Mass Effect 3: Retribution
This is my first fanfiction and I will accept any reviews or opinions.
This takes place after ME3, I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the characters from the ME universe.
David Shepard. Default male. Infiltrator. Colony born. Sometimes Renegade, sometimes Paragon. Renegade ending. Everybody survives. No romances.
Prologue
Five days after the Normandy had destroyed the Collector base, the ship was still on the dangerous side of the Omega4 relay and was repairing and scanning for useful data among the hundreds of wrecked and derelict ships. So far, the only data they had collected was from the base.
Chapter 1
Commander David Shepard strode down the main corridor of the Normandy SR2, the frigate had taken quite a beating in the battle with the collector ship, so the crew had been pulling double shifts to repair her.
They were slowly heading for the Omega4 relay, with the colonists and the original Normandy crew aboard, as well as the knowledge that the Reapers were on their way.
The space around the relay flashed and crackled with ruby energy as the Normandy approached, EDI began to call out status reports and Joker expertly piloted the ship into position.
The ship was back on the other side in a few seconds.
"well, it's good to see that they had faith in us.". Joker muttered, Shepard peered at the main view, three Cerberus cruisers hung in space, they were fully powered up and ready for battle but powered down when they saw the Normandy.
The communications Panel lit up. Joker read the message and swivel to face Shepard.
"There is an incoming transmission from the Illusive Man commander.". David stroked his beard.
"How soon can you get the FTL drive up?". Joker turned back to his console and began manipulating controls.
"Give me two minutes.". David headed down to the communications room.
The holo-pad illuminated when Shepard stepped onto it, a blue holographic of the Illusive Man materialised in front of him, seated in his usual position, and smoking.
"Shepard, it's good to see that you made it out, I've taken the liberty of dispatching a small escort force to assist you in returning to port.". but before he could continue David crossed his arms, leaned back on one foot and quicker one corner of his mouth up in a half-smile.
"We've already had this discussion, I've made my choice, I won't work for Cerberus anymore.". The Illusive man's face went hard, he leaned forward and extinguished the cigaret.
"Very well.". He tapped a few commands into an unseen console.
The Cerberus ships peeled away and TIM cut the transmition.
"Joker, get us out of here.". David walked out of the projector's range and shut the machine down, there was a rumble and a jolt as the FTL engines kicked in and shot the Normandy away from the Omega4 relay.
As the ship rocketed through space, Shepard punched in Councillor Anderson's contact data and stepped back into the projector.
Anderson appeared in front of Shepard and nodded.
"It's good to see that you've made it back Shepard, to what do I owe this 'visit'?".
"I've come back to rejoin the Alliance, I have information and technology that will help the humans.". Anderson nodded again and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"You do realise that the rest of the council may not fully agree with your return, but they can not do anything about it, it will be good to have you back.". Shepard nodded and closed the channel.
"Joker, what's out ETA to the Citadel?".
"About six hours sir, the ship is going as fast as she can, but she took a beating against the Collectors.".
"Good, keep me informed, I'll be in my quarters.". 'Catching up on some much needed sleep' he said to himself as he walked down the corridor.
When they arrived on the Citadel, Anderson was already waiting, with a trio of marine guards.
"EDI, prepare a copy of all the Collector data and transfer it to my omni-tool.".
"Yes sir commander.". The AI replied, Shepard took Garrus and Miranda with him to meet with Anderson.
Shepard and Anderson shook hands and Anderson led the group to an out of the way spot, so that they could talk in private.
The two sat down at a booth.
"As much as I am overjoyed by your return to the alliance, it is at a strained time.". Shepard arched an eyebrow.
"I don't quite understand sir.". Anderson sighed and leaned forward.
"After you were reinstated as a SPECTRE and left the citadel, the council started receiving reports from one of their top SPECTREs, an asari named Tomira, she indicated that there was a ship coming toward the colonies in the Scorpio sector, just on the edge of council space.". Shepard leaned back, crossing his arms.
"I don't get what this has to do with me, and I've never heard of these colonies before.".
"The scorpio colonies were established two years ago, just after the first Normandy was destroyed, this concerns you because, there are two human colonies in that area, and they are in danger if this is an attack, the council was amassing a fleet to intercept the ship but Cerberus beat us to it, Cerberus sent a force of twenty-five ships, when they opposed the unknown vessel, they were destroyed, no survivors, the most disturbing part is that the weapons used by the unknown were exactly the same as Sovereign's.".
David nodded slowly, he activated his omni-tool and brought up the reaper data, weapons data and shield data.
"I'm going to transfer a copy of all the data we collected at the Collector base, and some upgrades to our ships that should give us a better chance in our next battle against the reapers.". Anderson stood and shook Shepard's hand.
"It's good to have you back David, good luck in the Scorpio sector.". Shepard got up and headed back to the Normandy.
"Joker, set a course for the Scorpio sector, EDI, ready our weapons, we never know what will be on the other side of the relay.". Joker manifests the ship out of the dock and accelerated toward the mass relay indicated in the coordinates.
The multi-racial colony, Eternal Oases, was quiet and peaceful, at least around the cities, in the countryside, human, quarian, turian and salarian soldiers battled against husks and the heretic Geth, sent out by the massive Reaper, hovering over the landscape, it was wider than Sovereign due to two pods on both sides of it and each pod had it's own set of claw-like appendages. The Reaper's forces had breached the perimeter of one city and were sending up loads of data and prisoners. The Normandy dropped Shepard and his whole team off at the edge of the battle and turned around to scan the reaper at a safe distance.
"Alright, here's how this is gonna go down, Grunt, Mordin, Legion and Jack, go help out the soldiers, Samara, Jacob, , and , go and hit the Geth from the side, Garuss, Miranda and I will head into the city, good luck!". The teams nodded and split off, Shepard and his group turned and headed into the city.
The Geth assault groupe was not hard to find, they just followed the trail of destruction, there were roughly one hundred Geth troopers and thirty Geth commandos. They were transmuting data from the city's core and loading captured civilians onto the drop-ships.
Shepard was about to order a pullback to formulate a plan when thirty-some human marines opened fire on the synthetics from various rooftops and windows, the Geth focused all their attention on this attack, allowing David and Miranda to get into rocket range, twin plumes of smoke reached out and blasted twelve Geth into smoking shards.
Garuss sniped off several of the robots, thirty Geth were down before they realised their predicament, the commandos broke down the doors to the buildings that the marines were occupying and filed in, leaving the troopers to deal with the attackers from the outside.
Shepard fired his assault rifle at an oncoming Geth, depleting the clip and riddling the body with holes, he reloaded and switched to his rocket launcher, sending three of the shaped explosives into the Geth lines.
The marines inside the buildings were giving he commandos a hard time, but they were ultimately losing.
David tossed the spent thermal clip away and fired contained bursts from his rifle, this proved to be mor effective, and three Geth died under his gun.
"Garrus, cover us, were going in and helping the marines.".
"Got it.". David and Miranda broke cover and rushed toward the first building, they were halfway there when the top floors exploded, the Geth drop-ships peeled away, David and Miranda were thrown back thirty feet and the remaining Geth were crushed by the rubble.
Shepard coughed and stumbled to his feet, he helped Miranda up and they met up with Garrus back the way they had come.
"Joker, what's the status of the Reaper?".
"The thing is moving sir, all the Geth have pulled back to it, this sucker's huge! You'd bett...et...ere...mander?". The channel filled with static and a voice slightly different from Sovereign's replaced Joker's.
"Foolish beings of flesh and blood, you may have defeated Sovereign but it was not the last, we will finish what it started, we are Retribution.". The comm went dead and the Normandy roared overhead, dropping the ramp, Joker lowered the ship so that the ground team could board, as soon as the ramp was closed the Normandy shot into the air, away from Retribution and the city.
As the Normandy flew away, Retribution moved over the city and incinerated it with it's lasers.
Shepard stood behind Joker's chair as they orbited the planet.
"Contact Anderson.".
"You got it commander.". Shepard left the bridge and headed for the comm room.
Anderson's hologram shimmered and twitched as it appeared.
"Shepard, how are things going in Scorpio sector?". Shepard wasted no time.
"It's the Reapers, there is only one, it called itself Retribution.". Anderson's mouth quirked up in a half smile.
"Well that's a fitting name, considering what happened to the first Reaper.".
"No sir, but that's not the worst part, listen to this.". Shepard played the short statement.
"Foolish beings of flesh and blood, you may have defeated Sovereign but he was not the last, we will finish what he started, we are Retribution.". Anderson looked thoughtful, finally he spoke.
"That is strange, it said WE, not I, I wonder what it meant... Well we'll have to consider this later, the council's fleet has arrived, and forty-two percent of the ships are outfitted with the weapons you brought back, the rest of our ships are being outfitted as we speak, we will attack Retribution before it leaves the system, good luck.". Shepard saluted and deactivated the projector and activated the intercom.
"Joker, how long until we rendezvous with the fleet?".
"One hour commander.".
"Good, sound combat alarms, EDI, power up all weapons and shields."
"Of course commander.". Shepard walked into the armoury and proceeded to gear up.
An hour and a half later, the Normandy was drifting alongside over sixty human and alien vessels, in the distance, Retribution was the size of a marble, growing larger with each passing second, Admiral Hackett's voice boomed over the inter-ship comm.
"All ships, fire primary weapons, any ships with the Thannik cannon, concentrate fire to the centre of Retribution, do not break formation, keep your engines hot for evasive actions, god speed and good luck.". The Admiral's flagship, 'Stalingrad', was the first to fire, the newly built cannon charged and released a javelin of sapphire energy, the rest of the ships in the fleet fired seconds after, hundreds of missiles and pulse lasers raced toward the incoming Reaper, it's shields flashed red as they absorbed wave after wave of destruction, the reaper was now close enough that you could see the lights on it's front, it's forward claws reached forward and lines of ruby energy speared several ships, their shields popped and their reactor detonated.
Retribution's shields were slowly being overwhelmed, but then it played it's hand. The two pods on either side of the reaper broke away and reoriented themselves, they were two smaller Reapers, about a fourth as big as Retribution, the main reaper's voice came over the comm.
"You have made a mistake, you can not defeat us, we are Retribution and you can not stop us.". The smaller reapers began firing, the Council fleet began to fall apart, ships were being destroyed left and right, nobody knew what to shoot and the fire coordination degraded until admiral Hackett tried to rally what was left of the fleet.
"All ships, focus fire on Retribution Beta, we'll take 'em down one at a time.". Lasers crisscrossed the space between the ships and for a moment, it looked like the humans and their allies might win, the normandy circled Retribution Beta, the Thannik cannon playing across the shield, Joker expertly dodged the retaliating blasts and nimbly slipped into the Reaper's blind spots.
The multi-racial fleet was down to fourth ships when Hackett ordered the retreat, several ships took hits while they fled, leaving them shattered and burning, the fleet retreated through the mass relay and, from there, proceeded to bring up a fresh fleet to seal off the relay, there were more, but they would not matter for the moment.
Shepard contacted Anderson after the battle.
"David, I assume that since your still alive, that you and Hackett stopped the reaper?".
"No, the reaper had two smaller ones attached to it, the instant they came out it was a slaughter, we think that they are headed for the citadel, how is the outfitting of our ships going?". Anderson sighed.
"Not as fast as we like, only forty percent of all alliance warships are outfitted with the new shields and Thannik cannons. Only thirty percent of the remaining races ships are outfitted, and all of them are at the citadel.". Shepard knuckled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Great, try to hurry it up, the Normandy and I will see if we can't find us some data from Sovereign's wreckage, it's still at the citadel?". Anderson shook his head.
"It was on it's way to a research base when a Cerberus fleet attacked and stole it, we tracked it down to a heavily guarded base on a small planet named Dithrian, if you can get to the databanks there you might find something useful, god speed.". Anderson signed off.