15168 réponses à ce sujet

[jtav]

No stranger than I am. I've posted another excerpt elsewhere. Anyone want to have a look?

[Spectre4hire]

@Ieldra2- nice pic, but I like's Miranda's white outfit more. I still don't understand how she fights in that... What is your fanfic about?



@jtav-Wow I never really thought about a Miranda/Kaiden romance before. Nicely done, I thought you handled both characters really well. Will there be more of this fic? Or was that just a one-shot?



@fongiel thanks for the help with the signature links.

[jtav]

Spectre4hire, it's not my story.

[Ieldra]

jtav wrote...
No stranger than I am. I've posted another excerpt elsewhere. Anyone want to have a look?

Yes! (but I'm off now, so I won't say anything about it for at least 10 hours)

[jtav]

Unedited, as per usual. I appreciate you guys being my guinea pigs. This story is a blast to do. First third is almost done, but I don't know if I'll serialize or post in one go.

Miranda took an involuntary step back. Liara was planning on doing what? No. No. No one in their right mind would attempt to eliminate the Shadow Broker. He was the most powerful man in the galaxy. Cerberus
wielded considerable influence, but even the Illusive Man had only spoken of thwarting the occasional scheme when the Broker's plans would prove particularly troubling. The rest of the time, he had been a necessary evil that they had used while trying to give up as few of their own secrets as possible. And then he tried to hand Shepard's body  to the Collectors. Miranda would have dearly loved to see his head on a pike, but Cerberus didn't possess the resources to take on the Shadow Broker directly, even before the Lazarus Project. What chance did one person have? There were rumors of assassins and mercenaries who had tried to kill the Broker for one reason or another. No one had ever seen them again. And now Liara was joining their number. "And you called me insane. What is this? Some twisted form of asari nobility? Feron is dead because of you, so you're honor bound to throw your life away avenging him?"

Liara turned away. She clutched her arms, as if to ward off the cold. "I had a choice, Miranda. I could either save Feron or I could save Shepard. I chose the dead body. I've condemned Feron to either a slow death or something worse. And all because I couldn't let  one human go." Her voice cracked. "The least I can do is make sure the Shadow Broker never makes another bargain with the Collectors. The Shadow Broker claims to be neutral, but all he's done is spread more  death and misery throughout the galaxy. I can stop him. Shepard will never forgive me for handing him to you, but perhaps I can forgive myself. Besides, if I don't stop him, who will?"

"Look at me." Miranda seized Liara by the shoulders and spun her so that they were once again facing each other. Liara's eyes glittered, either with anger or unshed tears. It didn't matter which. She had to make Liara understand. The girl was too brilliant and driven to throw her life away. "I've been with Cerberus for over half my life. I've tortured people for information. I've had to kill people who didn't particularly deserve it because that was the most efficient way of accomplishing the task at hand. That's the world you're walking into. You'll be killed."

"And there's a very good chance you'll be killed if I give you Shepard's memories."

"I know." She shrugged. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. "I'm willing to risk it."

Liara's lips quirked upward slightly, and for a moment she looked precisely as Miranda had remembered her. Her chest jolted. "It seems we both have a death wish." Her eyes darkened, and the spell was broken. "Though I would prefer we both survived."

"So would I." And perhaps there was a way for Liara, at least to survive. Miranda felt herself trembling slightly. Yes, there was a way. "Let's make a deal, T'Soni. If you give me Shepard's memories, then I'll teach you everything I know about acquiring information. I assure you that I know a great deal: the proper way to bribe an official without giving offense, when to use charm and when to use force, how find someone who can hack into the databases of a prominent salarian family and still copy of their genetic data..." She let the last few words hang in the air. Liara remained silent. "You say you want to survive this? Then let me help you."

Liara bit her lip, thinking. "No," she said at last.

"No?" Her voice felt hollow. She felt hollow. It was one thing to be thwarted when she wanted something. It was quite another to fail in a vital mission. She'd thought Liara was better than this, that she would do what she had to to ensure that Feron's sacrifice meant something. She wasn't supposed to be stupid and selfish. She wasn't supposed to be anything like Gail.

"No. I don't want you to tell me how to find someone to get the data for me. I want you to teach me how to get the data myself."

"Y-you do?" Her voice wavered, and Miranda silence cursed herself. She should not be sounding like an overeager schoolgirl. And yet... Liara will help. Liara will help. I wasn't wrong. "I can do that."

Liara held up a hand. "One memory for one lesson. After that, we'll see how it goes. If I think the strain is proving too much for you, then I'll stop the transfer then and there. Understood?"

"Perfectly." This wouldn't be too much for her. The mission was too important. She would teach Liara. She would be either acquire the tools to survive on her insane quest and learn how to succeed as an information broker or she would give up after learning she had to get her hands dirty. Either way, she wouldn't die. Not soon. "We can start this evening. I have an apartment here in Nos Astra. More of a safehouse really." She tapped another
button on her omni-tool. "My address. Is 8:30 acceptable?"

"Fine." Liara sounded a little dazed, as if she couldn't quite believe she had agreed to this. "You do realize that, even if this does work, and I don't accidentally kill you, that I will take time. Perhaps as much as a month. "

A month. A month with Liara. "I think you'll find I can be a very patient woman."

Modifié par jtav, 23 septembre 2010 - 09:02 .

[enayasoul]

Miranda's outfit is too dark, I like the white better. The hair in the face enhances her beautiful face. I often let my curly hair dangle near my eyes and sides because it's sexy and adds mystery.



I don't see why Miranda would want to be in charge of cerberus or where that even came from... why people think it's necessary. I don't find it necessary. Or to get rid of Tim. I certainly couldn't trust Tim with that base but eagerly wait to see if I shot my male shephard in the foot for not keeping it.. Who knows what he will do. Maybe use other species in the soup? *joking* Something is very mysterious about Tim, i don't trust him.



I think Miranda "woke up"... Shepard was the key and if Tim is going to throw shepard away just like that.. he wouldn't hesitate to do the same for anyone else. Including Miranda. I have a feeling she also might be testing Tim when she said that... She is tired of being used. She has seen a lot of bad things, experiments and so forth. Who's to really say she will quit cerberus all together. We really don't know. ANd what about her sister if she quits...



I am sure she has lots of contacts and will help shepard regardless. She knows him and cares about him and the what they are fighting for. She wants to be part of something great. To make a difference.



I want her to be involved in ME3...working together and have a growing relationship on board the normandy. When I first saw the the info on her sterile, intial reaction to ask her about it. but wow that could be such a great scene if he brings it up randomly, having kids after they save the galaxy. just to gauge a response? So many possibilities.



Interested to see if there would be a cat fight between ash and miranda. he he he... miranda is awesome.



I think humanity is gonna need all the help they can get. My feeling is that they will unite all the species, aliens, humans, everyone together to fight the reapers. I don't think it will be just humans. Everyone. Maybe even rachni if you saved them.



Oh, one idea for dlc for miranda would be dealing with her father...

Can't wait for ME3!



Interesting to find out what the encrypted cerberus data i had EDI store... and kasumi's grey box.

[Ieldra]

Spectre4hire wrote...
@Ieldra2 - What is your fanfic about?

It's 2176. An object containing very important information was stolen by agents of the Shadow broker. Alliance military intelligence and Cerberus both send an operative to recover it. The operatives are, of course, Miranda Lawson and Shepard, both under cover IDs and somewhat disguised. Their objectives will bring them into conflict, but of course that's not the whole story.

Modifié par Ieldra2, 23 septembre 2010 - 09:00 .

[Pacifien]

So I was on the Jack thread thinking about when Jack's abilities suit the battle and when they don't. I don't mean gameplay wise, like using her Pull or Warp Ammo, but for storyline reasons. I think if I were to ask people's favorite characters how they felt the character would do in combat situations against other characters, anyone can come up with a reason for their character to be quite elite. I think it matters what the situation is, though.

Okay, so about Miranda, I started to think about where her skills truly lie. Combat situations wasn't on my list, though I know they had to give her such abilities to be of use to your squad in combat situations. Same as they make the likes of Mordin, Kasumi, or Liara deadly as they are.

Miranda always struck me as someone who worked on her missions for the Illusive Man alone, using her brain to strategize how to achieve her goal. As time went on, that analytical nature lent itself to being a good manager of various projects by the Illusive Man. Now, I personally don't think that being a good project manager translates to a good military leader, but I do give Miranda props for being a quick thinker, to calculate the best scenarios as fast as a human could.

Actually, I think of Miranda much like the character of the Black Widow from the Avengers comics (or more like you see in Iron Man 2). She is precise, she is quick, she is deadly. And while she can work with others in combat scenarios, it's not her forte.

Anyway, I also felt that Miranda was given the Lazarus Project because of not only her project management skills, but a likely background specifically in medical science, and, most of all, her complete agreement with the Illusive Man on Shepard's importance. For some reason, the Illusive Man believed no other human could fill Shepard's role in this critical time with the Reaper threat. Did Miranda share such devotion to that belief or what it devotion to the Illusive Man's beliefs whatever they may be?

Okay, that's my rambling thoughts on Miranda that I've had in the past five minutes.

[jtav]

Finally! Someone agrees with me that Miranda is similar to Natasha. Sorry, I know that was a substantive post, but I've been making the comparison for months.

[Spectre4hire]

@Ieldra2: sounds like a really good story. Is up to read? Or are you still working on it?



@jtav: oh my bad, thats what I get when I skim some of the posts...

[Prudii Aden]

jtav wrote...
Finally! Someone agrees with me that Miranda is similar to Natasha. Sorry, I know that was a substantive post, but I've been making the comparison for months.

What d'you mean, finally?
Whilst I've not said it often, she does fit the mould. I'd say she was a mix of Emma Frost and the delectable Ms Romanov.

[jtav]

Ah, I remember now PA. Throw in a little Felicia Hardy as well.



I agree with Pacifien. Miranda is very precise. If you want someone to sneak in, accomplish the objective with a minimum of fuss, and get out, there are none better. A straight firefight doesn't play to her strengths. She can hold her own against the rank and file, but most of the squad is better.

[t3HPrO]

@Pacifen

Great minds do think alike.

[t3HPrO]

@jtav

Not really. She would be better than most of the squad seeing that she was given spec ops training, which is standard for black-ops. However, Jacob and Garrus would most liekly be better trained, as would Mordin.

[Pacifien]

I think anyone on that squad has had considerable training for a multitude of situations, with the Illusive Man specifically assembling dossiers where different people represent two sides of the same coin. Tali is a great tech, but she's an engineer tech. Kasumi is a great tech, but she's a hacker tech. Mordin and Okeer are great scientific geniuses, but they use their gifts for science in drastically different ways. Had the situation called for high level infiltration, I think Miranda, Kasumi, and Thane would be your best bets, only Miranda is probably the only one of those three who can start by walking through the front door. She can play the businesswoman, the politician, the informant, the woman in the skinny black dress. She is everything that would have made her a better choice for Kasumi's loyalty mission rather than Shepard.

[LuxDragon]

Besides the fact that getting and getting the grey box was the easy part. Getting out required shooting everything up and blowing a gunship. That required Shepard's skillset.

[snfonseka]

Pacifien wrote...

I think anyone on that squad has had considerable training for a multitude of situations, with the Illusive Man specifically assembling dossiers where different people represent two sides of the same coin. Tali is a great tech, but she's an engineer tech. Kasumi is a great tech, but she's a hacker tech. Mordin and Okeer are great scientific geniuses, but they use their gifts for science in drastically different ways. Had the situation called for high level infiltration, I think Miranda, Kasumi, and Thane would be your best bets, only Miranda is probably the only one of those three who can start by walking through the front door. She can play the businesswoman, the politician, the informant, the woman in the skinny black dress. She is everything that would have made her a better choice for Kasumi's loyalty mission rather than Shepard.

Taking about Kasumi's loyalty mission, there is a one thing that gives a way the cover of Sheps/ Miris or who ever the replacement for Shep. That is the Kasumi's outfit, I mean c'mon who can go on a undercover mission wearing that kind of dress?

[t3HPrO]

@Pacifen & LuxDragon

Spot on the both of you. I just wish you could bring Miranda along on Kasumi's mission. Just imagine her running around in a black dress and high heels...damn. And besides, Miranda is more suited to this kind of social functions than Shepard is, given that she was a rich man's daughter and was raised in such conditions.

[Pacifien]

LuxDragon wrote...
Besides the fact that getting and getting the grey box was the easy part. Getting out required shooting everything up and blowing a gunship. That required Shepard's skillset.

No, see, that wouldn't have happened because Miranda would have known enough to take one look at Kasumi and say dressing like a thief to a party is going to get Hock suspicious.

[snfonseka]

Pacifien wrote...

LuxDragon wrote...
Besides the fact that getting and getting the grey box was the easy part. Getting out required shooting everything up and blowing a gunship. That required Shepard's skillset.

No, see, that wouldn't have happened because Miranda would have known enough to take one look at Kasumi and say dressing like a thief to a party is going to get Hock suspicious.

So basicaly you are saying that Kasumi has a brain to understand that Shep should wear a dress that suits for the party, but her brain is not enough to understand that herself should not wear as a theif to the party.

[LuxDragon]

Pacifien wrote...

LuxDragon wrote...
Besides the fact that getting and getting the grey box was the easy part. Getting out required shooting everything up and blowing a gunship. That required Shepard's skillset.

No, see, that wouldn't have happened because Miranda would have known enough to take one look at Kasumi and say dressing like a thief to a party is going to get Hock suspicious.

Unless the party was the lure. Hock had the whole "Wizard of Oz" thing the moment the vault was penetrated. Which, BTW, NEEDED Kasumi's skills to do break it, not Miranda's.

The moment you got the grey box, you had to fight through a whole army to get out. Miranda would be some help, but Shepard was definitely more appropriate.

[snfonseka]

LuxDragon wrote...

Pacifien wrote...

LuxDragon wrote...
Besides the fact that getting and getting the grey box was the easy part. Getting out required shooting everything up and blowing a gunship. That required Shepard's skillset.

No, see, that wouldn't have happened because Miranda would have known enough to take one look at Kasumi and say dressing like a thief to a party is going to get Hock suspicious.

Unless the party was the lure. Hock had the whole "Wizard of Oz" thing the moment the vault was penetrated. Which, BTW, NEEDED Kasumi's skills to do break it, not Miranda's.

The moment you got the grey box, you had to fight through a whole army to get out. Miranda would be some help, but Shepard was definitely more appropriate.

I think what Pacifien mentioned is that Miranda is a good replacement for Shepard not for Kasumi. So Kasumi will be there always.

According to my understanding this is happened because Hock identified Kasumi (most probably because of her outfit that is not suited for the occation) and it is hard to believe that "best theif of the galaxy" is dumb enough to understand that her outfit is giving the cover away....

[fongiel24]

t3HPrO wrote...

@jtav
Not really. She would be better than most of the squad seeing that she was given spec ops training, which is standard for black-ops. However, Jacob and Garrus would most liekly be better trained, as would Mordin.

Where'd you get this? Yeah, Miranda claims she can headshot a mech at 100 metres, but this doesn't automatically mean she went through the 22nd century equivalent of Hell Week. Such intense commando training is nice to have, but hardly a requirement for infiltration and espionage work. Like Pacifen says, Miranda's looks and intelligence allow her to walk in the front door, hiding in plain sight.

I venture that Grunt, Zaeed, Thane, Legion and Samara would also have at least equal training to Miranda. Grunt was 'born' to fight and has had his training conditioned into him even before his 'birth'. Zaeed is an ex-Alliance veteran with decades of practical experience as a mercenary (he's likely seen far more actual combat than Miranda will see in her entire life). Thane tells you he's been trained as an assassin since he was 6 (even Miranda probably didn't have combat training like this). Legion is literally programmed for combat. Samara is a 1000-year-old Justicar, with all the experience and training that entails. The only members of the Normandy I would consider Miranda clearly superior to in terms of combat training would be Tali, Jack, and Kasumi.

snfonseka wrote...

LuxDragon wrote...
Unless the party was the lure. Hock had the whole "Wizard of Oz" thing the moment the vault was penetrated. Which, BTW, NEEDED Kasumi's skills to do break it, not Miranda's.

The moment you got the grey box, you had to fight through a whole army to get out. Miranda would be some help, but Shepard was definitely more appropriate.

I think what Pacifien mentioned is that Miranda is a good replacement for Shepard not for Kasumi. So Kasumi will be there always.

According to my understanding this is happened because Hock identified Kasumi (most probably because of her outfit that is not suited for the occation) and it is hard to believe that "best theif of the galaxy" is dumb enough to understand that her outfit is giving the cover away....

I was considerably less impressed with Kasumi's skills as a thief after she grabbed the greybox. Yes, I understand ME2 is still a quasi-shooter but shouldn't the mark of a great thief be the ability to steal something without alerting every armed guard on the premises and being able to get out without requiring the martial skills of a Spectre?

After blowing up Hock's gunship and running to the shuttle, my first thought was, "If we ended up having to shoot our way out anywways, what was the point of the subterfuge in the first place?". If I'd been planning the operation and knew Kasumi was just going to hack the security systems and do a smash-and-grab, I would have simply put together a heavily-armed shore party, dropped them off on the landing platform, and shot my way in.

If Miranda had been assigned to the mission instead of Shepard, I picture her seducing Hock into showing her all the impressive aquisitions in his vault, getting Kasumi to disable any alarms around the greybox, walking out of the vault with the greybox in her purse, and taking off on the Normandy long before Hock even realized something was missing.

Modifié par fongiel24, 24 septembre 2010 - 07:58 .

[Arijharn]

If we relied on subterfuge the way out I would wager the level would eventually become boring.



Thane's loyalty was, dare I say it, awesome because it was different, but not really that long either. Variance in mission structure is fun but it might not be an efficient usage of resources to put in a real stealth element like something from conviction or whatever for the sake of only a couple of levels.



I guess it's one of those things that are relegated to the backburner for the sake of gameplay in all honesty.

[Ieldra]

@jtav:
I belatedly read your excerpt. Very good. I've always wondered how Liara got the skills to succeed as an information broker. Her explanation in the game never convinced me. I couldn't quite get into Miranda this time, though - she comes across as a bit too passionate. One minor thing: when she thinks "Liara will help", that seems out of context - wasn't her helping Liara what they were talking about?