...If She's Really Out to Get You.

How many members of the crew had Miranda gotten her claws into? How many were now just puppets on strings dancing for her? Ashley didn't know. What she did know was that as much as she wanted to, she couldn't just blow Miranda's brains out. Splattering her across the walls wouldn't solve this. Miranda's devotees would just kill her in retaliation, probably before their "mistress" hit the ground, and remain enthralled to her desires. A little cult dedicated to a martyred prophetess. No. She needed to find a way to get Miranda to relinquish her control over them, maybe put them back the way they were if possible. She had to talk to Kelly again, she knew how the mind worked better than anyone else on the ship, maybe she had some ideas.

Ashley stepped through the door to Kelly Chamber's room, and found her reading a tablet in her chair.

Her head was shaved.

"Oh god... Kelly?" She asked, horrified. Yeoman Chambers looked up.

"Oh. Lt. Commander Williams. You're a little early. I wasn't expecting you for another couple minutes... I guess we can get started if you want." She put her tablet down and smiled. Her smile faded and she stared quizzically at Ashley's peculiar expression. "Um... Is something wrong?"

"What did they do to you?" She asked, circling around the room, keeping her distance.

"Uh... What did who do?" Kelly arched an eyebrow, confused.

"You shaved your head. That means you went to the medical evaluation."

"Yeah..." She confirmed. "It's the grooming standard. What about it?"

"What did they do to you?" Ashley repeated.

"...They gave me a clean bill of health?" Kelly replied innocently. "What? Were they supposed to do something else?"

Ashley bit her lip pensively. She didn't trust this. Not one bit. Kelly stood up and moved slowly towards her.

"Lt. Commander..." Kelly started, in her most calming tone of voice.

"Tell me what we talked about yesterday!" Ashley demanded suddenly.

"What? Why?" Kelly asked, startled.

"What did we talk about yesterday? Tell me now or I swear to god..." She didn't have a weapon on her, but her hands would do if she needed to defend herself.

"Okay! Okay!" Kelly held up her hands defensively. "Calm down. We were talking about how weird it's been on the Normandy lately and how you didn't trust Miranda. You were going to investigate on your end, I was going to investigate on mine, we agreed to meet back here today, right about now." The fact that Kelly called her "Miranda" and not "Mistress" was promising, but then again, how could she be sure that wasn't part of the ruse? The answer was simple she realized. She couldn't be. Yet Kelly Chambers seemed genuinely confused and concerned. So maybe...

"Did you tell anyone?" Ashley asked, still jittery.

"No of course not!" Kelly proclaimed. "And for the record, no one asked either. Now would you please tell me what's going on with you?"

Ashley looked to the exit, then back at Kelly. After a moment, she exhaled.

"This is going to sound crazy," she started, and then she told Kelly. She told her everything she had discovered. MIranda, Kasumi, the EDIs, the chips... and then she began to outline a scenario. A scenario in which Miranda, tired of watching Shepard defy her and Cerberus when they were the ones who brought her back to life, finally snapped and decided to bring them all back into the fold. She took control of Shepard through some secret Lazarus technology in her brain, and used her to remove Liara from play and reprogram EDI. Then she got into Kasumi's head, since she was the one who'd figure it all out first, and ensured she'd not only stay out of the way, but happily help. They took control of Traynor, ensuring no one could call for help, then planned to turn every human member of the crew into a loyal Cerberus meat puppet and every alien member of the crew into a mindless servant using routine medical examination to disguise implanting control chips in their brains. It was convoluted, it was absurd, it was irrational. It was the kind of thing a strung out conspiracy theorist would come up with as they were being tossed in a padded cell.

Then again, so were the Reapers.

Kelly listened, nodding occasionally to indicate understanding, and never once did Ash detect a hint of incredulity behind her eyes, only growing concern. When she finally finished, both were seated again, and Ashley slumped forward slightly.

"That's... a lot," Kelly said finally.

"Yeah, I know. What I don't understand is why they let you slip by..." Ashley sighed. "Maybe to try and make me thing I was wrong?"

"Well Gabby didn't tell me a thing, nor did anyone else before I got called down to the doctor's office."

"You said they gave you a clean bill of health."

"Indeed... I'm fit to serve." At that point, Kelly's expression went blank. Ashley was confused for a second, before she heard a shimmering sound behind her and felt a needle go into her neck. She lurched forward trying to get away, but whatever she'd been injected with worked fast. She simply crashed to the ground and rolled onto her back. The last thing she saw was Kelly standing to attention as Kasumi moved into view.

"Sweet dreams," she said, blowing her a goodnight kiss as she passed out.

...

When Ashley woke up, she shivered. From this, it didn't take long to deduce she was naked, and her body had been shaved clean. Her sight was still blurry from whatever chemical cocktail Kasumi had **** her with. She saw indistinct shapes moving about in front of her, which soon solidified into Dr. Chakwas and Dr. Michel. Both of their heads had been shaved too, and they moved less like people and more like automatons as they prepared their tools. Off to one side, she saw two more figures, one behind the other. One was Kelly Chambers, naked as well and bent forward, and the other...

"Oh! She's awake," Miranda acknowledged, also naked with her hands dug into Kelly's firmly rounded backside as she thrust in and out with a strap-on. "We were just having a little fun before your operation, Lt. Commander. How rude of us." She pulled out, then slapped Kelly on the ass, causing Kelly to immediately stand and straighten out. Miranda meanwhile walked over to Ashley. "How does it feel to know you were right?"

"F-Fuck you," Ash tried to sound defiant, but her voice quivered slightly, giving away her fear.

"You'll get your chance," Miranda grinned. "I have to admit, Lt. Commander, from what I heard you did a hell of a job putting my whole plan together. Shame there's no one left on the ship who can help you anymore. Shepard's mind is my plaything, Liara is a braindead husk, EDI is a loyal agent, Kasumi and Samantha are hopelessly enthralled, Samara is now good looking furniture in my quarters, and Tali is just a maintenance drone, doing whatever tasks are too droll for her human superiors. Everyone else is either mine or soon will be."

"What about Jack?" Ashley asked, knowing full well that the only person Miranda hated more than her was Jack. "What did you do to her?"

"Oh. I'm saving her for last. She's so caught up in her own little world she hasn't even realized what's happening. All the better. Once everyone else on the ship knows their place, then I'll show dear Subject Zero exactly where she sits on the pecking order, but enough about that." She held something in front of Ashley's face. "Do you know what this is?"

"One of those control chips I saw you unloading."

"Good girl. I secured these with the aid of the former Shadow Broker's resources, then sent them to an associate of Kasumi's for improvement. It took a little subliminal convincing of course, but she saw the light. See, some slavers use these to shut down their captives' brains and make them docile. The problem is that in that state they are of very little use. Oh sure they make great sex toys, but they can't cook or clean or do anything particularly complicated. Plus slavers aren't the most elegant people. Some slaves don't survive, some are disfigured, and I can't abide that here." She reached over and grabbed the injector. "So we manufactured this handy little device. Just have to press it against the back of the skull at the right spot, press the button, and it slides the chip right where it needs to go in the brain. As it retracts it puts a little strip of metal to cover the slit in the skull, and seals the skin up with a biotic field. Doesn't even leave a scar."

"And here I thought you just had a thing for bald women," Ashley grimaced, regaining some of her spirit.

"Ha! Cute, but no. This," she ran her finger along Ashley's scalp, "is just to make sure there are no unnecessary complications. As your hair grows back, so will your mind, informed by the data in that chip, and in a few weeks the new and improved Ashley Williams will be serving the ship with pride. In the meantime, if anyone who isn't in the fold should start asking any questions, EDI will commandeer you for a moment and play the part. Another benefit of the chip. I bet you really thought she was Kelly, didn't you? With unfettered access to your memories and mannerisms, she can be quite the actress. We tried letting the drones speak for themselves, but that nearly gave us away. We should have no problems now."

"Someone will figure it out... Someone will stop you!" Ashley spat angrily.

"Mmm... Maybe. But it won't be you. Doctors? Proceed."

"Yes mistress," they said in unison. She must've gotten them weeks ago when all this started. Her first victims after Shepard and Liara, in preparation for this moment. From the way their hands moved and their cold methodical determination, she could tell that while their personalities might not be there, their skills most definitely were.

"Kiss my ass, Miranda!" She called out as her head was fixed in place. She steeled herself as she felt the cold barrel of the inject press against the back of her skull. She would fight this. She would resist. She would find a way. That's what Shepard would do. That's what she... *CHA-THUNK!*

The injector retracted from her skull a moment later without so much as a drop of blood.

"Connection Established," EDI confirmed.

"Operation successful mistress," the doctors spoke in unison. "She is fit to serve."

Ashley stood up robotically, then saluted. "I am fit to serve."

"Yes you are..." Miranda said, inspecting her newest catch. "What was that last thing you said? Kiss my ass? Well how about you do yourself a favor, and kiss mine." She turned her back to Ashley, displaying her perfectly formed ass to the mindless Lt. Commander, who dutifully got on her knees, and did as she was told with the dispassion of a machine. "Keep going until I say stop." She did so, pecking along Miranda's plump posterior, running her tongue up and down, never questioning her place. "Go a little... deeper." Miranda ordered. Ashley paused for a moment as she recalibrated, then her meaning connected. Miranda giggled like a school girl as she felt Ashley's tongue probing around the rim of her asshole. "Your memories are intact. What did you call me after we first met?"

"A royal pain in the ass," Ashley replied in monotone in between licks.

"Correct... Ooh..." She shuddered. "I always thought I showed generous patience with you. Now? I think I'll show you what a real pain in the ass is like... Stop." She commanded. Ashley did so. "Stand up. Bend over." Ashley stood up, and bent over. She didn't so much as squeak when Miranda rammed her up the back passage. She just stared uncomprehendingly forward. As did Kelly Chambers. As did Doctor Chakwas and Doctor Michel. Other slaves were continuing on their preprogrammed tasks, but in the presence of their owner and mistress, they could do nothing but await new commands and admire her absolute control over their bodies and minds. As Miranda thrust back and forth, she gave a new command.

"Feel this ****! Feel every moment of it! It is one of the greatest moments of your life to be violated by me, your new lady and mistress, now and forever!" She was practically cackling. At that point, a certain measure of life returned to Ashley's eyes, and her mouth fell agape as she started to pant.

"Thank you... Mistress... It is... my honor... to be used... by you... My body belongs to you... now and forever..." She managed to push those words through her pants. Her voice was still mechanical, but the heat radiating off of her body was real enough, as were the sensations bouncing around inside her empty head. When her personality was restored and redefined, she would remember this, and she would cry tears of joy and contrition at her mistress's shameless use of her unworthy body.

Miranda looked forward to that day, when all her loyal servants were allowed to worship her with the full range of emotion and devotion. She looked forward to it almost as much as she was looking forward to what came next...