After speaking with Garrus, Mina sent a secure message to Wrex and Solana letting them know that she was safe. That they needed to be careful. Mina warned them about the Ambassador.
An hour later, Mina received a secure message from Solana.
Solana: "Call me."
Mina leaned against the cool, metallic wall and dialed Solana.
"Mina, I'm glad you're safe," Solana greeted. "It's a good thing that drell warned you before it happened."
"I'm sorry you got involved in all of this," Mina apologized.
"We're friends," Solana replied. "No need to apologize for that."
"How bad was the apartment?" Mina asked.
"The whole apartment looked like a bomb had blown-" Solana's voice, usually a clear, melodic stream through the secure comms, dissolved into a harsh, guttural static. The screen on Mina's omni-tool flickered, displaying a garbled mess of pixels before going entirely blank.
A jolt of unease shot through Mina. "Solana? Hello? What happened?" She tapped frantically at the dormant screen, trying to re-establish the connection. Nothing.
Only the hissing static grew louder, a wall of white noise. She tried redialing, but the screen stubbornly flashed, "CALL FAILED: UNKNOWN ERROR."
"External interference detected, Mina," SAM's voice echoed in her mind. "All external communication channels are down. My attempts to establish a connection with the Citadel network are being actively blocked."
Mina's heart pounded. "Blocked? By what? Is it just a local comms outage?"
"No. The signature of the interference is consistent with a wide-spectrum jamming field, operating at extreme power levels. Furthermore," SAM's voice took on a sharper edge. "My long-range scanners are detecting multiple energy signatures inconsistent with routine Citadel traffic. Explosive ordinance, heavy armament, and large vessel maneuvers."
A cold dread seeped into Mina's bones. "SAM… what are you saying?"
"Mina," SAM's tone carried the weight of impending catastrophe, "the Citadel is under attack."
Before Mina could fully process them, a distant, earth-shattering boom vibrated through the very foundations of the safe house. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the emergency lights flickered, casting long, dancing shadows.
"Damn it," Mina swore. She didn't have any weapons on her.
"SAM, who is attacking?" Mina asked. The Citadel was impenetrable.
"Cerberus," came SAM's reply. "Multiple breaches reported across the Presidium and Wards. Coordinated assault. My analysis indicates a complete takeover attempt."
Mina's blood ran cold. Cerberus? Here? She glanced around the safehouse. "SAM, I don't have any weapons. Not even a stunner."
"Understood. Your current location, the lower levels of the Zakera Ward, is presently secure, but that will not last. Intel indicates a specific Cerberus objective: capture or eliminate key Alliance personnel and those deemed 'threats' to their new order."
A cold knot tightened in Mina's stomach. "Key Alliance… SAM, what are you saying?"
"Udina has betrayed the Alliance. He is coordinating with Cerberus. He has provided them with targeted lists. Your name, Mina, is prominent on one such list. A Cerberus retrieval team is actively searching for your last known location."
The news hit her like a kinetic hammer. Udina? A traitor? It was incomprehensible. And she was on their list. Her. Not Aster, but Mina. A supposed nobody hiding in plain sight?
"How am I on their list?" Mina asked, thinking of all the possibilities.
"The virus on Garrus's Omni-Tool," SAM explained. "Garrus must have had information on his omni-tool. They are looking for us. Udina must be the unknown variable we were searching for."
Her eyes darted to the reinforced door.
"They are approximately five minutes out, Mina. Based on their trajectory, they will be entering the access tunnel leading to this sector."
Five minutes. No weapons. A traitor. And Cerberus on her tail. Mina swallowed hard.
"Alright, SAM," she said, her voice surprisingly steady. "No weapons means we need to think. What's in this 'safe' house that isn't safe anymore?"
"An emergency power conduit runs directly beneath this floor. And the structural integrity of the ventilation shaft leading to the main cargo bay is compromised in sector Gamma-7." SAM's tone was all business.
Mina grinned. "Good. Let's get to work."
With SAM's instructions, Mina modified the emergency power conduit. While she worked, SAM kept updating her on the situation.
"Any word from Garrus?" Mina dared to ask as she worked. With the jamming signal, she doubted there would be any word from him, but he had to make sure.
"None."
'I hope he's safe,' Mina thought.
A sudden, sharp thump from the corridor outside sent a jolt through her. Her pulse quickened.
Then came the tell-tale hiss of a breaching charge, followed by a muffled explosion that rattled the very foundations of the safe house. Alarms blared, a discordant shriek that sliced through the false calm.
"Breach! Sector C!" a distorted voice crackled over the intercom. It sounded like Kael.
Mina didn't hesitate.
She finished wiring the power conduit to go off when the front door was opened. Next, Mina moved over to the emergency exit access panel.
"Modify the phase-shifting frequency of the primary energy flow. It will create a localized overload, triggering the emergency egress and causing a momentary power surge across this quadrant, providing a brief diversion."
Mina worked with practiced speed, her fingers flying over the delicate wires, guided by SAM's urgent commands. Sparks flew, a sharp electrical crackle filled the air, and then with a low thump, a section of the wall slid inward, revealing a cramped maintenance shaft leading downwards.
"Go, Mina!"
She plunged into the cramped service shaft, dropping several meters before landing hard on the main concourse of the Wards. The cacophony of blaster fire, screams, and explosions was deafening.
C-Sec officers, their blue armor stark against the metallic environment, were desperately fighting off Cerberus soldiers in their distinctive black-and-orange.
"Get to cover!" Mina barked, her voice cutting through the chaos.
She ducked behind an overturned supply crate. The C-Sec forces were slowly being pushed back. More Cerberus soldiers began to flood the level. Somewhere in the distance, there was an explosion.
"The small group of Cerberus soldiers has been eliminated," SAM informed her.
Mina saw Citadel Security grappling with heavily armed Cerberus soldiers in reinforced armor. One Officer already had a biotic barrier shimmering around him, and another was laying down suppressive fire with a Revenant. A C-Sec officer cried out somewhere nearby as a Cerberus trooper's assault rifle spat fire, tearing through their shield.
Without thinking, Mina darted forward. She saw a discarded fire extinguisher, grabbed it, and with a grunt, slammed it into the back of a Cerberus trooper's head. He crumpled.
She kicked over a stack of crates, creating a temporary barrier for a fallen C-Sec officer. She threw a loose panel at a sniper, momentarily disrupting their aim. She fought with desperate fury, a whirlwind of improvised attacks and evasive maneuvers, an unseen hand trying to turn the tide.
But it wasn't enough. Cerberus numbers were overwhelming. A heavy blow to her back sent her sprawling. Strong hands seized her arms, lifting her roughly. She struggled, twisting, but a stun pulse fired from a wrist-mounted device brought a wave of dizziness.
"Got her," a gruff voice barked. "The target is secured."
Darkness began to creep in around the edges of Mina's vision. Her last thought, a desperate plea to SAM, went unanswered as the world dissolved into black.