Hey guys, just to let you all know that this story is on the final stretch. About 8-10 more chapters to go before another Warlord story. Which I will give you all a choice when the time comes. Until then enjoy.
Ashley sat next to the kids as they slept. Her mind moved to when her father died and she had to help her mom with her sisters. While this was different, given that she had Miranda, Tali Jun and Liara, she couldn't help but feel upset that they would never had known their father. That was something she was going to correct as soon as she got the chance. Reaching out she stroked Sarah who moaned with the touch of her mother and turned to face her brother. That made Ash smile, even with John gone she can still have a family.
She soon stood and walked out her mind set on destroying Mikyle and anything he loved. Walking into the war room the other commanders just stood to attention while her friends just nodded as she walked in. Only the holograms of Urdnot Grunt and Oda Nobutada stood as the rest of the alliance didn't trust her and broke off as soon as they had the chance. But she proved herself to them, not the others and that was the difference. She wasn't an icon like John, but she planned to be.
"What's the situation?" she asked.
"The other Warlords are planning their own counter offensive against Mikyle they are similar to the original plan but they are fighting for the glory," Miranda said as she and the others turned to the holo-map. "They are turning on each other creating a problem for us, but it's fish in the barrel for Mikyle,"
"We subject that this is what he wanted," Liara added. "Without John, Nobunaga and Wrex he created less of a power vacuum but removed a threat to their power. Without them as a buffer, they turn on each other with little need,"
"Even with the threat of the Reapers…" Ashley muttered in anger.
The others just nodded with little encouragement. They all knew the risks, but now the problem came to what to do next. All eyes locked onto the holo-map with the commanders trying to think about what to do. Plans and ideas formed in their heads, but even then, there was little that they could do with the other Warlord trying to bag the prize. Jun however looked at the map and a wider perspective came to mind.
"Star flare," she then said and operated the controls to expand the view from just a planet to the system instead. "We fire attraction rods, big ones at star, it creates flare. Kill systems," she said as she operated the controls to show what she was talking about
"A solar flare," one of the commanders said. "Doubtful but maybe the right track,"
"An emp," Tali then muttered. "That would be better but we would need a delivery system,"
"One of our stealth cruisers?" Ashley suggested.
Tali nodded, "I'll be able to modify one of them. It may take some time, but I can manage it,"
"Get to it, hopefully once all ships are down, we'll be able to take the arcology down," Ash nodded before she asked a question that was on her mind. "What about the Prothean?"
"I've been looking him over," Liara then said. "He's alive, but I suggest waking him in a room alone, with me,"
"Miranda help her out with that," Ashley ordered with Miri nodding. "Jun are far are you along?"
"2-3 months," she answered.
"Ok, your off duty until the baby is born," Jun was about to protest but Tali placed her hand on top of her shoulder and shook her head. "Good, we all know our jobs, let's get to it," everyone nodded and exited except for Ashley and Miranda who remained.
"I haven't seen you like that since the war," she said. "You did good,"
"Really?" Ashley asked, "I don't feel like I did,"
"You give yourself too little credit," Miranda counter, "John saw the potential in you long before you two got together. He told me, during the search for Saren, you took command and matters into your own hands without thinking, hell he even read the reports of when you were a Spectre. He chose you for command because he knew you could handle it. We all know you can do it,"
"Yeah," Ash muttered without looking at her, admittedly, best friend. "But it doesn't mean that I agree with you,"
Miranda placed her hand on Ashley's shoulder and smiled. "You'll be a great leader; I can promise you that. You were during the war, and you will be now. All you have to do is, well I would say believe or trust in yourself…"
"But that seems a little cliché," Ash finished.
"Yeah so all I can say is, look to the past to find what kind of a leader you are,"
OOOOO
Liara stood in the quarantine room looking over the cryo pod of the Prothean. Souls and Shoko stood in the room next to them to monitor the Prothean. Centuries of investigation told them a lot about the ancient race, even their biology but they still didn't know everything. There were to many unknowns, but they still had to do something given that the Reapers were still coming. Liara looked up and nodded before reaching for the pod controls. Hitting the activation key, and the pod opened up.
Inside was an insect like humanoids with four eyes. There was a clear resemblance with the collectors, but the Prothean looked more natural. A moment later its eyes opened and looked up at Liara. It jumped out of the pod and looked around before his eyes focused on Liara.
"Asari," he muttered before he noticed the two behind the window. "Human, Salarian. I'm surrounded by primitives,"
"If you want you can go back into the pod," Liara shot. "Listen we need your help,"
"The Reapers?" he asked looking to Liara. "Then cycle is about to begin,"
"Not quite," she replied making him look to her. "The Reaper's did invade, but we used one of your weapons, the Crucible, it destroyed most of them. But not all of them,"
"I know who you refer to," he said. "Harbinger is not a Reaper,"
"What is he?"
"The oldest known being in existence,"
OOOOO 3 weeks later
"I am not a dog that you can just call," Shiala yelled as she walked into a large yet dark room.
Inside sat TIM, Mikyle and Balak around a large table with a hole in the middle. Each one gave her a glance, but no one said anything as she took her place at the only open seat.
"We didn't call you," Mikyle said. "Harbinger did," but that just made her scoff with amusement.
"My comment still stands," she shot before her eyes focused on Balak. "By the way I need more followers if my mission is to succeed,"
"You'll get them," he said. "My raiders are bringing in more and more every day from lost colonies. I'd be more than happy sending them to you, once you get them infected,"
"Good," she smiled. "With Shepard dead, the Solar Empire should fall soon,"
"Don't count on it," TIM said making her eyes look to him. "Shepard was no fool, he made sure to that someone would replace him after he died. His wife has taken over as leader,"
Thar spooked Mikyle, "Ashley Shepard?" he muttered. "She was a Spectre and for good reason, she learned form Shepard and picked up what he knew. If she's in charge it means that the Solar Empire is still a major threat,"
"I agree," TIM added. "My spies also tell me that they also have a line of succession planned out and everything. Shepard thought well ahead of his death. We should never underestimate them,"
"I agree," Balak said. "He may still come back to haunt us,"
Shiala just scoffed. "He's dead, and his empire will fall like the rest,"
"I wouldn't be so sure," a voice then said and a hologram of a Prothean like humanoid appeared in the middle of the open area of the table. "Shepard maybe dead but his empire still lives on, which still presents a threat to the rebirth of the Reapers. How goes the plan?"
"My labs are already producing black liquid," TIM said, "We'll be able to start production of Reaper foot soldiers soon,"
"The war over my homeworld is going well, we are holding the rest of the warlords at bay," he smiled. "With Shepard gone, the Warlords have turned on each other and are tying to fight for glory," he gave a throaty laugh. "It's amazing how little they care,"
"My raiders are acquiring many slaves from closed off words, and the ones people have forgotten about. The more we get the more troops we have," Balak added in. "Ship production has also doubled so we'll have a good amount of ships to use to deploy,"
"The Thorian cult has spread far and wide," Shiala said. "When the word comes, we'd be more than happy to begin uprisings on all words,"
"Good, we will then begin the harvesting soon," Harbinger said. "But we must make sure that they do not unite, or make another Crucible,"
"They won't," TIM said. "There is a third party called Article station, but unless they come up with some kind of proof that the Reapers are coming back," he took a sip of his whisky. "As for the Crucible, that is unlikely to be remade. Certain technologies are needed for it to be build, technologies that no longer exist. Something similar maybe made, but it is unlikely,"
Harbinger looked at TIM with a stare that would have shrank others but TIM wasn't a man who shrank with ease. "How can you be sure of that?" he asked.
TIM just puffed on his cigarette. "Because my spies have told me that there is no one around who knows how to make it and I have made sure of it,"
"For your sake, I hope so," the Reaper said before someone walked in.
"Sorry sirs," he saluted. "President, I have word from Terra Nova," he said looking to Mikyle who was smiling, but the man didn't share. "They have been destroyed,"
"What!" Mikyle yelled.
"What happened?" Shiala asked taking the question out of the Presidents' hands.
"The Solar Empire used an EMP to disable both the Warlords ships and out defences. After that, the Empire…" he paused trying to find the right words. "They… they used nukes on every inch of the planet. They've turned it into a nuclear wasteland,"
"But… but that means…" he muttered before a shot rang out and he looked toward TIM who had pulled out a pistol and shot him.
"It means that you are useless to this alliance," he said as Mikyle fell to the ground. "Get all of the New Alliances soldiers onto ships and take them to the Black Liquid facilities. Prepare them for processing,"
"Yes sir," the soldier said before leaving.
"Well, that could have gone better than expected," Shiala muttered. "But I suppose something like this was bound to happen," as she said that another soldier burst in.
"Sorry sirs, but we just got word that Article station has sent out a Reaper warning signal," he said. "The other Warlords are already on the move and preparing for another war,"
"Well, this just got interesting," Balak muttered.
"Stop this meeting, if you cannot," Harbinger warned before his hologram disappeared.
The remaining three looked to each other as if they had some kind of answer, but they didn't have a good answer for anything. Article station, even when at peace, always had a large amount of ships protecting it. They were up against a rock and a hard place now.