Flameraven. Okay, I thought about it some more, watched a few trek episodes with the Borg and yes, the Borg would be intrigued by the Superweapon enough to risk it, so I'm making a few small changes to how (Or more importantly where) this will conclude. And To be honest, I think it's better than the original ending I've drafted. Anyway, enjoy!

/.../

Last time on TUKM

The galaxy had to decide, use the superweapon and possibly destroy numerous systems in the resulting blast, or hold on it's deployment, as they thought over its use Shepard and crew relaxed, and Cerberus prepared a fleet to take the weapon by force. With Cerberus also having received the data-packet transmitted to EDI from 'Peace Keeper' 0073, and TIM using an artificial intelligence that is Harbinger in disguise, the Reapers have ultimately received the data packet.

Time 2200

It had taken a lot longer to vote on the weapons use than what was expected, as many had asked for more time in making such a critical decision the council granted an extension by 6 hours, meaning that by 2200 the vote had been counted and Tevos was about to make an announcement but first she had to try and get her voice heard over the rabble in the Councillor Chambers. After numerous failed attempts to gain order Wrex took it upon him self to establish the required attention. "Silence!" Wrex added a shot of his claymor for added effect.

Tevos thanked the Krogan before addressing the crowd. "Having counted the votes, the weapon is not to be deployed..." There was another wave of commotion but a growl from wrex soon silenced the crowd one more. "As I was saying, the weapon will not be deployed, this is not however saying we will never use the weapon."

The Salarian councillor took over. "Shall the weapon ever be endangered by enemy forces, we have given permission for it's use."

"And should the council fall, Admiral Hackett of the alliance Navy is directly ordered to fire the weapon, as we fear the governmental structure required to contemplate its use will no longer exist and have the capability to order it's deployment."

After the Turian Primarch spoke Tevos continued. "And shall 3 or more ambassadors or councillors demand a re-vote we shall organise a ballot for 8 hours after the request. This meeting is adjourned."

Many left the chambers enraged that others couldn't see the tactical requirement for the weapon to be fired right this second, and even more left feeling relieved that the weapon was not yet deployed, Picard and his team were a few of those relived, but now he expected he would have to start seriously helping out in the war.

1 hour later, Armax Arsenal Arena

Worf growled as he stood from slamming a Reaper Cannibal into the floor and finishing it off but the next thing he knew he had a Husk taking a swipe at his face, after a dodge the Klingon ended the Husk with a shot from his phaser. "Worf!" The large humanoid turned to face one of his security officers who was being cornered by a giant... monster. The beast took more than its fair share of shots before falling. "Thanks." The security officer was out of breath, he had been dancing with that thing for far too long.

"We need to work as a group, this is getting us no..." Warf ended another Husk which just jumped them from a height. "where."

A few others managed to work their way over to the duo before another cry for help was heard, this time it was the Captain. "Worf, were being flanked, right side."

Without thinking the group began to run towards the right flank to meet the Reaper forces head on, but a blood curdling cry was heard. "Banshee!" The next thing Worf saw was one of his officers fly through the air and hit into the arena's padded walls, a klaxon sounded indicating the man was out of the game.

It was a Banshee that fractured Worf's skull and even though the enemy in this arena were simulated the man wanted revenge, but before he could think much of it the Banshee had jumped into the middle of the group, it took down three of the men with ease and caused a nasty scratch across the Klingons chest before he managed to create some distance between it and himself, but then another blood curdling scream caught his attention as another banshee had found him and was preparing to jump. One he may have been able to tackle but 2? Out of the question. Sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him he joined up with Picard and team, they were supporting a wide array of injuries. "My team is down, we have two Banshees."

In the time it took for Picard to turn a Brute had managed to force it's way through his own teams defensive line and removed a few of his men from the tournament, very quickly it became just Worf and the Captain, and then just Worf, and finally the entire team were eliminated. Looking at the scoreboard the team felt defeated, they hadn't even made it into the top 200 teams. "Data, do you believe you could replicate the Reaper forces seen here on the holodeck?"

The AI bobbed it's head. "I believe I have witnessed enough to form algorithms to correctly represent the Reaper forces."

"Excellent, because if this has shown us anything today it's that we are out of our depth in close quarter combat." Scrolling through the scoreboard Worf scowled, that human Shepard was ontop next to someone called Aria. "Worf, tomorrow I want you to find someone to show us any tricks they may know, and see if you can make these weapons more useful. As for me, I'm going to stay here and see what I can learn through observation, as for everyone else, you are dismissed."

After being dismissed Worf joined the Captain as he found a seat to watch a new group led by someone called Jack enter the arena, he too thought that watching would be a good way to improve. "Captain, I have been thinking about what technology could help this galaxy win their war."

Picard nodded as he replied but kept his eyes focussed entirely on the battle ground down below, right now the foe's were just husks. "I'm listening."

Worf was about to voice his thoughts but something caught his eye, one of those in the arena were glowing bright blue much like how the commander reacted when transported onto the E's bridge and the Banshee's that had just eliminated them from the game. "That blue light..." Soon a large biotic explosion took out numerous husks. Picard pulled out a tricorder and pointed it towards where the explosion occurred, it's readings were gibberish at best, just like the readings of the bridge when the Banshee's invaded, Geordie had thought the sensors were acting up but looking at his tricorder Worf assumed there was more to it then that.

The two friends stopped their conversation as they watched more and more of the show, these people battled like he had never seen before, instead of the battle being gun centric it was biotic centric, things were blowing up in wonderful explosions of blue and white, husks and cannibals were flung through the air from biotic pushes, shockwaves were dislodging enemies entrenched behind obstacles, people were jumping around the battlefield in biotic shows of force, others were shaking the ground with fists of blue fire or inflicting some type of warp on the Reaper forces. Eventually the team had finished their round and came 22nd on the rankings, the leader seemed displeased by this ranking and demanded another go, but of course there was another group already filing into the arena. "Well, in all my years I have never seen anything like that before." Worf grunted in acknowledgement. "Now, you were saying?"

"Self Replicating mines." The self replicating mines were developed to protect the Bajoran worm-hole at deep space nine from Dominon forces, they incorporated incredibly advanced technology that was easily turning the tide of the war against the Dominon, hopefully if Picard give the go-ahead the same could be said for this galaxy and their Reaper pests.

Picard liked the idea of the self replicating mines, they were easy enough to produce and could be devastating to any ship in its proximity, however could he give this galaxy such technology? Thinking it over some more the Captain nodded, these people were fighting a war for the right to exist, if his own vessel was the one to plant the mines and produce them then minimal collateral harm should come from the weapons, although heavy safe guard would have to be incorporated, Picard could not have the people of this galaxy attempting to steal a mine and plunder it's advanced tech.

Time, 0048

The reapers prepared themselves for the battle that laid ahead, small 'Care Workers' much like the keepers on the citadel patched up any damage or wear they had sustained this cycle, meaning every Reaper in the task force designated for upcoming battle with the Borg entity was ready to do their bit, and the Reapers that were unscathed and not needing attention bizzied themselves with sterilising the space they occupied.

With thanks to peace keeper 0073 Harbinger had managed to prepare if ever so slightly for the encounter, the Data Packet it broadcast to the hostile AI contained more information than it could hope for, specifications of the Borg vessels, analysis of their attack and defence techniques, and most importantly, all data regarding what their weapons and shields are capable of with thanks to the first hand experience, the only thing it seemed to lack was information on where to find the Borg, but that was no longer an issue a Cerberus scout had just reported into TIM.

'Taskforce, numerous Borg units identified by Cerberus scouts, move to sector 002E, await further instructions'

Within seconds of Harbingers instructions the 175 ship armada designated for the upcoming battle began to file towards the nearest relay, as they travelled they came across a small cargo vessel hidden behind a Gas Giant, it was quickly dispatched.

/.../

Time, 0329,

TIM dabbed his cigar in a well practised move, today was going to be a day for the history books, today Humanity will ascend to their rightful place in this galaxy, all he had to do to achieve such ascension was give one small order, but he had one more minute to wait, if he give the order too early it would corrupt his entire plan. Eventually the clocked ticked to 03:30. "Intelligence, activate stage 1, code name Asphyxiation."

The red orb formed. "Stage 1 initiated, Citadel Atmospheric units have been compromised."

"Excellent." Tim took a puff of his cigar and a swag of some expensive 1932 Highlander Whiskey he had been saving for such a grande occasion. "Now we play the waiting game. Any news of the Borg and their end destination?"

TIM's scouts had identified the Borg a few hours back and recently all 7 of their vessels had abandoned a massive construct they had been working on to travel the relays. "There is no new status to report."

"Pity." TIM took another swag of his whiskey. "Send the scout for a closer look on that structure, instruct them to... assess it's progress and act as required."

"Command delivered."

"Excellent."

Time 0517, CO2 levels at 2.3% (15% is lethal, 2-3% its effects are noticeable in extraneous exercise, normal Earth atmosphere composure = ~0.04% CO2, 21% O2 and 78% Nitrogen, other gasses ~0.96% )

It was a Hanar working the mid night oil to first raise the alarm about finding it hard to breath, and soon after CSEC was in panic mode, engineers had warned that the increased load of all the refugees were have a detrimental effect on the Citadel's systems and it appeared they were right, the primary atmospheric units had catasrophically failed. Bailey having been notified of an 'urgent matter' not ten minutes ago walked through the door to head quarters, his hair was sticking up and his uniform a mess from his rush to HQ. "Would someone please like to tell me what is going on?" His secretary pushed a data pad and a hot mug of tea into his hand, Bailey looked it over as he walked towards his office. "This is... bad news. I assume we have engineers on this as we speak?"

"Yes Sir." The secretary juggled numerous data-pads before handing him another and taking back the first. "Well, this is... even worse news." It appeared to fix the atmospheric units the Engineers believed they would have to shut down the machines, and that would cause the entire atmosphere to be vented, Bailey shook his head disbelievingly, who's stupid idea was it for the atmosphere to be vented if the units were shut down? "Is it me Fales or does something not feel right about this? I can almost taste Cerberus."

The Asari nodded, she too had her suspicions. "It would not surprise me Sir."

Bailey nodded. "Well, they have burned us once, I say no more. I want all personnel on duty now, I don't care if they are on vacation, supporting broken limbs or what not..." As he spoke Fales made notes. "...issue a command for the Councillor vessels to leave harbour, and double the Councillors guards." Since the last Cerberus assault it had been agreed that the councillors would live permanently on their own species most powerful vessels, those being the Destiny Ascension, the SurKesh - a Salarian heavy Dreadnought, and the adeptly named 'Gunn', the Turians most powerful ship. Had the humans still had a representative their councillor would have been housed on the now destroyed Tokyo Dreadnought.

By the time Bailey had arrived at his office and logged into his terminal the councillors were already in meeting. "... We need to sound the alarm now and begin evacuations now before we have deaths on our hands, our scientists estimate it will only be 2 hours 20 minutes before the levels begin to become lethal."

The Turian give a classic Turian growl. "If Cerberus are behind this that is exactly what they would want us to do."

The Salarian dalatrass sighed, she could see and agree with both sides of the arguments. "Have scouts reported anything which could suggest they or the Reapers are planning an attack?"

"A private cargo vessel encountered 175 Reaper vessels at ten to one in the Epsilon Cluster." Trust the Turian Primarch to know that with out needing to look, he was a General at heart and read tactical reports on the war periodically, his last check was less than 12 minutes before he was alerted to the situation.

Hackett's image formed to join the conversation, right now he was humanity's stand in representative. "Then we do anything but evacuate, with that many ships they intend on taking a system and evacuating will require sparing military vessels, leaving us exposed. Order safe zones with portable atmospheric cleansers to be established, till we know what that fleet is planning on hitting we are to do nothing."

The Turian nodded and flared his mandibles in agreements. "With the Super Weapon now complete it is... safe to assume the Reapers are planning on taking this system."

Tevos pulled a hand to her forehead and rubbed in an attempt to soothe the forming head ache. "With what you are suggesting millions could die."

"The ruthless calculus of war." Hackett spoke before the Turian could, his response earned a nod of respect from the Turian. "If we lose the super weapon we lose everything, a few million won't matter."

There was a pause before the Salarian spoke. "I... I concur. I am also ordering vessels to help defend the Crucible as we speak."

Eventually Tevos nodded too. "I am also ordering the Ascension to help protect the weapon, I will board the Lur'Naviok."

Soon each councillor pledged more ships to the weapons protection, with only Hackett not giving any more as right now as there was very little he could give, the Alliance was already the super-weapons primary shield and spear, they had already given as much as they could, hell, Hackett had already allowed numerous system's to fall in order to ensure he had enough ships protecting the weapon.

"One last thing Councillors, I believe it could be a good idea to connect the weapon to the catalyst now."

/.../

Time 0704 Geth Vessel 6443

Shepard's knees were bouncing once more as the commander stared at the battle screen the Geth still had set-up for his use. "Shepard Commander, we have discovered a fleet of 7 vessels approaching."

The commander of the Normandy had once more taken his role on the Geth vessel, the Normandy still not being ready to engage Cerberus if they ever showed their face. "Borg." Over the last few hours hundreds of civilian ships had arrived to help evacuations of the Citadel, so Shepard knew if the Geth mentioned this fleet it was bad news.

"Affirmative."

The man sighed. "Alert the fleets."

Borg

The Borg had discovered logs, emails, and documents regarding the super weapon and the consensus agreed that the weapon needed assimilation, however there was a small issue, the weapon was in heavily guarded territory, long range scans indicated over 400 military and an additional 3700 non military vessels had amassed at its position, including the Enterprise.

The solution to this small problem was obvious to the Borg, they simply needed to adapt, shields were fine tuned for kinetic weapons, their own weapons nature was changed to inflict inconceivable damage to this galaxy's vessels, but they also made another unexpected change, a change of tactics, usual Borg philosophy on warfare stated that ultimate force conquered, and while this still held true the consensus ultimately agreed that simply going in gun's ho would not work, they would be subcomed by the amount of vessels firing at them in little to no time, so to over come this problem the Borg did what they did best, they adapted.

Time 0728

The Captain was understandably ratty, he had little sleep and right now the Borg had decided to show their ugly face. "Someone shut off that damned alarm!" It didn't take long for the audible siren of red alert to fall silent. "Geordie, have you forwarded the recommended shield and weapon modifications to the fleets?" After repairing most of the damage the Enterprise took during the Reaper attack Picard had the engineer study the weapons and sheilds of this galaxies vessels with the hope that Geordie could find some way to make them more effective against the Borg.

The Engineer was silent for a moment as he worked on something requiring intense concentration. "I didn't quite finish the shield modifications but they will work for a short time till they adapt, and with how this galaxies weapons operate there is very little they can do to modify them."

"A short time is better than nothing. Data, how long till the Borg emerge from the relay?"

"12 minutes."

/.../

Cheers for reading.