Sure, there were many moments of war that really stood out for me... Most of them just incredibly close calls. But if you are gonna talk about those thought provoking, hope-giving moments, then I can't help but think of this one mission on that far away colony, god, I can't even remember the name now... but that's unimportant.
Anyways, I was in command my squad. Us and two others were tasked with providing security for the evacuation shuttles for the civis. You see: the reapers were already crawling around most of the planet so they had civilians in small pockets, hidden away until extraction. We were at some corps' storage hangar. Large place several warehouses and a shuttle hangar.
Our squads were spread out to protect the area. Mine was on the south side. Other two - north and east. What about the west you ask? Well that's where the shuttle bay exit was, right on top of this giant cliff. Long fall that one would be. Perfect for shuttle landing. And there weren't many of those either: just one for each squad and 5 for the civilians, we were supposed to take some with us if there wasn't enough room.
So, they load up the first shuttle. All nice and neat, packed full of some elderly folks and a few kids. The shuttle takes off but as soon as it leaves the hangar - 'BOOM!' Gets shot down and tumbles down into the pit. That's when they hit the north sector. Wiped out nearly all of the squad. So, I rally my marines back to the hangar. We arrive link up with what's left of the north and the east - those guys tried to take out the surface-air turrent those reaper troops set up on their side. Lost half the squad trying. One good thing about the whole situation - they can't get the shuttles while they are still in the hangar. Lucky us I guess.
I see this all going to shit and then this young corporal, from the east squad, Tiko, runs up to me and asks for orders! Turns out I was the highest-ranking officer left for all three squads! Must admit: got lost for a bit there... but got back into it pretty quickly. We had a bit of time while the reapers were covering the ground between us and them, so I get some guys to load up the rest of cives on the shuttles - ready to go whenever. Rest of them, I got to set up some improvised defences, bit further in front of the hangar - couldn't let them too close.
Right as we are about to be done that's when the husks and the cannibals start to pour in! At least we cleared up the ground in front of us making those defences, it was like some shooting range. No real cover for them. But they had numbers. We radio for support but all they say is the usual 'no one in your immediate vicinity', 'take out the gun or try to fly the shuttles out through a different route'. So, I reckon - what the hell! We aren't reaching that AA any time soon but, sure, we could use the cliffs for cover! So, we send off another shuttle. It goes low but eventually the cliff ends, you'd think it would be far away enough to be out of range... but 'BOOM!' - it goes down too!
At that moment, I realise - we are pinned! No way out, land or air! So, we try to radio again, I've got civilians dying right on my hands, goddamn it! No answer. Just static. We keep trying for about another 20 minutes. The uglies don't let up, keep piling on! North squad is wiped out; East is just one person, corporal Tiko; And mine is down by half. That's six guns in total, including me! While we still have 3 shuttles full of civilians, kids and women, behind us.
Then, the radio breaks the static and I hear what, I think, anyone in this war heard too little of: "You've got allied assistance incoming! Hang tight!". 'Bout a minute passes, husks crawling at us from all direction, when I see something in the sky. But it's not an alliance shuttle, or a merc shuttle or any other alien shuttle, it's a goddamn Geth dropship! It freezes right on top of our position. I am thinking - if the Geth are with the reapers, then we are totally screwed! Next thing I know: about ten Geth and a friggin' Geth armature land in front of us. Then this large red Geth Prime lands right behind our barricade. We all turn to face it. It unfolds but I hold my fire: it's unfolding in some weird position - it's hands are raised. Tiko, high on adrenaline, I guess, lets out a three-shooter at it - bounces right off the shield! It stands up and proclaims in it's deep Geth-prime-machine voice:
"Allied assistance has arrived,"
Meanwhile it's 'comrades' over the barricade start blasting the reapers back to hell!
Ten minutes later, the Geth are advancing onto that turrent. Five more and we see a giant fucki.. ahem! Excuse my language, my feelings get the better of me when I think back to those days. Anyways, where was I? Oh right! We see a giant fireball in the place of turrent, behind some warehouse building due east. They sure made short work of those cannibals but they did loose a few troops too.
I think I t's this kind of moments that really won the war for us, the little glimpses of hope and tiny victories. Maybe meaningless in strategic sense but sure as hell inspiring ones at that. Who'd think we fight alongside Geth!
Just for closure: got the civilian shuttles out of there immediately, the armature was picked up by the dropship and the rest helped us fly the north squad's shuttle back to base. The prime flew with us though. Me being the curious brainy type I was back then, I ask what are they gonna do with the Geth bodies, they took all of their dead with them. The Prime turns that red flashlight-camera thingy to me and says:
"We are going to archive the memory core and salvage the rest,"
"What do you mean archive?"
"That is the new Geth equivalent of organics' graveyard,"
"Graveyard? Aren't you all just a bunch of software that never dies?"
"Not anymore, we are each a fully sentient AIs now,"
Still don't know how Commander Shepard managed to pull this off but one thing is for sure, I, Alliance marines and the civilians that were with me there that day, are sure glad that they managed it!