Chapter 8

Shepard stood behind Joker as they watched the last evacuation shuttle leave. "Citadel is empty," he announced. "Ward arms closing in 4, 3, 2, 1. This is it, Commander."

Joker took the Normandy out of dock and got it above the tower.

"Activating Citadel Relay," she said quietly. "Stealth systems up?"

"Yes, ma'am," Joker said.

"Are you going to kill us?" the asari councilor said.

"No," Shepard said. "You always said you wanted proof, I always said I wanted you to get off your asses and do something. We're killing two birds with one stone. Human expression, it means two tasks at the same time. I'm going to give you proof. I'm taking you right into Dark Space, you'll see the Reapers yourselves."

"We'll have you put in prison the rest of your life!" the turian councilor snarled.

"I don't care," Shepard said. "I'll save this galaxy whether you want me to or not."

The Blitzkrieg traveled through the Citadel Relay, and became the first organic ship to do so. There were no fuel depots, no star charts, nothing to help them. No contact back to the Traverse.

"Scans coming in," Joker said.

Shepard watched as Reaper ships were detected. Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.

"Back through the relay," she said.

"We just got here," Joker said.

"Sovereign was more powerful than several of our ships put together," Shepard said. She looked at the three Councilor's, their faces terrified. "Do you believe me now?"

The asari looked up at her, "We cannot fight a force this strong. What do we do?"

"Don't ask me. I'm a prisoner," Shepard said. "Take us back through, Joker."

"The Wards are opening," Anderson said as the shuttle he was on watched over the Citadel. "They made it through and back."

"How do you know?" Kaidan asked, his restraints had been taken off but he was still pissed.

"Shepard's override was going to allow them an hour. If she made it back sooner, she wasn't going to leave the Wards closed."

Kaidan sat in the back as the Council met with Shepard and her team. "This is…disturbing, and compelling evidence, Shepard," the turian said.

"I don't get tired of telling you I told you so, Councilor," she said, but she wasn't amused. "This is what you need to do…"

"You presume to give us orders, Shepard?" the salarian said.

"Seeing as you decided to remove the charges of treason for working with a terrorist organization and kidnapping the three of you…yeah, I'm thinking you want my help," she said. "But this should be good. What do you think we should do?"

"They are trapped in dark space. With the research Cerberus has done they have effectively prevented the Citadel relay from accepting Reaper IFFs. We don't need to do anything," the asari said.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Shepard groaned. "That's it, who do I have to shoot to go to jail?"

"Shepard," Anderson said firmly.

"The technology in place is a patch," Shepard said. "Our technology still hasn't come close to that of the Reapers. We may be safe for this generation, but in the future they will find a way in. They made this station, they will find a way."

"You want us to send a fleet to battle thousands of ships like Sovereign? The casualties…" the asari said, shaking her head.

"May be great," Shepard said. "We would need a massive cooperation effort from all organizations and species. Seems that someone in here should have been working on cooperating with the Terminus systems. Working on forging allies. Uniting the galaxy instead of tiptoeing around any issue that might 'upset' the neighbors."

"The Rachni?" the turian questioned.

"For a start," Shepard said. "Turian, Asari, Salarian, and Human military, all of them, every ship they can spare…"

"Doing so will leave our colonies open to pirates and slavers!" the turian argued.

"Recruiting soldiers," Shepard continued. "Building fueling ships, because once we are out there it is only light year after light year of emptiness. All ships need to be upgraded. Hull, shields, weapons…"

"That will bankrupt our nations!" the salarian said.

"This isn't a war that is going to be fought on the ground," Shepard said. "Our rifles are worthless against a Reaper. Their ships are massive, and more advanced than anything we have."

"Declaring war against them…" the salarian began.

"THEY ALREADY DECLARED WAR!" Shepard shouted. "Unless you want the galaxy to start over, as it did after the Protheans, and every other organic species that came before us, this has to be done!"

The Councilors, one by one, nodded gravely. "Shepard, you will work with us as we reach out to those that must be our allies for this. Ambassadors and diplomats from all races must be present in a conference so we can discuss it further. Until then, to avoid public panic, we do not wish to make a public statement."

"That is acceptable," Shepard nodded.

"We want you there at the conference. Plans will begin to bring the races together, united, against this massive threat."