The Geth opened fire immediately and the Mako responded. Blue bursts of light filled the air around the Mako, which zigged and zagged slightly, weaving its way around the incoming fire on its way to the Conduit, even now starting to lose its bright sapphire glow. Some shots missed, going on to kick up mounds of dirt and material from the ground, or gouts of water and steam from the flowing water.
And some shots hit. Blow by blow struck the Mako's particle field. Inside Tali cried out, "Particle barrier failing! We can't take another…!"
As the Mako raced past the first two of the Geth, Ashley shot one in the head with the vehicle's main gun. This was the second direct hit Ashley landed on the platform, so the shot overpowered the particle barrier of the Geth platform and smashed the head into pieces. The platform flopped onto its belly, lifeless.
On the other side, though, the second Geth fired. And at that range and at that angle, even the Mako's speed couldn't spare it from a direct hit. The blast broke through the particle barrier and scoured material from the Mako's exterior.
"Particle barriers gone!"
Shepard didn't react. She was too busy keeping control of the Mako as she weaved through more oncoming fire, her eyes firmly locked on the Conduit ahead.
A Conduit that was on the verge of shutting down.
The Geth opened fire first, directing their first volley of shots at the Council ships that had yet to adjust formation and alert status. As Julia feared would happen, those captains and their crews paid the price for their refusal to believe Meridina's warning. She watched as Geth missiles and plasma fire broke apart a Turian cruiser with several direct hits. A second cruiser of the same class died a moment later from more. An Asari ship was left a burning wreck.
While the Turians took the brunt of the incoming fire, the Geth sent several volleys toward the Destiny Ascension. The massive Asari dreadnought could tank some fire, but the Geth weapons were more powerful than those the Aurora had encountered over Adrana and Therum. After the first wave of the volley finished striking the Asari ship's deflectors, the ship reported shield degradation.
"The Council has been beamed aboard the Destiny Ascension," King informed them over the comm. "All vessels, defense of the Ascension is our top priority after the Citadel." WIth that order King was already implementing her instruction with her own ship. The Excalibur moved to cover the Destiny Ascension. King's tactical officer opened fire. Bolts and beams of sapphire energy lashed out at the incoming Geth. The Geth ships' shields held, mostly. Follow-up torpedoes from the Excalibur and the Barroso, one of the Predator-class starships, finished off one of the Geth cruisers.
More might have gone down, but Angel's opposite on the Excalibur was joining her in focusing fire on the main threat. Sapphire bolts from pulse plasma cannons zipped between the gaps of the Geth ships to crash into Sovereign. A barrier field of some kind met those shots, with no resulting damage to the massive machine.
"Status on Sovereign's shields?" Julia asked.
"I've never seen a deflector pattern like this before," Cat said. "It's absorbing our fire with some effort, but it shrugs off most of the incoming fire from mass effect field weaponry. It's like Sovereign's defenses were made to nullify mass effect weapons."
"Given what Robert and Shepard heard on Virmire, I'm not surprised," Jarod noted. "I'm still examining the shields for weak points…" The bridge rocked slightly as the first Geth missiles struck their shields. "Shields holding at ninety-five percent…" They rocked again. "...ninety-three percent now."
"I've already got secondary shield generators to take up the slack," Barnes said. "Tertiaries will come online as needed."
Julia nodded. As their ship rocked again, and even more hits struck the Excalibur, she figured they'd need those tertiaries sooner or later.
"What's the status of the Citadel?" she asked. "Is C-Sec ready for intruders?"
With Jarod busy running his share of their battle operations, Meridina was the one to open the commlink. Julia noticed her expression shift ever so slightly to show concern. "I am seeing reports of weapons fire on the Presidium. Geth have been identified. But there is no consistent response to my inquiries. It appears the Citadel's communications are down."
"Not just the Citadel," Jarod said. "I can't access the galactic communication network. We're being blocked."
Julia nodded. Even the Alliance's IU network had to utilize the galaxy's network this far from the core of Alliance space in this galaxy and others. "Then the fleet at Arcturus won't be joining us. We have to do this ourselves."
When the Geth came through the Conduit, they arrived in a Presidium that was still filled with civilians. They wasted no time in opening fire. As beings of all the species present started to fall, wounded or dead, the Geth fanned out. Some of them set up impaling spikes with their victims, the devices that would turn them into husks, while others secured the lifts to the Citadel Tower. Reinforcements from behind them moved in through the Conduit and spread down and across the Presidium. By the time Saren came through, there was nothing stopping him from entering the Tower. He stopped by the nearest Avina kiosk. Before the colorful Asari-modeled VI could speak to him, Saren used an omnitool to load code into the VI, and through it into the Citadel's systems. Lights across the Presidium started to go out.
"I need time," he said to the nearest Geth, knowing all could hear him. "Distract C-Sec with attacks on the Presidium." The Geth gave a warble of obedience as they spread out to do just that.
The unexpected arrival of Geth on the Presidium caught everyone in C-Sec by surprise. Communications started to go down a moment later.
The Aurora's Marine and security forces were on their way to meet with one of Executor Pallis' lieutenants when the alert came over internal communications. C-Sec comms swiftly broke down. Major Anders was surprised to see the security force reduced to near-chaos by the result. He'd fought alongside Turian troops against the Reich and knew them to be quite capable of rolling with a situation.
"This isn't the Turian military," Lucy said to him, sensing the thought. "C-Sec's different. I don't think they ever imagined something on this level happening."
"Maybe not." Anders hailed down a passing Turian C-Sec officer. "I'm Major Anders, Alliance Marines. Where's the fire?"
"Everywhere," said the C-Sec officer. "We're getting reports of explosions and Geth attacks in every Ward and the Presidium itself. And the extranet is down. Communications across the Citadel are also untrustworthy. Someone may have sabotaged our network."
"So what are your plans for this?" asked Lucy. "Contingencies?"
"That's the problem." Irritation showed in the Turian's eyes. "Executor Pallis is cut off, and we've lost contact with seventy percent of our precincts. At this point C-Sec can't launch a coordinated response."
"Which is probably what Saren wants," Anders said. "So we need to figure out where he doesn't want C-Sec."
Lucy considered the question. She felt a pull toward the direction of the Presidium. "Something on the Presidium, I'm sure of it." She prepared to run in that direction and just barely stopped herself. She glanced toward Anders. "I'm positive, but the call is yours."
Anders nodded and she sensed a small bit of appreciation from him. "Lead on, Lieutenant."
She did.
The fire converging on the Mako was far more than its particle barrier systems could handle. Bolt after bolt of plasma struck the surface of the vehicle, blackening its white exterior as armor melted off and away under the onslaught. "We're taking too much fire!" Tali cried. "The barrier isn't regenerating. We've taken damage to the shocks on the rear right! The Mako won't take much more of this!"
"It won't need to. Here we go!"
Shepard pushed the Mako throttle as much as she could. The vehicle rocked from the impacts that were wrecking it as it approached the fading Conduit.
"Estimate Conduit closure in ten seconds!" Tali cried. "Nine… eight… seven…"
A shot from one of the Geth struck the turret. It was not destroyed, but melted material stuck it into place, keeping Ashley from returning fire further.
"...five… four… three..!"
Robert held his breath as the Conduit loomed ever nearer. He tried to project his power into the Mako, willing it to move faster, to make it before the Conduit closed.
"...two… one! The Conduit's energy field, it's…"
As the Conduit began its shutdown sequence, the Mako made it to the energy field surrounding it. In a burst of blue light it shot up through the sky. Everyone aboard felt the familiar effect of a mass relay transit.
After a few seconds it ended. Through the viewscreen at the front of the Mako the Presidium was barely visible, the main lights now inactive.
But none of them had time to notice this fact, nor the presence of the Geth ahead. The Mako shot from the Conduit's relay to the Citadel at the same velocity it had when it entered. Shepard had a mere second to react and try to slow the vehicle down. It crashed through two Geth platforms, destroying both, as she slammed the brakes.
The damage to the Mako and it systems made it impossible for the brakes to slow them as normal. The Mako flipped and turned until it came to a rest nearly upside down. The flip and the impact were the most intense yet and Robert was certain everyone would have bruises over it. He ignored the lingering pain and discomfort and released his seat harness. As he was on the side that was pointing upward he fell a little, but mostly slid until he was crouching on the ceiling of the cargo area.
Nearby Shepard was already crawling out of the driver's side hatch. Garrus was the first to scramble up to the hatch on the other side. He opened it and jumped out. Tali and Robert joined him a moment later.
Robert felt the danger an instant before the Geth fired. The rocket erupted from its launcher bound for Garrus. He acted instinctively, throwing the rocket off-course enough to hit the wrecked Mako instead. The blast from the rocket proved sufficient to throw all three to the ground. In a daze Robert lifted his head. His ears rang from the blast. Ahead a Geth was raising its weapon and pointing it toward him. His arm flopped as he struggled to get to his weapon, but the blast of the rocket was severe enough to leave him seriously rattled and, worse, very disoriented. He blinked to try and get the blur out of his vision.
There was the sound of pulse fire and an electronic whine, followed by the clatter of a Geth hitting the ground. When Robert looked again, his imminent killer was sprawled out on the Presidium floor, and a figure dashed up to him. He looked up and blinked in surprise. "What?"
"Hey Rob," said Zack, smiling as he extended his hand to his friend. "It's been a while."
Despite the remnant pain in his head, Robert smiled back.
The Aurora maneuvered around a damaged Turian cruiser, absorbing missiles from a Geth ship meant for the Turians. Blue beams of plasma lashed out in reply from the ship's starboard emitters. The deflectors of the Geth cruiser held under the initial strikes. But the four starboard-facing beam cannons came to bear under Angel's direction. One by one four thicker beams of sapphire energy lashed out at the cruiser. Its deflectors failed on the second shot, allowing the two that followed to slice the Geth ship open. With its hull opened up and its deflectors down, it had no protection from the follow up shots. In the seconds before its motion would have brought it out of the Aurora's starboard arc, more sapphire beams cut the ship's internals apart. A hit on the helium-3 fuel tanks left a trail from the wounded ship. Beside the Aurora, the wounded Turians put a spread of disruptor torpedoes into the dying Geth cruiser to finish it off.
Julia didn't notice the success. She was busy observing the battle as a whole. The Geth were pressing hard on the Destiny Ascension and thus on the Excalibur. The numbers and most of the ships being outfitted with deflector shields gave them the apparent edge.
"Why isn't Sovereign joining the fight?" Julia asked aloud. The ship shuddered as it took fire from two more of the Geth cruisers. Angel immediately retaliated with a barrage of pulse plasma fire from the bow cannons that battered down the Geth ship's deflectors, allowing the bow-mounted beam weapons to carve the Geth ship up. The second cruiser took fire from the Excalibur while turning its guns on the Destiny Ascension again.
"It apparently sees the Geth as nothing but cannon fodder," Meridina remarked. "Perhaps it is using them to weaken us."
"Given how it was talking on Virmire, that doesn't make sense. It thinks it's superior…" Julia felt a small smile come on as she let her thoughts come to a conclusion. "...unless it's afraid of something."
Meridina sensed the thought and nodded. "You believe Sovereign is afraid of us."
"I do."
A Geth missile slammed into the shields. "Shields down to seventy percent," Jarod said.
"Mister Jarod, Commander Delgado, have you found anything about those shields the Reaper is using?"
"They've got a lot of raw power behind them," Cat confirmed. "And they're really good at deflecting matter. This technology was clearly made to counter mass effect weaponry and any other form of weapons that use mass."
"But what about our weapons?"
Cat thought that through. "It'll block torpedoes, yeah, and the nadion particles in phasers would have trouble with it, but the plasma from our main batteries shouldn't be affected. Our plasma fire and the Excalibur's were showing an effect earlier."
Julia tapped a key on her chair to open the tac-comm link to the Excalibur. "Captain King, my science officer believes Sovereign may be vulnerable to our plasma weaponry."
After a few moments King's voice responded, "And mine concurs, Captain. Very well. I'll have our light ships continue to assist the Destiny Ascension and the rest of the Citadel fleet. We will engage Sovereign directly. I'm relaying combat formation data to your helm now."
"Formation data received," Locarno confirmed. "I'm taking us in."
"I'm relaying targeting data to the Excalibur," Cat said. "If we concentrate our fire enough, I think we might be able to breach Sovereign's shields."
After another hit Jarod reported, "Shields at sixty-six percent."
"Engage the Geth as we go, but I want every weapon hitting Sovereign if it can."
"Targeting information loaded," Angel said, nodding to her younger sister. "I'm linking with the Excalibur for synchronized firing."
"Then fire when ready."
The two Alliance starships moved in tandem together, bringing their best weapons to bear as they flew in defiance of the gathering Geth ships toward their target.
Shepard's team managed to extricate themselves from the stricken Mako under the cover of Zack and a number of C-Sec officers of various species. Bailey was kneeling beside Zack behind some cover; Robert and Shepard were nearby behind one of the tree stands. "It was the damndest thing," Bailey was saying, glancing toward the Conduit's exit: the supposed mass relay monument left by the Protheans. "I always thought it was just a model, not a portable relay!"
"What's going on?" Shepard asked them.
"Saren's hacked into station communications, C-Sec is offline, divided, and distracted," Zack replied. "Julia warned me something was up. Meridina and Lucy sensed trouble. So I was on my way to meet with Bailey when everything went nuts."
"There's no way the Geth are already everywhere on the station," Ashley said. "Not this quickly."
Garrus shook his head. "Not at all, but they don't have to be. Saren was a Spectre. He probably knew our command protocols. He's triggering false alarms."
"Spectres aren't supposed to be briefed on those," Bailey said. "It's too vital for field operatives to know."
"There's no telling how long Saren's been planning this," Shepard said. "He could have met Sovereign decades ago."
"I wouldn't put it past him," Garrus grumbled.
"We'll figure it out later," Shepard insisted. "Where is Saren now? Did he enter the Tower?"
"Seems likely," Bailey said. Over his head gunfire from the Geth whizzed by.
"The master control unit must be up there." Shepard readied her weapon. "We need to get there before Sovereign can open the relay to dark space."
"Can open the what?"
"The Citadel's a big mass relay," Robert explained quickly. "And on the other side is the dark space beyond the galaxy where a bunch of genocidal machines are waiting to slaughter us all." Robert pulled his weapon out. "So let's get going." He nodded to Shepard.
Shepard nodded back once and jumped from cover. Biotic energy gathered around her and she shot forward. Her charge sent a pair of Geth platforms flying. Robert's power caught another and he threw it into the lake in the middle of the Presidium. The lightsaber in his hand came up and deflected an incoming shot, then another. Behind him Zack and Bailey were rising to open fire, shooting at some of the other Geth.
Behind them, the rest of Shepard's team began advancing. Liara tossed a singularity and, after it snagged two Geth, Kaidan threw his own biotic bolt into the singularity to cause it to explode, smashing the two Geth into the wall. Wrex charged forward, wreathed in a biotic field, and slammed his head into a Geth's neck with enough force to slice through most of the wires holding the flashlight head to the torso. He fired a point blank shot into it and blew the torso apart. Ashley backed him up by riddling a larger Geth platform approaching him with rounds from her assault rifle. When it tried to fire, Tali used her omnitool to hack into the neural net and temporarily paralyze the big Geth. Wrex and Ashley shot it to pieces with their weapons. A Geth sniper targeting Shepard as she shot up another Geth platform had its head blown to pieces by Garrus' sniper rifle. Robert caught another one with his lightsaber, slicing it in half before bringing the weapon back up to deflect more incoming fire.
They nearly made it to the tower when they came under fire from the direction of the Embassies. Multiple Geth platforms were approaching from that direction, including one of the smaller four-legged ones. It shot a bolt of plasma that impacted just short of the team, sending Garrus and Tali flying backward from the energies of the impact. Wrex and Liara moved to cover them while Ashley, Kaidan, and Shepard sought cover. Robert held his place and tried to draw fire, ensuring that Zack and Bailey could get their people back into cover as well.
This, of course, made him a target, and the Geth were focusing fire on him. His arms were starting to feel rubbery as they moved with speed that was beyond normal, catching the incoming fire with the help of his life force powers. But he didn't know how long he could keep this up…
...and then realized he wouldn't have to.
A sudden explosion ripped through the ranks of the Geth. The steady sound of pulse fire came from beyond their position. In the moments afterward, as the four-legged Geth charged up for another shot, a figure leapt out from the path further down the Presidium and descended on the back of the Geth. Robert watched a flash of blue light fill the air and swipe through the neck of the Geth. The plasma discharged wildly around it, wrecking the Geth, while its destroyer leapt free to land near Robert.
Lucy looked at him and smiled. "I thought I felt you were here," she said. "How?"
"The Conduit is a portable mass relay linking Ilos to the Citadel," he replied. Behind Lucy he noticed the armored figures of Marines joined with more C-Sec officers coming up. Zack and Bailey led the other C-Sec officers in joining the fight, and with Shepard's team helping the Geth were being taken under fire from three sides.
Lucy nodded. The smile faded. "Allowing Saren to slip into the Presidium with a bunch of Geth."
"Yeah."
"Sovereign's here," Lucy added. "You can feel it?"
"I can." Robert stopped himself from shuddering at the malevolent energy of the Reaper. "It's like the Flow of Life is shivering in terror."
"We felt it coming," Lucy said. "All of us." As she spoke Talara came up, in a field uniform carrying a pulse pistol. Robert sensed the queasiness in the Falaen woman and noticed her brown skin was now pale. "We have to stop this."
"That's the plan." Shepard stepped up to join them. "We've got to get up the Tower."
"There are more Geth in the Presidium, but I'm betting they'll come this way quickly if Saren calls." Anders was walking up to join them now. "We'll stay and hold the line."
"And we'll join you, Commander," said Zack. "You're probably going to need the firepower. There's no telling how many Geth are up there with Saren."
"I'm coming too," Lucy said. Talara nodded in agreement with her teacher.
"We'll take one lift, you take the other," Shepard said. "Let's move!"
With Shepard's team in the lead, they moved on to the lifts.
The cloudy space around the Citadel lit up with weapons fire, like a distant thunderstorm veiled behind clouds. In the cockpit of his Mongoose tactical fighter, Lieutenant Commander Patrice Laurent tracked a Geth cruiser moving in to strike at a beleaguered Asari cruiser. His targeting systems locked onto the enemy ship. "Squadron reports target lock," said his sensor officer, Ensign Derek Patel.
"Commence fire," Laurent ordered.
Around him, the Aurora's Alpha Squadron opened fire. Their phaser cannons, even collectively, did little against the Geth deflector shields..
Their solar torpedoes, however, were far more effective. The barrier of the Geth ship collapsed on the fourth impact, leaving several more torpedoes to blow the ship to pieces.
"Bravo Squadron here, we're under heavy fire at grid epsilon-29, Geth fighters are in number. Turian wing already eliminated."
Recognizing the Sirian accent of Lieutenant Gwen Skydancer, Bravo's commander these past few months after her time in Laurent's Command Flight, Laurent responded immediately. "Echo Squadron, reinforce Bravo. Delta, fall back to cover the Aurora."
"Roger that."
"Acknowledged."
"Alpha Squadron, stay on my flight," Laurent continued. "The Asari are still pressed hard and need the support."
"Roger," replied Lieutenant Huang, the commander of the squadron.
Geth fire filled the space around the Aurora and Excalibur as the two ships continued to go for the colossal Reaper directing the fleet of synthetics. Sapphire bolts repeatedly struck at Sovereign as the range closed and the Reaper could not evade the ships sufficiently.
On the Aurora bridge Cat looked up from her station. "I think it's working," she said. "I'm reading disruptions in Sovereign's deflectors. They're starting to… wait, I'm getting a power surge…"
"We're being targeted," Jarod warned.
"Evasives!" Julia ordered.
At Locarno's control, the Aurora twisted and pulled away from the Reaper. As the maneuver completed, red light came from one of the machine's many arms. It briefly played over the Aurora before a surge of energy lashed out. The Aurora's shields flickered violently in reaction.
On the bridge the ship shook violently, almost as if they'd taken a direct hit.
"I managed to avoid the worst of it," said Locarno.
"Still, that hit took our shields down to thirty-eight percent," Jarod replied.
"And strained the generators," Barnes said. "I'm diverting auxiliary power to shore them up."
"Sensors confirm we were hit by a magnetohydrodynamic bolt, some kind of alloy," Cat said as the ship shuddered again. Some of the Geth were still engaged with them, trying to protect Sovereign. "Our deflectors absorbed it better than others would have. That shot would have broken through a particle barrier like it wasn't… we're being targeted again!"
Julia didn't have to repeat the prior order. This shot from Sovereign was a near-miss, the very outer edge of the bolt of cee-fractional-accelerated matter skimming the Aurora's shields. "Shields are back to forty-eight percent and rising," Jarod said. As he spoke more weapons fire struck Sovereign and its powerful deflectors.
"Do what you can, and maintain fire on that monster," Julia insisted. And here's hoping we keep that thing from landing a direct hit.
With the Geth off to cover all potential entrance ways, Saren walked by himself toward the Council's meeting place. With his omnitool ready he sent the codes Sovereign had left him. An automated system extended the walkway to the Petitioners' Stage. Hardlight controls flashed into existence.
You are almost done, Sovereign's voice said to him. When the others arrive, you will be recognized for your role in this harvest.
Saren heard the words and felt nothing but conviction for them. At least, mostly nothing. Even here, at the cusp of victory, he felt a small bit of doubt on the matter. Doubt that this was the right approach, that this would safeguard his survival and that of others. This small part screamed, "You are being betrayed! He is controlling you!"
To his surprise, this was being said in the voice of Shepard.
The doubt seeped away. Sovereign's conviction filled him. This was the way it had to be. The only way to survive.
Saren bought his hands up and began seizing control of the Citadel.
The first hint that something was going wrong was when the lifts stopped, almost side-by side. Robert glanced toward the other elevator, slightly lower than the one Shepard's team was on. Shepard was busy with the controls. "It's not accepting my codes. I'm being locked out. It must be Saren."
"Then we're almost out of time. Let me…"
"No, let me," said Tali. She went up to the controls. "I think I can use a manual override. Give me a minute."
As she started working, Robert glanced over to see Lucy doing almost the same thing. Trying to override it?
Yeah was the answer. Hold tight.
It's just the fate of the galaxy and maybe the Multiverse, no pressure, he thought back.
The response was a surge of irritation and a feel of I'm not talking anymore.
Geth fire that might have finished off one of the lighter Salarian ships splashed with little effect against the shields of the Koenig. On her bridge Will Atreiad kept his eyes on the tactical holo. Apley maneuvered the Koenig to direct its firepower at one of the lighter Geth attackers. Sherlily's barrage with the main phaser cannons blasted away its deflectors and the rear half of the ship.
The ship shook with a solid impact. "Geth cruiser, bearing 102 mark 088," Magda reported. "They've got a lock." Again they were rattled in their seats. "Shields holding at seventy percent."
"Ap, Attack Plan Epsilon," Will ordered.
The Koenig made a wide, twisting turn, taking another shot as they did. This put them directly on course for the Geth cruiser. It was already taking fire from the Salarian ships nearby. The enhanced shields of the Geth ships absorbed the shots with little difficulty. Sherlily added the Koenig's phaser cannons to the attack. "Enemy shields holding but degrading," she reported. "I have torpedo lock."
"Full spread, April."
Blue-white sparks - the sparks being the propulsion fields around the flat cylindrical torpedoes themselves - erupted in pairs from the Koenig's forward launchers. They exploded against the Geth cruiser's shields. "I'm detecting shield loss now."
"Bring us in for another attack run," Will insisted, knowing the Koenig had to keep the heat off the Salarians until they could rally.
"Doing so now, sir," Apley confirmed.
The Koenig began a tight maneuver, flipping and twisting as it turned relative to its prior position, all to throw off the aim of the Geth targeting systems. Some fire still struck the Koenig enough to shake the bridge. "Shields down to sixty-six percent," Magda reported.
"Firing," Sherlily added.
The barrage of phaser fire and torpedo didn't destroy the Geth ship, but it did leave the shields degraded enough for the main guns on the two biggest Salarian cruisers to strike bare hull. Gouts of debris erupted from the impact points. "Enemy ship is badly damaged." Magda checked over her sensors. "The Salarians are moving to finish her off."
"Then find us another target, Ap," said Will.
"Yes sir," was the reply.
Another shot from Sovereign slammed into the shields of the Aurora. "Shields down to twenty percent," Jarod warned. "Hull damage on several decks."
"We've got two primary generators offline, tertiaries are now fully engaged," Barnes added. "That thing packs a wallop."
Even as they spoke Julia watched Sovereign fire again, this time at the Excalibur. King's ship had a skilled pilot as well, but given its size it had the same issue as the Aurora; not being nearly nimble enough to completely evade fire. The shot caught the Excalibur amidships. Its shields flared brilliantly. "The Excalibur is reporting hull damage and near shield loss," Meridina noted.
"What's the status on that monster?"
"Sovereign's deflectors, whatever they are, it looks like they're degrading. I can't be sure how badly, I've never seen… power spike! Sovereign's engines are…!"
The monster seemed to shoot forward, as if all of its maneuvers up to now had been half-hearted. "It's putting all of its energy into engines and deflectors," Cat said. "And it's on course for the Citadel."
Meridina was already pale. "We must stop it. We must stop it now."
"Intercept course! Everything to engines, get us between Sovereign and the Citadel!"
At that command, Locarno sent the Aurora racing off after the monster. The Excalibur joined the pursuit, both ships continuing to fire on Sovereign as they strained to catch up.
On the Citadel Tower, Tali continued to fuss with her omnitool. "I think I almost have it… there!"
With a final key press, the lift carrying Shepard's team went into motion. Several moments later Robert felt the surge of triumph from Lucy. The lift she was taking with Zack, Talara, and C-Sec resumed moving as well.
Even with the tension of the moment, Robert found he was looking at the sight of the Citadel. From this position he could see one of the wards. It was an amazing view. As he contemplated it he felt the life around him. The Flow of Life pulsed with the Citadel's many millions of beings. He could feel their fear, their worry, and most importantly, their hope. The hope that everything would be fine…
And then it was gone. Robert felt like he was falling, falling into the cold, into darkness. His mind filled with visions of death and destruction. Cities, planets, burned. Familiar worlds. The Earths of the Alliance, the crystal spires of Minbar, Bajor's temples, the elegant skyscrapers of the Davion capital of Avalon City… he watched Reapers wipe it all out. He watched the annihilation of beautiful Gy'toran wind-sailers and Gl'mulli sphere craft. Despairing people were being herded by their own kind like livestock to a slaughter.
A wail filled his being. The sense that it was happening… happening again. Death and despair and loss and…
...and he screamed. He cried. Tears and blubbering sobs as the sheer weight came down on his soul. The weight of the Flow of Life, traumatized and brutalized by the Reapers, fearing the dread cycle of slaughter that it had endured for untold eons coming around again. As if all of the beings killed by the Reapers were here with him, the emotions of their final moments overwhelming…
"ROBERT!"
The harsh tone had a warmth behind it that cut through the cold despair overwhelming him. Like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline, Robert seized on the warmth. The confidence and strength behind it invigorated him and helped pull him out of the loop of terror and despair that permeated the Flow of Life. He became aware of his surroundings again. The lift, the others of the team… Shepard.
She has his shoulders gripped with her hands. He could see himself through her. His skin was drawn and pale, his eyes wide, as if he'd seen a ghost (to borrow the age-old description). Tear-lines streaked his cheeks. "Don't fall apart on me," she urged. "We're in this together."
"I… I know." He took a ragged breath. "I just felt… I could feel what happened before. All of the past times the Reapers came through the relay, all of the death…" He swallowed. "We're running out of time."
He felt sympathy from her. Shepard seemed to understand something of what he'd gone through just now, but he felt no change in her confidence or determination. Whatever the odds, Shepard was certain they were going to prevail. A certainty that defied the galaxy, that defied the Reapers, the kind that Robert was supposed to feel but found difficult with the way the Flow of Life trembled in anticipation of the Reaper cycle.
"Whatever's going on with this metaphysical stuff, focus," Shepard instructed him. "We're almost there, and we'll need you."
"Right." Robert felt the despair in the Flow of Life pull at him again. He focused on Shepard, on the others, and pushed it away.
"We're here," said Tali.
The lift doors opened, leading to the reception area and the security checkpoints for the Council Chambers. Several dead bodies of associated species were gathered around and a number of armed Geth were waiting at the checkpoint. Robert moved ahead of the others and ignited his lightsaber, ready to use it in defense. He reached out with his power and tossed one of the Geth platforms violently into the wall.
Shepard, as always, went for the shock tactics. She shot forward wreathed in biotic energy. The impact sent a Geth flying backward to slam into another. Her shotgun barked. The solid shot smashed another Geth's torso in.
The rest of the team came out, firing and attacking as well. Liara and Kaidan employed a biotic combo again, Liara's singularity grabbing two of the Geth and Kaidan's follow-up pulse violently tossing them. From the other lift Lucy raced out, lightsaber at the ready, and immediately sliced a Geth in half before it could open fire on Ashley. Behind her Zack and Bailey led Bailey's friends in C-Sec out, guns blazing. Talara brought up her hand and two Geth platforms slammed into each other.
The Geth platforms reacted by falling back. "There are more beyond," Robert noted.
"Not just that." Tali checked her omnitool. "I'm picking up Geth dropships approaching the Presidium and the Tower."
"Saren's called for reinforcements, then," Garrus said.
"How could they get into the tower from outside?" Ashley asked.
"There's a maintenance hatch nearby," Garrus replied. "Saren probably unlocked it for them. He won't be able to disable the shielding to stop remote transporting, so they have to come in that way."
Robert and Lucy exchanged glances. Each had a feeling on the future of this situation. Lucy said, "Then I'll block it off, with some help."
Zack nodded. "We can do it."
"And we'll deal with Saren." Shepard hefted her shotgun. "Let's go!"
The Aurora and Excalibur chased Sovereign through the Geth and Citadel fleets. The Geth had the numbers, but the Citadel ships were fighting with desperate courage with the aid of the Darglan tech-equipped Alliance starships in Excalibur's squadron. One of the Salarian ships intercepted a Geth cruiser bearing down on the Excalibur. With their weapons crippled, the Salarians' only option was to slam into the Geth ship. Their vessel survived the impact, and more importantly they drove the Geth vessel away, allowing an Asari ship to finish it off. The resulting explosion crippled the Salarians.
Again and again plasma fire raked over Sovereign's powerful shields. Torpedoes detonated with no damage to the monstrous machine's reddish skin. While there was no visible demonstration of success, the sensors on both ships showed the field was weakening.
The problem was that it wouldn't finish weakening before Sovereign entered the Citadel. With Meridina's pale look being all the reason Julia needed to want that prevented, she kept the Aurora on a course to cut the giant cephalopod off.
"Approximately one minute until Sovereign is within the arms," Jarod warned.
"Status on its shields?"
Cat answered Julia immediately. "Sovereign's deflectors are starting to fail, but I'm not sure we'll get them down in time. We need to hold it back!"
"Mister Jarod, tractor beam?"
"A good idea. We'll try that. Mister Barnes, I need every joule you can give me to the tractor emitters."
"Giving you what I can spare," Barnes replied.
On the holo-viewer the Citadel loomed ahead. A Turian heavy cruiser and a dreadnought were already moving to cut off Sovereign. Their weapons were virtually useless against the machine, but if the Reaper's shields could be taken down they could help finish it off.
"Thirty seconds!" Jarod called out. A moment later he added, "Activating tractor beam… now!"
As the Aurora pulled alongside the giant Reaper, two ribbons of strong blue light reached out and gripped the machine. Another pair of tractor beams snatched the Reaper ship, these from the Excalibur.
"Engineerin' t' Bridge." Scotty's voice came over the Aurora's internal comms. "Tractor systems are already in th' yellow. I cannae give ye but a few more minutes o' this."
"Understood, Mister Scott. Hopefully we won't need more time."
"The Teyama and the Tagbanua are moving into position to assist," Meridina said. Julia felt she still looked incredibly pale. On the screen two of the Predator-class starships moved in and triggered their own tractor beams."
"We've slowed Sovereign down by eighty percent," Cat noted. "Its trying to put more power into engines."
While the report was made, one of the big Turian ships activated a tractor beam as well - the technology had been widely shared with the Citadel Council species - followed by an Asari ship. The focused fire on Sovereign was converging. "Sovereign's shields are failing!" Cat called out. "We've almost done it!"
"Maintain fire!" she ordered. "Locarno, put us between that thing and the Citadel!"
"Maneuvering now."
It looked like they had the upper hand, but Julia didn't dare let herself feel relief. This thing was so powerful, so ancient… what else might it be capable of doing that they had no idea about?
Flickering flame was already devouring the trees in the approach to the Council Chambers' foyer. Shepard and her team entered the foyer at a run, Shepard, Liara, and Robert in the lead. The bodies of Citadel personnel unable to flee were scattered. Their deaths were sudden and violent and Robert could sense the remnant terror they'd felt at the end. He forced it away so it wouldn't distract him again.
The Geth were behind prepared positions when they opened fire. The reason for the team's formation on approach became clear as Liara and Shepard generated a biotic field to either side of Robert. His lightsaber flashed to life and deflected the shots from the Geth coming at him. The response was instinctive, automatic, for Robert; his arms seemed to know where the blade needed to be at any specific moment. One deflected shot, done with a bit of a flair with his weapon, sent a plasma bolt straight into the flashlight head of a Geth platform.
Behind them the other members of the team opened up with rifles. Garrus' accuracy led him to a shot that repeated Robert's feat, after which he tracked his sniper rifle over to find another foe. Ashley and Kaidan were quite effective with their weapons, Wrex moreso. Tali, always one to prefer a shotgun, was not so accurate, but she was busy using her omnitool's advanced functions to interfere with the Geths' systems remotely.
Once the volume of fire declined a little, Robert mentally signaled the others. Shepard went into action with a biotic charge that carried her up to the Geths' chosen point of cover, a plant display. Her shotgun roared and the solid slug crushed the chest of a Geth platform. A bigger one brought its weapon over and took a biotic blast for its trouble, first from Liara and then from Shepard. The twin biotic attacks sent it flying into the far wall with another force to damage it.
Robert remained on defense for the moment, until his instincts told him the moment had come to strike. If he was Lucy he might have plunged ahead to start dismembering Geth with his weapon, but he wasn't anywhere near the duelist and fighter she was with a lightsaber. When he attacked it was with his life force. With a thought and will behind it the universe responded to his need. One of the big Geth suddenly fell over, as if slammed by a great force. Wrex and Ashley shot it to pieces as it tried to stand.
Shepard's shotgun boomed again. The big Geth against the wall sparked from the wound to its abdomen from the powerful, vicious slug fired by Shepard's firearm. It tried to bring its weapon to bear again, but Shepard shot it in the neck before it could. The flashlight head went out and the Geth platform, now blinded, fired blindly. Shepard easily evaded the shot. Biotic energy wreathed her right hand as it formed into a fist and slammed into the abdomen wound of the giant Geth. It sparked again and fell, defeated.
Wrex plowed into a Geth beside her, destroying it with a follow-up head butt that smashed the Geth's flashlight head. Tali's shotgun roared and the blast took out another of the attackers, freeing Robert from deflection duties again so he could take two more Geth and forcefully slam them together. He held the stunned platforms in place for the others to shoot.
Once they were disposed of, everyone moved on. Looking about, Robert felt tremendous deja vu. He'd seen this before. This place, marred by destruction. One of his dreams, his insights into the future from his powers, was coming true.
This perturbed him. The present problem aside, he'd had other visions, some not yet true… and which he never wanted to see happen.
"We don't stop!" Shepard shouted. "Saren's just ahead!"
To a person, Shepard's team reacted and charged forward. More Geth tried to intervene and were met by the skills of the Normandy team. Shepard was relentless at this stage, plunging forward into the fighting, throwing biotic attacks. Robert felt she was tiring, but despite the very real physical fatigue she was suffering from Shepard would not stop.
This relentless charge carried them to the Petitioner's Stage itself. Robert could see it was further extended than usual, with a large hard-light control interface. Saren was operating it as they approached.
Just before Shepard or any of the others could fire, Saren turned and threw something. Robert sensed the danger, crying out "Grenade!" and lashed out with his power. It was an ill-controlled use, and he felt the energy within him threaten to surge out of control as it had on Virmire and other occasions. But with focus he kept it from doing so, throwing the explosive right back at Saren. Saren, in turn, formed a biotic barrier around himself that absorbed the blast when it came. He jumped down toward the glass floor beneath the stage. When he came back up, standing on his mobile platform, he was carrying what looked to be a portable Geth mini-gun. The team all jumped for cover as he opened fire. The ammunition created electrical arcs as it slammed into the matter around them, flash-converting the air into brief bursts of plasma.
"Shepard. I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time," Saren said.
"Yeah, well, there were a few hundred Geth in my way," Shepard responded.
"And all for nothing," said Saren. "In a few minutes Sovereign will have control of the Citadel. The relay will open and the Reapers will return. And there's not a single thing any of us can do to stop it."
Everyone on the Aurora bridge braced themselves for the next shot from Sovereign. A bolt of molten metal slammed into the Darglan deflectors protecting the ship. "Shields down to fifteen percent!" Jarod shouted. "We won't take another hit like that!"
"Tractors are heading to the red-line!" Barnes added.
"Anything?!" Julia demanded from Caterina.
"Sovereign's shields are destabilizing, we've almost got him!" Cat shouted back.
"Maintaining fire!" Angel declared with evident pleasure.
As the ship was keeping the Reaper to starboard, all the better to keep the maximum tractor power on the Reaper, Angel couldn't target with the pulse plasma cannons, her heaviest weapons. Nevertheless the less-powerful plasma cannons and the other beam-firing Darglan plasma weapons continued to lash out at the creature. Sapphire beams played over the dark hull of the Reaper, each strike weakening its defenses. Mass effect-fired slugs and weapons fire from the other ships joined their shots, including thick bolts of pulse plasma cannon fire from the Excalibur. Unlike the Aurora, the battlecruiser did have the heavier mounts on the side arcs and was giving Sovereign even more punishment than the Aurora was managing.
Sovereign's fire was infrequent - presumably most of its power was going to engines in trying to break free - but when it did fire, it fired for effect. After a glancing blow that degraded its weakening shields, the destroyer Teyama now took a direct hit. The bolt smashed the light ship's remaining shields enough that it inflicted a heavy hit on the primary hull of the ship. The shot struck the tractor emitter of the destroyer directly, ending one of the blue ribbons keeping Sovereign from moving into the Citadel. "Teyama reports heavy casualties and structural damage," Meridina informed Julia. "Their tractor systems are offline."
"Tractors are now at 110%!" Barnes shouted, reflecting the loss of the Teyama's assistance. "We've got maybe a minute before the emitters burn out!"
"Have the other emitters ready," Julia instructed.
Sovereign's next shot hit a Turian ship. This one didn't have Darglan-made deflector systems, only a more common system. Its shields couldn't take the direct hit and the Turian ship took the worst of the shot, blowing through armor and taking out the tractor system. Another of Sovereign's legs pointed toward the Excalibur and opened fire.
The Excalibur took the hit without losing shields. But its shields were still strained enough to leave it vulnerable to a quick follow-up attack. In this case, said follow-up was from a burning Geth cruiser. Defying the fire it was taking from the Excalibur's batteries and other Citadel ships, the insectoid form plunged straight for the Excalibur. Julia realized its intent right about the same time King and her helm officer did, as the Excalibur shifted in position to avoid the ram.
The Geth were not so easily thrown off, however. They tracked Excalibur and accelerated for the kamikaze run against the ship's drive hull. The Excalibur twisted, trying to avoid taking such a direct hit…
One of the lighter Turian cruisers threw itself into the flight path first. The Geth cruiser collided with the Turian… and kept going, sending both ships into a now-unavoidable collision with the Excalibur. The best the battlecruiser's helm officer could do was ensure the strike was only a glancing one to the hull and wouldn't critically damage any systems. The operations officer of the ship attempted to assist, firing another tractor beam to deflect the incoming ram. Together they succeeded; the Turian and Geth ships ripped along the drive hull of the Excalibur, but didn't strike the nacelles or take out any vital systems. The ship's armor held.
But the impact still inflicted great strain on the Excalibur's shields, strain that Sovereign quickly took advantage. It fired on the Excalibur again, this time with two legs. The twin bolts slammed into the battlecruiser's deflectors.
This time, they failed.
One bolt struck the lower port nacelle of the Excalibur and blasted right through it before impacting on the armored hull. The strike tore the nacelle in half. Ignited plasma from the nacelle created secondary explosions that engulfed both halves while the shot gouged through the ship's armored hull, creating a large section of damaged, even eliminated, structure. Atmospheric gas and debris - including bodies- erupted from the wound.
The second shot hit further toward the bow, right around the halfway point of the ship's length. There was no nacelle to absorb the shot this time. The blast cored the Excalibur in a fashion that would have outright crippled a smaller ship. The Excalibur was not crippled, but the wound was severe, just as it would have been on the Aurora.
The two blue ribbons connecting the Excalibur to Sovereign died.
"Tractor emitters overloading!" Barnes reported. "We're losing them…!"
Even before the two ribbons from the Aurora ceased, mostly freeing the big Reaper from its restraints, Sovereign was already moving again, on a course directly for the Citadel…
...and right toward the Aurora.
"Sovereign's not evading!" Jarod shouted as the monster loomed ever larger on the viewscreen, red lightning crackling around its body. "It's on a collision course!"
Julia wasn't able to keep the desperation out of her voice when she cried, "Evasive maneuvers!" Her eyes widened at the sight of the metal monstrosity rushing toward them on the viewer. Her finger hit the key on her chair for a shipwide address, so she could get an order she only ever heard herself give in nightmares.
"All hands, brace for impact!"