Note:The Night King - Ramin Djawadi for about the bottom middle of the chapter.

Chapter 69: Cycle's True End

Jack stepped out of the Normandy's airlock onto the hull of the Collector satellite with his heart pumping. This was it, the moment they had fought so hard for was finally here and yet he didn't know if they were going to be able to pull it off. So many aspects of the mission not only required everyone else to be on their A game but, they were also going to have to rely on luck. Since he was arguably the most unlucky man in the galaxy up until now he didn't have a huge degree of confidence on his own. Thankfully, he wasn't alone with Tali and Garrus following him as loyally as ever, if not standing notably closer together, and Mordin was with him too. If anyone could pull off dropping a nuclear bomb in the middle of a Reaper structure it was the people behind him. All they had to do was get in, drop the bomb, and then get back out it was going to be easy.

Even though Jack was as sure in his team as he could get, the unknowns of the mission were knawing at him. First and foremost, why did Kai Leng volunteer to help Kal rescue the crew? Was it just because a vast majority of them were Cerberus personnel and so he felt an organizational duty to save them? While that possibility would've calmed his nerves down a little, Leng wasn't that kind of person. On Luna and Illium the assassin abandoned his Phantom Knights to get the job done, plus, he might see the crew as tainted for working with him and a bunch of aliens. It sure as hell wasn't because he cared about Zero or Kal's well being like Saren and he assumed Adrien so, why? The answers he was coming up with all worried him for Kal's safety but, his cyar'ika wasn't an idiot. He had spent most of the ten hours of travel time getting here on training to kill Leng, and he was surrounded by people that would protect him for one reason or another. As the two teams began to separate, Miranda gave him a subtle nod.

While they were waiting on Tarquin to show up with the bomb, Garrus asked, "How are you feeling?"

He was about to respond when Tali replied, "Other than scared out of my mind? Fine. achoo.. Ahem, why wouldn't I be?"

Garrus shifted before continuing, "Well, I know handling a nuclear bomb probably isn't what you'd call having a good day. Especially after Virmire."

The reference must've stung her, if he was in her position it would have anyways. Tali and Kaidan were just in the middle of a blossoming romance when he sacrificed himself to set off the nuke on Virmire. His decision to rush head long to Virmire before finding out Jacob was the Cerberus spy probably saved the galaxy from Sovereign continuing the cycle on the first go around but, Kaidan was the cost. He was sure Garrus meant well, judging by her sneeze they had finally taken the next step in their own relationship, bringing Virmire up however might not have been the best way to go about checking up on her. The Kodiak shuttle was on its way but he wished Tarquin would pick up the pace, he could already hear gunfire going off from the distraction team inside.

Tali coughed tapping on one foot appearing as impatient as he was, "I'm not going to have to come up with a makeshift trigger this time so we're fine."

Garrus put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm right here if your not fine."

Tali patted his hand gently before moving away from him, "I know, don't worry about me. Just watch my six."

Mordin always had to jump in the most awkward moments of a conversation, "Most likely experiencing first time allergic reaction to Turian DNA. Hives. Rashes. Itching sensations. Intense sinus pressure and leaking. Just the tip of the iceberg for symptoms. Probably shouldn't be 'right here' for the next few weeks."

Jack was doing his very best not to laugh knowing it would've been extremely inappropriate, "Thanks for the advice Mordin but we need to focus on the mission. Kasumi, are you ready?"

Kasumi had a teasing tone, "Ready to hear all the latest gossip? Of course.." She trailed off for a moment giving them all a smirk under her hood, "Yes I'm ready Shep, this isn't the first dangerous vent I'll be crawling into. You worry too much."

His impatience only grew as the sounds of gunfire were getting louder from the inside of the satellite, to the point that Jack was considering going in without Tarquin to make him keep up. Luckily, the Kodiak landed and a squad of Turians poured out to secure the area. Despite Adrien saying the ninth platoon would keep their words, he had assumed Tarquin would've only done the least amount possible to technically follow the platoon's legacy. From Tarquin's perspective, Jack was just a terrorist who dragged him along on one of the most dangerous missions in his life. Yet, he was here with a large squad of his men carrying a nuclear bomb in their hands, Turians of all sorts honored duty above everything else. Jack was surprised that the bomb was so much smaller then the ones the Salarian used on Virmire. It could practically fit between a singular Turian's arms. Was that device going to have enough power to destroy the facility?

Tarquin tilted his head marching past his men towards the door, "Did you really wait for me to get started? Let's go."

Jack followed him and motioned the rest of his team to do the same, "We didn't want reinforcements to circle around us and trap our teams apart. It wouldn't have helped us to get to the center without the bomb."

Tarquin took position on one side of the airlock to the satellite, "Thanks for the consideration but, we can handle ourselves. How do you think we got into the Urdnot compound? It wasn't because of your team I can tell you that."

The door opened without warning revealing four Collectors who obviously didn't know they were there, probably attempting to flank the other team. Both squads opened fire on the Collectors filling them with bullets before entering the inner airlock. If Mordin's theory about the Collectors being a hive mind was true, the rest of them inside would now know a second team existed. Hopefully, that meant the pressure would be taken off of the second team and Kal. Jack wondered if the Turian squad was actually as good as they believed, or if Tarquin was just overconfident. Since he had made a bad call by lowering the shields of his own dreadnought, and performed a mutiny on his father mere hours before the mission, Jack guessed it was the latter. He had to be sure not to put all of his hopes on this team.

Tarquin turned to address his team, "Alright everyone, we have to focus on the mission. One shot, one kill and make sure Lith here gets the bomb to this stations core, nothing else matters."

One of the Turian's in his squad tilted their head, "What if one of us gets into trouble? We aren't supposed to leave anyone behind."

Tarquin sighed bracing against the inner air lock door, "This mission is bigger than our creed. Once we open this door our goal is to set the bomb, our lives are meaningless if the Reapers win today. Understand?"

As Tarquin's entire team nodded, Jack was surprised and relieved for once someone seemingly changed their minds on the Reapers. There was the possibility that he was just humoring Jack to get on his good side so that he could arrest them later but, he had specifically said Reapers and not Collectors. Perhaps the data they had gathered up until now was finally enough proof to convince them he wasn't crazy. The small chance that Tarquin believed him actually gave him hope that the Council could follow suit if things went sideways in the next few minutes. Then again, if the Collectors won today there would be no one left to tell them anything and the galaxy would inevitably fall to another cycle. Determined not to let that happen, Jack pressed the Prothean control key to enter the main facility.

He was immediately greeted by acid weapon blasts from Collectors that he ducked away from. Jack counted at least ten of them this time and they had been fully aware that they were coming in from the other side of the door. Two of the Turians went down in the first barrage but the rest followed him, Garrus, Tali, and Mordin through guns blazing. Kasumi had disappeared in the chaos finding the vent entrance they needed to regroup with the other team for. Some of the Collector soldiers started flying in the air to get above their makeshift cover positions but, Tarquin used a missile pack strapped to his wrist swating them out of the sky. Several of the other Turians in the squad used biotics to yank them out of the air so they could deliver headshots while, Garrus was picking away at reinforcements coming at them from the rear with his sniper.

In a brief moment of silence running through the halls, Jack called Miranda, "How's your side doing?"

She was breathing hard and sounds of gunfire almost drowned her out on both ends of the comm, "Still alive...getting a little too close to a shut door for my liking though."

Kasumi joined in the call, "I'm working on it, you have no idea how small Collector vents are. You'd think they didn't design them to have people crawling through them."

Leng's voice sounded irritated, "Just hurry up, we aren't going to survive if we don't keep moving and I don't intend to turn into a puddle tonight."

Out of nowhere, Tarquin shoved him into a wall to avoid a Collector sniper round that would've taken his head clean off. Dealing with Leng's attitude was going to have to wait as they had more company. Jack was going to whip around and return fire when he heard a very loud buzzing, oh no. He had assumed all of the seeker swarms were stationed on the Collector dreadnought and thus killed off, how could he be so foolish? While his group was going to be protected by Mordin's jamming equipment, the Turians that just joined them weren't going to be so lucky. Since Tarquin was the closest to him, Jack grabbed his wrists and spun him around to pin him against the wall. His hope was that if Tarquin was this close to the jammer that it would protect him as well. The other members of his team did something similar but, the other twenty or so Turians Tarquin brought along weren't going to be so lucky.

Jack watched as the massive swarm of seekers flooded the hall and he realized they weren't taking prisoners anymore. He was powerless watching as they used their sheer numbers to pick up Turians and throw them into walls as if they were paper weights. His hand covered Tarquin's mouth to prevent him from screaming as he was watching the carnage all around them. A pang of disgust hit his stomach when the Turians started crying out in pure agony. Thousands of seekers were attacking each Turian over and over again with their stingers intent to kill. That told Jack one thing, the Collectors had enough organic material to complete their purpose right now and were discarding everything else. His heart was hammering as the seconds ticked by knowing they were stuck watching until the seekers were done with their meal.

Eventually the swarm left and a voice he knew all too well reached his ears, "Shepard, I know you still live. You are too late, the cycle will begin once more despite your pitiful attempts to stop us. We are inevitable."

He could see one of the Collectors around the corner was glowing green to signal Sovereign had taken control, "As long as I'm still alive I'm going to fight to not let that happen."

Sovereign spun around to face him, "You are not like the others that have come before you but, you will die all the same. Our vengeance will not be denied."

Jack fired a few bullets at him but, he predictably caught them and sent them hurling back towards him forcing him back into cover. They didn't have time for this with Kal and the rest of Miranda's team most likely trapped on the other side of a door with who knows how many Collectors but, he couldn't just run around Sovereign when he was like this. Garrus attempted to fly in with the jets on his feet to deliver a kick to the jaw only to be caught by biotics and tossed into a wall. Mordin attempted to throw a cryo grenade only for it to be smashed in mid air and it's shards sent flying like dozens of deadly daggers sent flying into the remainder of Tarquin's men. Tali fired her shotgun but, his biotics melted the rounds and sent a fireball back at her that she barely got out of the way of. He had a feeling Sovereign was learning from their tactics.

Tarquin started shooting the Collector from around the corner catching him off guard and killing him, "That was for my men you piece of shit!" He kept firing at the now dead body until his rifle was out of ammo.

Mordin tapped his chin like everything was somehow over now, "Vengeance? New goal of Reapers. Vengeance for who? Creators? No, data suggests Reapers were built billions of years ago. We couldn't have possibly slighted creators. Malfunction?-"

Jack interrupted him with a shout, "We can worry about that later Mordin. Right now we need to open that door!"

Tarquin slowly picked up the bomb and offered it to Tali, "Your the only engineer left. When the time comes just type in the timer once we get to the core and we can get the hell out of here."

He was about to ask Miranda how she was doing again when the ground started to shake and he almost tripped over from his run, "EDI, what the hell just happened?"

EDI's voice was loud in his ear because of the shaking was getting stronger, "It appears as though the satellite has activated. If a Collector is near a control panel they will be able to send or receive any signal. I will monitor the satellite to see where it is positioning itself."

Jack's heart thundered in his chest realizing this was what Sovereign meant by being too late. If that satellite sent out it's signal, the cycle would begin again, "Everyone move!"

Not wasting valuable seconds to help Garrus get to his feet, Jack rushed to the door where Kasumi was already tapping away at the controls. He soon discovered all of the interior door buttons were made for Protheans and so, Kasumi had been running blind. Jack pushed past her only to have to dodge a barrage of people and a stampede of the second team rushing through the door. His heart skipped a beat not seeing Kal in the immediate crowd but, he saw his husband helping Adrien carry Thane through the door. Giving them a quick look, Jack saw the Drell took a bad hit to the leg. Due to the fact that he could see a section of ankle bone, it was obvious the Collectors got a lucky shot in.

He closed the door as soon as they were through and turned around, "EDI, tell me what's happening."

The AI didn't miss a beat, "From my current calculations, the satellite appears to be aiming for somewhere in Batarian space. However, given the power they have gathered here, I have to assume that isn't their primary target."

Jack bit his lower lip, why Batarian space? "How long do I have to get to the core?"

His gut chilled when she responded with, "Ten minutes."

Jack started moving in the direction of the core, "You heard her, we gotta move!"

To his surprise, Miranda spoke up stopping him from leaving, "What about Thane? He took a bad hit to protect me, we can't leave him."

Thane was clutching his pistol sitting on the floor, "I'll hold the rear, keep them away as long as I can."

Miranda glared down at him with a surprising amount of care, "That's suicide and you know it."

Feron touched her shoulder gently to calm her down, "It's what he wants Miranda."

Usually Jack would've felt that was extremely cold talking about their own father but, right now they needed to get going. Unfortunately, Miranda wasn't letting it go, "Jack, we can't just leave him to these things. I volunteer to take him back to the ship."

Of all the times she had to grow a conscience, "Fine, go we have to get to the core right now!"

Leng frustratingly interrupted them again, "She has the only linked comm to The Illusive Man. If he has new orders we need her to transmit them."

It was a bullshit argument given the fact he was sure that he had a comm to Cerberus High Command himself and EDI could talk to them as well. Jack didn't have any time to call him out on it though, they had mere minutes before Sovereign won. Did they just forget what was the most important thing to the galaxy right now? He knew he was being too harsh when Thane's life was hanging in the balance but, people were going to die. Why would Miranda insist on saving Thane? Feron wasn't even telling his father goodbye to his father so she certainly wasn't doing it on his behalf. However, that was the only reason he could come up with as to why Miranda was bringing the mission to a grinding halt. She was at all other times far too professional to let something like this stop the mission.

Jack watched as Kal was already marching down the side corridor obviously looking to find Zero and Kasumi surprisingly disappeared to presumably follow him, "Just figure it out, the rest of you follow me to the core. We have to stop this."

He didn't pay attention to who was following him and just kept running as fast as possible to get to the core room. EDI was flashing a countdown for three minutes until the satellite was ready to transmit four numbers, '2185.' It was the current year, why would that be their message supposedly to the Reapers? After a few seconds of thinking about it, Jack realized it was the way Sovereign was communicating that he was late for the rest of the Reapers. He had to wonder if this had happened before and the Reapers installed this contingency plan due to this. The fact he was still ten yards away the control panel made him worry he was playing right into the cycles hands. Did he have any free will at all?

As he slid around the last corner, Jack could see a large room with a massive Mass Effect drive core and a single terminal in the center of the room. Jack stood back up from his slide and ran in that direction only to see a Collector in the room slowly walking towards the device. The glowing green light around the Collector made him run faster, he wouldn't be able to shoot him because he would catch the bullets and send them back. He could've sworn that Sovereign was giving him a crooked sneer as if taunting him with the knowledge he wasn't going to be able to catch him on time. Sovereign was even raising his hand painfully slow to push back down on the terminal further taunting him. A sniper shot rang out whizzing past Jack's ear only to pierce the Collector's upper right eye. Sovereign fell sideways with his hand sliding down the side of the computer, he was dead.

Garrus cheered from behind them as he fell to his knees flooded with relief, "Wooh! Take that! Ha... wait... Did I do it...?"

EDI's voice only further made Jack feel the happiest he had been in a long time, "As long as no one else activates that device, yes Mr. Vakarian, it appears you have stopped Sovereign from restarting the cycle."

Jack clapped Garrus on the shoulder with a huge grin, "Yeah, you did it. Shit, alright everybody let's set this bomb and go home before more Collectors arrive to push that button."

Tali stepped past them carrying the bomb towards the drive core, "It won't take long for me to get this ready to go."

EDI's words made him just a little more anxious, "Shepard, while this facility isn't the forge I'm seeing blueprint designs...for a Reaper. This facility seems to have a large amount of knowledge about the Reapers that even the Collector dreadnought didn't possess. It might be a good idea to download copies of the data before you leave."

Jack absorbed what she was saying but, disagreed on the simple fact that this was over. The Reapers weren't going to be able to return now that no one was going to send them the date. It was like the weight of the entire galaxy had been lifted from his shoulders, he didn't have to worry about the ancient evil any longer. He knew that didn't mean all of his problems were gone, Tarquin still wanted to arrest him for everything he had done and the Terminus was still at war with the Alliance. Those problems seemed far away because he had just prevented a galactic extinction. With that in mind, he didn't need to know about the Reapers and Cerberus certainly didn't need to know any of that. His imagination ran wild with the possibility that Cerberus' could've built Reapers for their own twisted mission.

He shook his head even though EDI wasn't there to see him, "No, we don't need it now that the Reapers aren't coming back. In a few minutes this is all going to be over."

Miranda sounded hesitant when she spoke beside him, "The Illusive Man's calling from his headquarters... Patching it through."

The Illusive Man appeared wearing his typical business suit, "Shepard, EDI has informed me of the situation, congratulations. I want you to download the data in that base."

Jack's gaze narrowed at the man in defiance, "So you can use a Reaper for your own racism? I don't think so."

The Illusive Man took a calm, casual puff of his cigarette, "My goal is to save Humanity from the Reapers, at any cost. I've never hidden that from you. This is our chance, Shepard, they have a blueprint to build a Reaper. That knowledge, that framework, could save us."

Jack stormed up to the hologram glaring at him, "You don't need to save us from anyone anymore. I've won, this was how Sovereign was going to restart the cycle and I stopped it. It's over."

He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head curiously, "You honestly believe that to be true? Two years ago you thought destroying Sovereign was the end of it and yet...here we are."

Mordin stepped to stand beside Jack, "It's not likely Sovereign had a plan c. Every cycle before now has ended far before now. Reapers don't seem to have the adaptability to come back from this."

A puff of virtual smoke met their face, "Should we really be taking that kind of risk Doctor? Our best chance against the Reapers is to turn their own resources against them. They were working directly with the Collectors. Who knows what information is buried in there? What if we can understand their origins and use that to our advantage?"

Jack was stubbornly defiant standing in front of the terminal even though he wasn't really here to touch it, "That knowledge won't win a supposed war. I'm going to send this place sky high and we won't have to deal with this any longer."

The Illusive Man was starting to get frustrated, "Don't let idealism, or your own need for this to be 'over' blind you. Using the base to its fullest potential is the best way to fulfill ours. This base is a gift. We can't just destroy it."

Tarquin joined into the conversation watching Tali set the timer for three minutes, "You have not really defeated the enemy if you adopt their methods. How can you pretend to be better than the rest of us if you use this base?"

He had a dismissive tone ignoring him, "An alien can't appreciate the risk this represents for Humanity. Leadership means making hard moral sacrifices. You know that better than anyone, Shepard. Look at what you've accomplished without the Alliance. You wouldn't be here if you didn't decide Cerberus was Humanities best chance. Trust me on this, I'm only looking ahead."

Jack felt like he was going to scream, "They kidnapped people, turned them into something horrible to power this satellite. Nothing stored here is useful to anyone, but especially not to you."

He kept his calm despite the argument seemingly knowing he was right, "Imagine how many lives could be saved if we keep this base intact and use its knowledge to thwart the Reapers. Imagine the lives that will be lost if we don't. Strength for Cerberus is strength for every Human. Cerberus is Humanity. I didn't discard you in that cryopod because I knew your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility. Think of the potential."

Jack turned away and gave Tali a subtle to start the process, "I have thought about it enough, it's over. In three minutes I'm going to blow up this base and save the galaxy from the Reapers. Your completely ruthless. The next thing I know, you'll be wanting to grow your own Reaper. If they come back, we'll fight and win without it. I won't let fear compromise who I am."

He stiffened starting to turn around to step out of the camera, "It's not that easy, Shepard. We needed each other... Your ideals have cost us more than you can imagine. Cerberus will be ready to face the Reapers. Miranda, Feron, kill them and download the data before returning to the base."

Jack tensed getting ready for a fight as The Illusive Man disappeared into Miranda's omni tool. Maybe he had a point, what if the Reapers came back by other means and they didn't have that intel? If Rael hadn't of come up with a way to stop them on his own, Jack may have been willing to listen to The Illusive Man more but he had another way out. One that didn't give Cerberus almost unlimited power. The ball was in Miranda and Feron's court on what they were going to do within the next three minutes. He actually suspected Feron was going to follow orders first even though he was working for the Alliance. The Drell needed to gain favor if he was going to kill The Illusive Man one of these days.

Just as they were going to pounce, Kasumi came flying through the wall, "Shit, we need help Shepard. I think I just met the real Sovereign as he was waking up... He needs coffee."

This was the last thing he needed as the time was counting down to a nuclear explosion.