"What's the word? Do we know how long these scientists have been holed up out here?" Kacey asked.
"No idea." Kaidan replied, "We don't have a lot of intel."
"Ma'am," Cortez called, "I'm picking up chatter from a Cerberus squad engaging the supply depot."
Kacey turned to face Cortez, her arm resting on top of his seat, "Engaging the scientists?"
"If I'm reading it right, sounds like more troops are on the way."
"Okay, set us down, then get out of here." Kacey ordered, "I need these scientists alive."
Cortez nodded, going as fast as he could to the depot. Kaidan was somewhat relieved that they left when they did, otherwise it might have been too late to save anyone. Personally, he couldn't really grapple with the reason why they were running from Cerberus, but the more Kacey revealed about her time with the group, the more he was starting to understand.
The Illusive Man expected Miranda to kill Wilson, knew Garrus was Archangel and didn't tell Kacey and was able to find and recruit Joker and a few others who served on the first Normandy. And that was just the beginning. Who knows what happened after they left Omega. Then again, seeing those soldiers on Mars…maybe they wanted to avoid that.
The sound of bullets being fired brought Kaidan back to reality. The shuttle landed quickly, and all three soldiers jumped off, guns raised as the shuttle flew off quickly.
"No wonder Cerberus abandoned this place." Garrus said, shivering, "It's freezing."
"All right, just keep moving, okay?" Kacey said as she threw a grenade down the walkway.
At least two Cerberus soldiers died by the grenade while the rest popped out of their hiding places, allowing the trio to shoot them while they were out in the open.
"What did these people do to bring this down on their heads?" Kacey asked to no one in particular.
"Probably got on the wrong side of the Illusive Man," Garrus guessed, "I suppose not everyone is as lucky as you were."
"Hey, I'm still being shot at by Cerberus troops!"
"Yeah, but they didn't chase you all the way to Earth." Garrus said.
"Or attack you while you were there." Kaidan pointed out.
"Touché" Kacey said.
Diving behind a large crate that had fallen over, Kaidan continued to fire at the soldiers. After the last one went down, a scream pierced through the air.
"Help!" A female voice shouted, "We can't hold out much longer!"
"Come on, let's move!" Kacey ordered as all three of them bolted down the walkway, carefully avoiding the dead bodies.
They appeared right behind the remaining Cerberus troops shooting rapidly at, what Kaidan assumed, were the scientists. Taking advantage of the fact that the Cerberus troops didn't see them, the trio blew up the gas canisters near their feet, killing the soldiers.
"Hello?" a familiar voice shouted, "Who there?"
"It can't be…" Kacey murmured as she ran towards the scientists.
Kaidan watched as Kacey ran quickly towards the depot. He could've sworn that for a split-second there, Garrus looked as though he recognised the voice too. Maybe it was another one of their allies from the suicide mission.
"This is Brynn." Kaidan heard faintly through a radio, "Jacob are you alright? Come in!"
'Jacob?' Kaidan thought. It couldn't be the one from Kacey's story.
Kaidan briskly headed towards Kacey, who stopped by the black boxes towards the door. He carefully avoided the few dead bodies of the former Cerberus operatives as he approached.
"Shepard?" a deep voice startled Kaidan as he approached Kacey, looking down at the man behind the boxes.
A man in a mostly black uniform was lying with his back up against the boxes, his left hand covering a bullet wound. He was breathing rather heavily but even from where he was standing, Kaidan knew the adrenaline hadn't stopped yet.
"Jacob?" Kacey kneeled down towards the solider, "How bad?"
Her voice was laced with concern. Garrus moved only a few steps forward but didn't bother to kneel down or move much afterwards.
"I'll live…I think." His voice strained as Kacey assessed both his rib and his left leg which, at a distance, you wouldn't know it was bleeding because of the black armour that he was wearing.
"This is Brynn." The radio went again, "If you can hear me, come in."
Kacey carefully stood up and walked over to pick up the radio.
"Is anyone there?"
"This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance." Kacey said in her stern, commanding voice, "The enemy is clear for now. Open the door."
The voice on the other side paused for a moment before replying.
"Is Jacob there?"
"It's okay, Brynn." Jacob replied.
The loud sound of the door opening caught the group's attention. A lady with dark hair quickly walked to the door as both Kacey and Garrus moved to help Jacob inside.
…
"Jacob! Oh my god!" the woman said concerned.
"I'm all right." Jacob replied, "The others didn't make it."
"What are you doing here?" Kacey asked, letting Jacob go. Garrus quickly followed Kacey's lead.
"I'm supposed to be protecting these people from the Illusive Man and his attack dogs!" Jacob growled.
"Are they gone?" The woman asked calmly.
"For now." Kacey replied, "They'll be back."
Jacob groaned as he tightly clutched his rib again.
"Sure you're okay?" Kacey asked.
"Yeah. I'll walk it off." Jacob replied, "Save my life one more time, and I'll start owing you."
"This one's on the house." Kacey replied.
Jacob turned to look towards Garrus, a smile crossing face.
"Hey, Garrus good to see you too."
"Staying out of trouble, I see." Garrus smirked.
"Always." Jacob laughed, "And who's this? You look familiar."
"Kaidan Alenko." Kaidan responded.
"Major Kaidan Alenko." Garrus chimed in.
"Oh…" Jacob turned to Kacey with a big smirk on his face, "So this is—"
"Yes, and don't you dare!" Kacey nearly shouted, her face turning scarlet red, "Oh and Kaidan, this is Jacob Taylor."
"The Illusive Man's gun for hire?" Kaidan replied.
"Former gun for hire," Jacob corrected, "Nowadays, I'm just viewed as a traitor. Turns out, Shepard was right in not joining Cerberus. Anyway, Shepard, this is Doctor Brynn Cole. She's in charge here."
Kacey politely shook Brynn's hand while Garrus tried to hold back his laughter. Kaidan couldn't help but feel a tiny bit embarrassed, but also curious about what Jacob was going to say.
"Tell me what's going on. Intel says you're Cerberus." Kacey said.
"We're all ex-Cerberus." Brynn explained, "Scientists, mostly."
"Civilians?"
"Call us refugees. If we hadn't run, we'd be dead."
"Why would the Illusive Man want you dead?" Asked Kacey.
"Our stories are different, but the themes are the same." Brynn explained, "We were each using information from the destroyed Collector Base to work on the different components of a larger tech. After someone completed their component, they disappeared. No bodies. Just…gone. As we progressed, we started feeling like we were signing each other's death warrants."
"But I blew up that place to the high heavens and back." Kacey replied shocked, "How is there anything left?"
"No idea, we assumed that the Illusive Man managed to find something in the wreckage."
"Yeah, well in that case running was the smart thing to do." Kacey replied, "If the Illusive Man can't control it, he'll destroy it."
"The brain trust here has got to be a significant loss for him." Jacob replied.
"You had to know they were going to find you." Kacey replied.
"It's a pretty smart bunch." Brynn said, "We covered our bases."
"But the Illusive Man is one tenacious bastard." Jacob said.
"Yeah, I know."
A large bang shook the depot catching the group off-guard. Kacey looked up while both Garrus and Kaidan tightened their grips on their guns, poised to shoot.
"Welp, time to go." Kacey said.
"Agreed." Jacob said, "Just need to get the AA guns on the roof back online. Cerberus is jamming them somehow. With those guns down, Cerberus will just blow our escape shuttles out of the sky."
"Might be the network link." Brynn said.
"I'll check." Jacob grunted as he turned to face the stairs, "Meet you upstairs."
"Jacob, you should get that wound looked at." Kacey said.
"I'm good. I mean, I will."
"Commander," Brynn addressed Kacey, "I should see to my people. Join me upstairs when you can."
"Cool." Kacey replied as Brynn walked off upstairs. Garrus let out a small laugh.
"Jacob Taylor way out here? That's a surprise." Garrus laughed.
"Looks like he finally realised how bad the Illusive Man is." Kacey said. The smile from her face immediately faded as she walked past Garrus and Kaidan.
Confused, Kaidan turned to see to scientists near the wall on the other side, kneeled down by a corpse.
"Dr Brown, I'm so sorry."
"Oh Jamie. I didn't want to come here with these people. It was his idea. What am I going to do without him?"
"Finish they work you started."
This scene was all too familiar to Kaidan. It reminded him of something that happened nearly three years ago. In that clearing. On that planet. Being told the worst news he had heard in all his years of service at that point.
"Your partner was brave." Kacey's voice cut through those terrible memories so cleanly, like a blade. Kaidan looked up to see Kacey comforting the doctor, "He wouldn't want you to crumble like this."
"She's right."
"We're getting out of here alive. I promise." Kacey reaffirmed.
"Thank you."
Kacey turned back towards her two squadmates and began to walk towards the stairs. Kaidan followed, knowing deep down why Kacey did that. To reassure a stranger, even as the base was shaking at a rhythm, it was raising morale, and they needed that to get out of here alive. As they reached the top, Kacey was glared angrily at a scientist typing on a nearby terminal.
"Oh," The scientist said as he saw Kacey, "Commander Shepard—Doctor Gavin Archer. We…met on Project Overlord."
Kaidan observed the man as he said that, noticing several grey hairs amongst the man's dark brown hair and minor cut on his arm. He raised his hand to offer Kacey a handshake, but she simply crossed her arms, refusing it. The report he read earlier came to mind immediately as his grip on his assault rifle tightened.
''That's one way of putting it." She spat. She kept her composure as Archer lowered his hand.
"Yes, well," He hesitated slightly, "After you took my brother to Grissom Academy, I tried putting all that behind me. I don't suppose you have any news from there? I've heard rumours the Academy is in trouble."
Kaidan could hear the slight bitterness in his voice. Now, he wasn't one to get angry easily, particularly on missions, but after reading that report and what that man did to both David and tried to do to Kacey.
"I was at Grissom Academy. Cerberus tried abducting the students, but David's okay." Kacey replied, in her matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh, thank god." Archer replied, relieved, "Commander…you have no idea what that means."
"It's a little late to start worrying about his safety now." She replied harshly.
"I never stopped."
"Was that before or after you hooked his brain up to a VI?"
"I know you think I'm a monster." Archer admitted, "And you're right. Not a day goes by where my dreams aren't haunted by what I did to David. All I can do now, is hope that one day he forgives me."
"Yeah? Well, I have to go," Kacey growled, "and I'm not even going to pretend it was good seeing you again."
"I understand. But Commander…" Archer replied, "Thank you for saving David. Both times."
Kacey turned on her heel and walked through the door, clearly agitated. Garrus however seemed to find a datapad more worthy of his attention than the horrid scientist in front of him.
"It's best if you don't ask about that." Garrus said as Kaidan approached, "What happened in that facility was horrid. I'm surprised she didn't punch him."
"Not likely," Kaidan replied, "She's too professional for that. Found something interesting?"
"You tell me," Garrus said sliding the datapad over to Kaidan, "I think the Alliance might have more use for this than I would."
Kaidan picked up the datapad carefully:
Private Message
From: Horace To: Brynn
Brynn, I don't like this. I've managed to get eyes on some of the research the others were doing, and I'm getting a sense of a big picture here beyond anything we could have imagined. In our worst nightmares kind of imagined.
I'm going to start sabotaging my work. That's how bad it is.
We need to meet up and talk. ASAP
H.
"What was the Illusive Man planning?" Kaidan mumbled.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Garrus replied. "Come on, we better catch up to Kacey."
The pair entered the next room and climbed the stairs leading to a command centre of sorts. Kacey was stand at the top of the stairs, alongside Brynn.
"And make sure those samples from Project Mia get out on the second shuttle." Brynn said.
"I've already dropped one box." the man said, "My hands were shanking so hard."
"We're going to make it." Brynn reaffirmed. The man nodded and walked away to do his task.
"What's the status of the guns?" Kacey asked as Kaidan and Garrus approached.
"Still waiting." Brynn said, walking towards the terminals at the front of the room, "I have my best people working on it."
"How many scientists are here?" Kacey asked.
"Forty-three plus research assistants."
"You ran with over forty people?" Garrus said surprised.
"When you fear for your life," Brynn replied, "there's a lot you can do."
"Brynn." another man approached, "I can't possibly dismantle the genetic amplification components in time."
"I'm sorry Doctor Bayner." Brynn replied, "It's important work, but right now you need to attend to your family."
"Wait." Kacey interrupted, "There are families here? Children?"
"Like we didn't have enough to worry about." Garrus said.
"Why are their families here?" Kaidan asked.
"We have about seventeen kids here." Brynn explained, "Partners, spouses, parents. I promised these people refuge. A new life free from Cerberus. I just never imagined the Illusive Man would…"
"That's what evil counts on." Kacey said, "That it's hard for good people to imagine. Okay. Everyone left gets out of here alive. So, this escape will have to be carefully executed."
"I'd hoped…we tried so hard to make sure it wouldn't come to this." Brynn said.
"Jacob?" Kaidan said as he saw Jacob hobble over towards Kacey.
"Any news?" Kacey asked.
"Can't tell." Jacob groaned, "I only know I can't fix from here. I'm going to the roof. Cerberus landed a shuttle up there couple minutes ago. You in?"
"Jacob, you're injured." Kacey replied firmly, "Kaidan, Garrus and I will fix the guns."
Kacey turned to head towards the roof before Jacob called after her.
"No way." Jacob argued, "These are my people. I'm going."
"Just because you survive one suicide mission," She turned on her heel and marched towards him, "doesn't mean you get two."
"Ugh. Fine." Jacob conceded, "But I'm going to talk you through it from here. Cerberus is probably jamming the satellite link. Radio me when you've found the controls and I'll give you the override code."
"Will do." Kacey replied, "But please Jacob; get that wound looked at."
A/N: Wrote this in about an hour. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of it.
I've decided to split this mission in two, so I don't upload another 4,000 word chapter again. The next one should be out by Wednesday.
Also thank you Blueberry Dice for the lovely review and to Fallout2281 for letting me know which ME2 squadmate will be recruited in chapter 18. Grunt is so far ahead.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Leave a review and tell me what you think about the story so far!