Author's Note: This is a sequel to my story "Mass Effect 3: The Final Push." That story was meant to be a one-shot, but then this idea popped into my head. In the previous story I ended up rolling with the now debunked Indoctrination Theory. Shepard, Tali, and Garrus went into the Conduit and confronted the Illusive Man. Garrus died in the confrontation and afterwards Shepard went to live with Tali on Rannoch. They ended up having a son who they named Garrus in honor of him.

This Shepard is Paragon, has a Space pre-service history, is a War Hero, and romanced Tali.

The story picks up with two squads of soldiers stationed in a remote military outpost.

Prologue Part 1

Squad Alpha
Captain Henry Zhan
Sergeant Dean Weathers
Corporal Katherine Richards
Corporal John Nathers
Private Kanami Yamaida
Private Ethin Tavarez
Private Khalid Baras
Private Timothy King

Squad Bravo
Lieutenant Carth Hanson
Sergeant Jacob Aragon
Corporal Jack Mathison
Corporal Gerald Heinzman
Corporal Lilia Bowlman
Private Alessandra Conti
Private Percy Tallwood
Private Lionel Cherkov

Planet Binthu, 6 Years After the Reaper War

He felt something calling out to him… it felt very distant… it felt like it was coming from very far away. A child appeared in front of him. The child was made of light. It seemed to look at him with piercing eyes.

"Welcome Jack Mathison. I've been waiting for you."

The voice sounded familiar. There seemed to be a faint drone in the background that was comforting somehow.

With a start he woke up from the sleep he was in, and "he" was Corporal Jack Mathison of the Alliance army. He was stationed at a small military outpost on the godforsaken rock that is Binthu. There didn't seem to be any reason to be stationed at here. He simply was, and he didn't question it. It was just his job. There were 16 men (and some nice women too) with Captain Henry Zhan in charge. Mathison bunked with Private Percy Tallwood who was the quietest guy Mathison had ever met.

"Hey… Mathison."

Mathison turns over and sees Tallwood sitting in the chair at the desk. He was staring at Mathison. It was unnerving.

"What?"

"I feel like something bad is going to happen."

Mathison didn't respond right away, "You know… I kind of feel the same way."

Tallwood then looked away. A second later he got up and walked out of the room. Mathison turned back over and stared at the low roof over his head. If you were to sit up too quickly you would get lump on the head for your mistake. Mathison managed to break the habit after about a week. Mathison decided he wasn't gaining anything by staying in bed and decided to get up. He quickly dressed and walked out of the room.

When he walked into the mess hall he saw Corporal Katherine Richards and Sergeant Dean Weathers sitting at one table, and Privates Lionel Cherkov and Ethin Tavarez at another. Mathison sat at the table with Richards and Weathers.

"Hey people," Mathison greeted them.

"Hey, Jack." Richards responded.

"How's it going, Jack?" Weathers said.

Mathison soon inserted himself into the conversation and some minutes passed, and then Sergeant Jacob Aragon walked into the room.

"Alright! Shift change you slackers! Get to your posts!"

With that everyone in the mess room got up from their seats and made their way back to their rooms. It was time to get outfitted for the day's work. It was all rather boring. Nothing happened in this remote outpost.

It was like the Alliance said, "We'll have an outpost out here because we feel like it!"

Corporal Gerald Heinzman came and stood next to Mathison.

"So Mathison, vhat are you going to do for shore leave?" Heinzman asked.

"I don't know. Go kill a few people, burn down a few establishments, and revive the Reapers. Yep, sounds like a good day's work," Mathison replied.

"You could have just said you didn't vant to tell instead of being sarcastic. I'm going to help with rebuilding projects back on Earth. Vant to help with that?"

"Not really. I have better things to do."

"Really? Care to share?"

"Not really, ketchup-man…"

Heinzman rolled his eyes and went back to his own business. A few more hours passed when suddenly a boom reverberated throughout the base. It felt like it came from the other side of the base. The loudspeaker then came on.

"Alert, alert! This is not a drill. Outpost Hotel ZX3516 Alpha is under attack. All personnel to battle stations!"

Mathison was assigned to a turret situated on the north-east wall. He rushed towards there and brought up the interface and got all systems online. He opened up a communication link with the rest of his squad. The person who Mathison worked with most of the time, and the person who he felt he could be most open with, was Alessandra Conti. She came rushing up and flashed him a smile. He returned it.

"Everyone, squad check-in!" Sergeant Aragon said over the line.

Everyone checked in, with Percy Tallwood being a little late. Aragon let him slide for once. Something must really be wrong. An image was pulled up on the nearby monitor. Shocked silence permeated the base. It was a Reaper… It was surrounded by ships of various sizes and designs. All of the ships were from known species. They had just appeared out of nowhere.

"I've come home, Jack." A voice boomed in his head. It seemed to drown out his other thoughts.

"Gah!" Jack yelled out as he collapsed to the ground.

He had to get this, this thing out of his head. He knew why this was happening to him and not the others. He had been held in a Reaper prison camp. Obviously there was indoctrination after-effects. Alessandra's voice brought him back.

"-alright? Are you alright, Jack?" she said.

"I'm fine, Alessa," Jack grunted out as he stood back up.

"Troopships coming in! They're trying to land, open fire!" Aragon ordered.

Jack stumbled to the turret control and opened fire. He brought down 2 dropships before the turret started taking fire. He took down another one before a missile came roaring and blew up the area to Jack's left. Shrapnel sizzled against his shields and pinged against his armor.

"It's not safe anymore, Jack! We need to retreat further into the base." Alessa yelled out.

Jack nodded and stepped away from the turret. The incoming fire at that area soon engulfed the whole section in flame. It was a good thing they had left. They stopped at a weapons locker and picked up M-9 Avengers. In the years after the Reaper War, there has been an explosion of weapon, armor, and shield advancements by looking at Reaper technology. The M-9 Avenger packed 15% more power than the M-8 Avenger, and was 20% more accurate. A semi-automatic feature was also worked in.

Jack and Alessa rushed down the hallway and soon heard gunfire. They saw Captain Zhan behind cover with Corporal John Nathers trying to get a signal on the radio. Captain Zhan sees Jack and Alessa and ushers them over. As Jack gets closer he sees the rest of Alpha squad across the hallway, pouring fire down the hallway at the main entrance where enemies of all species seemed to be pouring in. He could see Sergeant Dean Weathers and Private Timothy King lying dead on the ground

"Alright you two. All communications have been shut down. I'm assigning Bravo Squad to go and secure the hangar. Alpha squad shall hold this position and slowly retreat to buy you time. We'll get to the hangar once you all have the ship ready to go! Understood?"

"Understood, sir!" Jack and Alessa said in unison.

Jack and Alessa went down the hallway leading towards the hangar. They soon find the rest of Bravo Squad, excluding Lionel Cherkov. Corporal Gerald Heinzman explained that he was caught in an explosion from an incoming missile.

Lieutenant Carth Hanson then directed everyone to move out.

Planet Rannoch, 6 Years After the Reaper War

A familiar looking child made of light appeared before Shephard.

"Hello Shephard. It has been awhile."

The rest of the dream was trapped in a fog. Retired Commander John Shepard couldn't remember anything as he picked himself up from the bed. Shepard looked over to the other side of the bed and saw Tali was already up. Shepard walked out into the kitchen to grab some breakfast. Garrus was already eating. It would be his birthday in a week. He would be five years old. Shepard thought he would take him to see the Citadel.

"Where's your mom, Garrus?" Shepard asked.

"Mommy is outside talking to im-por-tant person," Garrus responded.

"Ah."Garrus had a habit of sounding out words that were big to him.

Maybe the Admirals were bugging Tali to get involved in the government again. They never seemed to give up. Well, Tali could handle it, time to eat.