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Turnabout-	By : Spiritwolf71 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 7688 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This story takes place within Bioware's Mass Effect Universe, their creative property. I do not own any of Bioware's stories or characters or locations. The Author recieved no money from this story and is writing it purely for entertainment.

Chapter List
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Shepard sat in the Cerberus shuttle, wearing the Cerberus armour and felt uncomfortably comfortable. In her mind, even though she had never truly worn it before, she had been trained in it. In some made up world she had spent three years in it, eating, fighting and sometimes sleeping. She could not help but wish this had not been part of the plan.
She looked back to Liara who was also wearing Heavy armour and although she and the Asari were almost the same height and Liara was older than her, she looked like child in her parents armour. Cayle had never seen her in heavy armour before and it was more than obvious that she was almost as uncomfortable as she was. She did look pretty cute though.
Shepard smiled to herself and looked to Aria who had every right to be the most ill at ease. She was the prisoner in this scenario. Ren and Liara were the bounty hunters that had captured Aria; Cayle was the Cerberus officers bringing her to the prison area on Omega.
They had set everything up a few days ago and even captured a female Cerberus agent and took her identity. They had made sure she was a high enough ranking so Shepard would not be question. They had managed to find Lieutenant Commander Barrius who was now taking a break in an Alliance jail.
Many decision had to be made on who would go with Cayle and who would not. She had wanted to bring Garrus with her but she needed someone to Command the Normandy. Garrus was not a commissioned Alliance officer but Shepard knew everyone on that ship would listen to him as if he was. He was a good leader and expert tactician. It would not have been the same if she had left Liara behind. She loved the woman dearly but she was not military, at all.
The Allied armada would be led by the new jointly built ship Vigil which Ashley now controlled. Shepard had to admit she was impressed. In her absence several things had changed. The council had realized the need for the races to learn to work together and several joint ventures had been started. Most notable was the rebuilding of the Krogan.
Since the cure for the genophage had been introduced the Krogan had needed to rebuild their entire planet. The females still did not have litters like they once had, but they have short pregnancies. As much as the Allies needed to work on their own planets they had all sent workers to the Krogan home worlds to aid them there, except the Salarians who were not yet willing to be part of the Allies and still protested the cure of the genophage.
Things were still far from perfect in their little galaxy but they were well on their way to being a better place and Shepard was proud to be a part of that. Now she just needed to make sure Cerberus did not upset the balance the galaxy had found.
“Once we get on the lift we stop it and climb out the hatch.” Shepard said making sure everyone was aware what the plan was. “We will wait until the mercenary groups start attacking the station and demanding a release of Aria. Once the confusion hit we head to the main engineering bay and Aria will shut down life support for the Cerberus areas of the station. They will be too busy trying to save their own to put up much of a fight. By the time they realize Aria did not make it to the prison cell the Allies will have joined the Mercenaries and cut the relay off from the station and start boarding.”
Aria looked to Ren, “You make sure you get those orders to my contacts,” she said. “They will make sure the place is in a riot so that the remanding Cerberus troops are tied up.”
“Did I mention yet this is a terrible plan,” Ren spoke up, looking to Shepard.
“Lots of fighting and killing, though you wouldn’t care,” Cayle said.
“I don’t but I thought I would like to come out alive,” he said and laughed, “You’re just as crazy as Lissa.”
“Don’t,” Shepard turned on him, probably more forcibly than she needed to, “don’t ever compare me to her again.”
Ren held up both his hand, “Sorry, my bad, won’t happen again.”
Liara moved over and placed a hand on Shepard’s shoulder. She looked out the view screen as Cayle brought the ship into the lower level shuttle bay. “We’ll be ok.”
Shepard nodded as she landed the shuttle. She then stood and helped Liara with her helmet. They could not hide the fact that she was Asari, but they needed to hide the fact that she was Liara. Liara was well known to most Cerberus agents as being one of the most wanted Asari. She knew the Ambassador had her on the top of his list, mostly because he wanted someone he controlled as the Shadow Broker.
She put her own helmet on and turned to the other taking Ren’s shot gun. She placed it on her own person, knowing the Cerberus guards would just take it away.
“Ok, the first thing they will do is give you guys the bounty, they won’t let you come with us to the cells. You have Aria’s orders and the list of people to get them to.” Liara nodded and made her way to the door. Cayle grabbed Ren’s arm before he could follow.
“If anything goes wrong, you get her the hell out of here, got that,” She said.
“I’ll take care of her,” He said with a nod. Shepard could not help but wish that the Krogan was Wrex or Grunt. Lissa liked Ren but never fully trusted him, Cayle felt the same. She looked to Aria then followed Ren and Liara out the shuttle door. They were greeted by two Cerberus soldier.
“Welcome back, Aria, the Ambassador is on his way over here to talk to you. I am sure he has a lot to say,” The taller one said. Shepard raised a brow. They would have to get things started before he got here.
“I’m glad he cares,” Aria said simply.
Shepard stepped forward. “These are the two bounty hunters that caught her on Tortuga. You want to make sure they get their money while I take her to the holding cells.”
“Yes Commander, they are expecting you,” the same soldier said and turned to Ren “We just need you to hand over your weapons and come with us.”
Ren looked to her as he handed over a pistol, Liara did the same. Shepard nodded to him as she and Aria moved off a different direction.
“I guess I owe you a thanks Shepard,” Aria said, when they were alone, shifting her hand in the cuffs.
“Oh my, that must have been hard to say,” Cayle said with a smile.
“You know Lissa might have been Cerberus, but she was a friend.”
Cayle nodded, “I know, I have her memories, but I also have mine. It’s hard to try and figure out if I should have my feelings regarding you, or hers. She certainly trusted you a lot more than I do, but then she saw a side of you I never saw, except I did. Besides, I, as me always liked you Aria. You are hard core, abrupt and strong most of the time abrasive and I have admired that about you. In saying that, Lissa is gone and I think it’s better we act like Shepard and Aria.”
“I was just saying thanks Shepard, I wasn’t purposing marriage,” Aria said and Cayle smiled. They reached the lift and stepped inside. The doors closed and Aria shrugged off the cuffs and pulled open the panel. “I’m going to send it half way down and then freeze it. Once they noticed we haven’t arrived they will look for it, then they will have to get it working again, it will buy us at least half an hour, maybe forty five minutes.”
As she worked Cayle reached up and opened the panel, pulling herself to the top of the box. “By that time the riots will have started.”
“Once we reach the power relays I’ll have no problem tapping into them and Cerberus will have no troops left for back up.”
Cayle removed her helmet and left it on the lift as she took her grappling gun and fired it. “You get a hold of some great toys,” she said, hooking the gun to her waist. Aria climbed up to join her and Cayle clipped them together then handed Aria her pistol. Cayle pulled the Asari closed and grabbed the wire. “This doesn’t mean we’re married,” She said as the lift moved out from under them. She pressed a button on the side of the gun and it started to pull them up.
When they reached the end of the wire they forced opened the lift doors and climbed out. Cayle removed the grapple gun from her waist and threw it down the shaft. She looked to her watch. “Fifteen minutes left.”
“This way,” Aria moved quickly and Cayle followed. She could not help but think of Liara as they made their way through the station. They made it to the end of the first hall before they ran into two Cerberus officers. Cayle moved out first and approached them. Still wearing the Cerberus armour the soldiers did not give her a second look. She smiled at them slightly before removing her own pistol with a silencer and shot them. She felt a pang of guilt with each shot and stared at the surprised look on their faces.
She shook her head trying to get the feeling of guilt out. She was the woman that created storms wherever she went when she had a purpose. She had always done what she had to. This was no different.
“This isn’t art Shepard, stop staring at your handy work,” Aria said moving past her. Shepard looked away and followed the Asari to what appeared to be some sort of a control room. They slipped inside and Aria moved quickly to a row of computers and switches.
“Jeez, I’m glad you know what you are doing,” Cayle commented.
“I’m not just a pretty face, I took control of this station once because I knew what I was doing,” Aria smiled to herself more than Shepard as she began to enter several commands. Alarms began going off as Aria activated the monitors. The riots had begun and the she had locked out the lower Cerberus housing areas. Cayle watched as the Cerberus officer were trying to find ways to get out. “Life support removed.”
Shepard looked from her to the screen. It would take the area a while to lose what air they had left then the panic would set in. Again Shepard could not help but feel slightly guilty. “Check, see if the attack on the station as started” She said. Aria changed the monitors and sure enough a battle was raging outside of the station.
“Well, that was smooth,” Aria said and straighten.
“It just, I don’t know, it felt way too easy,” Cayle said. Something felt off to her.
“I suggest we get out of here and not dwell on it.” Aria said and moved past her.
Shepard nodded and turned to follow Aria only to find that their exit was cut off. Several Cerberus soldier were coming into the room, followed by the Ambassador himself.
“Cayle, really, you would think you, of all people knew just how far my reach was,” He said as he moved closer.
“How?” Aria asked the look on her face told Cayle she was equally surprised by this.
“Oh come now, really, you work with mercenaries and you ask me how I got one of them to back stab you. It’s not hard, just flash credit and they line up. Loyalty is only as deep as your pocket.” The Ambassador said. He focused on Aria. “Now, if you could please, turn the life support back on and release my men.”
Aria looked to Shepard and in a split second Cayle made up her mind. “Make sure she’s safe,” she said knowing Aria knew damn well who she was talking about. Shepard removed two grenades from her belt, one went towards the Ambassador and the Cerberus soldiers, who dove for cover, and the other went to the console where Aria had been working. She dove for cover herself.
“Catch her,” The Ambassador yelled. Cayle threw another grenade in that direction. She then removed her pistol and started firing taking down a Cerberus soldier that had almost grabbed Aria as she made her way out the door. Cayle ran deeper into the room. She needed to find a vantage point. She was not going to do much damage to heavy armoured Cerberus troops with her pistol. She removed her black widow from her back and held it in off hand as she fired at a trooper with the pistol.
“That was really stupid of you Cayle. This is an engineering room, not enough of an area for your widow.” The Ambassador shouted as if reading her mind. Her eyes darted about the room as she tried to stay in the shadows, which was impossible in the white Cerberus armour. She began to pull it off and let it fall to the floor, keeping only her omni tool, belt and weapons. She quietly moved on to find herself a decent size console to hide behind.
“Cayle don’t make this difficult. I would rather take you alive. I can still salvage you.”
That was alarming. Miranda had convinced the Doctor to switch sides and work for the Alliance; they had been told he was the only one who knew all the secrets of the hypnosis. She closed her eyes and listened. She counted the foot falls and recorded the movements in her head. She was out numbered, horribly outnumbered. She had limited options; none of them included her walking out the door on her own.
She closed her eyes and thought of the last while with Liara, they had spent every spare moment they had together, almost as if they were afraid it would get taken away again. She typed six words into her omni tool and sent them away. Smiling slightly she hefted her black widow to her shoulder and raised herself to a kneeling position. She took her three shots and was satisfied with three surprised soldiers dropping to the ground. Pulling out her and Liara’s pistols she jumped over the console and opened fire at any one that moved.
She walked slowly as she felt a bullet hit her in the shoulder and she stepped back, her hand reflectively dropping the gun in it. She raised the other arm to shoot the man that had hit her but someone charged into her back. She grabbed the man around the neck and dropped to a knee, bringing him over her head and activating her omni blade. She sunk it deep into him and spun, hearing the footfalls behind her.
She fought them as hard as she could, all the while thinking of the time she and Liara had shared, thinking of how much she loved the woman she wanted to have as a wife. There were so many of them and she knew the outcome of this battle but she fought any way.
She would not be Commander Shepard if she just gave up.

Liara and Ren had made sure the docking platform for the Normandy was secure. When it landed Garrus was the first one out followed by the small compliment of marines. Thus far Liara had been amazed that everything had gone so well. Other than the fact the Ambassador might be aboard, everything had gone according to plan, at least on their end.
They had managed to get the message out to all the people Aria had wanted it go out to and they had even help incite some of the riots. The Cerberus soldiers were unprepared and overwhelmed quickly. No backup troops arrived so they had figured Shepard and Aria had been successful. They had taken control of the upper shuttle bays and most of the docking rings and allied forces and mercenaries were landing to help take control of the rest of the station. All and all Liara was quite happy.
She smiled as Garrus joined her and Ren in the hallway. “Things are in control here, how bout out there?” Liara asked.
“It was rough, I’m not going to lie,” Garrus said. “There was an armada of ship already on the way to the station, almost as if they knew what was happening, I don’t think they expected us though. There was enough take out the mercenaries but when we came in they obviously did not expect it.”
“They must have known,” Ren said, “At least about the mercenaries, which means there was a leak on that end. I don’t think Aria told the groups about the Allies joining the battle.”
“That was a good thing then.” Garrus said.
“If they knew about the attack,” Liara said, her stomach knotted instantly, “Then they probably knew about Shepard.” Without saying anything Liara turned and started to run.
“Liara!” Garrus took off after her. He stopped her before she got too far. “You’re not going to help anyone running off half cocked.”
~Garrus,~ Jokers voice filled the air, ~Cerberus is retreating.~
“Garrus,” Liara looked to him but he was already looking past her. She turned to see what had attracted his attention. Liara’s omni was beeping but she was ignoring it.
“Aria,” She noticed the Asari was injured immediately. Garrus and Ren moved quickly to the Asari’s side. Aria had obviously been in one hell of battle. She has several cuts about her head and was limping. There was a deep cut on her left shoulder. Liara could only stare, not able to move.
“Where’s Shepard?” Garrus asked since Liara was too frightened to speak.
“She made me leave,” Aria said, Liara felt anger surge through her.
“What do you mean she made you leave, you abandoned her?” She shouted moving face to face with the elder Asari.
“We were trapped in the engineering bay, so told me to make sure you were safe and made a distraction so I could get out.”
“And you left her,” Blue wisps of smoke flared from her body as her hands formed into fist.
“Liara,” Garrus said and pulled Liara away.
“I went back to help her but there were a lot of them. When they left, they took her alive.” Aria explained. Liara paced as she listened, her biotics dancing angrily, threatening. “I got spotted and couldn’t get to her. I tried but there were a lot of them. I barely made it out.”
Liara continued to pace, afraid that if she stopped she would damage some thing or someone. She wanted to be furious at Aria but the woman had obviously tried to help Shepard and she looked like hell. She ran her hands over her crest and realized for the first time that her omni was still beeping. She paused and activated it.
“It’s a message from Cayle,” She said looking up to Garrus. With a shaking hand she opened the message.
I love you, come get me, she read.
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