Kacey rolled her eyes upon reaching Aria's command ship; a part of her couldn't believe that she was doing this. Granted, this wasn't the craziest thing she had ever done, she was capable of much worse, but it was up there with driving the Mako through a small Mass Relay and the suicide mission. She picked up her pistol and put it in its holster as she walked through the airlocks and onto Aria's ship. The doors pulled apart to reveal Bray on the other side.
"Hmph. You look like you're ready for war." Bray mused as he led Kacey through the narrow halls of the ship.
"Close. A suicide mission." Kacey scoffed. The conversation had dropped off there, much to Kacey's relief.
It didn't take long to reach the bridge, where Aria was talking to another asari over the comms. The crime boss didn't seem pleased as the other asari continued to talk.
"We're out-shipped four to one, and most of our vessels are transports with limited firepower."
"We're not here to win a space battle, Jarral." Aria said, her tone calm yet stern, "We just have to punch through their line."
"So you've commandeered a Cerberus cruiser." Kacey scoffed, making her presence known.
Aria smirked, "The guest of honour has arrived. We can finally start."
"Let me guess; you're planning on infiltrating the enemy fleet." Kacey said, crossing her arms as Aria pulled up a map of Omega.
"Exactly." Aria replied, "We position ourselves to strike a crippling blow, then my forces join the fun."
"Sounds risky as hell. A lot could go wrong." Kacey remarked as Aria shot her a devilish smirk.
"The assault's been planned for weeks, Shepard." Aria said, "For now, just sit back. Let me steer."
"Forgive me if I don't find that reassuring." Kacey said, narrowing her eyes, "This isn't the best start to our partnership, Aria."
"How things begin isn't nearly as important as how they end." Aria said as she walked towards Bray, "Bray, move through the Relay. Signal the fleet to wait. They only follow on my command."
Kacey shook her head; she was slowly starting to regret agreeing to this. She knew she was going to have to be careful; this could get ugly fast.
"Head for the command ship." Aria ordered as they passed through the Relay. Kacey's body tensed up upon the sight of Omega; her fight or flight response was ready to kick in at a moments notice.
"Cruiser, I don't have you on the flight plan. Identify yourself." A Cerberus soldier said through the comms.
Bray simply hit a button, playing a recording, "This is Captain Lentz. Run voice recognition: alpha, tango, zed. We took damage. Seeking repairs."
"Identity confirmed, Captain. Hold for approach authorisation."
"How did you get the captain to say that?" Kacey asked, already knowing the answer.
"The hard way." Aria said. Kacey couldn't help but wonder what exactly Aria had done to get the Cerberus captain to say that; especially since they weren't the most cooperative.
The cruiser flew through the enemy line, remaining under the radar. Kacey was still on edge, silently waiting for the chaos of battle to begin. Aria stood behind Bray as she carefully monitored the situation.
"That's right. Nice and slow…" Aria mused. As they drew closer to the Cerberus ships, a wicked smile flashed across Aria's face as she said, "Fire! Signal the fleet through the Relay."
Multiple cruisers exploded as they opened fire on the ships. Aria's fleet emerged from the Relay and began to make their way towards the station. Kacey could take some satisfaction from the destruction of the Cerberus ships, although she still couldn't shake the feeling of unease.
"We're through." Aria's commanding voice echoed through the bridge, "Head for the station."
"We're being hailed by the general." Bray said.
"Should be interesting." Aria mused, "Put him through."
Kacey liked to think that she was a good judge of character; if someone looked like an asshole, they probably were, even if they seemed polite on the surface. Kacey knew better than to trust anyone on the outset, trust was earned not granted after all. So she wasn't too surprised to see the Cerberus general standing smugly, arms crossed on the holographic interface, his tone full of self-confidence with a hint of arrogance. He stood firm, addressing Aria with a stern look.
"Aria, I knew this had to be you." Petrovsky said, "You'll never make it. Call it off now."
Aria scoffed, "You're barking up the wrong tree, General, but maybe you can convince my partner…"
It was at this point that Petrovsky had noticed Kacey. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead he eyed Kacey carefully as Kacey scowled in response, not too sure if she was more annoyed by Petrovsky or Aria.
"Commander Shepard?" He said as if he was pleasantly surprised to see her, "I've heard great things about you."
"Not from your boss, I bet." Kacey replied with a snarky tone, "I doubt he thinks of me so highly."
"I do my own research, Commander." Petrovsky said, "A pity you left Cerberus. You could've been a tremendous asset. But we all sabotage ourselves in nefarious ways. Perhaps deep down you fear success."
"Fuck off." Kacey scoffed.
"Aria clearly thinks seeing you will unsettle me. Now it's my turn. I see you've gone to the trouble of augmenting that ship with Silaris armouring. An exorbitant waste. I've made improvements to Omega's outer defences. My cannons will cut through you at will."
"He sounds pretty confident." Kacey said quietly, agitated.
"Yeah, he does." Aria replied, annoyed.
"So again, I say turn back." Petrovsky said firmly.
Aria smirked, "Let's see what you've got, Oleg. End transmission."
Aria turned to face Kacey, looking rather irritated. Kacey could empathise with her irritation. But as Aria addressed her, Kacey finally found out why she felt so uneasy.
"That went well." Aria mused, "Set preset course, we're ramming the station. Everyone, brace for impact."
"What?!" Kacey snapped.
"Omega's kinetic barriers will stop my ships from landing. I equipped this cruiser with disruptors to take it out on impact." Aria said, "Don't worry, we'll probably survive the crash."
Kacey couldn't help but be furious at the asari as the cruiser flew towards the station. They were going to lose people and if Kacey's suspicions were correct, the ground war was going to be intense. They couldn't afford high casualties before even reaching the ground. The cruiser shook as the cannon fired on it, hitting the shields hard.
"Shields gone!" Bray shouted, "All systems falling!"
"We can make it!" Aria said firmly.
But Kacey wasn't standing for it; she had been here before and she already knew how that ended. She doubted she would get lucky a second time. Kacey turned on her heel, her scowl only deeping as she addressed the asari with a firm and commanding voice.
"Aria, don't be stupid!" Kacey shouted, "Sound the evac!"
Aria slammed her fist on the railing furious, "Damn it! Program the escape pods for the station!"
"Let's go!" Kacey shouted, "Everybody out! There's no time!"
Everyone bolted from their positions, barely hesitating to move towards the escape pods. Kacey bolted down the hall behind Aria as the lights went out, leaving a red hue barely lighting the path in front of her as explosions erupted throughout the ship. Kacey could feel her body tense up at the sight; the feelings of dread and anxiety returned. This was so familiar.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is the SSV Normandy!"
'Gotta stay focused, Kace. Get out of here!'
She kept her eyes focused on Aria as they bolted around the corner and down the hall; they were nearly there.
"We've suffered damage from an unknown enemy!"
'This isn't that. Why am I thinking of that?'
It is the same. Run, Kacey, run.
Kacey dived into the escape pod, barely waiting for anyone else as she got herself strapped in. She tried to settle her nerves but nothing worked; the alarm was still blaring in the background as the final person hopped in and the escape pod door closed.
"Guess the asshole really did upgrade Omega's outer defences." Aria said.
"You think?!" Kacey scoffed as the pod flew out of the cruiser and towards Omega.
…
Kacey didn't hesitate to leave the escape pod the moment it landed within the station. But the sound of Cerberus soldiers approaching the pod put a bit of a damper on that plan. Fortunately for Kacey, the giant plume of smoke provided great cover for one hell of a surprise attack.
Kacey waited until they drew close, before pouncing on the first and knocking him clean on his ass with her fist before using her pistol to shoot the remaining two with pin-point accurate headshots before shooting the last one on the floor. She moved into cover as reinforcements arrived, switching her pistol for her assault rifle loaded with inferno bullets.
Aria used her biotics to clear her path to Kacey, before joining the scarlet haired commander behind a tower of black crates.
"Hope the other escape pods made it." Aria mused.
Kacey rolled her eyes as she shot more of the soldiers flooding in from the main entrance. Dismissing Aria's previous statement, Kacey thought to ask something simple, "All right, what's our target?"
"Need to hit the Defence System Station, shut down Omega's outer defences so my ships can land." Aria explained, tossing a Cerberus soldier into the rest, knocking them over like bowling pins, "If we don't, they'll be blown to bits like we were."
"Got it." Kacey confirmed. She fired her fiery concussive shot and punted the grenade that landed by her feet like a football, keeping distance between herself and the enemy.
"This is what I brought you for: ground assault." Aria said, "In combat, what you say goes."
Kacey's eyes widened as she tried to process what Aria had just said. It wasn't something she thought she'd ever hear.
"Aria relinquishing command?" Kacey scoffed, "I'll believe it when I see it."
"I can be a team player, Commander." Aria smirked, "I know where we need to go and you can get us there."
"Okay, let's move." Kacey said, "You take the right, I'll take the left. Watch your flank."
Aria nodded before doing exactly as Kacey ordered. Kacey was surprised to see Aria being so compliant as she mowed down the Cerberus troops in front of her. Aria used her biotics to weaken the soldiers before blowing their brains out onto the floor with her heavily modified shotgun. She was methodical and ruthless.
But the same could be said about Kacey. She also took every opportunity to tear through the Cerberus forces on her side with surgical precision. Her fury was felt by each soldier as she shot clean through them. She punted another grenade towards the enemy soldiers before firing off a few inferno concussive shots. She ducked behind cover as the soldiers burned to ashes, avoiding the fire of those on Aria's side whose attention Kacey had caught. The lapse in concentration from the soldiers allowed Aria to gun them down.
Once they cleared out the initial troops, Kacey gestured for Aria to move forward towards the exit where more troops were lying in wait. Kacey kicked another grenade back at the Cerberus soldier who threw it, shooting it in mid air to force the group to split apart.
"Aria, take out that turret!" Kacey shouted as she observed a combat engineer setting up a turret. Aria nodded and took it out, killing the engineer in one big, fiery blast. Kacey had to admit it; Aria was ruthlessly efficient.
"Our pod took out the main exit." Aria said as the final soldiers slumped to the floor, "We'll need to lower the blast door."
"Alright." Kacey mused, heading towards the console. The door rumbled as it opened, leading to another darkened room
"Aria to fleet: you alive out there?" Aria said
"Barely." Jarral replied, "Holding our own with the Cerberus fleet, but Omega's defences are shredding us!"
"Keep my army intact, Jarral. That is your only job." Aria said firmly.
Kacey scoffed, amused, "No pressure then."
Aria glared at her before the pair were separated by more gunfire from Cerberus soldiers. Kacey still had a smirk plastered on her face as she swiftly dealt with the enemy, finding Aria's fury funny. Once they killed the Cerberus soldiers, Kacey followed Aria through a side door and into an elevator.
"Ground team, report in." Aria said, "Bray, you there?"
"Affirmative, but only six pods made it. Various entry points." Bray replied.
"Rally them to you, then head for the rendezvous point." Aria replied, "Start prepping for our ships to land. Let's hustle! Every minute, more of my ships get obliterated out there."
…
"How much further?" Kacey asked as she blew the head off a combat engineer.
"It's not far!" Aria shouted back, "How long is it going to take for that fucking door to open?"
"Better question is where all these troops are coming from." Kacey muttered.
Reinforcements were coming from all sides as Kacey hid behind a counter near the door; it was still pressurising and the wait was annoying the living daylights out of Kacey. She kept herself focused on the battle in front of her, trying to ignore the anxiety that had been built up from the crash earlier.
Once the door had pressurised, Kacey and Aria went through only to find the smouldering remains of a crashed escape pod embedded in the wall.
"One of our pods." Aria mused.
"We were lucky." Kacey said, "Press on."
She sounded heartless; but she was actually numb to the sight by now. Kacey continued to head through the door as Jarral spoke down the comms again.
"Lost two more transports! Can't keep up evasive manoeuvres much longer!" Jarral said.
"We're right outside the defence station, just hold tight!" Aria shouted as Kacey hacked the door open.
The defence station had only a few soldiers guarding it; but more than enough turrets to keep them on their toes. Kacey ordered Aria to take the turrets out, believing her biotics could make quick work of the turrets while Kacey dealt with the engineers. The few assault troopers in the room attempted to stop them, but failed miserably as Kacey darted from cover to cover, methodically wiping the floor with them.
As Kacey kicked a soldier's knee from behind and shot them point blank on the head, Aria shot Kacey a devious look with a smirk, causing the scarlet-haired commander to cock her head to the side, "What?"
"Nothing." Aria smirked, "Let's get to the controls."
Kacey let the body of the Cerberus soldier hit the floor as she headed towards the controls, and began to shut down the defences. Kacey was lucky that she had listened to Kaidan when he taught her how to shut systems down quickly.
"Jarral, defences are down." Aria said, "Signal the surviving ships to converge on the rendezvous point."
"Aye. Approach trajectories plotted. We're already queuing up."
"Bray, come in. Status?"
"Rendezvous site secured. Hanger doors enabled. Will have them open soon." Bray said.
"Need them open now." Aria demanded, "My birds are coming in. Prep for reception."
"What exactly is this rendezvous point?" Kacey asked.
"That's where we're headed." Aria said, "It's a bunker I established on D-deck for my more…sensitive operations. It's utterly impenetrable—with its own secret hanger and dock."
As Aria continued, Kacey could see a camera high up on the pillar; it seemed that Aria was completely unaware that they were possibly being watched. In an instant, Kacey put away her assault rifle and pulled out her pistol, aiming it at the camera and pulling the trigger, blasting the camera to pieces. Aria watched as the broken, smouldering remains of the camera hit the floor, before turning her attention to Kacey.
"There's a good chance the general knows where we're going." Kacey replied nonchalantly, "And he's sending the welcoming committee to greet us."
"Then no time for sightseeing." Aria said firmly, "Bray, stay sharp! You might get visitors."
"Terrific." Bray said sarcastically.
Kacey couldn't help but feel like Aria was evaluating her; she noticed Aria taking sneaky glances at her in the field before sharply looking away. Now that in itself wasn't unusual; many of her squadmates did the same thing, taking glances at her either awaiting orders or to observe her fighting skills. But none of them sharply looked away like Aria did, nor did they seem like they were evaluating her. Judging her. Kacey didn't like it and she certainly didn't want Aria being the one judging her.
"Intruders! Open fire!" One of the Cerberus soldiers shouted.
"We're causing a stir." Aria said amused, "Good."
Kacey ignored her and focused on taking down the Cerberus soldiers; Aria clearly kept an eye on her as she methodically took down the enhanced soldiers with ease. Kacey couldn't understand why; she was efficient but so what? Wasn't she always efficient with every task handed to her?
Except this time, it was personal.
Kacey shook the thought out of her head; the battlefield was no place for such things, she should know that by now. She couldn't afford to let her guard down on this station, no matter what. Kacey finished off the last of the soldiers before following Aria out of the area and through a security screen. Through the doors on the far side, Kacey found herself facing the Omega skyline; the 'outdoors' of the station so to speak.
"Ah, the Omega skyline." Aria smirked, "Now I feel like I'm back. Strange. What are those things in the distance?"
Kacey looked at the area Aria was referring to; a large, red-orangish force field blocked the street ahead. Something about it didn't feel right about it.
"Looks like some kind of force field." Kacey mused.
"That's not good." Aria replied.
Kacey scoffed, "No shit."
They moved through the back alleys, engaging the Cerberus soldiers hiding within. Kacey ordered Aria to keep the pressure up and Aria did just that without hesitation. The tight quarters were making it hard for Kacey to fire her gun, resulting in the scarlet haired commander throwing a grenade to be done with it. It was at this moment when she started to realise something about the soldiers she was fighting.
She remembered the soldier that she and Kaidan found on Mars; as much as she hated to think about Mars, she could recall exactly what the soldier looked like. It was a husk, but not quite. Human, but not quite. They appeared to still behave like humans, but there was something missing.
Ego.
Perspective.
Individuality.
Personality.
They lacked humanity. Kacey didn't seem to realise it until now; before, the Cerberus operatives she had met were people with large personalities, ego and ideas. They were people, even if Kacey didn't agree with them. But they weren't like that anymore. They were practically soulless.
They were no more different than Collector drones, blindly attacking without much of a plan or strategy. They were cannon fodder, twisted into something else, although Kacey dreaded to think to what extent they were changed.
What did Cerberus do to them?
She just had to hope that by killing them, she was showing them mercy. After getting rid of them, Aria led Kacey towards the elevator, gazing at the gang tag on the wall.
"I know that symbol." Aria mused.
"Looks like a gang tag," Kacey said dismissively.
"The Talons." Aria replied, "They used to deface my property too."
"Warning: Omega had been compromised. All Cerberus personnel report to stations.'
"Looks like we'll have one hell of a fight on our hands soon." Kacey mused, reloading her rifle.
Aria smirked, "Should be exciting."
"Of course you'd say that." Kacey scoffed.
"Why, I thought you'd be excited at the opportunity for a good fight, Commander." Aria said teasingly.
It was clear she was looking for a specific answer; trying to goad the scarlet haired commander into a certain type of confession. Not that she would ever reveal such things to the asari crime boss.
"Believe what you want." Kacey replied vaguely. Aria simply looked at the Commander, almost amused by her response. Upon exiting the elevator, Kacey noticed the symbol again, "The Talons symbol again."
"Hmm. Could be evidence of a resistance." Aria mused.
"Might be useful." Kacey replied. She moved further down the hall, avoiding Aria's gaze as they pressed on. Kacey hoped to reach the rendezvous point soon, hoping that she could get herself out of this mess she had put herself in.