Alright fuckos, let's go for a ride.
It appears my superiority has lead to some controversy.
First, some admin business. Sorry for the delay/not sorry. School, writer's block, etc. Sorry/not sorry for the updates when its the same exact chapter as I was reorganizing the story.
SO a lot of people were dissatisfied with the Citadel arc, including myself - which is the only opinion that matters. So I completely rewrote the arc. I'll post the short notes here. AND I'll post all the arc summaries of each arc in the next couple weeks. I don't blame ya if you don't wanna go back and reread the same shit, so...ya.
Anyways: Citadel Arc rewrite:
Cerberus sneaks onto the Citadel with teams of Spartans, covertly destroying UNSC defenses without alerting the rest of the Citadel. Shepard and Chief after getting thrown into the center of that Keyship on Thessia, are teleported to an unknown Forerunner installation. After a nice chat and some creepy, echoey voices, they are teleported again to the Citadel right among the enemy Cerberus Spartans.
The Chief proceeds to 1 v 40 them.
The survivors call in the Cerberus fleet to evacuate. Everyone finds out they have Covenant ships. Cerberus completes at least one objective: stealing Cortana.
The Master Chief goes after them. Alone. Without waiting for anyone. The next day everyone is sulking. Lasky and crew find out where Cortana might be. Lasky decides to inform Blue Team first as Fred and Linda are visiting Kelly in the hospital. Blue Team goes off after the Chief.
The UNSC's trust of Blue Team is growing less and less. With their backs against the wall, Shepard's crew is the only available asset. Politics. Politics, thus they are sent in.
And now we are here… To a rewrite of the Sanctuary arc. Some similarities, some differences.
ALSO, will update the A03 fic in the coming weeks also
If you have any questions message me.
Anyways, other changes:
In the process of rewriting the first Citadel meeting arc, try to streamline the plot. In process. May take a hot, hot minute. I'm also trying to edit away the constant jumping between POVs which is…
Fuck.
Deleted most of the author's note except for the one where I called you all idiots.
Yes, you. I called you specifically an idiot. No, not him. Not the other guy. YOU. You sitting there. Specifically you. No, no you don't understand. YOU are an idiot. Not the other thousands of people reading this. YOU are an idiot. You, YOU right there reading this. Yes, YOU. Make no mistake, I'm speaking directly to YOU. Not the other reader.
I'm sorry you simply can interpret the awesome greatness of my work
Just as Jesus changed the game, I have changed the world of writing. This story surpasses all written work in the history of mankind. Yes, this story even supersedes the superiority of the Western canon itself. There are no flaws in this story, and if anyone claims there is a flaw, then it is purposely intentional or they are so inept that they cannot interpret its mastery.
I am inspired by the muses. And you may be thinking, "oh, Fade, what a funny joke."
I'm not joking. And breaking the fourth wall, I'm am absolutely, obviously 100 percent serious. And if you think this claim of me being serious is also a joke, I want you - again, yes YOU - to know that I am obviously 100 percent serious about being 100 percent serious about my seriousness towards my serious belief that this work is the pinnacle of perfection.
Even those of you who support me (which I think front the survey of reviews it seems like a good majority) don't realize that I am one-hundred percent serious about the seriousness of everything I write in my author's notes.
In fact, everything you read is now canon. Yes, the halo and ME wiki no longer apply. Bungie and Bioware/EA have given in. This story is the blessed path of truth. Not even the ME4 or Halo Infinite can override the perfection of my work.
This story is the greatest thing ever, and because of that, it is ultimately immune from any sort of criticism whatsoever. In fact, any criticism of it is instantly wrong due to the incompetence of the criticizer. My superiority is far superior to yours, yes You.
Anyway, four dollars a pound.
Aboard SSV Normandy, inbound to Horizon, 2186 Citadel Calendar, 06:42
September 6th
Time is a mere number in the military. Shepard was slowly feeling it, but he had to pull through. Liara quickly drank her second cup of coffee while simultaneously rubbing the tiredness away from her face. The hum of the ship was deafening as Shepard strapped on his armor to his undersuit. Liara stood next to him, clipping on Armax arsenal reinforced kevlar pads. Unusual for her. Unusual for us all as the team strapped on nearly fifty pounds of extra gear, mostly in the form of Kevlar and SAPI plates. All of it was coated in exterior alloy metal patterned with eezo dispensers to increase the strength of their kinetic barriers.. Still, it felt unnatural to strap on the large amount of kevlar drago skin. Shepard strapped on a plate carrier. Liara secured her SAPI plates. Their loadout was a lot heavier than usual to say the least.
But in the end all of this was….theoretical. Across the cargo hold, the gathered team was readying to go in heavy. While lead, tungsten ammunition didn't pose the largest threat, plasma was a terrifying substance to be exposed to. The team determined that if they were to get hit by plasma or if a large amount of residue splashed on them, the thick armor would buy them time to strip it off. It would buy them time and vastly reduce the chance of injury.
The extra armor constricted Shepard's lungs, but it's better than dying.
Still, even if they did have enough heavy armor, plasma residue burns right through metal. And, according to reports, overexposure to plasma in large capacities begins to negatively interact with eezo within the personal mass effect field. It slowly begins to eat away at the transmitters located throughout the armor, severely damaging the barriers and significantly decreasing their overall performance and reliance.
The Commander sighed and finished getting on his armor, clipped on the straps. With the increased weight it'll be hard to keep up with a long engagement. He clipped on his Black Widow and Carnifex weapons block, along with a Lotus submachine gun. Close quarters were expected, but inspired by the UNSC weapons drop, Tali had developed something close to it. Hot boxes she had called them. They can be fitted into Normandy's probes and outfitted with whatever gear and supplies they need, launched as low as troposphere.
"Who do you want to take the Mako, Commander?" Ashley asked, her hand in a reinforced combat cast.
"I can drive…." Shepard trailed off as he looked at the disdain and fear in his crews' faces. "What?"
"Shepard…" Liara said. "You know I love you, right?"
"...Yeah?"
"And you know that I only say it, out of love, that...you're awful at driving…"
"What…?"
"Maybe someone else should have a turn," Liara said. "Another group?"
"But I always drive."
"Shepard...Honey," that word seemed very foreign coming from Liara. "It's only fair."
"But…"
"I can drive," Garrus said. "I can lead a cordon team."
"Good idea," Liara said before Shepard.
The Commander sighed. "Anyways, we only have one working Kodiak. Once we hit the ground, we'll have limited fire support." Shepard announced.
"Topographic scans are only preliminary," EDI began, "the outskirts of the city are mostly made of refugee camps. In the center is the Cerberus facility, guarded by AA armaments. It all lies in the center of a tropical forest."
"Roger," Shepard replied. "Based on the AA, we'll drop off in the jungle outside the city. Garrus, take some voluntolds. Scout the terrain, the outer edges for any ingress routes and punch through so shore party can enter. James, you and your team run rear security. Ashley, you and Cortez will take the Kodiak and provide limited overwatch and firemission-"
"Commander!" Joker's voice said on comms. "Approaching Sanctuary, you're gonna wanna see this."
Before Shepard could say anything, the cargo ramp opened to reveal a sky very much like Thessia. Except instead of a hazy orange afternoon, the sky was mid-day. A hint of tropical green and light blue made the sky like the Caribbean Sea. It was clear, the sun was perfect from the yellow star. And yet again, fire and smoke choked the air. Clusters of makeshift buildings and facilities burned. Fires spread about, surrounding clusters of wreckage and fallen skyscrapers. Miles of destruction, with the original city encircling a tower as tall as the citadels on Eden Prime.
It looked more like a warzone than a demolition op. Crushed vehicles and rows of burning buildings dressed the refugee city. The river was clogged with debris and pools of leaked oil and liquid eezo. Upturned Cerberus Grizzlies and Hammerheads dotted the makeshift, shanty streets.
"Well, goddamn, looks like they already started the party," Wrex said.
"Well, we're just what they call fashionably late" Grunt added. "But shit, they already drank all the booze."
"Could ONI have done this?" Garrus asked.
"With a limited amount of time, you wouldn't pull off a demolition op like this. Not this big." Miranda said. "Especially not one so sloppy."
"From my scans, it seems all AA batteries are offline. At least…"
"EVADE! EVADE! BRACE! BRACE BRACE!" Joker screamed on comms.
The Normandy banked starboard. The inertia dampeners in troposphere couldn't compensate. And before Shepard's body could react, he saw it. A flash of yellow-white coming straight towards them.
In less than a second, something was ripped off the Normandy.
...
"God. Damnit," Wrex said as he crawled out from under the debris of crates and spare Mako tires.
Luckily, the kinetic barriers took most of the impact. Most of it. The ship was tipped starboard. Its wing is seemingly buried in the earth. The cargo ramp scooped up a decent amount of dirt and tropical trees. Green chlorophyll with strange blue iridescent dotted along the veins of the leaves. More importantly, bits of black asphalt concrete and pipes mixed in with the dirt.
Everything not locked down was thrown about the cargo space. The Mako, on its launching tracks and ready to go, was thrown on its side against the starboard wall. The crew and support teams seemed mostly okay, thrown about.
"...Joker… Status…?" Shepard moaned as he got up from the edge of the crate. Even despite the armor, he felt the kick in his stomach. He began to dry heave onto the tiled floor.
"Jesus…." Joker mumbled. "Our entire portside wing is ripped off. Two engines are completely gone. I think we're still space-worthy, but we won't have enough thrust to make it off the ground."
No egress.
Liara was on the ground, all floors, disoriented. The Commander stumbled over and helped her up. The rest of the crew tried to orient themselves. Kasumi helped Samara up. Ashley pulled Garrus out from a pile of unsecured weapons. Miranda, in heavy (stolen, somehow, somewhere) UNSC marine dragon armor, looked almost unscathed.
"Change of plan…" Tali sarcastically said as she lied on the floor. "Fourth worst landing."
"Roger, that," Shepard said as the dry heaving seemed to subside, replaced by a deep pain in his chest. "Joker? Can we even make field repairs?"
"Negative. Gonna have to tow home," Joker replied.
"Might need a rental," Garrus said as he shook off the cobwebs.
"Eh. I always liked the last Normandy," Wrex said.
Shepard switched to the ship team comms, "Doctor Chakwas, get a sitrep. Tend to any wounded aboard. Cortez, Kodiak status?"
"Some damage to the thrusters, but nothing I can fix," Cortez said.
"EDI? What the hell hit us?"
"Re-analyzing. Based on video feed, it looked like a UNSC mini-MAC cannon. Normandy radar detected it three-point-two seconds before it fired."
"Just enough time to move outta the way," Joker replied. "It didn't seem to affect Normandy's momentum. We're deep in the city, sir. Luckily, that gun is on the opposite side of the city. We're about a klick from the main tower."
"Alright…" Shepard said to the crew. "We'll see if we got enough money for a tow truck. The enemy, whoever knows where we are. We're surrounded." Shepard switched to the engine room comms. "Adams? Your crew okay?"
"Roger that."
"Ashley? Work with Adams. Get defense systems online," Shepard ordered. "We still gotta push through. We have a new objective. Gather any and all survivors."
Grunt and Wrex were already on it. Pushing the side of the Mako and activating the magnetic wheels.
The tank at first slowly reoriented, until momentum pushed the Mako back upright.
"Keelah. Kinetic barriers didn't stand a chance," Tali commented. "We need to find some regular UNSC radar… I guess we can't rely on eezo sensors alone anymore."
"Rest of the plan is the same. Garrus, take your team in the Mako. Find an egress route and hunt down that MAC gun. Once the gun is taken offline we can launch the Kodiak. Everyone else, we're heading to the tower."
...
The Normandy had controlled dived into an open plaza once dotted with grass gardens, trees, and an artificial pond. Three-storied buildings created the walls laced with walkways and bridges. Now, neon-orange fire burst out of tech panels and astray pipes. The empty spaces were filled with debris, overturned Cerberus shuttles, and...bodies. Dozens of bodies. Civilians. Cerberus soldiers. And a Spartan….
The Mako pushed forward, and Garrus - the apparent better driver - turned left onto a main avenue, disappearing in the urban sprawl towards the possible direction of the MAC gun. The rest of the crew stumbled out, covering their assigned sectors of fire. Shepard led the way with Liara directly staked on his shoulder, Carnifex drawn and biotic shields at the ready. Tali took the left flank, Wrex the right, and Miranda the rear.
Dead slow pace, scouting any possible defilade. Scorch marks surrounding
The deceased Spartan laid in the center. Shepard could already tell it wasn't Cerberus. UNSC ones were a lot less bulky than Cerberus' without any exoskeletal attachments or mechanical-based augmentations. This Spartan had urban grey armor.
"ONI's?" Liara asked.
"I don't know," Tali said as she kneeled down and scanned the body. "Bosh'et. Can't tell anything… Well, his armor design is different from the Master Chief, or any of Blue Team's for that matter."
The rest of the team stepped up. Thane, the disguise guy for this shore party detachment, stepped forward, "small puncture wounds, smaller exit wounds made by even smaller caliber rounds designed for penetration. Definitely from an eezo-based weapon. Slash marks on the chest. It looked like he was sloppily hacked through by sharp metal…" He looked over to the rest of the debris. "And look. Neat little piles of ashes."
Reaper weapons or incendiary-based weapons and abilities. More than likely it had to be incendiary weapons. A heavy Reaper presence without any Dragon's Teeth or air support of any kind? Not likely.
Still, more than likely a Reaper presence, along with ONI. Still, in a way Shepard and his team partially assumed that ONI had sided with Cerberus. Both organizations don't seem like the kind to have allies, more like variables to be manipulated and utilized until they're no longer useful.
And it's certain that both sides knew what they were doing to one another. Shepard wondered who had the upper hand in the end. What advantage would ONI receive by giving Cerberus weapons?
"Blamite… Micro-crystalline shards in the wounds. Covenant needle rifle," Tali reported from the Omni-tool display.
Without a word, Shepard's team moved up. Each member kept a few meters apart, forming a fluid column and keeping clear firelines.
More scenes of silent destruction laid before them. Shepard raised his hand. The team halted and kneeled down.
"Bright neon blue blood. Splotchy splatter patterns," Liara dipped a finger into the pool as she kept her Carnifex up. "Sangheili blood."
Bright blue dried liquid with low viscosity had splattered against the debris and surrounded the various dead Cerberus bodies. No Sangheili bodies. No modified Spartans, or UNSC or Covenant tech among the dead. Other than their friend back there of course.
"If Long Night of Solstice was a ship, does that mean there were surviving crew members?" Miranda asked.
"I don't know," Shepard sighed, looking back at the Spartan body, and the Normandy about seven-hundred meters back. "We'll get Garrus to do body collection once he starts backtracking."
The Long Night was a type of Covenant carrier, nearly twenty-eight kilometers long (which Shepard could not even imagine…). Tens of thousands of people were...consumed in subspace, along with a seemingly infinite supply of Covenant weapons and vehicles. At the very least, maybe Cerberus didn't have to re-engineer anything. It was already all set.
The path of destruction grew narrower, seemingly leading them to the front entrance of what looked like a reception center for refugees. Rubble and various bodies lined the side of the path.
"A lot of habitats," Wrex commented, "no civilian bodies."
"True," Shepard replied. And he just remembered to put on his helmet. The rest of the team followed suit.
Directly up ahead is a distinct body lying on top of a large mound of rubble. Regular Cerberus trooper. Bright red blood was splattered on his armor, but it didn't look like it was from any wound.
"I assume it marks their first line of fire," Liara said quietly.
"The path has been getting narrower for a while," Shepard replied.
"Dead body for a marker?" Wrex said, "not even the Krogan would do that."
"Really? Not even the Krogan?" Liara repeated.
"Ya, it's too obvious," Wrex said as he maintained the outer right flank. "It'd be easier to use a small pile of rocks or some natural marker."
"No life on sensors," Tali said.
"Well, ambush for who, right?" Shepard said.
"Manned by those same people with the big bang gun?" Wrex replied.
"Blue Team did a number," Tali said.
Shepard, with Liara right on his hip, moved a few meters up. Up ahead, he spotted something. An unsecured rifle. UNSC assault rifle if he remembered correctly. He picked it up and observed the nomenclature. The rifle seemed different, older almost. The ammo counter still worked.
"Sixty rounds?" Shepard said. "A lot."
The rifle had a sling. He strapped it on, and attached the micro-tip barrel to his hip.
This ambush point… Up ahead, there was an open plaza of maybe two hundred meters between the buildings and the tower wall. On the tower wall were dark spots and reinforced balconies, perfect for snipers and machine-gun positions.
"Kill zone," Shepard said.
"How should we proceed?" Liara asked.
"Set smoke, run across."
"You don't think the UNSC has infrared?"
"Right…" Shepard said. "If whoever, if there even is anyone up there, has plasma weaponry…"
"We'll be wiped out," Liara finished. "Tali? You got a decoy?"
"Right here," Tali stepped forward, pressed one button on her Omni-tool, and a replica holographic copy appeared and sprinted forward. It passed the edge of the funnel, a position opened fired from nearly fifteen stories above.
"CONTACT!" Shepard yelled as the team crammed into defilade cover. It was a tight fit.
The bullets went right through the hologram. Whoever was manning it, immediately figured it out. The gun turned on them. UNSC bullets rained above, smashing against metal or zipping past, leaving a ringing sound in the Commander's ear.
"Way to go, jackass," Wrex said.
"I don't see you coming up with solutions!" Shepard said on comms as he unholsted his black widow and cycled a thermal clip.
"You think that's all the shooters?" Shepard said.
"We have no idea what's going on. Who are they?" Liara interjected.
"Probably one providing fire discipline. That's if they got the men," Wrex said.
Shepard stepped out of cover, firing an incineration round. Maybe two bullets broke the kinetic barriers before he pushed back into defilade.
The sphere of omnigraphic orange light traveled upwards, turning at a sharp angle and hitting its target. The hail fire immediately stopped.
Shore party waited for a minute. Wrex stepped out first. No fire. Nothing.
"That's it?" Wrex asked as he looked around.
"Maybe step forward, Wrex," Tali suggested.
"Why me?"
"You are the Krogan."
Wrex sighed, and did just that. Walked forward out onto the open plaza. Nothing.
And once he realized it was clear, he sprinted forward, reaching defilade at the tower wall.
"SET!" He yelled from across the plaza.
Looks like they're gonna have to take the risk. Shepard covered the plaza. Miranda moved forward next, sprinting to the Krogan.
...
The insides of the tower resembled a massive cathedral, reminding Shepard of that place they were teleported to. Christ, only about a couple days ago.
Inside was a massive plaza dozens of blocks in length and width and a few stories in height. The plaza was separated into sections by bridges, reception rooms and stations, small artificial lakes and flower beds, and control rooms. Glass ceilings allowed light to pour into the room. Directly in front of them was a massive killzone where teams of troops stationed on the nearby bridges and on top of the reception centers would rain down machine-gun fire along with various types of fire discipline. Flower beds were placed one hundred yards away from the entrance doors. They not only served as distance markers but also direct cover for ground teams.
Still, the enemy didn't seem to plan for the plethora of crashed repurposed Phantoms and destroyed Hammerhead tanks. Again though, like the debris outside it cut off the plaza into sections, purposely leading them into a chokepoint.
No lifeforms on scan… The chokepoints weren't manned.
"...Where are the bodies?" Wrex asked.
"Causality collection?" Miranda asked.
"What, by the one guy up on the balcony?"
"Speaking of which…" Shepard interrupted, "let's find a way to get up there. Maybe find out who we're dealing with."
The team proceeded forward. Shepard's boot stepped through and accidentally kicked up a pile of ashes. One among many. The remains of Reaper soldiers possibly? He wasn't sure. Up ahead looked like some sort of reception area, with walls surrounding it to create a defensive position.
Shore party approached, entering the computer area. Ahead were artificial lakes and garden beds, and...
"Oh…" Liara said. "Oh no."
There was a lower, depressed area in the center of all these artificial environments. It spanned maybe four-hundred meters across. Up ahead was… Something Shepard would never forget.
Bodies… Hundreds of bodies crammed into the small deck. Pockets of black, charred skin and bare white bone present on every civilian. It had burned through the skin, meat, and left part of the bone visible. Families. Innocents. Around each pocket, a pit of destroyed biological matter, the skin was reddened and deformed. Their faces ripped apart, leaving nothing but unrecognizable mass. One face, a man that had stood near the reception center, was a mesh of bloody red that had bloated. His only facial feature barely visible was his left eye, now infected and completely turning a sickly green.
The rest of their bodies were covered with a thick film of greyish-white ashes. And as Shepard looked at the pockmarks and circular burns, he realized maybe the ash was now embedded into their skin.
No one said anything, staring into the dead crowd. One child… Her arms… The skin had completely burned off, leaving nothing but tendon and black bone.
"What the hell happened…?" Shepard had no idea who said it.
And out of all of them, Miranda ripped off her mask and vomited onto the metal floor. Wrex put a hand on her back, "breath through your nose. It's gonna smell bad, but you don't want that taste in your mouth."
"White phosphorus…" Miranda said. "Some Cerberus cell was experimenting with 'violent' containment procedures… White phosphorus…"
Chemical warfare… Ancient chemical warfare. Once Miranda finished, she immediately got her helmet back on.
Shepard, as much as he also wanted to, didn't want to breathe in the ashes of the dead.
White phosphorus was banned by the Systems Alliance long before humanity had ever come into contact with the Turians. A sticky, scorching hot residue that melts right through skin and nearly all forms of solid metal. It's crude and atrocious, and more importantly, it's outdated.
"Have you seen anything like this?" Shepard had to say aloud as he looked out to the floors filled with bodies of ash… It was like…
The forest.
Containment.
Quarantine…
Shepard's head began to pound. There was a distant, echoey boom from somewhere far off. The room rumbled in response, then stood quiet in the now grotesque mausoleum.
"Why…" Tali said as she stepped to Miranda, "what the hell were they containing." She tried grabbing Miranda's collar before Liara held her back. "You fucking Cerberus cheerleader."
"I don't know!" She defended. "For the Rachni I think? Trying to find some concoction to destroy, or at least render biological matter useless."
"It's not her fault…" Shepard said as she pulled Tali back by her collar. "We do need to find out what the hell happened. Let's find a control tower, a command center, something."
"I'm not walking through there," Tali said.
"Me neither," Miranda added as she tried to keep her breathing calm.
"I know…"
The Commander scanned for...some alternative route. Across the reception center, there were garden beds and a single bridge that crossed a large artificial lake. It was an ambush alley, but…
Shepard proceeded onto the bridge. The team followed suit.
Nothing…
"Joker…?" Shepard said on the horn.
"Yeah, we saw all that," the pilot said. "EDI's doing scans… Miranda is right. White phosphorus. We also got a hit on the turret shooting at you guys?"
"Yeah?"
"Automated sentry. Probably left behind."
"Good copy. Out."
Shore party, covering every possible sector of fire and checking every possible place of defilade, moved forward. A slow trout as they made their way to what looked like the plaza control tower that overlooked the refugee processing area.
Across the lake… Shepard saw more bodies, more depressed areas filled with bodies. Shepard had never seen anything like this. Maybe in the Collector harvesting sector, and most definitely...in that dream. This though...
The longer this war goes on, the more horror he sees. The more memories he'll have for the rest of his life.
He saw two still bodies that were sitting against the wall of a flower bed. A mother...trying to shield her child…
Another rumble from a distant echo. This one was heavier… Ash was disturbed, thrown up into the air and from the ceiling. It rained dead, creating a fog of particles. A pale white light, the filtered rays of the sun, was nearly blocked by the clouds of ash.
"...Maybe our luck," Tali said, trying to ignore their surroundings. "Look."
Up ahead was a tower. A control tower. Two-hundred meters ahead.
They traveled up multiple flights of steps, Shepard's rifle raised as he held it above, checking the high sector of fire. As they reached the main control room, Shepard heard a faint voice. A recorded voice. It was deep, gargled, and speaking in an unknown language.
The control room itself looked similar to a flight control tower, filled to the brim with computers and a view of the processing plaza. Three dead Cerberus officers lied on the floor. Off to the side was a terminal, screaming with static and that gargled voice.
"Tali, can you clear it up?" Shepard asked.
"On it," she opened up her Omni-tool to try and repair the damaged terminal.
"These panels are access controls," Liara said as she scoured the holo-panels. "Wall controls, gun emplacement controls… All at zero percent…. And…"
The two looked out the windows… Dozens… Hundreds of these same depression areas spread about, filled with people turned into charred remains…
"Goddess…" Liara said.
"Tali, try to find out what happened…" Shepard said as she gripped Liara's hand. "Please."
"There's something here…" the terminal said in a heavy Australian accent as Tali cleared it up. The screen was still static. "The experiments, even I am not allowed access to some of them."
"It's him…" Miranda said.
"Who's him?"
"My father…" Miranda quietly said as she tapped on the terminal in an attempt to clear up the static.
"The work we're doing, however, shall help the Human race…" her father said. "The sacrifices made here will pave the way-"
"This is dated back three weeks ago, before the Menae invasion," Miranda said as she looked over Tali's shoulder. "My father worked up here… The historical record shows...phosphorus cleansing procedures authorized…"
"IMost previous records have been sanitized," Tali reported. "Nearest record is...Keelah, one from a week ago, and one from two months ago… Both are heavily encrypted," Shepard looked away to the panel. The first record was the day the mass radio signal went out through the entire galaxy. "Standby," she opened up her Omni-tool, accessing a particular Cerberus file.
"There's another reason why the UNSC is building so many ships," a female's voice said on the terminal. "It's an empty shell."
"That's Admiral Osman's voice, isn't it?" Liara asked.
It confirms what they already know. ONI had known about Cerberus long before the UNSC ever knew this side of the galaxy even existed.
"You've seen the power surges in the tech then?" Miranda's father responded.
"Yes, and I'm not sure why I'm talking to you about them," Osman replied.
"My boss is a busy man," he said.
"I'm sure," there was a brief pause. Shepard could hear shuffling sounds as stacks of papers were moved. "Next time I want to speak to your boss."
The first recording ended. Tali immediately switched to the second log.
"Something has happened!" Her father shouted. There were more shuffling sounds. Something was screaming in the background, "Miranda, I know your listening, I know you hacked our systems. If you receive this, I am sorry. I know it doesn't-"
There was a loud crashing sound. Miranda's father came back on the line, out of breath, "Orinda's safe. That I promise. If you find this message, leave immediately. This place is far more dangerous than-"
Miranda didn't say anything. For once she looked...baffled. Lost for words. It was only for a moment, maybe even less than that before she began to clench her fist and grit her teeth.
"Bastard! Fucking bastard has Oriana! He did this!" She said aloud. She brought out her Lotus and armed up, "she's here. I know it! We gotta-" one step forward, too forcefully and angled, and she nearly tripped on one of the dead officers, "fuckin' bollocks."
"Why would they bring Cortana here, knowing the facility has been compromised?" Tali asked, ignoring her outburst.
"Lord Hood said the UNSC deployed special ops teams to investigate Cerberus facilities. Have they made Cerberus this desperate?" Liara said.
Wrex put a hand on Miranda's shoulder, stopping her for the moment from going anywhere. "Here's a timeline… Whoever, whatever, began to assault the base here… Cerberus goes defensive, pulls the civilian refugees into her to…"
"Gas them…" Liara finished.
"We just gotta know who attacked, and why Cerberus went guns ablazing."
"If this happened two days ago," Liara said. "That means Blue Team walked into the same mess we did."
There was another rumble, and more ash was disturbed. It began to fall into the lake water, clumping up.
"That must be the MAC gun," Shepard said, slightly frustrated. "Garrus, what's your status?"
Nothing but static.
"Negative, Commander," Joker replied instead. "Something's cutting out there comms. The Mako link to the Normandy is still active. They're okay."
Shepard looked to Miranda. "Can you hold it together?"
Miranda quickly nodded, possibly holding back the next round of vomit, "I got to. For Orinda."
"Okay…" Shepard said. "Let's try that lake control."
"On it…" Tali said.
Shepard saw Liara staring out the window. He stepped to her.
"I know you…" Shepard said. "And I know when you're not unphased but act like it…."
Liara sighed, "there's only so much you can see where you begin to feel nothing else, morphs into one."
He didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.
"Got something…" Tali said. the center of the holding area began to slowly divide into a ravine. The water from the local pond fountains began to slowly drain. Illuminated metallic grey walls covered in systems of pipes were revealed. The ravine grew to maybe around three hundred meters and twenty meters in depth. Rows of pods connected to the wall systems emerged from the lake bonds. The carcasses and ashy remains began to disperse or fall over into the ravine.
"Almost looks like cryo-chamber," Liara commented.
"We need to move," the Shepard said. "We need to get the hell out of here."