Kendra was pissed. He was pissed at the universe in general, he was pissed at every goddamn asari on Illium, he was pissed at being pinned down and unable to achieve his mission. And most of all, right now, he was pissed at the little hologram of the gray-suited bastard which floated above his omni-tool.

"You have your orders," said Harper's image. "Get to it. I don't want to hear any more excuses."

Kendra ducked down further behind the cargo van which his team had used as transport. A round pinged off it, way too close to his head for comfort. "Excuses?" he snarled. "I have six men down. You told us it would just be Mordin and the doc. Mordin was going to be a handful as it was. We hadn't counted on the salarians."

Harper rolled his eyes. "So they hired some mercs. Do your job."

"These aren't mercs!" yelled Kendra. "These guys have shit I've never even heard of! We are not equipped for this kind of operation!"

Harper turned a little and yelled offscreen. "Where's that damned icepack?" He turned back to Kendra. "All right, I am contacting Quentin to request reinforcements. Keep Shepard's group pinned down until they arrive. I'm sure your boss will be thrilled to hear of your incompetence." The hologram winked out.

Kendra started to curse, but was cut short.

"Boss!" bawled one of his men. "We got an incoming cargo hauler!"

Kendra peeked around the other side of the van. The newcomer was just coming down to rest, about a hundred meters away from them. A standard-looking freight hauler, much bigger than their own van, and it'd landed with its rear doors facing them.

He was sure this wasn't the reinforcements which Harper had just promised. There had been no communication from the hauler, and the Blue Suns couldn't have gotten here this fast. "Take it out!" he yelled. There followed a crackle of gunfire, and the rear doors of the hauler shredded under the sustained barrage. Kendra had a weapon modified for concussive and incendiary shots, and he began applying both of them liberally to the hauler. Within thirty seconds, the vehicle was a shredded and flaming heap of metal. Kendra gave a little nod of satisfaction. Whoever these salarian bastards were, their extraction was now kaput.

He commed his team. "Keep firing at the loading dock. Do not let up. I'm going to double check the hauler." Kendra scuttled forward, trying to keep his own van between him and the loading dock. The fire and heat got more intense as he got closer to the wreck. There must have been something in the hauler which acted as fuel. He really hoped that there were a lot more of those salarian bastards inside, burning to death.

Just as he got within twenty meters, he heard a groaning noise. The tangled metal shifted. He took a half step back. Nothing else happened. He relaxed a little...just as something roared at him out of the flames. Kendra caught a final glimpse of a black and windowless shape.

The second-to-last thing that went through Wilt Kendra's mind was terror. The very last thing that went through his mind was the prow of the Big Wheel.

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Chakwas heard the roar of an engine, followed by a smashing noise and some screams. There followed was a fusillade of shots, which she hoped was the STG troops taking advantage of the distraction. She was getting ready to risk a peek when Rentola called out.

"All clear, doctors! Let's move!"

She reached over and grabbed underneath Shepard's armpit. Mordin held the other as they dragged Shepard towards Rentola. The salarian stood with the rest of his group at the far end of the loading dock. As she and Mordin approached, two of the salarians left the group and dashed around the side of the facility. Armored human corpses lay everywhere.

Parked behind the salarians was...

Well, the vehicle reminded her of the Mako from the original Normandy. This one, however, was bigger and jet-black. It had no windows that she could see. It also had a pair of smaller guns in the top turret rather than the Mako's large single cannon. The side of the vehicle slid open as the two doctors approached. Rentola and another salarian grabbed Shepard's feet and they all managed to sling the human into the vehicle. Mordin hopped up inside and dragged Shepard further in.

The two salarians came back into the loading dock. Each of them had one of their fallen comrades slung over their shoulders in a fireman's carry. Chakwas moved towards them and helped them get the bodies into the vehicle. Both of the salarians nodded their thanks at her and climbed in.

Chakwas was the last to board. The interior was utilitarian, as she expected, with seats lining each side of the vehicle. Mordin and one of the STG troops strapped Shepard into a seat while taking great care to stabilize his head. The two salarian bodies were carefully laid out at the rear of the interior.

"All in!" called Rentola as he slid the door closed. "Doctor Chakwas, you should ride up front. Karlon will need directions, and he has a full radio suite."

Chakwas nodded. She could maybe recontact the Normandy. Right now, her comm was still showing no contact back to base. Whatever the interference was, it might not be local to the clinic. If the source was actually at the ship, that was truly worrying.

She piled into the copilot chair. She was relieved to see that, in spite of what it looked like from outside, the vehicle did indeed have a large panoramic windscreen in the front. A small and cheerful-looking salarian occupied the driver's seat. She assumed this was Karlon. The driver gave her a casual nod and then stomped on the accelerator. She grabbed at the dash as the vehicle lurched away from the clinic at great speed. Chakwas began fumbling her safety harness into place.

"Any requests, Chief?" called Karlon back towards the salarians behind them.

"I think 'Run Through The Jungle' is appropriate, don't you?" replied Rentola.

Karlon nodded his agreement and touched a few controls on the control wheel. Music filled the vehicle. After a few moments, it settled into a down-and-dirty, bass-heavy beat that Chakwas suddenly recognized.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled over the music. "This is-"

"It's CCR, ma'am!" yelled Karlon back happily. "The finest art which humanity has ever produced!" He made a hairpin turn that made her heart skip. The vehicle began to really pick up speed. Chakwas leaned back and gripped her harness tight as John Fogerty began to growl.

"Whoa thought it was a nightmare, Lord it was so true..."

----------------------------------------

Miranda snorted and shook her head. "Cerberus is responsible for Pragia? Please. You will say anything at this point-"

"It's true," said Garrus. "We do have proof." He touched his wrist, and there a soft chorus of pings echoed throughout the hangar as everybody's omni-tool chimed in response. "I've just uploaded our findings to everyone. Take a look. We have nothing to hide. Not any more."

"No one look at it!" said Miranda. For once she looked worried. "This is a trick to get us fighting each other. It must be fake information." Several of the crew made as if to open their omni-tools, and stopped as she glared at each of them in turn.

Donnelly felt Zaeed's muzzle shift a bit against his side. "Chiefy," muttered the mercenary in a low voice only he could hear, "Please don't bullshit me. Is this for real?"

Donnelly gave a very subtle nod. "Sorry, Zaeed," he murmured back. "I wish it wasn't true. It sure would've made my life a lot simpler."

Zaeed looked over at Garrus. He called out more loudly. "Garrus. You've had my back plenty of times. I hope this is another one'a them. No bullshit?"

"No bullshit, Zaeed." Garrus folded his hands behind him and stood at parade rest, as if he was willing to wait for the heat death of the universe.

"Gunnery Officer Vakarian, you are relieved of duty," said Miranda. "Zaeed, please-"

"You paid me for my gun hand, Miranda," said Zaeed. "Not for my goddamn soul."

He took the gun away from Donnelly's ribs and turned to face Miranda. He wasn't quite pointing his weapon at anyone yet. The mercenary's face was set in a snarl that looked like he was getting ready to tear a bulkhead in half.

"Okay," said Jacob, "Let's not get angry with each other. We need to discuss this calmly."

Another ping echoed through the hangar. Donnelly looked over to see Thane paging through his omni-tool, presumably looking over their data from Pragia. He still leaned casually and his face looked bored, almost as if he was looking through the stock reports of a company he didn't much care about.

Miranda pointed her gun at him. "Thane Krios, you will-"

There followed an instant another, harsher chorus throughout the room. This time it was the clack of weapons being cocked. Samara and Grunt held pistols out and pointed at Miranda. Samara's other fist was sheathed in a blue aura. Zaeed had somehow produced another pistol out of nowhere and had one gun each pointed at Miranda and Jacob. Jacob had his gun out and pointing at Garrus, who stood unmoving. Kasumi sagged a little in Jacob's grasp. The rest of the crew backed up even further, hugging the bulkheads and storage crates. Most of them began to try to edge down out of any potential lines of fire. Kelly stood upright and didn't flinch one bit, which surprised Donnelly.

Thane didn't even look up. "It looks pretty straightforward," he said. "Jack actually did find some files during her Pragia expedition. The facility was supplied by a Cerberus shell corporation. Jack and the rest of them didn't tell Shepard, because of a fear of Cerberus surveillance built into Shepard's person. Given his decision to do the body scan, I imagine that our Commander has exactly the same fear." He shut his omni-tool off and looked down the muzzle of Miranda's gun without so much as blinking. He casually crossed his arms.

"Are you going to shoot me, Miranda?" Thane asked in his pleasant rumbling tone. He shrugged. "I'm already a dead man."

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Harper was not having it. "What do you mean, you lost them?" he yelled. He saw a few of the nearby mercenaries look over at the threadbare lounge chair where Harper had settled himself. The other Blue Suns were similarly using other pieces of broken-down furniture. The rest of the lobby had trash scattered here and there on its floor. The abandoned hotel which Harper was using as a base of operations was not exactly pleasant, but it did have the virtue of being out of the way.

The Blue Suns merc floating over his omni-tool shrugged. "We found Kendra's group slaughtered, but nobody else is here. The salarian mercs were extracted. There's a burned-out cargo hauler, but they must have had something else planned. We can't find it. Hogarth hacked into traffic control, and nothing has left the facility."

Harper rubbed his nose and settled the icepack a little more firmly onto his aching crotch. Did he have to think of everything? "Nothing has left the facility by air, you twit. They must be using a ground vehicle. Those aren't tied into traffic control. Get the air crew scanning for anything on the roads between the clinic and the Normandy."

He cut the connection and thought through his options. Another twenty minutes or so, and Subject Zero would have stewed enough. Then they were going to have a nice long talk, and then they would sedate her and take her on a nice little trip back to a proper Cerberus facility. That whole part of the mission was straightforward enough.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

However, the Shepard portion of the mission had suddenly gone south. And now Harper had to make a call that he really didn't want to make. The operative took a deep breath and stood. He set aside the icepack and walked out of the hotel lobby, ignoring the curious stares of the mercenaries. He found a little side-room which wasn't in use and shut himself in. He then touched a control on his omni-tool. "Reporting in," he said.

"Proceed," said The Illusive Man's voice.

"Subject Zero has not volunteered any information yet. I will be continuing the interrogation shortly. Shepard is still not in custody. Apparently they hired some salarian mercenaries to protect them during the scan at the clinic. Kendra's team is...well, gone. Quentin has given me two more teams to find Shepard. We still have the opportunity to get him. Let me know if you want me to continue the abduction attempt."

There was a brief silence. "The salarians aren't mercenaries," said The Illusive Man. "Shepard would use his own people first." He gave a thoughtful hum. "Keep up the attempt on Shepard," he continued, in a more certain voice. "It will provide a useful distraction. And tell Quentin to be ready to supply us more men if we should need it. As far as any of the Blue Suns are concerned, tell them that the salarians are just common mercs."

"I'm on it, sir," said Harper. The connection shut off, and he breathed a little sigh of relief. That had gone much better than he'd expected.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter," snapped Harper.

Corbin poked his massive head in. "Any new orders?" he asked.

Harper shook his head. "Not for this part of the operation. I'm starting the interrogation again in a few minutes. I want you and your men on the perimeter, just in case there's any rescue attempt. I want one fire team here in the hotel as backup. And make sure Jackson is ready, along with his crash cart."

"Are you sure I can't be in on the interrogation?" Corbin grinned in a very non-innocent manner. "It would be real nice to tear off a piece of that sweet ass. Just a little piece"

Harper resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Thugs were the same everywhere, no matter how fancy their armor might be. "No, Corbin. There will be no rape. Be a professional, and keep an eye out."

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Garrus flicked his eyes around the hangar without moving his head. A human expression came into his head, something called a 'Circular Firing Squad'. Given the way everyone was pointing guns at each other it seemed appropriate. He turned his attention back to Kasumi. She had her eyes focused on Miranda, and sagged boneless as Jacob held her arm twisted behind her. Garrus then looked up at Jacob himself. The armorer's face was impassive over the muzzle of his gun.

"That information is false," Miranda hissed at Thane. "It is lies concocted by these traitors-"

"WHY?" roared Donnelly. "What possible fucking motive could I have for this? I want to get the Collectors as much as you. You know that!"

"What I know is that Jack poured poison into your ears!" Miranda shouted back at him. "That unstable bitch has been a liability since she came on board! Stop thinking with your genitals!"

To Garrus's surprise, Samara lowered her gun. "Miss Lawson. I know both Jack and Marcus. They would not lie, not about this. I believe that you have been deceived as much as any of us. I also believe that, in some way, you already know this. Please lower your gun."

Miranda's muzzle didn't waver as it pointed at Thane. For his part, the drell looked like he was going to simply fall asleep. Garrus saw Grunt's fist tighten on his gun. He hoped the krogan wouldn't do anything rash. Garrus also knew that he himself didn't dare tense, since Jacob was watching him too closely. But he tried to at least think through his possible options once this situation went bad.

Kelly spoke. Tears were running from her eyes, but her voice was strong and dripped with contempt. "Tell me the truth, XO Lawson. Have I been working for monsters? Did you know about Pragia?" There was a general muttering of assent that began to fill the room. Miranda glared around the room, but the muttering just got louder.

"I'm telling all of you, there is nothing to this," replied Miranda. Kelly dropped her gaze, but only as a prelude to opening her own omni-tool. She paged through a few files as the muttering increased.

"Yeoman Chambers-" began Miranda.

Kelly cut her off with a derisive laugh. She shut her omni-tool and looked back up. "The data is just as Thane said. And it does look solid. It's certainly worth investigating further. Are you going to shoot me, too? Why not shoot all of us? What's your grand plan, Miranda?"

"EDI," said Miranda in a tight voice. "Authorize-"

"Miss Lawson," interrupted the AI in a frantic tone, "I know what you are about to say, and I please ask you to not do it-"

"EDI, authorize Directive Nine Twelve Sigma. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged," said EDI tonelessly. The hangar's lights went out, to be swiftly replaced by the red glow of emergency lighting. Garrus looked over in shock at Miranda, whose face was now an impassive mask. She lowered her pistol. Everyone stopped murmuring.

----------------------------------------

Jack breathed. It was the only thing which she could do right now. And it was her only way out of this. Samara had once shown her the way. Jack had to get back to that state of mind. The place where it was all far away. Somehow, she had done this before.

Back when she had almost killed Marcus.

She hadn't killed him. But Marcus was dead anyway. He must be dead, there was no way Cerberus would have left him alive. Ordinarily she would have wrenched her mind away and tried to focus on things that wouldn't hurt so much. Feeling was for chumps. She'd told Shepard that, once long ago. Emotions made you sloppy. And Jack practiced what she preached. She didn't fear her own death and hadn't for a long time. She had left others to die and never looked back. But she knew that this was different. She was different. Marcus had gotten to her. He had saved her ass during the fight over Haestrom. He'd helped her out with finding Pragia. Marcus had taken a vague notion of hers and started a conspiracy against those who had fucked over her life. And he'd never really pressured her over any of it. He had wanted her, for sure, but he hadn't expected sex as payment. It was a new experience for Jack. Between him and Samara, she finally knew what it was like to have actual friends.

And now...now he was dead.

Jack almost reacted on instinct to shut down the sadness. But from her training with Samara she knew she had to simply let her thoughts come and let the grief have its way with her. She could feel a tear running down her face. Marcus was dead. Jack kept seeing images of him, of his smile, of his strong and callused hands, of that far-off look on his face when he was really thinking through something. Her grief built and she thought she heard herself give a little sob.

Had she mourned Murtock when he had died? Or when she'd found his last message to her? Jack couldn't remember. She knew that she had been pissed off at him something fierce. At the time, she'd told herself it was because he'd let his feelings make him sloppy. Murtock had thought too much about a future with her. He had made so many plans that he'd taken his eyes off of what he was doing in the present. Now, in hindsight, she knew that she'd loved him. Her anger was just her way to deal with the grief.

Jack kept breathing. Slowly, oh so slowly, everything in her head calmed. There was nothing outside of herself. She felt one distant flicker of triumph. It began to feel as if she had a fever. Her breathing quickened. She could feel an odd warm sensation in her stomach. It was working. She was going to be able to burn the drug out of her system much faster than they expected.

Her last coherent thought was that she hoped she could shut it all back off when she was done.

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"Doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door..." Rentola softly sang along with the music resounding through the Big Wheel as he slipped on a set of targeting goggles. His field of view was now that of the turret mounted on the roof of the Big Wheel. "Four..no, five ground vehicles in pursuit," he said into the Big Wheel's intercom. The vehicles were little blue beetle-shapes in his field of view. Rentola touched a control, and the pursuers became outlined in bright yellow. Information began to scroll up quickly along the left side of his goggles. "The image recognition software matches them to five vehicles known to be owned by the Blue Suns. Karlon, hold your bearing steady for a moment."

"Copy, holding steady," replied Karlon.

Rentola turned his head. He heard a little whine of servos as the turret up top rotated to mimic his head's motion. His viewpoint showed the gray slab-like walls of warehouses flying by on either side. He swiveled his vision to center it on their pursuers. He looked more closely at the following vehicles and used his gaze to settle the targeting reticle on one of them. "Rounds away," he said casually and fired. The thump of the cannons shook the Big Wheel.

There was a bright flash against front of one of the pursuing cars. The car swerved, but quickly recovered and kept up the chase. "Looks like they have pretty good shields." he said. "Karlon, you may resume evasive maneuvers." The Big Wheel lurched as teh driver began to weave the vehicle. Rentola saw the bright flashes of gunfire from the blue ground cars behind them, and heard a few dull 'pings' from rounds bouncing off of their own shields. "They're just using small arms fire for right now," he mused.

"Suspect goal is capture, not destruction," said Mordin's voice. "Said so during initial abduction attempt at clinic."

Rentola stripped off his goggles. "What do the Blue Suns want with Shepard? They must be working for someone else."

Chakwas turned her head from her station at the front of the Big Wheel. "Unfortunately, I think I know who," she said. "I still can't raise anybody on the Normandy. There's no way the Blue Suns can be jamming us that efficiently. The communications must be getting blocked back at the ship itself."

Mordin looked grave. "Suspect Cerberus involvement, then? Yes. Logical conclusion."

"We need Shepard up and operational," said Rentola. "What is his condition?" he asked Mordin.

The salarian doctor checked Shepard's vitals. The Spectre's head and body remained strapped to one of the seats, almost as if he was a spinal injury victim. Given the way the Big Wheel was jerking around, Rentola was glad to see that Mordin had taken such care.

"Pulse good," said Mordin. "Blood pressure also nominal. Brain wave activity indicates that anesthetic is mostly worn off, but Shepard still unconscious. Estimate additional thirty minutes before Commander awakens."

Rentola pondered for a moment. If Cerberus was now hiring mercs to attack the Normandy's crew, then Shepard would want to be in on the action ASAP, even if there was a risk in doing so. "What can we do to shorten that time?" he asked. The Big Wheel took a particularly sharp turn and Rentola grabbed at a nearby handhold to keep himself on his seat.

"Could counteract remaining anesthetic with stimulant," said Mordin. "I have some that should be physically safe. Should have minimal side effects."

"Just be careful," called Chakwas. "With all of the cybernetics they have in Shepard, a stimulant could have some unknown interactions."

"Do it, please," said Rentola. "We need him up and functioning." Mordin nodded and began preparing the injection. As he did so there was a thump of something larger hitting their rear. The Big Wheel lurched alarmingly up onto its front wheels.

"That was a rocket," called Karlon. "Our shields are down!" . The Big Wheel lurched again and the interior was filled with harsher ringing noises as small arms fire began to smack into their exposed rear armor.

Rentola gave a frustrated sigh and slipped the targeting goggles back on. He touched a control and saw an inventory scroll up alongside his field of view. "We only have four of the sticky rounds?" he asked.

"All I could scrounge up on short notice, Chief," said Karlon. "I did score one of the bouncers, though."

"Ah, excellent." Rentola felt a little better upon hearing that. "Let's make the most of it, then." He now targeted the ground in front of the lead pursuer. Bouncer mines were fun to use, but did require a little bit of finesse in their aiming. "Bouncer away," he said, and then he saw the mine hit the ground and bounce slightly before coming to a stop.

That was not how the mines had gotten their name, however.

As the lead Blue Suns vehicle went over the mine, its proximity fuse promptly set it off. A huge gout of smoke and flame from underneath the lead vehicle catapulted it in an almost graceful-looking end-over-end somersault through the air. It smashed down on its roof and bounced in a much less graceful manner while glass and metal sprayed out from its sides. The other Blue Suns swerved to avoid the wrecked car.

"Hard right, if you can," said Rentola. He felt a huge lurch as the Big Wheel took a sharp turn. Their pursuers vanished from view for the moment.

"Shields recovering," called Karlon. "But we're still vulnerable."

Rentola switched the cannons over to the sticky rounds and looked at the buildings speeding by. He swiveled his view to the front. Ah, there was a narrower area which should work nicely. He set his target and shot two of the sticky rounds to either wall just before they reached his chosen bottleneck. They raced through, and then he saw a flicker of blue as their pursuers roared around the corner. They quickly reached the area just before the bottleneck, only to have the two sticky rounds explode in rapid succession. The first round's shaped charge took down the shields of the leading car, while the second's explosive jet punched right through the car's armor. The Blue Suns vehicle turned into a crumpled mess of flame and metal which tumbled along the ground and jammed itself against the narrower passage. The other pursuers came to a screeching halt at the sudden roadblock.

"That should slow them down," said Rentola. "Let's see if we can get out of this district." A whine overhead made him look up. He felt the turret come to a stop at the limit of its elevation, but fortunately the turret's camera had a better range of motion. A formation of three aircars shot by overhead. He took a picture of them and pulled off the googles.

"They have possible air support as well," said Rentola. "Let me see..." He called up the picture he'd just taken and used the same pattern recognition software from when he'd identified the ground vehicles. "Yes, they do have air support. Confirmed to be Blue Suns aircars."

"Odd that they are not sending more," said Mordin. "Hmm. Would expect Cerberus to use overwhelming force once initial abduction attempt failed..." the salarian doctor trailed off and stared into space. The Big Wheel rocked gently as Karlon made a relatively sedate turn. Rentola had his own thoughts, but held his tongue and let Mordin think it through. The doctor was considered an odd one even in the eccentric environment of STG. But it was also known that Mordin's analytical ability was second to none and that he never, ever got flustered.

Mordin suddenly jerked upright. "We are not primary focus. Must be another Cerberus operation going on," he said. "Attempt on Shepard is most likely a distraction." He turned towards the front of the vehicle. "Doctor, were there any times when you almost made contact?"

Chakwas looked a little frightened. "I think so. Back at the clinic, there was one moment when it looked like my signal had locked in. But I never got a response."

Mordin tapped one finger against the bulkhead. "Yes. That was deliberate. Cerberus wants Normandy team to know about this, but not be able to coordinate with us. Want us to panic and divide our forces."

"If that's the case," said Chakwas, "then things must be bad back on the Normandy. Do you think they know about our little, um, plot?"

Mordin nodded. "Estimate ninety-three percent probability that at least part of conspiracy has been uncovered." The salarian rubbed his head. If Rentola didn't know better, he would have sworn that Mordin actually looked worried. "Hope Tali and Marcus got changes to EDI in place. Otherwise success will be very...difficult."