33 Grissom Academy

--> Cerberus Cruiser with Fighter escort sighted at Grissom. Communications out of the station are being jammed, but we've managed to make contact with a Lieutenant Sanders who says she has students still inside.

The Normandy will draw off the Fighters and cause a diversion while the away-team extracts the students in the shuttle. We'll have to rendezvous outside of system.

--> Extraction complete, students are safe. Illusive Man thwarted again.

Cerberus never ceases to surprise me. I'd honestly thought that Mars would constitute the extent of their hostilities against us. But I'd been wrong: this attempt to abduct our students from Grissom Academy is not their only offence since Mars, merely the latest and most dangerous since that first outrage. Ever since their failed attempt to snatch away the Prothean Plans they've ignored all attempts at negotiation and harassed and harried the Alliance at every possible turn, culminating in this failed abduction attempt.

At this point it seems there is nothing they will not do to hamper our war effort, though why is still a mystery.

There’s never been any doubt in my mind that Cerberus was the enemy, but you’d think, if anything could unite us in common cause, it would be the arrival of a mutual enemy hell-bent on destroying us all. Apparently such is not the case.

Hostile or not, Cerberus should not even be a factor at this time. Upon first returning to the Alliance, I had brought with me an intel dump on Cerberus big enough to choke a bureau for months. I don’t know if Cerberus’ resources exceeded the scope of the intel to such a degree as to render that exposure ineffectual, or if their influence in the Alliance was strong enough to throw sand in the cogs and keep the files locked up. In either case, Cerberus is still alive and strong, and kicking the Alliance in the shins every chance they get.

Fortunately we rescued some fairly adept shins today, shins that are good and ready to do some kicking back. It's clear the students have not yet reached their full potential: if they had then my services would not have been needed. Nevertheless our best and brightest were trained at that school, and are eager to see some action. The biotics will, with supervision, be assigned front-line combat roles supporting our soldiers engaging Reaper forces; revenge against Cerberus will have to wait.

The tech students, along with David Archer who has recovered from his horrific condition remarkably well, will be lending their aid in the building of the Prothean Device. It is quite possible that younger minds will see solutions that older scientists would overlook.

Jack was at Grissom Academy, serving as the students favourite combat instructor, and was instrumental in ensuring the their escape, as much through her surprising leadership as by biotic power.

The Illusive Man tried and failed to contain Jack as a child. Now having escaped from his machinations, she stands between him and other innocents that he would subject to the same tortures that she endured at his hands.

A woman who went through what she did, captured in her infancy and raised to become an inhumane monster of destruction, ought to be a wrecked and crippled specimen of humanity, incapable of empathy or caring for others. Instead, I find her thriving amidst her students, a veritable momma bear of rough love and protection for them. I’m more glad than I can say to see her find goodness in herself for others, to see her find a purpose other than destruction. Not that she’ll lack outlet for her able talents in that regard. There’s Reapers enough for all. Jack is overseeing the kids’ deployment in combat roles. So long as they’re led by “The Psychotic Biotic,” there is little than can stand before them.

An ominous hint was found in captured Cerberus briefings on the mission to Grissom Academy. Mention of planned indoctrination of the prisoners prompts the question of whether Cerberus is still an independent player. Does “indoctrination” in this context mean the dreaded results of prolonged Reaper contact, or does it refer more conventional methods of brainwashing? The new modifications Cerberus is making to its troops, eerily Husk-like in appearance, do not bode well.

The Illusive Man mentioned through com projection on Mars that he wanted to control the Reapers instead of destroying them. He’s mad. If that madness costs us this war, I’ll kill him myself if I have to follow his damned soul to hell to do it.

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