The shuttle craft banked across the circumference of a large asteroid, the reinforced outer plating generated a bright shower of sparks as it dragged along the rocky surface, leaving a scorch mark where the glossy finish once sat. Miranda jerked the shuttle away just in time, tapping her fingers against the holographic console display in a frantic attempt to avoid the debris that followed in the wake of the massive asteroid.
"It can never be easy, can it?" Miranda muttered under her breath, feeling the tension across her body finally dissipating as the vessel came into view, floating aimlessly against the backdrop of a red dwarf star. She tapped a switch next to the view screen, allowing the tinted sun shield to shimmer across the hyper-reinforced glass.
But Miranda stiffened once her scanners identified the lazily rotating ship, recognising it as a Batarian slaving vessel -- a highly modified version of a Kes-heel class heavy cruiser. Signs of battle damage were patently obvious to the operative, with large sections of the lower hull sporting a set of large gaping holes and mangled gashes where the forward facing cannons of the Cerberus ship had launched their salvo. Even the superstructure wasn't spared from the vicious exchange of fire, the main bridge had almost been entirely decimated.
Not too far from the ship, Miranda spotted the wreckage of a light cruiser with the familiar orange and black colouring that marked it as being of Cerberus origin. As terrible as a loss it was, Miranda gained some satisfaction from the fact that the human crew had managed to render the Batarian vessel nothing more than a wreck. In addition, a flash on her control console caught her eye, showing that whatever artefact the members of the Cerberus crew had discovered during their exploratory mission had been recovered by the Batarian vessel, with a transponder emitting a signal from within the bowels of the larger ship.
With determination flowing through her, Miranda locked course with the cruiser's still functional hangar bay and set her shuttle to its auto-pilot mode, allowing her to gather up the equipment she needed for whatever she would be coming face to face with.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~
It was during one of her trips back from Cronos Station that her shuttle's built-in communications relay system picked up a faint trace of an S.O.S. distress signal, originality from within the Exodus Cluster. Ordinarily, Miranda would have paid no attention to such a message, such calls for help became frequent depending on the section of the galaxy that travellers passed through, usually the result of a naive life form getting themselves into trouble during a wayward trip into uncharted space.
However, Miranda quickly recognised the seemingly innocuous distress transition as a deliberately scrambled code, typically used by Cerberus vessels to avoid detection by the Alliance in the event of a power loss during a venture into Alliance space. It wasn't uncommon for such missions to take place, usually at the behest of the Illusive Man himself, something that became far more frequent after the discovery of the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime.
With the uncovering of the Reaper threat, along with the realisation that the Citadel Council would do nothing in the way of preparing themselves for the imminent arrival of the ancient machine creatures, the Illusive Man became absolutely determined to lead the charge, utilising the vast pools of funds at Cerberus's fingertips to ready themselves for the counter offensive. Such an approach put the organisation in direct opposition of both the Council and the Alliance, far more than the previous tense existence that they had shared, something that had already started to fracture after the death of Admiral Kahoku.
It became a common routine for Cerberus to send ships into territories they had no business being in, with the intention of seeking out valuable relics left behind by the Protheans, in the hopes of finding a data storage facility that possessed even a fraction of the information embedded within the Eden Prime beacon. Problems were always expected when it came to having ships running dark in hostile territory, especially in the event of an encounter with a ship that didn't register with Cerberus's IFF system.
Cerberus protocol in such an event relating to the triggering of a minor alert signal dictated that the vessel in distress would continue its evasive actions until it could be retrieved, especially if the vessel in question happened to be in the possession of either sensitive data or a much sought after artefact. But unlike the usual run ins with Council patrol ships, Miranda quickly recognised the distress beacon as being one that belonged to a Cerberus research vessel, one that had suffered a catastrophic failure.
With the Reapers return becoming ever more imminent by the day, Miranda knew that humanity couldn't afford lose anything that could provide it with the much needed advantage, no matter how insignificant such a discovery might have seemed in the short run. Never one to stand aside, helpless as help slowly approached, Miranda pulled away from her pre-set course and headed towards the local Mass Relay, ready to do whatever she could.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Slowly guiding the shuttle past the debris that had spilled from the slaving vessel, Miranda gently eased her craft into the mouth of the hangar, extending the adaptive landing gear as she brought it down to rest next to a pair of scuttled Batarian light fighters. A quick scan of the immediate area revealed that the hangar itself was vacant of any Batarian life signs, adding to the mystery of where the crew had scurried off to.
Miranda leapt out as the door of the shuttle slid away, keeping a finger trained on the trigger of her pistol as she crept across the steel floor towards the doorway leading to the main sections of the cruiser, activating a homing device on her omni-tool that would guide her towards the artefact. She ignored the rotating red alert lights and wailing sirens as they persisted in warning the yet to be discovered crew about the attack, the fact that the vessel's internal warning system remained online gave Miranda some indication that a section of the crew had survived the intense battle.
Counting herself fortunate that both the kinetic barriers and the main life support system were still functional enough to provide the vessel with a sufficient oxygen supply for her, though she didn't intend on staying around long enough to see just how much back-up power they had left in them.
The flickering lights that still operated along the corridors served to emphasise the hexagonal pattern that made up much of the protective layer of Miranda's body suit. Her uniform had a deceptive quality to its construct, -- a very deliberate choice on the part of its wearer -- in spite of just how much it conformed to her perfect body, the material could withstand the blow from a pistol and a reasonably strong biotic blast, within reason at least. It didn't hurt that the uniform also earned Miranda a consistent stream of stares and not-so subtle amorous glances of from the men she worked alongside, with some doing a poorer job at disguising their wandering eyes than others. Even the typically unreadable counternance of the Illusive Man couldn't help but show a certain level of admiration from time to time.
A short journey on the barely functional elevator brought Miranda up to the deck where the pulse of the transponder's signal was at its strongest. She kept to the very edges of the corridors as she followed the signal, occasionally finding herself forced to duck and avoid jets of searing hot steam that poured from the mangled venting systems. Screens embedded in the walls continuously flashed a message of warning, written in the native language of the Batarians, flickering as a result of the hefty damage.
Miranda climbed through a set of doors, which provided her with only a small gap to pass through, threatening to slam shut as they attempted -- and failed -- to complet their locking cycle. A shiver of disgust shot through her as she looked around, realising that she had inadvertently located the slave holding pens, a row of thick steel doors lined both sides of the usually sealed off section of the deck. Quickly making sure that she wasn't at risk of being jumped by any members of the yet to be revealed crew, Miranda crept over to the furthest end of the room, where a large console sat; along with the body of the Batarian guard that once operated it, slumped over in a rotatable seat.
In an uncaring fashion, Miranda gave the body a rough shove, knocking it to the ground as she inspected the console. She easily bypassed the various passwords and security protocols, utilising a set of digital keys that Cerberus had salvaged from a Batarian mining craft that had ventured deep into the Attican Traverse in search of a suspected element zero hotspot. Miranda rushed through the most recent security footage, fast forwarding through the footage of the battle, smirking as she witnessed the moment the command bridge was obliterated by a Javelin disruptor torpedo.
Miranda discovered that the slave pens had been occupied during the ship-to-ship battle, with a number of despondent beings unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the Batarians. To her pleasant surprise, a blow to the main security systems had caused the locks on the doors of the pens to open, releasing those within. Taken off guard by the already hectic situation, the guards stood no chance as the captives rushed out, using whatever blunt instrument they could get their hands on to bring the lives of the slavers despicable to an abrupt end. A stray shot from a Terminator assault rifle stopped the guard manning the console from bringing the security defences back online.
To add insult to injury, the escaped captives launched a daring escape, using the Batarians' state of panic to their advantage as they fought their way through the bowels of the ship. Eventually, they managed to reach the hangar bay, where they just in time managed to seize one of the last light evacuation crafts just as it was in the process of lifting off, leaving the doomed vessel behind as they fled.
"At least that explains what happened to the crew," Miranda smirked, pushing away from the console.
She continued her search, waving the scanner around as she searched for the signal where it was at its strongest, forced to constantly change routes whenever she came upon a corridor that had been compromised. The deeper into the vessel she went, the stronger the signal grew, until she reached what a deck that acted as the quarters for the former crew, complete with terribly stained cots and bent open storage lockers that had been raided during the hasty escape.
Miranda turned on the spot, narrowing her eyes as searched for any sign of the artefact, looking for any signs of an object that didn't quite match the brutalist aesthetic of the ship. Before she had a chance to launch a more in depth search, Miranda felt a buzzing sensation surrounding her, shrouding her with a feeling akin to being constricted. She lifted her pistol and whipped it around, pointing it at the visible access points located around the room, planting her feet firmly on the ground.
