Chapter 35: Spectre Vs Spectre

AN: Sorry this one took me awhile, but I will keep updating it may just take a lot of time between posts but it has not been forgotten. Thanks to all the likes and reviews so far.

Logan and the rest of the team left the room the same way they came in, and once the elevator doors opened there was a geth destroyer waiting for them. The team made short work of the destroyer. After making their way back though Rana's office and past her corpse, they crossed a bridge and it was here that they saw the first krogan that roamed the base, three of them.

"Young, they smell like a lab" Wrex told them before he quickly put them down by himself before anyone else could even help him. He launched two off the bridge and blasted the third close range with his shotgun.

Farther along they came across another krogan this one backed up by geth hoppers, rocket drones and assault drones and even a geth ghost, which was the codenamed given to geth snipers. Tali hacked the ghost while the rest of them took down the drones. The ghost now on their side for the time being shot the hoppers before it too was destroyed before Tali's hack wore off.

The krogan was thrown off the side, again by Wrex. As they headed towards the AA tower, minor resistance slowed them down but not by much. Logan ordered Tali to shut the tower down while they covered her.

"Done Commander" She confirmed.

"Good job, let's move out" he told the team.

Kirrahe came over the comm congratulating them and saying that now it is his turn now. Logan had to hand it to Kirrahe, he was doing his job well.

When they went to use the elevator, it doesn't come up empty. Inside the elevator are two Geth Troopers and a Geth Shock Trooper. Logan threw a grenade into the elevator and dived to one side pushing Liara and Tali out of the way along with him, the rest of the team moved on their own.

Once the exited the elevator they could see dozens of krogan still in tanks, Logan felt slightly disgusted by the sight. Wrex on the other hand roared with rage and took his anger out of the geth that were guarding the halls. Garrus sniped one while standing at the back of the group while the rest of them kept any hostiles from reaching him. The narrow hallways of the krogan breeding trench made for a short fight, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Once the door at the end of trench opens, a large open space with several geth troopers, geth rocket troopers, geth shock troopers, and a juggernaut. Wrex charged the shock troopers first, while Tali hacked a rocket trooper, a singularity from Liara kept the rest of the enemy from moving to close for now. Garrus focused on the juggernaut with Kaidan and Logan. The rocket trooper that Tali had hacked took down two troopers before it too was gunned down by its own, the shock troopers were smashed to bits by Wrex, who seemed to relish in tearing them apart. Once the squad had finished off the remaining geth, the Normandy landed a short time later, Logan knew that Joker would have been waiting for the landing zone to be cleared before bringing the ship into land.

Kaidan escorted the bomb personally down the ramp and into position near the geothermal taps that power the base, and its one weak point.

"Commander" Ashely called over the radio "Getting pinned down here, near the second AA tower. Going to need some help"

Kaidan looked at Logan and nodded "Go Commander, we are done here. Just need to arm the bomb and I'll need a few minutes to do so"

Logan nodded "Good job" he said to Kaidan before answering Ashley "Williams hold on we are coming now" He told her.

After Ashley confirmed his orders Logan and the team all bar Kaidan quickly made their way back towards Ashley and the STG teams. Fighting their way though geth and krogan, who were now in full force with more surrounding them the closer to the AA tower they got. Halfway there and the situation got worse.

"Commander, I am getting surrounded, the geth are trying to get to the nuke" Kaidan called over the comms "Hurry up and get Ashley so I can blow this thing" he said, knowing that he was telling Commander to Shepard to leave him behind so the mission could be completed.

"Negative, leave me and go get LT and get out of here" Ashley responded.

Logan muted the comms for a second and screamed "FUCK!" he ran his hand though his hair, the aliens that made up his team just watched in silence as he made his choice. Tali couldn't imagine how hard this would be for the human Commander; she looked to Garrus hoping someone could have an idea on how to get both of them off this planet, but to no luck.

Garrus flicked his mandibles but stayed silent nonetheless. He knew there was no way around this, someone had to die here to complete the mission, he did not judge Shepard for cursing the way he did, losing part of your unit was always hard, even harder when you have to choose.

Liara wanted to comfort the human who she was starting to see as her bond mate, she however knew that he needed her silence at the moment. She would speak to him later.

Wrex could hear the heart of Logan and could tell from that and his scent that Logan was enraged at the impossible situation; he never showed it on his face though. Wrex had read the reports from Torfan and knew that while Logan would do what needed to be done; this would bother the human for some time.

Ashley was with a whole platoon of STG and Kaidan could detonate the bomb once clear. If he went back for Kaidan then not only would Ashley die but so would all of the STG and if he went for Ashley then only Kaidan would die and the only reason why the nuke hadn't gone off yet was because Kaidan was waiting for the rest f them to get clear.

"Williams, we are heading to you get ready to evac" Logan ordered.

A slight pause followed by an almost disappointed sounding Ashley answering with "Understood"

Logan sighed before he spoke to Kaidan "Kaidan, I'm sorry I had to make a choice"

Kaidan sounded almost relived "Don't be sir, I understand. I don't regret a thing"

Logan took a deep breath before he turned back to face his team "Let's move" he ordered.

The team tore though the remaining forces and once at the AA tower noticed Saren himself was there. Saren spotted the team at the same time and he took aim and fired, as the geth and a few krogan followed his lead.

Logan and the others took cover quickly; Saren smirked and stood there in the open confident of his shields. The geth and krogan waited for Saren's command to attack.

"This has been an impressive diversion Shepard; my geth were convinced that the Salarians were the real threat, of course it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what is truly at stake" Saren said as if he was speaking to a disrespectful child.

"This isn't complicated, never was. You will do anything to get power" Logan said before he remembered what he had read from Saren's files "Even joining with the Reapers. You have never liked humans. Bigots like you are easy to understand" Logan added.

"You have seen the visions from the beacon Shepard, you of all people should understand what the Reapers are capable of and they cannot be stopped. Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt; do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The protheans tried to fight and they were utterly destroyed. Trillions dead, but what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?" Saren asked clearly he had done this speech more than once.

"I'd rather die than live under the rule of those machines" Logan answered back.

"Now you see why I never came forward with my findings to the Council? We organics are driven by emotion instead of logic; we will fight even though we know we cannot win" Saren said pacing back and forth sounding more like he was convincing himself with every word "But if we work with the Reapers, if we make ourselves useful; think of how many lives could be spared?" Saren asked and without waiting for an answer he continued "Once I understood this I joined Sovereign, although I was aware of the dangers, I had hoped that this facility could protect me"

Logan laughed out loud at that "Sovereign is already influencing you, even now. It is controlling your thoughts. What makes you so special that it wouldn't use you like it uses everything else?" Logan asked.

Saren paused for a moment before answering "I have studied the effects of indoctrination. The more control Sovereign excerts the less capable the subject becomes. That is my saving grace. Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit, my mind is still my own…for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle, I will not let it happen to me" Saren said, once again sounding as if he needed to believe what he was saying.

"Why do the geth follow Sovereign?" Logan asked.

"They believe Sovereign to be some kind of God. The pinnacle of their own evolution. But the reaction of their deity is most telling - It is insulted. Sovereign does not desire the pitiful devotions the geth hurl at it. They are just tools and no amount of belief on their part will change that" Saren answered still standing in the open "but as tools they are useful, they will survive the coming invasion. If organic life is to survive, we must also prove we are useful. We must work with the Reapers"

Logan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Saren really did believe this "Why does Sovereign need the Conduit? Tell me what it is, maybe we can find a way to stop them" Logan said trying to appeal to the soldier in Saren.

"The Conduit is the key to your destruction and my salvation. Sovereign needs my help to find it. That is the only reason why I have not been indoctrinated" Saren answered sounding almost desperate.

"You're a coward Saren. How did they ever make you a Spectre?" Logan asked before adding "I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees"

"I am not doing this for myself, don't you see? Sovereign will succeed. It is inevitable; my way is the only way any of us will survive. I am forging an alliance between us and the Reapers, between organics and machines and in doing so I will save more lives than have ever existed. But you would undo all my work, you would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation, and for that you must die" Saren said glowing blue from biotics.

The biotic ball of energy fired a split second later and barely missed Logan. The others took cover and began to focus on the geth and krogan that were keeping STG and Ashley pinned down.

"Wrex, get Williams" Logan ordered "Tali back him up" Logan screamed as a round went passed his head "Garrus and Liara cover them"

Outnumbered and against a more experienced foe, Logan noticed that the battle was not going well for his side. He dropped one geth trooper and noticed that it was replaced more three more. Ashley and the STG team were pinned down and of little help, while his team came under heavy fire.

Liara was using her biotics almost constantly which being a doctor not a commando left her tiring quickly, with a roar a krogan slammed into her from her left side. Breaking two of her ribs and sending her flying, she looked up just in time to see the young krogans head explode from behind fired by Wrex. Four krogan pointed at the old battle master and moved towards him.

Wrex laughed as he threw a warp at the closest one and roared a challenge to them, he finished that one off before he was able to wound another one before a shotgun wielding krogan blasted him in his side, two more blasts dropped his shields and before he could fire back he was attacked from the other side by two geth. Bleeding badly, Tali ran to help the old krogan and a round made its way though her mask for her trouble, missing her head and face by millimeters but leaving a hole in her mask and sending sharp pieces of her mask into her face. She dropped to the ground and frantically tried to patch the hole while her mouth filled with blood.

Garrus covered Tali as best he could, his sniper rifle booming every few seconds, every shot a kill, this however the remaining krogan that Wrex had challenged charged him. A warp hit Garrus shields and he swore as he took cover. He knew that his shields would not recharge before they reached him.

As the first one jumped over his cover Garrus shot him from groin to neck with his assault rifle, leaving his gun overheated, Garrus prepared his sidearm, knowing that his pistol would not be enough to stop a charging krogan. It was at that moment that the krogan was lifted up from behind. Logan stood five feet away, glowing blue he opened fire with his shotgun while Garrus also shot the krogan finishing him off.

Garrus looked at Logan and noticed he had a trickle of blood from his head Logan shook his head when he went to help the human Commander "Go help the others. I am going hot, tell Tali" he told Garrus.

Garrus nodded, 'going hot' was what Logan told him and Tali meant that he was going to be using that strange mixture he had made earlier, highly toxic to turians and possibly quarians as well, harmless to humans and levo-based DNA species. To say that the substance made Garrus nervous was an understatement. While not a toxin technically, instead it was a mix of foods that react badly to turians, it should only take a few minutes after exposure for the first signs to appear.

Logan opened a small container and covered his hands and face with it before he charged Saren himself. Saren turned to face the human and only just managed to deflect a biotic ball of energy that Logan had thrown at him, which gave Logan the opening he needed to punch Saren in the face, smearing the blue substance over the older turians face.

Saren retaliated with a strike of his own, before spitting some of it out of his mouth, it was then that Saren noticed the human was smiling at him before he attacked him again. Saren's shields stopped the two shotgun blasts from Logan before Saren had to avoid a blade that was thrown with biotics before once again the human was on top of him again.

At first the two of them used biotics and firearms to try and kill one another, once the weapons were either sabotaged or over heated from overuse they resorted to their bare hands and blades.

Garrus had managed to help the others and they were now stopping Saren from getting any help. Risking a glance over at the two Spectres and Garrus could see that neither one was holding back, the sheer ferocity of the two Spectres trying to kill one another was a sight that Garrus would never forget, he needed to get over there and help but right now geth and krogan were busy trying to help Saren as well.

Logan screamed as Saren's talons stabbed the side of his neck avoiding a lethal wound but deep enough that Logan was losing blood and fast, but before Saren could remove his hand Logan grabbed it and pulled him in closer for a head butt, the sound of a human head smacking against the exoskeleton of the turian could be heard over the sound of gunfire.

While still holding onto Saren's wrist Logan twisted around and forced Saren's own hand back into the turians face while Saren was distracted, Logan reached for his pistol but before the gun could be fired at the turians face, Saren knocked the gun of centre causing two rounds to hit Saren low in the stomach before Saren forced the gun away from him but left himself open to be pistol whipped instead.

Logan snarled as he charged his biotics but instead of firing he used it as a distraction instead using the spilt second opening to pistol whip Saren again. Saren blocked the next attack and used his metal arm to slam it down across Logan's arm, snapping it at the elbow.

Logan screamed and responded by spitting a blob of blood into Saren's eyes, from there Logan grabbed Saren's right mandible with his good arm and drove the turians head into a nearby wall before he booted the side of the turians head into the wall and was about to do it again when Saren reached out and grabbed Logan by the throat and lifted him up.

The pressure of Saren's hand slowed any blood loss from the neck wound but Logan was fading fast.

"Interesting tactic Shepard, would have worked had Sovereign not already improved me" Saren admitted "I can feel my cybernetics flushing my system of any foreign substances"

Logan reached for his knife slowly so Saren would not notice; it was then that Sovereign arrived and made a loud noise which got Saren's attention, while his head was turned Logan slashed him across the face forcing Saren to drop him.

Logan stood up feeling lightheaded and with one good arm placed a generous amount of medi-gel on his neck wound while he watched Saren fly away on that flying platform he used.

The others had managed to fight off the remaining geth and krogan and were now tending to their wounds, including Tali who now in bad shape, speaking gibberish and telling everyone she loved them.

Logan stumbled over to them once Saren had gone and looked at the wounded. Liara was holding one side but standing, Garrus seemed to be bleeding from a small head wound and was breathing heavy, Wrex much to the envy of everyone else was healing right in front of them, but clear that he took a beating as well. Tali was the worst, her mask was patched together with some kind of glue and loaded up on anti-biotics that he made her giddy.

STG and Ashley helped them get back on to the Normandy. Dr Chakwas ordered all of them into the med bay, none of them moved away from the window showing Virmire. They watched as a large mushroom cloud rose from the surface.

"Who did we leave behind?" Joker asked quietly over the comms.

"Kaidan" Logan answered his voice just above a whisper.