IV: Holocaust

by RedCenturionG

The Reapers are here, and the war has finally begun. All sentient life in the galaxy is depending on Shepard to save them. And he will have to assemble the largest military force in galactic history to save those he loves. He will make alliances with people he hates, but will create new coalitions thought never possible. This is the Holocaust. And how far will he go to stop it?

3. Chapter 2 Archives of Hope

HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER TWO:

ARCHIVES OF HOPE

June 2, 2186

1218 hours.

Shuttle Bay, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, Passing Luna.

The Reaper War, Fall of Earth.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Major Kaidan Alenko, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling.

His footsteps seemed to echo through the bay as he left the bay door's side, moving towards what looked to be some kind of...armoury? Actually, he decided to stop for a moment, and took a good long look around the shuttle bay. The lighting was considerably darker than he remembered, and the vent ducts that lined the bottom deck were now missing, replaced with smooth deck plating.

The area where the second kodiak shuttle used to be was now replaced with a massive storage of hap-hazardly placed crates, and in the middle of all that was a makeshift armoury; a bench with a light placed over it, a disassembled N7 Crusader shotgun ontop of its surface. Behind it was three storage lockers, along with five more further back, likely holding the ship's weapons. Above that was a metal bar stretching across, likely for pull-ups.

Before the elevator was the usual console setup, but Marcus could now see a locker for armor on the right steel support strut, and the entire interface seemed to have more consoles this time, where a dark-skinned man in alliance standards was typing; a man he didn't recognize. To his left was a long launch-pad, like a runway that was railed off, and sitting at the end, on the elevator side of the bay, was a brand-new kodiak shuttle, colored Alliance blue and white, but with a darker finish and sitting above it, a single replacement suspended on a metal cable. But this design looked different to stand kodiaks; this one had two, front-mounted cannons, and the hatch appeared to have a lower, segmented section, and overall, it looked larger than its original counterpart. Same was said for the one above it.

Overall, the bay looked largely unfinished; likely the retrofit hadn't been completed, and they had to leave it like that during their haste to escape the shipyard. A few lights were even flickering on the ceiling.

His observation of the bay was abruptly interrupted as he was brought back to the present, James suddenly in his face, tossing his helmet to the ground and his face contorted in rage, "Where the hell are we going!? We can't leave! That is our bloody homeworld down there! We can't just leave them to die! I was born on Earth! That's my home."

Marcus sighed, pushing past James with relative ease and making his way over to the man operating the console near the shuttle, "Anderson and I both know what has to be done. The only way to save Earth now is to leave it. Gather help."

"That's bullshit!" James exclaimed, and he could hear footsteps behind him as James pursued him across the bay. Kaidan and Keeling now joined the man, and Kaidan seemed to be talking to him, "Thouands are dying down there! Are we seriously going to just leave them down there? Take us back down there! Take us back to Earth!"

He had enough, spinning to face James, his face also contorted in irritation, "And do what, genius? Throw pebbles at them? Because that might as well be what we're doing! It took three fleets to fight them. And they got annihilated! Three. Tell me James, just what do you think we can do?"

James seemed lost for words, but quickly regained his composure, poking a finger in his chest, "You're a damn hero! You could at least help evacuate! But this is what you do? Piss off, leave Anderson behind, and leave everyone to die? That isn't the Commander Shepard I know."

More hero worship. For fuck sake, "For starters, its Captain Shepard now," he moved forward, grabbing James by the color and lifting him up into the air with ease, despite the heavy armor the marine wore, "And you need to take a big fucking look around you, because this isn't a game anymore. Heroics won't win this war; quick decisions will. I can't afford to play the good guy in this, and neither can you. This is war; there are no rules. I will do anything to win, even if that means sacrificing Earth to stop these bastards," by the time he was finished, he was silently fuming. I will not tolerate this hero worship anymore. We fight or we die. There is no other option.

James looked down at him with wide eyes, "But its my home..."

"You think losing your home is bad? Try losing your entire family. My mother was a captain on the Orizaba in the Fourth Fleet. Her body is probably floating through space now," he growled, "We've all lost something, on Earth or over it, but we'll be losing alot more before this war is over. Its only going to get worse; and you either get with the program, or you die. This isn't a democracy anymore; if you want to go back to Earth, fine, but you'll be taking a shuttle from the Citadel, because the Normandy isn't going back. Now control yourself."

He relieved his grip on the soldier, dropping him on his feet. James recovered himself, before taking a step back, waving a dismissive hand, and growling loudly, before kicking a crate in his way aside and moving towards the armoury. Marcus was barely fazed by the outburst, and merely headed over to Kaidan and the man at the console.

The man immediately snapped a firm salute, his entire posture straightening like a taught bow, "Comma-Captain...sir."

As Marcus returned the salute, he allowed himself to observe the alliance officer. The man wore a standard issue alliance officer uniform, the bars of a Lieutenant in the Alliance Navy pinned on his left breast. His eyes landed on his face next. His skin was a deep coffee brown, much like Jacob's, but his eyes were more narrowed, his nose slightly smaller, and his jaw less firm. His ears poked out slightly, and he had smooth cheeks until you reached the area around his mouth, where medium stubble poked out. He had thin eyebrows, and just enough black hair to keep from being bald. And his eyes shone bright blue.

"At ease, Lieutenant," Marcus replied, dropping his own salute as the other man did. Judging by the man's accent, he was American, "What's your name, trooper?"

The man laughed, shaking his head, "No trooper, sir. I'm a pilot. By the looks of it now...your pilot," he shuffled, nodding as he continued, "As for the name, I am Lieutenant Steve Cortez, Alliance Navy."

"Welcome to the Normandy Cortez," Marcus greeted, holding out his hand, to which Cortez hesitantly looked at it before accepting, shaking his captain's hand before retracting, "Guess I now have three new members to my crew."

"Four, actually," Kaidan piped up, jabbing a thumb at the elevator, "You haven't met Comms Specialist Traynor. Although, all of this is rather unexpected, actually."

"How so?" Marcus quizzed.

Cortez decided to fill in, shrugging his shoulders as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, we weren't actually meant to be part of your crew at all. Myself, Traynor and everyone else were all here for the retrofits only. Traynor was assigned here due to her tech skills, and was meant to pull apart and analyze that quantum entanglement communicator Cerberus gave you. Me? I'm the pilot. I just used my shuttle to ferry supplies from the port to the ship. That's all. My assignment here wasn't meant to be permanent."

Marcus grinned, "Trust me, alot of us never 'intended' to stay...yet here we are," he lost his grin as it grew though, "The reasons for it however are...quite different this time."

Cortez waved a dismissive hand, "Its like you said; Earth is only the beginning. The galaxy will soon be flooding with those bastards. I heard the reports about those Reapers. Shocking stuff. I'm just happy I pilot shuttles."

Marcus raised an eyebrow, an idea popping into his mind, "You got any experience in combat zones? Extraction? Insertion?"

Cortez grinned toothily, "Sure do. That's why I signed up. Used to pilot the old F-61 Trident interceptors back during my posting on the SSV Hawking. They're alot faster than kodiak shuttles, but I can definitely manage them. You want a pilot, you choose me."

"And you're chosen," he nodded, patting the man on the shoulder, "Now you get to put up with our shit," he motioned between him and Kaidan, the latter chuckling. As they all turned, they saw James sitting in the corner, his armor stripped off and lying all over the bay floor, and he seemed to be brooding, looking blankly at the floor. Marcus could feel his pain, and understood it.

"Leaving Earth to save it," Kaidan muttered, coming to stand by his side, the captain turning to face the biotic sentinel as he shook his head lightly, "It couldn't have been an easy decision to make."

"The best decisions are never easy," Marcus replied, and Kaidan merely looked at him as he went on, "Its making them count that makes it all worth it," he met Kaidan's eyes, "We'll come back Kaidan. We'll return to Earth, and save it. With the biggest armada in history. We'll make the Reapers shit themselves, that I can promise."

"How?" Keeling spoke for the first time since the ordeal, and both of them turned to the N7 who stood there, weapon holstered and helmet still on as she spoke, "You can't just slam a force like that together. It takes alliances, treaties, brotherhoods. You make friends, you make enemies, you piss people off, hug a few more, and then threaten some. It isn't something you assemble in a month. It takes time."

"Then we'll make time," Marcus stated, "And we'll start with the Council," he turned back to Kaidan, dropping his cold facade for but a moment as he eyed the elevator with disdain before turning back to Kaidan, "So, give me the damage report, Alenko. I've seen the Shuttle Bay, and I'm not impressed. How much of the ship has the Alliance changed?"

Kaidan smirked, liking the hint of annoyance in Marcus' tone. He couldn't say he didn't feel it as well, but to be honest, what did he expect under the Alliance whip? "Surprisingly little, actually. They may have planned to change more, but they never got around to it. Traynor can give you the full tour, but I'll just sum it up for you. Engineering is completely unchanged, and is the maintenance area below where Jack used to hide. The Garbage Disposal Area's been removed though, and its been replaced with 'VIP quarters' as the crew call them. Its a clean room; what for, I haven't a clue."

Marcus groaned, "Continue."

Kaidan resisted the urge to laugh, "The Cargo Port where Grunt used to hang out got cleaned out, and I guess its just a storage area now. They tossed out his tank, and some other changes may have happened, but I didn't bother to look. As for the Crew Deck; alot worse, I'm afraid. For god know's what reason, they added a poker table in the Lounge where Kasumi hung out, they left the crew's quarters and Life Support alone, as is the same with Port Observation. The XO's quarters have been cleaned out and they never got to change it, the AI Core and Medical Bay have been left untouched, and a few consoles were added to the Gunnery Control, and it was extended slightly."

"Garrus will have a field day with that setup," Marcus declared, grinning, but Kaidan could see the sense of sadness that eminated from mentioning the absent turian, "Keep going."

"The biggest changes were to the CIC deck. A door has been added to the cockpit, and the Tech Lab has been switched from its original location to the armoury's original location, which in turn has been moved to the Shuttle Bay."

"I've noticed," the captain deadpanned, glancing at the 'armoury' that James currently sat in, "Looks considerably smaller now, too. But I understand the change. Never understood why Cerberus thought it a great way to store all their weapons on the command deck."

"Exactly," Kaidan replied, before continuing, "Traynor's made her home at Kelly's old terminal, and a...don't ask me why, but remember that pointless, empty box inbetween the CIC and the old Tech Lab's location?"

"Yeah..." Marcus trailed off, not liking where this was going.

"Well, they decided to fill it," Kaidan replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "Added a security checkpoint. Two officers currently man it, Privates Bethany Westmoreland and Sarah Campbell, and its just a metal detector field. Pointless thing, but I guess it makes sense. As for the Tech Lab, in addition to moving it to the Armoury's original position, its been replaced by a 'debriefing' room. They basically removed the old Conference Room, but kept the table, using it for that room, and surrounding it with glass. The corridor between the Armoury and Tech Lab has been filled with four bulkheads, and a War Room was added, that is accessed through the debriefing room. The Quantum Entanglement Communicator was removed, but we added a new Alliance-built one. Not quite as advanced as Cerberus', but it serves its function. As for your cabin, they've literally done nothing to it. The airlock you installed for Tali is untouched, and the cabin itself has had no changes made to it. Noone's even set foot on that deck. Literally."

Marcus nodded. Good. I'd have killed the asshole who removed that airlock. Noone touches my home. Our home. Thinking of Tali wasn't as painful anymore, especially since he could not only contact, but now visit, her now. He made a move towards the elevator, but was stopped as he heard EDI's voice over his intercom, "Captain, it is good to see you again."

"EDI," he smiled warmly, "Its good to hear another friendly voice. Been looking after Joker?"

"Jeff is fine. He has been keeping me safe, and he says I've done quite well; acting as a VI," the AI responded, and he swore he heard a smile in her voice, "It is good to be under your command again. Being surrounded by alliance personnel, especially nosey ones trying to access my core, has been...quite interesting."

He chuckled, "Its okay, EDI. Noone will get into your core, I know that much."

"Thank you Shepard," she replied, before speaking again, "We have just received an emergency call from the SSV McKinley near Neptune. Fleet Admiral Hackett has taken what was left of the Earth Defense Fleet and is making leeway for the Sol Relay. He has ordered an official quarantine and evacuation of all Alliance personnel from the system, a complete trade embargo, and is attempting to contact your omni-tool directly."

Marcus seemed to immediately stop in his tracks, and he whorled in an instant, his eyes meeting Kaidan's, "Wait, you're saying the communication is coming from the McKinley? Hackett's alive?" And maybe my mother too...

EDI's reply was instantaneous, "Yes, although the extent of damage done to his fleet is currently unknown. Aside from that, Admiral Hackett did survive the invasion of Earth, and is currently in orbit of Neptune."

He nodded, bringing up his omni-tool, "Put him through EDI."

The AI did so without verbal reply, and he watched as his omni-tool sprang to life around his wrist, and Fleet Admiral Steven Hackett's face appeared on screen, his face just as old and grissled as it was before his arrest. The man seemed to be sitting in his command chair on the McKinley's bridge, and he could see that it was a flurry of activity.

Hackett replied instantly, sighing with relief, "You're a sight for sore eyes, Shepard. When I heard the reports from Earth, I thought you were dead for sure. Is Anderson with you? What about Admiral Garrong? Have you heard from him?"

Marcus gulped, looking at Hackett sadly, "Anderson stayed behind sir; they need a leader, he said, and that leader is him apparently. As for Garrong...Admiral sir, Garrong's dead. I watched him die. Harbinger killed him and the entire Vancouver Defense Committee right before my eyes."

Hackett looked at the ground for a second, before shaking his head, and looking back up, "Based on the line of succession, with Garrong dead, command of the Alliance Navy goes to the one closest to promotion...which just happens to be me. I'm Fleet Admiral of the Navy now," he slammed a clenched fist into the control interface on his chair, meeting Marcus' eyes, "Always knew I'd be promoted someday, but I never knew it would happen like this."

"None of us did," the captain replied, "Anderson has reinstated me, and I've been promoted to Captain. Is there a particular area where the Normandy can regroup with what's left of our ships?"

"Promoted? Can't say you haven't earned it. And right now, we need all the able-bodied officers we can get," Hackett muttered, nodding as he tapped a few controls on his interface, "Yes. We'll be regrouping with the rest of the fleets in the Andura System; then we'll take it from there. Netanyahu and Singh's fleets took a beating, but so far they, and their dreadnoughts, are intact. Teoh and Nakamura's fleets were totally ignored, so they haven't taken a beating whatsoever, and from what I've heard, Ward's fleet is currently engaging a Reaper scouting force in the Artemis Tau Cluster. He's taking a beating, and he's going to try to reconsolidate his forces over Ontarom before he tries to regroup with us. As for my fleet, Arefyev's and Drescher's..."

Marcus gulped, dreading this moment, "What's the damage Admiral?"

"My fleet took one hell of a beating, and I think the McKinley lost its port engine from a grazing shot," he rubbed his temple, shaking his head, "The other fleets weren't so lucky. Arefyev had to sacrifice half of her ships just to provide us a line of retreat, but it wasn't long before they fell apart. Drescher...she stayed behind to give us time to escape."

"Wait, are you telling me that...?"

Hackett nodded solemnly, eyes closing, "Afraid I am, Captain. The Second Fleet is gone. Nothing left of it. Drescher even took her flagship, the SSV Shasta, and lead the way. I watched it unfold Shepard. The Shasta was blown to pieces, but the fleet stood their ground. But their gone Shepard. Not a ship left, or fighter. No escape pods, nothing. Drescher's dead, along with her flagship."

Marcus mentally cursed the Reapers in his mind. An entire fleet just wiped out. I never liked Drescher, but damn it...that's two admirals dead, along with an entire fleet. I hope the news gets better, "What...what about Arefyev's flagship? The Orizaba? Is my mother still alive?" He hoped upon all that she was.

Hackett nodded, a small smile on his lips, "That, I can say, is the first piece of good news. Arefyev survived, and the Orizaba got out almost completely unscatched. Half of her Fourth Fleet is gone, but her ship survived. As for the Orizaba's captain; she's alive and well; rest easy on that, captain."

Marcus nodded, "Thank you sir." There might be hope for this war yet. Shaking his head, both of their faces became solemn again as the former commander spoke, "Just how bad was it, Hackett? I saw the attack on Earth, but I wasn't there during the fleet engagement."

Hackett inhaled through his nose, giving a mirthless chuckle as he scratched the bridge of his nose, "Just as you said it would be, Shepard. I know my fleet fought Sovereign head on three years ago, but that was just one Reaper. When hundreds of those bastards came pouring through the relay...we sustained heavy losses, as you already know. Our orbital guns around Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune...systematically obliteratered. Strangely, they seemed to leave Mars well enough alone, and their shipyards and ground facilities have been left unmolested as of yet, but I doubt it'll stay like that for long. Our fleet engaged them over Earth, but even with the orbital gun platforms to aid us, it didn't do much. We didn't get a single kill, Shepard, not one. They blew through us, destroyed the orbital guns, and then made straight for Earth. They were dropping globally in seconds."

"What about Jump Zero?" Marcus asked, confused as to the status of the large space station that Kaidan had grown up on, "And Luna Base? What happened to them?"

Hackett shrugged, "We know that three of the ones we're calling 'Destroyers,' that's the small, crab-like walkers, deployed onto Luna and completely destroyed our launch facilities and bases down there, so our Hannibal-VI combat suites couldn't help us. As for Jump Zero...last we checked, the Reapers had taken the station, but we never actually saw what they did with it. Its safe to assume they destroyed it, along with Arcturus Station. The enemy force was just overwhelming, Shepard. Never, in all of human history, have we encountered an enemy so merciless. So fearless. So...unbeatable."

Oh, but they can be beaten. Sovereign was beaten. The Human-Reaper was beaten. I watched Desolation and Primal get vaporized by the Alpha Relay explosion. Four Reapers have died...they can be beaten. It just takes every bloody weapon in the galaxy to do it.

"There's no way we can defeat them conventionally," Hackett surmised, breaking Marcus from his reverie, "It'll take a damn miracle to help us out of this one. And with Earth fallen, the Parliament dead, most of our space in Reaper-occupied territory...the Alliance is a battered shell, Shepard. The Council is the only form of government we have left now. We've lost a fleet, and the rest are battered remnants. Its chaos. People will lose hope. Some might even believe this is humanity's extinction event...and who can blame them?"

Oh, its our extinction event alright. But I'm going to stop it. Marcus nodded, shaking his head, "As much as I am loathe to admit it, Anderson was right sending us to the Citadel. He wants me to speak with the Council, try and rally support from the turians, asari and salarians. If we get them onboard, we have the foundation for our military counterattack. They can't deny the Reapers exist anymore; not with two whole governments having fallen in six hours."

"Agreed," Hackett declared, before leaning forward, hands clasped in his lap, "Anderson has the right idea...but you can't leave the Sol System yet. I've just received mission critical intel...I ignored it at first, but after reading over it, this could be seriously important to any further war effort. This mission is a priority one, and with you reinstated in the Alliance Navy, that puts you under my command."

Marcus gritted his teeth, not liking the fact that he now had to take orders. I make my own orders. This is my war, and you're all my pawns. But if this is priority one, it must be important...

"What is it, Hackett?" He asked, with alittle bit of annoyance creeping into his tone.

The admiral spoke and provided without fail, "Before you leave Sol, I need you to head to the Prothean Archives on Mars."

His eyes widened and his brow raised, "What the hell do we hope to find there? No disrespect sir, but a bunch of data isn't going to make Reapers drop from the sky."

Hackett shook his head, "We've got to stop thinking guns here, Shepard. We've got to start thinking ideas. Data might just be the thing we need to stop the Reapers. Before Arcturus fell, we learnt that the scientists at the Archives had discovered something located deep in the ground. Shepard, they discovered another beacon, but this one was more advanced. They called it a Library. Its a treasure trove of information, and they were coming to close to discovering something referring to a 'super weapon' before we lost contact."

The words 'super weapon' peaked his interest enough for him to take this seriously, "I'll have my pilot plot a course for the Mars Archives immediately."

Hackett nodded, "Just be careful, Shepard. We lost contact with the facility, but the strange thing is, it was long before the Reapers even arrived in system."

He narrowed his eyes, "So if isn't the Reapers, then who is it?"

He sighed, "I don't know, Shepard. That's up to you to find out. I'll contact you when we've consolidated our forces in Andura. Once that's done, you can link up with us. I've decided our best option is to head to the Citadel; mold our forces with the Citadel fleet and resupply, hopefully get some repairs. With most of our shipyards taken or destroyed by the Reapers, it seems we have no choice but to seek outside help. And while you're getting help from the Council, maybe you can find out how the other races are reacting to this. See their stance on it."

And locate the Migrant Fleet. Find Tali. Go to Rannoch. Make peace with the geth. Getting those two working together will create an alliance more powerful than all the Citadel races combined. Marcus nodded his agreement, "We'll see each other then, Admiral. Shepard out," with that, he cut the connection, deactivating his omni-tool as he looked up to meet Kaidan's eyes. He gave a brief nod before addressing Joker, knowing EDI was listening.

"Set a course for the Mars Archives, Joker. Best speed. I want this over with before the Reapers completely seal off the system," he ordered.

Joker's response was quick and to the point, "Copy that...captain. EDI says we'll be there in ten to fifteen minutes. I'd be putting on my costumes and getting ready to dance if I were you."

He snarkily replied, "Thank you Joker," he turned to Kaidan, motioning to the armor locker, "Let me guess...they got rid of my Terminus Armor? Replaced it with the standard issue?"

Kaidan squared his shoulders, grinning, "Sorry, Captain. Alliance regs are a bitch, unfortunately."

Alliance regs changed my ship color, and turned my vessel into a stereotypical horror house. Any darker and I might trip over myself. He shook his head, quickly moving over to the locker and keying it open to retrieve his gear.

"I just hope they have good weapons."

{Loading...}

June 2, 2186

1240 hours.

Troop Compartment, UT-47A Kodiak Combat/Stealth Shuttle, Inbound for Systems Alliance Prothean Archives, Mars.

The Reaper War.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Major Kaidan Alenko, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling.

"I hate these weapons."

The chatter in the shuttle had been constant as they had left the Normandy and headed for Mars surface, locking onto the Mars Archives. They all stood their with full armor, with James in the co-pilot's seat, and Cortez in the pilot's. When Marcus had seen the armor he was to wear, he had cringed; it was light, covered head-to-toe in Alliance blue and white, and the shoulderpads seemed huge for its body. The breather helmet he wore didn't make up for it, and he already missed his Terminus armor, especially when he saw the kinetic barriers on it and how weak they were.

The weapons he was provided weren't much better. He preferred assault rifles and shotguns, but had gotten a liking for SMGs ever since their introduction, and gotten used to using them. He had loved his geth pulse rifle, claymore heavy shotgun, and Locust SMG, especially the latter due to it being a replica of the one that killed two Presidents many decades ago, stolen from Donovan Hock's treasure vault. Kasumi had the real idea, thank god; if he had it, the Alliance would have confiscated that instead.

So far, all he liked was his new SMG and shotgun, his SMG being an N7 Hurricane, and his shotgun a N7 Piranha. Aside from that, the lackluster M-8 Avenger Assault Rifle stood pretty far out from his better weapons. Why would they give me two N7 weapons, then just dump this piece of shit AR on me? The N7 Piranha was by far his most impressive weapon. Built to resemble a grenade launcher, the Piranha sacrificed severe damage for rapid-fire capability, and wide pallet spread, making it one of the most effective shotguns out there.

But that didn't mean he loved any of them. He still preferred the Claymore, and he still preferred the Locust. Simple as that. Maybe I'll get them back.

He shifted in his unbelievably light armor; simply listening as Kaidan chuckled, Keeling cleared her throat, and James and Cortez remained silent as ever. Marcus merely shot Kaidan a glare before tightening the straps on his shoulders, and looking around the cabin. The cabin was definitely larger than the ones in the old kodiaks, had better lighting, more seats and a tiny vidscreen to the side for briefings. Cracking his neck, he turned to look at the back of Cortez's skull, speaking through his helmet, "I've never seen this type of kodiak before, Cortez. What's up with the design?"

"A new design," Cortez stated a matter-of-factly, sounding excited to explain more about his beloved shuttle, "The UT-47A kodiak, not the UT-47. This is a new alliance design, with some help from engineers in the Salarian Union in a joint project; kinda like the joint Alliance-Hierarchy project with the Normandy-Class Stealth Frigates. This shuttle has better engines, tow forward facing cannons for light combat and defense, bigger troop space, and is overall a dropship. Its one new feature though is the compacted stealth drive it uses. Its a smaller version of the one used by the Normandy-Class."

He raised an eyebrow behind his helmet, "Wait, you're saying this shuttle is stealth capable? Noone can see us unless they look out a window?"

Cortez nodded, smiling, "Its currently active right now. Alliance won't know we've landed until we're already there."

Marcus sighed, turning away as Kaidan spoke, "This still doesn't make any sense. Hackett already said the Reapers weren't in system when the Archives dropped out of contact. Who could be attacking this facility? Only explanation I can see is the facility deliberately cutting all contact, but why would they do that? It makes no sense, none of this."

Cerberus couldn't be involved; the Illusive Man has nothing to gain by attacking the Archives. So someone else has to be behind this. He shrugged non-chatantly, "We won't know until we land. Maybe they did sever contact, but whatever the reason, it can't be good. Just be ready. It could be terrorists...or an advance force of Reapers."

Kaidan exhaled, nodding gently as James called out from the cabin, "We'll be landing in one minute. Got to make this quick though; sandstorm's moving in."

He saw Keeling move from her steel pose, ceasing the tune she had been whistling as she stood up, grabbing her weapon, "I've encountered those sandstorms before during my time here. Definitely not pretty, and you don't want to be caught in them. If they're close enough to see, we'll have roughly forty minutes before it arrives." A beep, followed by a mechanical whir, was heard as her battle rifle, an N7 Valkyrie, folded out into her hands, Keeling moving towards the hatch. Another difference with this shuttle compared to the original is, unlike the original, instead of flipping open, this hatch had two sections; a lower portion, and the upper, which was bigger. When the hatch opened, the lower portion slid to the left, while the upper portion slid upwards. A pointless design change, but a design change nonetheless.

Keeling spoke again, her voice pure steel, "We'll also want to make sure we leave before the storm hits, which gives a mission window of twenty minutes, tops. Once it hits, we'll have alot of problems keeping up comms with the Normandy. And the shuttle. Interferes with the electrical transmissions."

"Maybe a sandstorm is why their comms dropped?" James piped, and everyone turned to see him walking into the cabin, heavy armor back on and helmet fitting over his large head, clicking into place with a hiss of air, "Could be why we're here. We could be charging into the Archives, weaponized, only to find the place to be fine."

Marcus shook his head, "I may be a soldier, but I know how sandstorms work. They're periodic, not constant. If a sandstorm is the cause of this blackout, then why is this one hitting so quickly? They appear annually, not daily."

"Precisely," Keeling complimented, clearly smiling, "Didn't know you knew alot about sandstorms, sir."

He grinned back, noticing the swift change in her tone, "I don't. That's basic knowledge."

"Hey, I'm just the marine," James quipped, letting his Revenant fold out into his hands, "I just shoot shit, and then ask questions about them later."

"We're approaching the drop zone," Cortez declared, turning to face them in his seat, "I'm going to drop just outside the main entrance. I've tried raising comms with the facility, but everything seems to be dead. I don't even see people outside; usually there would be maintenance teams outside doing clean up. There's just nothing."

Captain Shepard nodded sharply before moving to the front of the group, begrudgingly folding out his assault rifle and waiting for the hatch to open as Keeling, Kaidan and James fell in behind him. He smiled mentally. I've gone from the most multi-species squad in living history to straight humans in six months. I hope they're alright.

Before he could query his mind for further thoughts, the hatch slid apart, revealing the dusty, wasteland-like surface of Mars. Big rocks made up most of the surface, but overall the planet had the same, dull, yellow/golden sands all around, with dust and dirt kicking up from the ground as winds from the sandstorm reached them, but they were pretty light at the present moment. He could see the form of the Archives towering over the rocks; a large dome structure that covered kilometers of territory, with the actual Prothean Archives dig site on the other side. Along with the Prothean Library they dug up.

When they hovered roughly a meter off the ground, Marcus leapt off, landing with a grunt on the ground. He moved into a roll, and immediately came into a crouch, his assault rifle raised and scanning the terrain. No enemies presented themselves and he slowly came to his feet, and jogged forward, one hand raised in the air, motioning to his squad to deploy. Not long after, the rest of his squad deployed, and he watched Cortez guide the shuttle away and back into a safe position, "This is Lieutenant Cortez, going on station until you need me, captain."

"Copy that Cortez. Stay clear unless we need air support. Shepard out," cutting his comms, he set up a link between him and his squad before testing it, watching three green indicators pop up in the bottom left of his HUD to say they were connected, "Keeling, you're with me. James, Kaidan, keep the rear."

The sound of three copies followed, and he began to jog forward through the oxygenless atmosphere of Mars, his feet making prints in the soft dirt as he rushed past. All was silent as they reached a incline where they could slide down below, a metal ladder built into the wall leading up to them. He moved to holster his rifle when he heard James exclaim in hispanic, and they all turned right to see the gigantic wall of sand moving towards them.

It was like one gigantic plume of yellow smoke moving towards them, stretching out across the horizon and brissling with sand and dirt and smoke. Blue flashes inside it signalled an electrical storm, only adding to the intensity of its destruction, "Don't want to be caught in that. Let's get inside before it hits," Marcus ordered, and he slid down the ladder.

He had hit the bottom and was turning around, moving to unholster his rifle again when he saw the three dead Alliance marines lying on the ground. He immediately dropped into a crouch, scanning the area to the right, but he saw no hostiles, only sounds...shouting! He heard shouting!"

He commed his squad as they came down, "Take positions. Confirmed enemy presence."

As they took positions behind nearby rocks, Keeling checked the dead bodies, apparently adept at investigation, "Gunnery Sergeant George Reece, with Corporal Victoria Ayelt and Lance Corporal Peter Fault. They seemed to have been gunned down; due to the wounds, I'd say they were hit while moving for their weapons, and the erraticness of their wounds are consistent with automatic weapons fire; likely an assault rifle or SMG."

He turned to his group, "Could be Reapers. The Cannibals, the batarian husks, on Earth, they had automatic weapons grafted into their arms. But the reports also said they devoured dead bodies to add armor plating to their bodies; these bodies are unmolested. Something isn't right," he nodded to them, pointing to the corner that wrapped around to the left again, and towards the base main entrance, "We move forward, try to find out what we're dealing with here. I have a sense its not Reapers."

Move forward they did, and when they reached the corner, they quickly found out what the cries and shouts were about.

Two Grizzly tanks and a Mako were parked on the left, all looking to be in a convoy formation. But it was the five alliance marines lined up on their knees, hands behind their heads that took them by surprise. And behind them was a soldier in bulky looking white and gold armor, mattock rifle in hand, moving along them shouting, whilst being surrounded by soldiers in similiar colored armor, albeit alot lighter. If the color didn't confirm it, the insignia on their shoulderpads and chestplate did. A golden hexagon.

Cerberus. Now we know why this facility fell silent. But what the hell could the Illusive Man possibly want from the Archives? And why is he attacking the Alliance? He should be helping us fight the Reapers! He also didn't recognize the armor the soldiers were wearing, those don't look like the standard commando; they look heavily armed and armoured. Did they get an upgrade in the past six months? And does those vehicles have a Cerberus insignia on it? A quick look confirmed it, shit.

"Cerberus," Kaidan hissed beside him, "I can't believe it. I thought the Illusive Man was supposed to help us stop the Reapers. Now he's attacking Mars while Earth is occupied by Harbinger and his bloody fleet."

He motioned to the rocky area to the right, "Take James and flank to the right; me and Keeling will flank left. Take these bastards out, then we'll find out why the hell Cerberus is here and why they're attacking us."

Kaidan nodded and then commed James over the radio, ordering him to his position. Meanwhile, Marcus went prone and crawled over to Keeling's position, the two N7s assuming a firing line with the bulky looking soldier, lining up shots with their rifles, "I hope you're as good a shot as people say you are," Keeling muttered.

"Show me how good you can be N7," Marcus teased back, "We'll see who takes him down first."

"Be my guest," she shot back, before adding a moment later, "Sir."

Once Kaidan and James were in position, the group opened fire. Shots cut through the air and slammed into the kinetic barriers of the leader, and he shouted out in surprise, moving to raise his mattock before more shots slammed into him, downing his shield in seconds, before the gunfire ripped his armor asunder, followed by a shot to the head blowing his brains out onto the ground as his body body slumped to the ground dead, the troopers around him dispersing to defense positions, gunning down the marines on their knees before doing so. Marcus shouted in anger at the action. Bloody bastards.

A carnage shot shot out from behind one of the rocks, which impacted a retreating trooper, opening a large hole in his chest and throwing him off a ledge and fifty feet to his death. The shot was followed by a maelstrom of light machine gun fire, which tore into two more soldiers. Kaidan quickly appeared, a burst of biotic fire flying out from the man's palm, followed by the impact enveloping its victim in purple tangles of light, the soldier screaming as he fell backwards as the matter tore him apart at the atomic level.

Reaching into her bandolier, Keeling unhooked two frag grenades and tossed them over to the enemy ahead, before she got up from her prone position and pushed forward in a crouch, her Valkyrie barking shot after shot after shot at her enemies as the two grenades detonated, shrapnel blowing in all directions, killing four more troopers. As she moved through the smoke, her shields flashed, the enemy managing to consolidate their firepower enough to fire at her, but it was too late by that point.

He got into position to bolster her, summoning his biotics and unleashing assault after assault at the enemy and keeping them suppressed as his body glowed with liquid fire, palms shooting forward with each biotic strike. The battle quickly went south for Cerberus, and they watched as the enemy retreated, only to be gunned down. When the smoke cleared, the entire Cerberus squad lay dead alongside the marines they executed, and Marcus' team moved into the clearing, reloading their weapons and slamming in fresh thermal clips.

"Damn it," Keeling cursed as she moved over to one of the trooper's dead bodies, rolling it over with a boot, red eye visors looking up at them with blank expressions, "I heard the rumors, but I didn't think it was true. Cerberus has militarized itself."

Marcus eyed her with a keen expression, letting his biotics die off until they were but a dim glow, "What do you mean? What rumors?"

She motioned a head at the dead body before her, poking it with an armoured boot, "Rumors that these bastards had built up their military armada. Turns out they were true. Their troops seem to have upgraded, and now they have an entire navy. A proper navy. I don't know what happened along the road, but Cerberus has upgraded, and its been causing hell. They seem to have stepped up their operations all over the galaxy now too," she motioned her rifle at the dead corpse, "They got names for these assholes too. These ones are assault troopers," she then motioned with her rifle to the dead leader, "That's a centurion."

He shook his head, "I can't believe the Illusive Man would have troops here. He's always been about protecting humanity, and defeating the Reapers. Now he seems to be doing the exact opposite of both."

James growled as he moved over to one of the assault troopers on the ground nearby, the solider stirring, and fired a burst into his back, "I don't care what he used to stand for; this is wrong. If he's with the Reapers, he needs to be put down. Him, and Cerberus."

"Not with the Reapers, I don't think," Kaidan stated, looking at Marcus, "But of a different mindset."

Marcus met Kaidan's look, and knew what he meant instantly. The Illusive Man never agreed with how I dealt with the Reapers. But he believed we should control the Reapers, not destroy them. So why has he militarized? Nothing about this makes any sense. Before he could say anything, Kaidan shook his head, took a step forward, and eyed the facility towering over them, speaking with confusion, "Why would Cerberus even attack this place in an assault? The security here is top of its day; some of the code was even designed by salarians in the STG and the SIA, how could they hope to penetrate this place with anything less than a battalion? But by the looks of it here, these three vehicles could fit no bigger than a company. They must have had help from the inside."

The captain agreed, motioning to the main entrance, which lay wide open, "Then let's go see just what happened. Keep your fingers on your triggers; this isn't a search and rescue op. We're here to find the Prothean Library, extract the information required, and then bug out. The Reapers will be here soon, and we don't want to be here when they turn up."

Moving forward, everyone else simply fell in line.

No arguments were provided. The game had suddenly changed, and two enemies presented themselves.

A long war indeed.

{Loading...}

June 2, 2186

1250 hours.

Main Entrance Cargo Elevator, Systems Alliance Research Facility, Mars Prothean Archives, Mars.

The Reaper War.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Major Kaidan Alenko, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling.

They had encountered another squad of Cerberus soldiers outside the entrance, and they had taken prepared for their arrival. They stood little chance in the face of firm, capable, resistance however, and despite their obviously enhanced speed and strength, Marcus' squad prevailed and they moved into the main entrance, using the large cargo elevator in the middle to elevate into the storage bay.

During the slow ascent, Marcus had simply tried to comprehend why Cerberus would suddenly turn against them on such a scale like this. Before, it was just him trying to kill Shepard, but now he seemed to be targetting the Alliance as a whole. And just what could be so important that they'd attack the Archives? There could only be one answer.

They were here for the same thing they were. The Prothean Library, and the possible 'super weapon' hidden inside.

Kaidan had stood in an uneasy pose, and Keeling seemed agitated in hers, but firm. James seemed way too eager to kill something, once again reminding him of a more heavily-built Jenkins. Marcus himself simply stood there, looking up as the storage compartment slowly revealed itself.

It was large, but simple in design. Crates were piled as high as the ceiling in some areas, and a long balcony ran along the walls, with two blast doors on each level; small elevators allowed access to these balconies, and a forklift sat to one side. Vents covered the ceiling, and the lighting was bright enough to see everything inside. But it was quiet. Too quiet. Not a single Cerberus trooper in the area.

They slowly moved forward, weapons aimed forward, and ears perked for any sound. For a second they heard nothing, but then they heard banging, like the sound of someone banging against metal, and as he followed the sound, he saw it was coming from the vents, and saw dents popping up as someone moved along it. There was no way Cerberus troopers would be crawling through it, so...Someone is trying to escape.

He motioned to the vent, noticing that Keeling had already noticed and was moving forward, but stopped as soon as gunshots were heard in the vent, followed the ping of a bullet, and more shuffling in the vents. Someone being pursued...Another shot fired, piercing the vent and wedging into a wall, followed by more gunshots. But inbetween shots, he swore he heard the sound of biotics being unleashed. Cerberus biotic, or the escapee is a biotic?

He soon got his answer as all movement seemed to just stop, followed by the vent seeming to just spotaneously combust, blowing pieces of metal all over the place. His squad dove into cover, including himself as he slid behind a crate, picking up the rifle he had dropped in the process as they dodged fragments of metal. He turned the corner to see a blue aura glowing through the smoke, but he couldn't see who had formed it. What he did hear was the person using the field landing lightly on the ground, followed by a choked cry; one he recognized as the synthesized, robotic voice of a Cerberus soldier. Sounds like they're kicking ass without us. He smiled at that.

More gunshots were heard, but they were followed by more choked cries of the soldiers. Finally, the smoke cleared, revealing the person wrapped in biotic fire, carnifex pistol in her grip. She wore a milky white armoured labcoat that ended in a skirt around her knees, and he immediately recognized the tentacles on the back of her head and sapphire skin as that of an asari. And when said person turned around, and her eyes met his, he felt his jaw drop in shock. No, not here...

James rushed forward, aiming his rifle at the asari's head as she lowered her weapon, and the biotic aura wrapping her body faded to nothing, "Weapon and on the ground, now! Hands where we can-"

Marcus was at James' side in a heartbeat, hand gripping his Revenant and eying the man, "Lower your weapon Lieutenant," he looked back at her, removing his helmet and smiling as he did, "She's a friend."

He frowned, but lowered his weapon anyway, merely watching as the asari moved forward, a smile gracing her warm, supple lips, holstering her carnifex. He smiled back, shaking his head as he holstered his rifle and pinned his helmet under one arm, the rest of his squad securing the room, "Liara T'Soni; a pleasant surprise."

The asari's smile grew even further as she stepped over the bodies of the four dead soldiers she had killed, and they only stopped moving when they stood half a meter from each other, "Shepard, it is good to see you again," she greeted, sighing with relief, "Although, I think we all wish it was under better circumstances."

"As do I Liara," he grunted, shaking his head, "I'm sure you've heard the reports."

She nodded grimly, "We did. Our comms may be down, but we still saw the news feeds when Cerberus tried to win over some sympathsizers. I'm so sorry, Shepard. Losing Earth, it must be..."

Kaidan was with them in a heartbeat, "We haven't lost Earth yet. We'll save it, in due time."

"'In due time' may well be a very long time," she turned and motioned to the dead corpses of the dead Cerberus soldiers, "Especially with Cerberus now playing against us. A betrayal I, honestly, did not see coming. I knew they wanted us dead, but to actively attack an Alliance facility? Seems beyond them."

Marcus shook his head at the mention of the terrorist organization, "At this point, it doesn't matter. The Reapers are our main concern, the Illusive Man second. I'll put him down if I have to, but at the moment, we have bigger problems. But what are you doing here? Last we meet, you were the Shadow Broker and things were fine. Where's Feron? Why are you even here?"

She sighed, rubbing her temples as she moved over to a observation window giving a few of the base's exterior outside, along with more of Mars' terrain and the sandstorm approaching in the distance. Marcus and Kaidan followed, with James and Keeling also doing so, but with weapons covering left, right and center.

"We were attacked Shepard. Cerberus find us. Sent a light cruiser to Hagalaz to destroy my ship," she informed him, leaning against the window with one arm, her eyes glazing along the plains, "They got what they wanted, but not quite in the way they expected. Feron and myself managed to escape, along with the majority of my personnel, before I then set my base on a collision course with their cruiser. Last I saw was both of them floating in debris. Then I came here, because I knew that if there was going to be any information on the Reapers, it would be in the Archives. Fabricating the false ID for a consultant from the Asari Republics was easy enough, and I got in. Feron is in command of my empire while I'm gone, and he's currently in the Terminus Systems; somewhere. He likes to remain hidden. So here I am; pursued by Cerberus. They seem intent on killing me."

Marcus grinned, "Can't imagine why," he shook his head, but his grin quickly vanished, his face becoming all seriousness when he spoke again, "I just wish we'd know what's going on. Out in the galaxy, I mean. I hate being blind. All I heard was that the Hegemony fell, and now Earth is overrun. I need to know how the rest of the galaxy is faring. Considering the Reapers seem to have started in the Attican Traverse and are sweeping west, I'd say they'll be hitting the turians, and possibly the salarians, next, which means I need to find Garrus and Mordin, and warn them."

Liara nodded, "I understand. If I had contact with my network I would tell you, but Cerberus has made that very difficult," she sighed, turning to face him as she pushed herself off the window, leaning on one hip as she crossed her arms, "But what are you doing here? I can't believe we just happen to stumble upon each other by coincidence."

He shook his head, "Hackett sent us here to find something. Apparently they recently dug alittle further and found a Prothean Library of some sort. A Library that apparently contains information regarding the Reapers and a super weapon. Can I hopefully assume those two terms are related?"

She smirked, a smug one if he knew her well enough, "They certainly are. And you're lucky I'm here. I was there when they dug it up, and I was the one who gathered that information. And I can tell you that what we found was groundbreaking. It provided irrefutable proof that the Reapers existed, but of course that's already a moot point now."

James exclaimed behind them in relief, "Hallelujah! Some answers...finally."

Liara nodded to him, before turning back to Marcus, her brow inquisitive, "Yes, we discovered plans for a device. One that was massive in both size and scope, and almost the size of a fully-fledged space station, and the size of the Halcyon-Class Prototype I lived on. Its only referred to as a super weapon, and its designated as being prothean in origin. And what's more interesting, is that they referred to it as a Reaper 'killer.' We can only assume its a way to destroy the Reapers."

Too excited by this news to bother questioning the logic behind it, he spoke fast, and hurriedly, "Here? On Mars? Where is it?"

She exhaled, shaking her head, "Its in the Archives. Its only data, Shepard. Schematics. We didn't dig up the actual weapon."

He cursed as he turned to look outside the window, watching the lone structure of the dig site in the distance. Nothing is ever simple.

He turned to Liara with a queer look on his face, "But just how did the Alliance not know about this? We've known about the Archives for decades. And if this 'super weapon' can destroy the Reapers, and its prothean built, why didn't they use it? Why didn't they fire it to destroy them? Why are they extinct, and the Reapers are still alive? That's senseless."

She nodded, motioning to the dig site structure with a wave of her hand, "Process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation is how they found it. After you destroyed the Alpha Relay and you were incarcerated, I knew I had to do something. That's why I came here. To find a way to stop the Reapers, and now that way is blocked by an army of Cerberus soldiers wanting to also gain access to it. As for the Protheans not using it..." she shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the Archives will yield more information when we reach it. I had been datamining it when Cerberus attacked, and cut all power. I had to double back here to find out what was going on, but when I did, Cerberus closed in and sealed all access. We need to get to the dig site before they extract it."

He shook his head, "This sounds too good to be true. A weapon that can wipe out the Reapers with a press of a button? A weapon that can end a horde of unstoppable sentient starships and their equally large hordes of indoctrinated, cybernetically twisted minions of varying appearence? Seems like one giant deus ex machina," he sighed, rubbing his sore eyes, "But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this weapon really does exist, and can be built to scale and tested, it could be our answer to this threat. We need it. The whole galaxy needs it. It maybe our only hope."

"But why does Cerberus want this weapon?" Kaidan asked in confusion, "Last I checked, he wanted to control the Reapers. Dominate them. Why would he try to apprehend blueprints to a weapon that destroys them?"

Keeling piped up, seeming to connect the dots, "Why does a nation attack another nation? To remove a threat."

Marcus saw the wisdom in her words. He doesn't want the plans so he can use them to destroy his target, he pieced together, he simply wants to obtain them before anyone else can and destroy them, removing a threat to his plans. "Excellent work, Keeling. We need to reach that dig site before Cerberus does. I am not about to let the Illusive Man destroy our only hope of defeating this enemy," he took the helmet under his arm and put it back on, locking his features away with a hiss before bringing his piranha shotgun to bear, "How do we reach the dig site?"

She nodded, bringing up her omni-tool and sending coordinates to all of theirs, "I've just given you schematics of the facility. There's a skytram at the security station that will take us across to the dig. We'll need to move quickly however; no doubt Cerberus is already there. One more thing you should know-"

Her speech was interrupted by the sound of a fire torch wizzing to life and burning through metal, and as all five of them turned, they saw a spark of orange flame slowly coming down the side of a blast door on the upper floor, and they all knew who had arrived. He turned to Liara, an apologetic look in his eye.

"It'll have to wait Liara. We've got company," he turned to Keeling and Kaidan, motioning to crates below the balcony, "Take positions. Liara, with me. James-"

"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed, his expression fierce, "Time to kick some serious Cerberus ass."

"Not today James," he growled, annoyed at being interrupted as he moved back to the elevator they had come through, and he James surprised look as he turned to face the captain. He rushed over to him, his face that of irritation.

"What?"

He turned to face the marine, his helmet inches from the soldier's face, "Wake up, Lieutenant. I need you back on Cortez's shuttle and protecting him in case Cerberus spots him. That is all you will do. Understood?"

"But-"

"Don't 'but' me, Vega! Do you understand?" his voice was pure steel, unwithering and unbending. The fierceness in his tone brokered no argument, and James finally nodded meekly, turning away to step on the elevator, helmet clicking into place, before holstering his Revenant, swapping it for his M-27 Scimitar shotgun, looking like a juggernaut in his heavy armor. Marcus glared at his back for a few more seconds before accessing the elevator controls, and watching it descend. The entire time, James did not turn around, speak or even move.

He felt a five-fingered hand grip his shoulder and he turned to meet Liara's eyes, who nodded at the doorway, "We better assume positions. Cerberus are almost through the door."

He nodded, moving forward and sliding behind a crate with Liara at his side, swapping his shotgun for his N7 Hurricane SMG. Checking it was full, he turned around in time to watch the door blast open and fall to the ground, and a stream of Cerberus soldiers piled out. He checked the elevation, seeing that they had the advantage of higher ground. But we have three biotics.

"Liara, target a singularity in the middle of their group," he ordered, noticing a different type of soldier hefting a large, heavy looking metal shield with a slot through the top, a heavy pistol in his other hand and firing potshots at them, "I'll detonate it with a warp. Kaidan, once I've detonated, reave the leader."

With his acknowledges, he waited for Liara's attack. He saw a centurion crouched behind the balcony's glass railing, mattock heavy rifle in hand and shouting commands at his men, the assault troopers in question raining suppressive fire down on his squad. Their cybernetic voices sounded wrong; far too robotic to be human. And that shield...no normal human, no matter how strong, could lift that.

The singularity appeared behind the shielded soldier, and he was lifted up, losing his grip on his shield, which was also sucked in. Three other assault troopers were sucked in before they could escape too, and without hesitation, Marcus charged up his biotics, leapt out and threw his palm forward, a warp field shooting out and impacting the tear in space, causing the singularity to collapse and explode, tearing the shielded soldier and the three troopers apart. This shocked the centurion into standing, before he regained his purpose and lowered his rifle sights over a vulnerable Marcus, managing to get off two shots on his shield before Keeling took out the centurion's shields, followed by Kaidan reaving him. His screams of pain were audible for all to hear, but was quickly drowned out by the remains of the Cerberus strike team returning fire.

Falling back behind his crate, he left off a single burst of his SMG into an assault trooper's head before falling behind his cover again, and reloading. He inhaled, and exhaled. He heard Liara giggle, and he could only half-chuckle himself, shaking his head.

This was almost like old times.

{Loading...}

June 2, 2186

1303 hours.

Security Station, Systems Alliance Research Facility, Mars Prothean Archives, Mars.

The Reaper War.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Major Kaidan Alenko, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni.

Well this was certainly fun.

They had been forced to fight through numerous waves of Cerberus troops, of which seemed to be enough to be a battalion as Kaidan suggested, and it hadn't been easy trying to reach the dig site tramway. The terrorist organization fought them tooth and nail every step of the way, and wherever they went, Cerberus was waiting for them with fresh troops. But they broke through all the same, the squad working like a well-oiled machine, including Keeling, and they eventually arrived at the security station.

Only to find that a ceiling turret protecting the station had been hacked by Cerberus, and had immediately opened fire on them when they entered the entrance corridor.

It took a game of hide-and-seek, along with some 'dodgeball' to finally get past the turret and into the security station, taking them out of the turret's operational rotation. Now they were inside, with an entire Cerberus squad fighting harder than ever before to hold the room and make sure they didn't cross the tramway.

Marcus was currently sneaking up behind a shield trooper, which he had learnt were called Guardians, his Piranha shotgun in hand. Crouched a meter from the oblivious trooper, firing his Talon heavy pistol at Keeling behind her cover, he took aim with his shotgun and unloaded into the guardian's side. He cried out in agony as his entire right side opened up from ribs to hips, and his arms were shredded by the widespread. The velocity sent him kereening to the left, where he fell over, his shield dropping ontop of him and the sound of a head being crushed by the shield's sheer weight could be heard, ending the guardian's pain.

Gunfire poured into his barriers as three assault troopers approached, avenger assault rifles in hand and pouring into him. Picking up the guardian's shield but utilizing his cybernetic strength, he brought it infront of him and moved forward, the enemy shots pouring off the metal shield and Marcus firing his shotgun sporadically at them with one hand.

The first shot hit a desk behind the advancing trio, but the second blasted one soldier's head asunder, and the pallet spread from that impacted his comrade in the neck, causing red blood to pour out of his neck and onto the floor as he gasped desperately for breath, dumping his weapon as both hands clasped around his neck, trying to seal off the wound. With only one trooper left to oppose him, he used the shield and wacked the soldier across the side, which effectively ripped his torso clean off his body, shearing it in half. Red blood spurted everywhere, and Marcus reduced the choking soldier's head to a red mist, before moving on to finish the centurion, who had retreated to the back of the room.

Only to find Kaidan already there, omni-blade deep in the centurion's helmet. Kaidan looked up and nodded to him, ripping the blade out and watching it evaporate, followed by a second nod before he went over and joined Keeling and Liara at the security control console. Marcus quickly did the same, but not before reloading his shotgun.

Liara was busy typing at said console, blue hands dancing over the keyboard as she watched the screen before her, which appeared to be security camera footage of the tram below, "There we go. Wait..." a loud beep followed her attempts to override the tram controls, and she cursed as she hit the terminal, "Damn it! I'm completely locked out. I can't override the trams from here. She's smarter than I expected. And quick."

He frowned at her, "Who is?"

She growled, turning to face him, "The traitor. Or the inside agent, I should say. Cerberus' sleeper. She was here before I was, actually, and seemed to have been here a long while. She was one of the researcher; brunette, very attractive. She went by the name Doctor Eva Core. I was suspicious of her from the get go, so I did some research. Turned out she died on Palaven shortly after the First Contact War. And you won't guess who she was friends with."

His confusion only got deeper, "Who?"

"Jack Harper," she stated, but still seeing the confusion, continued, "Who would later write the Cerberus manifesto, and become known as the Illusive Man."

His eyes widened in surprise, "So you think this Eva works for Cerberus now? You think she allowed Cerberus to get in?"

"Yes. Her attack was brutal and efficient, and so was her infiltration. I don't know how she can be alive, as the reports say otherwise, but Cerberus has their ways," she shook her head, "Before we knew what was going on, she had unsealed every airlock in half of the facility. She depressurized that entire area, and removed all oxygen from the air. While half of the facility suffocated from lack of oxygen, the other half was quickly overwhelmed by a large Cerberus force deploying via multiple shuttles. Last I saw of her, she seemed to be leading a Cerberus platoon towards the dig site. We haven't encountered her on the way here, so she must be still there."

With a quick, he motioned to the tram below, "Is there anyway we can activate the tram without the override?"

"How about this?" Keeling offered, and all turned towards her.

She stood there, leaning on one hip and rifle in her grip, "Why don't we just do it the good old fashioned way? We confiscate one of these dead scumbags' radios, and then pretend to be the team reporting in. We'll request reinforcements, and they'll send them over the tram. We kill the reinforcements and commandeer the tram they bring over."

Kaidan grinned, turning to face Marcus, "Glad I brought her along?"

He smirked back, "Certainly am," he turned to Keeling, motioning to the dead centurion, "Confiscate his radio. I need to talk to Liara."

Keeling simply nodded, letting her rifle come to rest on her back as she calmly made her way over to the dead centurion, Kaidan crossing his arms as he stayed in the background. He moved to Liara, who seemed to be watching something. As he looked over her shoulder, he saw she was watching a recording of security footage from not too long ago. He saw the brunette she spoke; and she really was extremely attractive. Her hair was slender and curled infront of her face, her ears were well shaped, her eyes seemed to sparkle with radiance, and her hips were generous to the eye, and her bosom quite large; just as large as Miranda's, actually. She approached a centurion in the tram bay, an entire platoon of assault troopers, guardians and one single type of soldier he didn't recognize reading something of his omni-tool and working at the door. He saw the backpack on his pack, and seeing the omni-tool and the door he was hacking, knew who it was. A combat engineer.

Eva spoke, her voice annoyed, "Damn it, that asari should be dead already. Why haven't you found her?"

The centurion responded, voice just as annoyed, "I have men searching the entire facility. We'll find the bitch, and we'll kill her. Simple as that."

"I'm not seeing a blue, tentacle-headed corpse," she growled in response, turning to yell at the engineer, "Have you got the damn trams working?"

The engineer shouted back with the same robotic voice all of them seemed to have, "Affirmative. We've got Alliance marines waiting on the other side. A whole squad."

She snorted, "Makes no matter; we'll kill them. Once we're across, give me direct override of the trams. Noone comes across. Noone. I don't care if its the Illusive Man himself, noone is getting across that tramway, you got me?"

"Yes ma'am," the centurion responded.

She looked up, and shook her head, raising a Tempest SMG directly at the camera, "Didn't I tell you I wanted no cameras? Idiot," she fired, and the feed immediately cut to static, and both of them were silent.

"Well if she's ordered them not to let us across, this plan is suddenly moot now, isn't it?" Kaidan asked.

"No," Marcus stated, "She said noone was to come across to their side. We'll be bringing them over here. These troopers seem too dumb to know the difference, so it should work as long-"

"Sir," Keeling piped up, obvious disgust and shock in her tone, "You might want to have a look at this."

All of them turned to Keeling, who had stood up and backed away from the centurion, his helmet lay on the ground beside where Keeling had taken it off and placed it. Marcus walked over and his eyes immediately fell on the soldier's face, eyes widening in horror.

What he saw wasn't human.

It was a bloody husk. A Reaper husk.

What the fuck has the Illusive Man done? He crouched, looking over the man's features. His eyes were no longer present, replaced by what looked to be cybernetic optical sensors, and he had no lips; his mouth permanently wide open and showing the radio filter that had been fused into his mouth. His skin was now the pure blue/black of a husk, and all his hair had fallen out and he was now completely bald. This...thing wasn't even remotely human.

"The Illusive Man was always fucked up," Marcus growled, ripping his eyes away from the abomination, "But this is different. This is beyond fucked up. He's turning his own troops into bloody monsters."

"What kind of leader does this to his own people and claims to stand for humanity?" Kaidan added sickingly, "This is beyond wrong. This is sick."

"Keeling," Marcus spoke lowly and steadily, steel in his voice as he forced himself to look on the ex-human, "Retrieve the radio from his helmet, and give it to me. Then put his helmet back on. I can't stand to look at his face one minute longer."

Liara looked on solemnly as Keeling did as ordered without flinching, reaching around and pulling the man's radio out, which also seemed to be wired into his brain, and as she yanked and pulled it away, flesh and blood stuck to the wiring and came out with it. Even Keeling seemed on the verge of wretching before she tossed it to Marcus, who caught it up with his hand and put the radio to his mouth, watching it tap against his helmet, "Copy over, this is...," he checked the radio label before putting it back to his vocalizer, "Delta squad, how copy?"

The voice was gruff, but the same robotic tone he recognized from every other soldier; only now he knew where the real voice came from. He felt sick. Keep it together, soldier. Clearing his thoughts, he became steel once more, hearing the soldier speak, "About damn time. We expected an update ten minutes ago," hesitation, before the soldier spoke again, "Never mind, what's your status?"

"We need immediate reinforcements! Shepard's team is here!" Marcus imitated, and he saw Kaidan shake his head in amusement, "Requesting backup, how copy?"

"Solid copy," the soldier replied, "Echo squad will ride over and provide support. Just make sure you keep Shepard alive. The Illusive Man will have something special planned for him."

Oh, I bet he does. But he ain't turning me into a monster. Again, thoughts of that abomination popped up. Jack Harper, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will end you. You used to stand for something, and I don't know what happened along the road to fuck it all up, but something did, and now you're going to pay for it. But the Reapers must come first. "Copy that; we'll kill the rest of his squad and take Shepard hostage. We'll hold them until Echo gets here. Come in guns blazing."

The comms disconnected before anything else could be said, and Marcus tossed it aside, drawing his weapon, "Okay, let's get down there and be ready to take them by surprise."

"Did they buy it?" Kaidan asked.

"Hook, line and sinker," Marcus replied, grinning, "Let's just be ready for them."

With Liara by his side, he made his way down the right side to stand on the right side of the long, tram door, while Kaidan and Keeling assumed positions on the other side. They all went into crouch, Liara with her SMG at the ready, and everyone else with primed assault rifles aimed and fingers on their triggers. The biotics glowed with dark energy, and Keeling got ready to prime a grenade and throw it.

It wasn't long before the screech of a tram moving towards them could be heard. They stiffened upon hearing it, their bodies knowing that combat would soon be upon them once more and Marcus felt his omni-shield spring to life in his hand.

The tram finally arrived, and the large, long blast door slid open, revealing the two-way tramway space. The left side was empty, but the right side was now occupied as the tram arrived, a small door opening and allowing the troops to spill out. A guardian lead the charge, shield raised in front of him, followed by a centurion, a combat engineer, and numerous assault troopers. There was 12 of them overall; his team could easily handle them.

Liara launched a warp field directly into the guardian's exposed flank, sending him flying into Kaidan and Keeling's position, where Keeling finished the trooper off with an omni-blade stab into his helmet. Marcus charged forward, his omni-shield deflecting the shots of the retaliating assault troopers and he slammed into the combat engineer, the golden visored soldier having been in the middle of typing into his omni-tool when he was hit.

Charging a biotic fist, Marcus slammed it into his visor, shattering it on impact and stunning the engineer. Charging forth again, he swept the soldier's legs out from under him, causing him to fall forwards and allowing Marcus to raise his weapon to the back of his head, bypass the engineer's kinetic barriers, and fire, splattering his brain matter on the floor.

His kinetic barrier crackled and popped, but he quickly rose his omni-shield again, protecting himself from the hail of gunfire. He watched one trooper's head explode, followed by Liara using her biotics to pick up one of them and throw them off the edge, screaming to their death. Kaidan and Keeling appeared, their fire cutting down numerous assault troopers before they finally managed to retreat and assume fire, the Cerberus attackers attempting a defensive movement.

With Keeling engaging the centurion in hand-to-hand, Marcus and Kaidan moved forward, using their assault rifles to keep the troopers pinned. When they finally arrived, they both leapt over the railing and into the tram, taking the enemy soldiers by surprise. By the time they turned to assess the threat, they were cut down. One assault trooper aimed a weapon whip at Kaidan's face, but the marine easily ducked under it, ramming his omni-blade into his armoured chest and twisting, before pulling out and letting him slide to the floor.

Liara arrived, and they all turned to watch just as the centurion managed to hook Keeling across the face, stunning her temporarily. She kicked him in the chest, but the centurion seemed barely fazed by it, and kicked back. Keeling blocked it, sidestepping backwards and out of the leader's reach. But in a flash, like the speed of lightning, the centurion moved forward and grabbed her shoulders, slamming his head forward and into hers.

If not for her helmet, her skull would have cracked with the impact. She flew backwards and into a wall, the N7 simply not fast enough to keep up with the centurion's superior cybernetics. The centurion advanced on her just as Liara moved to raise her weapon, only to stop as a gunshot was heard; the sound of a Talon heavy pistol being fired. A second shot echoed through the room, and his head exploded, followed by his body falling backwards and onto the ground, revealing the form of Keeling holding the smoking barrel of a Talon pistol, before she dropped the weapon and stood to her feet, approaching them.

"You okay, Keeling?" Marcus asked as she stepped inside, Kaidan activating the tram as soon as they were inside. Liara closed the gate, and they all made sure their helmets were sealed as the depressurization door opened and the one behind them closed, revealing, once again, the oxygenless plains of the red planet, "That centurion gave you one hell of a beating."

"Nothing I didn't handle, sir," she replied, unhooking her Hurricane SMG and letting it small into her grip, "I'll walk it off. Bastard was damn fast; never seen a man move that fast, especially in heavy armor."

"Cerberus has given their troops upgrades. Did you see the way that combat engineer typed into his omni-tool?" Kaidan asked, shaking his head, "Even Tali could not type that fast; only Legion could outmatch that," he eyed Marcus, "Maybe the Illusive Man has given them cybernetic implants, like he did you."

Marcus shrugged, "Yeah, maybe. And if that's true, that just makes Cerberus a greater enemy than we thought. But right now we must focus on getting to that library. Liara?"

The asari was at his side in an instant, pointing ahead, "The dig site is just behind that door. I'll handle the security; but once inside, the Library will be inside the site. We'll download the information, kill Eva if we have to, and leave. But we need that intel. It holds our salvation, Shepard," she seemed desperate, and he understood how she felt.

Failure is not an option. I will not allow Cerberus to get away with that library.

"They seem to be unaware of our presence, Shepard," Kaidan pointed out, taking cover behind the opaque railing, "Might take them by surprise."

Marcus nodded to him, motioning Keeling and Liara to crouch behind the railing, whilst Marcus did the same, joining Kaidan. He pulled out his Hurricane SMG, and turned back to the major, slamming in a fresh thermal clip, "I just hope we're not too late to the party."

Kaidan nodded back, pulsing with biotics as he readied his N7 Paladin pistol, "So do I."

The tram travelled in relative silence, but as they looked outside, they could easily see that the sandstorm was almost upon them; Mars' landscape was slowly transforming as the wall of sand and electricity pummelled a path of destruction and moved towards the lone alliance facility. As he admired the area, he heard the airlock doors opening, and knew they were here.

Passing through, the door closed again and they unsealed their helmets, allowing them to breathe again. It wasn't long before they reached the second door, and it slid open, revealing the space behind it. He could hear footsteps, obviously those of Cerberus soldiers, as they walked around, but all movement seemed to cease as the tram stopped moving. They must have noticed how empty it was.

"What, where's Echo Squad?" one soldier demanded, "Someone get on that tram and-"

Kaidan leapt up first, his Paladin's sights landing on the nearest target and coughing out hot death. Marcus quickly joined his assault, SMG complimenting Keeling's, of the same type, as they ripped into four assault troopers on the right. Liara brought a biotic barrier to life infront of them, and they mowed into the Cerberus troopers, who were initially too shocked to return fire, but when they did, they were organized.

The assault troopers were used as cannon fodder as the centurion used his mattock to shatter the window of the security console before leaping into the room, taking cover behind the main console. Two doors on either side of the room, which sat in the middle, shot open, and on both sides was a guardian advancing into the room, a full compliment of assault troopers behind them. Two combat engineers appeared, and took off their backpacks and placing them on the ground.

Fearing they were explosives, Marcus charged up and let a biotic warp let fly, aiming it at the box. Upon impact, it seemed to explode in the engineer's face, the shrapnel shredding his body into bloody ribbons, and sending his mutilated corpse flying into a wall, where it plopped down on the ground. He did the same with the second engineer, and the same result presented itself.

Liara dropped her barrier and charged forward, sending a biotic shockwave cascading into the nearest guardian. The velocity and force sent the shield flying from his grip, allowing Liara to empty her Tempest SMG into his back. Before the troopers around her could completely deplete her shields, she raised a biotic barrier around herself, before letting it implode, the sheer magnitude of it sending everyone around her flying.

Keeling primed another grenade and tossed it into the security room, before charging forward, SMG roaring. Kaidan and Marcus followed, both of them laying fire down with their own weapons; their shields were depleted by the time they reached the security junction, their barriers were depleted and their armor potmarked with bullet holes, but luckily most of them were grazings and hadn't drawn blood. The bodies of numerous Cerberus soldiers lay around them, and they watched as Keeling strafed next to the guardian and rammed her SMG into the slot they used for sight, before pulling the trigger, impacting the guardian between the eyes and killing him instantly, cadaver collapsing to the ground, ontop of his shield.

By the time they managed to clean up, the entire room was a battlefield. Assault troopers, a centurion, two combat engineers and two guardians; all of them dead, red blood running through the steel floor. The victory was short and to the point though, and Marcus quickly found himself reloading, along with his squad, and leading Liara, Kaidan and Keeling forward, through one of the doors and into a hall that ended with a large steel door; its haptic interface a dull red.

He lowered his weapon, checking noone was behind them, "Area's clear. This the dig site you were talking about, Liara?"

She nodded, and moved over to the console next to the door, typing into irregularly. A grin split her lips, "It seems this Doctor Core forgot one important thing," she tapped a button, and the haptic interface turned green, before winking out of existence, the door sliding open, "I can hack just as well as she can."

Swapping his SMG for his assault rifle, he moved inside, weapon raised, and his squad covering his rear. As they moved inside, Marcus took the time to examine the massive complex; and massive it was.

The ceiling was high above them, and the floor seemed to be miles below them, looking to be built around a giant hole in the ground; so deep that the darkness concealed its depth. It was circular in shape, with a deactivated drill left unused down below but attached. Four massive support struts kept the place from caving in, and two ring like balconies made up the floor of the area, his team arriving on the outer ring. Each ring had numerous computer consoles, and the inner ring just happened to contain what they were here for. And it too, was also huge.

It looked just like the prothean beacons he had encountered first on Eden Prime, and on Virmire. A large rectangular prism like structure with numerous lines weaved into its grey, smooth surface. This one also hummed with dormant power, and was much larger than its beacon predecessors, and emitted the same green color; a color that seemed to fill the entire room with its light, causing it to have an eerily alien like atmosphere.

Moving around, his team moved towards the center ring before he stopped, turning to Kaidan and Keeling, "You two, secure the outer ring. Make sure Cerberus doesn't get the jump on us, and if you see Eva, do not let her escape. She may have the data, and if she does, we can't risk letting her escape with it. This is too important to let the Illusive Man destroy it with his insanity."

They nodded, Kaidan telling moving off to sweep the right, while Keeling watched the entrance, in a crouch, hidden beside the door and her weapon at the ready. With eyes on their backs, Marcus and Liara approached the main control console infront of the Library, which was encased in a large cylinder like glass tube, and Liara began typing into it, a determined look on her face. Marcus took note of the quantum entanglement communicator pad sitting next to it, and could only assume it was a new addition, considering the technology's relatively new status. He crossed his arms, weapon holstered as he took off his helmet, breathing in air.

Liara continued to type into the console as he waited, "Should have this information downloaded soon. If I can just-"

"Shepard," a familiar, eerily calm, and irritating cool voice, said behind them, and Marcus felt his brow furrow in rage as both of them turned to face the man who was now projected via hologram on the QEC device, the man seeming to be standing, his signature glass of whiskey in hand, and half-topped. His synthetic eyes glowed, and his brown hair was combed as it usually was, the man wearing a basic suit. He didn't seem to be sitting for once either...or smoking.

Marcus growled as he responded, meeting the man's eyes with a cold expression. Liara drew her pistol on the hologram, but noting the projection, quickly holstered it, realizing the vainness of her gesture. Marcus spoke, voice frost, "Illusive Man," he eyed the facility, "I was wondering when you'd make your big opening."

The man waved a dismissive hand, taking a sip of his glass before handing it to someone out of view, the man's form projected in bright blue pixels, "You don't know the half of it. The protheans left us a wealth of information. The most in the galaxy. We've had the Archives for decades," he eyed the library behind them with awe, something that was hard to find in the Illusive Man, "And we've squandered it. I'm merely correcting that mistake."

I'm not in the mood for his usual bullshit. Marcus ignored his words, stepping forward, angry, "I don't fucking care what we've squandered. Get to the point. What do you want?"

The man barely acknowledged Marcus, just continuing to look at the artefact. But he did speak, and it held a smug undertone, while also keeping the same calm aura he seemed to inheritantly hold, "What I've always wanted."

Marcus turned to look at the library himself, before turning back to look at the Illusive Man who had now turned to look at Marcus, eyes blank of any form of emotion, "The data in these Archives holds the key to solving the Reaper threat."

He snorted, turning back to Liara to signal her to keep working while he talked to this bastard. Turning back as the asari continued to work, he moved forward, waving a finger in TIM's face, "I've seen your...solution. The despicable things you've done to your own bloody men. You've turned them into monsters. Worse, you've turned them into husks. You might as well hand yourself to the Reapers on a silver platter."

The Illusive Man shook his head, sighing heavily, "Hardly. They're being improved," he waved his own hand in the captain's face, unwilling to acknowledge the truth behind Marcus' words, "That's what seperates me...from you, Shepard. Where you see a means to destroy, I see a means to control. To dominate the Reapers. To harness their power, and use it to advance humanity. Imagine how powerful humanity would be...if we controlled them. The galaxy would bow to us; like they should rightly have done thirty years ago."

Marcus looked at him with disgust, unable to believe the words pouring from the man's mouth. He's deluded. This...is too much. The Illusive Man could not possibly be this stupid to think that the Reapers can simply be controlled like that.

He laughed, shaking his head as he eyed the Illusive Man with a humorless smile, "You're an idiot, Illusive Man. You cannot seriously believe you can control the Reapers. They are simply too powerful. The only way to win this war is to control them and with the weapon hidden in these databanks," he pointed at Liara and the console, "We can make that reality. We can stop this threat, once and for all. We can break the cycle of extinction."

The Illusive Man shook his head, as if scolding a bad child, "Your vision is pathetically limited," with an exasperated sigh, he moved to his chair, picking up a cigarette and placing it in his mouth, turning back to Marcus as he lit it with a lighter and put the lighter away, taking the cigarette away from his mouth as he blew a puff of pixelated smoke, "You were a tool. An agent...with a singular purpose. And despite our differences, you were unbelievably successful. You destroyed the Collectors, and defeated a Human-Reaper, that is no small feat. And defeating the Shadow Broker was quite an impressive achievement. But that is all you were brought back to do. I invested billions of credits in you so you could destroy our enemy, that is all. I never intended for you to be a long term investment, and you've long since overstayed your welcome. Like the rest of the relics in this place, your time is over."

Marcus shook his head, eying the man, "I truly believed you were a person, Illusive Man. Sure, you and your organization have done horrific things in the past, and you may have tried to get me killed numerous times on the Collector campaign, but you provided me with a ship, a crew, an a squad, and weapons. You gave me the tools I needed to defeat our enemy, and I still believe we can destroy the Reapers. Join us. With the amount of resources Cerberus has, we can use it to create this weapon extremely fast. With Cerberus, the Alliance and the rest of the galaxy united, we can stop this threat. Join us, and we can defeat this enemy together."

The Illusive Man seemed to ponder this, before shaking his head with a single ghost of a smile...and then it was, his expression calm again, "You would do better than most, Shepard, and I admire your tenacity, but I don't want the Reapers destroyed. That is simply the way of it. You don't see it my way Shepard, and that's a pity, but I will not allow you to stop my ultimate goal. Humanity will control the Reapers, one way or another."

Its clear he isn't interested. So be it. With a scoff, he shook his head, "I'm sorry to hear that," his pleading expression vanished, and his face became furious, "If that's going to be your stance, then enough of this talk. Liara," he turned to the asari, ignoring the Illusive Man's still present form, "Have you got the data?"

"Working on it," Liara informed him, "The Alliance put alot of encryption on this, but I'm on the last firewall."

TIM was desperate to make himself heard, but his voice came off as mildly irritated, "Don't get in my way, Shepard. I won't warn you again."

He turned to the Illusive Man, a snarl in his voice, "Oh, go fuck yourself. I'm done with you."

"Shepard!" Liara exclaimed in shock, slamming her hands against the console in frustration.

Alarm crossed his features, and he was moving forward in an instant and leaning over her, looking down on the terminal, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"The schematics! The data! Its not here! The whole system's been erased! Wait," she typed a few commands into it and sighed in relief, "No, someone's wiped the system and has moved the data into a secure folder, and is downloading it remotely. I'm going to trace it. But we have to be quick! If they complete the download, we'll lose the data!"

Marcus, in anger, snapped around, prepared to meet the Illusive Man's eyes. When he did turn around, there was nothing, the QEC's hum dumming down to silence and his form blinking out of existence. He could imagine the smug thoughts going through the bastard's head. He almost panicked. No! I cannot lose this data! It is our only hope of-

"Got it!" Liara exclaimed, turning to him, "The download...the point of origin is literally within this room," she pointed at a small, walled hub behind one of the support struts closest to the entrance, "Coming from that terminal."

He turned to her, pulling his helmet into place with a click, "Bet you its Doctor Core."

She nodded in agreement, and he commed Kaidan, who was fast approaching them, "Kaidan, the hub you're approaching is the source of a download. Find and stop whoever is doing it before they escape with it! Kill them if you have to, just don't let them get away!"

Kaidan nodded to him in the distance, before responding verbally over the radio, "Copy that." And with that, Kaidan disappeared behind the strut, Marcus turning back to his asari friend, who was currently in the process of trying to hack into the forged folder. Just as he moved to stand at her side, he heard the sound of armor hitting the ground, and a grunt. A grunt that sounded like it came from Kaidan.

He spun on the spot, his SMG in hand in a split second and aimed upwards, along with Liara's. They watched as Kaidan lay sprawling on the ground and the lithe form of Eva Core leapt over him, coming to stand at the steps, holding what looked to be an OSD in her hand. She gave them a blank stare, omni-tool aglow. With one final glance in their direction, she turned away, her movements robotic, as he ran up to Keeling and slammed a fist into her face, sending the N7 sprawling on the ground. Wasting no time, Eva sprinted past her, and through the way they came. Marcus and Liara were in close pursuit.

"You okay, Kaidan?"

"I'm fine!" he called out as he crawled to his feet, "Don't let her get away! GO! I'll catch up! JUST GO!"

Marcus had already been sprinting at the first 'go' and only Liara stuck around to hear the rest before turning to follow the captain, who was already sprinting out the door. Liara stayed behind to aid Keeling in getting up instead, and would also catch up.

As he ran through the doorway, he watched Eva leap through the shattered glass window of the security desk and roll over the corpse of a dead guardian, before turning to see if she had been pursued. Seeing Marcus barrelling straight at her, she keyed her omni-tool and launched an incinerate at him, one which his shields blocked, and merely blinded him temporarily. When his sight cleared, she was gone.

He cursed, fearing he had lost her when he heard the sound of a door opening, and as he turned left, he saw Eva rushing through and onto the dig site's roof, obviously heading for the landing pad ontop, the winds outside having now picked up. Sealing his helmet, he continued pursuit, his cybernetic legs pushing him as far as he would go to pick up with the incredibly fast sprinter, the man holstering his SMG just to gain more speed.

Rushing outside, he felt the winds of Mars batter against him and chill him to the bone, but he ignored them and kept running. He leapt over crates and piping, keeping his eyes on Eva in fear of her disappearing from sight. She didn't turn around for one second, and just kept on going, the woman never seeming to tire. How bloody fast is this woman? I thought she was a doctor, not an athlete!

They ran through a tunnel, before Eva reached the end and swerved left and up a ramp. Marcus stopped and turned to follow her, watching the Cerberus agent climb up a metal ladder to the landing pad. He heard Liara shouting at him from behind, but merely ignored as he leapt up the ramp and jumped onto the ladder, his hand clasping around Eva's foot half way up the climb.

The woman looked down in an instant, head turning at an irregular angle. Eyes widening, he watched as she reared her other foot up and then down, the swift velocity carrying it straight into his visor, cracking it with the impact and sending him falling onto his back. He could only watch as she continued to climb up, as if swatting a fly.

He heard Keeling's voice in the background as his vision blurred for a moment, "Normandy! We need extraction immediately! Cortez, do you read? Does anyone hear me? We need extraction and backup! Target is escaping with mission critical intel. Requesting assistance, over!"

Kaidan leapt over him and landed on the ladder, climbing with lightning fast ferocity. By the time Marcus finally got control of his senses and got to his feet, Liara arriving beside him, Kaidan was already up and over, and disappeared above. Marcus quickly climbed up the ladder as well, followed by Keeling, then Liara.

His head peeked over the edge as he finished his trek up the ladder, and his eyes widened in horror. A Cerberus kodiak shuttle sat hovering over the platform, Eva having leapt into it, and now turning towards a running Kaidan. Two assault troopers helped her inside while another two fired at Kaidan, who offered counterfire. He managed to take down one trooper, who fell out of the shuttle and to his death, before the hatch slammed shut and began to ascend.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Marcus cried, leaping the final steps and onto the platform, his avenger rifle out and firing, but his shots pinged harmlessly off the shuttle's hull, and were harmless. Kaidan did the same, anger contorting his face. Marcus joined his side, but as the rest of the team joined them, they could only continue to watch as it continued its ascent.

His rifle screamed at him as he continued to hold his trigger down on the empty weapon, and he dropped the weapon, sighing with defeat. Why can't...it ever...be simple...The chances of winning this war now was pathetically slim, and without-

Almost out of nowhere, they heard the growing sounds of another kodiak. Then, out of the blue like a guardian angel, Cortez's shuttle appeared, shooting towards the Cerberus shuttle at high speed...

...and it wasn't stopping.

Watching in sheer amazement, the alliance kodiak slammed into the Cerberus shuttle's side, sending it spinning as its rear engines were sheared off from the impact. The alliance shuttle itself seemed to have some of its bow cave in, but overall, it was still airborne. The same could not be said for the Cerberus vessel.

Still spinning, fires danced in its hull before being burnt out by the lack of oxygen. It spun and spun, and rapidly descended towards them. Marcus ordered them to duck, and just as they hit the deck, the shuttle slammed into the ground infront of them, the bow section completely caving in and likely pulverizing the pilot, before the shuttle came to rest, luckily not exploding. Just the crash would have killed Eva and everyone else inside. Once again flames danced and then died, unable to breathe.

For a few moments, all of them simply stood there, in awe of their savior, and the now completely totalled Cerberus kodiak, and the likely mutilated passengers. Well...worries of them escaping are now moot.

Liara had fallen to the ground from the impact of the shuttle hitting, and Kaidan moved over to help her up, while Keeling signalled Cortez's shuttle down, which was descending just as rapidly as it arrived. Marcus, joining Keeling as Kaidan made sure Liara was alright, watched as the shuttle didn't even hover before landing it; it just plopped down onto the ground, a loud bang heard as it hit. On the other side was now Kaidan and Liara with the Cerberus shuttle, and on this side was the hatch, himself and Keeling.

He approached to open the hatch, but watched as it opened of its own accord. He opened his mouth to berate Cortez for his crazy flying, only to stop as James emerged, the man holding his head and shaking it.

Eyes meeting, James merely shrugged, "What?"

"Where's Cortez?" Marcus asked, confused.

"In here," a voice moaned, and as they looked, they watched Cortez emerge in an EVA suit, the man clearly displeased, and showing it even more with the glares he shot James, "I'm still in one piece...remarkably."

"What was with the crazy flying?" Marcus asked him, grinning.

Cortez shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh, "Me? No, that's curtesy of Mister Vega," he waved an over dramatic hand at the bulky marine, "Crazy bastard said 'we won't get there in time. We need to move faster' and pushed me aside. Next thing I know, I'm thrown into the hatch because this is insanist decided it was a great idea to practically throw a forty billion credit piece of hardware at another shuttle!"

"Forty billion? I thought it was only thirty," James replied, but noticing the look Marcus gave him, sighed, scratching the back of his neck, "Hey, we had to react quickly or they'd get away. Getting a firing solution would have taken too long; I thought...it'd be faster just to ram 'em."

"Typical thoughts of a thick jarhead," Cortez teased.

James seemed about to retort when Marcus spoke, shaking his head, "We'll talk about your treatment of highly-expensive property later. Just consider yourself lucky we have a second shuttle."

Nodding in agreement, they moved into the shuttle, only for Marcus to remember the data, "I'll be right back. I need to grab that data," but as he said these words, he heard banging, like something kicking metal. Another bang, followed by another. The sound soon became louder when the bang have a resounding thud, and all fell silent.

Then he heard a pistol discharging multiple times. What?

He ran around the shuttle to find Liara on the ground again, blood pouring from a broken nose. The asari reset it, and as she turned around, Marcus did as well. He found the source of the banging; the hatch from the destroyed shuttle had been blown off and lay a few meters away, which had been the source of the thud. And standing not far away, was Eva...or what looked like Eva.

Her skin and face had melted away, revealing herself to be, in fact, a synthetic. An AI. No wonder she looked so robotic. Her hair was now a metal, chrome outfit, and her eyes were surrounded by a blue interface. Her breasts were revealed to be nothing but metal bumps, and the rest of her body was basically the same. Multiple bullet holes marred her surface where Kaidan had opened fire, but failed to kill it. But right now, Eva was standing there, likely the reason for Liara's broken nose, holding a certain someone by the face with a strong, five-fingered hand.

Kaidan simply hung there, grasping at her hand, desperately trying to wriggle free.

His SMG was unhooked in seconds, taking aim at the robot, but he couldn't get a sight on the damn thing because Kaidan was in the way. He watched as Eva tapped a comm unit on the side of her head, metal lips parting to speak, "Orders?"

He growled. Illusive Man, you fucking piece of shit.

The synthetic seemed to receive her orders, and what Eva did next left him powerless. He could only watch as the synthetic changed grips to the back of Kaidan's neck, before dragging him over to the shuttle, and with as much strength as synthetically possible, began ramming the front of his helmet into the crashed vessel's hull, again and again and again.

"Kaidan!" He roared, beginning to fire into the thing's back. I lost Ashley, I am not losing you! Not again! I will not lose anymore of my friends! Not now! Not by you! Eventually, his attacks got Eva's notice, and she dropped Kaidan, the marine long having been knocked unconscious, and his body slumped onto the ground, head lulling to the side. Eva turned towards him and with lightning speed began sprinting towards him, with the intent of doing the same to him.

His SMG ran out of ammo just as the bitch arrived and with a quickness that took Eva by surprise, quickly dropped it and grabbed the arm she had been using to punch him around the wirst. His grip tightened, stopping her from being able to escape and he rammed his head forwards, slamming it into Eva's. Her interface faded in and out from the impact, and he heard metal crack from the impact, but he kept up his assault, rage flowing through his veins.

He kneed her in the chest just as she was working up a kick, and quickly brought another knee into her face once more. She reeled back, but rapidly recovered, turning and side-kicking him into his ribcage, and causing him to double backwards. Noticing the synthetic was now on one-leg, he ducked under her leg and swept the other one out from under her, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

With the synthetic downed, he unhooked her pistol and put it to her forehead, teeth gritted as he leaned in, eyes meeting her blank ones, "Tell the Illusive Man this. Fuck you."

A pistol barked, and Eva went limp, her body ceasing all movement as the pistol entered her temple, blowing out her circuitry. Wind battered against him as she simply crouched there, eyes never moving from Eva's body. Noone hurts my friends. Noone. I already lost Ashley, I'm not losing anyone else. I lost Pressly, Johnson. I lost them. But I'm not losing anyone else.

James was at his side, and he broke from his thoughts, slapping the man on the shoulder, "Get this...thing onto the shuttle. I want EDI analyzing it as soon as possible. Make sure its dead before you take it to the...VI...core, and put it down. I don't want it waking up and having instant access to EDI's database. Now move, Lieutenant! Don't object, just bloody do it!"

James nodded without hesitation, moving to scoop up Eva's body in his arms while Marcus got up and jogged over to Kaidan's limp form, crouching over him tenderly, "Kaidan. Kaidan, talk to me. Come on, Alenko. Talk to me, that's an order!"

The man did not budge, or speak, or even batter an eyelash. He simply lay there, unmoving. Marcus checked for a pulse, and sighed with relief as he found one, but it was very feint. He needed medical attention, and fast. The Citadel...Huerta Memorial...if I can get Kaidan there they can save him.

He patted the man on the shoulder, moving to heft him up, "Hang in there, soldier. You don't get to die yet. None of us do. We've got a job to do first, and we're only just getting started."

The roar of the Normandy's engines was heard over him as he slung Kaidan over his shoulder effortlessly, and as he turned around, he saw the frigate looming over the platform, casting its shadow over them, and its shuttle bay door hung open and banging against the floor. Joker's voice shouted into his comm, "Shepard, we have to go! EDI's detected Reaper forces in orbit; at least five Sovereign-Class capital ships, and seven Destroyers. There's also thirty-two Tarantula-Class Troop Transports, as they've identified them. We need to leave now!"

He heard the urgency in the pilot's voice and immediately spun as he heard the familiar sound of an airhorn, watching as a Reaper capital ship landed nearby, the impact of its landing causing the ground to shake beneath it. A Reaper destroyer landed just infront of the sandstorm, roaring its victory. As he looked up, he saw the sky was alight with fire; the Reapers obviously had destroyed the space stations and shipyards in orbit, and were moving to the surface. Earth had fallen, and now the rest of the Sol System was about to follow.

Turning away, he ran up to the shuttle bay door, and stepped onto it. James was already rushing inside with Eva in his arms, while Keeling held Liara under arm, the asari cradling her broken nose, purple blood oozing from her nostrils, while Cortez rushed past her. By the time Marcus was off the ramp, the frigate was already lifting off, and he looked at Mars for the last time before the door shut away the view. It would be the last planet he ever saw in his home system for a very long time.

Inhaling, he then exhaled, steeling himself for the battles to come. This war will likely destroy me, but I won't let it do it lightly. I will not stop until the Reapers are destroyed, the Illusive Man is dead, and Cerberus is in ruins. We cannot lose. We must not lose. It'll mean the destruction of all galactic life as we know it if we do.

He commed his helmet once more, speaking to Joker in a rough tone, "Get us out of here, Joker. Head for the Andura Sector and link up with the rest of the alliance naval forces there. We'll head to the Citadel together."

"Got ya Shepard," Joker sighed, "Its hard leaving."

"Its going to get harder," he growled, hating the acid in his tone as he increased his pace to the elevator, afraid if he stayed he might reconsider leaving, "Best get used to it. This war's only just begun, and now two players are on the field."

As the elevator doors closed behind him, and he shuffled Kaidan's unconscious weight on his shoulder, he cut the comm, and became what the galaxy needed him to be.

Captain or not, Commander Shepard was back in action.

"So that's when you first encountered Cerberus on the battlefield? When you learnt of the Illusive Man's intent?"

- Reia'Inas pav Earth.

"Indeed. And it wouldn't be the last. There would be many and more battles before the war is over. But the Reapers were always the main threat. Even Cerberus knew that."

- Marcus Shepard.

"So you linked up with the fleets in the Andura sector, and headed for the Citadel. What happened then?"

- Tali'Shepard pav Rannoch.

"We talked to the Council. And again, the idiocy was palpable. But this time it was out of terror...not ignorance. I had never seen them so terrified."

- Marcus Shepard.

A/N:

You believed me dead? You thought wrong. He's another chapter to prove that.

The chapters following this will be largely based on the Citadel, but do not worry. Shepard will be running into quite a few friends along the way.

Please leave reviews and Keelah Se'lai!