My own personal ending of how it should've gone down given the choices from the original ending. Hopefully, it was all a dream and the indoctrination theories are correct but if they aren't I guess I just want something to hold on to. I'm most likely going to do a few follow up chapters to finish off with the crew and what happens to them if anybody would like to read them. Lemme know either way :D
I don't own any of the characters from this fantastic series, all are owned by BIoware.
"You must choose" The catalyst stood, void of all compassion and empathy. Liana stared at him; the lack of warmth was unsettling but unsurprising. AI were never goodat understanding organic qualities and this one was so far removed from reality that there was no hope in even trying.
"I've made up my mind. At least let me talk to my people first"
"why do you want to do that? It is not part of this equation"
"you're equation does not matter to me damnit, patch me through to my people
"What good will this do? Your decision must come now" Liana began to shed tears and she fell to the ground "Please. You don't' understand anything about me, nor do you care to but please…just let me say goodbye. At least give me that, you're taking everything else away I just want a chance to say goodbye" The catalyst looked upon her with mild curiosity
"And to warn them of the destruction of the relays?"
"They deserve to know that at least"
"but my solution-"
"it is my solution now. I am the one making the decisions here no?" The catalyst showed its first sign of agitation, an emotional response that made a small part of Liana's heart leap with joy
"Fine then organic. If you feel as though this will change anything." The platform that took Liana up to the crucible had started whizzing. "You may speak to your leader"
"Commander Shepard? Commander Shepard? Come in commander, the crucible still isn't working" Admiral Hackett yelled gruffly
"Admiral, Shepard here" Liana groaned in pain. The wounds were taking a much worse toll than she had anticipated, her time was limited.
"Shepard, what in the hell is going on down there? Why isn't the Crucible working? We can't hold the reapers off forever Shepard; find something to make it-"
"Admiral, the Crucible will be online shortly. I highly suggest you have every single unit in the fleet retreat to their respective systems save for a few thousand engineers to go to Illos to study the conduit."
"Shepard that's mad talk. What the hell is going on? I need a sit-rep before I can order an all out retreat"
"Once I activate the Crucible, all the Mass Relays will be destroyed along with the Reapers. "
"Impossible… that will destroy the entire galaxy…"
"It's going to happen Admiral. I wish I was shitting you but regrettably I am not. I don't know what's going to happen to the galaxy but I know for certain that the relays will be destroyed." Hackett remained silence, Liana could feel the sheer terror of the consequences "it's not that bad Admiral. FTL ships will allow for interstellar commerce, it just won't be nearly as fast. Plus if they figure out how to reproduce mass relays from the conduit on Illos then life can resume as it was"
"Commander that all sounds fine…but what about you?"
"I've made my peace Admiral. Without medical attention in the next 20 minutes I assure you my death will be finalized." Again, silence on the other end. The Admiral choked up a bit before letting out a grievous sigh "Commander…"
"It's alright Hackett. It's time. I'm tired. At this point, all I want is rest." Liana could hear her mother weeping in the background, "Mom its ok. I lived a good life, I've seen
more than most get to see. Take care of her Hackett" the commander could now hear Admiral Hackett choking back a few tears of his own "Roger will-co…Admiral Shepard" Shepard squeezed a laugh out of her failing diaphragm "looks like I finally got that promotion huh Hackett" with that, more blood poured out of a wound from her ruined armor. The catalyst looked on; amused at the interaction "hurry organic, time is of the essence" Admiral Hackett was at full attention after hearing the catalyst speak
"Shepard what was tha-"the com link was closed. Shepard looked at the synthetic god child scornfully "You needed to have no more interaction with him."
"There's still more people I need to talk to"
"There's no time…"
"Make it then. Tell the reapers to go away till I'm done, you'll have your solution soon enough."
"You act as though you are in a position to bargain with me Shepard. I control what happens here, your wants and your desires are immaterial to me."
"If you don't want me to blast you're asses away then I suggest you open my damn com link" Liana pointed her gun at the red glowing pipe. The catalyst child flinched only slightly but just enough for Liana to keep egging him on "What's wrong you twerp? Don't feel like being eradicated from existence? Open up the damn com link to the Normandy" the catalyst's emotionless face almost showed fury at Liana's insubordination and she reveled in it. Liana took another step closer to the pipe and the catalyst finally gave in.
"The reapers will no longer target the crucible, where do you need to set up a com link to?" a large amount of pain sped through Liana's body and she was nearly crippled by its intensity " Perhaps contacting another individual would not be prudent. If you die on the platform, this cycle will be destroyed and all you have done will be in vain" Liana looked at the catalyst through one eye, the other one drenched in sweat and blood
"is that a hint of pity I hear?" the catalyst shook its head
"I do not understand the concept of pity, despite witnessing it since the beginning of my existence. It does nothing without action and I can assure you that I do not care enough to help you organic. You misinterpret my urgency for a sense of caring, If I was capable of doing of properly I would pity you." Liana laughed,
"Damn, that was particularly harsh. Patch me through to the Normandy" the catalyst made a small gesture to her wounds "I'll live. I promise." The catalyst shook its head and the console started to make noise again
"I'll never truly understand organics." The catalyst patched in the Commander right in the middle of transmissions from the cockpit
"-I understand Admiral but we have to save the Commander, there's no way that we're leaving her. We just picked up Alenko and Tali and we're heading for the Citadel to pick up Commander Shepard…Admiral Hackett I don't give a damn about orders right now, I'll face Alliance brass later. I'm getting the Commander" Liana chuckled
"You better listen to the Admiral, Flight Lieutenant."
"Commander? How did you… never mind that! What the hell do you mean listen to the admiral? I'm not letting you die! I promised everybody I'd get you. I swear to Go-"
"God-damnit Joker, don't make this any harder than it needs to be." Liana snapped angrily. "Do as the Admiral says, stand down."
"Commander…"
"Joker, please. Stand down and retreat"
"Commander Shepard, if you allow us to reach you at the citadel we can be there in approximately 3 minutes and the success of your survival is at 97%, you must allow us to assist you" EDI chimed frantically
"Stand. Down." commanded Liana.
"….Aye-aye ma'am"
"Absolutely not Jeff, we can save her. Probability of achieving the best possible outcome is too high to igno-"
"EDI!" Liana yelled but that caused her more pain than she thought "UNGHHHH!" she fell to her knees in pain
"COMMANDER!" EDI and Joker exclaimed
"I….I'm dying….please….just…just get Kaidan on vid chat…please. There… isn't…mu…." another painful groan erupted out of her body and turned into a cry as she lifted her body up onto the console "please…..please I just want…..want to say goodbye….j-j-Joke…." Joker nodded and then the link cut off as it transferred over to the full body vid chat in the war room. The pain and the tears made it too difficult to form words. Liana grasped the console for dear life and the catalyst watched on looking almost uneasy in its transparent robin's egg blue aura.
"you do not have much time left organic, I suggest you make your decision"
"I know you're synthetic, and that you don't…ughh…..unders-t-tand lo….love" a painful cough erupted from her chest as well as a disturbing amount of blood "but I love….I
feel…I do so many things you never could and never will….and for that I pity YOU" the catalyst stood there, shocked and stunned.
"You…you are lesser than us, you could never pity us"
"or can I? Your arrogance and you're success over God knows how many millennia has made you out of touch. You aren't an artificial intelligence; you're practically a VI with fancy machinery. I've witnessed true AI, capable of understanding that there are variables and that somethings will change and some things will remain the same. And i've seen them develop into good people whom i call friend and would trust with my life. You've lost the purpose of being a true AI. You no longer have a soul and that is what will always make us better than you" the catalyst looked deeply trouble
"You're words…they trigger a response in my system that I am not familiar with. However it does not change your fate. Talk to your companion and finish your farewells.
Even without scanning your body I can tell you are in very poor shape." Kaidan slowly pixilated in on the vid-chat
"Liana…"
"Kaidan…. I…. I'm sorry"
"Oh my God….Liana…" tears rolled down his face "We tried to follow but Coats made us fall back and hold the line….no. this isn't fair, NO! NO, LIANA NO!" there were no inhibitions, his emotions were all over his face, his body rippled with pain and sadness "you can't do this, you told me to wait for you! You can't do this! You evil bitch! Don't you dare die on me again!" Liana stood there, her face welled up with sadness
"Kaidan I didn't pick this. I can't get rescued"
"What do you mean?"
"I have to choose the fate of the universe. Funny, isn't it? All the time we spent fighting against the Reapers and Cerberus and the one time there will truly be peace…I won't be there for it. But you will. And that's all I could ask for"
"Shepard please!"
"Major Alenko, that is an order. Live for me… because I don't have any time left."
"Please…. Liana…"
"I know Kaidan. I love you, more than I would like to and i can see that my current state...is hard for you to watch. Please, don't hurt too much"
"I'll never forget you"
"I know you won't Kaidan. Goodbye."
"Liana, one more thing?"
"What is it Kaidan?"
"if by some miracle you don't die and I'm going to pray for one…let us know you're ok?"
"Thinking too far ahead Kaidan" blood began to drip off her fingertips, Kaidan flinched and cried more
"Does it have to be this way?"
"Who knows Kaidan, I might get lucky" Liana forced a weak smile on her lips but she knew there was only one way that this could end.
"We're going to pull out into the mass relays now, the reapers are in hot pursuit."
"They won't be momentarily Kaidan"
"Shepard I-"
"It is time to say goodbye Kaidan. Let's not drag this out" Liana's weak smile faded and revealed a sense of determination. Despite being in shambles, Major Alenko saluted his commander, his lover and most of all, his friend. Tears rolled down his face as he looked at her with the devotion of a hawk. With all the strength in her body, she saluted him back and in that moment a spark of life filled her and she knew what she had to do. As they broke salute and Kaidan turned around, he looked back at her one more time "It was good to give them hell with you Liana." The catalyst cut the comm.
"It is time for your decision Shepard"
"Did you just call me by my name?"
"Many things were not anticipated. Reactions to your emotional responses couldn't be calculated."
"Does that mean I get to live?"
"You're living is not the outcome of any of the available solutions given. I'm sorry Shepard"
"Sorry?"
"I may not be able to feel things in the capacity that you do, nor do I understand the idea of emotions. But I know that something is unsettled about me right now,
something is wrong. My programming can't detect it. Make your choice"
"what if I decide to drag this out?"
"The reapers will follow your friends and your lover and they will all die."
"Fair enough"
"We will be glad to have you as part of us Shepard"
"Oh, did you think I was going to let you live?" The catalyst looked at Shepard with a look of disdain
"You…You tricked us into thinking that was your choice"
"It was never an option for me." Liana grabbed her gun and ran towards the red pipe "humans are the craftiest species that we have ever encountered…this was not anticipated." The catalyst simply frowned as Liana started firing bullets into the pipeline; each bullet flashed a face of a fallen comrade in Liana's mind. First it was Ashley laughing after they got drinks at the citadel. Her voice and the gravity of the situation on Virmire echoed through Liana's mind, then came Mordin as they sang the Gilbert and Sullivan's Scientist Salarian. The last image she had of him was watching him smile, waving cheerily as he ascended up to his death. The next shot made her visualize Thane and their routine prayer sessions as well as his final prayer for her absolution. And the last shot, she saw Legion, her synthetic in arms, her fellow creature. Victim of a war that he did not start and his ascension into whatever heaven would take him. The warmth of the explosion embraced her; Liana felt like pressure was being alleviated from her body. All the pain, the suffering, and the cruelty of the world she lived in…
all of it was gone. And Commander Liana Shepard finally felt peace