John had Joker scan for resources for a few days, collecting what they could for research while the team recouped. Liara had still been holed up in the lab in the medical bay, only coming out for silent meals, and sometimes not then. It was understandable, but a little uncomfortable for a lot of the crew.
Mia was doing much better, though, after the talk from John. He'd led with an apology and let her get mad at him. Then he hugged her and told her he didn't think she was crazy and that he'd seen her eyes glowing, too. That had calmed her down at first, but then it made their problem real. Now it was up to John to figure out what to do with the information, but until then, it was business as usual.
They'd gotten a transmission earlier that morning from Admiral Hackett, claiming they had a situation that only John could handle. Typical, the Alliance needed him for something else. There was a live-fire Alliance training ground on Earth's moon, Luna that had sent out a distress call. One of the Virtual Intelligence's, VI for short, they used to simulate enemy tactics in the drills was no longer responding to their override commands. John's objective was for him and his team to fight their way through the training ground to the VI core in order to manually disable it. He was initially concerned that it had developed into an early AI, but the Admiral assured John the Alliance had done nothing illegal. Hackett had told him he was the only one who'd be able to do this, and John had declined comment. He knew that wasn't true, but trying to tell the admiral that was like talking to concrete.
If it were solely up to him, he'd have Mia lead this mission alone. With Garrus and Tali, they'd be quick enough to get through and precise enough to do the job right. But Hackett was under the impression that John was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It was beginning to seem like some sort of game Hackett and the Council were playing with John, waiting for him to fail. Expecting it from him. They were throwing all of this extra shit at him while he was actively on a manhunt and expected him to "fulfill his duty" without failure in any aspect. They were asking him to be everywhere at once. The Normandy was fast, but it wasn't that fast.
The pressure had been getting to him lately, and he needed to take a step back. So he was trusting Mia today. After their talk, he'd come to a few conclusions on his own. First, he loved his sister more than anything else and he didn't want to hurt her anymore. Second, he'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her. It followed that the safest place for his sister was under his command on the Normandy. He could watch her there, and she could advance in the Alliance under a captain who actually gave a shit.
And that meant giving her leadership opportunities. He sat in the driver's seat of the Mako, still unwilling to let anyone other than Joker drive, listening to the banter between Garrus, Tali, and Mia.
"So you're telling me that humans used to think this moon was made of… solidified milk?" Tali asked, sounding utterly horrified. Her despair was enough to make John laugh, peeking back over his shoulder.
"Humans used to think the moon was a lot of things. There's lots of folklore stories about it being a god or a goddess, bringing us our tides and chasing the sun across the sky. But those come from a time when humans still thought the earth was flat." Mia shrugged.
"All of our stories about our moons were mostly government conspiracy theories," Garrus chuckled from his station.
"Oh, there's a fair few of those, too," John chimed in. "Some people think the moon is hollow."
"How can it be hollow and made of cheese?" Tali asked.
"Space mice." Mia deadpanned.
"You're joking." Garrus said, calling her bluff. "She's joking, right?" Garrus asked John.
"You tell me," John said, keeping his facial expression as neutral as he could manage.
"Oh come on," Garrus groaned, causing Tali and Mia to burst out into laughter. It was really nice hearing Mia laugh like that again. He suddenly felt more confident in his decision to bring a smaller team on this mission.
"Garrus, we've got turrets," John warned as he crested a hill.
"Not for long," Garrus said with a smile, turning to his gun. "You know, I love it when you let me use the big guns, Shepard."
"You're damn good with them," John threw back as he drove around the edge of the base, avoiding fire while Garrus took down the turrets.
John parked the Mako in the middle of a circle of three buildings, getting out and assessing the situation before stopping himself. He looked over to Mia and paused, watching her.
Mia's eyes were on the blue planet just above them, a look of wonder on her face as the planet reflected in her face shield. "This is the closest I've been in years," She said softly.
"What do you mean?" Garrus said, moving over to look up at the planet with her.
"My first and last time on Earth was the N7 program in Rio." She told them, a small smile coming to her face at the memory. "Best year of my life."
"You were only there for a year?" Garrus asked.
"Only until my N4 training was finished. Then I was selected for a special training program on Palaven, some interspecies show of good faith. They let me finish the program off-planet. I came back for a day, graduation. Mom just kept following me around, place to place. Even on Earth, it didn't feel like I was truly home." she confided.
"Because of her?" John asked, sadly. Mia turned to face him with a frown.
"Yeah," She said, though her voice was questioning.
"You know that doesn't make you horrible, right, Mia? I got some intel from Anderson recently. I was curious about your service history. A lot of it was inaccessible, and I'm a Spectre. I asked Anderson, and apparently he'd noticed the same thing about your files after Akuze, but hadn't had the authority at the time to do anything about it. Well, he pulled some strings, found out that Mom had been abusing her position to keep you from advancing, and had been going out of her way to reassign you here or there, presumably to keep you out of action. He was the one that made her resign. I'm sorry, Mia. I wish I'd known."
"I had suspicions, but I tried not to bitch about Mom too much in the end. She'd decrypt my emails." Mia rolled her eyes. "She's always so scared someone's gonna see her as the bad guy."
"Well, isn't she?" Tali asked, looking over at the siblings. "I know what it's like to grow up on ships, longing for a world I wish I could visit. The fact that your mother would intentionally try to take that from you sickens me."
"No wonder you love old Earth stuff," Garrus mentioned. "You're a homesick human who's never been home. Not truly."
Mia frowned, then looked back at the Earth. "I always gave her the benefit of the doubt. She'd comfort me after a reassignment came through, she'd promise me two weeks on Arcturus Station instead of a weekend in Vancouver, vacations on some colony world. I begged to go to Earth instead and what did I get? Eight months of hell in Rio, two in London. I don't know what I did to make my Mom hate me so much." She murmured. Garrus wrapped an arm around her for a moment.
"Her actions are no fault of yours, Mia. Don't blame yourself for this." Garrus told her, rubbing her shoulder gently. "Come on, as beautiful as your planet is, we have a mission."
"I promise you I'll get you back to Earth one of these days, Shepard." Tali told her with conviction.
"You get me to Earth, I'll get you to Rannoch, Tali." Mia told her.
"Lieutenant," John said, switching to his Commander's voice. He noticed the change in Mia right away as she straightened.
"Sir?" She asked.
"I want you to lead this mission. You make the calls. I want to see you in action. Consider this a test run for future solo ground missions." He told her.
"Wait, really?" Mia asked, pausing for a moment. She frowned up at him. "But Hackett said you were the only one that could pull this off?"
"Hackett doesn't know this team like I do," John said, nodding to Garrus and Tali. "You've got fire power, precision, and all the tech you could ask for. You can handle this, Mia." He told her. She nodded, then scanned her surroundings.
"Okay, we should get out of the open. Let's head to the north building." She said, leading the way.
"Right behind you, Shepard," Garrus called, and the turian gave John an approving nod as he passed him, following Mia.
Mia Shepard Luna Base 1230 hours "Sometimes, some things apart…but that's all part of being human." -Ryan Mack, "Only Human"
Mia took a shuddering breath as she led the team into the first building. John was showing her he had faith in her, but that scared the shit out of her. She proceeded cautiously through the halls, following a main path through the building. It seemed suspiciously empty in the first room, but Mia quickly located a door leading further into the building. She opened the first door, proceeding down a little hall and opened the next door, bringing her scope to her eye.
"Hold here, I've got drones. I'm going to draw their fire so they group up, hit em with Overload and Sabotage, then John can finish the job with a Nova." Mia ordered, then engaged her tactical cloak and disappeared. She'd studied the map of this facility before arriving, so she knew exactly where to go to disable the VI conduits, knew around how many drones there would be in each room. She was glad that for once, they had loads of intel.
Four drones in the main room, two to the right, two in the back. She could do this.
Mia popped off three shots in quick succession, succeeding in taking out one drone entirely, but also drawing the fire of the rest of them. She was out in the open and exposed, and her eyes went wide for a moment as her gun's heatsink screamed at her.
Then Garrus and Tali were there. Overload, Sabotage, Sabotage, Overload. A headshot from Garrus, a shotgun blast from Tali. She pulled her pistol, finishing off the drone in front of her while it couldn't fire with three well placed shots while John Charged in and finished off the other two with a biotic leap and punch.
" Careful, those have rockets! " Mia advised over comms, " Garrus, Sabotage, Tali, Damping. As soon as either of your Overloads recharge, use it." She ordered.
Garrus and Tali deployed their tech and John finished off the rocket drone with his assault rifle. She pulled out her cooled-off sniper and took out the remaining drone with one shot and the assistance of Tali's shotgun, before she and Garrus picked off the other two drones from a distance, not even giving them a chance to get close.
She led the team through the facility to the VI mainframe. " Garrus, John, there are four conduits in the room across the hall. I'm going to take Tali and destroy these four, you two take out the other room. Be advised: The conduits will emit a toxic gas when destroyed. Keep your distance. "
"That's what I do best, Shepard," Garrus chuckled. Mia smiled at her friend as he headed to the next room with her brother, and quickly destroyed her own conduits with Tali before rejoining the men in the main room.
"Great, one building offline, two more to go." Mia said, checking her maps.
"You're doing great, kid." John told her, and though she knew his words were coming from a place of sincerity, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at how much it reminded her of when he taught her to tie her shoes as a child.
"Do I need to remind you I have a sniper?" She deadpanned, though she grinned at him.
"You're not fast enough," John teased, and Mia relaxed for just a moment. It was nice to have her brother back on her side.
"Come on, let's get to the next bunker. I'm pretty sure it's just rinse and repeat." Mia told them.
Mia Shepard Bunker 3, Luna Base 13oo hours
Mia had been mostly correct in her assumption that the bunkers would be similar to take down. What she hadn't taken into account was the VI enabling kinetic shields over its conduits to keep them from turning it off. It was behaving much more like an artificial intelligence than a virtual one, and that was bothering Mia.
The kinetic barriers presented very little challenge and Mia pressed on, using the same strategy she'd used before. She led the team into the hall of the main room, had them hang back while she got the attention of the drones, and- shit.
Mia nearly dropped her gun. Instead of four normal drones, six rocket drones sat in the main area. One of those could rip right through their shields. They'd be dead before they hit the ground. Mia scanned the area, trying not to panic while adapting her plan. She could feel the panic taking over, her team was waiting…
Breathe. She took a breath. Focus. She brought the scope to her eyes.
Breathe. She exhaled. Focus. She spotted a flammable canister in the middle of the drones. Bingo.
Just breathe. She inhaled. And focus. She squeezed the trigger.
Boom. Mia popped back into sight as soon as the round left her gun, making her the only target. She could feel herself freezing again, but it was as though time slowed down for a moment.
Breathe. She inhaled. Focus. She found another canister, and pulled the trigger.
Boom. Six drones were now down to two. She could handle two. She just had to-
"Shepard, on your right!" Garrus's voice cut through her focus and she turned, eyes widening as a rocket was fired at her by a drone she hadn't seen before. She didn't have time to freeze, she didn't have time to panic.
"Oh, fuck this. " Mia murmured, dodging the rocket while engaging her tactical cloak.
Garrus Vakarian Bunker 3, Luna Base 1313 hours
Garrus loved watching Mia lose her cool on the battlefield. Watching her adapt on the fly was something he didn't think would ever stop amazing him. This time, though, he noticed something. Right before she engaged her cloak, as she was diving to the side…
Her eyes were glowing.
He didn't have time to process the information, ducking behind cover to avoid the rocket. He glanced around for Mia, then heard her in his comm.
" Two in front, one on the right. Sabotage would be really great about now!" She called.
Atta girl. Back in the saddle. "Can do," Garrus told her, peeking out and running his program on the one to the right, just as Tali hit the other two with hers.
" Good job. I've got the right, John, Charge and Nova their asses." She ordered.
" With pleasure ," John said into his comm and Garrus smiled as he watched the siblings leap into action. Mia shot at the right drone once, coming into view, twice, then ducked for cover to avoid a rocket. She fired again, not taking the time to aim, and her heatsink screamed.
"Count your shots, Mia," Garrus warned.
" Never tried that, " Mia replied dryly, though he heard a laugh in her voice. That was a good sign. She pulled out her pistol and stood, unloading into the drone and taking it down just as John put his fist through a drone on the other side. He shook it off his wrist, bringing up his assault rifle to finish off the second drone.
"You made it work in the end," Garrus teased, coming to stand beside her after the room was cleared. "Lucky you're good with a pistol. And you say I'm too generous with my heatsinks."
"I panicked, okay?" Mia admitted, blushing.
"I didn't see you panic," Garrus shrugged, though it was a lie. He had seen her panic, but he'd also seen her do something even more important. "I saw you recover and adapt." He told her. She smiled up at him, nodding once as a light came back to her eyes- not the otherworldly glow, just a light that was entirely Mia.
"Of course," She said, a slow grin stretching over her face. "It's what I do best, Vakarian. Let's take out these conduits."
The team broke into two again to take the conduits out, but an alert echoed through the room when Garrus shot the first one.
" Alert: Additional security drones powering up. " A woman's voice said over a speaker.
Shit. " We have an issue," Mia's voice came through the comms.
"Aye, we heard the alert, too." John responded.
" We have company, " Mia informed them, and Garrus's blood ran cold. The drones were in the room with them.
"I'm on my way. Garrus, finish the conduits." John called, and Garrus got to work, clearing the last two conduits quickly as John ran from the room.
Garrus followed soon after, but he was relieved to see when he got there that Tali was just finishing up with the last drone and only one conduit remained. He lined up a shot and took it out.
He gasped as a burst of white noise over all frequencies nearly deafened him. His visor's screen was filled with a binary code, repeating again and again until the lights finally flickered and died.
"It… it's saying 'help'," Tali whispered from next to Mia.
"You can read binary?" Mia asked incredulously.
"Life on the flotilla gets lonely. Hobbies are nice." Tali defended.
" This is what we're focusing on?" John asked, looking between the women.
"Sorry, it's not every day someone can just read binary, John. It was cool." Mia rolled her eyes at her brother. "This whole 'not-an-AI' thing sketches me out. Are we done here?"
"Aye, come on. I have a boatload of paperwork to catch up on. I'm hoping Hackett will let me promote you so I don't have to be the only one filling that shit out." John told Mia nonchalantly.
"Wait, what?" Mia asked, turning to John.
"Yeah, Hackett is under the assumption that I am the only able-bodied officer in Alliance space. I'm trying to get him to see that's not the case. I intend to tell him how you performed today. The Normandy is still an Alliance vessel, Mia. I could use a squad commander."
"You'd want me leading the ground team?" Mia asked, frowning.
"Of course. No one else I'd trust leading my men," John told her, then glanced to Tali. "Er, and women. People." He corrected sheepishly.
"People is good. Leave it there, Shepard." Tali chuckled from beside him. Garrus hid a smile as he saw the commander peek down at her, and he was almost positive he saw a hint of a blush on his cheeks.
"I can't tell you how much I needed to hear that," Mia told her brother. "Noveria was…a lot."
"I mean every word," John smiled, holstering his gun and starting to walk back towards the Normandy. "Seriously, Mia, that was a good mission."
"It's hard to have a bad mission when a Shepard's leading it," Tali added.
"It's like you two were built for this," Garrus added, watching Mia glowing under the praise. He was happy to be part of building her confidence back up. And he was proud of John for recognizing that this is exactly what she needed.
"Let's go home," Mia laughed, touching her visor to radio Joker.