Miranda Lawson

Miranda Lawson a former Cerberus Officer and XO of the *Normandy* when she answered to that organization. Intelligent, beautiful, and deadly, Miranda is much better as a friend than an enemy, though she is not perfect.

### Early Life

Miranda was born in 2150, having been designed from the ground up by her father Henry Lawson, using his own genome- even modifying his genes to take the place of mother. Miranda was the first daughter-candidate he kept. A man seemingly obsessed with his own legacy, he expected perfection from Miranda and withheld affection and approval in pursuit of this goal. He forbade her from having friends and a social life outside of what he dictated to her. Miranda would later explain that she could have anything she wanted- but everything came with strings or a catch.

Miranda eventually planned an escape, using her wits and some gunfire. When she escaped, she took another with her- an infant girl who was her genetic twin. Though her father considered this thievery, Miranda believed she was rescuing her sister and managed to elude him despite his many connections across the galaxy. One of those connections Miranda had learned about was a mysterious group for which Henry Lawson was a major financial backer- Cerberus. Miranda sought the protection Cerberus, and in exchange for work and loyalty, the Illusive Man agreed to protect both her and her sister Oriana from their father.

Due to both her genetics and upbringing, Miranda was an extremely talented operative and rose quickly within the ranks.

Sometime prior to the Battle of the Citadel in 2183, Miranda made contact with Jacob Taylor. Together, they foiled a plot by former batarian ambassador Jath'Amon to assassinate the Citadel Council with a bioweapon.

After the Battle of the Citadel, Miranda met with the Illusive Man, declaring that "(Commander) Shepard did everything right . . . but she's just one woman," deriding the Alliance's decision to send the *Normandy's* crew out to fight geth when Cerberus knew they were not the real threat.

After the *Normandy* was attacked by an unknown vessel and Shepard was presumed lost, Miranda convinced Jacob to join her again for a mission to find Shepard. The two of them end up in a three way race to recover Shepard's body against the Shadow Broker's agents and Dr. Liara T'Soni, a former *Normandy* crew member. Liara is ultimately successful, but gives Miranda Shepard's body in the hope that Cerberus might be able to revive her. Miranda's initial prognosis is unhopeful, but the Illusive Man instructed her to processed regardless.

### The Lazarus Project

Miranda is placed in charge of the Lazarus Project- an ambitious plan to bring Shepard back to life, no matter the cost. The Illusive Man's only stipulation was that Shepard must be brought back, personality-wise, exactly as she was. For this reason, the Illusive Man vetoed Miranda's plan to plant a control chip in Shepard, for fear that it might alter her in some unforeseen way. On board the Minuteman Station, Miranda spent the next two years rebuilding Shepard, spending an astonishing amount of credits and ultimately resorting to bio-synthetic fusion and Reaper technology- and anything else Miranda deemed necessary or helpful. Miranda's single-minded focus would be critical to their success, but her attuite would be abrasive to some of those around her, including her subordinate, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Wilson.

### Mass Effect 2

Shepard became conscious at some point while Miranda and Wilson were working on her, forcing them to sedate her to keep the Commander from dying again and setting back their work. As Shepard's healing was close to completion, Dr. Wilson sabotaged the security mechs on board the station with the intention of killing everyone on board and turning Shepard over to the Shadow Broker. Miranda woke Shepard and directed her to armor and a weapon with the hopes that Shepard would be able to fight her way out while Miranda dealt with her own attackers. When Shepard, Jacob, and Wilson made it to the escape shuttles, Miranda was waiting for them and executed Wilson for his betrayal.

Miranda, Jacob, and Shepard traveled to an undisclosed Cerberus station and directed Shepard to be briefed by the Illusive Man on the issue of the disappearing human colonies. Miranda accompanied Shepard to the colony of Freedom's Progress where they found conclusive evidence of the Collector's involvement in the disappearances. After the Illusive Man gave control over the newly rebuilt *Normandy* to Shepard, Miranda was made the XO and Cerberus proxy, reporting back to the Illusive Man on their progress.

Initially, Miranda was quite cool toward Shepard, perhaps due to Shepard's hostile attitude toward Cerberus or possibly due to a feeling of jealousy and inadequacy- Miranda viewed own accomplishments as nothing for her own pride, but rather the natural outcome of the genetic tinkering she'd undergone. Miranda also took the time to pass along some intel she found relating to Jacob's father's ship, the MSV *Hugo Gernsback*. Over time, Miranda warmed to Shepard and her leadership- especially as they crew continued to act on Cerberus intelligence, only to later discover either atrocities in the case of Project Overlord (a Cerberus project attempting to use an organic mind to wrest control of the geth that lead to the death of many members of Cerberus and the torture on an innocent, disabled man), or in the repeated use of the *Normandy's* crew and innocent people as bait against the Collectors.

Miranda came across some information within her contacts suggesting that her father had located her sister and immediately made arrangements with Cerberus to move Oriana and her adopted parents, all of whom had no idea who Miranda was or her involvement. Miranda requested that Shepard assist her in overseeing the move as a guard against her father. Shepard agreed and traveled to Illium to make sure nothing went wrong. There, they discovered Miranda's contact and only childhood friend Niket had betrayed Miranda's trust- partially due to money, but mostly due to feeling that Miranda had lied to him for years about Oriana- believing Miranda had not done it to save her sister, but rather to get revenge against her father.

Shepard and Miranda were able to successfully safeguard the family from being kidnapped by the agents her father had sent. Sometime afterwards, Miranda and squadmember Jack nearly came to blows on board the *Normandy* due to Miranda's continuing loyalty to Cerberus and Jack's own experiences with the organization. Shepard was able to defuse the situation peacefully without taking sides.

### Mass Effect 3

After the successful assault on the Collector Base, Miranda resigned from Cerberus. The Illusive Man told her that 'it had been a pleasure working with (you)' and Miranda correctly assumed that Cerberus agents would be sent to kill her, forcing her to go underground. In July of 2186, Miranda reached out to Shepard in the midst of the Reaper War, where she voiced her concerns that the Illusive Man had turned over the location of her sister due to the family's sudden silence. Shepard asked if Miranda needed assistance, but aside from granting her some Alliance resources, Miranda asked her to wait for her to gather more intel. When Shepard came across information that Cerberus assassin Kai Leng, she made a point to warn Miranda- who was surprised by the information that he was still alive.

Eventually, Miranda was able to confirm her father's involvement in Oriana's disappearance and tracked them to "Sanctuary" a refugee camp on the planet Horizon. Sanctuary was actually a Cerberus front, conducting monstrous experiments on the unsuspecting refugees who land there. When Miranda traveled there to save her sister, she found the planet under attack by Reaper forces. With Shepard's help, Miranda is able to survive an ambush from Kai Leng, kill her father, save her sister, and help shut down Sanctuary.

Afterwards, Miranda joined the war effort in full, providing anti-Cerberus intel and making strikes at targets with fellow former-Cerberus colleagues. While the *Normandy's* crew was on R&R, Miranda and Shepard took the opprotunity to unwind at the Silver Sun Casino. Jack and Miranda might have decided to become romantically entangled at the party hosted by Shepard at her new apartment, but this is not been confirmed.

## Every One That Asketh

Miranda survived the Reaper War. In May of 2187, Garrus Vakarian managed to gain Miranda's attention by using an announcer on old Cerberus codes with the word "Archangel". Miranda saw the message and pinged his omin-tool the following day. Afterwards, she was onboarded to Project Scalpel given her extensive experience with Shepard. She spent a great deal of time attempting to decipher the use of the Reaper equipment encasing her old Commander, the DNA of the mysterious tuiran infant Shepard was carrying, and the mysterious pulling sensation both Garrus and Admiral David Anderson felt when in proximity to her.