The Adventures of the Lucen: The VykurCorp Conspiracy

by General Rage

Liara T'Soni continued her mission to protect the Galaxy while Commander Shepard is in another dimension. She must stop the Covenant and the allies they've gathered from wreaking havoc in a Galaxy without it's greatest hero. While she's had some success, there's a gathering storm on the horizon and one of her crew of misfits will be forced to confront her past before it clears.

13. Palaven's Most Wanted

Chapter 13: Palaven's Most Wanted

The news of Liara's apparent involvement in the theft of a dangerous weapon had been plastered all over the news before long. The details the press had been given didn't say everything, but they gave the asari a clear idea of what exactly the Hierarchy intelligence agencies were aware of. As Orukuri promised, she was being positioned as the ringleader of a team of terrorists. That she had broken into a VykurCorp research lab and made off with a dangerous experimental weapon system. Cerberus was involved in some capacity and, given rumors of Commander Shepard working for them, it wasn't as hard a pill to swallow for most news outlets. If her old Commander was a terrorist now, why wouldn't she have followed him?

It didn't matter if the official story was that she was only wanted for questioning, Liara could read through the lines. For the moment, the Hierarchy considered her an enemy of the state, alongside her crew. They were probably trying to examine the footage Orukuri provided them, but for now they suspected the worst. Being more associated with the Shadow Broker clearly wasn't helping her case. Not that the truth of the matter would do much to correct that. Actually being the Shadow Broker would likely make the situation worse.

However, Orukuri wasn't stopping at just the footage either. He had held a press conference, alongside his boss, VykurCorp President Alkatinian Vykurias, assuring people that they were on top of things on their end. That the company was committed to defending the safety and security of the Turian people. It was a blatant PR stunt, but it was effective all the same.

"I want to reassure everyone that VykurCorp is cooperating fully with the investigation," Vykurias declared. "We are committed to resolving this breach in security post haste, especially so close to Unification Day. I am shocked as anyone by this... horrible attack on our facility and personnel. But I have talked it over with my trusted Chief Executive Officer, Spadvius Orukuri, and he believes that the weapon can be located quickly. More importantly, that it is unlikely Cerberus has any time to properly utilize it. At least not in a way that can do any untoward harm."

A lie Orukuri obviously told to cover himself. After all, he was supposed to know nothing of the virus he had helped developed to target and kill dextro-based lifeforms. If he told people he believed the weapon didn't have a possible payload in the wings, it would just be him not knowing the full story. He was building his alibi, while also trying to insure people weren't too scared to go out to Unification Day celebrations in droves.

For his part, Alkatinian didn't seem to know anything about the plan. His expressions came across as genuine enough, if a bit self-serving to preserve his company's image. Orukuri's claim that the young head of the company didn't know anything about his schemes seemed to hold water. That was confirmed more or less by what happened next. A reporter in the crowd asked a question directly with his hand up.

"Sirs, what are your thoughts on Liara T'Soni's involvement?" He asked. "What do you feel she hopes to gain through this cooperation with Cerberus?

While Alkatinian seemed a bit flummoxed, Orukuri was quick to step in.

"I'll field this, sir," he began astutely. "As I understand it, T'Soni has always been something of a fringe archeologist in her field of study. Given her involvement with Commander Shepard, who is also an alleged Cerberus operative, I can only guess some misguided loyalty to him is at play here. I cannot say for certain what her intentions are, why she chose to target our company specifically or even how she uncovered our facility's confidential location. I will say this though, she is gravely mistaken in thinking we will be intimidated by her."

Orukuri then looked directly into the camera with a hint of smug sneering posturing in his tone.

"If she honestly believes she can take on the might of the Hierarchy, well, she has a rude awakening coming for her."

Liara scowled at the image on the holoscreen and then quickly turned it off. She turned back to the rest of her squad, who all had similar looks on their face. Orukuri had basically just called them out, a taunt to force them into action, a declaration that he had already won. Nel was the most visibly pissed off by the statement though.

"Fucker thinks he's top quality shit, don't he?" Nel asked, fury bubbling up in her throat. "Like he can just lie on the holo so openly like that? Smug motherfucker. We need to nail him, Liara, right to the fucking wall. By his junk if possible."

"Orukuri will have his day, but we have more pressing concerns," Liara reminded her, trying her best to compose her own anger. "The CLC are going to attack Cipritine on Unification Day. We'll be at Palaven in four hours, that gives us until tomorrow to stop this. We have to work fast."

"And I'm guessing there's no time to clear our names either," Wrex noted. "We turn ourselves in, they all waste time questioning us, not believing a word we say and before you know it, BOOM, it's too late."

Nel pounded her fist on the table in frustration.

"Fuck the red tape, time to go full assault," she declared. "We need to find that fucking bomb and stop this shit fast!"

"For once, I think I agree with Nel," Vik concurred. "They might be able to figure out the footage was doctored, but not in time to put a stop to the attack. We wait for the system to sort out truth from lies and thousands of innocent people will die! Orukuri can control the narrative all he wants from that point on. We can't let it happen."

Liara nodded in response as did Saya who was just looking approvingly so far at everyone. Kayap was much the same, just as angry and ready to go as anyone else was at the table. However, as good as it was to all be united on the same page for once, they still needed a plan.

"We're all in agreement then, but the problem is two-fold," Liara laid out succinctly. "One, we don't know where the CLC is staging their operation. Two, we do not know enough specifics about the attack. We know the bomb will be triggered after a sniper kills Primarch Fedorian. That's the signal for the attack. But we don't know where the device is, where the triggermen are or who or where the sniper will be."

"Then we find out where the CLC are staging their operation," Wrex suggested. "We stop them there, we avoid the whole damn attack. And if not, there might be some clues as to where we can find those various pieces of the plan."

Liara brought up a new screen on the holoprojector as Wrex spoke.

"Luckily, Orukuri's little frame job on us has heightened security across Palaven," she explained dutifully. "He likely anticipated that, but while it might not stop the attack, it does mean that the usual Hierarchy Intelligence Agencies are working overtime. I've hooked us into their satellite and communication monitoring networks. They don't have as much information as we do about this, so we know where to look more than they do."

Liara had focused in on the rural areas surrounding Cipritine, places that were out of the way from prying eyes but not too far away from the main target. It would be an easy place for the CLC and Xeltravius to congregate at little by little. This operation was big enough as well that they'd need some decent enough cover, a precaution against discovery. That narrowed it down even further to mountainsides, abandoned industrial sites, heavily forested areas.

With little time to search all of them though, Liara attempted to see if there was any increase of traffic to the locations the satellite had picked up. She also had set up scans to search for an increase in heat signatures, energy resonance from electronic equipment and of course anomalous radio frequencies. Any of those would indicate that the CLC was there.

As she watched the scans continue, her crew continued discussing matters behind her.

"Let's assume the worst case scenario," Wrex asked grimly. "If we can't stop this, what happens?"

"As in, does Orukuri get his new more Nationalistic Heirarchy?" Nel questioned in kind. "Look, someone is going to figure out that tape is a lie. Vik said as much."

"If being on the dark extranet has taught me anything over the years its that lies can go really far and really fast before the truth can swerve in to stop it dead," the quarian claimed. "Even if the Hierarchy discovers Orukuri lied to them, will it matter? We'll still have a salarian made neuro-agent that can kill turians! Who cares if it's an accident? Not the people who got basically melted, coughing on their own blood. Certainly not their loved ones. This will drive a wedge between the Hierarchy and the Council."

"And weaken both," Liara interjected, not taking her eyes off the screen. "Which is exactly what the Covenant and Balak want. They don't care if Orukuri wins or not. They just need to be sure the Turians aren't going to rush in to protect humanity when they strike. Or anyone else for that matter."

She remembered something she overheard Ashley Williams say about how aliens treated one another. The Marine Sergeant had more than once claimed that when the chips were down, people protected their own. Like a hunter and their loyal dog, the hunter would sacrifice the dog if it meant they would survive. While Liara had never prescribed to Ashley's cynical view of galactic politics and interspecies alliances, there was something to be said about it now. How quick would turians be willing to defend the other races when they learned of the things they kept from them?

The Hierarchy itself had always been cagey when it came to being on the Council. They were quick to act, ruthless when need be. They contrasted heavily with the asari and salarians, valuing strength of arms above most other virtues. It had made them ideal for fighting against the krogan, willing to go to any lengths to win. What they lacked in krogan ferocity, they had made up for in tenacity and guile. It was why they opted for the genophage, over even the objections of the salarians who had invented it. Turians didn't take half-measures. That likely hadn't changed much.

So when turian citizens ended up getting killed by a weapon created by salarians, used by separatists, assisted by asari, krogan and humans that appeared to be from Cerberus' ranks, it was going to spark a lot of anger. Vik was right to be concerned, even if Orukuri's scheme was found out, would it really matter? All anyone would care about was what happened on the day in question, what everyone saw with their own eyes. It wouldn't matter if half of it wasn't true, the parts that were would be enough to make turians the galaxy over question their relations with the galactic community. The only way to stop that was for her team, her people, to prevent that attack from happening, to show everyone on Palaven what the races of the Milky Way could do united as one.

"I don't suppose you could call in a favor with your STG handlers, eh Saya?" Wrex asked suddenly. "If there was ever a moment for them to step up, it's now."

Saya nodded in compliance and typed something on his screen quickly that he showed to the others.

"Already done," it said.

The Salarian then uploaded a crop of files to the main computer attached to the briefing table, which Liara opened up dutifully as she kept watching the satellite feed. An audio file popped up first, it was from Major Kirrahe.

"T'Soni, I shouldn't be transmitting to you right now, or Saya actually," the STG Operator began rather frankly. "The fact is you're on the radar of every operative below section seven delta clearance. That's how bad this is. I suggested telling the turians about Saya's reports to clear your names, but the higher ups won't have it. I'm sorry, but this entire situation is too loaded with political blowback at the moment."

So much for the easy way out, Liara thought. Luckily that wasn't all.

"That doesn't mean I can't help you though," Kirrahe's message claimed. "We've been monitoring the CLC and VykurCorp on our end after all. And while they're subtle, they can't hide everything. Not from the STG. The files I've passed along to Saya detail a highly compact and sophisticated cooling container being shipped to Palaven. The dating matches about the time of your little... visit to VykurCorp's secret lab. I have a good feeling as to what they're keeping in there. We don't have a precise location; they're having it hop around to a bunch of addresses. It's what got it on our radar to begin with, along with the various shell companies and fronts it's listed to. But if you can crack the coded logs, perhaps you can figure it out. Oh, and Saya, next time you have to break a bunch of rules to get intel, just ask. No need to be dramatic. Kirrahe, out."

Nel grinned a bit at the masked Salarian.

"Oooooh, guess he's sore about your little break and entering from not long ago," she chided.

Saya's grimace was obvious enough, even from behind his darkened visor. He still felt the need to write a response in kind.

"Matter sorted." He texted. "Major knows why. Mission wiped from log."

"It's just nice seeing someone else get in shit for once," Nel laughed. "Even if only a little."

"Focus," Liara reminded them, turning to Vik. "Can you crack the coded logs?"

"I've been fiddling with VykurCorp's systems for long enough by now to know how to break through their code," the quarian assured. "Just give me a minute."

Vik opened the file on his own personal screen and began deciphering it piece by piece. From what Liara could see, it was a fairly detailed encryption key, masking the destination through a number of phony addresses and fake destinations that were merely pit stops on the way to the real one. There was no definitive delivery address posted on the file, but there had to be one in that mess of data if Orukuri wanted the package to arrive on time, especially if it had the S3 Strain inside it.

"Who's gonna be at this event in Cipritine tomorrow, anyway?" Kayap asked. "Maybe we can warn them to at least stay away."

"An anonymous tip from someone telling them not to go somewhere is probably just going to sound like a threat," Vik cautioned, still working feverishly. "Still, it would be wise to know if there are other targets of opportunity in attendance. They might be on the CLC's list of people to kill if the virus doesn't get them first."

"I do have an attendance list," Liara confirmed, bringing up the list on her omni-tool and looking it over herself. "It's fairly atypical really, nothing outstanding. Primarch Fedorian will be there of course, a number of turian military officials from the various branches, visiting dignitaries from the colonies, General Adrien Victus will be there it seems."

"No shit?" Nel asked surprised.

"Yes, he's accepting a medal of distinguished service for one of his recent campaigns," Liara acknowledged. "Against Separatist forces mind you, so it's possible he's on their list. But Victus isn't likely to be high priority for them regardless, he's far down the chain of command. Fedorian would be the real prize for them, given he's the current Primarch. Worse comes to worse, we'll be protecting him. His assassination is the signal for the bomb to get triggered and infect the crowd."

Nel nodded in appreciation, soaking it all in.

"Hmm, feels kinda standard," she admitted. "I mean, no celebrities? One or two would be a big draw to more people for these sorts of events. Don't get me wrong, honoring an accomplished general is a solemn occasion, but not exactly something that brings out the crowds in droves. Especially since Victus isn't exactly liked by Military High Command last I heard. Unification Day in Cipritine is supposed to be a lavish affair you know."

"Well there are a few musical acts lined up, some films being shown as a warm up for the crowd," Liara confessed as she looked at the schedule. "Oh, wait, Slyvestrix Stalaxian is going to be a presenter,"

That was enough to get Nel to drop her jaw mandibles and slam both open palms on the table.

"STALAXIAN!" She shouted in a mixture of excitement and fear. "He's gonna be there! At ground zero of the attack! Holy fucking shit! Slyvestrix Stalaxian is gonna be in Cipritine! He's going to be right there! On stage! While a goddamn bomb with a killer plague and a sniper waiting in the wings is gonna be right fucking there! Fuck!"

Liara probably should've expected that reaction, Slyvestrix Stalaxian was Nel's favorite action film star. As long as the asari had known her, the turian merc practically adored the man's body of work. She even cited it as part of the reason she became a career soldier multiple times.

"Well he's in no more danger than anyone else there frankly," Vik piped up, not really picking up on Nel's distress.

"Slyvestrix Stalaxian is the greatest fucking actor in the history of turian cinema, Bucket!" Nel glowered back at the quarian angrily. "Not to mention extremely hot as hell, even at his age! I might be slightly more interested in the females of my species, but among the various males in the galaxy, Slyvestrix Stalaxian is on the top of the list of dudes I would fuck and possibly have babies with!"

Vik shuddered in fear and disgust.

"Oh Keelah! Please do not make me think of you reproducing," he requested. "I am still hacking here."

Nel didn't miss a beat and turned to Liara.

"Doc, we have to stop this attack now more than ever!" She declared. "We have to save Stalaxian!"

"And the Primarch and Victus and literally every other turian in attendance," Liara was quick to remind her.

"Right, right," Nel just as quickly folded. "I mean, obviously, that... that goes without saying. Heh."

Thankfully this line of conversation was interrupted by Vik, pumping his fist in the air and hollering at his success. He transferred his findings into the main computer, feeding it into Liara's satellite search pattern. He had cracked the code, discovering the crate was being shipped to an old ruined refinery somewhere in the outskirts of Cipritine, deep in a now overgrown forest. There was no proper address, just longitude and latitude coordinates for a drop.

It was a decent enough place to look, but Liara had to confirm it was rendezvous for the CLC and their other forces. It could have just been another waypoint for where they'd pick up the crate and then head into the mountains or some other location. Checking the satellite feed though, it turned out it wasn't far off. A little aways from the refinery, there was a power plant substation that used to power the building. Now in a state of disrepair and covered by foliage. More importantly though, if the satellite's radiowave tracker was correct, it was suddenly seeing a spike in garbled transmissions and communication pings. Liara quickly started clearing up the signal to get a better idea of what was being said.

It didn't take long for her to find out what they were.

"-preparations are underway. Xeltravius arrives soon. Get all squads ready. Priority message to other camps. Keep an eye on our guests. He doesn't trust them."

Liara grinned softly at their success. Orukuri thought he had crippled them by turning them into fugitives. All he did was force the asari into her element and give her team the motivation to ruin everything he had been planning for. His day would come though, for now they had a location and a target. Xeltravius would be on site. Take him down, they would send this whole plan into disarray. Maybe not stop it, but they'd be able to hurt the CLC. One way or another, they were kneecapping this false flag before the day was out.

"Wrex, ready your men," Liara ordered. "I'll have every ShadowNet squad I can scrounge up or activate at that location by the time we land. Xeltravius and Orukuri want a war? Well, we're going to start it early for them."

"Fuck yeah!" Nel agreed wholeheartedly. "For Stalaxian!"

"And everyone else in Cipritine," Vik was quick to add for her.

"Right, right, them too," Nel replied, quickly reminding herself under her breath "Get a grip, Nel, get in the fucking zone."

---

The heavy sun on Palaven didn't make the place as hot as a desert, but it had other effects. Mainly that the radiation was so bad that, if you weren't turian, you needed extra protection. Thankfully, Liara had more than enough special radiation suits for the others. While they were hitting their target near sunset, it was still advisable to wear the suits. As they walked through the forest in the waning moments before dusk, the team could see some of the plants starting to open up in preparation for the coming darkness. Like most organisms on Palaven, this was when they repaired themselves after the intense bombardment of radiation during the day. The trees around them were already starting to unfurl their leaves once more, giving Liara's team extra cover as they advanced through the brush.

The ShadowNet and Krogan forces held back to a degree, spacing themselves out so they didn't look like one giant mob. That would get them spotted by Xeltravius' people if they weren't careful. Their first rendezvous point was the old refinery, then they'd head to the power station. While Liara didn't expect they'd intercept the package in time, they could at least confirm it had arrived.

They'd have to be careful though, the refinery would be a good place for the CLC to set up spotters as an early warning system. Xeltravius was in no doubt a psychopath, but he wasn't stupid. This operation's complexity was evidence enough of that. It made Liara wonder if the CLC suspected Orukuri's true motives, but ultimately it didn't matter. The Separatists were getting a chance to strike at the heart of the Hierarchy, would they really think twice about going through with it?

The question filtered towards the back of her mind when they found the refinery's ruins. There didn't appear to be any signs of activity, but Liara knew better than to assume that meant no one was there. She had her teams move in slowly but remain in cover while she surveyed the broken old buildings. Her search eventually yielded results, as she spotted a number of Separatist sentries on overwatch duty. They were on the upper floors of the old refinery, alternating between watching the old loading area courtyard and the forest vegetation. She couldn't make out all of them, but she didn't have to, Saya quickly identified to total number of hostiles, taping her shoulder and holding up four fingers.

"Can you handle them quietly?" Liara asked.

Saya's response was a short nod before he activated his cloak. Liara supposed by now that she didn't need to ask the question. The Salarian was all about quiet, but the assurances and show of self-confidence from Saya set her mind at ease. If he was sure of his chances then there was little doubt he could manage it.

Liara kept watch on the sentries, if only so they could move in quickly once they were removed. She couldn't see Saya right away of course, but then one of the separatists got their throat slashed from behind. As the body fell into the refinery ruins, Saya's cloak deactivated and he moved into the shadows. The kill had been quiet, but the missing guard raised some concerns with another of their number when he looked towards his former comrade's post. That was okay though, as he walked right into Saya's path. The salarian was able to get behind the sentry and cut clean into his neck with a single slash. Saya then closed his hand around the turian's mouth to muffle his scream. To finish him off, he smashed the target's head into a half broken pillar before stabbing hid fallen form clean through the back with his sword.. The turian slumped dead to the floor before Saya kicked him off into the ruins below.

"He's in the zone today," Nel noted with a bit of pride.

"Given how much is at stake here, I don't blame him," Vik spoke up. "Remember who gets the brunt of the blame if this attack happens. It's a salarian bio-agent at the heart of all this."

Vik wasn't far off, but Liara believed everyone here had a reasonable stake in stopping this. Besides the loss of innocent lives, Orukuri was planning to frame all of their races for what was about to happen. The asari and krogan mercenaries that would attack with the CLC were part of the plan to seed xenophobia among the population. Not to mention the new wave of anti-human sentiment thanks to the fake Cerberus troops. And while quarians weren't going to be implicated in any of this, Liara knew Vik well enough to know he had a personal stake in this as well. This was the kind of terrorist conspiracy he had been trying to expose for a long time.

However, the forefront thoughts in Liara's mind were the innocent people that Orukuri was about to murder senselessly, even if only through the Separatist proxies he had created. So many lives in danger on a beloved holiday, all for one man's misplaced sense of revenge for his dead son.

If it said anything about Orukuri though, it was that he wasn't as committed to Balak's cause in this little conspiracy. If, no, WHEN this plan failed the turian CEO would've lost his one real motivation for any of this. Once he was arrested, maybe then they could break him and force him to spill more details about Balak's operations. Most important, the information Orukuri had concerning the temple the Covenant were searching for. If they got him to reveal what he knew, then they could effectively stop another potential scheme in the works.

As Liara thought of this, Saya was already moving to his next targets. A pair of Separatist guards alternating their watch between the forest and the courtyard. Saya was above them, walking along an exposed support beam from the crumbling roof. His cloak still active, Saya slipped down to slash the throat of one of the guards while his friend's back was turned. Before the guard even hit the ground, Saya had his silenced pistol out and fired a single shot in the back of the other guard's head. They both fell to the ground in heaps. Saya disposed of the bodies, knocking them over the side into the forest. He took their radios from their bodies first and then moved on.

"How come I almost always forget that frog is like... super friggin scary efficient?" Nel asked.

"Besides him being involuntarily quiet?" Liara questioned. "He doesn't really brag about it."

"Yeah, yeah, actions speak louder than words, pun intended," Nel scoffed. "My point is, STG Operatives are seriously scary sneaky. No wonder Bucket has so many conspiracies about them."

"After everything we've learned about the STG, I think it's fair to say at least a few of them are actually true," Vik argued.

Liara shushed them both before they could continue. She was trying to pinpoint where Saya had gone to. Searching the area, she found the last guard, who seemed to be trying to contact his squad on the radio. At least that's what Liara presumed as the turian looked to be getting annoyed. Then, suddenly a blade slashed through the back of his neck. Moments later he slid off of it and fell down to the courtyard below, crashing onto the ground like a sack of rocks. Saya appeared on the platform the guard once stood on, wiping the blood off with a quick flick of his sword. He then looked to where Liara and the squad were before waving them to come forward.

"It's clear," Liara reported. "We can move in."

"Think that's a new fastest time record for him?" Nel asked.

"It was only a few guys," Wrex argued. "I've mowed down twice as many way faster. Way louder of course, but the point stands."

The team headed to the courtyard of the old refinery, finding Saya already examining his final kill. He plucked off the radio transmitter from the dead turian's corpse and handed it to Liara. From the sounds of all the chatter coming from the thing, it was already tuned into the main frequency from the Separatists' main camp at the substation. Good, now they could listen in on their communications.

"Alright, that's Pphase One taken care of," Liara acknowledged as she took the radio. "Next we need to get to the substation. We confirm where the bomb is, we cut off possible escape routes, destroy the viral strain and kill Xeltravius along with the rest of the CLC leadership in attendance."

"That should put an end to them as a threat," Wrex declared. "Freeing us to focus on Orukuri."

"Saya will remain here on sniper overwatch," Liara stated firmly, looking at the salarian directly. "He'll pinpoint targets and keep us out of their sights until we're in position. When the shooting starts, he can start picking off hostiles for us. Just be careful to watch your shots in there. If the strain and the bomb are here, well, one wayward bullet and this all goes south fast. Orukuri might have made sure the virus only kills dextro-based lifeforms, but given what he's grafted it onto, we can't be certain it's predictable."

"My suit should at the very least protect me," Vik suggested.

"Still not a chance I'm willing to take," Liara said cautiously. "You and Nel are at the most risk if something goes wrong and that virus is released. So watch your shots and don't take chances with this strain. If everything goes right, we can all celebrate Unification Day in peace. Let's get moving, my ShadowNet teams and Wrex's men should already be moving into position."

They headed into the forest once more, towards the substation. Meanwhile, Saya took up position in the refinery ruins and looked down on their objective. He scanned the camp with his scope, eyeing potential targets. There were a few heavy gunners, a ton of well armored soldiers, no Blood Pack or Eclipse though. Perhaps they were mustering in a different place waiting for the go ahead. Saya could see plenty of evidence that the virus was here though.

He saw a number of biohazard containment units, similar to what emergency services would set up during a pandemic or the like. Field Tents, decontamination checkpoints, sealed bunkers, even a few of the Seppies were dressed in full environment protective suits. The only difference between them a proper biohazard team was that they had no intention of containing anything at all.

Saya also looked for signs of Xeltravius, but he presumed he was inside the substation itself for the moment. What did catch his eye though was a large section in the middle of the camp, beneath a cluster of camouflage netting. Rows upon rows of crates just lined up. They looked like cooling units, which gave Saya some pause. Whatever was in there was likely no good given everything else surrounding this camp. He informed Liara over the comm-channel through a text about the crates, suggesting they take a look at one of them. Something told the Salarian that they were not going to like what was inside them.

---

Liara's team entered the perimeter of the substation through a ruined equipment shed on the southeastern tip of the CLC encampment. They kept low and to the shadows as they moved through the shattered remains of the building. The shed was already stripped bare, there was little left in the way of tools or machinery. Not even the Separatists were using the place to store anything. Given that the roof had massive holes in it and the walls were rusting that was probably wise. Not so wise was not having enough guards on this side of the camp. They were probably relying on the refinery team to watch their backs on this end. They'd pay for that oversight.

The team stopped in the shadows of the ruined shed, stacking up under a broken window where they got the best view of the camp itself from up close. There were a number of light transport vehicles, but there were more than a few light assault craft parked in the makeshift motor pool. Armored Fighting Vehicles with light cannons mostly, but there were also Covenant craft as well. Ghosts and Revenants alike and at least three Spectres according to Kayap. There was a makeshift Mech Bay, with a number of field maintenance and recharging stations off to the side of the motor pool. It was mostly LOKIs, but Liara spotted at least one YMIR off to the side. The Separatists were gearing up for the offensive and bringing in every asset they had on hand.

What was more shocking was the sheer amount of biohazardous equipment and gear. There were a fair number of Seppies wearing full body envirosuits and practicing drills while wearing them. There were also the biocontainment units and tents that were all in working order. If the Strain wasn't on sight by now they were certainly ready to hold it.

Liara could only guess where it was being held, but the air-tight portable bunker at the far edge of camp looked to be an obvious candidate. It stood out among the rusted buildings and camouflage mesh, its bright fluorescent lab lights shining out from its see-through air-tight glass walls. It had likely been carted here on a truck of some kind and set up to house the strain until it could safely be installed inside the bomb proper. So the lab bunker was their primary target, but not their only one.

A small motorcade soon arrived in the camp, a trio of armored vehicles came rolling down the dirt path before stopping just outside the substation. A fresh batch of soldiers got out of the vehicles, along with Xeltravius himself. The Separatist leader was wearing armor for once, outside his military dungarees. Did that mean he was going to fight in the battle to come himself? Maybe, it could've just been for show. Approaching out of the substation though appeared another target, clad in his own armor, saluting the CLC's boss directly, was Hanilex.

"Shoulda guessed he'd be here," Nel said in a hushed snarl. "Follows Xeltravius around like a fucking lap varren."

"We need to listen in," Liara insisted.

"Let me activate my long-range laser microphone function," Vik offered. "I'll patch your comms in."

It didn't take long for Vik to set up the program and aim the laser towards the two Separatst leaders. The motorcade itself pulled away slightly. This gave Vik an unobstructed view of his targets, making it easier for the microphone to pick up their conversation. He tracked them as they observed the camp, the audio pick up cursor firmly on them both.

"Everything is ready, sir," Hanilex spoke proudly. "We have squads already in the city preparing for the attack and forces marshalling with our additional support as we speak. The mechs will be ready to move with us and supplement the first waves of the assault."

"And the virus? Is it good to go?" Xeltravius asked sternly.

"We're installing the main viral agent into the bomb now," Han replied. "To avoid detection, however, as well as ensure safe transport, it won't be armed until it is in place and ready for detonation. According to our... backer, the virus will remain inert until the activator is introduced. Then it's as deadly as we saw in the vid footage."

"Excellent, it's all coming together," Xeltravius declared, his eyes wandering towards the boxes in the center of camp. "And these?"

Hanilex walked over to the boxes and opened one. Reaching in, he pulled out what looked like some kind of gas grenade. However, the reality was worse than that as Vik's mic soon picked up.

"Miniature bio grenades, with a less potent version of the virus," Hanilex explained. "Our friend wants to keep the suffering going for a few citizens outside the initial infection zone. Keep them choking blood for a few more weeks before expiring."

"Hmph, I've misjudged him," Xeltravius spoke with a strange sense of admiration. "He apparently does have a ruthless streak after all. How do they work?"

"Same principle as the big bomb," Hanilex replied. "An activator needs to be introduced before its armed. We need to get them into the city first and they'll be on alert by now for this sort of thing. We already have some with our advanced units. These will be heading up with our main force here."

So it really wasn't enough to set off one biological bomb. Orukuri wanted a dozen other smaller ones going off all across the city. The victims would survive longer, long enough for him to save with his convenient antidote. Liara tried really hard not to spit in disgust at the plan.

"What about our precautions?" Xeltravius asked.

"We have the cure on hand of course," Hanilex assured. "Some of the men are already inoculated but we have some extra doses just in case. We're not entirely sure how effective it is though. Especially given who it's from."

Xeltravius sighed deeply at this comment as they kept walking towards the substation.

"You're still concerned about him?" He asked his trusted lieutenant.

"Of course I am, I don't trust him," Hanilex answered firmly. "I don't believe for second he actually believes in our cause."

"Nor do I, but he's given us this opportunity and we have no choice but to take it," Xeltravius insisted. "My forefathers were among the first of the colonies to rebel against the Hierarchy, among the first to be stepped on when they came in like cowards at the end and destroyed everything we hoped to achieve. The Colonial Wars ended and independence died on that day. And now... they celebrate our defeat every year."

Xeltravius' frown grew furious with disgust as he stopped and turned to Hanilex directly.

"Unification Day," he said, almost spitting. "It is a disgusting perversion, the Hierarchy asserting its dominance and narrative over a war they barely fought. It's a day for cheaters patting themselves on the back and pretending unity made them strong. When the dream of a thousand Turian Nations was destroyed by those who lacked vision and still do."

Hanilex only nodded as Xeltravius continued rant, looking back at the bio-grenades.

"Tomorrow, we'll turn their glorious celebration into a day of mourning," the Terrorist leader declared with clenched fist. "When the Hierarchy's capital burns as its elitist homeworld citizens choke on their own lies and opulence. I'm not giving that chance up for anything, Hanilex. Even if the factors arranging it are extremely suspect."

"All the same, I believe other contingencies besides a vaccine are in order," Hanilex informed his leader. "I've already taken the necessary precautions."

"What precautions?" Xeltravius asked suspiciously.

"Nothing you need worry yourself with, sir," Hanilex said reassuringly. "If our friend proves to be more fairweather than expected, I promise, he will not have the last laugh."

The conversation proved to be mixture of terrifying and informative, as was becoming the norm on this mission. Liara was now certain that Xeltravius was an absolute psychotic sociopath, consumed by this revenge fantasy of his. One way or another, he couldn't be allowed to live. Even if the attack failed, if Xeltravius escaped he'd just try this again some other time down the road. Best to end him now. A sentiment Nel shared completely.

"I want to kill that old fucker so much right now, Doc," she told the Asari.

"All in good time, Nel," Liara assured. "But we have other concerns to deal with first."

"Like what Hanilex just said," Wrex mentioned. "It sounds like he has dirt on Orukuri. Evidence that could implicate him and exonerate us."

It did sound that way. Apparently, Orukuri was not as smooth as he thought. The CLC, or at least Hanilex, was onto his real scheme. His foresight to not be the businessman's fall guy could potentially save them the trouble of having to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who was really behind all this. That would have to wait though, there were other objectives in mind beyond that.

"They have a confirmed vaccine on site," Liara reminded them. "More importantly, the bomb needs an activator to be effective. As do those grenades of theirs."

"Could we use the vaccine to disarm the bomb?" Vik asked.

"I'm no bio-engineer, but if I got my hands on it and the activator agent, it's possible we could create an anti-virus deactivator that could render the virus useless," Liara surmised. "Shepard did something similar on Noveria back in the day and he's even less of a germ scientist than I am."

"Ok, find bomb, kill Xeltravius to death, destroy grenades, fuck up invasion plans," Nel listed off. "And if all else fails, make sure to get that vaccine and Han's evidence on Orukuri if he has it. That's not too much on our plate is it?"

"We accomplish as much as we can as fast as we can," Liara told them. "My men and Wrex's are almost in position. We'll close the CLC off in this substation and work through the objectives one by one. We just need to wait a little longer. We should find decent ambush sites in the camp before the time comes. We can best coordinate the assault from multiple angles that way."

Liara prepared to move up to get closer to their intended targets. The less space between them and Xeltravius the better. However, as she prepared to take point and lead the team out into the open a shot rang out. Seconds later, an fuel canister exploded violenlty, killing two guards nearby and shaking the entire camp with it's shockwave. More shots rang out, killing one of the guards patrolling atop the substation's roof. After that, everything went to hell as the alarm sounded across the base and Han grabbed Xeltravius and hurried him towards the building.

"Damn! Open fire! Now!" Liara ordered.

Nel fired a stream of bullets at Xeltravius and Han, but they dove to the ground and beneath her line of sight. Nel herself ducked down as bullets struck their position, shattering what was left of their structure's glass, blowing out portions of the wall behind them. The element of surprise was now completely gone and the encirclement wasn't completed yet.

"Fuck, what happened?" Nel asked through gritted teeth. "Who blew our cover?"

"It wasn't us!" Liara assured her. "Those shots came from a sniper rifle to our front. Saya is on our back and he wouldn't have such lax fire discipline."

The asari's concerns were confirmed when Saya contacted them through their huds with a text message.

"Hostile Sniper. Ridge to north."

Someone else was here, someone who had tracked the CLC down like they had. For whatever reason they had blown the operation. It couldn't be Hierarchy forces, they would've moved in the second shots were fired. From what Saya said there was only one, so it wasn't a large enough manpower to capture or eliminate this cell. Which meant one thing, it was someone who didn't want the CLC stopped. Not right away at least. Whoever it was, they had just made things harder for them.

"New plan, do whatever we can to prevent Xeltravius and the bomb from getting out of here," she ordered the team. "Fan out, but stay in sight. Watch your corners, they're going to be shooting at anything that moves." She got on her comms for the rest of her ShadowNet teams. "All squads move in! We're exposed, repeat, exposed! Encirclement is cancelled, take this camp out now!"

"Something always goes horribly wrong, doesn't it?" Wrex sarcastically groaned.

The krogan poked his head out of cover and launched a grenade into the motor pool, blowing up a Ghost and taking out a pair of CLC soldiers near it. He then vaulted through the broken window and onto the battlefield proper. Switching to an assault rifle, he fired into the throngs of enemy soldiers as he rushed towards more cover. Liara joined him soon after, with the rest of the team, moving up towards the crates of bio-grenades nearby. Not ideal cover, but the best they had.

Liara forced one of the boxes open and took out one of the grenades within, along with its activator. She then attached the device to her kit and slipped the activator in a pocket. Knowing the bio-weapon was toothless so long as she didn't insert the little tube inside it, she felt safe carrying it around. At least now, when they got back, they could analyze this thing and figure out their own antidote to the strain. Although it was hard to really think too far ahead about that with all the bullets flying around.

"Do we have eyes on Xeltravius?" She asked.

Nel briefly leaned out and back into cover, just as bullets cut into the boxes near her.

"They're moving to the bio-hazard tents," she informed the asari. "Probably trying to double back to the motor pool from there."

"Or they have another escape route," Liara suggested. "We need to keep on them either way. They're headed towards the bomb. We need to cut them off before they get it out of here."

"We need to thin out the henchmen first," Vik reasoned. "I'll send out the combat drone, maybe it will give us an opening."

Vik's combat drone constituted and rolled into the open. It fired off several zaps before activating a flamethrower. The attack ignited one of the Seppies, causing him to run off screaming. The panic was enough for Nel to get an opening and lay down some cover fire, enabling Liara to move. She rushed to one of the cars, just as gunfire lashed at her feet. Her barriers held long enough for her to dive to safety. She looked to Nel who pointed up to the cliffs. The enemy sniper, that confirmed it, they weren't just here for the CLC, they were targets too.

"Saya, get a fix on that sniper and take them down!" Liara ordered.

They couldn't have to rogue element delaying them, they had enough problems as it was with Xeltravius on the move and the bomb still in play. They had lost surprise, they had to maintain speed. Liara had faith in Saya though. Whoever this sniper was, whatever allegiance they carried, the Salarian was better than them.

---

Through the crosshairs, Saya watched as Seppies went down hard. None of the kills particularly helped Liara, they were just to keep the CLC on edge. A friend's head blowing up next to you did a lot to both unnerve and anger you. More so when in the confusion of everything you weren't sure who had done it. Liara and the rest of the insertion team were as good a target for their aggression as anything. Saya wasn't sure what this sniper's motive was outside of suddenly making their job a lot harder, but it was clear they weren't here to help.

The salarian would have taken them out by now, were they not relocating after every shot. The ridge they were using gave them surprisingly more hiding spaces than one would expect. It didn't help that it was about half a kilometer out from the camp. This guy was likely using a really good scope and rifle and had some really steady hands given the shots they were pulling off. Given the degree of expertise this sniper had, Saya knew he'd need some help on this one.

He contacted Liara, asking her to draw the attention of the sharpshooter on the ridge. She didn't reply, but through his scope she saw the asari direct Nel to open fire on the ridge. The bullets likely wouldn't reach the sniper, but it would draw their attention. The turian fired a few shots and then moved to cover. A shot rang out that took out a chunk of one of the boxes Nel was using for cover. Saya tracked the shot back to the ridge and zeroed in on one of the large trees atop it. A rustle within the leaves was all he needed to open fire.

Seconds later, something dropped from the tree, a figure clad in black with what looked to be some targeting headpiece on the side of their face. Saya couldn't tell who it was, the outfit they were wearing didn't have any markings, but he could tell what their sniper was. The gait, the stature and size of the target all suggested it was human. Which pointed to only one possibility of which faction this sharpshooter belonged to.

Not that Saya had much time to contemplate this, as the sniper soon returned fire. The salarian ducked down as bullets from across the battlefield slung into his cover. The sniper moved to cover behind a rock, but Saya managed to keep an eye on his target while avoiding the incoming fire. He wasn't sure if he had wounded the enemy sniper or merely spooked them out of their hiding spot, but now things were more even. The sniper knew he was here and that would force them to think carefully about who, when and where they took their shots. The threat wasn't removed, but at least now it wouldn't be so aggressive.

All the same, Saya let Liara know about what they were likely dealing with. She wouldn't like it, but she had to know. Cerberus was here and they were likely after the very thing that Orukuri had framed them for stealing.

---

When Saya's confirmation of the sniper's species came through, Liara grimaced at the information. The only solace she had at the moment was that the salarian had the sharpshooter dead to rights. Hopefully that would keep the crosshairs off her team long enough for them to salvage. Still, it did not bode well for the rest of their mission here on Palaven. She informed the others as quickly as possible, even as the Separatists kept firing on their positions.

"Saya confirms the sniper is human," she told the team. "That means they're Cerberus."

"The fuck are they here for?" Nel asked as bullets cut into her cover.

"They likely know Orukuri set them up back at the secret R&D base to take the fall for his upcoming false flag," Liara informed her. "In any case, they're clearly not interested in helping us it seems."

"Fuck' em then," Nel spat. "We'll deal with their shit once Xeltravius is a corpse!"

For once, Liara was in agreement with Nelanax's blunt attitude, crude as it was. The sniper was a distraction they could ill afford. As long Saya kept them busy, they'd be able to keep their eyes on the real target. For her part, Nel tried to make up for the lost time. Without the threat of a sniper looming over them, the turian moved down the row of boxes to a better flanking position. She then lurched out of cover and fired a cryo-beam from her omni-tool. The attack frozen one of the Seppies solid, opening them up for a follow-up concussion shot to shatter them.

The frosty explosion of his comrade's body disoriented the second shooter nearby, allowing Liara to send a biotic throw that knocked the Seppie out of cover and into the side of a building. With a hole in the enemy lines now exposed, the team pressed their advantage. Wrex barreled out of cover firing blasts from his shotgun that took down another CLC soldier as they tried to shift their base of fire. Nel activated her Havoc Armor's jet boosters and rocketed herself forward. Her omni-blades out, she cut down another of the terrorists as they popped out from behind one of the abandoned vehicles of Xeltravius' motorcade. Vik and Kayap followed behind Liara as she pushed up the middle, moving to the vehicles and then towards the main substation building.

"We'll circle around towards where they're keeping the bomb," She told the others. "Xeltravius and Hanilex will likely be trying to secure it's escape."

She motioned Vik forward and the quarian followed, pushing up towards a stack of equipment in the middle of their path. As they moved, more CLC soldiers moved in to try and block their path. Vik laid down a portable turret that opened fire on them. He then rolled to cover behind another stack of field equipment as the terrorists tried to take the turret out. From there, the quarian had a line of sight on one the Seppies and unloaded his shotgun on them. The blast ripped through the CLC soldier's armor, killing him.

Liara kept pressing their momentum, sending a singularity to grab two more of the Seppies from off out of cover. She fired on them with pistol as she moved up into the field, Kayap close behind her. They had to keep pushing forward, they could not waste time on these henchmen. Every second they did was another they gave to Xeltravius to secure the bomb and escape. Sadly, things were about to get more complicated.

As they moved into the section of the camp where most of the bio-hazard equipment was located, including the mobile lab, CLC forces moved to intercept them. They took up positions among the scattered boxes of equipment and security barricades. They weren't alone though, as the distinctive sound of mechs stomping forward onto the field were soon very self evident. They had activated their tin can soldiers, hoping to even the odds. Liara was prepared for them, motioning to Vik to be ready. The quarian was already activating another combat drone, when things took another turn.

Suddenly, one of the LOKI Mechs began to convulse, twitch and spark. The lights in its eyes changed as well, from red to dark purple, then black, blue, green and finally back to red again. One of the CLC Terrorists glared at it in confusion, before the Mech turned around, raised its pistol and shot him in the head. Liara almost asked if Vik had hacked the Mech, but the quarian was already shaking his head before she could ask.

Vik hadn't done this, and that became more apparent when every mech started convulsing and sparking before turning on those who had intended to use them. The CLC were quick to open fire on the Mechs, but it was too late, their automatons had suddenly turned against them. Not that it made Liara's job any easier. Once some of the CLC terrorists had been taken out by surprise, the Mechs turned back to Liara's team and opened fire.

"Did Cerberus hack the mechs too?" Wrex asked, bracing against his own cover before firing a round from his shotgun that ripped off a mech's head.

"I don't know," Liara admitted. "Maybe-"

"Come now, T'Soni..."

That voice, it was coming from one of the mechs... and Liara soon recognized it.

"As if a bunch of organic meat sacks could pull something like this off."

The Mech in question was walking and firing as it approached their position. It wasn't actually speaking though, its internal oratory runtimes had been hacked. Someone else was using it as a mouthpiece and it was obvious who.

"The Singular," Liara growled as she informed the others. "It's hacked the mechs!"

"Damn Geth," Vik spat. "Why the hell is it here?"

"Think hard, quarian," the Mech spoke as it turned directly to Vik's position. "The answer will come to you, assuming I don't pop your skull first of course."

It fired on Vik's cover, but the Quarian rolled off to fire an overload attack that caused the LOKI Mech's head to short out and explode. Not that it mattered, another LOKI just became Singular's mouthpiece soon after.

"These machines are pathetic," the Singular declared. "At least our platform design was worth a damn, the quarians were good at that much. But their numbers will serve my purposes even if their quality is lacking. At least they take direction efficiently enough."

The LOKI mechs concentrated fire on Vik as he rushed to cover. Thankfully, Nel had his back, firing a burst from her assault rifle that blew off the head of Mech. Kayap used his Needler to kill the next, impaling the synthetic attacker with enough shots to detonate an explosive pink cloud. Vik's Combat Drone zapped the last one and allowed Vik to get in the last shot to take it down.

Another nearby LOKI once again took over as the Singular's mouthpiece once more, even as it gunned down another CLC terrorist.

"It doesn't matter, even if these junkpiles can't kill you, they'll keep you occupied long enough for me to accomplish my objective here," the Mech claimed. "I'll terminate you and the other meat sacks eventually, T'Soni."

The Mech opened fire on Liara's team, before the asari managed to lift it off the ground and fill it full of holes. The lifeless husk of the Mech fell to the ground, but its remaining brethren kept attacking the CLC Terrorists, sowing chaos in the ranks even more so than the Sniper on the ridge.

"So Cerberus and that fucking Geth have joined the party," Nel stated, moving up with the team into the fray. "Why? Cerberus is probably still after the S3 Strain, is that what the Singular wants too?"

"It kills dextro-based lifeforms," Wrex reminded her. "Who else qualifies as that?"

It was a hypothetical question, as the krogan was already looking at Vik.

"It wants that virus so it can kill my people!" the quarian realized in horror. "We have to stop it!"

"We will," Liara promised. "But my ShadowNet teams and Wrex's troops will be moving in soon. They can secure the camp and any samples of the Strain they find, including the grenades. We need to stay on mission! Find Xeltravius, find the bomb and we end all of this now!"

Vik seemed placated by that, although he still looked abjectly horrified by the prospect of the Singular with the S3 Strain in hand. He had seen what it could do after all. They all had though and it didn't change what they had come here to do and still had to. The Mobile Bio-Lab was near the back of the camp, if the bomb was held anywhere, it was there. They needed to reach it and kill Xeltravius before both escaped their grasp. All the Singular did was make the situation more chaotic, they couldn't take the bait.

They waded into the now ongoing firefight between the Seppies and their own Mechs. It was mostly LOKIs but a few Fenris drones had been activated as well. They were running through the field, tackling their former terrorist masters while a machine gunner on the roof of an old building nearby was trying to gun them down. The turret was the most significant threat and in lieu of Saya's sharpshooting skills, as he was likely keeping the Cerberus Sniper pinned down, they would have to deal with him themselves. His position atop of what seemed to be another part of the old substation complex gave him command of the entire area. Beyond him was a stretch of containment bunkers, behind which Liara could see the mobile bio-lab. That settled it, they had to get by the turret to get to the bomb.

"We need to take gunner's nest," Liara told the others. "He's focused on the Singular's mechs, but we can't rely on that to hold. Someone has to go for it while the rest of us draw his fire."

"It has to be me," Nel insisted. "My Havoc Armor's boosters can close the distance faster than anyone here."

While Liara appreciated the turian's eagerness, she needed to make sure Nel understood the risks. As much as she had improved, she was still Nel after all. She couldn't have this be about the adrenaline.

"When you take the gun you're going to get targeted by everything out there," Liara warned.

"Yeah, obviously," Nel acknowledged. "But it still has to be me. I can draw aggro from all of these guys and take it. Anyone else won't make it in time, they're better off remaining mobile or they'll be worse off in the middle of this shit. Namely, Vik, because the second the Geth figures out he's up there, it is going to send every mech at him to kill him."

"She might be right," Vik confessed. "That thing seems... laser focused on killing me. I'd be better off trying to draw the mechs away from Nel in that case, relieve some pressure."

"Besides, you need to get to that mobile lab," Nel reminded Liara. "And I'm no good with science junk, I'm the one who shoots and kills all the fuckers. Just get me up there and I'll do my job."

She seemed determined to get up there, but not out of a desire for glory like she would've before. Liara could sense it, the danger was mounting, lives were at stake and the gravity was hitting Nel hard. Maybe it was because her favorite action vid star was at risk or that Hanilex was involved, it didn't matter. The asari could tell Nel was more focused and surer than ever. There was no sense in debating further.

"Alright, take the nest," Liara ordered her. "We'll try and draw his fire so you can get up there. You cut us a path to the mobile lab through this chaos and as soon as it's clear you rendezvous with us there, understand?"

Nel just nodded and mentally prepared herself, knocking her fists together and then the sides of her helmet. The team then split up, Nel moving to flank the turret, while Liara and the others moved up through the barricades to a better position.

As they moved, they watched the turret gun down some FENRIS mechs, before it was fired on by a pair of LOKIs. They didn't last long themselves though, as blaze of plasma fire struck into one of them before the other was run over by a speeding purple blur. A Covenant Ghost, driven by a CLC Terrorist glided across the ground, scattering pieces of mech as it slowed down. Moments later, the driver spotted Liara's team lurking through the barricades and loosed a spray of plasma.

"They've gotten a handle on these new toys quick it seems," Wrex grumbled behind cover, firing his shotgun blindly.

"They don't know everything I do," Kayap assured, pulling out a plasma pistol. "Draw it's fire for a second."

"On it," Vik assured, dropping a turret drone to harrass the turian Ghost operator.

The shots raked across the hull of the vehicle and the pilot returned fire on the drone in an attempt to alleviate the problem. That gave Kayap his opening, he fired a single overcharged shot that struck the Ghost, killing its engine. The turian at the controls, angered by the sudden shut off, furiously beat at the dashboard. He whipped out his pistol and began firing on Liara's team as he abandoned the vehicle and sought cover behind it.

"If he waited a few seconds it would've started up again," Kayap claimed.

"Take him out before he realizes that," Liara ordered.

"I got him," Wrex assured.

Using his biotics, Wrex pulled the turian out of cover and then filled him full of holes as he flipped through the air. The display got the attention of the turret's gunner who flung his gun around to open fire on the krogan. Wrex dropped back behind his barricade, but the rest of the team opened fire on the stationary gun. Bullets ricocheted off the shield around the barrel, but it kept firing as the gunner lowered his head deeper behind the gun. His tunnel vision would be his undoing, as this was Nel's moment.

Rocketing off from her position, Nel launched herself into the air and over several feet. She crashed down on top of the gun, her omni-blades out as she punctured the terrorist through the back and his jugular. She kicked the body away and took up the turret for herself, turning it right around to blast at the CLC defensive positions, sending the Seppies scattering, bunkering down or getting perforated for being too slow to react.

A few of the Seperatists fired back however, one of them landing a glancing blow on Nel's shoulder. The shot bounced off her shields, but the impact was enough to get her attention. She swung the gun around and let loose on the offending targets, cutting down their cover. Some of her shots went wide though, hitting a nearby generator that promptly exploded. While not totally intentional, it did force everyone to pay attention to Nel now more than ever, including the Singular's hacked Mechs which started shooting at Nel as she was now the most prominent threat.

The good news was at least Liara and the others now had an easier time of it sneaking across the battlefield, Nel's chattering turret covering their advance. The only time Nel finally stopped firing was when she was forced to let the turret cool from overheating. Even then her position kept getting hit with bullets as Liara slinked through the chaotic gunfight largely ignored by everyone else.

Although that didn't last forever, even as Nel started shooting again, a pair of Seppies spotted Liara's approach as she rounded Nel's turret nest from below. They opened fire on the asari as she poked her head around the corner of the structure, forcing her back behind it. Wrex let off a few blasts from his shotgun in retaliation. Thankfully, Nel played her role dutifully, swinging the turret around the cut a swath through the Seppies, ripping up their position and intending to provide Liara and the others the path they needed.

Unfortunately, the sound of lumbering footsteps signalled an end to Nel's shooting spree. The turian turned to see the source of the noise for herself. The Singular had activated one of the YMIRs and the massive mech was now stomping up on her position. Nel swore as she turned the gun back around and started laying into the massive death machine. The bullets merely bounced off the shield, however, as the Singular's voice boomed through the mech's voice box.

"This platform is clunky, but at least it's semi-capable," the Geth claimed. "Now just stand still and let me obliterate you, annoyance."

The YMIR aimed its missile launcher at Nel, firing a blast that forced her behind her turret. The shot ripped at the structure below her as a follow up barrage of machine gun fire hit hard. Nel couldn't move, supressed as she was behind her turret. The only thing that prevented the YMIR from continuing its assault was a pair of Ghosts speeding up behind it and to its left to try and harass it with plasma fire.

"Oh look, more bugs I have to squash!" The Singular's voice bellowed from the mech. "How many of you worthless meatsacks are in this camp? Don't tell me I have to exterminate all of you just to get to the damn Quarian!"

The Singular kept shooting at the harassing Ghosts even as it spoke, the YMIR's machine gun fire blasting away at the ground as the hovering vehicles tried to eat away at its shields and armor. Eventually one got too close and was trodden underfoot by the mech before a missile blast ended the second Ghost just as quickly.

"And to think they call your species the finest warriors in the galaxy," the Singular mocked. "What a bunch of-"

Nel's machine gun turret ended the Singular's line of thought as bullets sliced into the YMIR's body, penetrating its armor. The YMIR turned back to Nel and focused in on her.

"Oh right, you, I forgot," it stated. "Far too many organic fleshbags to kill today."

The mech fired another missile and Nel knew this structure wouldn't take another hit. She kicked her boosters on her armor into gear and rocketed out of the machine gun nest before it exploded in a ball of fire. She landed a few feet away from the wreckage of the old building and quickly opened fire on the YMIR once more. She rushed into the cover of some crates nearby as machine gun bullets chased after her.

"Why do you keep persisting?" The Singular asked annoyed. "Can't any of you stupid hunks of meat just die already?"

"Can you ever shut the fuck up?" Nel asked in return, before chucking a cluster grenade at the YMIR's feet.

The detonation rocked the robotic puppet of the Geth, but it was still standing. Nel had hoped it would end the Mech, but she was mostly just hoping to keep the bastard's attention on her for a few more seconds. Just long enough for those stupid seppies to try and run the YMIR down with one of those Covenant hovering plasma tanks. Singular must've picked up the impact warning a bit too late, as the tank smashed into the YMIR's back at full speed. The Mech's missile arm was torn off at the joint from the impact, sparks and flames shooting up from its mangled body. The YMIR still grabbed at the Wraith as it rode up towards it, powering up its massive plasma mortar gun. The close-range shot blew the head clean off the YMIR... and then it detonated in a massive explosion that sent the Wraith teetering over onto it's backside.

"Dumb fucking Seps," Nel spat. "Should've shot it from further away."

It was pretty clear that the Seppies still weren't used to the kind of gear the Covenant had given them, underestimating the plasma weaponry as they were unfamiliar with it. Probably didn't help that these guys were most likely hyped up on adrenaline for the coming attack and there was apparently no proper discipline in this gunfight. Xeltravius and Hanilex had left their men to their own devices. No doubt because they saw these goons as expendable. Nothing else mattered but that bomb after all.

However, not every Seppy was as stupid as Nel had hoped, she saw another Wraith rolling out onto the field. And while the first one was badly damaged, it was still functional, just flipped over. The second tank was now trying to help flip the Wraith back onto its hoverskirt, but in any case, Nel knew they'd have a problem once that happened.

Not willing to push her luck for the moment though, she decided to fall back to Liara's position. Engaging these tanks in the open like this would be a mistake. Better to draw them into the mess of tents, equipment and makeshift barracks set up on their way to the mobile lab. Assuming the Wraiths would follow them of course, the Seppies still had their hands full with Singular's hacked mechs. In any case, Liara needed her and she still had a score to settle with Hanilex. She beat feet towards the path to the mobile lab, hoping all this chaos had been enough for Liara to get to the rendezvous.

---

The enemy sniper kept shooting at Saya in spurts. He responded in kind, trying to fire at where they were and when they tried to relocate. The Cerberus sharpshooter was no rookie though; they were quick to fire and roll into new cover. They didn't waste time trying to maintain a fire position, they kept moving. They kept their rifle from leaning too far out of their newest position. They kept Saya guessing, always dangerous for any sniper.

Saya was in the same situation though, moving constantly about the old refinery's ruined top floor. One eye stayed on the ridge, the other his next position. His cloak at least helped to mask some of his movements, but the Cerberus Sniper probably had some kind of anti-stealth tech in their headgear. Either that, or they had a skilled eye that could pick up the shimmer. Whatever it was, every now and then, a bullet nearly grazed him or slammed into his position's cover.

For them to maintain this level of accuracy at such a consistent distance was every indicator to the salarian that Cerberus had sent one of their best. Likely because they knew he'd be here, that Liara would put him on overwatch and that they'd be able to handle him. That was not good, because that meant the longer this went on, the more time this sniper had to adjust their aim. It was only a matter of time before they zeroed in. Saya's shields and armor would protect him... for a bit, but from the sound of the shots his opponent was using some pretty top tier gear. It was likely long range, high clip capacity and low recoil. STG intelligence had suggested Cerberus was not nearly that well armed. Obviously they had got it wrong or they were out of date. The Illusive Man was not playing cheap, not with his people's hardware anyway.

He has to shake the sniper out of their hole and off that ridge. As he hunkered down behind a large piece of machinery Saya tried to think. The sniper was here to prevent him from assisting Liara to his fullest extent, but that couldn't be the only reason. Cerberus wouldn't have sent someone here just to harass them. They had to be here to throw their own wrench in Orukuri's and the Separatists' plans. The only reason they were making things difficult for the team was because, likely, their methods and goals did not fully align.

Taking that into account, the sniper was likely wasting time focusing so much on him. While that was good in a sense for Liara, it was not a long-term solution. Eventually, if this kept up, there was a high probability he could get incapacitated or killed. He needed to swing the momentum back in his favor. If the enemy sniper started feeling the pressure, if they were concerned about being unable to complete their main objective because they were wasting so much time with him, then they'd make a mistake. They'd panic, they'd rush, they'd do something stupid and once that happened Saya could take them down. The problem was, how did you turn a tenuous stalemate into a untenable situation you had to flee from?

He scanned the ridge as carefully as possible. He could see where the sniper was now, their shadow at least anyway. They were between a boulder and a stump. Fine, as long as they stayed there for now. Saya looked above the ridge, trying to spot something, a loose rock, a weak tree, anything he could shoot to fall down on the sniper's position. There didn't seem to be much of anything, nothing a single shot could manage.

Well, not a traditional single shot. There was one tree overlooking the sniper's position, but it wasn't exactly unstable enough for one bullet to topple it. Maybe if he had a Widow or something, but not with this gun. He did have another option, but it wasn't ideal. High explosive rounds, he only used that mod in extreme circumstances, heavy vehicles, mechs, maybe a gunship. The damn things expended an entire thermal clip, made too much noise, they weren't his favored mod. In this case though, they were probably his best bet.

Taking careful aim, Saya placed his crosshairs over the tree above his opponent. With a gentle squeeze, he set the explosive shot flying. The blast would give away his position, so he quickly activated his cloak and moved to another position behind a ruined wall. He let the bullet do its work, the high explosive modification took enough of a chunk out of the tree that it soon toppled over. It came down on the enemy sniper's position, but it did not crush them. Saya could see movement in the location. The Cerberus Sniper crawled out from beneath the destruction, but not before rolling a smoke grenade out. A thick grey cloud soon burst forth from the cylinder, Saya could see movement in the smoke but not the target. He fired some shots, hoping he'd breach their shields with a lucky hit.

Instead, the enemy sniper threw themselves from the cloud and began sliding down the ridge on their back. The sniper then opened fire as they slid, hitting Saya's position with regular fire. Saya tried to return the shots but the sniper had already descended below the treeline on the ridge. He couldn't see them anymore, that was both bad and good. Mostly bad though. While he had shaken them out of their overwatch position and reduced their target effectiveness, they were still alive. He'd need to find the sniper again and fast before they could resume their deadly task.

The good news was, Saya had a very good idea of where the sniper was heading. The bad news, Liara was going to have company. At least he had retained the high ground, he could assist Liara, but as long as the Cerberus Sniper was out there no one was safe. He'd have to contact the team, let them know of the danger.

Although from the looks of things they weren't exactly safe to begin with. Through his crosshairs, Saya could see the camp was in total chaos. The mechs had turned against their masters while Liara's teams had started breaking through the outer perimeter. One krogan bashed through a fence and then kept charging into a tower's leg causing it to topple over. There was also a pack of FENRIS mechs charging into a barracks that soon lit up with gunfire. No one was in charge of the defense and no one had any idea what they were doing.

Yeah, the enemy sniper was going to slip in easily enough that was for sure. They'd be after Liara though, so they would keep a low profile. They also knew he was still up here, so they were going to try and avoid stepping out into the open. Saya tried to focus his efforts on finding Liara first and foremost. He spotted her and the team moving up through the camp towards a mobile lab. With their position confirmed, he sent them a message.

---

Moving through the tents, barracks and bunkers, Liara and her team did their best to avoid direct confrontation. There was random fighting going on around them, but she doubted the Singular had forgotten them. At that moment, Saya reported in through her HUD with a warning, the sniper was off the ridge and probably headed for the camp.

"Saya thinks the Sniper is headed our way," Liara told the others. "Just one problem after another today."

"Yeah, but what else is new," Nel groaned. "Why does Saya think they're coming here?"

"Cerberus was probably after the S3-Strain back at that facility," Liara reminded her. "And they've sent one of their agents to finish that mission."

"Which means they're probably after the bomb just like us," Vik added.

"Well we got a headstart," Wrex reminded them all. "Look it's literally right in front of us."

The mobile was indeed right in front of them, but that view was soon obstructed by something else. Smashing through one of the older buildings of the substation appeared a Wraith Tank. However, it didn't look right, the vehicle had a driver... but they weren't alive. The turian within was slumped over in their seat, clearly dead and singed, possibly from an electrical shock.

"Oh no," Liara spoke, the realisation washing over her. "It's in the tank! The Singular has the Wraith tank!"

The Wraith charged up its main weapon, forcing the team to scatter. The plasma attack slammed down on the ground moments before they managed to get away from its blast radius. Liara rolled into cover alongside Kayap, looking up briefly to see the Tank surveying the area.

This was bad. The CLC soldiers were still getting used to the Covenant's weaponry, they hadn't been fully trained in all the ins and outs of the highly advanced vehicles. The Singular had been a part of the Covenant's systems for who knew how long, was far more capable and had a generally better understanding of the Wraith itself. The Separatists were dangerous to be sure, but the Singular didn't have the same concerns or problems an organic host did. The good news was the Wraith didn't have external speakers, so at least they were spared the Geth's taunts and monologuing.

"We need to take that thing out and get to the lab," Liara insisted. "We can't waste time with the Singular anymore."

"We just have to attack it's plasma core on the back," Kayap explained. "If that goes, the whole tank follows."

The Singular likely knew that though, so Liara would have to find a way to trick the Geth into leaving itself open. Chances were that controlling all these mechs was straining the synth to a degree, maybe that would make it easier to get one over the machine. Course, the Singular wasn't completely alone either, some of the mechs stomped out into the open and began firing on her position.

Liara launched a throw attack that sent the mechs flying backwards, but more arrived soon after. Perhaps the Singular was trying to concentrate his hacked forced onto this section of the camp. What for though? Just to kill Vik? The squad? Maybe the Geth wanted the bomb and the S3 Strain for itself, like Cerberus did. Well, they weren't going to let him have it.

A shockwave ripped through the mech forces firing on her. Wrex's doing no doubt, sure enough the krogan was charging up into the field. He was aiming for the Wraith, but the tank turned towards him. Wrex wasn't stupid enough to keep racing towards a killer tank though. He dropped down into cover behind a small barrier, the plasma blast crashed down near him but he kept low as the ground rumbled around him.

"Wrex stay down!" Liara called out over the radio. "We'll get it off you and then you can finish the job."

Kayap was arming his missile launcher in preparation, but Liara knew what their best chance was. The only thing that could get the Singular's attention was the current obsession he had with killing quarians. More specifically, trying to kill Vik.

"Vik where are you?" Liara asked over the radio.

"Off to the tank's right," the quarian reported in. "I'm going to try and distract it."

Vik was already of her, of course he was. If spending time with quarians like Tali had taught Liara anything, the good of the crew mattered more than anything else. Regardless, Liara didn't want him being reckless.

"Ok, but follow my instructions on this," she told him. "The Wraith needs a second to recharge its gun. We're going to make it fire again, then you move into the field. Head towards the Mobile Lab, if the Singular is after the bomb, it won't risk destroying it and the virus along with it. When I tell you to run, you keep running and you don't stop, understand?"

She was not going to put a member of her crew's life at risk casually, this plan's success relied on being fast and decisive. Vik responded with a simple affirmation towards his leader. Liara then contacted Nel and told her of her part in the plan.

"Nel, make the Singular want to kill you," she said.

"Easiest objective I've ever had," the turian replied jovially.

Popping up from behind the cover of a small structure, Nel let loose with a sustained burst of Machine gun fire that raked the Wraith's side. Mostly ineffective, but it got Singular's attention it seemed as the Wraith turned towards her. It charged up its main gun and lobbed a plasma mortar towards the turian's position. Nel quickly activated her Havoc Armor's jets and boosted away from her position, just the attack came crashing down on the old substation structure, obliterating it.

Nel came to a stop in the middle of the open field, a few feet away from the Wraith. She kept firing on it as she pulled back and even used her Cryobeam on the main weapon. While she hoped it would damage the gun, it was mostly out her continued mission trying to keep the Singular's attention on her for a while longer. She bid a hasty retreat all the same, cutting down one of the LOKI Mechs with her omni-blade as she ran. The Wraith fired again, but Nel boosted away and over a barrier moments before the shot came crashing down.

"Vik, now!" Liara ordered.

Vik rushed out into the open, activating a Combat Drone as he did. The Drone fired on some of the Mechs before assaulting the Wraith itself. In an instant, the tank turned towards the drone and then tried to attack Vik. It zeroed in on the quarian, who fired an Overload attack at the tank, shorting out its systems, if only momentarily. Vik kept running for the Mobile Lab all the same, even as the Wraith returned to normal.

As Liara expected, the tank didn't fire. Vik was too close to the lab, it couldn't risk shooting it. The Bomb and the S3 Strain within were the Singular's ultimate objective after all. That didn't stop the Geth from acting though, the Tank's hoverskirt began to resonate and its engine core went bright blue.

"Vik, it's charging!" Liara warned.

The Wraith boosted forward, intent on running the quarian down. Vik ducked low and rolled, barely escaping the nose of the vehicle which slammed into the side of a small barracks. As it awkwardly backed up, Wrex took the field again, running towards the Wraith, its backside exposed to the krogan. He grabbed onto it and then began punching the protective covering over the tank's plasma core. It eventually gave way under the assault, but unfortunately the Singular must've figured out what was happening. It turned the Wraith into a sudden spin. Wrex held on best he could, but the shift in momentum caused him to fly off.

Kayap was quick to respond with his own backup plan. He fired a series of missiles from his launcher at the Wraith. They all smashed into its side. The damage was light, but there was large gash in the armor. The tank then fired on Kayap and Liara's position. The asari grabbed the unggoy and shoved herself and him away from the incoming projectile. It barely missed them, the shockwave shaking the ground.

Luckily their teammates were quick to respond. Vik sent the Combat Drone under the tank's hoverskirt and then caused it to self-destruct. The blast from the exploding drone shook the tank gravely. Nel in the meantime resumed her previous assault, firing on the main gun with her cryobeam, this time there seemed to be significant effect, ice crystals formed on the plasma weapon and its movement slowed. That would not last though, plasma was exceedingly hot and the tank was already powering up the weapon in an attempt to melt the ice. It let loose an errant shot when it was done, but that gave Liara her own opening. She raced up towards the tank and grabbed onto it. She shifted around to its backside, but problem was she did not have a grenade or anything explosive to stick into the plasma core.

"Liara!" Wrex called out, holding up a grenade of his own. "Catch!"

The krogan tossed the asari a grenade, who used her biotics to help guide it towards her. With a simple nod of thanks to Wrex, Liara activated the grenade, tossed it into the plasma core and then jumped off the Wraith. She ran for cover, along with the rest of her squad. Moments before the vehicle exploded in a brilliant flash of blue flame. The main gun, which had been such a problem before, flipped about in the air before crashing down on a tent.

"Ha! Eat it, Synth!" Nel laughed. "That's twice you've gotten blown up today!"

"Minor setback."

The voice was the Geth's, but it did not come from the tank. It came from one of the LOKIs. It's bottom half was severed, but the head and arms were intact enough for it to crawl. It moved up towards Liara as she watched the Wraith burn.

"I just needed you preoccupied long enough for things to proceed as desired," the Singular claimed.

"The fuck you on about, Synth?" Nel asked as she walked up beside Liara. "We wasted your ass! And you ain't even here!"

"That's the beauty of remote control, meat sack," the Geth replied rather confidently. "I am here! I'm just not within killing range. And soon I'll have what I need, so it doesn't matter."

"Oh bullshit, you're just a cowardly little crop of wires that doesn't have the balls to fight us face to face," Nel informed it. "You've won nothing."

"So simple minded," the Singular sighed. "I'll give the Creators one thing over you turians, they're at least smart enough to create their own replacements. You? Your species is lucky enough to have evolved beyond living in caves. You're such-"

Nel used her foot to smash the LOKI mech's head to pieces. Liara didn't object, she had gotten tired of listening to the Geth herself. However the words stuck with the asari regardless. She thought about them as the others gathered around her.

"Bucket, you might not have strong feelings over the fucking Geth, but I'm starting to wish your people shut them all down centuries ago," Nel told Vik, sounding rather disgruntled. "They are assholes."

"That trait might be more unique to this one to be honest," Vik admitted. "It is merged with an AI from another universe, remember?"

"Don't care," Nel replied succinctly. "It's gotten on my last fucking nerve and I want to kill it."

"That's not our job right now," Liara reminded her. "I think at the moment that's going to be up to Saya."

The others looked at her confused.

"Why's the salarian gotta deal with-"

"There's no time, Nel," Liara told her. "We've wasted enough of it as is. Get into the mobile lab, find Xeltravius and the bomb. They can't leave here."

The squad went on ahead, carrying out her orders as they headed for the mobile lab. Liara in the meantime contacted Saya. If she was right, he had a new target and he was probably the only one capable of taking it down in time. The bomb wasn't the only source of viral contagion at this camp after all.

---

Liara called in to tell him that the Singular was probably after the viral strain. They may have stopped him from getting close to the bomb, but Saya had the best line of sight on the other source of the contagion. The bio-grenades were still in their boxes, still waiting to be shipped out. Liara's people were still trying to break through the enemy's defenses and hadn't reached the centre of the camp where they were being housed. The CLC themselves were trying to load as many boxes containing the grenades onto a truck at that very moment. Saya could see they were well under way to getting most of them aboard. He couldn't let them or the Singular get away with any of them.

Chances were of course these weren't the only grenades, this was just one stockpile. However, the less that got out of this camp the better. The thing was, with the enemy sniper on the way and the Singular out there it seemed like time was not really on his side. He had to locate both and take them down. At the very least he had to prevent them from getting the grenades. An explosion of some kind would probably do the trick. Let the Seppies get as many boxes as they could into their truck and then blow it up.

Unfortunately, that was not in the cards. A sniper bullet struck one of the Separatists loading the grenades, as he fell another was shot through the head. Saya tracked the shot back to a piece of machinery and saw the Cerberus Sniper, they had gotten here earlier than expected. He didn't have a good shot on them, they were being careful about their position. Saya sorta hoped the CLC soldiers would take of the problem for him, as they opened up on the sniper's nest themselves.

The salarian was reminded why it was best not to put faith in a bunch of murder happy terrorists to do anything right. The Cerberus Sniper managed to avoid the shots by rolling into deeper cover. Another shot killed one of the Separatists, before the Sniper shot out a window on a nearby building and ran for it. Saya tried to catch them in the leg, but the enemy agent was too fast or too well shielded for the shot to do much of anything. The enemy sniper dove through the window with ease.

The next thing Saya could hear from inside the building was a lot of shooting, a lot of gunfire and plenty of screaming, all of it turian. Cerberus did not recruit amateurs that was for sure, or at least this particular agent was better trained than most. They were clearly just as deadly at close range as they were from afar.

The Seppies outside tried to follow suit and catch the sniper inside, but they didn't make it far from their post. One was stabbed through the back with an omni-blade that appeared out of nowhere. The cloaked soon vanished on a makeshift white Geth Platform. The Singular held the dead turian aloft on his blade for a moment... and then looked straight at Saya through as the salarian placed his crosshairs over the synthetic.

Before the STG agent could squeeze the trigger, the Geth let loose with a torrent of fire from their assault rifle. The blasts hit Saya's nest forcing him into cover. Stupid, he had been so focused on the retreating sniper he hadn't considered relocating after his shot. They had gone inside after all. He hadn't expected the Geth would show up so soon and make its presence known. Even at this range, the Geth's shots had been deadly accurate. If he hadn't ducked, chanced are he might have been hit.

Saya went prone and crawled to a new spot, taking up position near the edge of the Refinery's ruined floor. He watched the Geth tear the turians apart, one Separatist's gun exploded in his hand while his friend was shot twice in the stomach and head each. Saya also saw the body of the previously dead Separatist laying atop another. The Singular must've thrown him at him. Before the turian could get the corpse off of him, the Geth sprayed him with bullets.

Wanting to take out the Geth quickly, Saya tried to get a bead on it, but the synthetic cloaked before he could. The remaining Separatists tried to scan the area for the Geth, but they had forgotten about the other threat. The Cerberus sniper had found a new place to open fire on them, the top of the roof behind a vent system. They gunned down two of their number before they could react. Saya took aim at the sniper's hiding place, but they were prepared for that it seemed. Seconds after placing his scope on them, a small disc rolled out of cover and went off, blinding him. Flashbang, an attempt to ruin his vision.

The sniper took off towards the grenade pile, firing on the ruins of the refinery as they went. Saya attempted to reposition his crosshairs onto their path. However, the sniper wasn't stopped by him. They stopped themselves when an attack nearly decimated their shields and they were forced behind one of the abandoned motorcade vehicles from earlier. The shot came from the Singular, now using Geth shield barriers to protect their flank. They were over by the grenade boxes, trying to secure one.

While Saya couldn't tell what either party was saying, he imagined that the Geth was mocking the organic at the moment. He wasn't sure if the Cerberus Sniper was responding in kind, save for a few blind fired bullets in the Geth's direction. He couldn't get a good shot on either target, but the had taken the focus off him. That gave him an opportunity.

The truck the Seppies were using was an old one, probably a means to sneak under the radar of any Hierarchy security. The problem with that was it didn't exactly have all the standard safety regulations in place. Not the shock absorption dampeners, not the automatic breaking system and, most relevant to Saya, the various fuel tank redundancies weren't on this model. He had wanted to wait until ALL the grenades were loaded, but he didn't have the time now. The Geth and Sniper were close enough for his purposes. He activated the incendiary mod for his rifle's rounds and too careful aim at the fuel tank cap. These trucks were hardly military grade, it would take much to break through the seal. He fired one shot to blow off the cap, which got the attention of his opponents. He fired the second shot moments after.

The eruption started slowly, with the tank lighting on fire. That seemed to get everyone's attention. The Geth started scrambling, the Sniper just ran. Seconds later, the fire finally spread enough to swell inside the truck's tank. The vehicle ignited in an infernal blast, destroying it as well it's precious cargo. The flames soon spread to the unloaded boxes as well. Saya would have to terminate the rest of them more thoroughly, but it was a start at least.

The Geth was still alive though, the fires had only singed it. The white armor of the platform was coated in black soot, but only on one side. In one hand it held a box though, which it opened to reveal one of the grenades and its activation pin. The Geth appeared to be trying to arm the device, that couldn't happen. Saya fired a single shot that blew the grenade canister apart. Without the arming pin, the virus remained inert. As for the Geth, his shot blew off the synth's hand and that seemed to be where the machine called it. The Singular looked up at Saya's position furiously and opened fire with its assault rifle. Saya ducked into cover and in the next moment the Geth had cloaked.

Not long after, Liara's ShadowNet mercs arrived on site and started clearing the area. Saya tried to searching the courtyard but could find no trace of the Singular. Nor could he find the Sniper. He worried that they were resuming their hunt for Liara with the grenades now out of reach. He moved his scope back over to the mobile lab, hoping to provide support for his team before the Cerberus Agent caught them off guard.

---

Vik had needed to hack the doorpad for the Mobile Lab to get inside, but once they bypassed it, the team was within its sterile walls. They weren't exactly alone though, almost instantly, the door to the next section opened and in rushed a number of Separatists wearing hazmat gear and armed to the teeth. The squad quickly rushed to cover behind the various work stations and pieces of equipment strewn about oversized trailer. Bullet shattered glass and bounced off devices, as both sides exchanged fire.

"The bomb is likely in the next room over," Liara told them. "Take them down!"

Liara used a singularity to pluck two of the attackers off the ground, allowing Wrex to hit them both with a pull attack. The biotic detonation sent the two turians hurtling in opposite directions, smashing into a large centrifuge and a glass containment unit. The remaining members of the hazmat squad tried to consolidate their fire, going after Liara specifically. Vik released a defense drone in an attempt to get the pressure off of her, grazing the shields of one of the Hazmat members.

"I'm flanking right," Nel told Kayap. "Cover me!"

The unggoy just nodded and let loose with a swarm of needles on one of the Hazmat turians. The shots generally struck his cover, but one hit his shoulder and forced him down. Nel was already moving up, rushing past the lab stations until she was within striking distance of one the Seppies. She activated her jets and flung herself forward, omni-blades out. She crashed down and drove both blades deep into her target's torso. When one of his friends moved to intercept her, he was hit with a swarm of needles that exploded moments later on impact.

"Move up!" Liara ordered.

Vaulting over the lab station, Liara opened fire on one of the remaining Hazmat turians. Their shields held up, but they were forced down into cover. Only for a while though, as a shockwave from Wrex sent him careening into the ceiling. As he floated in the air, Liara filled him with a few holes from her pistol and then dove back into cover as another series of shots struck the top of the lab station. Vik fired his shotgun at him, striking him hard enough to knock him into the back wall. A second shot caused the turian to collapse to the floor, striking their head on the lab station before they did.

The last of the Hazmat team made a move for the back door, but didn't make it very far. Nel's cryobeam caught him moments before he could reach the handle. Nel then strode over to the frozen separatist and smashed him to bits with her omni-blades. Kicking away the icy remains, she pulled the door open into the decontamination chamber. It started cycling as soon as she entered, she didn't wait for it to finish. She smashed the locking mechanism with her weapon and kicked the door clean open. Moving in first, Nel opened fire prematurely. She saw a trio of turians run for cover as she entered. One of them wasn't wearing a hazmat suit, but sealed combat armor with commander's colors and an old colonial flag on the shoulder. Nel made a guess as to who it was before he even spoke from behind his safe haven.

"You're too late, Loyalist!" Xeltravius said with a sneer over the last word. "Hanilex is away! He has the bomb and he's going to complete what we started!"

Nel moved into cover just as Xeltravius opened fire with his assault rifle, raking the wall behind her with lead. Taking in the situation Nel observed their surroundings, a large experimental device in the center of the room with various mechanical arms. Probably used to assemble the payload for the bomb. Xeltravius was behind it, his minions behind two other lab stations with computer consoles. Behind them all was large open containment unit and a large open door off to the right side of it. Xeltravius wasn't lying it seemed, Hanilex had taken the bomb with him.

"He's not gonna get far!" Nel declared back.

"We'll see," Xeltravius scoffed. "But at the very least you won't live to catch up to him!"

The CLC leader fired another volley of rounds at Nel's position. By now though, Liara and the others had it into the room. The asari, who came through the doorway on the opposite side of the one Nel used, sent a biotic throw that knocked one of the Seppies into the back wall and out of cover. Wrex charged in from the entrance Nel used, blasting fire from his assault rifle to keep the other one suppressed. They took up respective defensive positions behind lab consoles.

"You're not getting out of this, Xeltravius," Liara claimed. "You're running out of people to die for you."

"There are always plenty of martyrs, asari," the old Separatist cried. "That's something your kind never understood. Always with your schemes and your plans and your diplomacy. It's what kept us shackled to you and the salarians as your damn attack dogs. Once the Hierarchy crumbles though, that won't be a problem anymore."

"You idiot," Nel spat back, peering lightly over her cover. "Orukuri is using you and your fellow dumbshit seppies! He's going to turn on you the second that bomb goes off! You're just the fall guys so he can swoop in any make himself the hero!"

Xeltravius laughed aloud at the declaration.

"Of course that's his play," he replied jovially. "Hanilex suspected as much himself, but it doesn't matter. Hurting the Hierarchy matters and Orukuri gave us the tools to do it. Han already has a plan to destroy that snake after everything is done. Tomorrow will be the last Unification Day ever celebrated anywhere, Han will make sure of it."

"Is that why you stayed behind?" Wrex asked with a growl. "You want him to get all the glory?"

"What kind of leader would I be if I didn't deal with you intruders myself?" Xeltravius asked. "Besides, Balak still wants the Asari's head on a pike. Maybe if I give it to him, he and his Covenant friends will decide we're more valuable than Orukuri and will supply us in the new colonial wars to come."

"You're a delusional old bird who should've died decades ago, Xeltravius," Nel snarled back. "There is no new war for you, just a cold unmarked grave."

"The Hierarchy thought they killed me before," Xeltravius mocked. "You honestly think you can finish the job?"

Nel activated a cluster grenade in her hand.

"Yup," she declared. "Catch asshole!"

Nel threw out the grenade, which rolled to a stop between Xeltravius and his remaining minion. The old terrorist rushed away from it as the series of blasts ripped apart his compatriot. Xeltravius fired wildly at the team as he made a run for the open door.

"So much for leadership," Wrex grunted. "He's running!"

A combat drone sped past Wrex and rushed up behind Xeltravius. It fired a burst of energy at the turian's shoulder, breaking through his shields and armor. The old terrorist turned and fired on the drone, only to activate its suicide function and self-destruct. The blast hit Xeltravius hard and sent him flying out the open door.

"Nice hit on the old fucker, Bucket," Nel congratulated as Vik ran past her.

"He's not dead yet," the quarian reminded her.

The team rushed out the door, following Vik. They found where the Separatist leader landed, the dirt impression he left behind. He hadn't gotten far though. He had limped himself over to a vehicle, an old armored transport. Clambering on top of it, he took up the turret position and opened fired on Liara and her team, forcing them to run to cover behind other vehicles, boxes and abandoned substation equipment.

"You can't kill me!" He cried. "You can't kill what I represent! I am an idea! I am the turian free of obligation! Of conformity! Of control! Free to conquer! Free to fight! Free to do what I want for myself! For my interest! What the Hierarchy calls chaos is a new dawn! What they call selfishness, I call freedom! And I'll kill however many I have to in order to get there! I'll create a mountain of your corpses to raise us all up!"

Xeltravius let the turret spit forth a volley of fire, followed by a few cannon shots. The sound of the heavy machine gun, followed by the explosive rounds erupting against the dirt, forced everyone to lower their heads more. All the while, the old terrorist was screaming aloud his manifesto and singing old Colonialist songs.

"Yeah, he's fucking lost it, Doc," Nel warned. "We need to end this now!"

"Agreed," Liara concurred. "Wrex, get around to his side and slam into that transport. Tip it over onto its back if you have to, but get him out of there. Everyone else, keep his attention off of him."

Vik threw out a defensive turret to distract the crazed terrorist first. It didn't last long under the hail of fire Xeltravius expunged at it, but it gave Kayap time to chuck a plasma grenade at his position. The explosive landed on the transport's front window, where it exploded shortly after. The entire vehicle rocked against the blast and the shockwave reverberated through the ground enough to cause the front end of the transport to jump up. It came down shortly after with a crash, but Xeltravius remained only shaken.

Nel had moved to the right trough a stack of boxes and began firing on Xeltravius directly, the bullets struck him in the shoulder and torso, but it seemed he had enough armor and shields to survive the volley. He began turning the turret over to let loose another attack, but Nel already had him zeroed in. Her cryobeam assaulted the turret, freezing it cold and jamming up its gears. The CLC Leader struggled to move it, but it was already too late.

Wrex saw his moment, he ran out into the open at full speed and smashed into the side of the armored transport with enough biotic force to shake the very ground beneath him. The vehicle tipped over hard, falling over onto its side and then slamming onto it's back. The wheels of the old vehicle now sat straight up, dangling uselessly. Nel had the best direct path towards it and quickly moved to see if she could confirm Xeltravius' death.

She didn't have to get too close to do so. Smashing out of the upside down side door, appeared Xeltravius, bruised, broken, but not dead. He let off a spray of rounds when he spotted Nel, but she used her jets to jump of the way. She then fired a series of her own shots; these ones found their mark. Xeltravius was hit twice in the stomach and another two shots in his torso. Unable to hold up under the damage, he slid down to a sitting position against the transport.

Coughing up blood and wheezing, Xeltravius eventually looked up to see Nel standing over him, omni-blade out and at the ready. He spat at her, his blood splashing against her armor. She didn't even pay attention to it; she kept her eyes on the murderous madman.

"You think you've won, Hierarchy stooge?" He scoffed. "You haven't. Han's still out there. He'll get away. He'll get the bomb in place and everything you hold dear is going to crumble. All you've done... is rob me of seeing it through to the end."

"And what was the end of this?" Nel asked. "You start up the Colonial Wars again? Kill more turians until you get to be on top? Running the show your way?"

"I don't care who comes out on top," Xeltravius claimed. "So long as it's not the bastards on this planet. Every colony will be its own nation. Every Turian their own master. We won't be at the beck and call of aliens. Or friends with humans. At the end of the day, we'll be stronger for it. Better for it. Turians are tested through battle. Forged in fire. And Hanilex will ignite a new one that will set the galaxy ablaze for years to come."

Xeltravius sputtered and coughed suddenly, a deluge of blood pouring out at Nel's feet.

"I'm not letting that happen," she told him. "The turian people are stronger when we are united. I won't let Han destroy that. I won't let your kind win."

Xeltravius laughed, blood pouring down from his mouth.

"Han told me about you," he chuckled weakly. "What the Hierarchy did to you. They threw you to the varren to cover up their mistakes. And you're still defending them? Who's the real crazy one here?"

He might have had a point, Nel thought. She had seen and heard enough about the things the Hierarchy did. At one time she'd have denied those injustices, just like she denied her own mistakes. She was done lying to herself about those things though. She couldn't ignore how biotics were treated, how people were lied to, or how little choice some turians had.

That didn't change anything though. Whatever issues Nel once had with her father didn't justify her own shitty decisions. Her anger never fixed anything either. In the same way, the problems of the Hierarchy weren't going to be fixed through the killing of innocents. Neither would they be solved through xenophobic fueled warmongering or more lies like Orukuri wanted. There was a better way to fix this.

"Whatever things make the Hierarchy imperfect don't justify murdering thousands," Nel insisted. "That won't make anything right. You might have convinced Han it will, but not me. Whatever it takes, I'll put an end to this."

"You'll fail," Xeltravius said with certainty. "You all will. You'll never find the bomb in time. You won't stop Han from killing the Primarch. You won't stop us! You can't kill an idea! You can't-"

Nel fired into Xeltravius' skull, blowing half his face off with his assault rifle. The body, what was left of it, slumped over onto the ground. Just as the other members of the team approach. Nel searched his body and pulled his omni-tool memory unit from his wrist.

"We need to secure the rest of the facility," Liara told her. "See if we can close off Hanilex's escape route."

"He might be too far away by now, Doc," Nel warned. "That fucking sniper did set things off early."

"That may be so, but we must try," Liara explained. "In any event, we should check out the main substation building. They were likely using it as an HQ. If there's any information left on their plans, it's there."

Nel nodded and gave a look over at Xeltravius' body.

"At least he's finally shut up," she said.

"I still won't be satisfied until that bomb is out of commission," Liara insisted.

Nel didn't voice it, but she silently agreed. This was far from over.

---

The rest of the Separatists either fled into the woods or died where they stood. The Singular's hacked mechs soon shut down, probably because he was too far away to maintain control. The ShadowNet Mercs and Urdnot krogan had secured the HQ building, where the last of the stubborn Separatists had been holding out. Saya had joined them in clearing rooms, searching for the Cerberus Sniper who he had last seen enter the structure. There was no sign of them. As a result, Xeltravius had been the only major target to fail to escape from the camp. While that was more the fault of the Singular and the Sniper's uninvited chaos, it was of little comfort to everyone. The bomb was still in play and they were running out of time.

Luckily, the HQ was full of information. There were briefing logs, maps, all sorts of materials pertaining to the attack on Cipritine. They had a good idea of where and when everything would go down. How many Blood Pack and Eclipse Sister units were involved in the attack for one. They knew what routes the terrorists would be using. They knew about their intended choke points, what their other targets were. They had a timetable and intel on what they knew of the city's defenses and law enforcement.

The only thing they didn't have was where the bomb was and where the sniper would be. The two key phases of the entire attack hinged on the sniper killing the Primarch and the bomb going off shortly afterwards. While stopping either didn't mean the rest of the attack wouldn't go ahead, they would be the most devastating. Liara also suspected that there were more bio-grenades in terrorist hands than what was being held at this camp. While she was having the weapons here destroyed, she knew that the CLC likely had more.

At the very least, they had recovered something useful in all the wreckage. An activator for one of the bio-grenades and a case of the vaccine that had been distributed to the CLC troops. With both on hand, Liara could synthize something that would neutralize the virus entirely. There was even some surviving lab equipment she could use here for just that purpose. It would take time, but she could potentially finish it on the road to the Capitol if they got it started early. Unfortunately, it would all be moot if they could not find the bomb or stop any of the Separatists from using their own bio-grenades to infect the city.

They thankfully had more information about where the Separatists would use the bio-grenades from though. There were a number of safehouses set up in the city. The maps the CLC had revealed them all. It was likely those places would house the viral bio-grenades. Taking them down would prevent their use, whether the bomb went off or not. The problem still remained, where the bomb was though.

"We don't have a lot of time," Liara insisted. "In a few hours it will Unification Day. In a few hours more the ceremonies in the Capitol start."

"Well we know Hanilex is the sniper, at least," Nel stated. "If I know him, he'll have a general idea of where the best places to set up a nest are. If I can narrow them down, I can find and stop him."

Vik came trudging out of a nearby room with a small datapad in hand.

"Maybe this will help," he said passing it over to Nel. "I think it's Hanilex's personal log."

Nel flipped through the images on the pad for a bit, her eyes growing wide with excitement.

"Shit, this is it," she said. "It's his notes on possible sniper nests from his recon scouts! It's not a sure thing, but it narrows it down. Nice find, Bucket. Where was it?"

"Well, I've hidden enough personal items out of paranoia to figure out where the best spots are," the quarian explained. "The floorboards under his bed looked particularly loose."

"That helps with the sniper, but the bomb is still in play," Liara reminded them. "We need a better idea of where it is. The maps all show the blast and infection radius resonating from the stage outwards, but it could still be anywhere."

Liara leaned over the map on a large table in the middle of the room.

"A truck, a large box," she considered aloud. "On the stage? In the podium? Under the stage?"

"Maybe lower than that," Kayap spoke up.

The team turned to the unggoy, sitting at a computer terminal nearby.

"I looked at their logs on scouting reports," he clarified. "There's a lot of them about the sewer and maintenance sections."

"Those could just be escape routes and entryways," Wrex cautioned.

"Yeah but... they all seem to converge," Kayap explained. "Like, they give directions towards the center of town."

Liara had Vik download the scouting reports and lay them over the map of the city. Sure enough, as Kayap suggested, they all pointed towards a central cistern that was beneath the main square of Cipritine. It was right under the stage. The bomb would explode and spew its poison up into the streets from below, spreading far and wide from that central point. It would blanket the city quickly once that started.

"It's out best lead," Liara stated. "Excellent find, Kayap. We need to pack up whatever we can here and head to Cipritine. The sooner we're there, the more time we have to search. We're going to have to hurry to save the city."

"And Slyvestrix Stalaxian," Nel quickly reminded them.

They all looked at the female turian a bit exasperated.

"Hey," she said defensively. "I'm just keeping you all focused on our priorities here."

---

The Singular stopped beneath a tree. It was not tired, that was impossible for it, but it needed a moment to process the relevant information. The bomb had gotten away and the bio-grenades from the camp were likely unrecoverable. Tracking the turian separatist's escape vehicle was simple enough, but avoiding T'Soni's search teams at the same time was trying.

"This could have gone better," it admitted. "This is what I get for trusting inferior synthetic platforms to perform in any serious capacity. Their combat subroutines are woefully inadequate compared to any proper Geth hardware."

There were other concerns though, namely the Cerberus operative.

"I shouldn't have underestimated Cerberus' convictions either," it admitted. "I surmised they would strike on Unification Day itself and disrupt the attack then. Not now in the final hours of the preparations for it. No matter, it's a minor issue."

The Geth went over the information they acquired for the Separatist computers for itself. They had a full outline of the attack now. A perfect means to acquire its objective. They knew the bomb's likely location and as a result where they needed to go.

"Priority must remain acquiring the anti-dextro contagion," The Singular declared. "Infiltrating the city's defenses will be a challenge, but not as much as defending it from all potential hostiles. Nevertheless, I must succeed. While my goals are possible without the virus, extermination of the creators will be more exhausting than I'd like otherwise. A shame I must postpone the death of T'Soni's quarian, but no matter. Once I have the S3 Strain, everything will fall into place."

They kept moving now. Best to keep out of T'Soni's predictable search patterns. It was still a long walk to Cipritine and little time to get there. It would be a shame after all to miss Unification Day.

---

Falco finally took a rest within a small cave. This had been a day of too many close calls. She didn't like having to admit to failure, but at least it wasn't a total loss. She hoped that much would get her a reprieve. Either way, she needed to contact command and get her next orders. She headed over to the communication set up and activated it.

"Agent Falco of Artemis Cell reporting in," she said into her comm. link. "Are you receiving?"

"Cerberus Command receiving, Falco," a reply came. "Status report?"

Falco shared the details of the mission's events as best she could. Her general summary was not particularly appreciated by the General though. She had not expected the STG agent to be as capable as she thought he'd be.

"Salarian Sniper proved more adequate than assumed," she confessed. "Will need to reassess for next encounter. Failure to acquire viral sample as a result of... additional unknown synthetic element. A Geth of some kind."

"Geth? Troubling," the General contemplated aloud. "What did you salvage, agent?"

"I got into their HQ," she explained. "I found all relevant data concerning their attack and I have a good idea where to find their sniper and their bomb. I'm sending you the intel now. If you send in teams to these locations, we can recover the viral sample."

"Here's hoping," the General said. "You came highly recommended, Falco. We'd hate to be disappointed."

"You won't be," she promised. "Artemis Cell gets shit done, General Petrovsky. The Asari's team is as good as dead."

"T'Soni is secondary, as are her minions," the General corrected her. "You have a new target in addition to your recovery mission. Something more suited to your skill set I imagine. Assassination to be exact."

That was the best news Falco had heard all day.

"Just name the target, sir," she asked. "They're already dead."

When she learned the name it made her grin. She might not kill the Salarian or the Asari, but she'd do worse. She'd rob them of a sense of victory. It would be enough for now. In any case she'd have to finish up with her report quickly and get moving. Unification Day was in a few hours and she didn't want to miss the festivities.

---

AN: Finally updating this after a long time. I'm expecting I'll be able to finish chapters and this portion of Liara's story much faster now that I'm done with other story obligations. In any case, I apologize for not getting this one done sooner. I just hope you haven't forgotten about this side-adventure during the long absence we've had from its continuation. After all, we're approaching the climax of it soon and I've been looking forward to what comes next for Liara's crew for a while now. For now, please remember to leave a review and stay tuned for me in the future. Next time, It's finally Unification Day! Let the celebrations begin!