Space Heroes and Super Spies: The Miranda Lawson Thread

Ash did indeed refuse to help against the Collectors; in her hang-ups against Cerberus, she didn't realize the true threat. She let her feelings and morals get in the way of reality. And she blamed Shepard for something he had no control over (though my Shepard admires Cerberus and is a proud member throughout ME2). She alone of every squadmember from ME1 refused to help out of ideological incompatibility, which is senseless against the Reaper threat. She showed she didn't have what it takes then and there.

Miranda arguably had lateral character development, without needing to grow professionally. Your point of contention is moot: you're implying Miranda is bad because she (rightfully) killed her father (in what could arguably called self-defense given that he was already trying to kill Miranda, was holding Oriana hostage, and pointing a gun at both Shepard and Miranda). As well, no one would punish the extrajudicial killing of Henry Lawson given what was going on at Sanctuary (despite the utility and benefit his research gleaned.)

Ashley meanwhile doesn't have this excuse in ME1 if she kills Wrex; sure, she may have been 'defending' Shepard from Wrex, but there was still the point of reason in which you could talk Wrex down, and Ash acts unilaterally in the instance if you don't.

(1) Survival is more important than morality - even if you contest this on an individual level, would you let all of humanity die for a principle? Thus, the statement that in the face of the Reaper threat, her refusal is not admirable.
(2) In ME2 nobody knew what Cerberus did, and the relevant sidequests in ME1 looked more like accidents. In many people's games, you hadn't even been to Pragia yet when you met Ashley on Horizon.

(1) That's your opinion, I respect her decision. She prefered Alliance for several reasons. 

This is incorrect. You can use genetic engineering to program immune cells to selectively destroy tumor cells. For certain cancer types, this has cured 50% of all cases in clinical studies. Cancer is a disease of the multicellular system, and tumor cells can be distinguished from healthy cells by specific structures on the cell surface, and these cells can be consequently attacked. 
www.technologyreview.com/s/600763/10-breakthrough-technologies-2016-immune-engineering/

1) None of them good, which is why I don't respect her or her decision. The alliance itself can hardly be called a saint themselves, but I'd still take the group that does questionable and extreme methods to do something than the 'moral and ethical' passive group that doesn't do anything.

2) That's not terrorism bud. I've made a career out of COIN and CT in the military, and I can tell you up-front that Cerberus is incorrectly labeled. They do harsh things to bring us a better future. But it's the price of what we do; the rest of the humanity is unable/unwilling to do the normal things to advance us. So Cerberus has to do the harsh things to compensate.

Probably. That said, she is a body (and a damned powerful one) to throw at the Collectors. 

I sometimes wonder how she ended up as a dossier. That said, I think it's probably Brooks trying to get back at Cerberus somehow. Which does sort of succeed. 

The novel Ascension features Cerberus attacking the Migrant Fleet and threatening to blow up the Quarian ship Idenna, an event clearly referred to in ME2 during the mission on Freedom's Progress, when Shepard asks Tali why the Quarians seem to have a problem with Cerberus.

Shepard: Your people really don't like Cerberus, what did I miss?
Praaza: They killed our people, infiltrated our flotilla and tried to blow up one of our ships.
Miranda: That's not how I'd have explained it, exactly. It was nothing personal.
Jacob: We can argue over who killed who later.

I'd say lacing your starship with explosives and threatening to ram it into another vessel if you don't get you way, falls under the definition of terrorism. It's basically no different than a human wearing a suicide vest and threatening to blow themselves up and the person next to them, unless their demands are met.

Oh Cerberus had an explanations for that move. They were after autistic biotic girl that they secretly drugged until she escaped. She was meant to be next Jack.

Actually no, she was secretly drugged in Grissom Academy. By Cerberus. Rather morally wrong.

But it produced results. Morality is nothing next to that. Still, she started to lose it. Better to put her down and find a more suitable candidate that's more malleable.

And Cerberus was right to pursue her, given the advantage that her power could give to humanity in the field of biotic engineering.

She is a tool; Grayson was an idiot who believed in the savior idiocy, and Sanders is too limited mentally to understand the implications of how to advance our biotic knowledge. In the end, it didn't mean much for her; she died when my Shepard knowingly let Cerberus have Grissom Academy to produce greater numbers of biotic shock troopers. They'll be the vanguard of his pro-human army augmented by the Reapers post-war to bring the galaxy under the dominance of humanity, as is our due. 

According to Admiral Hackett, Admiral Gerrel has been causing trouble along the borders of Turian space for years. As well, the fact that they exist with such a large fleet is troublesome. Indeed, I would hope to knock them off balance to finish what the Geth started. They're too much of a threat to leave alive, and their insularity leaves little room for the possibility of their compliance.

The way I see it, the ethics and morality of their experiences is tertiary to the benefits gleaned from their research. Look at what they did at Sanctuary, with the Collector Base. We learned how to control the Reapers, and that it was possible without having to rely on the ambiguous Leviathan race. And despite the negative outcome for the lives of researchers, let's look at their successes; Pragia created the strongest human biotic, which was their goal. Overlord created a means to control the Geth. Sanctuary proved that the Reapers could be controlled. The husks created on the various colony worlds undoubtedly proved useful in figuring out ways for understanding the nature of indoctrination and the husk generation process. And on Akuze, the information gleaned from the Thresher Maws probably had a useful benefit. The people who died? Nameless colonists and civilians who had nothing to offer worth keeping. Their deaths made them more useful than their lives.

The Rachni were an admitted mistake, but were an inspired decision. The Geth, as mentioned could indeed be controlled, and this was proven and allowed to continue. The husks, as mentioned, were also shown to be viable. Wilson had gone rogue at that point for Lazarus. Said Thresher Maw attack likely showed Cerberus how Threshers attack and hunt, possibly allowing them to develop both tactical counter-measures as well as how they could be deployed against hostile species. And TIM did lure the Collectors to Horizon; and his gamble paid off didn't it? It stopped a Collector invasion, and gave them key information on how the Collectors operate as well as proving that the countermeasures against them paid off. As far as Teltin was concerned, Jack was a success, even if the cell did go rogue (as is mentioned). And she was later put to good use against both the Collectors, and for Cerberus in ME3. And said team succeeded did they not? They laid the groundwork for Shepard to accomplish his mission. I see it as a victory.

Said cost was probably worth it, though it's possible said agent also could have been acting rogue. Regardless, the loss of a colony is insignificant next to the information about the Reapers and Collectors that would be gained.

Said laws won't matter for much longer when the Reaper-augmented human empire begins its expansion and vindicates Cerberus for their actions. Only the strong can be worthy of that. Humans are strong. Not all of us, but those that aren't, those limited by pathetic ethics and morality will be purged or enslaved. They serve now only to further the gains of their betters. And suffice to say, there won't be many aliens left (if any) who do not submit to the might of humanity.

This is the full conversation from Citadel;


Yeah, Cerberus projects, even the successful ones have this major tendency to go rogue and fight back against Cerberus. It's almost as if Cerberus have absolutely no idea what they're doing when they're screwing around with their mad science projects... whoever would have thought?