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Slaves of Cerberus	By : NakedOwlMan Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 138070 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all the characters in it are owned by people that are not me. I have not made a cent off this work of fiction

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"Get her up there, hurry!" Jacob urged Vega, as the two of them lifted the limp Commander Rooker up onto one of the beds in the Orpheus medbay. "Doc, we've got an urgent patient for you!"

Behind them, servos whirred to life, and the ship's "doctor" activated. "Please stand aside," said a robotic voice, and the two men moved aside to allow it through.

It still freaked Jacob out a little, serving on the same ship as a geth. Or what appeared to be one at least. After Shepard fired the Crucible, the geth throughout the galaxy all deactivated, their empty husks collapsing where they stood. Not wanting to waste such a resource, the Alliance had been working to fit the lifeless robots with VIs. The resulting units were put to use in situations where human soldiers were too valuable to waste or, in the case of the Orpheus, too low on the Alliance hierarchy to put an actual flesh-and-blood doctor at risk.

Despite Jacob's initial misgivings, the medical VI housed inside the former geth shell had served them competently over the last year. But this was different. This was one of the first times one of his crew was in serious risk of dying. More than anything, Jacob wished he had Dr. Chakwas on hand right now.

Doc, their somewhat impersonal nickname for the medical VI, worked diligently on Rooker, checking her vital signs. "The patient has lost a great amount of blood," Doc announced. "She needs a transfusion immediately. I will need to check our reserves for her type..."

"No time," Vega said, quickly unfastening his armor and offering up his arm. "Here, I'm O negative. Take mine."

As Doc prepared the transfusion needle, Jacob turned to the door. Garrus was helping Private Riggs into the medbay, the dazed soldier only now starting to regain consciousness. The turian tried to help Riggs into one of the patient beds, but the human soldier shook him off, standing shakily on his feet.

"What happened out there, Private?" Jacob asked Riggs.

Wincing, Riggs rubbed the back of his head. "Wish I could tell you, sir," he said. "One minute I'm tracking down a noise back from our position, the next somebody's slamming me into a rock wall. Didn't even get a good look at who it was before I was out." He frowned. "Commander Rooker, she's..."

"Alive, for now," Jacob informed him.

Staring around Jacob, Riggs saw Vega sitting next to Rooker's bed, a tube pumping blood from his arm into Rooker's. "And the enemy?" he asked.

Jacob shuffled slightly. "We had to let them go," he finally admitted. "To save Rooker's life."

"Sir, I... I got sloppy," Riggs said, his voice still retaining its normal low, emotionless tone even as he apologized. "It's my fault the mission went bad. Commander Rooker put her trust in me, and I..."

"It's okay, Private," Jacob said. "We've put an alternate plan in place."

Riggs cocked an eyebrow. "Really? And what would that..."

"Commander," Doc said, drawing Jacob's attention away from Riggs. "Status update on the patient's condition."

Jacob quickly walked over to Rooker's bed. "Is she alright?"

"Patient's live signs are stabilizing," Doc cheerily intoned. "My processes now indicate a 98.941% chance that the patient will survive."

Resting his hands on the foot of Rooker's bed, Jacob stared down at the floor and let out a relieved breath. "Keep me apprised of any changes, Doc," Jacob said. "I need to go check on our Plan B."

"Plan B?" Riggs asked, as Jacob walked past him and out of the medbay. He followed after the Commander. "Wait, sir! What's Plan...?"

"Hold it right there, mister," Garrus said, holding up a taloned hand against Riggs's chest. "Know you like to play the tough guy and all, but chances are that Phantom probably gave you a concussion. So how about you lay down and rest for a bit? Let the doctor give you a once-over with that flashlight eye of his, okay?"

Riggs furrowed his brow at Garrus. "But the status of the mission. What's our next..."

"I'm sure Jacob will give you a full briefing... after you've fully recovered," Garrus said, ushering Riggs over to a spare medbay bed. "Seriously, Private Riggs. Just lie down and rest for a bit. You're no good to us if you're not 100%, after all."

Riggs was about to voice another protest, but Garrus was obviously not budging. Begrudgingly, Riggs removed his combat armor and lay down on the bed. Satisfied, Garrus followed Jacob's path out of the medbay.

After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, Riggs heard something to his right. He glanced over to see Vega, the transfusion needle now out of his arm, still sitting at Rooker's bedside. He was muttering something to the unconscious soldier, and it took a moment for Riggs to realize that it was Spanish. The quiet words were soon hushed, however, as Vega seemed to feel Riggs's stare and turned in his chair to stare back at him.

"Commander," Riggs said. "Listen, I..."

But the look Vega was giving him, the cold glare, told Riggs that nothing he said was going to be heard. "Forget it," Riggs said, shifting onto his back and staring up at the medbay ceiling again. After a few seconds, the Spanish started up again.

* * *

Outside of the medbay, Garrus approached Jacob, who was staring at a display on his omni-tool. "Everything okay, Jacob?" he asked.

"Getting a signal from Kasumi right now," Jacob said. "Just a short burst, letting us know her coordinates at a two minute interval. Anything more complex than that might be detected by the Normandy's systems. But it should be enough to let us know exactly where they're going next."

"Glad to hear it... but I wasn't talking about the mission," Garrus said. "If it means anything, I think you made the right call. Just because it was the right call, though, doesn't mean it was the easy one."

Jacob gave Garrus a weary smile. "A few months ago, I was bored out of my mind. Running routine patrols, an occasional skirmish with under-equipped pirates here and there. Dammit, I remember hoping that we'd get some real action. And now here I am: tossing one of my oldest friends into a shark tank, and hoping they don't catch a whiff of blood."

"She'll do fine," Garrus assured him. "After a certain extranet video of... well, I won't name names, but let's just say that when Shepard brought in Kasumi, the forward battery of the Normandy wasn't graced with any more turians singing asari pop numbers while they worked. That woman has spent most of her life learning how to make herself invisible. And she knows the Normandy like the back of her hand. I'm sure she'll keep out of sight long enough for us to find and extract her before Cerberus figures out she's there."

Turning off his omni-tool, Jacob leaned against the wall, massaging his temples. "Cerberus. Can't believe I spent so long thinking that they had the best interests of the galaxy at heart. Seems like they're doing their best to teach us all how badly we fucked up. Me... Miranda... Kelly..."

Garrus reacted with surprise, and Jacob realized that he hadn't filled in the rest of the crew on what he and Kasumi had discovered. Briefly, he summarized the information they had gotten from Kahlee Sanders and Jondum Bau, how Kelly and Jack had been abducted, along with someone else unconnected with Cerberus.

Processing this information, Garrus flared his mandibles. "Jacob, I'm thinking... maybe a past connection to Cerberus isn't the only thing going on here. Miranda, Jack, Traynor and Kelly... not to mention Liara and Ash. All of them have served with Shepard at one point or another. Is it possible that Cerberus is going after everyone that has a connection to Shepard and the Normandy?"

"I've had my communications officer researching it ever since we got back. And it's a definite possibility," Jacob explained. "Of course, nearly everyone who has a connection with Shepard is either aboard this ship... or the Normandy. There's only a few that aren't, and we're working to find a way to contact them. Have to make sure they know that they could be potential targets. Now that Cerberus knows that we're on their trail, though... makes me wonder if they might change things up."

"My guess?" Garrus said. "Right now, they think they have us beat. As far as they know, we have no way of knowing where they're going to next. And even if we did, the Orpheus wouldn't stand a chance against the Normandy in a space battle. Not to mention, from what I've seen of this clone they have running things... she likes to think she's just as clever and powerful as the real Shepard. So if you ask me, I don't think the Normandy's going to divert from its present course at all."

Jacob nodded agreement with Garrus's assessment. "I just hope that we can figure out what that course is. Before Kasumi or anyone else ends up the next one in handcuffs."
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Slaves of Cerberus