Chapter Text
The Siege of Firebase Anaya
11:30
Leng:
“As expected, the Normandy has been taken.” The Illusive Man declared speaking on a private scrambled channel to his subordinate.
“Do you want us to continue the planned assault on the police precinct, Sir?” Kai Leng, Cerberus assassin and now unofficial commander of what was once Shepard’s team, inquired of his superior, speaking in a deferential tone of voice.
“Yes.” The Illusive Man replied. “The main purpose of the exercise from our perspective is to test the performance of Subjects Zero and Grunt in the field. Whether you succeed in eliminating the police detective and her officers or not is irrelevant.”
“Understood, Sir.” Leng inclined his head in acknowledgement. “And Shepard?”
“She has served her purpose.” The Illusive Man declared, pronouncing sentence. “Your transportation and the transport of the test subjects off Illium has been confirmed. Execute Shepard at your discretion before…during…or after the attack, and then proceed with Subjects Grunt and Zero to the rendezvous point.”
A cruel smile appearing on his face, Leng affirmed, “Your orders will be carried out, Sir.”
“Good.” The Illusive Man responded, “I anticipate reading your after-action report.”
11:45
“Does everyone understand the plan of attack?” Shepard commanded, speaking to her unusual team. “Eclipse mercenaries will deal with the satellite kiosk in the Transport Hub. Eclipse and their mechs will launch the initial assault on the firebase accompanied by Grunt, Zero, and I. Shadow Broker mercenaries will provide flanking support. Mr. Leng comes in after the station’s outer defenses have been taken out. His mission will be to seek out and eliminate both the police detective and the alien with her. Anything to add, Mr. Leng?” The redhead queried, barely hiding her feelings of disgust towards the black-clad assassin.
“No.” The Cerberus killer responded with a shake of his head his last statement more command than suggestion. “You’ve covered everything. Final preparations have been made and our Eclipse and Broker allies are in position. It is time for us to join them. Let us do so, immediately.”
11:48—Shepard’s subconscious
“Are you ready?” The prisoner asked, this time standing at the door to her cell waiting for her other self. “It’s almost time.”
“No.” Shepard whispered back from the other side of the cell door, “But it’s not like I have much in the range of choices—is there? No matter what happens, we’re going to die.”
“That’s not going to change.” The prisoner consoled, “We can’t save ourselves. But we can save those innocent people.”
“I know.” Shepard heaved a dejected sigh, “It’s just that I…”
“Never had a chance to live.” The prisoner finished, giving her twin a warm, sad smile. “I understand. There were things I wanted to do too. I can’t remember most of them…not anymore…but I do know that there was someone I loved and who loved me.”
“So when do we do this?” The clone asked as her hand went to the cell door and opened it, releasing the prisoner.
“We’ll know when.” The prisoner responded, giving their warden, whose back was turned to them, a glare. “I have a feeling it will be soon.”
11:50—Firebase Anaya
Gritting her teeth as she saw her officers and those who had allied with them at their positions, weapons at the ready, awaiting the coming attack, Anaya whispered to her Romulan friend, “I get the feeling you and your people have been in a lot of these.”
“Too many.” V’lana replied. “They all start to meld in with each other after a while.”
“This is my first time.” Anaya confessed. “Same thing for most of my officers. I mean…it’s one thing to go after an Eclipse merc or a perp—quite another to have to beat back an all-out attack on your own police station. Any advice?”
“Don’t feel bad if you piss your pants.” V’lana chuckled lightly, “I did my first time.” Getting serious, she consoled, “You and your people are going to do just fine. We know they’re coming, and we’ve had plenty of time to get ready. If anything, you should feel sorry for those mercs on the other side. They’re going to walk into a meat grinder.”
“Thanks.” Anaya smiled, “So what was the worst thing you had to fight?”
“Has to be the Borg.” V’lana answered back, “They’re relentless. They never give up…never stop…and…” her voice trailed, taking on a haunted quality, “and it sucks when you have to kill the person you had a drink with six months earlier because he’d been assimilated and turned into a drone.”
“Sounds like you speak from personal experience.”
“Yeah.” V’lana’s lips turned up in a sad smile, “I’ll tell you about it over drinks when we get done here.”
“It’s a date.” Anaya answered in a soft voice as a loud crash came from the direction of the spaceport. “They’re here, everyone!” The police detective shouted, “Hold your positions and don’t fire until you get the order.”
“Ready?” V’lana whispered as she sighted in her plasma rifle.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Anaya responded, checking her phaser, “And…thank you.” Seeing two Ymir mechs and several Lokis moving towards their position, the asari detective cried out, “They’re coming!”
“They’re using the mechs to clear a path through the mines and force us to reveal our defenses.” V’lana noted in a steady voice as mechs exploded. “Smart. The real attack’s coming with the next wave. That’s when we’ll see Shepard and her pets.” Turning her attention to the youthful quarian, the Romulan subcommander commanded, “Hold off on the turrets until the mechs get close, and then turn them into scrap.”
“Understood.” Tali responded as rocket fire from one of the Ymirs exploded close by, the force of its blast stopped by the enhanced shielding the quarian engineer had earlier set up.
As the mechs drew closer, their concentrated fire began to take its toll on the shields as they lit up and began to waver. “Compensating!” Tali shouted as she adjusted the shield harmonics, temporarily stabilizing them, but it wasn’t enough as the concentrated fire of the heavy mechs finally brought down the barrier.
“Sorry, Subcommander!” Tali shouted, “Give me a little time and I’ll get the backup going.”
“You heard the lady!” V’lana called out as the mechs continued their relentless assault. “Let’s buy her that time.”
“We can’t stop them!” One of the officers yelled, her eyes widening in fear as the officer next to her collapsed on the floor, blue blood flowing from where shrapnel had hit her. “We gotta run while we can!”
“You’ve got this, Felecia.” Anaya said, projecting an aura of calm as she fired her phaser, bringing down a pair of Lokis in a shower of sparks. “Just think of them as a future pile of scrap metal.”
Rallying, the young police officer responded with a “Thanks” before firing her rifle at the oncoming mechs, bringing down another pair.
Watching quietly until the mechs had drawn within range, a smile appeared on the Romulan subcommander’s face as he uttered her command, “All right, Tali…let ‘em have it!”
Green bolts of energy lanced from the two plasma turrets as the entrenched officers opened fire, releasing a withering barrage of fire. Then, after several moments of intense fire, a calm descended, the area around the police headquarters littered with the smoking and sparking scrap metal that used to be functioning mechs. Heaving a sigh as the medic administered first aid to a few injured officers, Anaya called out, “Casualties?”
“Thaya and Bellessa are wounded, but they’ll be all right after some medigel.” An officer who had medical training responded. Then, in a much more somber voice, she announced, “We lost Kala.”
“Shit.” Anaya swore, explaining to her friend, “Kala was supposed to get bonded this week. Now, I’ve got to break the news to her betrothed. I hate this part of the job.”
Placing a hand on the asari detective’s shoulder, V’lana consoled, “I know what you mean. I’ve done it all too often. If there’s anything I can do…anything you need.”
“Thanks.” Anaya smiled back, “I think I can manage. But I appreciate you’re asking.” Raising her voice, she commanded her officers, “Take a few minutes to catch your breaths and recharge your weapons but stay on your guard. This was just the beginning.” Activating her comm, Anaya called out, “Dana? What’s your status?”
“We beat back a company of mercs.” Sergeant Dana winced as one of her officers administered medigel to her and patched her bleeding arm.
“How are you…”
“Oh? That?” Dana interrupted, a smile appearing on her face. “It’s just a graze from a round that got through my shields and armor. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a little medigel and a shot of booze after.” Her gaze falling on one of the Romulans that had joined her, the asari sergeant quipped, “I don’t think those mercs planned on our new allies. Those shields they put up saved our asses.”
“Keep on your toes.” Anaya advised, “They’ll be back—probably more of ‘em next time. This was just a probing attack.” Her lips turning up in a grin, she joked, “First round at Eternity is on me.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” Dana replied, gritting her teeth as she spotted the movement of oncoming troops, “Gotta go…we’ve got company.”
Feeling a tug on her arm as the comm cut off, Anaya heard her Romulan friend’s warning. “They’re rolling out the big guns. Take a look.”
“Shit.” Anaya frowned at the sight of the redhead and her team, flanked by soldiers in plain armor, displaying no colors. “That’s gotta be Shepard and her freak show.”
Studying the human woman and the others with her oculars, V’lana nodded as she handed the ocular to her friend, “Yep. Take a look at the bald female and the krogan. I think the female’s what’s left of the one they call Jack, but I don’t recognize the krogan.”
“Ugly bastards.” Anaya swore. “That human female looks as much machine as human.”
“She is.” V’lana confirmed, “They’ve grafted Borg technology on her. And see the greenish tint on her skin?”
Nodding her head, the asari detective queried, “Do humans have green skin color?”
“No.” V’lana shook her head, “Not naturally. I’m betting that comes from Thorian spores. They’ve probably also given her implants—maybe Reaper—and/or did some genetic tinkering to improve her biotics.”
“What about that krogan?” Anaya inquired, handing the ocular back to the Romulan woman crouched beside her, “He looks bigger than the normal krogan—and they’re big enough. Also…greener. And…he’s got those Borg implants too.”
“Probably the Gorn grafts and genes.” V’lana replied. “It also wouldn’t surprise me if they exposed him to Thorian spores too. It’s a tossup on who’s the most dangerous. Him or Jack. And I wouldn’t underestimate Shepard or the man in black.”
“That’s Kai Leng.” Anaya said, spitting out the assassin’s name. “His job’s probably to finish me off.”
“He’s not going to do that.” V’lana declared as she placed her hand on the asari detective’s forearm. “I won’t let him.”
“I know.” Anaya smiled back and then shouted as she saw Shepard pointing at the police station. “Heads up, girls! They’re coming!”
Shepard :
“Are you ready?” The prisoner asked her other self as the pair eyed their jailor.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Shepard replied, clenching her jaw as she and…she prepared to make their move. “When do you want to do it?”
“Soon.” The prisoner replied, “We’ve got to wait for the right time. Too early and our warden will kill us, and the attack will go on. Too late and…” She shook her head as she somberly pronounced, “It won’t matter because everyone will be dead.”
Looking up Shepard declared, “It’s gotta be soon. I just gave the order to go.”
“Trust me…trust yourself.” The prisoner pleaded, “It’ll work.”
“I hope so.”
“Look alive girls!” Anaya shouted to her officers as the giant krogan and his cohorts charged the precinct house, braving the withering fire from the plasma and phaser turrets.
Spotting mercenary engineers setting up missile and gun turrets, V’lana called out orders as she fired at the engineers with her plasma rifle. “Take those bastards out! They’ll overload our shields if they get those turrets up!”
“Duck!” Bellessa warned as the bald cyborg biotically lifted a cargo sled and threw it at one of the precinct house’s walls, penetrating the shield and impacting against the wall.
Reeling from the shock of the impact of the cargo sled on the wall, Anaya gasped in alarm as a chunk of wall fell down, collapsing on one of her officers, instantly crushing her. “Shit! Bellessa…concentrate on the north wall! That’s where they’re going to…”
Before she could finish, the Romulan woman crouched next to her grasped her firmly by her forearm, warning. “No! That’s a diversion. Watch the krogan.”
“Fuck! You’re right!” Anaya cursed as the giant krogan charged at the west wall at the same time that the mercenary heavy weapons specialists poured on missile and heavy mass effect projectile fire. “Damn!” She shouted in alarm, “They took out one of the turrets!”
“Tali!” V’lana shouted.
“On it!” The lively quarian replied as she quickly fabricated a second turret just in time to counter the fire from the mercenary heavies and turrets.
Wincing at the heavy fire coming from the mercenaries and the constant pummeling from the cyborg krogan and biotic human drones, Tali exclaimed in an apologetic voice, “The turrets and shields aren’t going to last much longer.”
“It’s okay, Tali.” V’lana responded, “We know you’re doing the best you can.”
“Where are these mercs coming from?” Anaya cried out as yet another wave of mercenaries charged, the west wall beginning to buckle under the sustained assault.
“Good question.” V’lana quipped as a temporary lull fell on the field. “Maybe they grow ‘em from dragon seeds.”
“Maybe.” The asari detective responded, laughing nervously, a sad, rueful grin on her face as she moaned, “Looks like I’m not going to have those grandchildren after all. What about you? Anyone or anything other than your boyfriend you’re gonna miss?”
“Besides you.” V’lana chuckled in an effort to cheer up her friend.
“Yeah.” Anaya smiled back, “So?”
“My Big Brother.” V’lana responded her lips turning up in a fond grin. “Nude sunbathing on the Riviera and Risa…Zsa-Zsa’s parties…”
“Sounds like fun.” Anaya remarked with a wry grin.
“Yeah.” V’lana answered back before quipping in a half-joking tone, “We get out of this…after getting good and drunk…I’m taking you to the holodeck and we’re going to the Riviera, take off all our clothes, and lie out in the sun doing nothing but sipping pina coladas.”
“It’s a date.” Anaya laughed, their conversation suddenly interrupted by a hail of weapons fire combined with the thundering of missiles impacting and exploding against the wall and ceiling.
“This is it.” V’lana declared as the giant krogan literally picked up a cargo truck and heaved it at the west wall while the bald biotic drone picked up a pair of innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire and flung them against the wall, their bodies impacting against it with a sickly thud.
Trembling as cracks appeared in the wall and ceiling and rubble began to fall, Anaya, heaving a sigh as she gazed into the eyes of the lovely Romulan beside her, leaned towards her and kissed her. At first, a tentative kiss, then V’lana, much to the surprise of both, returned the gentle kiss, igniting the passion that had been building between the pair as they kissed heedless of the rubble beginning to fall around them until interrupted by a throat clearing.
“I’m sorry…” Tali interrupted, “But it’s time to fall back. The wall and ceiling are about to collapse. If we don’t withdraw to the cell block now…”
“Right, Tali.” V’lana replied, her face flushing dark green, the face of the asari she had just been kissing also taking on a darker blue hue. “We have to go.”
“Fall back!” Anaya called out to her surviving officers as the ceiling began to collapse, “Now!”
A cold smile appearing on his face as the wall and roof of the precinct house collapsed, leaving the heavily reinforced cell block as the only standing structure, Kai Leng sneered as he addressed the redhead standing beside him. “Now we finish the job. Order the final assault Shepard. And remember the asari detective must die along with everyone else except her off world allies. The Illusive Man wants those taken alive.”
Glaring at the black-clad Cerberus assassin next to her, Shepard responded with a sneer of her own. “Don’t tell me my job, Mr. Leng. I know exactly what I have to do. I will go in with Zero and Grunt. You and the mercenaries follow immediately afterwards.” Not saying another word, she motioned at the two drones, signaling them to join her.
“Go.” Leng ordered, “And do not fail.”
“Ready?”
“I’m ready. Let’s do this before I change my mind.”
“Here we go!” With a final exertion of will and aided by the voice in her head, Shepard overcame her implanted jailor. “Now!” the voice urged, “Before the implant recovers! Do it!”
“Goodbye!” Shepard, her synapses firing in pain and agony from her implants joining with the voice inside herself, struck with her omniblades at the two cyborgs, causing them both to cry out in pain.
“I’m seeing it, but I’m not believing it!” Anaya shouted exuberantly as she and V’lana witnessed Shepard turning on her own people.
“She must have managed to temporarily override her implants.” V’lana surmised as her comm badge chirped, “I hope that’s you Big Brother.” The subcommander responded, answering the hail as Anaya shouted at her officers to concentrate their fire on Shepard, the cyborgs, and the Cerberus assassin dashing into the melee towards the redhead, his katana drawn.
“Cerberus frigate secured, Little Sister.” Tovan responded, “Do you need assistance?”
“Hell yes!” Both V’lana and Anaya shouted simultaneously as they continued to shoot, paying no heed to their own personal safety.
“Security troops on the way.”
Even as she felt her synapses shutting down one at a time, Shepard continued to fight, the force of her constant assault breaching the two augmented drones’ defenses, causing them to stagger as she landed repeated blows and strikes with the her omniblades, switching from one to the other, staggering as she parried the giant krogan’s wild blows. Then, Kai Leng who had been waiting for this very moment made his move.
The Cerberus assassin struck silently, running Shepard through with his katana from behind. Piercing shielding and armor, the blade penetrated through to the other side dripping blood on to the ground. Extracting his blade, the assassin spat as weapons fire cascaded from all sides at him and the mercenaries, a green bolt of energy grazing his armor. Ignoring the body lying at his feet, Leng called out to the two drones, “Zero…Grunt…Withdraw. Gamma Protocol.”
“They’re running!” Anaya shouted out in glee, embracing the Romulan woman next to her, “We’ve won! We’re alive!”
“Yes, we are.” V’lana smiled back, returning the asari detective’s enthusiastic hug. Then, seeing the Shepard lying bleeding on the ground, the subcommander called out to one of the medics that had just beamed down, “See to her at once!”
“Aye, Subcommander.” A Starfleet nurse clad in a light blue minidress responded, dashing to the clone’s side along with another medtech while other medics, Romulan Starfleet, and asari, quickly went to work on the wounded.
“Dana? This is Anaya…” The detective spoke into her comm, trying to reach her other officers
“Anaya!” The asari sergeant exclaimed, “Thank the Goddess! For a while I wasn’t sure…”
“It was touch and go for a while.” Anaya confessed with a sigh, “But…what is it the humans’ say? The cavalry arrived in the nick of time. What about you and your people? How bad?”
“We lost Talassa.” Dana answered back in a melancholic tone, “And all of us are banged up to one degree or another. But…we’ll get better. And we’re alive.”
“That’s what counts.” Anaya replied as the nurse ministering to Shepard called out.
“Subcommander! I think you should come over here. There’s something you need to see!”
“Go ahead.” Anaya prompted, “I need to finish up some business with Dana and then talk to Bellessa. Come get me when you’re done.”
“What is it?” V’lana asked as she approached the nurse who had just called her over, kneeling down over her patient.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” The human nurse exclaimed in a hushed tone. “Even though I managed to stabilize the wound to her abdomen, she should still be dead. The implants they put in her should have fried her brain completely. But I’m picking up faint…very faint…neural activity in her cerebral cortex.”
“So she’s still alive?” V’lana queried, “How?”
“Good question.” The nurse responded, “Between the loss of blood from that stab wound and the damage those implants caused, she should be dead. However,” the nurse warned, “She won’t be alive for long if we don’t get her into a stasis chamber stat.”
“Do so.” V’lana commanded. “Transport her immediately to sick bay and tell Doctors Chakwas and Aven to give her top priority. I want to find out what the hell’s going on with her.”
“Aye, Subcommander.” The Starfleet nurse acknowledged as she tapped her comm badge and called out. “Medical emergency immediate transport to Sickbay. Inform Doctors Chakwas and Aven they are needed stat.”
As the nurse and her patient dematerialized, V’lana felt a hand on her shoulder and heard Anaya’s voice. “Everything all right?”
Her lips turned up in a slight grin, the subcommander turned to face the asari police officer, “Yeah. I think. Somehow or other Shepard’s still alive. I ordered her beamed back to the ship so that the doctors can have a look at her.” Tapping her comm, V’lana called out, “Big Brother? Status report.”
“Normandy is under our control in the outer system, Subcommander. Lieutenant Adams is leading a prize crew and will take the frigate to the Farinata System to rendezvous with Admiral Anderson. I’ve assigned the Scorpion fighters to accompany him should Cerberus get any ideas.”
“Good.” V’lana replied, “What about the other teams? Miranda and Lieutenant Commander Oudekirk and Liara?”
“Miranda reports mission success. We are preparing to beam her, her team, and her family up on your command. Cilla and Liara have tracked the Shadow Broker to a ship located near the planet Hagalaz in the Sowilo System and have taken the Telara in pursuit.”
“Understood. Beam up Miranda and her people and be ready to depart for the Sowilo system on my orders. Oh…one other thing, Big Brother…Tali’s all right.”
His relief at the news obvious in his voice tone, Tovan replied, “Thank you, Little Sister.”
Turning to Anaya, the subcommander asked, “Are we done here?”
Looking about, the asari detective pointed to the flashing lights rapidly approaching saying with a snort of derision, “Looks like they finally decided to show up. I’ve said my goodbyes, and I know that between Bellessa and Dana, the precinct’s going to be in good hands.” A sly grin appearing on her face, Anaya quipped, “If my bosses weren’t pleased at how I did things, wait until they get a load of how those two are going to run the show. They’re already planning on how to drive Eclipse off Illium.”
“Good.” V’lana replied, giving the asari detective a tentative smile, “Ready to go?”
Anaya answered, giving the spaceport one final look, “Let’s go.”
Tapping her comm again, V’lana commanded, “Avesti to Gallena. Two to beam up. Energize.”