As the battle with the Geth fleet raged around the Citadel, the massive form of Sovereign continued its unyielding course toward the Citadel. On the Aurora bridge Nicholas Locarno went into motion. Years of training went into his actions, including keeping a three-dimensional model of the nearby space in his head as he judged the velocity of the approaching Reaper and the relative positions of everything else. He had only seconds to react before Sovereign plowed into the Aurora.
His hands flew with speed over his controls, sending commands through the ship's control systems for the engines. The engines and maneuvering thrusters fired under those commands, pushing the ship into a wild turn and twist in space that strained the inertial dampeners to the point that the entire crew were hit by G-forces beyond their usual experience.
The maneuver kept Sovereign from plowing through them. The big Reaper moved across the Aurora's belly. On the lower decks the crew could hear the squeal of the ship's structure caused by the two scraping against each other. At points the hull was split open by the force involved with emergency forcefields popping into place to minimize exposure to the vacuum.
The impact was felt throughout the ship. As soon as she was no longer being shaken in her safety harness, Julia called out, "Report!"
"Partial impact damage on decks 34 and 35. Multiple minor hull breaches, forcefields in place," Jarod answered.
"Good thinking, Mister Locarno." Having given Locarno the compliment for saving the ship, Julia was quick to add, "Pursuit course, now. Tactical, all weapons on Sovereign! We can't let him into the Citadel!"
"Bringing us about!"
"Can we tractor Sovereign again?"
"Starboard tractors are out," Barnes said. "We completely burnt out the emitter systems. A team's getting the graviton generator repaired, give me thirty seconds and we can tractor Sovereign again."
"Do so as quickly as you can." Julia gave the order while, on the holo-viewer, the sapphire bolts from the Aurora's ten bow-mount pulse plasma cannons battered away at what was left of Sovereign's shields.
"Sovereign's shields are in collapse!" Cat cried out.
Julia nodded. "We've almost got it! Keep firing!"
The orange and red glow from multiple fires played over the scene in the Council Chamber. Saren stood tall on his hovering platform, his weapon raised and biotics swirling around him. Whenever he spied someone moving a burst of fire from the Geth weapon blasted chunks from whatever cover they were using.
"This is the end, Shepard," Saren said. "It's fitting that you're here. Sovereign has come to appreciate your skill. It understands you are a unique organic. If you agree to serve as I have, you will survive the coming cycle."
"None of us will, Saren. Sovereign's deceiving you! The Reapers don't care for you and never will! You're just a tool!"
"I made their victory possible!"
"So?" Shepard laughed bitterly. "Do you expect gratitude from something like Sovereign? Why would it give you any? Once the Reapers are here you're not necessary anymore. You're just another organic to be culled."
Saren sprayed Shepard's position with weapons fire. "No!" he shouted in rage.
Robert glanced Shepard's way. You're on to something sensitive here, he thought, using his powers to let Shepard sense what he was thinking. Saren knows. He just won't accept it.
She nodded in reply to that and continued. "Sovereign's always been using you, Saren. You're an indoctrinated tool, nothing more."
"Without me Sovereign would never have come this close! Without me…"
"I'm going to stop Sovereign, Saren, with or without you," Shepard swore.
To that Saren chuckled. "You will find I am a stronger opponent than I was on Virmire, Shepard. I have been enhanced to better serve."
Shepard's horror matched Robert's own. "Are you saying you let that thing implant you?!"
"As I explained before, Shepard, our only hope to survive is to serve. Through my service the Reapers will understand our use. Although some will die, our species will survive under their authority."
"This is insane, Saren!" Shepard shouted. "That thing is indoctrinating you! When it's over, you'll be nothing but a mindless husk withering away! That's all the Reapers think you're good for!"
"Shepard, cease this pointless resistance. Sovereign is almost here. When it arrives, the relay will open. The Reapers will come through. And nothing you do can stop it."
The Aurora shuddered under the fury of several Geth ships, the Geth's desperation to protect Sovereign just as evident as the desperation Julia felt that they stop the Reaper before it could enter the Citadel's arms. "Shields are at ten percent and losing cohesion," Jarod warned.
"The other vessels are trying to help, but the Geth are overwhelming them," Meridina said.
Julia nodded. Her eyes were intent on the holo-viewer, which displayed Angel's efforts to batter Sovereign to death with the Aurora's weapons. Where once the monster's shielding blocked even their heaviest shots, now the plasma beams and cannon bursts were blowing chunks out of the creature's hull. A thin phaser beam lashed out repeatedly, courtesy of the Barroso, one of the Predator-class starships still in the fight. The smaller ship darted ahead and peppered the colossal Sovereign with phaser and torpedo fire.
"Sovereign will be in the arms within thirty seconds!"
"I need tractor beams now Mister Barnes!" Julia yelled.
"They're bringing the graviton generators back up now! Try it!"
"Twenty-five seconds…" Even as Jarod gave the warning he initialized the tractor emitters facing toward the bow. Again two ribbons of blue light connected the Aurora to Sovereign. There was a shudder through the ship as the Aurora attempted to hold Sovereign in place.
"The system's already at 100% capacity and going up!" warned Barnes. "We won't be able to sustain this!"
Julia watched another tractor beam lash out and seize the Reaper: the Barroso was following their lead. The destroyer wouldn't accomplish much, of course, but every little bit of help counted. "Reverse engines, full power!"
The Aurora's impulsor drives changed operation. Their forward velocity stopped, as did Sovereign's.
"Tractor capacity at 110% again!" Barnes warned.
"Everything on Sovereign now!" Julia thumbed the tactical comm open. "All ships fire on Sovereign!"
The maintenance hatch for the Citadel tower opened and Geth platforms poured through.
"Open fire!" Bailey ordered, and Zack and Talara joined him in the first shot. The C-Sec officers with them opened up as well. Rifle and pistol fire struck the lead Geth, damaging it irrevocably. The Geth behind it returned fire on them, forcing them back into cover. A scream briefly drew Zack's attention to an Asari now clutching a wounded arm.
The Geth charged in, as if to overrun them with firepower and numbers, and soon found they had another worry. Lucy raced into melee range with the aid of her abilities. A flash of sapphire light bisected one of the Geth platforms, splitting it into two. As it fell Lucy moved on to the next Geth, slicing its legs and head off in successive strikes. A third was literally disarmed with an upward strike. She turned and directed a wave of force toward the maintenance hatch, a wave that toppled several Geth. The others took the chance to come out of cover and resume firing. Their shots finished off some of the Geth while Lucy busied herself with defensive deflections and counter-attacks with her powers. Talara aided as best as her training allowed her, combining shots from her pulse pistol with brief attacks with her abilities that threw the Geth off-balance.
"I bet there's more trying to get in," Zack observed.
Bailey nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure of it. Question is, can we hold out long enough to stop 'em? These things have heavier weapons than we do."
"We hold out as long as we can," Zack insisted. "We buy Shepard and her team time to stop Saren."
"Yeah, somehow I thought you'd say that," Bailey muttered before resuming fire.
Another burst of fire from Saren's weapon forced Liara back into cover. Her attempt to throw a singularity at the cyberized Turian flew wildly off-course and accomplished nothing.
"Sovereign's controlling you through your implants!" Shepard shouted at him. "Can't you see that?"
"I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life, flesh and steel combined, the strengths of both and the weaknesses of neither," Saren asserted calmly. "This is our destiny. Join with us, Shepard. Experience the rebirth I have. Together we will serve the Reapers and bring about a new galaxy! It is inevitable!"
"No it isn't!" Shepard insisted. "I have a way to keep Sovereign from controlling the Citadel! Move out of the way and I can stop this invasion from happening!"
Saren shook his head wildly at that. He fired off a burst from the Geth weapon, keeping Kaidan and Ashley from getting a shot. Another burst forced Garrus back into cover. "We can't stop it! Not forever! You saw the visions You saw what happened to the Protheans! The Reapers are too powerful! Their victory is inevitable!"
Robert nearly missed the small spark of hope that filled Saren. It was buried deep in Saren's being, and his thinning connection to the Flow of Life made it unlikely most would have noticed. But Robert did. Despite everything he was saying, a piece of Saren felt hope that Shepard could stop the Reapers. He passed this realization on to Shepard.
She nodded at him before continuing to speak. "There has to be a part of you that knows this is wrong! We can win this, Saren, and stop the invasion! You have to listen to me!"
"No!" Saren cried. He fired the weapon at Shepard, forcing her further back into cover. "I… I cannot listen to this. It's all lies! The Reapers will prevail, they must!"
It was unlikely the Aurora bridge had ever felt the tension it had as Barnes informed them the tractor systems were at 120% capacity and failure was imminent. Julia mentally urged the weapons fire that was even now starting to cut up Sovereign to finish.
Such urging wasn't necessary for Angel. Julia knew she took pride in her handling of the ship's tactical systems in a crisis, but it was rare to see her so fixated. The intensity in her hazel eyes as she examined the data coming into her board, the sensor imaging and the analysis on Sovereign's damage and possible weak points, was intimidating and inspiring at the same time.
Every ship that could manage it was now focusing fire on the Reaper. Mass effect fire was finally having an effect, without Sovereign's shields to protect it, and the torpedoes and fire from the Alliance ships were mauling the Reaper. The lightning-like energies coursing around it crackled angrily. The monster continued in its struggle to break free.
"Just a little more…" Julia urged.
And then one of the blue ribbons connecting the Aurora to Sovereign disappeared. "Burnout in emitter!" Jarod called out. "The other emitter is…"
"It's the whole system…!"
As Barnes gave his warning, the other tractor beam holding the Reaper back failed. There were a few smaller ships still trying to grapple the beast, but they didn't have nearly enough energy. Sovereign was already moving forward when the beams failed, one by one, and the Reaper was free to resume its flight to the Citadel.
Robert glanced long enough to see Saren reach a hand back to the Citadel master control. Before he could act Saren glanced his way and opened fire. Instinct caused Robert to slip away instead of attempting to defy the rapid fire weapon. "Sovereign's almost here. This is almost over. Accept it, Shepard, you've lost."
Robert felt the others preparing to surge forward. Any moment and they would try, and some would clearly die from the effort. He glanced toward Shepard to see if she was going to go along with it. If he had a moment of distraction…
"It will be over if you just let me do this," Shepard insisted. "Sovereign will be locked out of the Citadel. Our allied fleet will have time to kill it! And you can do what you swore to do: protect the galaxy! Dammit, Saren, you're a Spectre, one of the best! Fight Sovereign's control! A stubborn bastard like you has the ability to do it!"
Hope, despair, resignation, resolution… Saren had it all roiling within him. Shepard's words were getting to him. Robert felt a sense of pride begin to build within him.
But it didn't stop him from finishing his work on the console.
With Sovereign only seconds away from the Citadel, Julia didn't things could get worse.
Then they did.
"Someone's activated the Citadel arms," Jarod said. "They're closing!"
Julia's heart sank with the fear that it had all been for nothing. The arms would keep them from finishing off Sovereign if they finished closing. "Follow it in!" she insisted.
"I don't think we'll make it through, but I'll try!" was Locarno's response.
"It might not be too late," Meridina said, desperate hope in her lilting voice. "Look."
The tactical display told Julia everything. The Turian flag cruiser was maneuvering between the Citadel and Sovereign. "Fire everything we've got," the Executor in command ordered over the comm line. "We're not moving!"
As weapons fire continued to desperately assail Sovereign, the Turian cruiser lived up to the promise of its commander. It, indeed, did not move.
Sovereign did not stop either. The creature had mass and acceleration on its side. When it made impact, it smashed the Turian ship to pieces.
But in doing so, by nature it lost some of its velocity, for the moment, losing crucial seconds in its final approach.
"It's now or never!" Julia shouted into the fleet's tactical channel. "Fire everything you've got!"
In the Citadel Council Chamber, Shepard shook her head at the others. "Saren, you said Nihlus was your friend."
"He was," Saren said. "Nihlus Kryik was my student. He was a great soldier and one of the best Spectres of this generation. He would go to great lengths to accomplish the mission."
"What would he say if he were here?"
"He would… he would understand…"
"Would he? I met Nihlus, and yeah, he'd do what was necessary for the mission. But he'd be damned to turn himself into the slave of Sovereign!" Shepard's voice boomed through the audience chamber. "If he were here he'd be fighting at my side, and you know it!"
Robert felt Saren desire to disagree, but he couldn't.
No, not just that. He didn't want to. Saren didn't want to deceive himself about how his friend would be reacting to this situation.
"Deep down, you know I'm right, Saren. Sovereign's driven you to this. But it's not too late! We can fight him! You can fight him!"
Saren gripped at his head. "Yes… yes, I… unh. Maybe we can stop… argh!" Saren's cry of pain filled the air. "I can't… Sovereign's too strong! The implants…!"
Robert was preparing to jump from cover and take his chance, but Shepard acted first. She moved from cover and faced Saren directly, her weapon raised but not pointing at him. "It's not too late, Saren! You can still redeem yourself!"
"I…. I can still… it's…" After another cry of pain Saren doubled over, dropping the Geth weapon as he did. Robert left cover, as did the others, in time to see Saren yank a backup weapon, a Predator-model mass effect pistol, from a back holster. "I can stop it… I…" His voice softened. "Thank you, Shepard. I…"
Robert felt his intent. More than that, the immense pain, little different from that he'd felt in Fai Dan and the colonists on Feros enslaved by the Thorian. Sovereign was trying to enforce control through the implants and the mental programming and it was taking every bit of willpower Saren had to fight it off. To perform one final act in defiance of the being that had enslaved him and turned him against the galaxy he'd fought to defend.
Saren lifted his firearm and pressed it to his temple. With one last surge of effort, he pulled the trigger.
As Sovereign drew nearer to the Citadel, the barrage against it was finally showing itself on the machine. Blow after blow showed on the dull reddish exterior. A plasma beam from one of the Aurora's forward weapons sliced off one of the arms, causing it to spin away.
And yet Sovereign wasn't stopping. The Citadel arms were closing and it was racing to get into them before they shut. Success would give the Reaper protection against the fleet outside, allowing it to do who knew what.
The fire against Sovereign slackened slightly. The Barroso fell away, a hole gouged in the ship's drive hull by a Geth mass driver weapon. A Salarian ship broke up from weapon impacts. The Geth were burning in hard, desperate to protect Sovereign.
The Aurora was among their targets. A round from a Geth cruiser struck the Aurora's unshielded hull. A second blew a partial hole through the lower port nacelle. "Armor self-repair systems are engaged to capacity," Barnes said.
Julia heard him, but she said nothing. She was focused on the holo-viewer. Sovereign's flaming, damaged body continued its path to the closing Citadel. They had only seconds left.
Blow by blow, more and more of Sovereign's body started to come off. Another arm was removed by a torpedo. Chunks of the creature's long body blew away from the Aurora's pulse plasma cannons' withering fire. Another series of sapphire bolts smashed into the creature's body; the Excalibur, critically damaged as she was, was still in the fight. The Koenig's pulse phasers blazed with amber fury, gouging more wounds.
And yet… Sovereign still made it into the arms.
"Torpedoes!" Julia shouted. "Full spreads!"
The Aurora's bow launchers erupted at once, all six of them. The Excalibur and Koenig also opened up with torpedoes, as did the Tagbanua and several of the Aurora's remaining fighters that still had torpedoes to spare. Over two-dozen projectiles, wreathed in white-blue drive fields, flew toward Sovereign.
The Citadel's arms were closing around Sovereign even now. Closer and closer they came to each other, forming a protective cone that would theoretically protect the millions of beings on the station… and now also the monster that wanted to exterminate them all. It was a race that had everyone on edge; would any of the torpedoes make it through before the arms closed?
The arms locked together, the tips folded inward to close the station…
...and the torpedoes slipped right through, one by one, spread by spread, until the tips closed and the last handful exploded against it.
Inside of the protective cone the rest of the torpedoes continued their flight. All of them found their mark. One by one they battered their way through Sovereign's wounds, blasting chunks of the machine away from its body. The final torpedoes penetrated deep into Sovereign's body before exploding. Deep within the ancient machine their naqia-enhanced warheads initiated. The resulting energy melted and blasted delicate machinery never meant to be subjected to such force.
Something within Sovereign went wrong. The energy core of the creature was wrecked. A regulating mechanism within was destroyed. Energy surged uncontrolled through the Reaper. The crackling red light around it died; bright white light suddenly showed through its many wounds and split hull.
And then the light expanded violently, and in a last surge of energy and an electronic wail heard across the Citadel, Sovereign blew apart.
Although the Citadel closing blocked some of this from the sensors of the ships outside, the energy release of Sovereign's destruction was detected. "I think we did it!" Cat shouted. "Sovereign's power core just failed! There's been a massive energy release!"
Julia didn't stop the whooping and cheering from the others. She let it go for a couple of seconds before asking for a report.
"I can confirm Sovereign's destruction," Jarod said, still grinning. "I'm trying to tap into the Citadel's internal systems to confirm."
Julia wanted to know for sure, but she also knew the fight wasn't over. Outside of the Citadel the Geth fleet was still large and might still overwhelm them, especially given how little attention it'd received from their weapons while everyone was firing on Sovereign. "Bring us back around," she ordered. "Engineering, I need shields back."
"We're trying," Barnes said. "But the generators took a pounding. If we can get away from enemy fire…"
"It's not going to happen any time soon," Julia pointed out. "Do what you can. Tactical, lock onto the nearest Geth ship and fire."
The Aurora and the other ships came about to re-engage the enemy.
The gunshot from Saren prompted everyone to start emerging from cover. His body toppled and fell, dropping off the tactical platform and landing on the Petitioners' Stage in front of the control display for the Citadel. The body didn't so much as twist. Robert felt no semblance of life in the remains.
"So that's that, huh?" asked Wrex.
"Yeah."
Shepard stepped ahead, heading for the controls. Liara and Robert followed closely. Liara had a deep frown on her face. Robert sensed her frustration. "Are you okay?"
"I wanted justice," she said. "He led my mother astray.""
"He was led astray himself," Robert said quietly. He set a hand on Liara's shoulder. "I know your pain. I understand you wanted more closure. But sometimes…"
A wave of sheer, malevolent rage rippled through Robert's being. He gasped in shock at it, drawing the attention of Liara and some of the the others. Shepard was busy activating the master control display.
After sensing what the immediate future held, Robert jumped forward. "Shepard!" he cried. A moment later he tackled her and the two fell off the platform. They landed on the glass below, cracking it.
Red lightning crackled across the stage, forcing the others back. The bullet that would have hit Shepard in the back of the head hit the window behind the Council's podiums instead.
"What in the name of God?!" Williams cried out, stunned by the sight of Saren's body melting away in red light. "What's happening?!"
"Nothing good," Garrus called out. He lifted his rifle and fired at the body. The shots ripped flesh from Saren's body, but it was being burnt off anyway.
From below Robert knew immediately what was happening. He could feel it in the very marrow of his bones and the depth of his soul.
Saren's body stood. Except it wasn't anything recognizable as living. The flesh of Saren's body was gone, burnt away, leaving only cybernetic machinery and a metal skeleton. Red light crackled around the remains and the cybernetic eyes glowed the same color instead of Saren's blue.
"Keelah," Tali gasped. "Is that…?"
"It's Sovereign," Robert said.
The remains of Saren scooped up the Geth weapon Saren dropped. Wrex charged forward and fired his shotgun. The shot met a barrier field that stopped it. Sovereign lifted the weapon. But instead of firing the creature moved too fast for Wrex to react. As Wrex passed by Sovereign tripped him and sent him falling to the ground below.
This time, the glass shattered. Shepard, Robert, and Wrex plunged into the garden below.
The others opened fire on Sovereign and met the same barrier field. Sovereign ignored them for the moment. It brought the remains of Saren's hand up, now nothing but another piece of metal shaped like a Turian hand, and ran it along the controls. "I am assuming direct control," Sovereign said, in the same voice the others heard him use on Virmire.
Below Shepard and Robert picked themselves up. Wrex started to as well. "We've got to get back up there."
"I'm not sure how," Robert replied. "But I've got another option." He reached out with his life force. His will shaped it, unseen, and he pulled with it.
The violent yank of his energy pulled Sovereign off of the stage. The being fell down into the garden with them. "You are too late, Shepard," it said. "The process has begun."
Another shudder filled the Aurora bridge. "Direct hit, Deck 28 Section L," Jarod said.
On the screen the offending Geth cruiser was being pounded by the Aurora's main battery in the bow. Repeated sapphire pulses tore through the wingless dragonfly hull. The Geth cruiser began breaking apart.
"Another one down," Angel crowed.
"Bring us in toward the Excalibur," Julia ordered. "I want to…"
"I'm picking up something from the Citadel," Cat suddenly said.
"What is it?" Julia asked.
"It's a new energy signature. It's… it's like the Citadel has hidden power cores that are just now coming online. They're charging up something…" Cat stared at her readings. She knew what they indicated, but the idea of it… "I… I don't believe it."
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Julia allowed a little impatience into her tone at repeating her inquiry.
"This energy signature, the subspace ripples… it's… it's like the Citadel is turning into a mass relay."
"Cat, are you sure?" Jarrod asked.
"Positive! Here, what do you think?"
With a few keystrokes Cat relayed the data to Jarod's board. Jarod examined it and felt his mouth go dry. "I'll be damned," he muttered. "It's exactly that. Something's turning the Citadel into a giant mass relay."
A sinking feeling came to Julia's stomach, threatening to make her sick. "How long until it's active?"
"At this rate of charge… within a few minutes,I suppose," Jarod said.
"Is there any way to prevent it?" asked Meridina.
"Not from here," Jarod said.
The ship shook again. Another Geth ship was challenging the Aurora. "Then it's all up to the others," Julia said grimly. "There's nothing more we can do."
For a terrible moment Robert thought he was going to be overwhelmed again. The Flow of Life chilled around him.
"You have been the most difficult cycle to begin," conceded Sovereign. "But for all of your exertions, you gain nothing. The relay will open. The cycle will commence. Everything you know will be…"
Shepard raised her shotgun and contemptuously fired. The blast drowned out Sovereign's boasting and knocked the body back. "I've heard enough from you," she said.
Sovereign's arm lashed out. A bolt of dark matter shot through the air and struck Shepard's personal barrier directly, disrupting it. Shepard responded with several more shots from her gun. This time the creature went into motion, evading the incoming shots with incredible agility.
Above them the others approached the console. "It's locked down!" Tali shouted. "I can't override."
"None can." Sovereign's voice was chilling, the electronic tone making evident his distaste and disgust. It launched a dark matter bolt at Shepard. Robert generated force ahead of him that caught the dark matter, which snapped hungrily at them. He reached out and gripped at Sovereign. The Flow of Life resisted his command, as if it felt tainted by the contact with the creature. The time it took for him to assert his will gave Sovereign time to jump away, causing his focus to diminish.
Shepard's shotgun roared again, a near-miss on the creature as it scurried across the wall. "Your resistance is hopeless," Sovereign insisted. "Nothing can stop the cycle. We will harvest everything."
"You can't expect to fight the entire Multiverse," Robert insisted.
"You understand so little about what we are. We will swarm the skies of your worlds, all of your worlds. Your stolen technology will be removed."
Sovereign followed up his speaking by leaping from the wall and slamming into Wrex. The Krogan growled and fired up, trying to hit Sovereign, but missed. Sovereign might have retaliated with its own attack, but the converging of fire from above - courtesy of Garrus and Ashley - compelled it to jump off.
"That Prothean program, did you finish loading it?" asked Robert.
"I was starting to when you tackled me," Shepard answered.
"Then that's the key. Can you transmit it to Tali's omnitool?"
Sovereign jumped from his place on the wall to another, taking him out of line of sight for those still above. Wrex tracked him and fired, just for Sovereign to jump at the last moment. It threw out a dark matter bolt at Shepard and Robert. Robert stopped the bolt at the last moment. "Give me cover," Shepard instructed.
"Can do, Shepard." Robert nodded and turned his attention to Sovereign.
"You." The creature jumped to another wall, throwing a dark matter bolt in the process. It struck Wrex and sent the Krogan flying. Sovereign landed on the ground and generated more dark matter, which Robert stopped. "So you are the inheritor of the Darglan."
"One of many," Robert replied. "What do you know about them?"
"They came to this galaxy, long ago. They examined the mass relays and utilized them for a time. Until the war."
"The war?" Robert frowned.
"The war of their folly. The war of the dark things from beyond, the Starbreakers."
"The Darkness." Another dark matter bolt, and Robert stopped it. Sovereign quickly leapt to another side of the room, trying to get behind him, to hit Shepard as she concentrated on relaying the program Vigil gave her to Tali. Robert spun around and caught the bolt with his power. Sweat gathered in his eyes and he struggled, not so much with Sovereign's attacks but with his own power threatening to overwhelm him. "You know of them."
"They are as ancient as our kind." Sovereign jumped again and Robert caught it. "You should welcome the cycle. We will leave the stars intact. Life will flourish again for a time, and another civilization will come. The Starbreakers will destroy everything. There will be no new life, no new civilizations. There will be only darkness."
"We'll stop them just as we're going to stop you." Robert spun around again, catching Sovereign's next attack. He fought down the dizziness the Reaper was causing with its maneuvers around him.
"Your boast is an empty one. You understand nothing." Sovereign leapt again, jumping above Robert. He threw a bolt that Robert caught.
Even as Wrex tracked his weapon to fire, Sovereign suddenly dropped. The drop became a dive, straight for Robert and Shepard. In the second he had to react Robert concentrated force to catch his foe. But Sovereign was ready for that, generating a powerful dark matter field as it descended. Robert couldn't quite grip it in time.
The resulting impact of Sovereign to the ground threw both Robert and Shepard away from the impact point with force more like that of a bomb than a landing shockwave. Shepard grunted as she slammed against the base of the Petitioner's Stage above. Robert made a similar noise when he hit the further wall. For a key moment, he was distracted, and could do nothing as Sovereign turned its attention on Shepard. She was still recovering when a second bolt hit her, this one a warp bolt that generated a field of the same name, as biotics knew it. The dark matter of the field started tearing at Shepard at a molecular level. Sovereign moved in for the kill…
A biotic bolt slammed into Sovereign's side, throwing it away and threatening to grapple and hold the thing.
Having taken the pathway down to the garden, Liara rushed in with her pistol raised. She fired at Sovereign, managing a hit as it recovered from her attack. Sparks flared from damaged cybernetics.
Then Sovereign's counter-attack came, not with a dark matter strike, but by jumping right at Liara. It moved too fast and too unexpectedly for Liara to catch Sovereign with her biotics. Sovereign slammed into her and grabbed Liara. She screamed in pain as its iron grip broke her wrist.
A moment later, she was freed, as Wrex slammed into the cybernetic corpse at full speed. He grabbed the machine and forced it into the wall. "Shepard!" he yelled, ignoring Sovereign's bow to his back.
"Shepard, the program is incomplete!" Tali cried from above. "We don't have much time!"
In clear pain, Shepard got up on hands and knees. Without fully standing up she brought her omnitool display back up and resumed her work.
Sovereign noticed. Channeling every bit of dark matter it could through Saren's remains, Sovereign fired a pulse of the material that freed it from Wrex's grasp. The red energy crackling around it intensified. A single blow was used to knock Wrex over, at which point Sovereign turned its attention back to Shepard.
And then a sizable portion of its head disintegrated. Sovereign let out an electronic roar and turned to trace the source: Garrus, with his sniper rifle up. Garrus fired again, overheating his weapon. Although he didn't get another headshot, he pulverized part of the monster's right shoulder with the shot, despite Sovereign's evasive motion.
That same evasive motion carried Sovereign toward Garrus. Garrus was forced to lower his rifle and roll away to avoid being grabbed by Sovereign.
The same motion also cleared him from Ashley's line of fire.
Ashley's M7 Lancer opened up. Sparks flew as the rounds from the weapon starting chewing chunks from Sovereign's body. Sovereign fell back for a moment from Ashley's accurate rifle fire. Dark matter coalesced into a protective field to absorb the fire. This bought Sovereign a chance to escape, evading fire from Wrex as well.
"Shepard, we're almost out of time! The relay is about to open!"
"There!" Shepard hit a final key on her omnitool. "You've got the program!"
"Uploading it now," Tali called out from above.
Shepard got back to her feet and found her shotgun. She raised it toward Sovereign as it jumped at Garrus, avoiding fire from Wrex and Ashley as it did so. Garrus rolled away and brought up his sidearm in the same motion, firing rounds that hit Sovereign in the leg. Sovereign evaded the next shot from Garrus, leaping to do so.
Leaping right into Shepard's crosshairs.
Her solid slug round blasted through Sovereign's weakened barrier and through its torso, forcing it to abandon its attack. It turned its attention to Shepard with a bolt of dark matter that Robert dashed in and absorbed. Ashley shot it a second later, and then Liara.
Sovereign took the damage without flinching, if it was even capable of such. It also clearly changed its plans. With one great leap it went to the wall, and then another leap to another section of the wall. Robert immediately sensed its intent. "It's after Tali!"
Even without his cry, the others were already shooting at Sovereign. Sovereign ignored them, though not Robert. It stopped just long enough to fire a dark matter bolt at Robert, who had to adjust to deflect the attack, giving Sovereign time to make the final jump up to the Council's platform. It directed its attention to Tali and tossed another dark matter bolt toward her.
Sovereign hadn't accounted for Kaidan. Kaidan generated his own dark matter field, absorbing the attack, and giving time for Tali to finish working. He lifted his pistol and started firing, his shots degrading the barrier Sovereign threw up to stop his attacks. Sovereign made another leap, this one over their heads. It landed on the Petitioner's Stage behind them. Kaidan continued firing at it, managing some hits that further damaged the creature.
In a flash Sovereign shot forward. It forced its way through Kaidan's protective field using its own and grabbed Kaidan by the collar. Had it time, it might have simply snapped his neck, but instead Sovereign simply tossed Kaidan to the side. It turned its attention to Tali.
Tali's shotgun barked, spraying Sovereign with a close-range shot. She fired again, this shot breaking Sovereign's protective field and wrecking its left shoulder. A third shot was slightly off as Sovereign adjusted, evading it as much as it could. It bore down on her, a moment away from securing its success.
That was the moment Shepard shot up from the garden below, wreathed in biotic power. With the impact she knocked Sovereign off the Stage, bringing him along into the air above the garden. She grabbed Sovereign and forced the Reaper to fall with her back into the garden.
As they made impact, Tali called out from above. "Program loaded! I am taking control of the Citadel! Shutting down the mass relay activation!"
"No!" There was something… almost human in the rage and frustration Robert felt ripple from Sovereign. But even that was insufficient warning for what came next. Sovereign threw out a biotic shockwave in all directions, throwing everyone to the ground before they could fire on it. The impact was accompanied with a warp effect, creating a field that brought pain to everyone as the dark matter began to pull them apart at a molecular level.
WIth one arm mostly useless, Sovereign grabbed Shepard with the other. As Saren had on Virmire, Sovereign took her by the throat and lifted her, keeping Shepard from going for the shotgun. "You are mistaken if you believe this is a victory for your kind," Sovereign said. "This cycle will be processed regardless. My kind will return from dark space in one way or another, and you will not be…"
"Shepard!" Robert called out. He was in motion as the sound of his cry reached her. His hand shot forward toward her and Sovereign.
Shepard heard him. She knew what he was doing, and she brought her right arm up and had her hand ready to receive the object that had just flown from his hand. The moment she caught it, her thumb stroked the button on the weapon. Robert's lightsaber ignited in Shepard's hand. With a defiant cry she swung the blade at Sovereign's stolen body.
The emerald light met the dark matter gathered around Sovereign… and kept going, the field too weak to stop the strike. The blade cut the body from side to side. An instinctive upward cut to follow sliced through Sovereign's functioning arm, severing it along the bicep and freeing Shepard. She hit the ground in front of Sovereign as it flailed from the damage she'd inflicted, its damage mortal.
"I've heard enough out of you," Shepard said to the dying machine. In a pair of motions she plunged Robert's lightsaber into the chest of Sovereign's body and cut upward, slicing in half everything from the torso to the tip of the head.
Red light crackled violently around the partially-bisected construct. Shepard stepped back, but the violence of the energy was too great for her to avoid it.
Robert ran up and projected energy between them and Sovereign's dying form. To augment his power, Liara projected a biotic field from her hand - ignoring her shattered wrist - and prompted Wrex and Kaidan to do likewise.
There was a final wail… and then Sovereign, or rather Saren's remains, let out a storm of crackling red light that played over this defense while the cybernetic remains crumbled into dust.
Above them, Tali called out, "Its done! The Citadel relay is shut down again! I'm opening the mass relay network!"
At those words everyone in the garden breathed a sigh of relief. "So we did it," Ashley said. "We stopped them."
"For now, Sergeant." Shepard looked over what was left. Robert could feel her certainty that it wasn't over. "For now."
The Citadel's defense fleet was hard-pressed by the Geth. Holding Sovereign back had cost time and firepower that might have further attrited the Geth to something manageable. Now the Aurora was struggling to protect both the Destiny Ascension and the Excalibur from the wounds inflicted on them, taking further damage to her systems in the process.
On the Aurora bridge Julia watched the ferocity of the Geth and couldn't help but see them as an enraged hive. Their attacks were becoming more vicious and they seemed to lose all concern for their own situation. One of the damaged Geth ships put itself into Angel's bow arc just for a chance to slam the Destiny Ascension with its powerful railgun armaments. It managed just one shot on the wounded Asari dreadnought before Angel blew the vessel away with the bow cannons.
Despite it all, Julia sighed with relief when Cat gave an urgent report. "The power buildup in the Citadel is dissipating. The mass relay element is shutting down!"
"They did it," Julia breathed. She glanced toward Meridina. Despite their situation, she could see color returning to the Gersallian woman's face.
Another hit sent a tremor through the deck. "Hull breach, Deck 15, Sections D and E," Jarod said.
"Mister Barnes, where are our shields?"
"We're not getting them back soon," Barnes protested. "Every time the generators start to reform a cohesive field the Geth blow right through it. We need to stop taking fire for a minute or so."
"We cannot," Meridina said. "If we abandon this position, the Geth will overwhelm the Excalibur and Destiny Ascension."
"This way they have to overwhelm us first…" The ship shook again.
"I just lost two starboard plasma cannons," Angel said. "My tactical systems are taking a pounding. If we don't get out of this soon…"
"I'm getting a power spike from the mass relay!" cried Cat. "Something's coming through!"
Julia checked the tactical display. Multiple contacts began started popping up at the relay. The Aurora's computers identified them immediately: Systems Alliance ships.
With the Normandy in the lead.
"Hackett to Fleet. Assume combat formation and engage."
At the command of the Systems Alliance's Admiral Hackett, the fleet of human warships accelerated into the fight. Mass effect weapons, missiles, and some refitted energy weapons from the technological exchange started striking the Geth ships. The Geth turned to face their new, fresh adversaries, giving the battered defense fleet a moment's rest.
"Looks like the cavalry's arrived," Locarno noted.
"Maintain fire," Julia said. "It's not over yet."
The Aurora targeted another Geth ship. When it was down she targeted another, and another, while Hackett's fleet did the work of finishing the Geth off. Only after the last Geth warship died did Julia breathe a much-needed sigh of relief.
The Geth push through the airlock wasn't letting up. Zack and Bailey put more fire into one of the big platforms as it swept its weapon over the counter where another group of Bailey's officers were in cover. Nearby an Asari C-Sec officer was clutching a wound on her belly, her lavender-complexioned face wrenched into an expression of pain. Talara was trying to treat her.
"My ammo block's running low," Bailey said.
Zack checked his weapon. "Two percent charge," he said. "Just a few shots left."
"How many of these things are there?!"
"A lot." That reply came from Lucy nearby. She wasn't in cover but rather busy drawing fire, deflecting it with her lightsaber. Zack didn't need powers to how determined she was. "If we can hold out a little longer…" She stopped and smiled. "They did it."
"Huh?"
"I can feel it," Lucy said. "They won. Sovereign's dead." She deflected a shot into one of the big Geth's flashlight heads, shattering the light. "Sovereign's dead, Geth! You might as well stop and leave!"
Indeed, the Geth did seem to suddenly lose momentum. As if they weren't sure what they were doing. With the fire slackening Lucy dashed forward, her lightsaber flashing through the air as she drove it through the leg of one of the Geth Prime models. Zack and Bailey fired at another until Zack's weapon ceased to work. He almost asked for another just to realize there was no point in it. With the Geth in such confusion, Bailey and his people were quickly gaining the upper hand.
"Anders to Carrey."
Zack tapped the glowing blue light over the back of his left hand. "Carrey here."
"The Geth are falling apart. This is going into cleanup mode. Want me to send you some help?"
As another Geth died to Lucy's attacks, Zack gave his answer. "We've got the same thing here,, Major. Everything's handed for the moment, we'll keep in touch."
"Alright. Anders out."
Another Geth platform, the last, fell over, multiple weapon impacts and a severed leg from Lucy's attack. Seconds passed and no more Geth arrived. Zack managed a scan for the Geth dropship that had been the source of their woes, but it was gone. "We did it," he breathed. "We stopped them."
"Damn right we did," said Bailey. He grinned at Zack. "You're not half-bad for a navy puke."
Zack returned the grin, happy he was, to put it bluntly, still alive. "Thanks for the compliment, I think."
The reaction to that was a roar of laughter.
Tag
Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 12 July 2643 AST. Captain Julia Andreys commanding. We've received the final all-clear from the Citadel. The last of the Geth forces that attacked the station have been eliminated. With the damage to the systems from Saren's electronic attack on them it will be some time before an accurate count of casualties can be determined, but estimates are already going over ten thousand dead, not counting the thousands of dead from the Citadel fleet, including our own losses.
Still, it could have been worse. The Excalibur is intact but severely damaged and in need of weeks of repair time. The Destiny Ascension made it through, so the Council survived as well and have already returned to the Citadel.
Commander Scott estimates the Aurora could use a week of repair time in the yard. I'm thankful we came through that fight as well as we did.
Cleanup on the Citadel is already commencing. The crew is pitching in as best as they can.
With control restored over the Citadel systems, one of the first things ordered was a temporary end to the day/night cycle of the Presidium. The work crews clearing battle debris would do so under full light conditions.
Liara watched repair crews from one of the upper levels of the Presidium at an open-air bar in the Commons. Her mind felt like it was going to revolt at the sight of the damage the Geth had inflicted.
She noticed someone standing beside her and turned her head to see that it was Lucy, still in her Gersallian-made purple combat armor and blue robes. "It's wrong," Lucy said.
Even if she lacked Lucy's metaphysical talents, and her own telepathic ones required touch, Liara knew right away what she meant. "I know," she said. "Seeing the Presidium, the Citadel itself, turned into a war zone, I never imagined something like this could ever happen. The Citadel, the Council, they are part of my people's vision for the galaxy. A galaxy of mutual respect, of negotiation and compromise instead of armed force…"
Lucy nodded. "It must seem blasphemous, almost, to see it reduced to this."
"Yes."
"But that's not all that's bothering you, is it?"
Liara couldn't hide her thoughts from Lucy. "Saren's dead," she said. "Shepard convinced him to resist Sovereign. The only way he could was to kill himself."
"So I heard." Lucy chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Shepard's a unique woman. Brave, smart, and makes you want to follow her into Hell itself." Lucy looked at Liara's eyes, no longer looking at anything in particular, just the thoughts in her head. "You got justice for your mother."
"I suppose." Liara shook her head. 'But it doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything. I mean, we stopped Sovereign, but my mother's still gone. She can't come back and restore her good name. She's going to be remembered as a traitor to our people, a madwoman who worked with a monster…"
"Possibly," Lucy conceded. "But the important part is that she loved you and she was proud of you."
"I know. But it still hurts."
"Yeah, it will. I know the feeling. I've dealt with the same. A lot of us on the Aurora have." Lucy sighed at that. "Most of us, I mean the original Facility crew… we're all orphans. Sickness, accidents, we all lost parents we loved and cared for." An old hurt came to Lucy. "Sometimes I wonder how my mother would react to what I've become."
"You helped save the galaxy, you've saved entire worlds," Liara remarked gently. "What do you wonder?"
"I wonder if my mother would be afraid for me," Lucy admitted. "If she would have trouble understanding what I go through. That I have to fight, even kill sometimes. I know she'd be proud of the people I've helped…" Lucy stopped at that point and shook her head. "Either way, you're not alone, Doctor. And you've made friends on the Aurora. Given more time I could see everyone considering you a member of the crew."
Liara laughed softly at that. "It would be interesting, I suppose. Thank you, Lieutenant…"
"Lucy. I prefer Lucy," was the reply.
"Then I prefer Liara."
"Any time. It's sort of my job description now, when I'm not waving a lightsaber around." Lucy smiled and turned to step away.
"Lucy?"
She turned to face Liara. "Yes?"
The Asari's blue eyes met hers. "Just to ask… do you think the Aurora could use a xenoarchaeologist?"
Zack found the bar he often saw from his office in C-Sec. It was now a mess. Geth had waged a battle throughout this section of the Presidium with the Systems Alliance Marines sent by Hackett to clear them out. Most of the furniture was wrecked by weapons fire, as was the bar itself. Much to his surprise, a Turian bartender was still on duty. He looked to Zack hopefully. With a small, exhausted smile, Zack answered, "Club soda."
The Turian gave him a curious look. "I've never heard of that. Some human mixed drink?"
"It could be. But in my case, I don't want alcohol." That got him a look and a long sigh. Strapped for customers and with most of his inventory wrecked anyway, the Turian pulled out a container of what looked like orange juice. "Is that…?"
"Orange juice, straight from Earth. I use it for… what do you Humans call it? A boltdriver?"
"Screwdriver." With only three seats intact at the bar, Zack took one. He triggered his omnitool to pay for the drink and watched the Turian open the gray cylinder and let the orange fluid within pour into a tall glass.
"I'm surprised to find you here." Zack turned at the voice. Robert approached. Like Zack he hadn't changed after the battle. He was holding something in his hand. "OJ?"
"Good old OJ," Zack confirmed. "Want one?"
"What the hell, sure." Robert took the seat nearest Zack. The Turian got him a glass as well and sighed with irritation as Robert set something on the bar. "I could use a drink of any kind."
Zack looked at what Robert had set down. "Isn't that one of those…?"
"Lightsabers," Robert finished for him. "It's what's left of the one Lucy made for me." He held up the charred, broken weapon. "Shepard killed Sovereign with it. The feedback from the cybernetics Sovereign implanted in Saren's body wrecked the body and some of the mechanisms, though. I'll need to repair it." He let out a sigh.
"How close are you to making one of those things yourself?"
"Getting there." Robert tapped the hilt with his left hand while his right gripped the glass and brought it to his mouth. He took a gulp and gave a more contented sigh. "Tastes good. I bet it costs quite a bit to get real oranges out this far."
"It could be replicated," Zack pointed out.
"If so, it's a damn good replicator." Robert took another drink. Zack could tell he was exhausted. "So, welcome back to the fun, Zack."
"Heh. I'm going to regret it later," he sighed. "I hurt all over and I'm sure I'll be doing a lot more paperwork while working with C-Sec to investigate everything."
"I know the feeling. I still owe Maran and Morgan a report." Robert considered the remaining juice in his glass. Zack downed most of his. He held the glass up afterward. "But better to be exhausted than dead, right?"
"I'll drink to that," Zack chuckled. After they both took drinks and finished their glasses, Zack added, "And now I'm ready to drink to not getting shot at for a while." He held the glass to the Turian bartender.
"Here's hoping," Robert sighed, already certain it wouldn't quite turn out that way.
Julia looked out the window of her ready office at the sad sight. The Excalibur was beside the Aurora and looked pretty battered. The missing nacelle gave the ship an uneven look. The self-repair systems left entire sections of the hull looking as patched over as she knew them to be. It broke up some of the Excalibur's lethal grace.
When her door chime went off, Julia turned and said, "Come in." Meridina entered with a digital pad. "Another report?"
"The total casualty report as of this hour," Meridina said. "We suffered sixteen dead and eighty-seven wounded."
"I suppose it could have been much higher." Julia's comment didn't detract from her feeling: that was sixteen and eighty-seven too damn many. "The damage estimates?"
"Commander Scott gave preliminary estimates. Going by experience, I expect the actual time for repair to be about half the stated requirement."
Julia smiled softly at that. "That's why he's the miracle worker." She looked over the offered report and signed off on it. "Do you think we might have prevented this?" she asked.
Meridina gave her a curious look. "How?"
"By defying Atama and Udina. If we'd brought the Aurora to Ilos, and kept Saren from using the Conduit…"
"Perhaps. But I am content that we were where we needed to be when the moment of decision came."
Julia nodded once in acceptance of Meridina's point. "You look… better."
"I feel better," Meridina said. A tired look came across the Gersallian woman's face, weakness she normally didn't show. "The Flow of Life no longer quails. Not as it did. Whatever errors we made along the way, we won a great victory for Light today, Julia. That is what matters."
"I can't argue with that." Julia failed to keep the pensive look off her face, matching the thought that came to her. "But I don't know if we won for good. Whatever Sovereign was… there are supposed to be more Reapers out there. Maybe a lot more."
"So it claimed to Shepard and Robert. But for now, they are not here, and given time we can be ready for them," Meridina said. "I would not worry about…"
A chime filled the room. Julia went over and tapped a key on her desk. "Andreys here."
The voice on the other end was that of Lieutenant Tra'dur, working an ops watch. "Captain, we're receiving a hail from Admiral Maran. It's coded as urgent."
Julia wondered what could be this urgent. Undoubtedly he already had her initial report, but any information he needed was already there. To answer this curiosity she swiftly hit the key on her board to accept the communication. As she sat in her chair, Maran appeared on the screen, sitting in one Julia recognized to be his flag office on the Kentan. While always stoic, Julia thought there was a bit of impatience in him. Impatience… and worry? "Admiral," Julia said. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm aware you've suffered some damage, Captain," he said. "Do you have warp capability yet?"
"Not at the moment, but we should soon," Julia answered.
"Commander Scott has affirmed warp capability will be regained within the next several hours," Meridina confirmed for her.
"Good. Prepare for immediate departure and full combat deployment."
Julia exchanged a puzzled look with Meridina before looking at Maran again. "Sir? The crew was on alert for an extended period and many of them have been helping with the clean-up effort. And Commander Scott estimates up to a week in drydock to repair all of our systems…"
Maran nodded and sighed. "I'm aware you have been through a difficult fight, Captain. If I had a choice, if the timing wasn't what it is, I would give you that repair time. But I'm afraid you're needed elsewhere."
"Where?" Julia asked.
"I need the Aurora to join the invasion fleet," Maran said. "We've already commenced the invasion of Earth in S4W8. This is our last chance to end the war with the Reich. If we don't win now, we might never beat them."