Scars still rippled across the galaxy. People were beginning to rebuild, some did so because they sought closure, putting and end of tragedy behind them. While others did so in order to tackle their own grief. While others remained angry through their sorrow. Four years wasn’t enough time to heal, four years was still fresh in the minds of many. Countless lives lost. Countless sleepless nights for some. Buildings could be rebuilt, but the hearts and minds of people couldn’t be rebuilt.

This collective mission that gathered those of the SSV-Intervention, felt like that in some ways. A mutual few who shared hardships and trauma, whether or not they knew how much in common they shared. To some the SSV-Intervention seemed like the Alliance’s inability to let things go. A cause for vengeance that wasn’t necessary, the events that had spurred those on their destiny were from events that happened a few years ago. Couldn’t they let bygones be bygones? Some wondered.

Whatever the case may be, today the SSV-Intervention departed from the Citadel, collecting the select few who had been chosen to soar across the galaxy tracking and seeking an enemy with multiple heads. While one of the heads of this hydra had been cut off by Shephard, some years ago, some heads remained and had slithered back hiding in shadows. Cerberus was out there, somewhere. In the vacuum of space, hiding in wait, like the lurking predator they were. Some were chosen to track this hydra down. Some were chosen to safekeep this crew. Some were chosen to lead this crew. And some were chosen to safeguard the ship, keeping it maintained.

The SSV-Intervention glided through the stars. This was it. Those that had been chosen now looking out the windows as the Citadel became a speck. Just another piece of space debris floating alongside sparkly rocks they called stars.

Ka’Sirin stood behind the pilot of the cockpit, a young spunky, human woman who had been chosen for this particular role. Orange glasses sat on her face which was dotted with enough freckles she looked like the stars they were setting course for. Her uniform wasn't Alliance colored approved, pink, and white. If Sirin cared, she would have reported her. But Alysa was a bright, pink, speck in a sea of dark colored steel.

Alysa looks up at her, “You should do a speech?” she suggests excitedly.

Sirin studies Alysa for a second, she wants her to do a speech? She didn’t have the natural military bravado for something like a speech.

“What am I Commander Shephard now?” Sirin scoffed with an airy laugh.

“It’s not actually a bad idea,” the Navigator, Thomas states, overhearing their conversation, “Could lift the spirits of those who just left home.”

Sirin sighs. Fine it seems she outnumbered on this one. Turning on the Intercom.

“Eh hem,” Sirin clears her throat, “SSV-Intervention this is your acting captain Ka’Sirin Aemoani. I have been informed more - like pressured into giving a speech.”

“You’re not supposed to say that on the intercom,” Alysa states.

“Godde- I mean,” she clears her throat one more time, “I know the enemy might seem nebulas. They have many forms and Cerberus has slipped through our grip like trying to grip onto sand.”
Alysa gives her a thumbs up in approval.

“But this time, once and for all we will slay this mythical beast for good,” Sirin pauses, “For now get to know your fellow crewmates. Who knows when you will have the time to chat with each other once we reach our destination. That’s it, that’s all I have for a speech, I didn’t write one down.”

“I thought it was very good, poetic,” Alysa tells her.

“Comms are still on,” Thomas tells her.

Goddess. Fuck.

“Right, let’s go kick some Cerberus ass,” she clicks off the intercom. That could have gone much better, could have gone much worse too. Sirin sighs. Though her reasons for piloting this ship were not entirely selfless, as she was sure many of those that accepted the roles on the ship also didn’t choose to be here mostly for altruistic reasons herself.

Anyone who thought otherwise was fooling themselves if they believed themselves to be the next big hero. She wasn’t planning on going anywhere either to be replaced. Their current destination is Ebos in the Arghos Rho system. Perhaps she can selfishly find information on what she is looking to find as well.

For now it was best to get to know the crew before they arrived at their destination

Following the tedium of boarding, Cian had quickly and quietly made his way to the crew quarters. He was intent on grabbing a bunk and stowing what little personal belongings and clothing he still possessed. He’d already had his weapons and armour sent down to the armoury, excluding his pistol which he greatly preferred never to leave his side. Not so long ago being assigned to a new ship was quite the exciting, if not nerve-racking prospect for him. He would take the time to see and explore everything he could as soon as he was able, especially in regards to the armoury and kitchen. Quality guns and good grub were of utmost importance to a soldier's fitness after all. Having now been on quite the number of ships in his relatively short time in the Navy had blunted his excitement considerably though and these days he was satisfied to simply learn the ship as he saw it.

Slowly taking in the crew quarters from the doorway he had to admit that these were among the nicest he’d seen during his time in the service, not that the usual Alliance standard was very high. Still though, improvement was just that. Soldiers like him took what they could get. He glanced around a second more before quickly picking a bunk in the back left corner of the room and heading for it. Opening up the closest locker to the bunk he removed his already folded clothes from his bag and placed them inside, along with several novels, a pack of cookies, a bag of beef jerky and finally a holo-photo showing an angry looking woman with a scarred face and purple hair. The corner of Cian’s mouth twitched slightly upward as he placed the latter down and the motion caused its display to light up. He stared into the unflinching, angry eyes that matched his own as an uncommon feeling of warmth filled his chest. Someone more practiced in human emotion would have identified the feeling as a sort of gratitude, perhaps towards the person in the photo, or perhaps even to the universe itself for allowing her to still exist. Likely both.

Cian closed the locker and took a seat on the bottom bunk next to it, slowly stretching his arms out and massaging the aching muscles in them one by one. It was at that moment that the intercoms kicked on and the voice of their captain; one Ka-Sirin Aemoani came over them. Cian subconsciously lifted his left eyebrow as he listened to what in her own words was a forced speech, but at its conclusion he had to admit he’d heard plenty worse in his time. There were no small number of soldiers out there with buckets of bravado, a want for authority and the desire to give speeches expressing such but who didn’t quite have the charisma to pull them off so just seemed awkward and unqualified. Opposed to them she was at least concise, seemingly humble and to the point.

The redheaded man stood, cracked his neck and headed out the door, thinking all the while about what the kitchen might have high in calories and protein to aid his aching arms and stomach.

The departure of the Intervention had been timely if rather dull, as most boarding was. The only time Kaevius had found that getting ready to leave had any sort of real urgency was during the war, so it was nice in it's own way. Meant that everyone was, hopefully, well on their way to fixing the damages as best they could. If the Citadel had the capability of putting together a whole new security fleet aside from C-Sec they must not be doing too poorly in his opinion.

He'd moved ship to ground and back to ship enough during the war to have slipped into a easy routine. Get his personal effects stored away in his quarters, check the layout of the ship in general, but finish his walk about in the armory to see what kind of supplies they had for tinkering on his guns and armor. Presently he was rather impressed with the organization and supplies. That was plain for anyone to see by the gleam in his eyes and slight bounce to his step that most Turians didn't have. If he was going to be in a new place, he'd make the best of it. Besides, that meant there would be a number of new crewmembers to meet, and for once he wasn't stuck with a bunch of haughty members of his own race.

The intercoms rang throughout the ship as he began to make his way down to the armory and a series of amused chuckles escaped him as their captain began to speak. It was obvious she didn't have the sheer charisma that many of the captains had, nor the strict no nonsense attitude that his previous CO did, but he couldn't help but appreciate the unrehearsed honesty of it. Given his time at C-Sec and the amount of red tape they had to slog through to get even the smallest thing done, it seemed like the Security Fleet might have a bit more of a relaxed air to it. If that was the case he wasn't going to complain. This was going to be quite the trip though, he was certain of that.

It only took a brief moment for the door to the armory to open and his mandibles fluttered slightly as he was able to take in the familiar space. If there was one thing that was similar across most ships that he had been on it was the armory. If he was going to be working as the weapons specialist on the ship it'd be best to get to know the space right? He also made a mental note to check on the actual defenses of the ship as a whole, might be possible to make some improvements during their travel just in case Cerberus got ballsy.

A quick check of his own weapons left him free to settle into his space and get comfortable. He was sure he'd get to know the rest of the crew in time, but presently he was more concerned with getting familiar with his surroundings. There'd be time for fun later.

"One, two, three...hup!"

The problem with departing without any urgency was that many took the opportunity to cut corners during the boarding. As a result, a lot of the cargo of the SS-Intervention had been left in the shuttle bay, leaving a little over half a dozen crew mates to finish the job the logistics team back on the Citadel should have finished.

"One, two, three...hup!"

One such abandoned crate was dropped onto another stack piled next to it, two crewmates working in tandem to lift and set the heavy metallic boxes on a handcart to be moved around the ship with ease. Dusting off their hands, the two straightened out the box they were setting up and crouched over the next crate, getting a solid grip on the handles.

"One, two, th-OUCH!"

The box dropped to the ground with a heavy clunk as the handle bent the wrong way on the lift. With his partner swearing up a storm as he nursed his twisted fingers, the uninjured crewmate looked over in horror as the lid popped off and a heavy ten-inch-wide explosive shell for the ship's cannon fell out and started rolling away. Moving faster then he ever did in his life before that point, he chased after the runaway shell before it came to a stop by a three-toed boot.

"Lose something?"

The hapless worker glanced up at the towering figure of a magenta-clad quarian, spinning through the controls on her omni-tool as casually as she stopped an explosive shell from escaping. He immediately snapped to attention, his face turning pale upon realizing that he just dropped an explosive in front of the head of goddamned security on the ship.

"Hey man, did you catch the...whoa..." The second crewmate trailed off as he approached the two and also snapped to attention. "Uh, sorry about the commotion, ma'am." Looking down, the quarian regarded the shell curiously and, to the shock of the two crewmates, bent over and lifted up the heavy shell without a hint of effort on her part.

"No harm done, these things won't go off unless they have an electric current running through them anyway," Raela'Xanis vas Leyte, better known to anyone who asked as 'Roxy', remarked coolly. "I wouldn't play catch with it but a few bumps won't blow holes in the ship." Without warning, she suddenly tossed the shell at the two men, who managed to catch it even if the impact sent them stumbling and knocked the wind out of their lungs.

"Hey!" The turian overseeing the move shouted as he strode over. "Stop horsing around with the...oh," He also snapped to attention as he saw the quarian at the scene. "Sorry, Miss vas Leyte, I didn't..."

"No harm done, just a little mishap with the shells," the quarian explained away. "And it's Roxy, don't call me 'Miss' unless you're buying me dinner first."

"O-okay?" the turian replied, flushing slightly at the implication.

"Good. Now, quartermaster's is back that way right?" Roxy asked, jerking a thumb somewhere behind her. The three of them nodded and the quarian strode off in that direction, pausing next to another pallet as she noticed one of the crates big enough to fit a person inside was marked to go to the same place. With a shrug, she grabbed one end and lifted it onto her broad shoulders with a slight grunt, the other workers staring numbly as she kept on going, humming a small tune under her breath.

"..doo da da da forty fives, put a record on and it all comes back to me..." she hummed as she backed into the armory, shimmying to the beat and announcing her presence by loudly depositing the crate as Kaevius was inspecting his own weapons.

They were getting close to their destination, now. She sighs. Hope this goes better than the last fucking time and this team doesn’t get themselves blown up on day one. She flips on the comms once more, “We’re just about planet side, gets to the comms room for a briefing.”

Alyssa gives her a thumbs up, “Very nice. Very Captain-like.”

Sirin smiles, she has her moments, that’s for sure. She turns around, to head to the comms room. She stops in her tracks when she realizes Thomas is giving her a worrisome expression.

“There an issue already?” she asks.

“One of the assigned crew members never boarded,” Thomas begins.

Fuck. Already a member down. The Citadel really knew how to choose them for this mission. She hails Thomas to follow her, as she heads to the elevator.

“Remind me who we have,” she commands.

“Ciann has the most experience as a soldier, merc too at some point in his history,” Thomas is trying to keep his voice down so as to not alert prying ears.

“Right, he’s a given on the field,” she doesn’t want to know about the ground team already guaranteed to be on the field, “I don’t want to know about the given team.”

“Er,” Thomas taps his tablet quickly, “Let’s see-

-Sirin impatiently snatches the tablet out of his hands, while heading into the elevator, “I’ll do it myself.”

He looks embarrassed. Actually he looks like a wounded animal, as he pouts, and slightly hangs his head low. While the doors close, she flips over the tablet to look over the crew. Alyssa is the first name that pops up. Alphabetical order, huh. Well that’s an automatic No. Can’t have their pilot dying on them. Who else is going to fly this hunk of metal around?

No. Flip.

Absolutely not.

No prior combat skills. Thank you Citadel Counsel for that. No.

No.

Mmmm. Nope.

Doesn’t know how to use a basic handgun. By the goddess. Did they just scrape together the crew from the bottom of the barrel? Nope. Nuh uh.

Bad. Bad.

Accuracy is a little low. So they are going to shoot their eye out?! Can she find someone at least semi-competent-

-oh. This could work. Has had prior experience against Cerberus. Sure his marks aren’t the greatest and yes it’s a risk to just throw the Chief of Medical onto the field. But he can take care of himself and isn’t someone they have to babysit while on the ground. And she knew both Rith and Solorha. Neither of them would just send a Human toddler out onto a mission wearing diapers. He’d have some bite to him.

Taking a detour before heading to the briefing room, into the medical office. He’s currently looking over a tablet himself. Seemingly busy with note taking, a mop of messy brown hair, with strands of electric blonde from a bad dye job. As if he was trying to quickly cover up the blonde with brown.

“You’re needed,” she orders.

He looks up at her, “Needed?” He raises a brow.

“In the briefing room with everybody else,” she’s about to turn on her heels and walk out, but she notices him about to say something.

“While I am a qualified as an EMT, am I getting a little more than I am needed-

-oh I am sorry, did you want to retire in the medical office, have a nap, while everybody else did all of the work,”

He briefly scowls, “Not what I was implying. I’ve never been trained for ground work-

-well I guess you’re learning on the job,” she interrupts again, “Are you done whinging?”

His professional mask slightly slips, as he gives her a deep furrow of his brows, “It wasn’t whinging. I prefer clear and concise information.’

“You’ll get that in the briefing room,” really this was the so-called son of Rith? She expected better.

“Again, not what I meant, fine, I am coming,”



Of course now she thinks he’s a baby who complains about going onto the field. The issue wasn’t about going onto the field or not. What did he need to bring along? What medical equipment is she expecting? He means unless she expects him to go onto the field as a common everyday soldier or something. Which he is not?

You know who is, however, the big guy with the beard and bushy hair. Now that’s a proper soldier, has the look in his eye as well. The one Riegel knows all too well. The look that says they have seen it all, carnage, death, and so and so forth. That’s a bit dramatic, but it’s the truth. He’s seen it in the Alliance Soldiers he used to treat back at the Citadel.

Then there is-

-fuck the Goddess. Kaevius. The Turian he had been trying to avoid this entire time. If he could camouflage into the chair, he would. Kaevius knows every damn embarrassing secret about him there is to know and he can definitely use it as a moment's notice. He’s also very aware that he sang that damn song and if he has any copies left and distributes them amongst the crew - Riegel will cease to exist. He’ll find a way to utterly vanish.

Then there is the bulkiest Quarian he’s ever seen, that’s not criticism. He just didn’t consider they could come in Would and Could probably kick his ass packages. Most Quarians he knew folded like origami. She didn’t look like origami.

Only three people? Including him, that makes four? Where was their fourth? He’s the fourth?

Then there is Ka’Sirin Aemoani. She’s too the point, which is fine, if she wasn’t just giving you the tip of the knife and not giving you enough time to process she had had one. She’s younger than Rith and Solorha, that’s for sure. She too is athletically built, with the attitude of a Krogan in heat.

“Welcome to the SSV-Intervention, blah blah, I already did a speech earlier,” Ka’Sirin begins, she’s wildly waving what she is saying away with eager hand gestures, “You know why we’re here. To kick Cereberus in the face so hard the plastic of their visors digs into their face.”

That’s one way of putting it, he guesses.

“And we might have a lead on who is currently leading the new Cerberus. A beneficial benefactor, sent us information on a remote planet in the Arghos Rho System. Ebos. It was believed to be not inhabited, until recently. Someone has tipped us off on a Cerberus base. They seem to be working on a project. We’re not entirely sure what this project is. But your mission is to determine what they are working on, bring us any information you can, and destroy the base afterwards.”

“Er ma’am,” Alyssa can be heard on the intercom.

“Yes,” Ka’Sirin responds, “What is it?”

“Someone has already beaten us to Ebos, and it’s a disaster,” Alyssa responds, “Cerberus has set their own base to be destroyed.”

“Well get us down there as quickly as you can,” Ka’Sirin quickly turns her head, “On the ground Ciann, you’re in charge. You give the orders, you declare where you need to go. What matters is getting the information on what they are working on.”

Great. Fantastic. First day of work. And it’s not as he intended. Which was getting down all the known medical information of the crew and getting the office organized for all sorts of potential emergencies. Instead maybe he’ll die today. Or maybe he’s being melodramatic.





A sea of yellow grass swayed in the wind. A stiff wind, or maybe a wind with barely the strength to fully push the yellow wheat like grass. Only moving the tips instead. Creating tiny ripples on the surface of the planet. The sound of bullets ricocheting echoed from a window of a gray, dome facility.

This wasn’t worth it. Kaiser, huffed. His men were being ripped to shreds by a Cerberus mech.

“Get down!” he shouts at Lance, though it’s too late, as ammo rips through his bulletproof vest like it were made out of vapor. Blood splattering across the walls, clips ripping through metal like paper. Lokea ran off down somewhere? That hallway maybe. If he gets out of this alive, he’s tracking her down and shaking her off her Chips. She better not get that information and sell it to the highest fucking bidder. Without him.

He knew that bitch was going to betray them. An alarm goes off;





Shiiiit! Rolling to the nearest cover. Attempting to dodge the spray of clips from the mech. When he found Lokea, he is going to-

-He hears Ceberus marching down a hallway, “Quickly. There’s a shuttle!”

Another damn group is coming to join the party. Too bad the fireworks set for the show is going to kill anyone in the process if they don’t get the fuck out.

Mission 1: Welcome to Ebos

You have been sent to Ebos, to obtain data about Cerberus current whereabouts. You are supposed to get into the facility and scrub their computers of information about their current projects, and their current future plans. You were supposed to destroy the base afterwards, however, it appears a Mercenary group has arrived before you to capture the data themselves. However, it is likely they are going to sell the data, rather than turn it into the Alliance. Deal with the remaining Cerberus security ,who are currently trying to evacuate after a self detonation of the facility has been activated, and Mercenary group as you feel is necessary.

Secondary: Find out about the Mercenary group and who they were going to sell the information and determine what interested parties are involved.

Heat sink? Check. Scope? Check. Suppressor? Check. Everything else that might be needed for the upcoming mission? Maybe check.

It was a familiar, monotonous kind of work for Kaevius as he checked over his weapons and attachments to make sure that nothing had been left behind or misplaced when they arrived on the Intervention. So far it seemed that everything was put in the right place, so he clicked and locked all the needed attachments back onto his Viper and stowed it away in the gun locker where the rest of his weaponry was carefully placed.

He went to reach for the next when the door to the armory slid open and the loud bang of a crate hitting the ground caused his head to turn sharply to see who had come in. He expected one of the other members of the crew, obviously, but what he hadn’t necessarily expected was the Quarian wearing a pink containment suit.

His mandibles fluttered slightly as he looked from the crate to the Quarian and back again, “Drop something?” His tone was light and somewhat teasing as he met the glowing gaze of their Head of Security

“Might have. Don’t worry, it’s just inertial dampeners,” Roxy replied, pulling off the top and showing one of the squarish, oddly shaped objects off before stashing it away. “Could tie it to the tail of the ship and drag it behind us and it’d be fine.” Resealing the crate, the quarian glanced up at the alcove where the crate was supposed to go, pondering it for a moment before grabbing it again and hoisting it up with a slight grunt to put it away.

“Ah, well, you don’t need to prove that. Think the Captain would be a bit upset to find cargo hanging off the back.” He pulled his Vindicator from the locker next and started going through the same check as before; glancing up to watch the Quarian lift the crate with little trouble. Impressive. “Kaevius Mercarian by the way. Haven’t really exchanged names with anyone on the crew, but now seems as good a time to start as any.”

“Raela’Xanis vas Leyte,” the quarian announced, flexing her shoulders after lifting the heavy package. “Call me Roxy, easier to say. Nice to meet you!” She walked up to the turian infiltrator, taking a moment to glance over the turian’s impressive looking gun before offering her hand.

He reached out to shake the offered hand with a trademark Turian grin, “Pleasure’s all mine Roxy.” He hadn’t had much experience with Quarians aside from the ones that were on the Citadel for various reasons, pilgrimage mostly he figured, but Roxy was certainly different from those he’d seen. She was almost as tall as he was and that alone was enough to throw him for just a moment. “Ready to kick some Cerberus ass? Should be getting where we’re going before too long.” He returned his attention to his gun for a moment to check the heat sink and place it back where it belonged.

“Can’t get there soon enough,” she responded enthusiastically, immediately taking a liking to the infiltrator. “I haven’t been in a good scrap since the War, perfect chance to shake some of the dust off.” Roxy patted the holster on her right hip, a perfect match for the one on the other, both holding her dual Carnifexes. “And against Cerberus no less, can’t think of a more deserving bunch for an ass-kicking than them.”

“I hear ya. Thought about going back to C-Sec after the war but the thought of slogging through all the red tape again,” he shook his head, “Not worth the effort.” The Carnifexes were nice looking guns, he’d thought about getting himself one, but stuck with the Predator mostly. Not like he was really getting up close and personal anyway. He stretched out his shoulders and chuckled lightly at the Quarian, “Couldn’t agree more. Haven’t had very many encounters with them, but I’ve heard enough to know they’re getting what’s coming to them.” With luck it wouldn’t be too much trouble, but then again, when had they ever been lucky.

“Good point,” Roxy said, smiling slightly beneath her mask. Yeah, she could get along with this one.

“We’re just about planet side,” came the sudden and slightly harried voice of the commander over the comm system. “Get to the comms room for a briefing.”

“You weren’t kidding, we did get there soon.”

---

There were really only four of them going planet side? He had no idea what kind of numbers they’d be dealing with, but that didn’t seem like enough. There was himself and Roxy, of course, a bearded man who looked like he’d seen hell, and…oh yes. For someone who could read Turian expressions there was a smug look in Kaevius’ eye as he stared at Rigel. He knew the medic was on the ship but he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him. Now the question was how long he’d be able to stop himself from spilling one of the many secrets he’d gathered over the years working C-Sec.

There’d be time for pestering the medical officer later though. For now he listened to the brief given by the Captain. She had a rough and blunt kind of attitude that reminded him of his old CO, minus the superiority complex, and that was something he could get behind. Find information and destroy the base. Easy enough. Or it should’ve been. He turned his head up to the announcement on the intercom and then looked towards Roxy with an expression that told her it’s about what he expected. Nothing could ever be easy could it.

“Well if that’s not a blast from the past,” Roxy commented with a chuckle. “First mission and we’re dealing with mercs caught in the crossfire.” She prepped her weapons, twirling each Carnifex with the seasoned hand of an expert before holstering them again. She hadn’t brushed up on the merc factions that became active after the war to guess who this was, though it probably wasn’t the Big Three; the pirate queen kept her old gang under tight control, they wouldn’t be this far from Terminus for something like this.

Roxy’s senses suddenly heightened at a familiar sound; automatic fire raking across the metal hull of the shuttle. It dawned on her properly that this was the first time she’d been in a combat situation since that desperate fight on Earth that left her bedridden for months, and for a moment her worry got the better of her. Could she handle this, after everything that happened? Was she ready to jump back into the fire again? Her hand tensed around the familiar grip of her weapon, biotic energy wreathing between each finger.

Damn right she was ready.

“Sounds like we’re going in hot, probably catching Cerberus evacuating.” Roxy drew her guns with a flourish, glancing towards Kaevius prepping his own weapon. “Got my six?”

Kaevius pulled his Vindicator free, not really the time for posting up with a sniper unfortunately, and looked towards Roxy as she drew her guns. “Probably,” he grinned slightly, “We’ll see how it goes.”

“Works for me!”

The shuttle door flung open as the shuttle landed, scattered fire peppering the outside as Roxy suddenly drove forward faster than expected, returning fire with her dual pistols as she dashed to cover. A few heavy shots landed home, catching the retreating Cerberus goons unaware and forcing them to take cover as well. Good to be back, Roxy thought proudly as she watched them go down.

If there was one thing he hated it was cover based fighting. The Cerberus goons had posted up just as they had on the opposite side of the field by the base, and they weren’t moving. Kaevius followed Roxy out with a quick volley of shots to keep their heads down before ducking into cover himself. He moved to fire a few shots, but puffed out an annoyed breath as he immediately had to duck back down as the soldiers peppered the opposite side of his cover.

He waited for a moment of quiet and leaned around the side where one of the soldiers was slightly visible and grinned. With a flick of his wrist and a quick flash of light the Cerberus soldier’s armor burned with red hot plasma and the additional burst of fire sent him screaming and writhing to the ground. It was enough for Kaevius to vault his cover and duck behind where said soldier had been. If he could get around to flank then it would be easy enough to pick them off, but that was easier said than done.

A few more quick triple shots from his Vindicator left at least a few of their enemies questioning whether or not to stick their heads up again, and a few more not able to do so any longer. He huffed out another annoyed breath before glancing over at where Roxy was. “How many have you got?” He called out to her as he shot another soldier through his visor and the man dropped dead to the ground.

“At least three confirmed!” Roxy called back, not even flinching as sparks from a shot grazing across the metal railing across her visor. Catching sight of some Cerberus soldiers approaching with heavier weapons, she performed a biotic dash towards a pile of equipment and hook kicked a heavy fuel barrel in their direction, putting them on the backfoot as they tried to dodge it.. “Four!” she shouted as one soldier went down clutching at his chest as a shot landed home.

“I’ve got at least five!” He called back to her as another soldier dropped to a second incinerate. It really was one of the worst ways to die, but they made the mistake of wearing heavy armor so too bad for them. He watched as the barrel went flying through the air and looked back at the Quarian in faint surprise. Maybe he should’ve read the dossiers on everyone else in the crew. There were way too many soldiers here for this base to be anything but important. Now they just had to figure out what they were hiding.

A wayward shot from one of the Cerberus soldiers hit far too close to his head for his liking. He ducked further down behind the cover before doing a quick survey of the area. There wasn’t a clear shot to get around behind them. Not while he was visible anyway. A quick tap to his omni-tool shut off his shield regen, not that he’d taken any hits, and the comfortable feeling of his tactical cloak slipped around him. Now this was more like it. He ducked around to the side and took a run towards a stack of crates closer to the rear of the area. If he could get up on those, he’d have the perfect sniper perch. It was just a matter of getting there.

Roxy had more pressing matters to deal with as another side door opened up and something big charged out. At first she thought it was a Krogan, but on second glance she recognized the familiar look of a Hahne-Kedar hull; it was a mechanical infantry unit, a staple of Cerberus armies before the Reapers and after. Roxy expected to see a couple FENRIRs and LOKIs, but this looked like a VALI, one of the newer generation mech infantries built around shock tactics. More importantly, it was coming right at her like a rachni with a bad attitude.

Rolling out of the way in the nick of time, the VALI demolished her cover as it smashed through, lifting its heavy scattergun to make short work of her. Blasting away at the mech’s arm until the heatsink popped, the heavy gun limped to one side before firing off, turning the floor next to Roxy into scrap metal.

“Annihilating target…” the mech snarled, wrenching its arm back to fire again.

“Like fuck you are, kiyet!”

Drawing her hand back swimming in blue biotic light, Roxy flung herself forward and slammed her fist into the machine’s chest, the impact shattering the armored carapace and launching it into the wall with a massive crash. The machine let out a garbled mess of syllables as it slumped to the ground, its neck bent out of shape and the circular red lights flickering.

“Even!” Roxy called out as she jumped back into cover, recovering her pistols and reloading as the Cerberus soldiers regrouped. Good to be back, she thought to herself as weapons fire bracketed her position.

There is always a fucking catch.

Just a few days ago, Lokea had accepted a job offer that came in the form of a mechanical bird that landed on her balcony. While sketchy, the job being offered was quite easy for someone with skills like hers. It paid out a lot of credits upon completion, and it came with a sign-on bonus too. She knew it, her boss knew it and her best friend knew it. But the money she was currently making wouldn’t clear her debts out fast enough, and she couldn’t wait for the day in which she could finally afford things for herself. So she took on the job.

The job was simple. Infiltrate the facility on Ebos, find the terminal with the least amount of personnel nearby, plant the worm, get the data and get out. And that is exactly what Lokea did. She and a dozen other halfwits who signed on infiltrated the building together, and all the asari had to do was just activate her tactical cloak and walk quietly. Her entirety shimmered in the light before she almost completely disappeared, leaving behind only some traces of light refraction in the air. She quietly walked up to a terminal, activated her omni-tool and slipped the virus in. However, the clone’s confidence immediately vanished the moment the terminal booted up. The splash screen’s logo is something she’s seen before, one that belonged to a rather vile splinter faction that hampered the Alliance’s efforts to bring the galaxy together against the reapers.

Cerberus.

Despite that, Lokea still managed to get the data and slip out undetected. She was on her way back to the rally point when all of the sudden, an alarm blared. Someone, she didn’t know who, tripped something and now the whole base was on combat alert. At this point, Lokea was far enough away from anyone or anything to be pinned for this, but that soon became the least of her concerns when the klaxon was accompanied by gunfire and explosions. She hurried over to the rally point, and by then her tactical cloak had deactivated. Kaiser, Lance and several of her other teammates were there, gathering up and taking defensive positions. She was just about to talk to them before a large explosion separated her from them. Her armor and its kinetic barriers shielded her from the shrapnel, but the blast still knocked her on her ass. In the hail of gunfire that came after, the asari only got a glimpse of the Atlas mech that was bearing down on her and her teammates. Not even taking the time to see if there was any infantry supporting it, Lokea let her instincts take over and bolted down the hall.

It didn’t take long for Lokea to get lost within the vast Cerberus facility. While the room she infiltrated earlier wasn’t that far from the shuttle docks, she doesn’t really know where she ended up in the grand scheme of things. She just ran to where the gunfire and explosions weren’t at, and try to figure things out from there. Her sprint slowed to a jog, and eventually she stopped to catch her breath. The moment she looked back up, two Cerberus assault troopers came down the hall and stopped in front of her. An announcement came up on the intercom, and the three of them listened.

”Please evacuate to the nearest emergency exit. The building is set to detonate in ten minutes.”

Lokea groaned and rolled her eyes. ”Easy credits my ass.” She muttered to herself, her voice a little muffled from her mask. Her green eyes fell to the two assault troopers. “So, would you two be kind enough to show me to the shuttle bay?”

The two assault troopers raised their firearms in response.

Lokea sighed. “Alright then, forget I asked.” She quickly raised a biotic aegis with her left arm, and the two troopers opened fire. The automatic gunfire produced a lot of dimples in the near invisible biotic shield, the asari calmly and slowly walking towards them as they shot at her. The aegis stood firm as she approached them, and before long, both of their Hornet SMGs overheated.

In a blink of an eye, Lokea’s biotic shield morphed into a powerful force surrounding her left fist, which was then sent towards the lead trooper. A biotic left hook made contact with his head, followed by a right hook with Lokea’s electrified omni-blade. The first blow was already fatal to the trooper, the second one making contact before his limp body crumbled to the ground. Before the second trooper could bring his weapon to bear on Lokea, she rushed him, and delivered a powerful biotic tornado kick straight to his head. The trooper was knocked straight to the side as if he were a ragdoll, and with a CRUNCH! his body crumpled up against the wall and fell down in a heap.

Lokea checked her surroundings one more time. As she did, she drew her Carnifex pistol, hoping to be ready for any other encounter that came to her. One of the nearby signs down the hall pointed towards the shuttle bay. Following the signs, she activated her radio and spoke to the rest of her team. Assuming any of them were left alive, that is. ”Venom Rose to anyone alive on this frequency. The objective has been secured but the whole operation has been compromised. In nine minutes this facility will be wiped off the map, so I suggest that the rest of you get your asses moving. I’m heading to the shuttle bay, and I’ll see if I can get us a ride out of here. Venom Rose out.”



Someone got to the data before him. Glad they weren’t entirely incompetent in the matter, however, it was unfortunate it had come to this. If it had simply been these Cerberus dogs he would have trusted things to the mercs, but now the Citadel was involved. He didn’t trust them enough to keep the data. In some ways, those aligned with the five-armed space station can be just as savage and ruthless as this three headed dog. They’ll likely wipe out the mercs, or cut a deal with them if they were feeling nice.

The data was likely more secure with him. Once he learned of what Cerberus was working on, he’d be the one best equipped to get in, and destroy it.

By the way things sounded, it was a complete mess. The mercenary team was locked in an intense fight with Cerberus mechs and security personnel, and the fighting raged on around him while he searched the facility. It didn’t phase him, he simply passed through all of it, invisible and unnoticed. The most capable of the crew-

-an explosion off somewhere. Hm. This was getting dangerous and cockiness wasn’t going to return the data to him right now.

The Surveyor returned, checking his datapad. So a ship flying Citadel colors arrived and Cerberus was tearing their base apart before it could explode. It seems as if their little clone friend had found the data. Best for him to go pay her a visit.



“You made short work of them.” Proxy declared through a digitally distorted voice.

Lokea twisted around to the source of the voice, aiming her gun at him. Seeing that he didn’t look like any of the Cerberus personnel she saw here at this base, her finger inched away from the trigger. He also didn’t look like any of the mercs she worked with either. She looked him up and down, keeping her gun trained on him. ”Who are you?” The asari calmly asked, her left hand joining her right to stabilize her aim.

“You know who I am.” He responded.

It took a few seconds, but Lokea made the connection. She knew the voice that gave her this job. This ‘easy’ job. Her eyes widened, and she lowered her gun immediately. “You!? Wha…” She looked around for a moment before her eyes returned to Proxy. “What in the name of all things holy are you doing here?”

“The situation is a bit more complicated now. Citadel-aligned forces have arrived, and I’d like to assure that what is mine gets to me.” He stated as he extended his hand. “I’d like to point out that I haven’t drawn out my weapon. My gesture is in good faith. I’ll still forward the payment to you and your surviving teammates.”

In regards to the situation getting complicated, Lokea simply glared at him. Brilliant observation, genius. She thought to herself as he spoke. Once he held out his hand, Lokea’s glare remained. “Nowhere in the job description did you say that we’d be facing off against a Cerberus remnant.” Lokea said, tightening her grip on her pistol. There was a moment of silence that was then interrupted by a distant explosion. Lokea turned to the source, before she turned back to Proxy. “You’ll get the data once you hand me the credits you promised. But for now I think we have more important things to worry about.”

Proxy turned his attention to yet another explosion. Did security not have a modicum of understanding to blow up your base after you get out of dodge, not before? Yes, he tripped the alarm, but he didn’t think their helmets restricted their brain cells to the point where they’d have mechs tearing through steel like paper.

If Proxy was honest with himself, he didn’t care whether the mercs, Cerberus or those with the Citadel got out of here alive. It wouldn’t matter to him if they all died, that was the point after all. What was more beneficial to him at this moment? Her trust, so he could get the data without her cutting a deal with those Citadel cronies, or forcefully taking the data from her and running?

“Very well.” He stated. “Before you go to the shuttle bay, there is something that you should know. A vessel flying Citadel colors is currently landing there, and it’s likely that your surviving teammates will participate in the bloodbath that will happen there. If you care about their lives, you should direct them elsewhere.” The man looked down a hall adjacent to them. “I landed somewhere less conspicuous. Follow me.”

Lokea listened to him, and bounced his words around in her head. Every bone in her body, as well as the voices of her friends, were telling her not to trust him. But considering the current situation the both of them were in, sticking with him was probably her best bet. She was sure that even if she surrendered to the Citadel-aligned forces, she would get nothing for her efforts other than a short stay at one of their ‘premium’ jail cells. She sighed, nodded and spoke into the radio once again.

“Venom Rose to ALCON, Citadel-aligned vehicles have arrived at the shuttle bay, and are likely arriving in force. I’d suggest exfiltrating through the same way we got in, and get the fuck out through there. Venom Rose out.” While reusing their infiltration route wasn’t the quickest, it might just be the safest. Lokea holstered her pistol, switching it out for her Avenger assault rifle, which she pulled from her back and shouldered once it was ready. She sighed and looked straight to Proxy. “Alright boss. Lead the way.”

Proxy nodded to the asari, and the two began their exfiltration.

Inhaling.

1

2

3

Exhaling.

1

2

3

It isn’t like he hasn’t done this before. Doing something entirely reckless. Something that could get him killed. But it feels different when it’s an order he’s been given. Sitting in the shuttle, waiting for them to land, feeling a little sick from anxiety. Trying not to show it though.

Inhaling.

1

2

3

Exhaling.

1

2

3

The shuttle lands. The doors swing open. While everyone was likely preparing their weaponry. He fit a small bag with whatever medical equipment he could. But there was a likelihood that he’d have to fight as well. No one likes a guy sitting on some containers, cheering them on, while sipping tea.

The alarm is what he hears first. Brings him back to the Citadel:

Then the sounds of gunfire register.

It isn’t like he hasn’t done this before.

His objective primarily has to provide backup whatever way he can. This isn’t the same as being on the Citadel where his primary objective is to heal the injured. If the team needed the support, he’d be there swiftly.

Inhaling.

Looking at his omni-tool.

Exhaling.

Get to cover.

While Keavius and Roxy-

-apparently come in guns blazing and start showing up everyone. Cool. Cool. At least if he’s going to puke, no one is going to notice while Roxy is tearing through mechs. Now then, a situation like this requires mood mus-

-Click. Whoomp.

I mean it was obvious he was going to get shot out by someone. If you’re going to shoot someone, don’t do it with your pants down so to speak. This guy is just trying to get away from Keav and Roxy. Then tried to pick Riegel off, while cowering?

Riegel puts up his finger, “Can you give me one second? I am just trying to fiddle with this.”

Man’s finger pressed on the trigger. His shields can take it and he just-

Click.

Can this guy piss off? Don’t go running from the Turian clicking his mandibles, Keavius is going to shove a rifle up his ass if he heard him say that - that’s why he’s thinking it, angrily peppering you with bullets. Then try to pick off the guy wedged in the corner trying to take cover to make you feel bigger about yourself because of the big bad Quarian.

Got it-

-Bang.

Whoomph.

Can’t rely on his shields forever and this guy is irritating him. Feeling the surge of energy. It courses, pulling, and tugging around his arm. Extending out, like a leash, wrapping around the man in front of him. Lifting him into the air, “I asked for a second. And because you were pissing in your armor, you thought you could pick on me. Buzz off.”

Tugging at the leash tethering the man. Then pushing it away. He goes sailing across the railing. To splat somewhere to his doom.

Seriously though.

Who said go into the facility and start blowing up mechs?

Some of us are over enthusiastic. But he’s been sitting here pissing in the wind. Go team. Go. No one likes a guy sitting in the corner, Riegel. No one likes a show off either, jumping over the cover. So, what are we looking at for a facility?

Ducking behind another grip used to anchor down a shuttle. Nice dome shape. Landing pad. Long narrow hallway.

Long narrow hallway likely leads to the big dome. Big dome leads to an elevator. And running along the ship grips trying to stay as low as possible, looking down over the railing from the landing pad. There’s an underground portion to the facility as well. And they have 8 minutes now? Is this a death trap? Should the Captain count her losses and pull back?

There are a ton of outcomes to this situation.

One of them being they all die in a burning inferno.

All right they are going to waste time if they just keep shooting at the facility of guys. So? What are their options?

If I were Cerberus, where would I keep highly secure data? If I was smart, it would be down below - so underground. And there are still Cerberus guarding the hallway to where the elevator is likely. It looks like they are going to have to make a door then?

Pushing off the railing. Looking around. Trying to keep as low of a profile as he could, he doesn’t have one of those cloaks. He could kill for a cloak right now.

Sneaking under the grips. Finding cover behind whatever piece of plaster he can find. No one has noticed him in the frenzy. Looking around, what is the perfect device for ramming through them and to get down that hall? There’s the shuttle they came in. That would be bad they wouldn’t be able to leave-

-but you know what wouldn’t-

I spy with my little eye a little shuttle with Cerberus’ name on it. It’s hideous, white, and yellow. Yeah that would do. While gunshots ring out. Whizzing past him. As he continues to crouch, fuck his knees. No one has noticed him since landing. Good.

Sneaking behind their own shuttle, to double sure he hasn’t been noticed. He’s just using the chaos to not be noticed. Okay here goes nothing, this thing is a lot bigger than it looked from all the way over there on the other side of the landing pad.

But if Roxy is going to blow up mechs, then he might as well show his hospitality too.

One;

He feels the force surrounding him like it usually does. He imagines it wrapping around him.

Feeling the kinetic force pulse and pull. Hard to control. Wanting to be released.

Two;

He imagines reaching out. Tugging and tightly gripping the shuttle. This isn’t the same thing as a person. And the two forces repel each other. Pushing against him. Fighting him in fact. If this works it's going to be so worth the migraine after.

Three;

It’s fighting him. It wants to be released and he doesn’t think he can hold onto it any longer anyway. Open palm, sliding it across the land pad-

-now everyone is notices-

-but it's a bit too late when the shuttle goes skidding across the cement. Making a horrendous screeching sound. Sparks under it’s metal belly. He couldn’t quite lift it, but there was enough forced he punched through it to push it through-

-Now Cereberus’ soldiers are trying to get out of the way-

-you guys might want to!” Riegel calls out, I mean it’s kind of obvious they’ll want to move.

Cerberus’ soldier go toppling over onto each other, some go over the railing-

-the shuttle being slammed and pushed into the hallway leading to the center, rips through the metal, the door goes bent, the hallway begins to cave in and under.

The shuttle continues sailing for a bit, spinning from the momentum and force. Breaking through the hallway and coming to a stop. Teetering halfway between tipping over between the outside edge of the hallway, now collapsing on the right hand side, and hanging for dear life partially inside.

“So, I, uh, no more Cerberus guarding the door,” he gives a sort of half smile.

Yeah he’s going to get chewed out for that one. I mean, the base was going to be blown up anyway.

---

“Venom Rose to ALCON, Citadel-aligned vehicles have arrived at the shuttle bay, and are likely arriving in force. I’d suggest exfiltrating through the same way we got in, and get the fuck out through there. Venom Rose out.”

This entire thing has had set up written all over it since he got here. Now they are evacuating? Did they even get the data? Probably. She wouldn’t be telling them to get the hell out of dodge if that were the case. His men, of who were alive, had been fighting their way to get to the landing pad. The original plan, his plan was just to take what wasn’t his and take a Cerberus shuttle and get the hell out of dodge. Tch, If he didn’t respect her enough he would just ignore the order and go with his plan.

“You heard the lady-

-What in fucking spa-

-the hallway they had been trying to seize from Cerberus to get to the landing pad-

-what crazy son of a bitch chucks a shuttle-

-the thing spins-

-fish tailing, ripping through metal, sounds like they are going with Venom’s plan then.

Kaiser immediately begins pivoting on his heels, heading towards, which way? The hall or? Take the elevator to the service tunnels underneath? Shit. Citadel is going to be on their fucking ass if they don’t hurry up, he saw their damn shuttle through the windows.

When Cian was a teenager first setting out on the blood-splattered road he walked, simply thinking about the hurt he was about to cause, even the night before laying in bed, was enough to get a horrid sickly feeling in his stomach. It would get so bad he’d think he was about to vomit and would have to sit up in bed all night, his thoughts running a thousand miles an hour going through every possible scenario, making sleep a distant dream.

After his first murder he’d gone home, went up to the bedroom he’d shared with Violet, Sean, Michael and Sophie for all his life and sat down on the floor, his back against the hard metal frame of one of the bunk beds. He wasn’t sure what time he’d gotten in that night but when Sophie woke up for school the next morning he was still sitting there, eyes wide and staring at blood stains on the wall. Blood that had come from his hands two weeks previously, when he’d taken the rage and sorrow of Michael’s death out on the inanimate.

Sophie had insisted on staying home from school that day. She made him soup and forced him to watch early morning cartoons with her, such ones that had been his favorite before he’d grown older and too hard and stupid to appreciate the time spent cuddeled up with his younger siblings. Sophie was only a few years younger than him but she felt so incredibly tiny and delicate nestled under his arm. He looked down at her with a gentle smile on his face and apologized for not doing this with her in recent times. She in return beamed up at him, adding a trace amount of sarcasm to her voice as she said he was forgiven and that he was still probably one of the best big brothers in London.

For some reason the thought flashed across his mind of the boy he’d murdered the previous night being in the exact same scenario, with his adoring little sibling staring up at him. The gentleness of his smile must have vanished because next Sophie asked if he was okay, her voice soft and worried. The last thing in the entirety of the universe he would do was allow this little angel to witness the mental break of yet another parental figure. With substantial effort he swallowed down the lump in his throat, hardened his threatening to water eyes and slowly nodded, playfully squeezing her cheek as he killed a part of himself.

—

Cian knew himself well enough to know he had a tendency to get somewhat melancholic before he had to kill. A shadow of the little good he once had in him, he reckoned. Shaking his head free of old memories he focused on switching the ammo blocks on his weapons. His rifle, shotgun and pistol would all benefit from armor-piercing ability in this fight. Finally looking up, he ignored the small arms fire on the shuttle and addressed the small combat squad.

“Standard Cerberus units favor heavy armor and typical small unit squad tactics. Do what you can to panic them and break up dug in clusters and they’ll be much less effective… That means biotics, grenades and anything unconventional you can do effectively without too much risk. If you’re a sharp shot, kill what assault captains and centurions you see first. That’ll fuck up unit cohesion and impede their ability to advance… Otherwise, same as any other fight. Stick to cover and don’t get too cocky. These pricks tend to be good shots.”

Cian stowed his shotgun on his back and his pistol on his hip, keeping his rifle in his arms as they lowered down to the landing zone. It was time to see if this rag tag group had any fire in them or if this would be another bloodbath where he’d barely get out with his own ass.

The shuttle door slid open and he was quickly out after the others, his M-96 Mattock already barking off rounds and sending slugs into the faceplates of a CENTURION and an engineer as he moved into the first bit of cover he saw. He quickly removed a grenade from his belt and lobbed it across to a small squad of enemies. Popping up as they scattered away from it he continued to move up, shooting another soldier twice in the chest and once in the head before the grenade detonated and sent the others flying. He shot those still alive, squirming on the ground before once again ducking into cover.

Not far to his right the Turian and Quarian were busying themselves fucking shit up in the best possible way. They weren’t exactly perfectly synchronized and strategic like most professional units, but no one could deny the effect their unorthodox methods were having on the enemy force. At one point Cian raised up to blast a mech and watched as the Quarian, Roxy took it out in close quarters melee. The sight was such that he had to remind himself to duck back into cover before he got shot. The Turian's style reminded Cian a lot of his own, which for someone as sure of his own abilities and competence as he'd become over the years was a pretty high complement.

The surprises didn’t stop there either. Even as he watched he couldn’t quite believe for a few seconds that the somewhat willowy looking doctor was such a powerful biotic, even mouthing the words “What the fuck.” as the shuttle slid forward.

Not one to waste such an opportunity, Cian burst out of cover and ran along behind the sliding shuttle, using its large frame as cover as he snapped out and shot retreating or semi-crushed enemies and mechs, stopping to duck as it crashed through the hallway and finally came to a stop. He slowly came to a stand, scanning for movement ahead. It seemed for now though that everything was still, at least on the LZ and the hallway.

“That was some good thinking, doc. We grunts generally don’t train to dodge shuttles… Very unconventional, very effective.” Cian complimented, struggling to keep himself from chuckling at such an unexpected end to this part of the fight.

“Let’s all keep up this speed and aggression and maybe we’ll make it out of here with a minute or two to spare…” Cian looked ahead through the hallway and into the dome. “Looks a lot less narrow in there, but the same rules apply. Cover each other with cross-fire, biotics, whatever you’ve got. We’re kicking ass, let’s keep to this standard.”