I do not own Mass Effect, Mass Effect is owned by Bioware and Electronic Arts
"So, you're only giving me three ways to end this?" Commander Katherine Shepard asked the catalyst, as she stood before it, gravely wounded from the battle in London. She was in the citadel, with the AI that controlled the reapers. The AI, known to her as the catalyst, was the thing that controlled the deadly reapers she fought to destroy.
"Yes, choose wisely." It chirped. "Control us, destroy us, or unite the synthetic and organic life of the universe."
"There is no other option?" she asked again.
"Nope, this is all you get." It replied.
"Then I choose the impossible then." Shepard said, and she started dismantling her pistol as she walked towards the destruction terminal.
"What are you doing?" the catalyst asked.
Shepard started to chuckle.
"You think; I'm just going to accept everything at face value? You think I don't consider every choice? These are garbage!"
"Yelling at them won't fix your situation." The catalyst continued. "You have to choose sometime, or everything dies."
"I'm trying to hurry, I'm aware I'm running out of time." Shepard snapped. She was now at the console, and quickly looking at every piece of her now completely dismantled pistol.
"To do what? I already told you the best solution." Said the catalyst, tilting its head at the synthesis beam. "The final and complete stage of evolution."
"There are a million things wrong with that one, just you wait, and I'll explain." Shepard replied, still fiddling with the destroy control panel. "You promise galactic peace, but the price is too high, the universe is unique and that is our strength. If everything is the same, we destroy freedom itself."
"But there would be peace."
"I'd rather die! The cost of peace isn't that high!"
"We knew you wouldn't understand, We're beyond your comprehension." Catalyst scoffed. "So, why not control us?"
"Because, I've fought to defeat you, not become you. I can't imagine living the rest of my days of a collective, without being with my friends." Shepard explained. "I couldn't tell Tali or Ashley, or anyone else how much I value them, I couldn't tell Garrus how much I love him, or the Normandy crew, Joker, EDI, Samantha, and Steve, how much I appreciate them. I couldn't see the Turians, Humans, Asari, Quarians, Salarians, Geth or Krogan grow and recover. I couldn't help earth rebuild. I wouldn't be able to see any of that. It'd be like a beat without a melody, I'd rather be dead, and the reapers need to die."
"Funny that you mention the Geth, and that AI friend of yours, you must value their existence. Then why are you at the destruction console?" asked the Catalyst smugly.
"I do value them, and I refuse to destroy them with the reapers. They are not the same, they can be saved. What was the point of getting the Geth and Quarians to get along if I'm just going to blow them up?" Shepard answered.
"You said destroy Geth and Quarians? Curious."
"How do I know this doesn't just disable AIs, but all tech in the galaxy, if it really can't distinguish from a reaper and a non-reaper?" she said as she closed the panel of the destruction module. "And even if it doesn't disable their suits, without the Geth, it'll take them centuries to rebuild their civilization."
Shepard then started to type on the console, and catalyst was still confused as ever.
"Human, you are contradicting what you said."
"No I'm not, I haven't gotten this far with friends like mine, not to know the difference between AIs and Reapers. You think you had me beat huh?" Shepard said, laughing hysterically as she quickly typed. "This is for Miranda, Thane, Mordin, Kaiden, Legion, Anderson, and others I don't have time to name you son of a bitch!"
"What have you done?! Wait what?!" screeched the catalyst.
And before it knew it, there was an explosion, and the world went black.