Disclaimer: Mass Effect 3, original characters, places and lore elements are the property of Bioware/EA.
Author's note: It's been a while since I've been moved to write a fan fiction, but having recently complete Mass Effect 3, and being somewhat content with the ending I've got I decided that despite the popular opinion the provided endings do leave space for fan continuation with some slight altering. So read and review, I hope you'll enjoy it.
Location: Solar system high orbit of planet Earth, Citadel debris field
Date: September 21st 2185, first day of a new era
Mission: Recovery
Priority: Absolute
«Fleet command we have a visual» – the static overlayed the voice of the shuttle pilot for a moment.
«This chunk looks bigger than all the others, scans indicate that there might still be pressurised atmosphere left inside».
The officer overseeing a console that tracked the shuttle's progress towards what remained of the biggest void capable construct in the history and an erstwhile center of galactic civilisation turned towards an ageing man in alliance uniform behind her.
«Sir, it's been almost 24 hours, there's little hope that with the damage sustained and the atmopshere leak anyone could be left alive in there.» The man's eyes didn't move from the display, not an omni-display everyone would think common only a day ago, but an obsolete LCD display that was hastily rigged to the damaged system.
«Proceed with the tracking of an LZ, if there's still breathable air inside that thing, there is a good chance we'll get lucky».
«Aye-aye Admiral. Search team Lazarus, you're cleared to land as soon as the suitable entry point shows up on the scanner».
«Copy that fleet command.»
The shuttle silently glided along the large subsection of the Citadel that was drifting uncontrollably in the void following the massive explosion that ripped the station apart. The explosion that for some obscure reason managed not only to obliterate the Citadel and the Crucible, but also spawn a shockwave that destroyed the mass relay in solar system, and shut down the whole Reaper fleet in it.
It wasn't the only one out there, with the ammount of wreckage and escape pods littering the space hundreds upon hundreds of small craft were flying to and fro with a single purpose, rescue those that could still be saved. The hope was a thin one, the Reapers were nothing if not trough with their tactics. The giant fleet, consisiting of thousands of ships from across the galaxy was reduced to less than a third of it's original size. The lifeless husks of destroyed reapers still floated in the void too, as brooding and intimidating in death as they were in life. No ship has yet dared to approach any of the behemoth derelicts, for fear of the lingering effects of indoctrination.
«Search team Lazarus, scanners indicate that there is a suitable entry point one point five kilometers from your location, transmitting the coordinates to your navigational system now» The officer turned to the Admiral behind her again «Sir, we may have a lead»
The admiral nodded «Excellent leutenant, I will return to the comm room for the debriefing with the Turian and Asari fleet command, patch trough to me directly if there is a major find.».
«Aye-aye Admiral Hacket, sir!».
The shuttle bearing code name search team Lazarus flew past a few smaller pieces of debris and eased it's way into a large hole that was blown out of the Citadel's hull from the inside.
The shuttle landed on a patch of even ground just large enough to accomodate it's size and engaged it's grav locks. Inside the crew compartment four people donned their breather helmets and primed their weapons. All of them were humans three male marines and one female, wearing a reinforced bodyglove of white and black.
«Good thing, we managed to procure those old beauties from the planetary defense stock!» One of the marines remarked patting the assault rifle in his hands. An old pre first contact war assualt rifle of human design, not based on the mass effect field technology, which all of the sudden started to malfunction all over the place.
«Right, a huge fucking deal it's gonna be in vacuum, you might as well start hauling rocks at the husks if we find them in there.» The other marine chuckled. "Scans showed that there is still some atmosphere left in there, so we should be ok with what we have." The third marine bearing Major insignia on his shoulder guard punched the unlock switch on the pressure door. The barrier hissed and lifted, opening a scene of utter devastation to the team.
There were piles of trash and broken pieces of broken mechanisms everywhere. The dim flashlights and the head-lamps of the shuttle were the only source of illumination.
"Well not much we can find in this area, guess we need to solve the problem of cutting trough the wall without depressurizing the room behind it." Major waded his way trough the wreckage and stood before the intact wall that separated the room they were in from the intact space inside the structure.
"Lt. Frisk, we can try to clear the path for you to bring the shuttle closer to the wall and attach the mag locks to the section of the wall, you think the pressure system inside the shuttle will hold?"
There was a wave of static from the comm. unit and then the pilot's voice "Should be possible Major, but I don't think it will hold for more than 15 minutes with the limited power reserve".
The Major looked at the female member of the team. "You think we can manage a sweep of the stable section in that time?"
The woman checked the small handheld device "If we're lucky, which considering we're still alive after all hell broke loose on us, we are, yes." She said. "All right, men get to work!" Major bellowed at the two marines, and holstered his rifle to move a large fragment of the hull out of the way.
In about 30 minutes of hauling the wreckage trough the hole in the hull they managed to clear a space near the wall, large enough to park the shuttle right beside it.
Sitting at the controls in the cockpit Lt. Frisk engaged the emergency magnetic lock mechanism on the blast door, designed for docking in extreme conditions and it attached the shuttle to the wall. Standing inside the pressurized compartment Major Coates, his two marines and their female companion removed their helmets and prepared to cut trough the wall.
Miranda Lawson watched as the marines attached the plasma cutter to the wall and turned her head away from the bright flash that disintegrated the metal. "Weapons primed and look alive, men!" Coates commanded and took a step inside the hole.
Miranda followed close behind the soldiers. The space behind the wall was not much different from the one they just left behind. A timer on her PDA started to tick the 15 minutes they had before the mag locks ran out of power and the intact atmosphere would start to leak out of the wreck. There was practically nothing left intact inside. Collapsed support columns and pieces of machinery were mixed with something disturbingly reminiscent of human remains. Some of the lights were still flickering which along with the intact atmosphere hinted that some of the power sources on the remains of the Citadel still worked.
"Not to sound pessimistic or something, but I don't see how anyone could survive in here" One of the soldiers whispered.
Miranda spared the man a sideways look "We have to be absolutely sure" she said trough her teeth.
Major Coates moved to the left of the room sweeping his flashlight from side to side, while his men started to search near the far and right walls. Miranda took furtive glances at the screen of her PDA checking the time they had left and looking at the life sign indicator of the scanner, which remained depressingly flat. "Major! Got something, looks like a human body!" one of the marines yelled. Miranda felt as if a shock went trough her body and rushed towards the soldier. His flashlight was pointing on the ground where the remains of a console and some strange device made from a glasslike material were covering a prone form of a human lying face down on the floor. From the pose of the body and the amount of external damage on it, it was obvious the man was dead. Miranda felt a lump forming in her throat as Major Coates lowered to his knees beside the corpse and rolled it on it's back. Miranda found herself sighing in relief as she stared at the mangled remains of the Illusive Man's face. Most of the skin was either burned away or ravaged by the falling debris, but his artificial eyes and the definitive and once handsome features were easily recognizable.
"So that asshole finally got what was coming for him…" Major Coates remarked. "Heh, so that's what that son of a bitch was viewing as human supremacy?" There was no blood on the body and in damaged areas, not human tissue but reaper nanites and implants, now dull and lifeless, showed trough the damaged flesh. The dead leader of Cerberus looked like a Husk wearing patches of human skin. Miranda shivered, wondering if it has always been like that, and if she was now looking at what might have awaited her had the things gone differently. "Hey look, it seems like he wasn't killed in the explosion!" Major Coates indicated the obvious bullet hole on the corpse's chest near where his left lung would be. "Well guess that proves that someone was alive in here long enough to get rid of him, keep searching!".
Miranda took one last look at the man who she once viewed as humanity's best hope for survival. The timer on her PDA showed that they had 9 minutes left, and she hated the fact that the savior turned monster was the only clue to the fate of the Citadel they found. She moved towards a panoramic window, it's transparent material cracked but intact, that overlooked a large chamber where the remains of the Crucible docked to the Citadel could be seen.
"Time's running short, it seems we're out of luck ma'am." Major Coates stood beside her.
"I just can't believe that after all this we won't even be able to bring something to remember him by…" Miranda felt the relief of seeing that the dead body they found was not the one she feared it would be slowly evaporating and being replaced by despair.
Major Coates sighed, "He will be remembered miss Lawson, we, the people who saw him, who fought by his side will goddamn make sure he is remembered a thousand years from now on!"
Miranda nodded, "Let's get moving Major, it was a good chance, but guess we'll have to try our luck again…"
"Major! Miss Lawson! We have something!" The marine sergeant urgently holstered his rifle and grabbed a hold on the massive chunk of rubble trying to move it.
Miranda, Coates and the third marine rushed to his side, the men immediately lending their strength to his efforts. Miranda pointed her flashlight on the spot beneath the rubble, her eyes watering and her breath catching up in her chest as she saw an N7 emblem in the light and a small blip traced itself on the line of the life sign monitor in her hands.
To be continued….