Chapter 1: Seeds in the Wind

Shepard looked over the idyllic landscape around him. Snow fell peacefully towards the ground, occasionally disrupted by a weak gust of wind. Behind him lay large and imposing mountains, displaying their dominance over the surrounding hills.

Peace. Peace was something once many enjoyed. Well, to a degree anyway. The quarians and the geth only recently came to terms, since there was much more at stake than a homeworld now. The reapers put that into perspective. What is one world, when the entire galaxy is at stake?

Shepard sighed. The loss of Earth was a devastating blow to the combined forces of the galaxy. Devastating might not even be the word for it – catastrophic might be more apt. All he had to do was look around to see its effect on moral. Suicide rates were increasing at an alarming rate – so much so that extraordinary measures had to be taken to try to mitigate it. Among his own crew, defeatism had begun to sink in.

'If it was not for their friendship and duty to each other, I wonder if we'd even still be together as a crew', Shepard mused. 'Now that I think of it, we're all the only family anyone has left.'

With so much of the population centers of the galaxy under Reaper 'occupation', not many had surviving family members. The Quarian fleet was outright decimated in the Battle of Earth, and the turian and asari homeworlds had fallen. Tuchanka had yet to fall, but the krogan were about to scorch the planet with nuclear weapons.

'A good thing too, the last thing we need is to be fighting reaperized krogan as well.'

It was all for naught. Everyone knew that the war was lost – it was all now about preservation. Under Liara's guidance and the prothean VI, small stasis bunkers were being built all over the galaxy, usually on backwater garden worlds in systems that had yet to be attacked. The plan was to avoid the mistake the protheans had made, and place million-man bunkers on high-profile planets. These were smaller, often less than a thousand a piece.

'Like seeds in the wind.' Liara had put it, 'We scatter the survivors as far apart as we can. The more there are, the less dependent we are on a single seed to carry forth our knowledge.'

Which led them to here. This was one of the last shelters left. Deep in the mountains lay a catacomb network that could house 2,000 people in stasis for, well, nobody knew how long. It was powered by an experimental hybrid of asari and prothean power generators. Hard to detect, but entirely untested. Desperate times, desperate measures.

A convoy of the remaining scientists and high-ranking personnel were to arrive in this bunker. Many were asari whom worked in secret on prothean technology. A small group of the best fighters from the turian hierarchy were also here – many against their wishes. Very few human scientists were actually going to be saved – a heavy price for the tactical nightmare that was Earth.

Many didn't trust the humans with tactical decisions after the battle. Humanity's blind rush forward had finally cost them. The Crucible had been a reaper trap. After it docked with the Citadel, it had crippled much of the galactic fleet. Only an engineering fault prevented it from decimating the rest. While it was not all humanity's fault, they'd got most of the galaxy to funnel all its resources into a weapon that brought their own downfall. Not only that, but after Cerberus collapsed, many of its former members joined the Alliance. 'I suppose I cannot really blame them for distrusting us' Shepard thought sorrowfully, 'I'm surprised they even let us tag along at all anymore.'

Shepard's communication room buzzed alive, breaking his thought. "Commander Shepard. This is The Ark. We've just made it through the relay and reaper forces are in pursuit. Brace for incoming enemy forces"

'Well, so much for a peaceful day.'


A giant red beam pierced through the clouds, decimating sections of the forward defence line only a kilometre away. The welcoming signal of yet another reaper joining the attack. It's terrifying horn echoing through the crisp and cool air.

"…there just isn't enough time…."

"What was that Shepard? It's kind of hard to hear you over all the….."

Grunt was cut off. As if on cue, a volley of shots set the ground alight, kicking up dirt and taking out chunks of the concrete barricade. A squad of Marauders were taking up positions on their flank.

"There is not enough time! How are we going to get them into the shelter unnoticed?"

The task of getting the Ark members into the catacombs was originally supposed to be simple, but that was no longer the case. By now the reapers had indoctrinated spies deep within the Alliance command structure, so it was only a matter of time before they showed up. How they found out about the movement of such key personnel was a topic of discussion that no longer mattered. What mattered was getting them into the catacombs, and covering the entrance behind them. What they needed was a diversion.

"Grunt, do you think you could bring your squad around and support that Atlas? We need to force them off that ridge – the convoy with the scientists will be arriving any minute now"

"Always up for a good fight, but do I have to work with Cerberus agents?"

"Ex-Cerberus, Grunt. We're looking to make you a bigger target, you've still got quite a bit to go before you can strut around like Wrex", Shepard retorted.

No, the battle we not going very smoothly at all. The reapers had massive amounts of units and their disposal. The husks from Earth, coupled with the Marauders from Palaven, were causing enough trouble as it was. And they had a near-endless supply of them.

"Liara, EDI – I need you to direct them to the East entrance – the North one has been sealed. Once they make it in, you'll need to stay there. Nobody knows these systems better than the two of you. Make sure they are set up correctly, then wait for the rest of us. If we are not in within the hour, seal the complex and begin stasis."

"You make sure you make it this time. I doubt very much I'll be able to bargain for your corpse again!" – Liara quipped in response, trying to make light of the situation.

"Why, with all that Cerberus tech in me, you know, I don't even know if it's possible to kill me anymore…" – Shepard grunted as a swift elbow connected with his ribs.

"He promises, right Shepard?" – Tali cut in, withdrawing the elbow to a safe distance once more. "Besides, this bosh'tet still owes me a house on Rannoch"

"And we all promised we'd meet up and drink on a beach somewhere nice, and warm" Garrus pitched in with a resigned tone.

Sentimental conversation was for another time. For now, they had more important things to worry about.


"Incoming occuli!" yelled a private, just as the missile batteries started to fire. Shepard watched the sky as missiles contacted with the reaper strike craft.

Back on Earth, they were able to combat the Reaper spacecraft in air-to-air combat. They had long since lost that luxury. The reapers enjoyed total air superiority, and used it to their fullest advantage. This forced The Ark spacecraft to land a fair distance away and make the trek on foot.

Garrus and Tali watched in horror as several craft made it through the air defences, and moved off to the direction the land convoy was coming from. Several explosions were heard, confirming they'd found what they were looking for. Up on the ridge, the Atlas covering the flank was being decimated.

The comm. unit on his omnitool crackled, and Grunt's strained voice soon reported in.

"…Shep…d….the flan…..alling, several scions…bansh…..it's been a good fight…..Shepard…"

The situation was turning desperate. The turians holding the forward flank were now being routed, the flank was dissolving, and the convoy was likely destroyed. They had to withdraw before they lost everything.

"This is Commander Shepard. All units are to retreat to the evacuation points and meet up with the remainder of the Shield fleet. This position is lost. We'll have to try again at the next depot."

"Okay squad, we need to double time it back to the shelter. Liara and EDI are waiting for us there. We'll intercept the rest of the convoy and escort them in."

Garrus, who's mind was as quick as his draw, connected the dots "So…we are not withdrawing off-world?".

"No Garrus. Imagine all these panicking soldiers retreating to the catacombs. They'd not only overload the system, but bring the reapers right into the complex. We cannot afford that, not now."

"Cold and calculated Shepard. Has it really come down to this?" Garrus said solemnly, recalling a conversation they had back on the Normandy. Without answering, Shepard turned and his crew followed him up the slope.


"My sensors detect another AI presence in the vicinity, Dr. T'Soni." For an AI, EDI's voice seemed rather on edge.

"That must be Tali's suit. She mentioned to be that the geth were integrating with their suits" Liara said, pausing slightly, hoping she was right.

EDI turned to reply, but before she could, the remnants of the convoy rumbled over the hill at break-neck speed towards the complex. In tow was a small squad of ex-Cerberus soldiers, among them her former shipmates.

"Nice of you to make it, Shepard. I was beginning to think you'd break your promise."

"Not now Liara! We've got Reaper foot soldiers inbound!"

A missile struck above the concrete entrance, sending debris raining down on the defenders. A phantom was crushed be debris, sending her sword rattling across the ground.

The automated compelx VI broadcast a message to the troops: "Warning: East entrance controls damaged. East entrance door mechanisms damaged…."

The civilians began unloading from the convoy and began rushing into the complex. Garrus scowled at a few of them.

"What's the matter Garrus?" Shepard questioned, raising his brow.

"These are not civilians, well not all of them anyway. Some of these turians are from fleet command. YOU COWARDS" shouted Garrus.

"You know as well as I do that many of them are here against their wishes. Besides, most of us are staying behind as well."

"Are you suggesting that I hide in this bunker while the galaxy burns?" Garrus said, forcefully.

"It's not a suggestion. We need people who have seen the conflict, to save the Galaxy – even if it is not in our own time."

Liara, who'd be listening in, voiced her opposition in a very cold and dark tone. "That is the most selfish thing I've ever heard you suggest Shepard. You're putting our lives above everyone else whom have survived this far. There are plenty of more important people! I'll have no part in this!"

"Reaper forces have entered the complex. Automatic sterilization protocols will engage in 10 minutes." the automated VI broadcast once more.

"There is no time to argue, get to the damn stasis pods!" – Shepard shouted as more Marauders began pouring into the complex.


Bullets tore all around Shepard, bringing down his barriers and heavily damaging his suit. Tali was also pinned down some 15 meters behind him.

Damage in the pod room was escalating. They'd managed to seal the main doors, but also locked in an entire squad of Reapers – with a banshee decimating swaths of pods at a time.

"Sterilization protocol to begin in 2 minutes"

Garrus and Liara were already in stasis pods. EDI would be turned on every so often to check on the status of the pods, to prevent the problem the protheans had, which had unknowingly killed many important personnel. Hopefully using an AI instead of a VI would make a difference. AI could think logically, where a the VI would do as it was programmed – and only that.

"Tali, get into that pod!" Shepard yelled over the firefight.

"I'm not leaving you to fight them on your own!"

"I'll be right behind you. Hop in there!"

Tali fired off another round from her Geth Plasma Shotgun, swung herself over into the stasis pod, and closed it over her.

After a minute, the sound of the battle seemed to quieten – she could not tell if it was because of the pod, or…

'No, no. Shepard would fight and then he'd get into the pod beside hers. Her heart began to race. What if he didn't make it? What…if….'

Then her heart rate began to slow. 'Is this the start of stasis?'

Tali'Zorah had no idea what stasis was like – nor did many. Liara had a rough idea from some of the people who tested the trial ones, but Tali hadn't been listing at the time. Now she regretted it. 'Damn it.'

'What…am…I….supposed to do? Shepard had just gone over this earlier. What was it...Oh yes.'

"Alcatraz, disable suit…remain inactive until….I….command otherwise…."

Alcatraz had been Shepard's pet name for her suit's Geth program. It just stuck. That seemed so long ago. 'Has he made it to the pod yet?'

She was about to shut down the omnitool, when it gave one last broadcast.

"Goodbye, Tali."

Those were the last words she heard before her world went dark.