Chapter 69. Heroes of the Citadel


29. January 2415 AD, Ilos

Shepard stepped out of the bunker and looked behind her, seeing the lights that had guided them fade into darkness. Since there was nothing that even vaguely resembled a mass relay in sight, she looked around. Vigil wasn't done guiding them, she just had to-

After she spotted the lights flaring to life on top of the onyx-black obelisks that dotted the grey ruins, she followed them and squinted. In the distance the N7 could see a silver construct peak out between old towers of the ruin. While it looked dormant when she had spotted it, it suddenly came to life and produced a beacon of blue light not at all different from the glow of a mass relay.

The Conduit.

"Everyone get to the Mako! Williams, follow those obelisks until you hit that!" she ordered, pointing at the silver structure before hurrying to the APC. Vigil had been clear, Saren was already here. If she could see this light, so could he.

"Aye, Skipper!" the marine shouted before sprinting ahead of them to start up the Mako.

"Normandy, come in," she quickly said into her radio while climbing into the back of the APC and putting her faith in what Vigil had told them and what she could see with her own eyes. She just had to be right on this one.

"Hearing you loud and clear, Commander" Joker replied, despite her clearly remembering having ordered him to let the co-pilot take over. She shook her head. That didn't matter right now.

"Ok. Listen Joker. There's not time to explain, I just need you to do exactly what I tell you to do. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You need to get word to the Citadel. Warn them that Sovereign's already on his way. He's going to attack the station and open up the way for the reapers," she explained as Anderson closed the door of the Mako right as the APC started to speed off into the direction of the Conduit. Then she bit her lip and hesitated. She really was gambling on the fact that the Conduit worked the way Vigil had described it. If she was right, they might just stop Saren in time. If she was wrong, well, they'd be stranded on Ilos and the turian would open the doors to their destruction. "Also, I need you hit the relay and get to Arcturus Fleet right now. Tell them what I told you. They need to bring back up to the Citadel. We'll need every ship we can get and they're just one jump away."

"And leave you behind? I'm not doing tha-"

"You are. We've got a way out, Lieutenant," she cut the man off as she climbed into the gun-turret just in time to see a trio of geth gunships buzz over them, ignoring them in favour of the silver relay-like structure. "Just trust me on this one," she added before the Mako drove off an edge and jumped into a grey trench that lit up in blue, green and gold light.

The race was on.


Two Minutes Later, 2156 CE, Embassy Area, HSA Embassy

"I understand that you want to go home, Miss Zorah," the human ambassador said as Tali put on her helmet and prepared to leave the sterile room they had set up for her to be able to get out of her environment suit every now and again.

"But?" she said, throwing the word in before the human could explain. She didn't understand this one moment they had told her the envoy of the Migrant Fleet sent pick her up had arrived in the system, the next the ambassador himself had entered the medbay and said that she couldn't leave the embassy, or even the station, right now, making it seem like she had just returned to the captive-like state she had been in from the moment that stupid bosh'tet had found her in the bar.

"But C-SEC just declared a station-wide lockdown. No one's going anywhere right now," he explained.

"Why?" she asked quickly. What could possibly be going on that the entirety of the Citadel, the de-facto capital of Council Space, was placed on lock-down?

"I'm afraid they didn-"

Whatever it was that the ambassador had been about to say was interrupted when a dampened thud vibrated through the entire embassy, flickering the lights and prompting a security detail to come charging through the door.

What was going on? Were those explosions?

"Alright. Talk's over. We've got to go, Ambassador," the soldier at the front of the formation declared while the onyx-armored soldiers behind him waited by the door.

"What's going on, Specialist?" the man asked in return before turning to the new arrival, a human with light, unkempt short hair, a beard and piercing blue eyes. Unlike his companions, his armor was a dark shade of grey and he only seemed to carry a handgun. Despite that, there was no doubt that he was in charge of the security detail.

"The stations under attack. It's Saren and the geth. We're evacuating the embassy," he explained. Behind her mask, Tali's eyes widened. The geth? "She about ready to leave?" the man added before glancing at her.

"I think so," the ambassador added before more of the muffled thuds traveled through the walls and towards the medbay. To her they sounded very close but as she paid more and more attention to the sound that now seemed to repeat itself once every second, she realized something else. These weren't explosions at all.

These were Eezo discharges.

What were the geth doing on the station that could cause these?

"Okay," he said before grabbing a hold of the door leading to her room and looking at her for confirmation. "You all sealed up?" she nodded. Then he opened the door, grabbed her by the arm, quite literally pulled her from the sterile room and walked her over to the ambassador. "Guys, you know the drill. Diamond formation," he spoke before the lights flickered and this time refused to turn on again. "Okay. I'm really not liking this atmosphere," he observed with a sigh. "Let's get the hell out of here. The Kodiaks are already spinning up."

As soon as he was finished, the formation, and Tali in its center, was rapidly moving through the dark, to her maze-like interior of the embassy until they hit a flight of stairs and started to go upwards. While her suit had built-in lights, the fact that she was surrounded by soldiers on all sides made them nearly useless unless she wanted to look at her feet or the ceiling. When they hit the middle of the staircase, another loud noise echoed through the walls of the embassy and unlike before, this one sounded like an actual explosion. Almost immediately the diamond of humans froze.

"Specialist?" the ambassador asked from his equally crammed position next to her while Tali could hear what sounded like mass effect engines passing over them.

"I'm pretty sure those were our Kodiaks," the leader of the detail muttered before nodding to a soldier next to him. He sprinted upwards, likely to check on the aforementioned shuttles and then, not even ten seconds later, sprinted back down.

"Shit. They got 'em, Sir," the soldier said from up ahead, causing Tali's eyes to widened again. Did this mean they were stuck with the geth?

"Alright, alright. Time for the back-up plan then," the other man figured while looking at the solider. "Hunker down, wait for a QRF to get u-," he began before an incredibly disorienting explosion went off right above their heads and flashes of blue light illuminated the staircase. When she looked up, the onyx-armored soldier at the top of the stairs had already collapsed.

Pulse guns.

They were already inside.

While Tali froze up, the specialist shouted his orders, the soldiers sprang into action and someone pulled her back down the flight of stairs.

"Fall back!"


Meanwhile, 29. January 2415 AD

"Oh this is a bad idea," she heard Garrus say before the Mako leapt through the air again and followed the trio of geth gunships that had just vanished in the blue light of the Conduit like the dozen or so before them. As Shepard held on the handles of the main gun as if her life depended on it, she barely had time to register the second of absolute weightlessness or make sense of the infinite whiteness she was seeing through the scope of the turret. What she did register before the camera of the scope broke was the moment the Mako impacted against the silver metal floor of the Citadel and the moment it started to roll over several times until somehow landing on its wheels again. She looked around, hoping to find everyone in one piece. When she saw Anderson and Garrus, shaken but alright, she let out a sigh of relief. It had actually worked. The Conduit had gotten them across the galaxy in one piece. However her amazement was cut short when bullets began to strike against the armored exterior of the APC, confirming what she had already been certain off when she had given the order to make the jump. They had landed in the middle of Saren's geth.

They had to get out of here.

But for some reason they weren't moving.

"Williams?" she called hoping that the marine was fine as well.

"Engine and controls are unresponsive Ma'am. I think the transit fried them," well it made sense. Whoever had built the Mako probably hadn't expected it to ever complete a relay transit.

"Looks like we're walking from here," Anderson figured before sliding over to the door and looking at them. "When I open this, the geth will rain hell on us."

"It's our only option if we want to catch up to Saren," Emily replied before taking her place behind Anderson. She didn't know how much of a head start Saren had gotten but it couldn't be more than a few minutes. Adding in the resistance C-SEC would no doubt put up against him, they could still prevent him from undoing the work of the prothean scientists.

"Low chances of success, high chances of a bullet-induced death and a race against time to get one final stand-off with your nemesis," Garrus listed as he crouched down behind them. "I've got to hand it to you, Shepard. You always make these things interesting."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that at least you are enjoying yourself, Garrus," she shrugged before radioing the one member of her team who wasn't in the crew compartment. "Williams, you ready?" Unlike them, the marine was sitting in the driver compartment of the APC, isolated from them but face to face with the controls of the now useless tank.

"Yes but hold up on getting out. I've got a solution. Just wait till you hear the explosion," the marine replied, not making any sense at first. As Shepard looked at the Mako, it dawned on her. So much for useless. Like most armored vehicles in the HSA's arsenal, the Mako had an AIPS, an anti-infantry proximity system. With the press of a button, the directed explosives dotted around the APC would be set off and fire off a volley of steel balls, producing a deadly wave of shrapnel that'd kill everyone standing out in the open within a fifty-meter radius. Considering the amount of pulse fire pouring down on them, everyone in that radius was a geth.

"Quick thinking, Gunny," Emily replied and realizing for good that the marine would still go far after this was over.

A few moments later, a muffled explosion was heard and the side of the Mako rocked ever so slightly. Then the pulse rifles that had been shooting at them was silenced and the team of the Normandy jumped out, finding themselves right in front of the now active relay monument which decorated the Presidium.

It had been gone from the pristine center of galactic civilization to an active warzone.

In addition to the destroyed geth platforms, some smaller and some matching those she had first seen on Virmire, their immediate surroundings had already felt Saren's wrath. Plasma burns had seared the walls of the buildings and the smoldering remains of skycars, which had likely been shot down by the geth gunships that had flown ahead of them, dotted the area around them. The bodies of bystanders of all species and the first responders that had gotten here first, two C-SEC officers, were spread out on the ground around the monument and a mixture of blood stained the floor. From the first glance, it didn't look like the geth had left any survivors. As she started to walk, she realized something else and looked upwards. The holographic sky that lingered above the Presidium and covered the otherwise metallic ceiling had been damaged to the point where it had stopped to function.

"Alright. Where do we go from here?" Anderson asked before an explosion to their left, coming from the direction of the embassy area and the Citadel Tower that lay beyond, answered the question.

"That way," she ordered before a pair of heavily armored C-SEC transports, modified, armed versions of turian transport shuttles appeared and stopped over their head as soon as they saw them and the Mako they had climbed from.

"Garrus?" Emily muttered while one of the two transports touched down.

"Looks like Special Response," the detective answered as the door of one of the shuttles was opened and a turian waved towards them. Since they weren't going to outrun Saren and his gunships, it was a very welcome surprise.

"Get in here! We don't have a lot of time!" he ordered. His armor was blue but unlike most other C-SEC officers, there were golden lines running down the center of his helmet, torso and his arms. It wasn't that much of a long shot to suspect that this was one of the guys in charge of the police force.

"Spirits. Executor Pallin?" Garrus said, recognizing the voice while they climbed into the shuttle and Emily prepared herself to hijack whatever mission the ten heavily armed officer around her were here for.

"Yes. Care to explain what's going on here, Detective Vakarian?" the executor said while he pulled the turian into the shuttle and the craft began to climb into the sky again.

She frowned. An executor would make hijacking the mission a lot harder.

"Care to? Yes," the turian shouted before the doors closed and the sound of rushing air disappeared. "Time? No," he added before turning towards her.

"We need to get to Saren. Do you know where he is?" Emily inquired, causing the C-SEC executor to look at her.

"Yes. He's going after the Council and we're going to stop him. You're welcome to join us."

So much for hijacking.

Turns out they had the same target.


Meanwhile, 2156 CE, Presidium, Offices of the Citadel Council

They had gotten a warning that this would happen. It had arrived exactly one standard minute before geth gunships had poured from the Relay Monument and cut a path of blazing plasma all the way to the Citadel Tower. Due to that time frame, the team of Spectres and C-SEC officers tasked with evacuating the Council in case the station was ever attacked had barely gotten in touch with their evacuation ship, the Destiny Ascension, before being forced to throw themselves at the small army of geth to even give the scattered Council a chance at fleeing. Judging by the banging on the door and the hijacked security cameras through which he was observing the geth and their leader, Saren Arterius, they had been less than successful at stopping him.

In truth he didn't know the exact whereabouts of his fellow councilors. Sparatus had been called away for an emergency meeting but knowing the turian and his habit of always carrying a handgun, he was the one Valern was less worried about. It was his asari colleague that he feared for. She had been down in the Presidium. While that put her closest to the Destiny Ascension, it also put her in the path of the rogue Spectre. Powerful biotic or not, she'd die when the turian ran into her.

"Goddess. They'll break through. They'll kill us all," one of Irissa's assistants that had taken refuge inside his office wept as he watched the door bend more and more under the force of the geth trying to breakthrough it. Valern closed his eyes, let out a long-drawn breath and pulled off his hood before discarding the formal robes he wore as part of the role he played on this Council, revealing the light-weight armor he always wore underneath. His cover identity wouldn't be any use if he died today, be it at the hands of the geth or the reapers. Besides, the Union had survived far harsher political fallouts than this, no?

As the office staff looked at him in confusion, he walked over to his desk and pulled out the handgun stored there, attaching it to the magnetic lock on his hip. Then he removed the side of one of his drawers and pulled his helmet, a second omni-tool and a shotgun from the hidden compartment. He glanced around the room and let go of his fake-personality, embracing the real him that he had continued to hone in every free minute of his life. He was past his prime, sure, but even an STG operative out of their prime was a force to be reckoned with. If he was all that stood between the geth and these people, he had to be enough.

"Move away," he instructed to the people closest to the door. They'd be in his way.

"Christ. What are you doing, Councilor?" one of the human diplomats that had taken shelter with him asked as the salarian STG operative placed his hand on the opening mechanism of the door once he was sure both his omni-tools were ready. He took another breath, ignored the panicked shouting of the people in the room, opened the door and, for the first time since he had been named councilor, did what he had been trained to do.

Wreak havoc on his enemies.


Meanwhile, 2156 CE, THS Silus

In his career Admiral Bonosus had been part of an unusual number of historical events. As a young lieutenant, he had taken been part in the turian incursion of batarian space. He had sat on one of the ships that had charged at Khar'Shan after the battle of Enael. As a fresh captain he had experienced the Battle of Parnack onboard the Angelus. There he had made first contact with the humans race. When he had first been promoted to the rank of admiral, he had fought the Skyllian Blitz and, as one of the few living soldiers in the galaxy, became battle-tested in large scale space warfare, proving himself as an exceptionally talented strategist, a trait that had led to him being chose as the commander of the reinforced turian fleet that had been send to the Citadel little more than a week ago.

With a service history like that he knew that he shouldn't be surprised to see what he was seeing right now but as the enormous spacecraft shot out of the Serpent Nebula at an impossible, followed by an armada of geth ships, he couldn't help but be caught off-guard for the second it took his brain to register what was going on.

The Citadel was under attack.

"What are you waiting for? Battle stations!" he roared, snapping his bridge-crew out of the same second of surprise. As soon as the words left his mouth, they stopped acting like fresh recruits and turned back into the experienced crew he knew them as. Then alarms began to sound all throughout the turian dreadnought and the rest of the fleet lingering just outside of the Citadel's arms. "Give me a status report. What are we up against?"

"Counting," one of the officers declared. One hundred thirty two, One hundred forty one," he went on as more and more ships appeared from the purple nebula, "-one hundred and sixty five hostile crafts leaving the Serpent Relay, Sir!"

"Hail Citadel Command. They have to close the arms immediately," he said while watching the first C-SEC patrol cutters be torn to pieces by the armada. The small ships didn't have a chance but his own did. He glanced at the holographic charge of his own forces. He wasn't going to win against numbers like these on his own but with the human fleet that had arrived three days ago and the rest of the CDF?

He'd show the geth just what it meant to attack Council Space as boldly as this.

"Message sent!" one of the bridge crew shouted. "But I'm not getting a response," he added.

"Bring up the Citadel," he ordered, looking at the main hologram projector. After a few moments of nothing happening, the arms of the station began to move. Good. They didn't have to acknowledge him, they just had to close the station. With that out of the way he could focus on what mattered. Stopping the enemy from getting in.

"Status report on our allied fleets."

"All turian, human and salarian ships are sending us green light, awaiting orders.

"And the asari?"

"Lingering back, Sir."

His blood froze in his veins.

What?

"Message the asari and tell them to fall in line. They are our best chance at stopping that ship," he ordered instantly and one of the countless lieutenants that manned the bridge of the dreadnought did as he was told. A few moments later, he spoke up.

"Sir, the Destiny Ascension and its battle group are unavailable for combat."

"What?" He couldn't hide his surprise. The biggest, most powerful warship in the galaxy and it was unavailable for combat? "Why? What's going on?"

"Sir, they're saying Councilor Irissa ordered them to head the evacuation. They're still docked to the Presidium ring and taking civilians on board!"

Spirits. How often had he told those fools that a ship as big as the Destiny Ascension had no business being docked to the Citadel for tourist attraction? They needed that ship.

He swallowed and accepted that he'd be held accountable for everything that'd happen from here on out.

"Get me a line to the Ascension. Now."

"Yes, Sir." A moment later the center of the bridge produced a hologram.

"Silus, this is the Destiny Ascension," a voice spoke.

"Matriarch Lidanya, you're sitting on board of the largest warship in the galaxy. Stop the evacuation and join the battle."

"Stop the evacuation? Admiral, we've got nearly two thousand civilians on board. I can't just stop the evacuation, Councilor's orders or not," the asari replied while Bonosus watched the holo map to his left. The geth were taking up formation around the largest ship, shielding it from incoming fire and clearing a path for it. They couldn't make it more obvious that it was the most important part of their fleet.

"Two thousand people are nothing compared to the millions on board of the Citadel," he said. "I'm ordering you to stop the evacuation and join the battle. We need your fire power."

"Respectfully, Admiral, you don't give me my orders."

"Matriarch-"

"Listen to me Admiral Bonosus. Hundreds of geth are slaughtering their way across the Presidium as we're speaking. We've got vanguard forces wreaking havoc in the wards and killing every civilian they come across. Unlike you turians, not every person on this station is a trained and armed soldier. My battlegroup is all that they've got to protect them and I won't abandon them to their fate. I promise you that the Ascension will provide long-range fire support when the evacuation of the Presidium is complete, but I can't risk the rest of my battlegroup. Someone has to protect those civilians"

His talons dug into his seat. He understood the conundrum. Someone had to stop the geth that were already on the station.

But why did it have to be their best asset?

"How long do you need, Matriarch?"

"As long as you can give me, Admiral. We need to save as many of these people as we can."

. He glanced at the map. At this rate it'd be at least another five minutes before the main fleet entered the station. If he could delay them that long, he would've done all he cou-

"Sir, the largest dreadnought is accelerating! It's heading straight for the Citadel," another turian officer shouted before the Matriarch disappeared to show the monstrously large ship break through the geth formation and ram another C-SEC patrol cutter and the human frigate waiting behind it at an impossible speed. In an instant, minutes turned into seconds. At this rate-

Before he finished the thought, a collision alarm sounded through the Silus.

"Evasive maneuvers, brace for impact!" he ordered on instinct, watching as the ship cleaved towards them, surrounded by a red field of energy that seemed to shrug off every shot fired at it with ease, even that of the Silus' main gun.

"Evasive maneuvers!" the helmsman repeated before the Silus began to turn starboard, managing to get all but the tip of its right wing out of the path strange alien ship just in time. However even the relative small graze was enough to throw Bonosus out of his command chair.

"Spin us around, follow that ship," he ordered through gritted teeth while climbing back into the chair and ignoring the ringing in his head. There was still a battle to fight, there'd be time to bleed later.

"Yes, Sir," the helmsman replied. Then Bonosus turned to his XO.

"Status report, Captain."

"Sir, we just lost a part of our portside. At least five sections got chaved off. No casualty report yet but our wing batteries are destroyed and we're leaking atmosphere."

"And the enemy ship?" maybe that had been enough. Maybe they had altered its course enough with this collision and could go in for the kill.

"Spirits," one of the officers whispered right as Bonosus saw the tail of the ship disappear into the closing arms of station." It got through, Sir."


Meanwhile, 29. January 2415 AD, Citadel Tower

While their shuttle continued to climb up along the tower in an attempt to reach the Council's chambers where Arterius had been spotted, Emily looked up and saw that the arms were closed now, turning the Citadel into its namesake, an impenetrable fortress. In the distance the silver hulls of asari ships, which seemed to be the only ones besides C-SEC that had committed themselves to defending the station itself and not repelling the geth fleet, passed over the wards, streams of smaller ships flocking to them for shelter. As she looked out the small side window and saw a pair of republican gunships pass them, Emily suddenly registered a voice coming from the battlenet C-SEC seemed to have established with the asari.

"Goddess. It got through. It's inside the station! I repeat. The enemy dreadnought entered the Citadel! Brace for impact, brace for-"

As soon as she heard an explosion but couldn't actually see where it was coming from, Emily walked to the door of the craft and looked at the asari standing next to it.

"Show me," she said, prompting the Special Response officer to look at Pallin, who nodded. Then she opened the door and Emily peaked her head up, her heart skipping a beat as she spotted the huge purple silhouette that clashed against the wards it was flying past, ignoring everything that wasn't directly obstructing it's path and obliterating everything that was.

Sovereign.

Just as she saw him, he already began to slow down and unfold his arms, revealing his true appearance. Then, as he was right above the tip of the Citadel Tower, he stopped in mid-air and his arms dug into the structure, causing the shuttle Emily was in to pull to the right in an attempt to avoid the falling debris. As she was about to lose her grip and fall to her death, the asari pulled her back into the shuttle and shut the door. She exchanged a thankful nod and looked at the executor.

"If that thing is inside of here, they have to open the arms again," she said to Pallin.

"If they open the arms, the geth flood in," he replied.

"And if they don't, we're all as good as dead, Sir," Garrus offered.

While she didn't know the nature of their relationship, it was clear that Garrus' input seemed to have some weight in Pallin's next decision.

"Citadel Command, this is Executor Pallin. A hostile ship slipped past the CDF. You have to open the arms again," the turian said before waiting a few moments. "Citadel Command, come in," he repeated. Then he looked at the N7. "Nothing. Either they're being jammed by that thing or they're dead."

"We have to open the arms," she insisted, remembering what Vigil had told them. They were already working on removing the prothean manipulation.

"The only way that is happening is if someone goes up to Citadel Control and opens the arms manually," Pallin said, pointing to the ceiling of the shuttle and likely referring to the Citadel Tower Sovereign was now hugging.

"Then that's what we have to do," she figured, causing the executor to hesitate for a second.

"Do we still have a visual on Arterius?" he asked the Special Response officer that had been doing nothing but stare at security camera footage.

"Yes. He's still heading for the Council Chambers. He should be there any minute now."

"And the Council?"

"Councilor Irissa made it to the ascenscion but Sparatus and Valern are still unaccounted for, Sir. I don't get it though. It's just an empty chamber. What does he want up there?"

Pallin looked at the officer, then at Shepard and then back at the officer again. Then he let out a sigh. "It's not an empty chamber," he said, evidently breaking some kind of vow of silence. "It's where the master control of the station is hidden."

Shit.

Time was running out.

After she shared a look with Williams, Anderson and Garrus, Emily addressed Pallin.

"We have to stop him."

"Agreed. I don't know what he wants to do up there," she did, "but it can't be any good."

"What's our ETA to the chambers?" Pallin called towards the pilot compartment.

"One minute," the pilot replied.

Emily felt her heartbeat go through the roof at the thought of fighting Saren again.

This time had to be different.


Meanwhile, 2156 CE, HSA Embassy

"You're the one who's on the ground, Udina. I need your assessment," the human woman spoke through the hologram projector. "But before you say something, consider this. If I give the order, the Arcturus Fleet will make the jump and be right in the middle of the battle. Their casualties will be massive and the heart of our government will be defenseless."

"Chancellor Goyle," said ambassador replied from within the bunker they had withdrawn to, which limited size was the only reason Tali was even able to hear parts of what was sure to be a classified conversation. "If Shepard's pilot is right and this really is what Harper and Rei have been warning you about all this time, I don't think that there's a real choice here. We have to fight this fight."

The woman paused a moment and twirled a strand of her hair. Then she looked back at the ambassador and nodded.


Three Minutes Later, 29. January 2415 AD, Citadel Tower

No funny quips, no chatter. Just the sound of the distant gunfire. That was all that there was as Emily and the Normandy's team climbed the flight of stairs leading up to the strangely empty Council chambers. This relative silence was owned to only one thing. Self-sacrifice. When they had landed, they had come under heavy fire and, true to what one would expect of a turian officer, Pallin had told her team to run while he and Special Response held back the geth for as long as possible, likely joining the long list of people that had died to get her team to this moment unless the asari sent them reinforcements.

Jenkins and the Blackwatch on Eden Prime, the Cerberus operatives on Therum, Benezia on Noveria, everyone that had fought with them and died on Virmire. If it wasn't for them, this moment right here would never have come and Saren would've already won. As she followed Anderson's lead towards the half-opened doors of the Council chambers, that was the only thing on her mind.

They had to stop him.

When the older Spectre began to run ahead to break through the door, Emily and the rest of her team followed. Inside she immediately spotted the purple-armored turian. He had removed his helmet and was standing at the central one of the three councilor podiums, his blue-glowing eyes dancing over a holographic interface.

As she lifted her weapon at the turian's head and fired off a burst that did nothing but set off a red energy field, Anderson let out a shout before diving for cover.

"Saren!"

Then all hell broke loose.


2156 CE, Some Place Else

Again he was running through the jungle and again they were catching up on him. Benezia T'Soni, Darius, his team. Everyone he had betrayed was coming to kill him and keep him trapped in Sovereign's mind prison like they had done countless times before.

However this time seemed different from before.

This time felt like he could actually escape.

Not only had Saren lasted longer than ever, not once before had he seen the end of the rain or lived to see night fall over the jungle, but he also wasn't directionless. As he glanced up at the night sky, his eyes again settled on the brightest star. There, hanging just where it was supposed to be, was Karia, the star that perfectly aligned with Palaven's south pole, the one that had guided him home a hundred times before. He had only noticed it when a voice had called his name to him from the sky but now that he knew it was there, he knew where he had to go.

Hence he kept running despite the burn in his chest and despite the feeling that Darius would tear him apart any second now. His feet carried Saren forward right until a rock tripped him, causing him to fall, roll and lose his headstart.

No.

Not again.

He tried to climb to his feet but as he felt a hand on his shoulder, he worried that it was too late, that he had passed up on his best chance to escape, but when there was no pain, he finally opened his eyes and found himself outside of the jungle, away from the ghosts. Instead of the green hell he had been stuck in, he was now lying on the stone floor of a turian mausoleum. Hundreds of small compartments surrounded him and the orange glow of a setting sun shone down the corridor, highlighting one of them. Left with nothing else to do, Saren got up and started to walk forward, straight towards the compartment.

He knew exactly where he was but he didn't know how he had ended up here. Was this another layer to this mind prison? Another one of his memories twisted by Sovereign to keep him trapped? As he looked up, searching for the star that had guided him here, he found that the ceiling was missing and, that despite the sunset behind him, a green aurora had settled in its place, bathing the mausoleum in its light. He took a few more cautious steps forward until he hit the compartment, glanced back at the sun, which had disappeared now, and read what was written on it.

'Saren Arterius, Blackwatch-Sergeant, 2114-2156 CE, awarded the Nova Cluster for galant-' as the writing faded and a chorus shouted 'For the Hierarchy', Saren doubled back and just like that, the compartment and mausoleum vanished in favour of a white cliff that only existed in one place on Palaven.

Elapri.

"Long time no see, old friend," a familiar voice greeted, causing him to jump back and fall down. The ghosts that haunted him were all familiar. As he looked at the source, he blinked in disbelief before taking the hand being held out to him by his cabal comrade.

"Kandros," he muttered before cautiously rising to his feet and looking at the soldier in disbelief. He had died years ago, way before Saren had joined Blackwatch. Unlike the other ghosts, he wasn't injured. Quite the opposite. He looked full of life, like he had never bled out on some uncharted world.

"Why the surprised face? You were the one who visited and said we'd see each other soon enough," the cabal chuckled before looking down the cliff and at the ocean, its surface a mixture of blue water and green aurora light. "So. This is your home."

"Yes," Saren muttered. "I don't understand. What are you doing here and why are we in Elapri?"

"Why are you asking me?" Kandros replied with a shrug. "You're the one who brought us here." Saren looked at the water and the night sky, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Was his mind going somewhere familiar to break out of its prison? Leaving the creation of Sovereign and replacing it with one it understood? "You got old, Saren," the dead cabal said, prompting the turian to crack a smile.

"And you haven't aged a day," he muttered a few moments later before realising the implications of what he had said. Then his smile faded and he felt a shudder go through his body. He hadn't felt sorrow in a long time. Despite how it made him feel, it was a nice change. "I'm sorry that I couldn't save you, that you didn't get to see Nyreen grow up."

"Don't be. You remember what I told you, right?" the turian shrugged before walking to the cliff and looking at the ocean. "Death comes for all of us. In the end the only choice we have in it is how we chose to confront it. Do we cower in its face and beg for another chance or more time? Or do we face it in one last fight and embrace an honorable end like so many before us?"

"A nice sentiment. But you never said that," Saren pointed out.

"I didn't?" Kandros asked as he turned back to him, his grey-plated face looking at him in confusion.

"No. Kabalim Vitallion did. At your funeral, right before we put your ashes to rest," the Spectre remembered. "I remember it as clear as the day you died," he added before picking up some of the sand under his feet and watching it drizzle through his hands.

It was nice to feel something other than pain again, no matter how brief this would last.

"Oh. I guess you mixed that up then," Kandros said with another chuckle.

"I did?" he said after catching what Kandros had said.

"You know that I'm not really here, right?" the older cabal offered before glancing up at the sky. The aurora was slowly turning into a deep shade of red and descending on him. "Looks like we're almost out of time," he figured before Saren heard someone else scream at him, seemingly from behind the aurora that was getting closer and closer and taking on more of Sovereign's shape with every passing minute.

"Come on Saren! You can fight this! I know you can!"

"Anderson?"

Just as sudden as the voice had appeared, it was gone again. However in its place Saren felt something he hadn't felt since he had gotten stuck in this mind prison. Biotic energy. His fist flared up in the brightest purple imaginable, the sensation as strong as the day he had discovered this power by ripping of a mandible in basic training, which looking back was the very event that had lead him all the way to this moment.

"I think there's only one thing left to do," Kandros said before looking at Saren and the red shape hovering right over them which was threatening to crush them if it got any closer. "Ready for this?" he asked as the power climbed through Saren's body all the way to his fist.

"Born ready."

"Good. Then I'll see you soon enough," Kandros nodded before fading away, leaving Saren all alone on the cliff, staring at Sovereign with nothing but determination. "Take care, Saren."

This was it.

His last fight.

He smiled.

The perfect end.

As the shape descended on him, he lashed out with all his might, shattering it into a million pieces and, producing a brilliant explosion in the process that tore apart this place he had built in his mind. Shards of memories flew past him as he was thrown into the warm ocean below. His first memory, the first time his brother had taught him how to shoot a rifle, his departure to boot camp, the moment he had learned a biotic, the moment he had joined the cabals, his induction into Blackwatch and the Spectres, everything. It was all there right as he sank down the ocean, passing in front of his eyes just as people claimed it it would.

However instead of drowning like most turians would, a hand suddenly reached down and pulled him upwards, back to the light. He once more felt oxygen flush into his lungs and then a bright white light hit him right until another turian silhouette stepped out in front of it. He had white plates, no facial markings and more scars than any other turian he had ever seen. His mandibles cracked in a smile and, with another effort of strength, he pulled Saren past him and flung him to the source of the light.

"Desolas?" he wondered as he passed the figure.

"You did good Saren. I'm proud," a disembodied voice replied.

Then he hit the light and found himself back to reality. Immedaitely he let go of the human he was holding up by his neck. Then he reached for his gun and met the eye of the Spectre lying on the ground in front of him. Next he pressed the Carnifex against his head, despite the overwhelming grip Sovereign seemed to have over him and smiled a final time. This fight was in good hands. Desolas, Anderson, Valern, T'Soni, this new human Spectre, together with their allies they'd defeat the reapers in the coming war.

He had played his roll and fought his battles. He had carried the torch and shone a light in the dark. The monster that hid there had been exposed and the promise he had made to himself was completed at last. His mission was over, his own war finished. He had been a good soldier and now it was time that he found the peace he never had in life.

"Thank you, Anderson. For everything."


Meanwhile, 29. January 2415 AD, Citadel Tower

As the lone gunshot echoed through the chambers of the Citadel Council, Emily lowered her rifle in disbelief and watched as the twisted body of Saren Arterius fell to the ground in front of Anderson, made lifeless by his own hand.

She didn't get it.

In one moment he had pinned them all and gotten incredibly close to killing Anderson, in the next he had dropped the older N7, pulled his sidearm and shot himself in the head with a smile.

What had just happened?

"Is it over?" Williams muttered while rising for her cover while Shepard rushed over to where Anderson was sitting on the ground right next to the dead turian.

Before she could even think about helping the captain to his feet, he shouted at her. "Don't worry about me. Get the master control!"

After nodding her understanding, Emily continued past him and rushed to the hologram the Spectre had been working on. When she overcame the second of shock she experienced when she realized just how close they were to Sovereign, the Council Chambers were only a couple of hundred meters away from the tip of the Citadel Tower the reaper was holding on to, she interfaced her omni-tool with the master control console and uploaded the program Vigil had given to her. In an instant the red hologram returned to its usual orange colour. She glanced at Sovereign again, pushing the thought that he could incinerate them in an instant and the amazement that he hadn't done it yet into the back of her head, and then began to work on finding a way to open the arms.

"Come on, come on, come on," she muttered while swiping through the interface before reading the desired words and pressing the button. At first nothing happened but then, slowly but surely, the arms started to open. "It's working. It's actually working," she told herself in disbelief, watching as the Citadel began to open, barely noticing the red energy dancing around the reaper.

"Did we do it?" Garrus wondered as Shepard continued to watch Sovereign. She didn't give a reply yet. Why wasn't he doing anything? It was worrying. Sovereign was vulnerable, his plan had failed, yet he was just sitting there.

Had he given up?

Suddenly an ungodly roar filled the chambers of the Citadel, prompting Shepard to turn on her heel and look at the source of the noise. Saren's dead body. It was convulsing and, for a lack of a better term, steaming and melting down. As plates, skin, muscle and blood evaporated, she could make out what looked like a red-glowing, metallic grey skeleton that slowly, but surely, stopped to twitch.

"What the-" she got out before the thing suddenly rose to its feet and smacked its elongated talons against Anderson's head, sending him flying across the chambers. He hit the wall and slid to the ground, limp. Then, in an instant later it, it leapt at Williams, who had been tending to Anderson. Without as much of a hint of effort, it sunk its sharpened talons through the shocked marine's neck and deep into her torso. In one moment, the marine looked at the monster in disbelief and surprise, in the next her head fell backwards and she stopped struggeling. Then the thing dropped her to the ground, leaving her in a puddle of her own blood and turned towards Garrus and Shepard.

From there on out, shock took over, Emily's brain shut off and she operated purely on training, firing her gun at thing right until the assault rifle refused to fire any more bullets. Next she switched to her pistol and let herself fall backwards, hoping to avoid the next jump. As her back hit the ground and the hateful red eyes descended on her, she registered a voice in her earpiece but couldn't make sense of what it was saying. When her pistol clicked empty too and a sharp metal claw was about to descend on her, Emily grabbed her Valkyrie again in an attempt to shield herself from the first strike. But before the claw could descend on her, the last standing member of her team threw himself at the monster and tackled it off her. As she got to her feet and oriented herself again, she heard a set of Carnifex shots echo through the Council chambers. Garrus was locked in the fight with the reanimated skeleton and struggling to get his gun against its head. A series of shots had already dug into the ground next to the metallic skull but judging by the way the skeleton was bending the detective's hand, this was as close as he'd get. Since her Valkyrie was still overheated, Emily did the next sensible thing she could think off. She jumped to her feet, ran to where Garrus was trying to keep the monster pinned, pulled her combat knife and stabbed it into the thing's eye. In one moment it flashed red, in the next the light died down and the creature lost all of its strength, prompting the heavily armored C-SEC detective to fall forward now that the resistance was gone.

She immediately let go of the knife, rose to her feet and reached for a syringe of medigel. She could still save her.

"Get Anderson!" she called to Garrus before sprinting to where Williams unmoving body lay.

When she was about to reach her unmoving body, she finally managed to register what the voice in her head was saying.

"-coming. I say again," a human voice, possibly Joker, screamed "Hit the deck! He's gonna fall on top of you!"

He?

Wait-

She looked up and saw Sovereign drifting through space, convulsing much like Saren's body. Red lighting cracked across his surface and smaller explosions rocked his hull. Then a smaller ship flew right at him and fired. It caused a much larger, much brighter explosion. A few seconds later the sound of broken glass and groaning metal followed

Then the debris hit them.


Sixteen Hours Later, 2156 CE, Palaven, Hall of Primarchs

Desolas had made a promise. If Saren were to die, he would be the one to do it. Because of an injury, he had failed to keep that promise and that reality crushed him. His little brother had died all alone as the consequence of decisions Desolas had made. In another time, that would've been enough of an excuse for him to break or at least to take some time off to mourn. But they did not live in another time. They lived now, in the wake of the Harbinger's first attack. As the galaxy's peacekeepers, they couldn't give in to false security and as the acting commander of the Blackwatch, he couldn't give in to despair. Not until the last of these monsters lay slain at his feet and had drowned in whatever qualified for its blood. Considering how hot his blood was boiling, it probably was for the best that he was only here as an observer.

"From what I understand, their attack failed and the relay remains closed, leaving them trapped in dark space," one of the Primarchs offered after they had meticulously gone through the data collected on Ilos and during the fight with Sovereign, which had claimed the lives of tens of thousands. Going form his markings, this was the leader of the Armiger Cluster. "We have to seize this opportunity. It is time that we take the fight to them, destroy their military before it stands a chance to recover."

"The prothean VI said that they live in dark space. That could be the edge of the galaxy, but it could also be half-way between here and Andromeda. Locating them is unlikely, reaching them is impossible" the Primarch of Taetrus figured.

"Then what do you propose we do?" the Primarch of the Oma-Ker Cluster said in turn. "Wait for them to show up at our doorstep? One of their ships decimated the CDF. If there are as many of these things as we believe, we can't take them head on. Destroying them while they sleep is our best chance."

"To do that we need to locate and reach them and like I said, that's impossible."

"Then we need to find a way to make it possible."

That sentence set off something Desolas hadn't believed to be possible inside the Hall of Primarchs.

An argument.

Sure enough, Primarch Fedorian was quick to jump to action.

"Enough speculation!" he declared, his flanging voice echoing through the hall. "I will not have you at each other's throats in face of the worst crisis in our history. You were summoned to propose a solution. If you can't do that, I will decide on one," he declared. As the highest authority in turian society, that was well within his power.

"Primarch Fedorian," the Primarch of Aephus said as she rose from her seat, drawing the attention of every other colony cluster leader. "If I may."

"You may, Primarch Olarion."

Desolas remembered her. They had argued after the attack on Eden Prime. She was the one who had pushed for caution.

"Yesterday these reapers reminded us of something. We're not undefeatable," she said. "Far from it, actually. In our arrogance, we believed ourselves capable of keeping the peace and holding on to the status quo as it has existed for a thousand years."

"I asked for solutions, not speeches," Fedorian said, clearly instructing her to get to the point.

"I believe the only way to beat this new enemy is to understand it." Desolas' mandibles clicked in familiar worry. Not only had he not expected that solution from her, he had also heard this logic before.

"Studying reaper technology is not a viable solution, Primarch."

"For organics," the turian pointed out. "An artificial being however-"

"VIs lack the necessary intelligence to create advances based on this technology and AIs are outlawed in Council Space," Fedorian interrupted her.

"We already considered ignoring the Treaty of Farixen earlier by building unsanctioned dreadnoughts," the primarch pointed out, referring to one of the earliest suggestions one of the turian leaders had offered. More firepower. "Why stop at one Council Law violation? Why not go as far as our surivival requires?" With that a deadly silence settled in the hall. Fedorian looked at Olarion with an expression Desolas couldn't place, it wasn't anger, it wasn't agreement and it wasn't surprise. He just seemed to register her open defiance of his word. "If you choose to deny this suggestion, I have only one more thing to ask you. What good will laws do us when we all end up as slaves of the reapers?" At this point it was just an open challenge and Desolas was fighting with himself not to scream at her and ask her if she hadn't learned anything out of Saren's fate.

"I will only say this once, Primarch Olarion. There will be no more discussion on this matter, today. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

So did Desolas and in response his mandibles pressed against his jaw. The hidden meaning in Fedorian's reply was clear.


30. January 2415 AD, Cronos Station

"And Shepard?" Harper asked as he dipped his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Still in a medical coma," Rei offered. "From what I heard, they'll wake her up when they fixed up her arm. Then we'll see how she handles this."

He rubbed his brow and looked at his former partner.

"Until that happens, we should start thinking about a solution."

"Don't," Tao warned him, likely already suspecting what he was going to say.

"You saw what they can do, Tao. It took the entire Arcturus Fleet to take down one of them and that only worked because Shepard apparently killed a part of its consciousness beforehand. If every reaper is like this, we're never going to be able to fight them. We need an ace up our sleeves."

"This entire madness was set off because someone messed with reaper tech, Jack. We found Ilos and we've secured Virmire. Let's exploit those aces first," The director of Cerberus looked at his colleague from Section 13 and drew on his cigarette again, inhaling deep and exhaling long. Lying was an art they had both been trained in. They knew every trick there was to it, every little detail that could betray true intentions. To fool either of them would be nearly impossible for anyone but one of them. However between the two of them, Jack had always been the better liar, especially when he had a very good reason to lie in the first place.

As far as reasons went, the survival of the human race ranked very high on that list.

"You're right," he said calmly after the smoke cloud settled in the dimly lit room. He met his eye with his artificial blue eyes and nodded. "Ilos and Virmire come first."

"Good," Tao replied after a few moments of staring back at him. Had he believed him?

As ironic as it was, Harper honestly couldn't tell.


Six Hours later, 30. January 2415 AD, Arcturus Station, Ishimoro Military Hospital

"Hey. I think she's waking up. Get a doctor," a voice instructed.

That was the first thing Emily heard before opening her eyes and blinking several times to orient herself. She had little success other than making out that she was in a very spacious hospital room and lying on a very soft bed.

"Where am I?" she asked the first person she noticed, the turian C-SEC detective sitting in the chair by her bed, half-asleep the same way he had been in when she had first talked to him.

"Arcturus," he replied quickly. "We won but you got hurt. Bad. Concussion, a broken arm and a broken shoulder, some cracked rips-" he began to list before she remembered the fight on the Citadel and-

"Williams and Anderson?" she asked quickly, catching him off guard and rendering him silent in an instant. "Garrus?" she inquired again The turian remained speechless.

"I'm sorry but they didn't make it, Emily," another voice in the room said in a gentle tone. She spun her head and noticed the red-haired woman sitting in the other chair.

Her mother.

"What do you mean they didn't make i-" she began before shaking off the effects of the pain killers and understanding. Then she also froze in mid-sentence. As Hannah Shepard placed a hand on the uninjured shoulder of her daughter, the N7 turned back to Garrus.

"What happened?" she asked quietly. He took another few moments but then he managed to look at her and speak up.

However it wasn't what she was expecting.

"Captain Anderson died when his neck snapped. His cervical vertebrae broke when Saren hit him and the impact with the wall separated his spinal cord. He was dead on impact," he began to explain in a mechanically cold tone that sent shutters down her spine. It sounded like he was describing a murder victim during his C-SEC days and not her comrades. "Williams bled out. The talon punctured major blood vessels and organs. The internal trauma was just too much for anyone to survive. If I had to estimate, she was gone way before either of us could've gotten to her. For what's worth it, I don't think it took her long to die. She didn't even try to apply medigel," he paused another moment, looked at the floor and pressed his mandibles against his jaw. "I tried to save them but by the time I woke up-" he swallowed. "I'm sorry."

For a few seconds, she didn't know what to say. With her brain high on painkillers, she couldn't process all of this at once. Then someone else entered her mind.

"What about Alenko?" she asked, waiting for either of them to respond.

"Lieutenant Alenko is stable," her mother said. "But he was moved back to Earth for surgery," as the older Shepard looked at her, Emily felt nothing but emptiness.

She had won.

But this didn't feel like a victory at all.


Meanwhile, 2156 CE, Citadel Tower, Office of Councilor Valern

"Progress on clean up procedure?" he asked quickly, having dropped his faked speech pattern around the executor from the moment he had been confronted with the security footage that showed him singlehandedly cleaning out a squadron of geth. While he had assured him that he wasn't going to tell anyone about it and had already 'handled' the few people that had seen him fight, the purpose of keeping up an act around him had disappeared nonetheless.

"We quarantined the areas where debris went down just like you said and the last pockets of geth are taken care of too. They self-destructed."

"They self-destructed?" he reapeated, asking for confirmation. Why would they do that.

"I know it sound strange, but they basically committed mass suicide."

"Clarify," the STG operative demanded.

"Sorry, Sir, but it's the only word I can use to describe what they did. They huddled up together in their holdouts and blew themselves up with plasma grenades after we dragged the husk of their ship out of the station."

"Strange," Valern muttered before mustering Executor Pallin. "List of casualties completed yet?" he asked for the next part of the report. With Sparatus back in Hierarchy space for an emergency meeting and Irissa busy coordinating the humanitarian crisis that had been caused by the battle of the Citadel, Valern, STG operative or not, was the only public figure currently available to take charge of the clean-up on the station. For the sake of stability, he'd play that role too. The fact that it gave him a reason to ignore the summoning to Sur'Kesh by the dalatrasses played a part too, of course.

But mainly he wanted to offer stability.

"Military or civilian?"

"Civilian. Already aware of military casualties."

"Up to now we've counted over fifteen thousand victims in the wards and the Presidium. But we're still working on it. A huge piece of the dreadnought crashed into Tayseri and flattened a couple of apartment complexes. Recovering the bodies hasn't been possible yet due to the quarantine but if we go by registrations, it's going to be at least another couple thousand dead."

"I see. Keep me updated on progress and come to me when you require additional material," Valern said, prompting the turian to nod. "Anything else?"

"No, Sir."

"Dismissed."

"Sir."

With that the turian left the door, which remained open for just a second longer than usual after he had left. Someone else might've thought nothing about it or chalked it up to the damage the room had suffered during the attack, he still didn't have his windows back, but as soon as the door closed, Valern pulled his gun and scanned the room.

"Know you're here," he declared, prompting the teal salarian to materialize in the chair in front of him.

"Greetings, Councilor," the League of One member declared in a cheerful voice.

"What do you want?" Valern questioned, keeping his gun trained on this enemy of the Union.

"Your secret was revealed. I come offering a solution," the teal salarian explained as he folded his legs and looked around the devastated office. His fight with the geth had left a very large burn mark on the wall opposite to the door. "Have to say, love the new interior decoration. Personal design?" he added with a smirk.

"Don't require a solution," the councilor said as he stared down this sworn enemy of the STG but lowered his gun nonetheless.

"Trust the executor?"

"Yes."

"We don't," the leaguer offered. "Suggest compromise. Blackmail, not murder. Pallin might be good officer now but his past makes him an easy target. Police brutality, personal vices. Keeping him silent will be easy."

"Don't care about past. Need him in present, necessary to assure stability of the Citadel during this crisis. You will leave him alone."

"Very well. Will leave your new friend alone," the teal salarian shrugged before getting up from his chair and walking over to the empty window frame where he could see a smaller piece of Sovereign that had yet to be towed away. "Have to say, imagined them smaller."

"Aware of the reapers?" Valern replied.

"Aware of Leviathan of Dis. Drew connection after Battle of Virmire. Wasn't aware they called themselves reapers, though," he explained. "Have to say. Very misplaced name. Would've preferred something less sinister and more," he paused as he looked at the wreckage, "molluscoid."

"You were at Virmire?" he chose to ignore the unimportant rest of the teal salarian's sentence.

"No," he shook his head before climbing to the balcony and cracking a smile. Again. What was it with him and balconies? Couldn't he just leave the way he entered? "Funny trivia. League of One not made up of one person-"

"But of thirteen. Told me before," Valern sighed as he watched the leaguer lean against the railing his back turned towards him. He really was sure that he wouldn't shoot him in the back, wasn't he? "Why come here?" he questioned further.

"Informed you about our goal, no? Want to safeguard salarian people, free them of noble born dalatrasses, establish true Salarian Union."

"You did," he said as he heard the whine of mass effect engines and saw a C-SEC squad car hover down to the balcony and open its door. He instantly remembered the salarian sitting behind the steering wheel, brownish skin, older, a cracked horn.

"This attack only first chapter of tumultuous times ahead," the teal salarian said as he climbed on the railing. "Tumultuous times dangerous but also perfect opportunity for change. Told you that your moment to choose will come when we first met. Suggest you prepare to make first choice now. Progress or power. People or nobility," right there he understood. "Continue to have faith in you, Valern."

With that the salarian jumped from the railing and into the squad car, leaving the Councilor alone again.

Progress or nobility.

People or dalatrasses.

He glanced at his terminal.

Maybe he shouldn't delay the meeting after all.


Some Time Later, Dark Space

In an instant an unimaginable old, incredibly advanced mind registered the dying shout of the Nazara and spurred to life.

The vanguard had failed and its 'worthiest' slave had been killed. The Citadel Relay remained closed and the cycle remained delayed. They were still cut off of form the galaxy.

With a single thought, the Harbinger of Ascension awoke the rest of his kind from their long slumber and set them in motion towards the distant, luminescent disk. There could be no more delay. The harvest was upon them.

When that was done, his mind reached out and touched that of the pawns he had left behind after the last cycle, those who proven their worth in the blood of his kin but had also been incapable of receiving the gift of ascension due to the cruel nature of their chaotic organic nature. As soon as the receptive creatures awoke amongst the commotion of their home, he erased the mind of their leader and planted his own thoughts inside. After they bowed to his will, he focused elsewhere, picking up the slaves that the Nazara had left behind. He whispered in their place and assigning each of them a new purpose.

Then his focus turned inward.

It had been thirty-five thousand six hundred and four cycles since the last vanguard had failed. Since then the Nazara had served the purpose to perfection. Their failure proved that he had to assume direct control of this harvest.

The cycle would not be broken.


A/N:

Boy what a quick update!

HAHA!

Yeah. It's only because it's the finale and because I killed some people.

.... I mean come on. You didn't actually think Wrex losing an arm he can regrow and Kaidan getting incapacitated was the worst that was going to happen to named characters after I spent all this time talking about how many people are gonna start dying once the reapers make their real moves... sorry.

If it's any consolation, it hurt me as much to write Saren's death as it hurt you to write it. I loved the way this guy shaped up and now he's gone. But hey. At least he literally punched Sovereign in the face (and killed a part of his consciousness too, if you want to know.)

Ok.

So, continuing the trend I set when Season 2 ended, Season 3 (Mass Effect 1), also doesn't get a codex so that both the beginning and end of Saren's reaper-arc end with "the cycle will/would not be broken."

Yeah. I've got a flare for book-ends, I admit it.

Other than that. I basically just spelledit out, that's it. This is how Semper Vigilo-Mass Effect 1 ends. Shepard got hurt, Williams, Anderson and Saren are dead, Harper goes rogue-ish, you get a tease of the turian Illusive Man and the Harbinger wakes up and decides that it's time to fuck shit up since they just killed his favorite bloke on the R-Squad.

Also my favorite salarian returned. Before you ask, no I didn't forget about the League of One. It's just that their story line really would've bloated Mass Effect 1 even more than it already was.

"But you still got Bring down the Sky which you teased as a cross over!" I hear you say.

And yes. That's true, that's how I originally planned it. But hey... plans go haywire, right? Bring down the sky will now be part of the few interlope chapters I'll write before we hit Season 4, Mass Effect 2. (which I promise you, will actually include Tali. I took her out of Mass Effect 1 because I want her to have a different origin and a different background. She's going to be someone else in Season 4, I promise you that much. No more damsel in distress (if you want to call it that. ))

How that'll go down? You'll have to wait and see.

Obviously we'll return to Shepard once more though. I mean, I can't just have her go from here to where she'll be a few ways down the line. Prepare to get a bit more trauma thrown in there. (turns out I lied, lol. The lowest point wasn't done with a pep-talk from doctor chakwas. I just really, really didn't want to say that things would get worse because I was worried it'd spoil that we still had some squad-deaths ahead.)

Other than that, I don't have a lot more to say other than thanks to everyone that's here reading this milestone. I appreciate the hell out of you, especially the regular reviewers. You're good people.

For the record, Season 3 ends with 591 reviews, 908 favorites and 994 follows.

See you around next time.