and hard to spot without ground penetrating sensors unless one knew exactly where to look. There were no guards outside, no turrets…and the civilian ship had landed just twenty meters away. The ship was about as small as ship that could be fitted with an FTL drive. The door to the facility remained open, but Shepard couldn't see anything inside. No people, not even bodies…
"I'll head in first," Shepard told the fireteam as she outlined her brief plan as the Mako slowed to a stop next to the open door.
The commander prepped her biotics and opened the door to the vehicle. She jumped out, immediately noticing the lower atmospheric pressure with her first breath, and charged to cover against the wall of the facility – and in the shade. The temperature on the planet was uncomfortably high, but due to the crippling headaches she avoided helmets if at all possible. She spun around, dark energy swirling around her arms, ready for use against any hostiles…but there were none. She kept the fireteam covered while they took moved behind walls and crates near the door, then took cover into the small facility.
Shepard saw a dead human, who from his shotgun, rifle, and sidearm, she presumed that he was a guard. She gestured for the squad to stay alert as she strengthened her barrier even more and drew her own shotgun. She crept around a corner to see…another guard, hit at close range with a shotgun. His weapon was drawn, lying off to the side in a puddle of blood that was still wet. She jumped forward to the next bit of cover, this time a low wall, the rubber inserts on her boots making no sound at all as she quickly and fluidly navigated the maze of a facility. Around the next corner, she saw an unarmed man, shot in the head while he appeared to be fleeing.
She leveled her weapon at the sound, what appeared to be a conversation…or an argument. She crept forward, her ears tuned for any more voices.
"Sir, please! I don't know what you're talking about!" The voice was panicked, pleading, barely in control.
"Bullshit," another man growled.
"You guys stay here. I'll handle this," the commander whispered.
"Commander, what-" Williams started.
"I can handle this," she repeated. She put her barrier up and quietly dashed forward.
Williams watched Shepard dash forward. It was scary how quiet the commander could be when she wanted to be, even when moving that fast. She made no sound other than the faint crackling of her barrier, her boots falling silently on the metal floor. The chief wondered what type of infiltrator or assassin she would have made, if she wasn't such a powerful biotic.
Shepard turned right, heading down a corridor where she saw an armored man aiming a rifle at a second man's head. The gunman turned his head slightly to the right and said to her, "Stay back! I've got no grief with you! All I want is this bastard!" the man continued. He then glanced again to her, with a brief flash of recognition. "Lieutenant Shepard? Don't tell me you're with Cerberus, too," he spat.
Her biotics continued to pulse, and she wondered where this guy had been the last few weeks to use her prior rank, given the frequency of how often she was in the news. "Of course I'm not with Cerberus, I'm here to learn what Cerberus is – "
The hostage, however, had his eyes fixed on the commander ever since she entered, a look of abject dread on his face. "Oh fuck!" the hostage screamed in absolute terror. Shepard watched in puzzlement as the man backpedaled away from her, ignoring the man pointing a gun at his head. Sure, by now everyone knew she was a Spectre, but something seemed off about the man's horror at seeing her – it wasn't just the fact she was a Spectre.
Part of her wanted to put both men in a stasis and bring them both in for questioning. She kept her biotics charged, but decided she'd try to get some information first. She shook her head emphatically in response. "We've been sent to learn about and stop…Cerberus." No point keeping the name a secret now. "We're trying to learn more of what they were up to, why they've been setting up thresher maw ambushes. And this is a Cerberus facility."
"It won't be when I'm finished with it, and him," the gunman growled.
The commander could tell that the hostage was a professional liar. She could tell he was still scared shitless of her, but he switched to a different tactic that didn't fool her at all. She could say with near certainty that the man worked for Cerberus, but there was something here that she didn't quite understand. "Please, help me miss! He's a madman!" the unarmored man pleaded to Shepard before turning back to the heavily armored man to his side. "Mister, you're insane! You need help!" he exclaimed.
"It's not Mister! It's Corporal! Corporal Toombs!" the armored man screamed in response.
"Corporal Toombs, why exactly are you attacking the Cerberus facilities?" Shepard asked.
"I was on Akuze. I saw the maws attack and wipe out our whole platoon – maws that these assholes lured to our position!" Toombs yelled at the man.
Shepard's eyes shot open at the response. "Wait what? You were on Akuze? But I thought only – "
Toombs shook his head bitterly. "Yeah, only he 'officially' survived. But for some reason, the maws didn't kill me. I woke up in a lab. These Cerberus scientists were studying those thresher maws. They wanted to see what happened when they hit a platoon of marines," Toombs continued. "The scientists were delighted that I'd survived. This one in front of me had a test subject to use!" he screamed at the scientist, kicking him to the ground. The panicking scientist let out a terrified yelp as he tried to scramble away from Toombs and Shepard.
Shepard's mind ran through what she had been briefed on Cerberus. This certainly was a Cerberus facility, staffed with Cerberus personnel, but…could this somehow be a setup by Cerberus? But why would Cerberus kill their own scientists and guards? Killing their own skilled scientists and guards to prevent them from talking, or as part of a setup, had to be one of the most insane things a supposedly clandestine organization could do, she knew. They couldn't exactly set up recruitment ads all over the 'net, and there wasn't exactly a large pool of morally compromised engineers, scientists, operatives, and analysts to recruit from. And how would they know she was just minutes out from Ontarom, and have Toombs land – the thermal profile from the ship couldn't be faked – and start slaughtering the staff? A setup was just too far-fetched, she figured.
She wanted to get some information first, and she spoke over her comm to her crew. "Tali, Kaidan, see what data you can retrieve from these systems."
The two crew responded in the affirmative, and the doctor shook his head. "There's only pharmaceutical data here! I don't know about any thresher maws!"
"Pharmaceutical data, right. Only if that data includes the results putting thresher maw acid into my veins!" Toombs screamed back.
Shepard gasped. "T-thresher maw acid?" she asked quietly. "They put it in…" A lump formed in her throat, and she shuddered briefly. She paused for a few moments to collect herself before she continued her questioning. "Why would you be doing pharmaceutical research in the middle of nowhere in the Traverse?"
"W-w-we're only studying some cures for dangerous diseases!" the scientist replied.
She crossed her arms. "Easier to do that on Noveria."
"It's for the diseases endemic to Ontarom! W-we're studying them in their natural environment! That's the reason the planet can't be colonized!" the scientist stammered.
That had to be the worst lie that Shepard had ever heard, and her eyebrows raised to show considerable skepticism. Toombs spoke her exact thoughts. "The planet can't be colonized because the fucking moon is about to crash into the fucking planet!" Toombs screamed back.
Shepard again shuddered momentarily at the thought of having that acid coursing through a body. She turned to face the scientist, who had subtly moved towards the discarded weapon. She used her biotics to shove him away from the weapon, and back against the wall. Her arm was sheathed in dark energy as she pinned him there.
"Commander…I was able to get into a datapad. They definitely lured the maws on Akuze," Kaidan told her quietly.
Shepard frowned as she faced the scientist. "Did you deliberately set ambushes with thresher maws?" she asked. Her voice, despite its high pitch, was laced with venom, and the scientist realized that he would rather face thresher maw venom than this tiny woman in front of him.
"Y-you can't believe Mister Toombs, or that data bank!" the scientist pleaded. "There's no proof!"
"As opposed to believing you?" She released her biotic field pinning the man to the wall. "Edolus? Does that name happen to ring a bell?" Shepard asked quietly.
She watched as the scientist flinched at the name of Edolus. From his expression, he most certainly did know about it, and likely was involved in it. "But I-I've never heard of Edolus!"
"I can refresh your memory," she replied. "Cerberus set up a distress beacon to lure in and kill a squad of marines, and nearly got my squad killed when we went to investigate."
Toombs turned to look at her in a looked that mixed surprise and skepticism. "You…survived a thresher maw attack?"
"I had my biotics and a Mako. But mostly, I was lucky," she replied quietly.
"Please, miss, I don't know anything about thresher maw attacks!"
"I saw the recovery footage from Akuze, the few mangled bodies they were able to retrieve," Shepard said quietly. "Most parents, spouses, children…they never even had a body to bury. To think that you were responsible for that…well, I'm not sure if you get the news out here, but I've been made a Spectre. Which means I can do what I want, with no repercussions."
"N-n-no-o," the man stammered.
"We need answers from you first, though. Everything you've been up to," Shepard said.
Toombs abruptly turned to face her instead of the scientist. "Huh? You're going to let him live?" he asked in a mix of surprise and anger.
"We need to find out what else he knows, and what other experiments Cerberus has been up to."
"We can't let him get away with what he's done!" Toombs shot back.
"Arresting him will hurt him more. He will never walk free – I'll see to that. He will talk, and he then will answer for his crimes," Shepard said solemnly.
"Cerberus will never allow any of their operations to become public! They will deny everything! My unit deserves vengeance!"
"The greater vengeance is exposing Cerberus operations to the galaxy," Shepard responded, keeping her voice calm and reasonable despite Toombs' anger.
"But he needs to suffer!" Toombs screamed with rage.
"And he will, Corporal. He will. We'll take him back to the Normandy and take him to a military facility on Arcturus Station."
"This is all a mistake! I—" the scientist started to say.
"Shut up," both Shepard and Toombs said in near unison.
"We'll knock him out and take him on board," Shepard said. "I can do the job, but I figured you want to do the honors, Corporal."
The corporal said nothing and remained motionless for several moments, staring hard into the commander's eyes, before finally walking slowly towards the trapped scientist, his own eyes burning with hate. "Nn-n-oo please don't NOOO!" the man babbled, kicking with futile gestures to escape.
Toombs grabbed the scientist's temples in both of his hands, then slammed his head hard against the back wall. The man went limp and crumpled to the ground in a heap of unconscious limbs. "Take him back to the ship. Corporal, come with us."
Tali and Shepard pulled all of the data from the terminals that they could, with the two marines and Toombs closely watching both each other and the unconscious scientist. Finished after several minutes, they returned to the Normandy.
Wrex popped his knuckles as the Mako drove into the cargo bay. The commander had ordered the ship's tiny brig to be prepped for a prisoner. She had also ordered the krogan to greet the Mako on arrival, and mentioned they had two new passengers. The krogan would be taking one of them to the ship's brig, and for a moment he absentmindedly found himself wondering which passenger he would be taking.
The Mako parked and its door opened. Tali came out first, followed by an armored man that Wrex didn't recognize. The young quarian seemed to be a bit apprehensive around this first newcomer, but didn't seem to be alarmed. He probably wasn't the person that would be locked in the brig.
The armored man reached back into the Mako and roughly began pulling something out. It must have been heavy, since he wasn't—
Wrex then got his answer on who would be escorting to the brig. A man in some sort of scientist's outfit landed on the floor with a panicked yelp. Shepard jumped out a moment later, glaring at the scientist who alternated terrified looks to the new man and the Spectre.
The old krogan decided that his time had come to approach. He lumbered towards the Mako, not bothering to walk quietly on the metal floor as the scientist turned his head to face the noise.
Wrex quickly determined that the man had nothing in his intestines. If he looked scared when glancing at the armored man, and looked like he had pissed himself when looking at Shepard, when the scientist looked at the large, grinning krogan, his gaze was one that said his bowels had just emptied in terror. "W-w-w…" the terrified scientist began to stammer.
"Well, well, well. Looks like fresh meat," Wrex growled.
"Take him to the brig, Wrex," Shepard ordered.
"Can I eat him if he misbehaves?" Wrex grinned ferally at the prisoner. The man let out a terrified squeal.
"We need him alive," came the reply.
"What about his legs? He won't need those."
Shepard sighed, finally drawing a bit of amusement from the man's terror. "We need him alive, Wrex."
"Good." The massive krogan pulled the prisoner to within mere centimeters. "I hope you misbehave. I'm hungry, and she usually doesn't let me eat prisoners." The battlemaster pinched the stomach of the prisoner for a moment. "Hmm, yes. You'll make good long pork," Wrex grinned. The scientist squealed in terror.
Shepard shot a quick glance of skepticism at Wrex, wondering where the krogan had picked that particularly disgusting human idiom up, then resigning herself to the fact that it, once again, must have come from Joker.
The man was too scared to stand on his own, and he promptly collapsed back to the floor in a heap. The krogan didn't bother trying to lift him again; he simply dragged the man off to the elevator. Shepard followed.
The long elevator ride passed in silence, save for the occasional whimper from the scientist. Upon arrival at the crew deck, the krogan dragged the man the rest of the way to the tiny cell and tossed him in, sealing and locking the scientist in.
Shepard meanwhile went up to CIC and ordered the Normandy to return to Arcturus. Since the Newton system had a mass relay, the trip would be a short one. She had written up a quick dispatch to send to Fifth Fleet about what they had found at Ontarom on the shuttle flight back, after a quick records search from the Normandy's local database did confirm that a Corporal Robert P. Toombs was KIA on Akuze. The man's face today looked far more beaten and world-weary than the photo from just a few years ago. Shepard ordered the crewman at the comm station to send the message as soon as they dropped out of FTL at the relay.
She then returned to the cargo bay, where Alenko and Toombs were standing near a workbench. Both turned to face her, and the lieutenant spoke up first. "Corporal Toombs' DNA matches the database," Kaidan said.
The corporal straightened himself up. "Corporal Robert Toombs, Second/Ninth Marines, ma'am."
"Tell me your story, Corporal," she said softly.
So Toombs did. The attack on Akuze, waking up in a medical cell, being a test subject for Cerberus scientists…Shepard found herself shuddering as she heard of the experiments Cerberus had run. She bit her lip and looked over to Alenko, who had an equally disgusted look on his face. "What do you know about Cerberus?" Toombs then asked her.
"Not much," she admitted. "I was only recently briefed on them. I only know that they have been behind thresher maw attacks."
So Toombs told her, and after a few minutes, she angrily stormed off to confront the Normandy's second newcomer.
The door to the tiny room swished open and Shepard glared at the scientist. "What's your name?" the commander asked the scientist quietly, the soft tone of her voice not matching the expression in her eyes.
"Please, I don't-" he started pleading as he fell out of the chair and into the wall.
"What. Is. Your name," she asked, her voice still quiet.
"D-d-dr. Wayne," he stammered quietly.
"That your real name?" she asked skeptically with crossed arms.
"O-o-of course. I've done nothing wrong! You've got the wrong man! Mister Toombs is clearly—"
"Shut up," Shepard cut him off, raising her voice for the first time. "I was briefed extensively on Akuze. I saw the aftermath. And I nearly died on Edolus from another maw just a few weeks ago."
"W-what's Akuze? And Edolus? What are you talking about?" Wayne pleaded.
"You know exactly what happened on Akuze. Three thresher maws ambushed a platoon of marines there."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Toombs does. You tortured him. He wants to return the favor. And I might let him, but that will depend on whether you talk to me. I'm the only person between you, a vengeful marine, and a hungry krogan."
"Please, Miss Shepard – "
"Commander Shepard."
"I don't know anything about this Akuze!"
"I'm sure you do." Her corona flared and brightened, and the lone chair in the room started vibrating and shaking as the walls themselves joined in moments later. "You either talk to me about Akuze and Edolus - and all the other sick shit you've been up to - or my krogan colleague will talk with you instead. I think you'll much prefer me."
The doctor paused for several moments before relenting, figuratively spilling his guts and nearly literally so. After making copies of the recording and sending it to Hackett, she ordered the Normandy to return to Arcturus to drop off the prisoner. Fortunately, they were just a few hours out. She returned back to the marines in the cargo bay, getting more information she would use in her report.
Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett didn't bother reviewing the latest report from AIA, instead impassively skipping straight to the conclusion. "No evidence of compromise of secure Alliance networks," it stated. He wholeheartedly disagreed with that assessment. Just a couple hours ago, the geth active in a remote system had fled just minutes before a task group had been scheduled to arrive. Their ships had been too slippery, always avoiding Citadel and even Terminus-affiliated warships. Every time a geth ship had been reported to any Citadel government, the geth had fled to a relay or interstellar space in time to avoid the inevitable warships that were sent after them. The pattern kept repeating itself, and Hackett wondered if the geth wanted the Citadel species to know their networks were compromised. He kept returning to same question that he had been asking the Fifth Fleet staff for weeks, each time with a different qualifier. Why?
The only time they engaged a Citadel squadron was a small engagement in which the Alliance and the Normandy had participated. Initially it had seemed that the geth had been caught, and the Alliance could hail it as a much-needed victory; indeed, the Press Corps had been promoted it as such, albeit doing little to avenge the dead of Eden Prime. However, the Alliance squadron had been diverted from guarding a relay nexus, leaving it unprotected for several hours. The geth had used the opportunity to push at least two dozen frigates through the gap, and had been using them to hit trade routes throughout Council space. Tactical victory, but strategic defeat, Hackett thought.
If that fact wasn't enough to convince them, the geth frigates that sneaked through had been refueling by hacking small automated fueling depots to take on fuel to continue their activities deep in hostile space. Yet AIA still insisted that Alliance networks were secure.
"I presume your people came to the same conclusion?" Hackett's guest asked.
Hackett nodded. "Yes."
His counterpart made a sound that was the turian equivalent of a sigh. "I had hoped your people would admit their networks were compromised. Then they could fix it, and maybe convince the Hierarchy that our systems are penetrated too, since my people can't seem to get over our pride either," Grand Admiral Mitrus responded.
"Maybe humans and turians aren't too different after all," Hackett replied dryly, which brought a rueful snort from his turian guest.
"All of the ships under my command are being issued deployment orders in person or with single use equipment, along with any sensitive information obtained. The Seventh Defense Fleet is doing the same."
Hackett nodded. "Fifth Fleet has similar protocols in place. The commander of Third Fleet is being convinced of the threat."
"Good. The geth have already infiltrated all of our comms. What concerns me know is that a cyber attack could come at any time. Judging by how your Eden Prime colony fared in the cyberattack, I don't anticipate our galactic comm traffic would fare much better," Mitrus said.
Hackett didn't and couldn't respond. The analysis of the Eden Prime cyberattack was still ongoing, but it had been fast enough to take everything by surprise, and comprehensive enough to shut everything down. "If they shut down our comm traffic, it'd be chaos. Much more than them attacking civilian transports."
Mitrus nodded grim agreement. "I'll keep reminding other members of the Hierarchy of the facts. The salarians, as usual, are remaining quiet. I'm still wondering why the geth haven't shut down our comms. I don't think it's from lack of capability."
Hackett sighed. "I agree. They can probably shut most of our comm traffic down, but they haven't yet. Why they are waiting is concerning." Hackett's terminal beeped, and he momentarily glanced at the message. It had been forwarded from Shepard.
Mitrus had the good sense not to ask about the message. "The ship from Eden Prime had startled some policy makers in the Hierarchy. We are accelerating construction of our next two dreadnoughts, and signed contracts to expand two yards that are sized for heavy cruisers to dreadnaughts. It will take time, though. It has concerned enough people that some in the Hierarchy are even debating a waiver to the Treaty of Farixen, to allow construction of one or two more dreadnoughts for Citadel-affiliated species."
Hackett kept his face mostly impassive, acting as if he had just heard the news for the first time. AIA had obtained that tidbit a couple days ago, and they assessed that the Hierarchy would approve a temporary waiver to the 5-3-1 rule. But it would take years before the new dreadnaughts were commissioned for any species, he knew. "Opposition to a waiver seems to decrease significantly once the footage of Sovereign is shown."
Mitrus nodded. "Indeed."
Hackett's terminal chimed again. The two high-ranking admirals concluded their informal discussions and Grand Admiral Mitrus took his leave.
Hackett read the detailed message from the commander. It didn't state much about Cerberus, only that a high value prisoner had been taken; the individual in question had been running unethical experiments. The only important bit was the name of one Doctor Paul Wayne. It took the admiral a few moments to realize where he had heard the name before, and when he did, he immediately placed a call.
"Hi Steve," the voice answered.
Hackett didn't waste time. "David, the Normandy has taken a prisoner after investigating a particular facility. The name is Paul Wayne, and he's with a particular organization."
Silence hung on the line for only a moment. "Where are they headed? Arcturus?" Anderson growled.
"Arcturus," Hackett confirmed.
"Understood." His tone in the simple response conveyed much more. "I'll be back in about twelve hours." The line went dead.
Commander Shepard suppressed the suddenly resurgent memories of Edolus. Realizing that it hadn't just been an accident, that marines hadn't just stumbled onto a thresher maw, but had been lured there…then everything else Cerberus had been up to.
They had recovered next to nothing from the servers on Ontarom, but every system had been reformatted in a way that nothing could be read. They only recovered an iota of data, less than a megabyte, a hardware failure that didn't completely result in the sector being wiped. Every other data file had been completely and thoroughly been overwritten with zeros.
She closed her eyes, putting her forehead in her left palm. The process to completely zero out a modern storage device was quick. Cerberus had been incredibly quick to reformat their systems at the soonest hint of trouble at the facility.
She ran a hand through her hair as she left her quarters, seeing Tali sitting at the mess. "Commander, I've been able to decrypt and decode the data that wasn't stored locally on that datapad. Apparently only a tiny sector was missed during the reformat. It must have been a hardware glitch, and some of it was missed sector was corrupted. The only thing I have so far is a text message exchange." The young quarian handed over a datapad and the Spectre read through the contents.
That is the peak power output that can be achieved. Anything higher is physically impossible.
So why have you not delivered results?
It's not viable.
So make it viable.
It's not that simple.
Shepard closed her eyes a moment. It told them nothing. This snippet of message traffic could refer to Cerberus making anything from more powerful drive cores, to Death Star lasers, or to better toasters.
"Thank you Tali. Any chance that anything else can be recovered?"
The quarian shook her head. "Probably not, Commander. The only reason we received this was due to a failure to wipe one tiny sector on one of their many, many data storage devices. They had started wiping data the moment Corporal Toombs entered the facility. That datapad was missed, and we were able to get all of the proof about Akuze and Edolus, and several other actions."
Shepard nodded, thanking the quarian again. She felt the ship imperceptibly shudder as the Normandy docked at Arcturus. A minute later she left the crew mess and took the elevator down to the cargo bay.
Alenko and Williams, who would escort the prisoner to the station's brig, waited in full battle gear with Dr. Wayne, who if anything looked more terrified than before. A crewman verified that the docking process had completed, and the hatch opened. The commander never would take a prisoner through the upper deck and CIC, especially someone from Cerberus.
"Let's go," she said.
Two MPs waited on the other side, and the four armed personnel escorted Dr. Wayne off to the station's brig, getting in an armored transport. The ride passed mostly in silence, interrupted by panicked breathing from the Cerberus scientist. The ride was short, and the MPs offloaded Wayne;the three Normandy crew followed.
Shepard followed several steps behind as they passed through the brig entrance, but then she stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't expected to see Captain Anderson here, in civilian clothing at that. More surprising was Dr. Wayne's reaction.
Wayne let out a terrified shriek as a small wet spot appeared on his trousers. "Oh fuck!" Wayne screamed.
Anderson scowled at Wayne and approached at a fast walk. So surprised were they that none of the five Alliance personnel responded other than to just stare in complete confusion at the captain's presence and visible anger on his face.
"N-n-noo-o p-p-please!" Wayne shrieked.
Anderson stopped less than a meter from the scientist, his eyes never leaving the cowering scientist. "Corporal, Private, I request that you take this prisoner to an interrogation room immediately," he told the two MPs. "I've already cleared my presence with the warden. If you need authorization, I will get an official order to your CO via the proper chain of command. But this man – " he stabbed a finger into Wayne's chest, eliciting a shriek, "has been wanted by the Alliance for a very long time."
The corporal, still in shock at both Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard standing in the flesh right in front of him, paused a moment before nodding curtly. "We'll take him to an interrogation room, sir," he said to the most decorated officer in Alliance history.
Anderson followed as the MPs led Wayne off, followed by three very confused Normandy crew. "What's going on, skipper?" Williams whispered.
"I have no idea, Chief," Shepard whispered back. "But this…this is more than his involvement with Akuze and Edolus, and their other twisted experiments."
The MPs placed Wayne in an interrogation cell over the latter's ignored protests, then exited to where Anderson waited impatiently. "Corporal, Private, the man in there is responsible for some very bad things. I would like you to go in there and remove the cameras and microphones. I cannot order you, but I can make that be an order from your CO very quickly. I personally will not harm your prisoner. However, he's going to talk, and when he's finished, he will be the responsibility of Commander Shepard as a Spectre."
Commander Shepard looked uneasily, only slightly less so than the MPs, at Captain Anderson. "Y-yes, sir," the corporal finally replied.
"You will also not repeat anything that you may or may not hear today. Is that understood?" he asked, looking first at the MPs, then at Alenko and Williams, to get nods of confirmation.
The MPs began to comply with Anderson's quest and led the prisoner off. Shepard, meanwhile, turned to face the captain with a look of utter confusion on her face.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" she asked.
"Granted," Anderson replied, his voice almost sounding weary.
"Sir, with all due respect…what the hell is going on here?" she asked. "What's going on with Wayne? Just what has he done? And I thought you were on the Citadel."
"I was on the Citadel. When I heard you caught Wayne, I jumped on a shuttle. He's responsible for a lot of bad things."
"He confessed to that, sir. We have it all on tape." She paused for a moment "Though...it may not be admissible, as it would be considered under duress," she admitted with a hint of apprehension as she wrung her hands.
"Don't worry about that. He's done more. A lot more." He led her into the holding cell with Wayne. Alenko and Williams waited outside, but Anderson motioned them in. "Now that you know about Cerberus, it's time that you need to know just exactly what it is they do when they're not killing marines with thresher maws." The captain turned back to the prisoner. "Go ahead, 'Doctor' Wayne. Tell Commander Shepard," he growled quietly.
"I-I already told her everything I know! About Akuze, about Edolus! About.." Wayne shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at the commander.
The captain shook his head. "She's a Spectre. She can do whatever – " Anderson jabbed Wayne's chest with his finger, "she – " another jab, "wants," followed by a final jab. "Tell her what else you've been up to." Shepard's biotics momentarily flared around her hands due to the continuing surprise. "Tell her the rest."
After another threat from Anderson, Wayne finally did.
Shepard simply stared at Wayne with complete disbelief, unable to even think of how to respond. "But...why?" she finally asked, barely above a whisper, after a long period of silence.
"I don't know! I just follow orders!"
Shepard's mind struggled to comprehend why anyone's conscience thought murder on a vast scale was acceptable. "Arranging those explosions...why would Cerberus murder thousands of innocent people?" she asked quietly. "How would you ever think that is acceptable?
Wayne didn't answer, simply staring ahead, not looking at any of the Alliance personnel.
Anderson stared at the scientist. "However, there is one other think you need to mention to Commander Shepard."
The doctor shot another panicked look at the captain. "I-I've said everything!"
"No you haven't. You tell her what you tried to do on Terra Nova."
Wayne let out a panic squeak as he glanced between the captain and the Spectre.
"Tell her," Anderson growled.
The scientist looked down at the floor, and opened his mouth.
"No. Look at her in the eyes when you tell her, or I'll pluck yours out."
Wayne looked to the ground for several moments, before his head rose to meet Shepard's incredibly puzzled gaze. "I-I was a-an ER doctor, T-Terra Nova. They brought a sixteen year old orphan into the hospital."
Shepard was still processing everything that she had just heard and couldn't make the connection. "So?" she asked simply.
"The orphan had been badly b-beaten, and was biotic. She was from…Mindoir."
Shepard reeled back almost as if she had just been struck. Her eyes slowly widened.
"Another nurse, and I…" Wayne continued.
"Tell her," Anderson growled.
"We t-tried to…kill her," Wayne finally admitted, staring at the ground. "Give h-her a lethal injection."
Commander Shepard stared blankly ahead at Doctor Wayne, wide-eyed in disbelief as the conversation around her continued. She took a step back, her mind momentarily reeling at the surprise. The conversation fell silent, and her gaze slowly settled on Wayne, who cowered back against the wall.
Layla stared back at the doctor, silence hanging in the room for what seemed to be an eternity. When she spoke, it wasn't a yell, or a scream, rather a quiet whisper. "Why?" she once again asked.
Wayne didn't meet her gaze. "B-biotics…they lash out. Get angry and hurt people for no reason."
"So that gives you a reason to kill a sixteen year old girl?" Shepard asked quietly. "And what gives you a reason to lure marines to their deaths, and run experiments that violate every law in the galaxy? What gives you a reason to murder nearly ten thousand innocent people?"
"No!" he pleaded. "It was wrong! I s-shouldn't have!"
A lengthy silence settled once again in the holding cell. "Spectre Shepard," Captain Anderson said. "As a Spectre, how do you want the Alliance to handle the prisoner?"
Silence, with the exception of pathetic babbling and pleading from Wayne, returned once again to the room as all eyes turned to Shepard. Alenko's head slowly alternated between Shepard and Wayne.
She didn't take her eyes off the doctor, and finally spoke up after what seemed to be an eternity. "Take him in for questioning. Pick his head apart. Everything he knows, everything he has done, everything Cerberus is doing, find out. And find out locations of other Cerberus facilities," she said quietly, then turned and quickly exited the room.
The MPs returned to process Wayne. Alenko kept a slightly better check on his emotions, though his mind still reeled from what he had just heard. Several other MPs arrived and moved the prisoner to the maximum security section where few people entered and very few left.
Anderson made sure that Wayne wasn't in a position to take his own life before walking out of the processing area. He saw Shepard standing alone outside the booking area of the jail. He softly put his hand on her shoulder and led her into a tiny office a few steps away.
After the door was closed, Shepard slowly turned to face Anderson. "David…why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly. "That Cerberus had done those things?"
He sighed. "We have to play Cerberus pretty close to the vest. If people outside the Alliance got wind of them...it wouldn't be good."
She slowly nodded. "We need to keep hitting them." She sighed and closed her eyes. "And Mindoir...why is it now that I'm a Spectre a bunch of things from my past suddenly return. A survivor from Mindoir appears on the Citadel..." she paused for a moment before continuing. "Balak, this Doctor Wayne that I didn't even know about...why didn't you tell me sooner?
He sighed, looking into her eyes. "You were a sixteen year old orphan, that had…survived. You saw things, experienced things, things that no one should have to witness or go through. After I located you, and got you from that ER and orphanage…you had been through too much. And as time passed…it didn't seem as important to tell you."
She didn't respond immediately, but her expression hardened slightly. "You were worried about a biotic lashing out," she stated.
The captain shook his head. "Not with you." Anderson shook his head. "It was…" he paused. "Every time I thought of the Mindoir raid, and how bad it was, I kept seeing the face of a sixteen year old orphan. When I looked you up, and found out about the beating...the fact that you hadn't fought back with your biotics and killed a couple dozen people, if not more. You didn't retaliate, and never did."
Her expression turned to one of sorrow. "Mom and Dad…" her voice choked before continuing, "thought that fighting back would just make everything much worse. That people would find the stereotypes of crazy biotics would be correct, and that they…I just wanted them to be back. I just wanted to hug them." She stopped, and her eyes moistened. "When the other kids were beating me, at the orphanage, I thought…my thought was…I could maybe go see them again."
She sniffled, and Anderson pulled her into an embrace. "I know they're incredibly proud of you," he said softly.
She remained silent for a while. "I'd like to think they are," she said quietly, finally disengaging, still with a sad look on her face. "But I'll never have them back."
"You will always have them with you. All of the good memories and the years you had with them. You…" he began before pausing for a while. "You're the closest thing to a daughter I've ever had, and as good as one as any parent could ever want."
Her mouth formed a small, crooked grin. "You sure about that? I'm a bit of a mess."
He snorted. "And I'm not? I'm divorced, remember?"
"Speaking of which, take Kahlee on a trip."
"I just did," he replied defensively.
"Take her on another."
"Not until you get a personal life of your own."
She chuckled briefly, but Anderson could see she once again masked her true feelings behind humor, her way of coping that she had picked up a few months after Elysium. "I'm biotic, and now a Spectre. Don't exactly get many suitors, only the occasional creeps like that Conrad guy."
"What?" Anderson growled, eyes narrowing. "What Conrad guy?"
"It's been resolved, it's not an issue. And, your reaction proves my next point," she stated with a small grin. "The overprotective dad, with a shotgun, a shovel, and a plot of land waiting for any man that you think steps even a centimeter out of line."
Anderson nodded, contemplating. "That is probably how I would handle things."
Her grin slowly faded and she let out a sigh. "I…thank you for telling me, about what Wayne tried to do. You're right, at this point, it really doesn't make any difference, but I…guess it does help to know, in a way," she said, her voice softer.
He gently took her by the shoulders and pulled her into another embrace.
"Thank you, David...for looking after me."