Mass Effect 3: Galaxy on Fire

by Steadfast3

The Reapers have arrived and are devouring all that stands in their path. Commander Scott Gardner and his team must give everything they have to rally the species of the Milky Way into an alliance to fight back before it is too late. Fighting a two-front war against the Reapers and Cerberus, losses are inevitable. Worlds will burn. Sacrifices will be made.

49. Chapter 49 - Calm Before the Storm

The Calm Before the Storm

My friends were all rattled from the events on Sanctuary, piled on top of how we were already feeling about Thessia falling. But we could confide in each other, have a laugh to ease the stress and find peace in the arms of our lovers. Liara and Traynor spent much more time together than I had previously seen. Samantha had begun this war as an Alliance researcher who was totally out of her depth, operating on an active ship in all the worst war zones in the galaxy. However, as time had gone on, she had learned how to cope and toughened up, but she had not lost her kind and nurturing edge either. I saw how Liara and her girlfriend relied on each other to pull each other through the worst that the galaxy could throw at us.

Everyone had someone, or a few people, who they could count on to support them. All except Javik, who still secluded himself for the majority of the time. Sometimes, I struggled to understand how, even having served with us for several months now, he still felt the need to distance himself from the rest of the crew. No one on board knew anything of substance about him. However, I respected this because of the extraordinary circumstances through which he had come to us. Time travel was still not a possibility, for all our advanced technology, and yet Javik was a living example that there is a roundabout way to do it. He had woken up in a galaxy that was completely alien to him and nothing of his time and people remained. Could I ever know how he truly felt? Never.

I had washed up and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading down to Engineering to see Tali at her work station, but had found her absent. I headed back to the elevator but saw the doors to Javik's room open. He was coming out when he spotted me,

"Commander. I… I find myself wishing to speak with you."

"What about?"

"I wish to speak in private," the Prothean warrior stated before turning on his heel and returning to his quarters. This was the first time that he had actively sought my company and so I rushed to catch up. A crew-mate and a friend needed me, so I needed to be there.

"What's on your mind, Javik?" I asked when I joined him. "Is it what we saw on Horizon?"

Javik dismissed that immediately,

"The crew seems shocked by what we witnessed there. But they should not. They have not seen what the Reapers can corrupt after a hundred years! That was our war. Every battle conjured a new nightmare."

"I'm sorry you had to see that," I said. "So what did you want to see me for?"

"It is… it is difficult," he stuttered. For the first time, he seemed to be uncertain of himself. "I have been thinking about what I learned when the crew gathered in the recreation room, that you were brought back to life after dying. You said that we are alike in that way."

"You don't think so?"

"The reasons that you fight are still alive," Javik said thoughtfully, "the friendships of the people around you… and more. The bond you share with the Quarian, I sense that it is foremost in your mind, why you fight as you do. Is this why you wish to continue living? For their affection?"

"If I didn't have that, then there wouldn't be much else to my life," I responded, "I love my family, my friends and my wife. Tali and I have a dream together about what we might do if we win this war. The longer I hold on to those dreams, the harder I'll fight."

Javik studied me for a while. His four eyes narrowed as he thought about what I had said.

"What about you, Javik?" I asked. "I respect your reasons for being here, but I think there's something else."

Javik seemed reluctant, but he forced himself to move over to one of the tables in the room where he kept a small black box that I had not noticed before. He held it in the palm of his hand, took a breath, and opened it. Inside was a small shard that looked like a miniaturised version of one of the Prothean beacons. It was such a small piece of equipment, but Javik held it reverently.

"What's that?"

"It is called the Echo Shard," Javik told me, "passed from soldier to soldier, Prothean to Prothean. Each adds their memories to it."

"Like your beacons," I had guessed correctly, "how far back does it go?"

"To a time before the Reapers. It is all that is left of my people."

"And you don't want to remember that?"

Javik turned away from me again and closed his eyes. His voice was soft and sombre,

"Imagine that everything you knew was lost, never to be seen again. Everyone you knew was dead, you could not remember their faces. You could not remember the colour of the sky over your home world. The memories were gone, but so was the pain. Would you really want to remember that, Commander? Even if it meant watching everyone die again?"

I looked at the Echo Shard in Javik's hand and wondered about what he had said. I thought of Kaidan, Mordin, Thane and Legion. My mind went back as far as Elysium where I had seen so many of my friends die around me. But then I thought of the times before those terrible moments where my friends were taken from me, to the times when we had laughed together, helped each other through bad times, confided secrets to each other. I remembered the times when I would find myself just being a normal person hanging out with another normal person.

I fondly recalled asking Legion about how the Geth had developed themselves or how their networked intelligence worked. Thane would tell me of the Gods that he believed in and how Drell could remember every moment from their lives. The secretive assassin had never told anybody else about how his wife had died, and yet in me he had found a friend that he could trust and feel at ease with. Kaidan had been my best friend for years before Virmire, and my memories of the well-mannered Canadian were well fortified in my memory anyway. If I had a way to store all of these precious moments in one place, where I could see these dearly missed friends again when they were happy, laughing and when I was glad to have them in my company, I would treasure such an opportunity.

"If I had something like this," I eventually said to Javik, "a way to see Earth whole again. To see and hear my friends again, that would be worth the pain."

Javik looked troubled, but he slowly shifted the shard in his hand and placed the fingers of his other hand on the top of the shard. I could not hear or see anything, but I could have sworn that I felt an energy in the air around the Prothean.

"Before the Reapers," Javik spoke, his eyes closed as he watched the memories of his people unfold in his mind, "the stars belonged to us! Civilisation flourished. There was the quasar fortress of the Tirandi Veil. The ice canals of Judor IV. The palisades of the Verom Anjelic. It was magnificent!"

Javik's body seemed to settle and relax, the visions that he was seeing were pleasant and showed Javik a time when his people were whole. A time when Protheans were not being hunted to complete annihilation.

Then, like being struck by an electric shock, he bolted upright again,

"But then the Reapers came! Planet by planet we were… extinguished."

Javik was becoming very distressed and seemed to be trying to pull away from the shard, but the memories were so powerful and vivid that he could not stop the visions making their way into his mind.

"We fought back… I…" he let out a cry of pain and I acted, hitting the shard from his grasp and releasing him from the painful memories.

"I once commanded a ship like this one," Javik suddenly blurted out, "a loyal crew with many friends. It was captured. Only I escaped."

The Prothean was visibly upset and I knew that, whatever he had seen, was the very thing that had made him afraid to activate the shard in the first place.

He shuddered as if about to cry, and I would have encouraged him. His feelings had been bottled up for over fifty-thousand years, no one could hold all that in for so long without it tearing them up inside.

"What happened to them?" I asked.

"Indoctrinated. The Reapers sent them after me. Year after year, battle after battle, I was hunted by my own people. Every encounter, a reminder of my failure as a soldier."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea."

Javik turned to me, speaking to me with sad eyes,

"Until the Battle of the Cronian Nebula. I had only my knife left… I cornered my men and slit their throats, one by one. I watched them bleed to death to be certain."

I could not believe what I was hearing. The effect that must have had on Javik must have been tremendous.

"That… must have been…" I stuttered, unsure of what to say. Unsure if anything I said would help.

"It was the day I understood: War is atrocity committed in the name of survival. It is a lesson I wish I had never learned."

Javik spoke no more of his experience and I took a while to pull myself together after hearing of what had befallen him. To have to do the same thing would kill me. But now, I better understood why Javik kept himself segregated the way he did. He preferred to put the world at a distance, lest he be hurt again.

"I'm sorry, Javik," I finally said, "if you ever need to talk, I'm here. I hope you see me as a friend by now."

"Your sympathy is not necessary, Commander," he said, though not harshly, "but it is appreciated."

I left Javik's room quite deflated and had to go down to the subdeck below Engineering where I could sit alone for a while to process Javik's experience. How could I ever do the same? The Normandy had been boarded before by hostiles when I had let my guard down. What if the Collectors had managed to take Garrus or Tali, or Sophie?

My own sister was on my team at that time, and now I wondered if I would have the strength to deal with her if she were ever turned against me. What Javik had been through was beyond horrible, and yet he still stood tall, still fought on as hard as he could and never gave anything short of excellence. I knew then, that Javik was a stronger individual than I. Looking around the subdeck, I remembered when Jack lived down here. She was such a messed up and crazy person who had been so ready to kill me the first time we met, and yet over time she too had grown loyal to me, the squad and the mission that we were facing at the time.

Now, Jack was in charge of her own unit of biotic soldiers that were fighting tooth and nail on the frontlines of this war. Indeed, I had heard of their involvement in a heroic defence of a city on Palaven which had stopped an army of Reaper troops cold and bought the Turians time to evacuate thousands of civilians. I smiled as I fondly thought of the person that she had been, so hateful and bent on vengeance on Cerberus, and the person that she now was. What if she had been taken and then indoctrinated? Could I kill her if I found myself faced with the gruesome prospect? No. I would not have the willpower to do it. I had not shot Ashley when she had had a gun aiming at me during the Coup. I could never hurt any of them. Javik would call me soft for such thoughts, but perhaps he secretly wished that he had never had to carry out the killing of his own friends, his own kin.

Having found a new respect for Javik and his ways, I brushed myself off and went in search of Tali. She was not at her work station, so I went up to our cabin in case I had missed her there, but she was not there either.

"EDI, where's Tali?" I asked.

"You will find her in the lounge, Commander. It seems that she is taking what happened on Horizon hard," the bodiless voice told me.

"Is she ok?"

"She will be better with your company."

"Thanks, EDI."

When I entered the lounge, I found my beloved wife sitting at the bar with a drink in hand and a bottle of Turian brandy within easy reach for refills. I could tell that she had had a few glasses already, but she actually seemed rather chirpy as I entered. She turned to see me and raised her glass,

"Scott! Want a drink? I'm toasting Miranda… I think."

I could not help but laugh at this bizarre situation, but the way she turned to me and wanted me over made me feel a whole lot better.

"Hitting the hard stuff, huh?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Turian brandy. Triple filtered. Introduced into the suit using an emergency induction port…" she said slowly, careful not to slur her words.

"You mean a straw?"

"Emergency induction port," she repeated while she struggled to get the straw in the mouthpiece of her helmet. She took a few attempts but kept missing until she drew back and stared at the straw as if trying to focus her eyes on it.

"You seem to be having trouble," I joked.

"I think that means its working," Tali laughed. She then got back to talking about Miranda. "She was so rude! What did Jack used to call her? "Cerberus Cheerleader"! With her perfect genes, and that attitude and… and still, she got it done. She stopped her father."

"I didn't realise this would be so hard on you," I said, sitting myself next to her.

"I didn't like her," Tali mused, "Keelah! She was such a bitch. But I respected her. Sometimes that's better than liking. She did whatever it took to stop her father. Never gave into him. Never changed herself to please him."

I now figured out why Miranda's conflict with her father was having such a drastic effect on Tali. She saw a reflection of the relationship between herself and her own father, Rael'Zorah.

"Ah," I said without meaning to, and Tali immediately scalded me for it.

"Don't "ah" me! You sound like a Vorcha."

"Seeing a bit of yourself in Miranda fighting her father?" I asked.

"I spent my life trying to live up to him, then making up for his mistakes! Doing what he'd have wanted."

"It's never that easy," I sympathised with her.

"When do we get to stop reacting to our parents and start living for ourselves?" Tali said reflectively.

"The answer to that one is at the bottom of your glass, Tali," I told her. She looked around to see my cheeky grin and could not help but laugh with me.

"I might need help with the induction straw… port… you know what I mean."

I grabbed a small glass of my own and poured some whisky into it. I detested the stuff, but sometimes you just had to have a drink with someone to show them you were on the same page. We clinked glasses, and while I downed my drink Tali fought with the straw, cursing a few times, before finally being able to have a drink herself. I sat with my arm around my Quarian wife while she rested into my shoulder and soon Tali started to laugh happily to herself.

"What is it?" I wanted to know what was going through that beautiful mind. Tali's gleaming eyes shone out at me and I could tell that she was smiling,

"I'm having a drink with my Husband… my Human Husband!" she giggled, "my father would have hated you!"

We both laughed together as I imagined what Rael would have thought of our becoming Husband and Wife, or the prospect of me fathering his grandchildren. I refilled my glass with whisky and raised it in toast,

"Here's to Rael'Zorah then."

Tali clinked glasses with me before adding,

"And to Miranda! Nice job you genetically perfect, Cerberus Cheerleader, Bosh'Tet. Keelah Se'lai!"

Sitting with Tali while she talked merrily about everything and anything was a heart-warming experience. Something about the way she was made me remember all those feelings again when we had first started to fall for each other back in the Saren days. I had felt the same when our relationship had been rekindled after she was cleared of the charges that the Migrant Fleet was placing on her. I had always loved her, more and more every day, but with the stress and importance of our missions, it was easy to get side tracked and lose sight of all the everyday things that made battling on through this war so critical.

I was not fighting this war for the survival of the Council or for the political power of the Alliance or any kind of prestige, I was fighting this war for the normal citizen and for the ordinary soldiers in the firing lines of the Reaper invasion force. I was fighting for the men and women of the Normandy, so that each of them, and the soldiers fighting across the galaxy, could once again have the opportunity to live a normal life. A life where they would get up in the morning and see to the kids before they go to school. Then they would be off to work, or see to the washing that had piled up or fix that shelf that had become askew, sort out the skycar insurance and plan a holiday to another world.

This was the life I wanted for myself as well. Somewhere on Rannoch, there would one day be a place that Tali and I could call home. With all the pressure being placed on me to see that the Crucible was ready to deploy against the Reapers, I could easily have slid into madness by now, but Tali was my rock that stopped that from happening. As a tipsy Tali speculated whether or not Javik had a crush on Liara, I was so full of happiness and smiled and laughed with her so much. The Galactic Alliance that I had built was now in a position to bring this war to an end. I saw our chances of destroying Cerberus as very high, and that was hugely encouraging. As for our chances for success against the Reapers, I had no illusions that they were extremely slim and always would be. We had one card to play, the Crucible. If that failed there was no other option than to fight on until our eventual, but definite, extermination. But, if I could hold onto just one sliver of hope, then there was reason to keep going.

Tali and I were still in the lounge and when I checked the time, I realised that we had been there for two hours when it had felt like ten minutes. Tali had slightly sobered up when she took my hand and led me out of the room.

"Where we going?" I asked with a coy smile.

"Where do you think?" she replied as her hand gave my manhood a gentle squeeze. I had to look around to see if anyone had seen that, but as we were clear, I winked at the gorgeous woman and chased her into the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors were closed, Tali was on me, my back up against the wall and my hands moving all over Tali. I wanted to tear her enviro-suit off right there, rip her clothing off to bare her beautiful naked body. However, choosing not to bring serious harm or infection to my wife, I was able to wait until we were in our cabin. Barely. EDI no doubt knew what was happening and had sterilised the room before we arrived. Now my uniform and her enviro-suit alike were cast aside, our lips locking together, and we dived into bed. It felt like we were two teenagers sneaking out of a drunken party to hook up, and every minute of our time together was fantastic.

We had a small number of days off while Hackett and the commanding officers of the alien fleets and armies drew up plans for the assault on the Illusive Man's base when it came. As of yet, Kai Leng was still travelling, but EDI had extrapolated his destination and sent Hackett a report that he was heading for the Anadius system. It was a small system with no planets and an asteroid belt that orbited Anadius, a red giant superstar that was over 20 times the mass of Sol. If the Illusive Man was hiding in the asteroid belt, it would be a time-consuming venture to find him, but the asteroids could also cover an incoming assault force until they were nearly upon the base. I had no doubt that the Normandy would be called upon to do the initial reconnaissance owing to its stealth drive, but we still had time to rest before that time came.

As Joker flew the Normandy through the empty space that would take us to the Mass Relay and on to the Citadel, I started sending out emails to all of my team members, past and present, to see if they were on the Citadel or could reach it soon. In my email, I explained to them that, all being well, this war could soon be coming to a close and that they all deserved a little R&R. I was going to organise a party at Anderson's flat for all that could come. It could be the one last chance to see all of them again before we went in for an all-out assault. I had this overwhelming desire to see and speak to them all again, everyone who had served on the ground beside me whether it was when we were hunting down Saren, putting an end to the Collectors or trying to find a way to finish the Reapers once and for all.

By the time the Normandy had passed through the Relay network to the Widow system where the Citadel resided, I had had an overwhelming number of replies to my group email. All of my friends were either already on the Normandy, the Citadel or on their way and would be arriving soon. I thanked the stars that this wish had been granted by the galaxy, even with the Reapers rampaging through every inhabited system. I was most surprised by Wrex's reply saying that he would be there, as I expected him to be on Palaven fighting alongside the multi-racial army that defended it. However, he was back in a more diplomatic role as he had meetings with the Council to "ask" for more weapons and supplies for the Krogan Army.

And, of course, I was aware that this could be the last chance to spend time with my family as well. Regrettably, my cousin Lee was still fighting somewhere in Britain, now confirmed to be somewhere in England with the intention of heading to London to join Admiral Anderson's resistance army there. Sophie was still serving alongside N7 operative Captain Riley with whom she had retaken the Turian fuel reactor on the planet Cyone. Lately, her unit had been sent to the planet of Ontarom to defend a top-secret Alliance communications facility against a Cerberus attack. If the enemy won, it could have allowed Cerberus access to Alliance operations and put hundreds of thousands of Alliance Marines' lives in danger.

In this action, Sophie had proved herself a brave and determined warrior who continued to fight even when their position was overrun. By holding the line, more Alliance soldiers were able to patch together a make-shift combat team and fight their way back, repelling the Cerberus troopers in a glorious counter-attack. Some compared Sophie's actions to my own holding action on Elysium where I had delayed thousands of Batarian soldiers long enough for the Alliance ships to come in and bring their impressive firepower to bear. When I had found out, I immediately sent a message to my little sister to tell her how proud I was of her, and for showing the galaxy what all the Gardners were capable of.

In her reply, Miranda told me that she had passed on a massive amount of information to Admiral Hackett, including the sites of several top-secret Cerberus bases. One of them included a fighter base hidden in the snowy mountains of Noveria where the allocated unit had been issued with an advanced model of fighter craft. Noveria was also in the Horsehead Nebula and could play an active role in defending Cerberus headquarters when our attack began. Taking out this base beforehand was a necessity, but hitting only that target would risk tipping off the Illusive Man that we were coming for him, so Hackett had drafted a plan to hit dozens of Cerberus stations across the galaxy simultaneously.

Miranda herself had volunteered to lead the strike force tasked with disabling the outer defences of the fighter base, so that the main assault force could come in without losing too many men on the approach. Although other Alliance officers did not want to give the responsibility to the woman who had been Cerberus' second-in-command at one time, Hackett over-ruled them and gave Miranda the green light. When word of this got around the group, there was another email from Miranda saying that she had heard from Jacob and that he was dying to join her on her mission, an offer which she promptly accepted.

"All the pieces are falling into place, aren't they, Scott," Garrus stated while we stood on the bridge of our ship. We stared out at the Citadel as we approached, that sense of awe never quite dissipating no matter how many times we had seen the gigantic space station, the heart of the galaxy.

"The plan to end Cerberus is being put together as we speak," my Turian friend commented, "and if we find the Prothean data to complete the Crucible, we gather the fleets and take our best shot at the Reapers."

"And when we've won," I said, my heart filled with hope like I had not felt for a very long time, "I think the galaxy will be a pretty great place! Every species has banded together for this fight, and that won't be forgotten as soon as the Reapers are gone. Humans and Batarians, Turians and Krogan, Quarians and Geth… old rivalries have just melted away. As long as we work at it, they might never resurface to become as prevalent as they used to be."

"Now that's a future worth fighting for," Garrus grinned, his scarred face looking happy and bright and his eyes showing that he was as hopeful as I was. Together, we could do this.

The Normandy docked and the logisticians were waiting with the supplies and armaments that had been requisitioned. A couple of hours of bringing the stocks on board passed by, but with everyone mucking in it was done quickly, efficiently and, other than some technical repairs and maintenance needed done, the Normandy was ready for the final battle against Cerberus when it came. Then I gathered everyone together, ground-team and crew, and told them the score.

"For the next couple of days at least you are now on Shore Leave," I received a chorus of whoops and celebratory whistles. "Get yourselves rested, enjoy the downtime that you have earned over and over again! Tomorrow I'm having a huge party at Anderson's apartment and I would really love all of you to be there."

"He's buying the booze too," James yelled to the rest of the Normandy crew and everyone had a laugh.

"Actually James… I am," I nodded at him, "everyone's invited, there'll be drink, food, music. This… there will be few times when this can actually be possible ever again. I don't know if any of you believe in a higher power or fate or whatever, but the galaxy has given us this chance to all be together. Not only as the best fucking crew of any starship in the galaxy…" more cheering, "but as friends and normal people enjoying one hell of a night. So, who's in?"

Everyone was in!

Once again, the hotel Thessia Nights had been allocated to accommodate my crew. For all of my team, there were messages to send to those loved ones that remained to them. When I got back to Anderson's apartment on Silversun Strip and saw my mum and dad, Tali was through in the back office on a vid-call with Shala'Raan. Of course, Raan knew of the upcoming operation against Cerberus and the pending deployment of the Crucible. She commented on how readily all of the Admirals had jumped at Hackett's offer to join in the fight.

After that, however, things calmed down. It was simply a case of taking what little time remained before we were back on duty to relax and clear our heads. Garrus and James headed down to the Armax Arsenal Arena to watch a few matches and were invited to compete when one of the arena managers recognised them. I did not know about this until Tali and I were watching the vids at home and saw the message scroll across the bottom of the screen. "Up next! Two of the Normandy's toughest soldiers take on a Reaper onslaught."

James and Garrus put in a hell of a performance, and when the crowd went absolutely crazy at the end of the match, I swelled with pride of my friends. The Normandy was already a beacon of hope for billions and my two buddies had just reminded people why.

That first night I spent with my parents. They told me all about their stay on the Citadel and how they had seen the environment on the space station change as the war went on. Where before the refugee areas were normally flooded with Batarians and Humans, they were now being joined thousands of members of all races. Smug Asari who had sneered at the desperate incomers now saw the numbers of people fleeing to the station swell to include their own kind. My family did what they could to help the refugees, whether it was taking them food and water, giving them clothing or simply taking supplies to where they were needed most. My parents knew that they had had an easier time of it due to my Spectre status, and as Commander of the Normandy, and were so thankful for what they had.

Naturally, mum and dad worried for Sophie, but I told them that she knew full well how to handle herself in her role as a soldier.

"But you know how to handle yourself, Scott," Mum said, "and we still lost you. I doubt the Illusive Man would agree to bring her back if anything hap…"

"Don't think like that, mum," I stopped her, "you'll drive yourself crazy. Sophie will be fine. She's under the command of an excellent soldier and leader who cares about her people. She'll get looked after."

"Weirdly, I would feel better if she was back with you," dad said. Sophie had performed brilliantly while she was on the Normandy helping me to fight the Collectors. However, I did not think I would feel right taking my sister to fight the Reapers in the manner that I was. Running under a Reaper while a giant Thresher Maw attacked it was crazy. Facing down a Reaper single-handed on Rannoch and praying that the marksmanship of the Migrant Fleet was up to the task of hitting my target. That was nothing short of insanity.

At one point in the evening, I had gone to the kitchen to get a beer and on my way back had just stopped to watch as mum and dad chatted together. If anything ever happened to them I would never forgive myself. I felt one of my wrists and squeezed the tips of my fingers in hard enough to feel the wires and extensive cybernetics that lay under my flesh, a stark reminder that I had already lost everything once. I did not even notice Tali had arrived and joined me as I stood idly by.

"It's good to see they're so happy," she said, making me jump.

"There's a lot of worrying going on underneath," I observed, "but what is family for if not for supporting each other?"

"We need to end this war so they can go back home to Earth and rebuild what is left," Tali said, "It's strange that with all the worlds that are falling, us Quarians have actually managed to take back our home world."

"Yeah," I laughed, "it proves it can be done. Anyway, enough about that. Let's chill with them for a bit longer and then get our heads down for some rest. We've got a late night tomorrow!"

Tali was welcomed with open arms and mum and dad were glad to see her. I could see this happening in the future whenever there was a family birthday, or if we were having a big family celebration for Christmas. Tali had become one of the Gardner clan and seemed to adore it as she joked away with my family, especially my dad who could, at times, forget that little thing called tact.