Chapter Text
RRW Gallena
“I have the debrief on the prisoners.” Tovan declared as he entered the conference room. “It went as expected. The pilot, Hawthorne, once we separated him from his mates, cracked first without Neilana having to go into his mind. Ms. T’Loak was correct in her assessment that he was beginning to have second thoughts about his involvement with Cerberus. The other two…the heavy weapons specialist, Jackson, and the team sniper, Markham, were especially resistant. Neilana had to dig pretty deep into their minds in order to extract any valuable information. You were also correct about them being conditioned. We almost lost them a couple of times. Dr. Aven and Dr. Chakwas estimate that they will be out for at least forty eight hours. By the way, Little Sister…” Tovan added in a gently chiding tone of voice, “Dr. Chakwas is very upset at you right now. She was not at all pleased at Neilana’s interrogation techniques.”
“Got any extra Serrice Ice Brandy, Aria?” The Romulan subcommander asked only half-jokingly. “I don’t want Dr. Chakwas to stay pissed off at me for too long.”
“I think I have a bottle or two lying around.” The asari queen of Omega responded with an amused smirk. “I’ll send it to you before you depart.”
“Thanks.” V’lana replied before speaking once again to her XO. “Anything else of note?”
“Perhaps.” Tovan replied. “Their interrogation confirms what we were able to recover from Tuchanka. There is a Cerberus secret program called ETAP. Hawthorne stated that it was supposed to be an elite training program. Neilana could pick up no signs that any of them were aware of any cybernetic or genetic enhancements beyond that already in use here.”
“Sounds like the Illusive Man is playing Shepard and her people for saps.” Aria surmised,
“Good guess.” V’lana agreed before once again addressing her Big Brother, “Anything else on the more cooperative one—Hawthorne? Were you about to determine whether he was getting suspicious? Or did other factors come into play?” V’lana inquired as Aria attentively listened.
“A little of both.” The centurion responded. “He, along with a few others in the Normandy’s crew, had originally joined to combat the Collectors. He stated that there were others who were supposed to be on the crew--some of whom we already know such as Joker, Dr. Chakwas, and Councilor Chambers, but they were dropped from the roster and replaced by...Hawthorne stated...Cerberus die-hards. He and a few others were the only ones they kept."
"That is exactly what happened." Miranda concurred, "He declared a clean slate on my project and diverted to an alternate scheme--most likely the cloning project." Taking a deep breath and exhaling, the Australian biotic remarked, "The Illusive Man always has a Plan B and often a Plan C ready just in case."
V'lana nodded, "What else, Big Brother?"
"It seems that the attacks on the Alliance base at Ferris Fields and the archaeological dig on Fehl Prime has weakened Hawthorne's confidence in their cause, along with a few others among the crew. ”
“Could be useful later.” V’lana mused, Aria nodding in agreement.
Continuing his debrief, the Romulan XO surmised, “The final straw appears to have been shortly before and during the attack on Fehl Prime.”
“What happened?” Aria inquired, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Tovan answered back, “A friend of his who was also a member of Shepard's ground team deserted. She was the team engineer—Doris Whaley. She also made off with an android that she had constructed and assisted in the transference of the ship AI to that body.”
“I’ll bet Shepard and Mr. Illusive were pissed off about that.” V’lana chuckled. “Any idea as to what happened with this deserter and the android accompanying her?”
“No idea.” Jodrum, who had also witnessed the interrogation, chimed into the discussion for the first time. “Her, the mobile platform, and Dr. Treeya knocked the prisoner out and hijacked the shuttle he was piloting that carried Shepard and her team. The shuttle was slightly damaged due to rocket fire from the one named Jackson and, once Shepard and her team were recovered, the Normandy gave pursuit. The one called Doris managed to escape to a mass relay, but before jumping, she set the relay where it would fling them to a random location.”
“A smart play, but desperate.” Aria noted, “Had she not done that, the Normandy would have pursued and caught them. The downside is that our defector had no way of knowing where she’d end up. Hell…as far as we know, she could have wound up in a system with no mass relay or even in the middle of a star.”
“It’s been some time since Fehl Prime.” Satra interjected, “That shuttle’s reserves of power and fuel would have been long exhausted by now.”
“They’d have run out food and water even before that.” Miranda pointed out. “A Cerberus shuttle would not have been outfitted with extensive provisions or reserves for a simple ground mission drop such as this.”
Mordin declared with a shake of his head. “Odds are defector and Dr. Treeya dead. Status of AI…problematic. Could have survived.”
“We’ll pass word on about the deserter along with the results of our interrogation to both the Council and Admiral Hackett and arrange for an Alliance or Council ship to pick up our prisoners.” V’lana decided. “I’d like to know more about this deserter.” Turning to Miranda, she inquired, “I recall you mentioning that defections from Cerberus are rare.”
“They are.” The Australian Cerberus defector declared, “The only one other than I that I am aware of besides her is Jacob. The Illusive Man’s system of internal surveillance and informants is very good at weeding out both spies and potential defectors.”
“That’s what I figured.” V’lana acknowledged. Turning her attention back to her XO, she inquired, “Were you able to get any more information?”
“We did get some valuable intelligence on the Normandy’s command structure.” Tovan replied. “While Shepard is the nominal commander and is generally deferred to, the Executive Officer, a Cerberus loyalist named Kai Leng…”
“That little shit.” Miranda scowled, further elaborating, “That toerag is a sociopath. He’s a cold-blooded assassin. The Illusive Man uses him when he wants to be sure that the job gets done. If you see him—kill him.”
“Thanks, Miranda.” The subcommander replied and then motioned for her XO to continue his briefing. “Anything else, Big Brother?”
“Leng’s role seems to be that of monitor…ensuring that Shepard doesn’t break conditioning.” Tovan replied, as Miranda nodded in agreement.
“Had the Lazarus Project succeeded and we were able to bring back the original Shepard, that would have been my role.”
“There’s more information on the internal relationships within the Normandy’s crew, but nothing else of significance.” Tovan declared as he handed the padd to the subcommander.
“Now that we’ve finished that.” V’lana declared, moving to the next part of the meeting, “Aria? Are you ready to have your universe shaken and rocked as it never has been before.”
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” The asari responded with an amused chuckle, “I’ve seen just about everything there is to see. I doubt anything you’ve got can surprise me.”
“We’ll see about that.” V’lana replied as she activated the monitor screen and the images played out.
“Fuck.” Aria cursed, “You win. You just caused me to shit my pants. You were also correct in showing me this.” Aria declared in an unusually subdued voice as she saw images of the Battle of Wolf 359 and other Borg incursions, followed by the Gallena’s and other starships’ battles against the Elachi, Tal’Shiar and Imperial Romulan Navy, Hirogen, and Cardassians played out on the conference monitor. “If you had just told me that you were from another universe and that Cerberus was importing this Borg and Elachi tech from people in your universe without showing me, I’d have thought you were dangerously insane and needed to be put down.”
“And now?” Kaidan inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“Now…I believe you.” Aria replied, adding in a low, dangerous voice, “I am not going to let Cerberus…these Elachi and Borg…or anyone else no matter what universe they’re from…threaten Omega. What do you want from me?”
“Right now…” V’lana replied, “A secure base of operations for us and anyone allied with us, and your aid in diverting any pirate or mercenary groups under your control away from Citadel and Alliance shipping. We’re willing to offer a variety of trade inducements in return. Plus one of the Ferengi merchants we have on board as traders has a proposition he wanted me to relay to you, but we can discuss that later. So…”
“I’ll accept an informal agreement between Omega and the Alliance and Council.” Aria responded, “Provided their authorities look the other way on certain…nontaxable…cargoes that my ships might want to provide to consumers on their planets and stations.”
“Jodrum? Do you think the Council will go for this?” V’lana inquired of the Salarian SPECTRE seated at the table.
“It will with my recommendations—with conditions, of course.” The SPECTRE answered back.
“What sort of conditions?” Aria asked in a suspicious tone of voice.
“Nothing severe.” Jodrum assured, “No transport of slaves, red sand, or similar dangerous drugs. Non-addictive and relatively benign recreational drugs will be overlooked.”
“I can live with that.” Aria conceded with a nod of her head.
“Kaidan?” V’lana prompted, “Do you think you can swing Anderson and Hackett over?”
“I think I can talk them around.” The Alliance liaison responded, “Of course they’ll want to impose the same conditions that Jodrum mentioned.”
Aria again positively responded, “Acceptable.”
“Then we have a deal?” V’lana asked the asari crime boss.
“We have a deal.” Aria affirmed. “I’ll send out instructions to my people immediately. Of course, you understand that where the mercenary groups are concerned, I only have control over those that are actually on Omega. As of now I do not have pull with either the Blue Suns, the Blood Pack, or Eclipse. Although…” she added with a sly grin, “I am working to change that. Now…” She declared as she rose to her feet, “If you don’t mind, I need to fetch my guards before they get falling down drunk and return to Omega. There is much work to do.”
“I’ll see you back to your shuttle.” V’lana offered, standing up as well. “We can talk about my trader’s business offer on the way and maybe a few other mutually beneficial proposals.”
“Lead on.”
Garrus
Exiting the shuttle, Garrus at once recognized the subcommander waiting alone for him. Feeling a rare churning in his gizzard, the former vigilante came to a halt as he neared her. Taking a deep breath, he uttered the traditional formula, “Permission to come on board, Subcommander?”
“Permission granted.” V’lana flatly responded as she motioned to the turbolift. “I read your report…”she remarked in a kindly voice as the pair walked together. “I’m sorry about Zaeed, but you did save a lot of lives. I hope that gives you some consolation.”
“I…” Garrus stammered as his mind flashed back to his partner burning in the fire, trapped by all that debris that had landed on him. “I should have expected that would be the final outcome. When I saw the look on Zaeed’s face whenever he talked about killing Vido…I thought about how I must have looked and sounded to everyone around me.” Taking a deep breath, he admitted, “It forced me to think…to reevaluate some things. I think I’m ready…really ready this time…to talk to Kelly—that is—if you still want me on the ship?”
“I told you before you left that I did.” V’lana told the prodigal turian grabbing him by the arm in a welcoming gesture. “And I’m glad to hear that you’re serious about getting counseling. I promise, the moment Kelly says that you’re ready, you’re back on the active roster. I need you Garrus Vakarian, you’re a good shot and a good man.” Her smile now replaced by a stone faced mask, she chided the returnee, “But don’t you ever…ever…pull a stunt like that again. Because if you do, I’ll boot your sorry ass from one corner of the galaxy to the other. You read me?”
“Loud and clear, Ma’am.” Garrus responded crisply.
“Good.” The smile returned to the subcommander’s lips as the pair exited the turbolift on to the crew quarters. “Now, I think you had better hurry up and stow your gear. I got word that there’s a surprise welcome home party being held for you in the Raptor’s Nest and you don’t want to disappoint your friends.”
“You mean I still have friends?” Garrus smirked, only half-joking.
“You should have heard the shouting and cheering when word got out that you were returning. I think Vega bought up most of Aria’s stock of turian ale when he found out.” V’lana laughed. Breaking protocol, she gave her returning crewman a friendly hug. Releasing him from their embrace, she smiled, “Welcome back.”
Giving the subcommander a smile in return, Garrus walked away speaking to himself as he strode down the corridor, receiving greetings from the passing crewmen and officers, both Romulan and Starfleet as he went by them. “It’s good to be back home.”
Epilogue: Cerberus Base—Undisclosed Location
“While unfortunate, the loss of the shuttle and its passengers and crew is inconsequential, Agent Brooks.” The Illusive Man declared as he read the report his aide had handed him. “They didn’t know anything of importance. For now, we’ll just write them off as casualties and proceed as normal. On to the next matter. Subject Zero and Subject Grunt should arrive on the Normandy shortly. I’ll have Shepard’s next mission for her on their arrival. I’m interested in seeing how our two newest enhanced soldiers perform in action.”
“Anything else, Sir?” Brooks replied as her boss lit a fresh cigarette.
“No.” He said as he took a drag and exhaled, “That’ll be all for now.”
As his assistant walked away, the Illusive Man sat silently in his chair, smoking his cigarette as he gazed at the red star blazing dully in front of him. A setback. He thought to himself as he contemplated the loss of the shuttle, “But only a minor one. This is a long game. The occasional loss of a pawn is inevitable. The winner is the one who checkmates the king, not necessarily the one who takes the most pieces.”