AN: Well here we are again at the start of another 'long' ME fic. And I know I have said it before but this will probably be my last. So let's make it a good one eh?
So why am I writing this? Well at the moment I have little more to write, I am in between various other writing projects and want to keep my skills sharp before I start my next novel. Because I believe that is important and it will allow me to hopefully continue refining my writing skills.
Secondly I realized rather humorously that this would be the end of a trilogy of sorts. I have done one main fic with Cameron, another with Abigail, and so I decided why can't I do them both? Because they are both awesome characters and very different people.
Third: While Shards has probably been my favorite fan fiction (Or any writing project period) that I have ever written there was a few things missing. Mainly a lack of certain squad mates that…well I kinda missed writing them even if they did make an appearance.
Fourth: With the revelation of my novels I cannot write a writing project with certain themes that I want to write about given the current state of geo political stuff. So what do you know, there is a fan fic for that.
As always Mass Effect belong to EA/ Bioware, I just really frakin love these games. What can I say?
"Well," Shepard spoke, "Wars happen, revolutions, plots, and moments of history move around us threatening to tear us apart. Forces that want nothing more to control the universe because they feel it is their birthright, their destiny, that the rights of 'mere mortals' mean nothing, feeling that they have the power of God."
"We have seen it, with the Reapers, and Cerberus, they wanted nothing more to control, because they believed they had found the solution to the conflict inherent with life… their solution? To start over, kill all life in order to save it from itself, thus giving people a blank slate, a fresh start… slaughtering trillions in the process. They in their arrogance believed they were the masters of life and death.
"But we defeated them; we conquered them, their allies, Cerberus, the Illusive Man, and even the Disciples. We stopped them all, crippling them.
"And so the Galaxy moved on, continued to heal, to Pick up the Shards, to do what they felt was right to get on with their lives. Though they were less prosperous, had to work harder, they survived, making babies, starting families, and going to the jobs they were best suited for or the ones they were stuck in.
"But yet forces would always be waiting, at the fringes, to control this new found freedom, because they believe they have the answer, they believe that they have the new solution to end our suffering, believing they should fill in the void left by legends, and that they have to force us all into it.
"But in so doing they would destroy the very things they seek to preserve."
The Citadel
Cameron Shepard got into his armor, picking out each piece carefully because he had almost forgotten how to put the stuff on.
It has been so long since I have had to wear this stuff he groused silently. Wish I never had to get back into it.
"Cameron, why would the Reaper be here? I thought you said you were able to take control of them?" Miranda Lawson asked behind him, reminding him exactly why he had to get back into this armor in the first place.
He thought about it for a second, "I don't know, but it's clearly pissed."
"There has to be some explanation for-"
"Which we can find out after we deal with the thing," He said turning to her.
"You mean you aren't going to?" She asked her eyes widening as it dawned on her what he was about to attempt.
He smiled ruefully moving over to her and holding her by the shoulders. "This thing came out of nowhere, it managed to get by the Citadel Fleet and land on the Citadel…without the Normandy here with Ashley on patrol out in the middle of nowhere I don't have much of a choice. Maybe I can at least buy time."
Miranda nodded slowly biting her lip, "Good luck Commander."
He nodded again before turning around and entering the airlock.
New Khar'shan-Tent City
Her legs pumped beneath her as she gave chase, sweat draining off her brow keeping up with her target.
I'm getting too old for this…why do I even bother I could be in some cushy office in Arcturus but I decided to go chase down a terrorist instead.
Captain Abigail Shepard frowned mid run as she continued to follow the Batarian she was chasing.
He was wanted by both the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony for plotting terrorist attack on both Governments in the wake of the war, and the Prime Minister wanted to bring him in personally so they could have a little chat.
A complete 180 from the previous administration she knew.
Though he was a threat, a threat to everything that she had started to build during the end of the war trying to start his own mercenary gang, his own terrorist cell, doing everything in his power to restore the criminal element while she was working on trying to keep civil society safe as it rebuilt. Planning and scheming a million ways to kill them, yes, he is a threat after all; just one I wish I didn't have to deal with.
Her thoughts snapped back to reality and the pulsing in her chest as the Batarian in front of her made a sharp left hand turn down a row of tents.
She grunted, and made to follow…but slipped on the ground and fell in a heap splaying herself straight out, her hair was caked with sand and mud, glaring up at her pray.
Taking her legs under her and launched her up to a standing position, tearing back off in pursuit.
It took only about a few seconds before another Batarian ran at her out of a side tent waving a pipe at her.
Ah crap, her left arm shot up and covered the man's arm waving the pipe as her other hand struck out at the man's chest, knocking him back into the dirt, dazed.
"Ah man Lola you need to be nice to the civilians we are trying to protect." Vega's voice chuckled in her ear com.
"Yeah, I know we're not supposed to engage but I'm not going to get my head caved in." She breathed into the comm unit hard.
The pause on the other end was very pregnant, "You sure you don't want help?"
"No, stay on them, complete your objective, get the rest of his cell, then you can swing around and get me if I need to."
"Roger that Captain." Vega replied clipped.
She reacquired her own objective looking around, reorienting herself as he was getting away.
She followed him as he jumped down a ledge onto a building, one of the only free standing buildings on the entire planet, she ran along the roof chasing him, breathing hard, as he dropped down.
Tearing off to the right she leapt off the building after the terrorist, and onto the only moving transportation 'train' on the entire planet, the system connecting all the tent cities together.
The Citadel-External hull
Cameron Shepard stood in his fully pressurized space suit on the external panels of the Citadel, the Reaper Destroyer standing off to the side, mounted to the Citadel, a Turian Cruiser looking down over the position on over watch.
Not that they can do anything about it with the Reaper attached to the hull, firing their main weapons could really do a lot of damage to any civilians in the area….no I have to buy time.
"Commander Shepard, we've got you on our sensors approaching the Reapers, our weapons are hot if you need the cover, we got the Reapers dead to rights." A Turian voice spoke in his ear.
He smirked behind his face mask. "I'm retried remember, you don't have to call me that."
"Understood Commander."
He smirked to himself, and began the long march to the Reaper.
It took him about twenty minutes; the Reaper just sat there, not doing anything at all. As if it's watching me, waiting for me. He was unsure of how close he should stand to the behemoth. This was the first time he had been near a Destroyer since Rannoch, and he was unsure of what it wanted. Does it want to vaporize me or does it want to talk? Why didn't it accept the shutdown command?
He glanced up at it wearily, the ship was now towering over his head, and its eye piece was out and looked to be swiveling in his direction.
"Shepard," It boomed, "You stand before me, in testament to the end of the cycle, the end of my kind."
He glanced up at it wearily, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up for some reason.
"What are you doing here? Why didn't you obey the shutdown command?" He asked.
"You slaughtered us, millions of us, the entire species. You bought an end to the cycle, your end. The Catalyst trusted you to be a new template, that you had defeated us time and again so maybe it was time for a new solution in the old one. Instead you used us and betrayed us to the Galactic wind; I was able to resist the impulse."
His neck got pricklier still, but he ignored it. "Are there any more of you?"
"I am the last."
Cameron breathed a sigh of relief but yet his neck would not return to its previous state.
"But here you stand, alone, trying to stop me. You will fail."
"Fail at what?" Cameron asked breathless.
His comlink crackled to life in his ear. "Cameron, he is trying to access the Citadel relay." Miranda spoke finally.
What? "What?" He asked the air.
"It looks like he is trying to activate the Citadel engines for something, could he be bringing more Reapers through? Something from Darkspace?"
"I doubt it," Cameron whispered quietly his mind racing at the list of possibilities, his eyes getting wider, "Oh my."
"Cam?" Miranda asked.
"If our mandate to preserve all life has ended and the Galaxy will race into building more synthetics that will rebel and wipe them out, then this is the only solution."
His mouth hung open, his mind continued to race leaping ahead of what the Reaper was saying and how to confirm it. "Miri, check the Citadel relay." He ordered.
After a minute, "Cameron…its building up an energy field though nothing is coming through. Wait…he isn't?"
"Detonate the relay network? Yeah I think he would feel that would be his only solution." Cameron confirmed.
The Reaper began to rumble above him, the weapon eye began to glow building up its own power, the particles racing and gathering quickly in the firing chamber. Cameron began to back up. The rumbling continued and got louder, it was oddly rhythmic, derisive.
Is it laughing at me?
The Reaper fired, the red blast of energy striking the Citadel hull less than five hundred meters from him. It began to arch over to him as the Citadel walls began to glow blue.
His surroundings crackled around him with a vibrant blue.
It raced towards him, he saw the Turian Cruiser open up with its main battery, and that was the last thing he saw as the wave hit him.
New Khar'shan- Transportation hub
Abigail Shepard raced along the top of the speeding car she was on, trying to walk at a stiff place but not lose her balance and topple over the side. The Batarian was in front of her, making only a slightly better time of it then she was.
A bridge almost swung across her and decapitated her causing her to flay out ducking below the thing. Glancing up she saw that the Batarian survived, and was looking back at her to see if she was alive.
She grunted getting her feet under her and a second wind going, she nearly leapt at the target, bringing her hand up to chop it across him.
He caught it and back handed her, she kicked out stepping on his foot and breaking his hand hold and launched herself at his chest. He absorbed it and countered by pushing back, nearly launching her off the edge.
She grabbed on with her hand and grunted, "Ow." She said.
The Batarian quickly reversed course and headed back down the train, more gingery then before, but still fast enough to make pursuit next to impossible.
Son of a Thresher Maw, he's not coming to finish me off. She growled.
"Lola?" James's voice broke in at her, she thought she could hear gunfire on the line.
"I'm fine James." She grunted again, still hanging over the side.
"OK…we're nearly secure over here and will be able to swing by to help if you need it."
"Thanks James." She cut the line with a thought and then scramed in frustrating, pushing herself up on the hurling train with one hand.
Dusting herself off she looked down the train, at the unsuspecting Batarian, he had to know he was still under threat but he had no idea she was still part of the equation.
She picked up her pace as it was before, if she was going to die here by toppling off the top of a train at least it would be for a good cause. Still she managed to pick her footing expertly, intuitively, being driven by a mandate. Then she noticed the train was slowly beginning to stop.
The Batarian picked up his pace, stopped, then launched himself over the side as the train pulled up on the terminal.
Abigail tensed, began to run along the train without it being fully stopped, scrunched up her legs and launched herself over the side of the train. Landing she absorbed the impact by rolling with the fall, grunting.
Which drew the attention of the crowd, and the Batarian she was supposed to be following.
He spun around and watched her, he scowled, then took off the way he was running darting through the crowd of unlookers. Abigail grinned ferally and tore off in pursuit, the Batarian onlookers also making their best way possible to get out of her way.
"Lola, we've secured our target and are making our way back to you." James Vega spoke in her ear.
"Roger that," She grunted not missing a beat.
But the sky flashed above her, causing her to look up as she ran, the sky was bathed in an odd bluish black, swirling and rushing together. The flash tore as if a peel of lightning arched through the air, leaving an object in its place, falling out of the sky.
Not an object…a man.
He fell quickly through the air, completely tossed about; his path looked like it was going to…oof! He fell onto her pinning her body beneath his, his left arm wrapped around hers and his head coming up to her neck, she gasped and gurgled from being choked.
Shepard craned her neck looking up along his body trying to see who her new assailant was. He was dressed in red and blue N7 armor complete with the breather helmet. His chest was rising and falling lightly, and she thought he heard him groan.
His body perfectly contoured to her own, or would have if they were lying directly on top of her, the same height, same build…well if I were a man. The rest of his features were hidden from her but it was…eerie.
Remembering the Batarian Terrorist suddenly she pushed the soldier off of her and twisted around.
"Uh," He grunted behind her.
Not bothering to check on him she took off after the Terrorist in question, moving to catch up with him since he was rapidly fading into the distance.
"Damn it." She swore, "James, get your butt over here and head him off!"
She didn't get a response, and she didn't need one, the Batarian glanced over his shoulder and smirked at her, figuring he was about to get away.
The Kodiak roared above him cresting the horizon and raced to cut him off, he looked at the thing and stopped dead in his tracks. Abby hurried to do her job to make sure he did not double back, closing the distance rapidly, giving it one final effort.
The hatch of the Kodiak popped open revealing James and his team of Special Forces standing behind him. And the Batarian probably noticed, as soon as Abby did, the deliberate placement of one of the fellow terrorists over in the corner, his hands bound and his mouth gagged.
Shepard was sneaking up behind him, drawing her Eagle and deploying it in her hand out of the holster. Finally the Batarian glanced back at her and smirked at her with a face full of spikey teeth.
"It seems you have me surrounded." He announced.
"So it would seem." Abby replied coming up to him, feeling suddenly haggard, and wondering how much of a mess her hair was currently.
"Well played, I see the human Alliance is being as meddlesome as ever."
"You have been threatening our outer colonies and legitimate supply interests in this region." Shepard replied, her hand tightening around the trigger. "Now surrender."
He laughed, "Your aid is an affront to our once proud people. The fact that they sent the butcher of Aratoht here to enforce their will is an even further affront." He took a step closer.
"I will shoot you if I have to…and you still holding a grudge?"
"Any true Batarian will always know you, always remember, and then swear vengeance against you and the rest of your arrogant species." He spit, hitting her boot.
She gestured with the Eagle.
"I…surrender." The Batarian said, glancing back and getting on his knees, interlocking his fingers behind him.
Abigail glanced at James and gave him a head signal, his team jumped off the hovering Kodiak and began to move up to him, James approached with cuffs out, Abby and the rest of the team covered the terrorist.
They put the cuffs on, dragged the Batarian to his feet, and dragged him off to the shuttle.
Well another successful mission…but…
She glanced back the way she came at the fallen human…that came out of the sky. And since humanity might not have been the most popular species at the moment…she started to march to go pick him up.
AN: In case you haven't figured it out that was Abigail Shepard doing her thing in the beginning.