A huge Citadel station had taken serious damage with the sudden attack, when enormous fleet attacked it from nowhere. Former Spectre agent, turian called Saren Arterius was one of those responsible from this sudden chaos, and it wouldn't have needed than a few little moments, that the Citadel and the persons inside didn't suffer the same fate than the Protheans faced 50 000 years ago. These ancient, unknown machines – what Saren used to call Reapers – destroyed their civilizations along the countless many and who knows, what other horrible happened to them along the slaughtering…
Just when all seemed to be lost, a strong-willed female commander of the Alliance spaceship Normandy SR-1, which had escaped from the Citadel a while ago to stop this apocalypse, Elyz Shepard with two of her five teammates; former general of Martian resistance, Carbine Olivus, and one of the few battle masters from always thinning out krogan race, Urdnot Wrex. By focusing their every strength on their recent battle, they managed to kill Saren and weakened a giant Reaper, who was controlling him, Sovereign, to be fired into countless, huge pieces letting them flow around for a while around the Citadel after the Reaper exploded.
The highest power in the Citadel bearing council (which was consisted of one asari, salarian and turian) was in the eternal indebtedness because of the commander who was standing before their eyes. The order, which cost several soldiers' lives to save the Council from the Reaper attack.
"We own to you, Commander Shepard and to your Alliance, our greatest thanks for saving our lives! There is nothing as noble gesture as that!" said the turian councilor to the three humans standing in front of him; on the left side of Shepard was standing her former captain David Anderson, who had given Normandy to her hands to command, and on the right side of her was standing humanity presenting ambassador, Donnel Udina, who seemed to be calm. Though Anderson had beaten him a little while ago.
"We are deeply honored from these thanks! This is a great honor for humanity!" said the ambassador back. Elyz though didn't want to listen to that liar. That idiot hadn't given her a permission to leave from the Citadel and without Anderson's help the whole Citadel, let alone the other significant places, would be in ruins. Like many years ago…
"Repairing the Citadel will take some time, but we'll manage when everyone puts their efforts on it!" said the salarian councilor by looking at the Citadel's destroyed view. So beautiful place was now looking like burning factor with the flames here and there.
"That's exactly what's it going to take, councilors! The humans and the Alliance will put their own part into this…" said Anderson making Udina angry about his own statement.
"Listen to me, Anderson! You don't have the right to speak in front of the Council, so leave it to ME then!" answered Udina back at Anderson while the yellow eyes, black hair commander in between them was about to raise her fist to hit that self-righteous bastard.
What she would have given to give same kind of beating to that bastard, what Anderson gave at him earlier.
"I demand silence, Ambassador!" shouted the asari councilor sharply at the arrogant politician, who stopped his blather right there. Luckily for his own health.
"Repairing the Citadel takes some time, but to show our greatest thanks we'd like to give you a place in the Council…" Udina was about to fall after hearing this. After many years' work it would finally pay off. To him off course.
"But if you'd like to, Commander, you could decide, whom of these men can present the humanity in this Council."
To Elyz this latitude was the most precious thing to make Udina to lose his rag. Though her former captain had lied about his past…
"Anderson, I'm giving that place to you." answered minor wounded woman to the man on the right side of her, making Udina to snort at her decision.
"I surely hope that you made your decision with… AAGH!" He should have left those words into his thoughts, when he got a fast and painful punch to his face by the commander.
And the black hair woman couldn't felt any more satisfied by seeing the man she hated so much on the ground, cursing and bleeding at the same time.
"How dare you?" Elyz hunkered next to the enraged politician.
"Remember to keep your mouth shut in my presence, Udina! I'M the one deciding, who takes the councilor's place! Clear enough?" shouted Elyz at Udina with a self-righteous smile on her face.
"And he was the one who thought who would talk to the Council!" thought Anderson looking at the ironic situation a bit amused.
"So be it, Elyz! If you really want to decide, who takes that place, so be it. At least I can laugh at it afterwards…" suggested Udina at teeth biting Elyz while walking away his nose and mouth bleeding and cursing her.
"Well, at least he learned his lesson… right, Elyz?"
"That remains to be seen…" said Elyz while walking away from the council and Anderson. She knew that it wasn't over. Sovereign was nothing more than a preview of destruction, what Reapers could create once they return. And someday it would happen.
"We need to rest for a while, to strengthen our fleets and our weapons!" suggested Anderson while his protégé walked through the rubbles of the Citadel buildings.
"And especially her…" Anderson really wanted the commander to rest. She deserved a little, good rest, after all this nightmare.
She had fulfilled her mission. She had beaten Saren and Sovereign with the help of her teammates, but just at the last moment. After all she had been through recently Elyz wanted only to relax, like to escape the nightmare even for a little moment, though she could always remember the slaughter of the Protheans.
And even if Elyz hated Saren from the bottom of her heart, maybe she understood why he had to ally himself from the foreshadowing destruction, which happened every 50 000 years. But she was disgusted by that what the Reapers had promised to him…
Nothing more than lies, was her saying in that issue while walking into the docks. To the ship she commanded.
"Commander? Commander! You hear me?" was heard from her radio suddenly. It was her loyal, though joking and crippled pilot Joker.
"Yeah, Joker. I'm okay out here. You worried about me or what?"
"No, I'm not! Though I wouldn't say the same about the rest of the crew here, after that huge part hit the tower a little while ago. And where are the Ms. Stright Mouse and the Angry Lizard?" answered Joker back at her commander jokingly.
"JOKER!"
"Sorry! I just couldn't pass that one…" answered the pilot back to her when the commander shut her radio off. But this time it wasn't because of his stupid jokes.
"Commander? Hey Commander! OOOOHHH! I hate it, when she does that!"
"Maybe you shouldn't make jokes on her especially after something like this, Joker!" told him an asari behind him wearing scientist clothes. Liara T'Soni, one of the Commander's still living teammates, who had lost her own mother in the battle on Noveria long time before this.
"Come on, Liara! This Reaper crap is over… for now." said Joker a bit arrogantly, correcting his words after saying that. It was over, but for how long? That was a question what could really soon be answered.
The Citadel Tower was far away from its former glory, but that didn't matter that much to the only person inside there.
This person, a krogan to be correct, had got an order from Shepard to shoot Saren, and even if he was the one who put a bullet through his head, he wouldn't let alone his mixed thoughts…
The ones which made him to think about these recent events much clearer. Destruction of the cure for the disease, which was killing his species, though it was only supposed to keep his people's population stable.
The corpse of that turian bastard was lying before his eyes. Dead. Without any single movement to be seen by a bare eye. And even that was too much for his own self-esteem, though he was known as the coldest and most callous person from all of the Elyz's teammates.
"Why they still have to suffer? Did I even choose right when I just laid down my gun when I could have shot her?" thought red armor wearing, tall krogan remembering an events just a couple of days back, when his race's 'salvation' was blown up into the sky. With a research facility.
But they didn't see enough of him.
They probably didn't even care, how much the krogan suffered from that disease. But he didn't have any time think about that further. He needed to get back to the Normandy, from the Rapid Travel Guide, which wasn't destroyed in the attack.
Just pressing of the button… and he was at the C-Sec Headquarters. Just next to an elevator that would take him up to the Normandy.
Lone mouse woman was walking through the Citadel's badly damaged, now into rubble changed streets, and they brought lots of painful memories of her own planet's fate.
"Even worse than those damn Plutarkians!" thought the grey furry mouse enraged because of the place's sudden destruction.
But even this wasn't as bad as a long-time separation from her boyfriend. And there was one question for what she wouldn't know the answer: could she tell about her sudden cheating even after this all?
And would Elyz give her a chance? She couldn't trust even at her word, though that human treated Carbine like a big sister would do.
And the necklace in the pocket of her red-white armor, which had a photo of her blind boyfriend. The one she had cheated on.
But she had no time to think about it right there. On the Normandy she would think.
And probably let it happen again…
Later on Normandy the crew welcomed the squad with a joy. They surely had overcome the impossible with their strict, yet straight –backed and somehow intriguing woman. Each of the crow (except Joker, of course) wanted to carry these heroes, but their Commander ordered them to stop right there. Showing a slight smile because of this victory.
"The crew of the Normandy!" By hearing this, every person of the crew took a bearing, let alone of Elyz's alien squad mates.
"I'd like to thank everyone of you, for helping me and my squad on my mission and giving the humanity this chance to prove the aliens, that we are worthy of our place in the Council…"
"I think that this is going to get really sleepy and long speech." thought blue armor wearing turian, C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian, at the commander on his thoughts.
Always in C-Sec he wanted to use different ways to finish his job than his superiors, but thanks to the Commander and conversations between him and Elyz Garrus showed no lack of respect against her.
And she was much more in his eyes than carbon fiber-armor wearing superior…
"The humanity has always been in the shadow from the other races, always to this day, always to this moment. Thank you for my human crew and my loyal teammates, that you didn't throw hope away when the darkest moments came! But we haven't won this war yet. We have only won our first fight, and we haven't got this far without sacrifices!"
Things she hated from the bottom of her heart, especially when it had to come to her team, what she used to know.
One of her rare weaknesses.
And that reminded her again of Saren, who probably didn't have any feelings. Maybe they were already gone really long time ago…
"So let's honor all those dead, their own lives sacrificed soldiers, who could get us this far! We don't know, what the Reapers are up to next, but at least we're ready for that! And when every single race in this universe work together, what happens?" asked Elyz raising her voice the longer her speech got.
"WE'LL BEAT THE REAPERS!" exactly the response with the spirit she had hoped, though she saw from the large group even sad face.
Carbine's face.
"God! She hasn't let that go of her." thought female commander while walking away from the cheering crew with Wrex and Carbine behind her.
On the medbay wounded Elyz got a special treatment from Liara. Not only she had great biotic powers, but she was a good medic too, though she hadn't before healed humans.
At the meantime, Normandy's experienced Doctor Chakwas was healing Wrex and Carbine, who could now sleep happily and satisfied. Or so it would seem, at least…
"Thanks, Liara! You see? It's not that bad when you get used to it." said Elyz a bit lightly when Liara was finished.
"Just hope that it's not me who gets to do this when you're the one really badly wounded." joked Liara back at the commander, ordering her to rest next 10 hours for the medicine. And after that she left the commander alone. To sleep.
"So, Liara? How's the Commander?" asked middle-aged, grey hair Chakwas from her after telling Wrex and Carbine to sleep for their own good.
"Her own rate from her own wounds was totally underrated: several, tiny bullet holes in the ribs, hands are tender from the stress and her head seemed to be spinning a little, but she'll recover by tomorrow." answered "only" over 100 years old asari by sitting relieved to the chair after all hard work.
"And if there's a woman to look good leader skills, it's her. Without her, we'd probably be goners by now." praised Chakwas while watching from her computer a video material from the Citadel Tower. From the time when the whole place was under terror and you could see only one person among it.
"You bet. You'd need to be really brave to face someone as horrible person as Saren. But somehow I just feel that there's so much something more in Shepard…"
"Are you meaning, that she doesn't tell you, what she actually does in her cabin?"
"No no, Chakwas! What I was meaning was that even if she learned me to use my biotics, somehow I just feel, that she's got something more behind her than caring about us six… I mean five: me, Tali, Wrex, Garrus but most of all Carbine!"
"Well, you saw how she looked like after letting Alenko to fight for his life on Virmire." blurted the Doctor after switching her computer off and getting out of the medbay for a while.
Carbine however had heard the doctors' conversation. Still after two days after that incident, she felt that she was the one to blame for putting Elyz to choose between her and her long-time friend. And Elyz had chosen her over Kaidan, though it didn't make herself feel any better when she heard back on Virmire that they were coming at her.
Just the same kind of guiltiness she had felt like 5 years ago, when she couldn't help her lethally wounded boyfriend.
And why? Why did she choose her over Kaidan? Was it really about caring her as a friend or just torturing?