Author notes.
Firstly, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my story. If you are here because you clicked on the wrong story, then I thank you for reading, and in doing so, making your world a better place.
I don't have much experience writing, fanfiction or otherwise, so if you see any glaring grammar errors, story issues, rough patches, or something you want to tell me about, please mention it in your review or pm me.
Also, I have had some difficulty finding Mass Effect ship specifications and technical details for weapons, so if you find any mistakes or misuses of technology, please let me know. When missing information, I usually add whatever seems logical to me, so if you disagree, or find that I have neglected actual canon information, please let me know. Accuracy is very important to me.
Some authors are offended by nitpicking. I am not. I love it. If you took the time to sit there and come up with some obscure fact that I got wrong, (but photon torpedoes are a darker shade of red), please let me know. I love obscure facts.
Anyway, about the lead up to this story. The story begins after the attack on the Cerberus base, just before Shepard and the fleet reach Earth. For the purposes of this story, Shepard has brokered peace between the Geth and Quarians, cured the Genophage, and is in a relationship with Garrus. Oh, and Kaiden is alive and on the Normandy. Any other important details will either not be mentioned in the story, or will be referenced before they become relevant.
Also, I am just now returning to clean up the hideous grammatical errors and poor writing of the beginning.
.
.
.
.
.
"Approaching Sol Relay commander." Joker said from the pilot's seat of the Normandy-SR2. His voice carried a subtle tension, rarely seen in the man. However, his hands remained as steady as ever as they darted across the controls, preparing the ship to arrive at the battle.
Shepard felt the weight of the situation as well, as did the rest of the crew. They were at the head of the largest and most advanced fleet ever united under one banner in the history of any race. And still, the odds were against them.
Three years ago at the Battle of the Citadel, it had taken most of the Alliance fleet to destroy Sovereign, a single Reaper capital ship. Now they were flying straight at the rest of the Reapers, their cybernetic ships numbering in the tens of thousands. She wished they had a better plan than to go head to head with Harbinger's fleet, in the vague hope that the Crucible would activate and all the Reapers would vanish in a puff of smoke. She wished she had something better to say to her crew, than what essentially amounted to "I know you guys will die with honor when this all goes wrong." She wished her hands were as steady as Joker's.
"We're through the relay in 30 seconds." Joker said, shaking her out of her thoughts.
She thought about saying a quick prayer, or quoting a bit of poetry, but nothing came to mind. She settled for thinking of Garrus down in the battery, which gave her a little comfort.
There was a slight lurch as the Normandy passed massive glowing gyroscope of the Sol Relay and dropped below lightspeed. The LIDAR screen lit up with a solid mass of blue IFF tags behind them as the rest of their combined fleets poured through the relay.
Shepard could see the sun through the upper right hand quarter of the cockpit window. There was no sign of Earth or the Reapers yet. Whichever way this ends, she thought, there's going to be a hell of a lot of casualties on both sides.
"Alliance fleets reporting." Joker said, performing his final systems checks.
"Turian fleets reporting."
"Asari fleets reporting."
"Quarian fleets accounted for and ready." came a slightly tinny voice from the comms network. Shepard wasn't sure, but it sounded like Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib.
"Geth fleet reporting."
She wondered briefly if the Geth felt anything about the upcoming battle. After all, they were about to go to war with the beings they once worshiped as gods. Did they feel anger, sadness, maybe even happiness that they were working with organics for the first time in centuries. This brought to mind Legion's tragic sacrifice on Rannoch. She shook her head. Keep it together Shepard, she cursed herself. We haven't even started yet.
"All fleets reporting in commander, ready to engage on your command." Joker said, mastering the quaver in his voice undetectable to everyone but Shepard, and EDI of course.
All other thoughts left her mind when Earth came into view. They were approaching the dark side, and she was lost for a moment in the beauty of the blue sheen of the atmosphere, as the sun rose in the background, reflecting off of the closed Citadel, visible even at this distance. Then she saw the lights on the dark continents in front of her and wondered how many of those lights were electric and how many were burning cities.
A dark dread filled her as she saw the all too familiar dark shapes of the Reaper ships, thousands of them, still about 5000 kilometers away, but moving in their direction in a loose formation. They looked like something out of a nightmare. They were insect-like enough to inspire feelings of arachnophobia, alien enough to cause a deep and fundamental revulsion, and large enough to inspire a deep, almost religious terror, like the uncomprehending fear of a rabbit staring into the barrel of a shotgun.
"This is it, everyone, be ready." She ordered. "On my command, fire."
Hundreds of dreadnoughts fired continuously, sending a heavy rain of blue and white streaks, just slow enough for the eye to see. A massive blue teardrop shot from the Destiny Ascension, and she saw it strike the lead Reaper ship in a splash of orange fragments as a hundred kilograms of tungsten, iron, uranium, and titanium, traveling at nearly a tenth of the speed of light, was stopped dead by the massive ship's barrier shielding. It took several hits from smaller projectiles, the cuttlefish shaped craft shrugging off the impacts, still speeding silently toward them.
"Shit," Shepard muttered to herself. "That would have demolished a space station."
Reaper capital ships throughout the formation were taking hits, but with only minimal damage. Then, as if on cue, the claws of the ships opened, as they prepared to return fire.
Better get the fighters out of our ranks before there's shrapnel flying everywhere. "On my command, engage the Reaper forces." Shepard said to the fighter and frigate wings.
"Roger that. All fighters on me." Called the commander of the lead fighter wing. Thousands of fighters left their cover behind the larger ships and wove gracefully through the formation, speeding ahead toward the two kilometer long Reaper capital ships waiting ahead.
As the bright blue engine flares of countless delta and wedge fighter formations sped forward, the firing from the heavier ships lessened to avoid friendly fire. Then, an equal number of the Reaper Oculus fighters swarmed from the opposing formation, the smooth black orbs lit only by the bright red of their particle cannons.
A barrage of red bursts from the Oculi arced out, to match the white, rapid fire mass accelerator weapons of the approaching fighter groups. In a matter of seconds, the two groups were intermingled, brief bursts of shattered metal and flames marking casualties for both sides. Then the fighters reached the main Reaper formation.
A bright red glow formed at the center "eye" of the lead Reaper followed by a long red beam of molten tungsten. The other Reapers followed suit, stabbing into the fleet like dozens of red fingers.
The SSV Aconcagua dreadnought, flanked by the Einstien and the Cape town, continued ahead at high speed, their shields soaking minor damage from the Reaper GARDIAN fire, until they were only a few dozen kilometers from the Reaper leader. At point blank range, they opened fire into the lead Reaper ship, sending flames and chunks of shrapnel flying off into space as several of its claws and chunks of it's main hull were ripped apart by the concentrated fire.
The damaged Reaper fired its main gun in a slow arc, the long red beam effortlessly splitting the Aconcagua down the middle, shattering the hull, and scattering fragments of the ship for kilometers.
Joker disentangled the Normandy from the formation and sped towards Earth. He spun off course slightly when three Oculi dipped from underneath a friendly cruiser, headed for the SSV Cape Town. The thanix cannons of the main battery sent a powerful low vibration through the ship, as three quick blasts of bright blue shot out and all but vaporized the Oculi.
The smaller Reaper destroyers, which had been holding back to avoid the initial volley, swarmed into the battle, attacking cruisers and frigates in groups of five or six to make up for their smaller size.
"Breaking off and preparing for descent." Joker said, the regret in his voice obvious ans he left what would be the largest space battle in the history of the galaxy.
"This is the Resolute to any available ships." Came a panicked voice from over the fleet network. "A large force of Reapers is breaking off from the main force and heading for the relay."
"This is the Normandy. All ships in the reserve force, form up on us and head back to the relay." Shepard ordered over the network.
"We're not going down with the rest of hammer?" Joker asked.
"The Crucible is waiting in the Exodus cluster. If the Reapers go through and ambush them, they won't be able to hold up for long."
Joker switched the thrusters to full and they shot like a bullet through the battle.
"All right Joker, who's behind us." Shepard asked, as they raced back to the relay.
"We've got the Asari second fleet and assorted Geth vessels right on our ass." Joker said nervously. "Most of the Quarian heavy fleet is about 45 seconds back, along with some stragglers from the Turians."
"What's the size of the Reaper force?"
EDI responded from the co-pilot's seat. "There are ten capital ships and 40 destroyers."
"Shit!" Joker exclaimed. "We don't have enough ships for that."
"What's their ETA to the relay?" Shepard asked
"Sixty seconds." Joker responded.
"What's our ETA to the relay?" Shepard asked, dreading the answer.
"Fifty seconds."
As the relay came into view, so did the formation of Reapers.
"Range?" she asked."
"Twenty thousand kilometers." Joker responded, flexing his wrists over the controls.
"All ships, commence firing as soon as you come into range." Shepard instructed their followers.
The tension was palpable as the seconds ticked by and the relay and the Reaper formation got closer together. Then the Dreadnoughts fired their first salvo.
Twelve mass slugs shot across the darkness, most missing, but a few glancing off of the Reaper hulls.
They fired again with similar results, the Reapers ignoring them for now.
"I hope your boyfriend's been calibrating," Joker said, "Cause we're in range in ten seconds."
"Charge our GARDIAN system, spin up the CBT shields and prepare to fire the main gun." Shepard called over her shoulder to the rest of the crew.
Now in range, the cruisers added their fire to the next volley, sending a dense rain of thanix beams and mass slugs slashing through the void. Nearly half of the fire was centered on a single Reaper capital ship, ripping through it's shields and spraying twisted shards of it hull in every direction.
"Hit that one." Shepard ordered. "Finish it off."
The thin blue stream of the thanix cannon tore into the floundering Reaper, shortly followed by another volley from the dreadnoughts which ripped clean out the other side of the ship in a spray of shattered metal and venting gas.
The Reapers, as if angry for the murder of their comrade, turned from their advance to the relay and slowly swung around to face the oncoming ships.
"Dreadnoughts, concentrate your fire on the capital ships, everyone else, engage the destroyers and draw fire away from the dreadnoughts.
The destroyers, now rushing headlong to close the distance with the fleet, opened their claws, and prepared to fire.
Both sides fired at the same time, red beams and white mass slugs bridging the gap between the two groups.
The Nefrane, an Asari cruiser next to the Normandy took three direct hits, the deadly beams leaving only a few pieces of smoking debris larger than a fighter. Two Reaper destroyers went dark during the first volley, struck in the vulnerable firing "eye" of their main gun. Shepard glanced at the Lidar readout to see friendly IFF tags disappearing at an alarming rate. Then the Normandy's thanix cannon fired, severing a destroyer's claw in a puff of molten metal, and ripping a deep gouge into the underside of the ship.
Thanix missiles whizzed by the cockpit windows, most shot down by the Reaper GARDIAN systems, but a few reaching their targets, weakening the Reaper shields, or smashing craters into the hulls of unshielded ships.
The Normandy rocked, and the lights dimmed for a moment as the ship took a hit from a destroyer's main gun.
"Shields down to 43 percent." Joker said "Let's not do that again."
Now in range of the smaller weapons, GARDIAN lasers melted scorch holes in enemy armor, disruptor torpedoes slammed into enemy shields, and dozens of ships, friendly and Reapers alike, started dropping.
The dreadnoughts had managed to destroy a second capital ship by massing their fire. Unfortunately, the massive Reaper vessels had now finished their slow turn and began to return fire.
The damage done by a Reaper capital ship's main weapon was ranked next to the largest nuclear weapons. A direct hit would tear through kinetic shielding in a matter of milliseconds and destroy even the largest of dreadnoughts in a single shot. Seven of the dreadnoughts were destroyed immediately, cut into pieces, or their mass effect cores detonated by the incoming fire. The surviving five activated their thrusters and scattered, hoping to evade attacks from the remaining eight capital ships, firing rapidly from their smaller broadside guns.
A single Geth dreadnought, rather than taking evasive action, continued on toward the nearest Reaper. It's thrusters on full, firing as it went, it charged it's target, a glancing hit from another Reaper's red beam shearing a hundred meter long chunk of hull plating off of it's starboard side.
The Reaper, about to fire on one of the Asari Dreadnoughts, was rammed broadside by the kilometer long Geth ship, sending shards of metal flying away in all directions, mangling both ships severely. The dying Reaper fired it's main gun one last time into the Geth dreadnought at point blank range, causing the mass effect core to explode, the resulting blast destroying the Reaper as well.
The remaining seven Reapers began to focus on the last dreadnoughts when the Quarian heavy fleet, now in range, opened fire in a blistering storm of thanix beams and mass slugs.
Meanwhile, the Normandy broke numerous safety recommendations in pulling a sudden hairpin turn to avoid collision with an exploding cruiser.
"The Quarian fleet says they're laying it on thick for those capital ships." Shepard told Joker as he launched a pair of Javelin disruptor torpedoes into a Reaper destroyer.
"That is fortunate." EDI said. "We have eliminated twenty one of the destroyers. However, sixty percent of our forces are destroyed or disabled. The probability of success in this scenario is less than ten percent if we do not receive reinforcements."
Joker began a witty retort, but stopped in order to spin the ship in a graceful corkscrew to avoid a pair of Reaper thanix beams. There was a thunderous crash, and the ship lurched alarmingly as they were grazed by one of the beams.
"Damage report." Shepard called over her shoulder.
There was a moment's pause before a crewman replied. "Shields are down, engine two is damaged, but functioning, minor heat damage and structural stress to the port hull.
The Normandy, in conjunction with two Geth frigates, opened fire on a destroyer simultaneously, splitting the ship down the middle and sending it into an uncontrolled spin. Joker then put the mangled ship between them and another Reaper that was attempting to fire at them, the broken destroyer blocking the thin red beam of molten tungsten meant for the Normandy.
"Nice flying Joker." Shepard said, as Joker spun the Normandy around the cover of the broken ship and fired a thanix missile into the eye of their attacker, abruptly cutting off the beam. Taking advantage of it's inability to fire, two Asari cruisers proceeded to pound the Reaper into oblivion with their broadside guns.
"This is Admiral Gerrel." Came the Quarian's voice from the communications network. "The remaining Reaper capital ships are providing cover for one ship that has broken off and headed for the relay. We are unable to pursue."
A collection of Turian ships from the reached the fighting, and dove into the battle against the destroyers with a will, tipping the odds in favor of victory. The remaining Reapers were put on the defensive as a newly arrived Turian dreadnought pounded away at the smaller ships from a distance.
Shepard glanced at the lidar readout to see that the Quarian heavy fleet had lost almost half their forces fighting the capital ships, destroying all but four of the Reapers in the process. Two were badly damaged, but still firing madly at the Quarians, one was drifting fitfully, most of its claws ripped away, along with massive chunks of it's hull, leaving it's inner workings exposed to space. It managed to fire its secondary weapons and GARDIAN lasers occasionally, but it's main gun was out of commission. The final Reaper capital ship was only lightly damaged and speeding away from the battle and toward the relay.
"All available ships, head to the relay and take out that Reaper." Shepard ordered.
The Normandy, flanked by three Asari cruisers and six frigates of mixed Asari/Geth command broke off from the skirmish and had reached the relay.
The Reaper, rather than activating the relay and jumping, as Shepard expected, had reduced it's speed and landed on the relay, gripping the smooth surface with it's claws.
"What the hell is it doing?" Shepard asked, as the Reaper charged it's main gun and fired it point blank into the relay.
"I can no longer contact the relay." EDI said, "It seems the Reaper activated a hidden subroutine in the relay's systems to deactivate the quantum shielding, then it destroyed or disabled the navigational and interface systems to prevent repairs. While the mass effect core remains stable, the relay is currently reading as inoperable."
"So the crucible is stuck on the other side, and we're stuck here with thousands of pissed off Reapers and no magic Prothean superweapon." Joker said.
"Shit," Shepard said, realizing the implications. "This was their plan all along. Rather than spend thousands of years hunting down lone ships and scouring the galaxy, they held the Citadel just out of reach and let anyone powerful enough to resist come right to them. Then they kill the relay and trap us here with no quick way out. Even if the Crucible worked, it's stuck hundreds of light years away."
"So we just lost." Joker stated, willing Shepard to save the day.
Shepard said nothing, hoping against hope that she could pull some wonderful solution out her ass like she had in the past. But there was nothing.
"Do we engage the reaper, commander? We'll be within it's firing range in twenty seconds." Joker asked, a dejected sadness in his eyes.
"No," Shepard said as the Reaper engaged it's thrusters and left the relay, and headed back in the direction of the main battle. "We wouldn't stand a chance against that thing. Take us in closer to the relay."
Joker pulled the Normandy within 500 meters of the damage the Reaper had done. Shepard stared at the ragged hole the thanix beam had made, drilling deep into the base of the relay's arms.
"EDI, run a scan, find out the extent of the damage."
A few seconds went by, and they were the longest seconds of Shepard's life.
"Commander. The systems of the relay have been damaged beyond repair. The damaged components are the navigational and communication sections of the relay, responsible for transmitting essential data between the opposite relay. Fabricating new components is beyond our scientific skill. If we had a duplicate set of components, removing the damaged sections and installing the new would take approximately two weeks, during which time, the battle would be lost. In it's current state, there is no way to operate this relay."
There was a deep silence on the Normandy's bridge.
"Heavy fleet to Normandy," Admiral Gerrel's voice came through the speakers. "What is the status of the relay?"
A deep dread filled Shepard, as she realized that the entire fleet was doomed to die here for nothing.
"Heavy fleet to Normandy, do you copy."
"This is the SSV Hawking." Came another voice. "Our sensors have picked up a massive fleet of Reaper reinforcements that were hiding on the far side of Mars while we made our approach. They are on course to our location now. What is the status of the Crucible?"
Shepard's hands were shaking as she reached for the communications panel.
"Normandy to all fleets." Shepard said over the network, her voice breaking a little. "The relay has been rendered inoperable by a Reaper attack. Repair is impossible and we are stranded in this system, without the crucible. Standby for further orders."
"This is the Alerei, are you certain there is nothing we can do, we have extensive scientific equipment and materials, we can- Keelah, NO, NO, GET THE SHIELDS BACK UP REROUTE THE-"
"This is Alliance first fleet. We are down to thirty percent strength and need reinforcements."
"Destiny Ascension responding to first fleet, we are heavily damaged, but can cover your retreat."
"This is the SSV Fuji. We have been critically damaged and I have given the order to abandon ship, any available ships, please assist in collecting rescue pods."
Tears welled up in Shepard's eyes as she made the hardest decision of her life, worse even than leaving Ashley to die on Virmie, or letting Mordin cure the genophage at the cost of his own life.
"Normandy to all fleets." Shepard spoke quietly. "Our mission has failed. Any ships-" she bit back a sob, "Any ships able to do so should immediately retreat. Attempt to evade Reaper forces and-" and what, she thought, the relay is down, we're stuck here. The Reaper FTL drives are orders of magnitude faster then ours, we would never outrun them. She closed her eyes. "Attempt to evade Reaper forces and survive by any means possible for as long as you can."
"Geth to friendly forces. Shepard commander's plan is the most logical plan of action. We will remain behind to cover your withdrawal to the best of our ability."
"Heavy fleet to Normandy and second fleet. There is a detachment of Reaper ships headed toward us. We recommend that you get out now while we cover you. May your gods watch over you."
"Indomitable to Turian fleet, all ships retreat and scatter if possible, we can-"
"SSV Ain Jalut to Shellen, there is a formation of reapers approaching your flank, engage thrusters immediately and-"
"What do you want to do commander?" Joker asked, "Engine two is about to kick the bucket, It's compromised our stealth systems, and It'll fall apart in an FTL jump. Not that we'd outrun the Reapers anyway. We could always go down fighting."
Shepard considered it, but dismissed the idea. She wouldn't throw away the lives of her entire crew in a pointless crusade when they had a chance of surviving to fight another day.
"Head for Venus. We can land there under the cloud cover and fix the engine so we can-. Well, one step at a time." Her mouth tightened as a Quarian cruiser was ripped in half by enemy fire, sending bits of molten metal spraying across the dark sky.
"Just get us out of here." She said numbly. "We have to survive so we can make them pay for this."
The Normandy engaged the stealth systems and sped smoothly away from the battle.