Chapter Text
Strike while the iron is hot
“The AI has taken the bait. It is following the trail just as I predicted. Soon Project: MEDUSA will be complete.” Baroness chuckled. Her eyes followed the little holographic dot of the SR3 as it jumped to another system leaving another destroyed facility in its wake.
“Ma’am, we just lost the Ionics facility on Sur’Kesh. That’s the fourth one this week.”
In the last three days, they had lost a string of facilities to the efforts of the Normandy crew. Commander James Vega living up to his boxing roots. They had backed him into a corner and he had come out swinging. Hitting first, hitting fast and hard and making damn sure those hits landed. But it did not bother her in the slightest. In the grand scheme of things, losing a few facilities was nothing the cause couldn’t recoup. Like any scientist, she knew you couldn't make a prototype without first breaking a few wrenches. The Baroness had bided her time, spinning an impenetrable web, watching from the shadows as the punch drunk Normandy circled and flew lazily into her trap like a fly, fat with carrion. And now she would feast.
=====
The morale on the Normandy was high. Higher than it had ever been for a long while. They were taking the fight to the bad guys and winning.
Within the last three days they had destroyed four Son of Man facilities. Each one a breadcrumb on a trail with Shepard at the end, EDI as their bloodhound, working day and night. Her processors permanently ran the redline trawling through mountains of data. Swimming through the extranet, chasing every wisp of smoke, following every thread, hunting down every scent no matter how small. Even she was feeling the strain. The ship, her body resonated with her mood. The internal temperature permanently raised by three degrees. Its cooling banks pushed to maximum capacity. Server nodes on the brink of turning to slag as she pushed every micron of silicone to the absolute limit.
Cracking the supremacists network had taken everything she had and then some. Multiple layers of firewalls and glitchtraps distributed through botnets and run through servers to hell and back. She had sacrificed an alarming number of fragments just to penetrate the first layer of encryption.
Shipping manifests, cargo routes and material costs flooded her processors as the last barrier shattered. She swam through the data, sorting, sifting, searching for something. Anything, to get Shepard back. A flicker of data caught her eye. A tiny bead glinting in the distance, flashing like a piece of glass buried in the sand.
Finally, a thread to tug on. Now all she needed to do was follow it.
Coriolis III
On approach to suspected SOM facility
"Coming up on the facility now." Joker reported, hands flying over the controls. Known for its insanely deadly atmosphere, Coriolis III was a large gas giant tidally locked to a class 6 pulsar sporting a healthy green miasma of extreme radiation and flesh eating bacteria for an atmosphere. Initial scans had revealed massive deposits of liquid eezo deep within the planet. After multiple failed expeditions from 30 different mining companies, all extraction efforts were abandoned and the stations and equipment left to degrade and eventually disintegrate in the crushing gravity of the planet's inner layers. Evidently Cerberus had taken advantage of the lack of oversight and moved in.
Blazing green lightning flashed just off the bow of the ship, sending the automatic polarization of the bridge windows into fits.
"Whoa!" Joker jerked on the controls, swerving the ship around the inclement weather. "If you notice the captain has turned on the fasten seat belt sign, please return to your seats and settle down. We are expecting some slight turbulence." Joker said over the PA, turning to James he cracked a wry grin.
"Don't worry commander, turbulence has never brought down a starship."
James just nodded and gripped the headrest harder. The Normandy shaking and rumbling around them.
Lighting flashed again, illuminating a pair of deadly shapes in the fog. At the same time alarms sounded and the console lit up like a Christmas tree. "Joker!" Vega exclaimed, an edge of worry creeping into his question.
"Reaper drones with missile lock!" Joker replied, pulling the Normandy into an evasive roll. "They bring down ships all the time!"
"Break, break. Smoke in the air. Smoke in the air. Evade. Evade. Evade." EDI slouched back, her fingers merging with sockets concealed in her seat's armrests. Her eyes blazing with cerulean fire.
"PDC online. Line me up Jeff." EDI calmly reported. An electrified grin on her face.
"Oh I love it when you talk dirty to me babe." Joker shot his girlfriend a flirty kiss.
Diving into a vertical spiral, the Normandy groaned her protests as her airframe wrestled against the thick primordial soup of Coriolis' upper atmosphere. Blue bolts of plasma peppered the air, the Normandy's nacelle mounted point defence cannons going to work. Intercepting and destroying the incoming missiles.
"I have target lock." EDI smiled. A second later one of the drones exploded in a shower of plasma and shrapnel. "Reaper one has been neutralised." EDI reported with a satisfied huff.
Joker whooped with joy, punching the air. Gesticulating wildly, he turned back to James. "You see that? That's my diversion! They die on this version!"
"Don't look at me, look at them!" James nearly pushed the pilot back into his seat. A bright flash off the starboard bow triggered multiple warnings on Joker's console.
"Shit. Starboard PDC took a hit. EDI!"
"On it Jeff. Re routing to auxiliary controls. Standby."
"Missile. Missile." The Normandy's automated systems warned again. "Hang on, let me try something I saw in a cartoon once." Joker let forth a wild yeehaw.
"What do you mean cartoon?" Cortez yelled, having wandered onto the bridge, hoping to lend his piloting skills.
"The greatest ride is the last ride general!" The mad helmsman exclaimed, throwing the Normandy into a flat spin. Cortez hit the deck hard, the Normandy's inertial dampeners having been overloaded by a maneuver meant for a much smaller fighter.
"Missile evaded. Multiple minor injuries reported. Structural failure on deck 3. Engineering teams enroute." EDI rattled off from a list on her side console. "Good work Jeff."
"Babe you ain't seen nothing yet." Joker smirked.
"Warning, second reaper has re-engaged. EM missile inbound." EDI swivelled around, her head tracking the sleek white drone as it shot past the cockpit.
"I see it." Joker played the controls like a maestro, flying the warship like it was a space superiority fighter.
Lighting flashed again, striking the Normandy causing yet another round of warning lights. "Right hemisphere barriers compromised. Regenerating. PDC not responding to auxiliary commands. Watch out Jeff, missile inbound." EDI focused on her console. Hundreds of diagnostics popping up and closing faster than the eye could see.
"EDI, prepare a core purge. Discharge on my mark."
"Copied Jeff, standing by."
Joker juked the controls, fighting against the increasingly unstable atmosphere and the rapidly approaching missile. "C’mon… c’mon…Now!" The Pilot yelled.
"Purging drive core." The automated system confirmed. Green lightning joined blue as the electrical discharge vapourised the missile.
"Alrighty he's out of missiles. He's only got guns left." Joker declared as a line of bullets lanced across the Frigate's shields. "Now he's just a minor nuisance unless he tries to ram us."
"Collision alert." The automated system announced.
"He's gonna ram us." Joker looked back at James, an annoyed grimace on his face.
Alarms blared as the Reaper closed the distance, James holding on for dear life as Joker took the Normandy through another set of crazy maneuvers. The Normandy protested, groaning and shuddering under the load. "Jeff." EDI warned.
"Just keep it together girl. Just keep it together for me. We're almost there!" He shouted. The Predator was now only metres away from the Normandy's compromised nacelle, its onboard sensors having detected the vulnerability like a bloodhound after a scent.
"I've almost got it… Shit!" Disaster struck. A stray bolt of lightning struck the drone, turning it into a pinwheeling ball of fire and debris. Debris that punctured the Normandy's weakened shielding and shredded the right nacelle.
"Joker!" James yelled, wide eyed.
"I got it! I got it." Joker once again pulled down his mic, "Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out the right side of the spacecraft you will notice that our right wing is on fire."
Joker cracked on in his best pilot's voice as a series of proximity explosions went off, peppering the Normandy's shields with fragments of white hot metal. "Oh nice they got AA. Finally! Now it's a party!"
"Joker, get us to the LZ now!" James yelled.
"Aye sir! That's what you pay me for."
James grit his teeth and tried not to throw up as Joker pushed the Normandy beyond its breaking point. Seven minutes and several structural alarms later, James finally relaxed as the Normandy settled on its maglocks. Perched on the massive ruins of an Orion class deep space mining vessel, the frigate sat like a housefly on a banana. A huge, rusted, hulk of a banana.
"Welcome to Ruin Station ladies and gents. Local time just half past three, weather cloudy with a chance of bad guys. Expect showers of bullets and a missile or two. Do take care when disembarking as sections of the station are known to collapse without warning. Thank you for flying Joker airways and we hope you have a pleasant stay."
Down in the well deck, the marines voiced their grievances.
"This pilot sucks!"
"I never got my second pack of peanuts!"
"The flight stewardess wasn't pretty enough!"
"Tsk. You can never please these people. Damn knuckle draggers."
=====
The “Web”
An amalgamation of hundreds of rusted wrecks and abandoned freighters attached haphazardly to a half completed mining station, the Web lived up to its namesake and then some. A spiderweb of failing environmental fields and leaking docking tubes, the inhabitants of this treacherous mess spent most of their time trying to stave off the inevitable collapse. Piece by piece, section by section, the mass of broken ships was being sucked into the depths of the gas giant to be crushed into nothingness. But for now, it served its purpose as the unofficially official pirate and slaver capital. Aria had Omega and her mercenaries. The hundred companies had The Web.
"Right lads, keep yer heads down an' let us handle em." Zaeed nodded to Wrex as the grizzled duo sauntered down the ramp, the marines following them, eyes scanning and fingers resting on triggers.
"Hm." Zaeed chuckled as he noticed a red dot lazily dance across his arm finally settling on his chest. Wrex crossed his arms, ignoring the lasers painting his head and hearts.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Zaeed Massani." A sickly sweet Turian voice called out from the shadows beyond the busted airlock.
"Telara. How goes the trade?" Zaeed cocked his hip, hand resting subtly on his holster.
"Better than yours. I hear you've shacked up with a justicar, must have one sweet cunt if she got you to step back into the filth of civilization." The voice jumped to another alcove, the lasers on his head multiplied.
"Ah you know me, like to take a dip back in once in a while. Good for the skin." Zaeed quipped. Eyes scanning the gloom, finger resting on the grip of his carnifex. "Definitely better beds than this dump."
"Maybe, but we don't have blue bitches playing at queens or holding us back with their petty politics. Here we have freedom. True freedom." Telara stepped out of the shadows. Tall and muscled like a Krogan. A wide brimmed cowboy hat shadowed her features. Her cloak fluttered in the wind, revealing the big iron on her hip.
"Right. Freedom to live in shit and die with your head crushed up your ass." Zaeed drawled.
"You're so full of shit Massani." Telara huffed. Maybe it was a trick of the light but Dubbo could’ve sworn her eye flashed silver.
"So I've been told." The old merc smiled. A grin of crooked, broken teeth.
The draw happened faster than anybody could react, two gunshots snapping off. A quiet grunt from Zaeed and a spark from Telara. Then the two were on the ground, Zaeed's carnifex clattering away, Telara's pistol pressed to his chin.
"You're getting slow old man."
"Think again sweetheart." Zaeed looked down. His knife sitting comfortably below her chest plate. One more move and her heart would have been skewered.
"Hm." Telara hummed, capturing the grizzled mercenaries' lips in a kiss of tongue, teeth and mandibles.
"Damn, old man's got game. I mean if you dig the whole Miss Frankenstein shtick." Hailee whistled.
"Yeah…" Stacker couldn't pick his jaw up from the floor, staring uncomfortably at the display in front of him. Her hat had been knocked off in the struggle and her un-turian features were on full display. The crest of an Asari, the lips of a Human and the forked tongue of a Salarian.
Telera's eyes snapped up to his, mouth still busy devouring Zaeed's face. "What, never seen a trans-species woman before?"
"Uh no ma'am." He quickly averted his eyes.
James sidled up to Wrex. "Old friend?"
"Mhm."
"Gene mods?"
"Yep."
"Illegal?"
"Very."
"Great." James sighed, walking over to the couple entwined on the floor. He should probably stop them before they started rutting in front of the crew.
"Zaeed."
"Yeah?"
"Ask your girlfriend about Cerberus."
"Oh right, Telara. Parley?"
The Bog Barrel
15 minutes later
As far as diplomatic meetings went this was definitely the messiest one he had ever been to. Literally. Broken mugs and spent thermal clips covered the ground. All manner of creature drank, fucked, and brawled In the repurposed hull of a Hercules transport. A full blown shootout between two Batarian gangs was happening next to a Hanar orgy. It was utter chaos that somehow worked. James tried to discreetly breathe through his mouth but even so, he nearly gagged on the stench. Zaeed and Wrex looked right at home.
"Yeah so basically Cerberus moved in, took over about a third of Ruin Station. Mostly the old ExoGeni sphere. Crushed the uprising then left us alone. No idea what they're doing over there though." Telara gestured with her tankard, draining the last dregs of her purple alcohol. Smashing the cup on the ground, she belched loudly then yelled. "Barkeep, another!" Almost immediately another tankard came flying towards her head. Snatching it out of the air, she downed half of it before turning to James. "Anyway, you were saying?"
"Right, so.." He dodged another flying cup as it went whizzing overhead. "Do we have permission to engage Cerberus forces on your territory? There may be destruction of property and the risk of station collapse." He looked around at what could only be described as the dingiest dive bar in the system. Station collapse sounded like doing this wreck a favour.
"Permission. Permission! Hah!" Telara guffawed. "You're on Coriolis boy. Land of the free. The only permission you need comes from the heft of your iron or the grease of your palms.”
"Right so…"
Telara slouched back in her chair, her foot thrust into James' crotch. "Take what you can." She said, using her toe to flick his sidearm into the air then catching it and pointing it at his head.
"Give nothing back." The rest of the bar echoed, all manner of weapons pointed at them.
"Sorry kiddo, Cerberus made me a deal I simply couldn't refuse." Telara drawled, her armoured toe still resting uncomfortably in James' crotch. The marine tensed, a scowl settling onto his face. Glancing at Wrex and Zaeed, the two mercs sat impassively. Zaeed leaning back with his hands intertwined, cigar puffing from his lip. Wrex looked like he was about to nod off.
“What could Cerberus possibly have offered you?” James asked.
Telara scoffed, looking down the barrel at a puppy. A cute little thing fresh off its mother’s teat, barely learned how to walk. She pursed her lips, “Why, to make me Human of course.”
"You are aware it's Cerberus we're talking about." James walked, his hands behind his head as the un-Turian lady led them deeper into the bowels of the metal beast. "They'd sooner stab you in the back than hold up their end of the bargain and make you Human." James blinked for a second, his words processing in his mind. "Wait, how are they even gonna turn you Human anyway?"
Telara stopped, pinching his cheek. "Wouldn't you like to know liddle puddy wuddy? Ooh you're so cute when you're angry." She cooed.
"Fine then at least tell me why you want to be Human." He demanded.
"It's simple really, I like self improvement. I take only the best for my body. Shepard defeated the Reapers. Maybe it was because of her spirit, her will, we will never know. What we do know is that she was Human. What I know is that humanity was the only species to take up arms at first. The most tenacious species. I want a piece of that. Cerberus has given me that chance, and I will seize it."
=====
Kicking at the rusty metal bars of the brig, Zaeed sighed. “Welp kid, that was a cluster.” His cigar glowed faintly on his lip like a fat firefly. The grizzled merc shuffled over to the corner where Wrex was sitting on his tail.
“Whelp’s right. He don’t got the quads of Shepard and she didn’t even have quads!” Wrex huffed. The Krogan seemed positively miffed at James.
“What are you on about?” James turned to the mercs.
“Telera was testing you boy. She was working out if you were the real deal and you stuffed it.”
“Shepard would've bulldozed her way through hah! I’d have loved to see her face when Shepard tore her a new one.” The Krogan laughed, slapping his knee.
“Shit. So what now?”
“Well, first we get out of this cell.” Zaeed grunted, straining against the bars. “Then we talk to Telara.”
“How are we gonna do that?”
The merc ignored him, nodding over to his Krogan compatriot. “Half-Barrel hinges.” The Krogan cracked a wry grin. “Step aside, old man.”
Bringing his mighty strength to bear, Wrex lifted the heavy metal gate, popping it right off its hinges and gently resting it against the wall.
Wrex looked back at the big marine. “Don’t they teach you anything in N7 School? Shepard would have blasted through the gate within two seconds of getting thrown in here. Such a disappointment.”
Those words cut deep but James held his tongue and stalked out of the cell, speaking into his omni-tool. “Normandy, come in. Normandy do you read me?”
“Aye boss, Dubbo. I read ya.”
“Get Joker to bring the ship around and tell the boys to get ready for heavy assault. We are taking the facility head on.” James roughly strapped on his confiscated gear. His eyes alight with violent intent. You’re an N8. Act like it. You’re on the frontier, time for some frontier justice.
Wrex snorted. His eons' old eyes noted the marine’s change in demeanor. “Looks like the whelp’s finally growing a spine. Good. I was just about to go get Shepard myself.”
Zaeed merely chuckled, cigar smoke rolling off him like a regal cloak. “Give the kid a break Wrex, this is his first rodeo. Not everyone starts out as a Shepard.” Checking his gear, he slapped the big marine on the shoulder. “Relax kid, first time’s always the worst. Just don't get any pre-performance jitters y’hear.”
The prison block was dirty, musky and decrepit. Dead air muffled all sound less the constant dripping of water against aged rusted metal, slowly driving the occupants to madness. A desiccated corpse lounged in an adjacent cell. James recounted the way in his head, silently seething behind his gun. The silence was broken by a sudden question. “If this is a test, where are all the guards?” he asked.
“Waiting for you.” Telara drawled. Perched on a steaming pipe, a deathstick glowing on her lip. Her smirk shadowed by the brim of her hat. A vent rat scurried by. “Escaped the prison right on time but it was your friends that helped you. If they weren't there, I wonder what would have happened.” she cooed.
“It wouldn’t have mattered.” He growled, “It will always end the same way.”
Telara broke out into a cheshire grin. “Oh? And what would that be?”
James cracked his neck, his hand coming to rest on his gun. “You, on the ground with my boot on your neck.”
Telara stood up, preening like a peacock. Absolutely delighted at his conviction. “Big words for a small boy.” She tickled the air as if he was some lost puppy doing tricks for pets. “Lets see you live up to them.” The un-Turian woman gracefully hopped down from her perch. Her lackeys clearing the way between the two gunslingers.
“I can’t let you leave.” She said, “Bad for business.”
“I’m not asking.” He replied. Eyes narrowing and fingers moving over his gun.
Telara scoffed, her slender hand calmly resting on her waist. Fingers tapping in wait.
“I am going after Cerberus. You will stay out of it.”
“Or what?”
He didn’t deign to reply, instead launching himself at her, knee first. His knee connected with with her face with a sickening crack, knocking the crime lord to the ground and sending her gun clattering away. Telara spat blood onto the ground. “That I didn’t expect.”
James said nothing as he simply walked up to the woman and pulled her up by the scruff of her cloak and slammed her face into a wall. “Surrender and I won’t have to beat you in front of your crew.” James growled.
Telara barked out in crazed laughter. “Mmmm, spicy. I like it.” Movement from beneath her cloak loosened his grip on her. A flash of confusion crossed his face before her mechanical arm spun backwards, catching him in the ribs and forcing air from his lungs. A second later, a powerful reverse kick sent him to the ground.
Dazed for a moment, the marine tried to force air into his lungs as the crime lord approached, throwing off her cloak to reveal her heavily enhanced body. A current of shock washed through him as he realised how little of her was actually left. A purple vial of liquid popped out of the shoulder of her mechanical arm, glowing in the dim light. “My turn.” The vial slammed back in, injecting its contents into her bloodstream. Purple tendrils crawled over her skin and her irises flashed unnaturally. Her already tall and bulky stature seemed to grow even more intimidating. She flicked her fingers at him, taunting him to make another move.
Jumping to his feet, he shook out his arms and then launched into a quick series of jabs to her face. The crime lord calmly deflected his blows, locking his arms with her mechanical one. She huffed into his face. “Emotional and sloppy, but I like the spirit.” Her tongue danced up his jaw before she headbutted him once, then twice. Sending the big marine reeling into a wall.
A thunderous punch from her mechanical arm connected with his stomach before he could catch his breath, knocking him flat against the wall. He ducked under a haymaker that grinded sparks off the wall as her metal arm flew over his head.
Seizing the opportunity, James landed a punch to her stomach and chin. Leaning back to dodge her retaliatory strike before coming in close again and punching her right bicep and landing an uppercut on the inside of her return punch. Dodging out of the way of another overhead swing, James relentlessly pressed his advantage, hammering blows into her side and jaw. Stumbling from the repeated blows, Telara faltered for a moment. The N8 did not stop, jumping and throwing his full weight into a single massive punch that sent the crime lord sprawling to the floor.
Again, the purple vial popped up from her shoulder, pumping more drugs into her system. The crime lord growled, spit dripping from her mouth like a feral animal. Punching into the ground, she ripped out a chunk of deck paneling and hurled it at James. The N8 doged the hunk of metal, only making it two steps before he was slammed into the wall again by a heavy metal shoulder. Blood trickled from his split lip before the cyborg crime lord grabbed him by the throat. Gravity inverted as the woman lifted him up and then chokeslammed him into the ground.
Concussed, he went boneless for a second as she dragged him across the floor and pinned him against the opposite wall, her mechanical arm pressing into his cheek. The purple drug bubbled within the artificial limb, heating up and searing a line into his skin. Struggling against her grip, he kneed her right in the babymaker. Figuring that if any part of her was still organic, that would be it. The woman doubled over. Grabbing her by the waist, he spun around her and suplexed her.
Swaying on his feet, he leaned against a pipe on the wall as he eyed the crime lord. His arms still at the ready. The two combatants panted for a moment, catching their breath. Though clearly tired, Telara rose to her feet undeterred. James easily ducked her exhausted punch, causing her to stumble between the pipe and the wall. Exactly where James wanted her. Fighting fair had long gone out the window and he would use every advantage he could get. Grabbing the side of her head, he slammed it into the pipe. Blocking her blind jab, he slammed her head into the wall again before hammering home a few gut punches for good measure. Utterly discombobulated, the crime lord had no defence when he sent another haymaker straight down the barrel and landed a bullseye on her jaw. At this point, James would usually have stopped. His opponent was beaten. He had clearly won. But this was no ordinary bout. Rules did not apply. He had always been a by-the-book soldier but now he had to adapt and overcome. He had to become an N8, a soldier outlaw. So he did.
Kicking the knee out from under the crime lord, he kneed her in the face again, breaking her mandible and sending her sprawling. Panting heavily, he watched as the crime lord dragged herself to her feet, refusing to back down. With a yell of rage, he dashed up to her and sent her through a crumbling wall with a drop kick.
Bloody and exhausted, he stepped over broken metal, grabbing the crime lord by the arm and bending it backwards in an arm bar. “Like I said.” He placed his boot on her neck, slowly increasing the pressure. “It will end with my boot on your neck.”
The crime lord looked up at him through a swollen eye. her mandible spread in a crazed, bloody smile. “Alright, you win. I’ll stay out of it.” He released his hold, walking back into the main corridor. “But in return, I want your seed.” she called out maniacally. He did not look back.
=====
“Damn, sir. You look like you went through a meat grinder.” Hailee commented when she saw her bloodied commander come up the ramp. The old Krogan and Merc looked like proud fathers as they whispered to each other and mimed punches and kicks.
“Negotiations with the locals. We won’t have trouble with them anymore. Are the assault teams ready?” He questioned, holding still as one of the marine medics cleaned and patched his wounds.
“Aye sir, Dog company is ready and standing by for your orders.” the Sergeant reported. Snapping a salute.
“Dog company?” He raised his brow, to the annoyance of the medic attending him. She poked him and he relaxed his face, letting her continue her work.
“Dubbo’s a history buff. He figured we needed a name seeing as we’re all volunteers from different squads and regiments.” Phair explained.
“Dog company was the name of the 2nd Ranger battalion, D company. Elite soldiers that fought at the battle of Normandy and were the ones that led the charge into enemy territory. Essentially the N7s of their time. I thought it was fitting.” Dubbo chimed in. Wringing his hands. “I hope it's not too presumptuous. I know stolen valor and all that.”
James pondered for a moment, making a mental note to read up more on old Earth history. “Dog company, I like it.” Straightening his posture and settling into his Commander stance, he looked at each of his marines. Hardened, wizened faces stared back at him. Unflinching in their resolve. Scars and marks of battles telling countless stories of hardship, survival and valor. He was proud to lead these marines. Proud of what they had done, what they will do and most of all, proud of himself. He’d finally proven not just to them, but to himself that he was worthy to lead. Worthy of command. Now they had a name. One that paid homage to the brave souls that gave their lives in one of Earth’s bloodiest wars.
“Dog company listen up! We are about to hit the Cerberus base on this station. Scans show that the majority of its security is automated. Turrets, combat droids and heavy mechs. Maybe even death troopers.” Conversation dropped to a whisper at the mention of those mechanical abominations. “With EDI’s help, I reverse engineered the phaser weapons and created a schematic that should enable penetration of their armor. Be advised it is only a fraction of the power of a true phaser so multiple shots will be required.”
“Aim for the head and don’t miss.” He jabbed a finger at the diagram floating above the holotable.
“This is the supposed location of project Hydra. We currently have no intel on who or what it is but what we do know is that it is one of a few projects linked to Shepard.” He gestured to the 3D map of the facility. “Hailee, Stacker and Phair, your squads will infiltrate the lab, sabotage the project and return with any intel you can acquire. Dubbo, you stay here and guard the Normandy. Deter anyone who gets too curious. Is that clear?”
“Sir yes sir!” Dog company cheered.
“Good. When we get Shepard back, first rounds on me.” He smirked.