HOLOCAUST

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

COUP D'ETAT PART TWO

June 22, 2186

1326 hours.

Administration Offices, Citadel Security Headquarters, Presidium, The Citadel.

The Reaper War, The Citadel Siege.

Captain Marcus Lee Shepard, Military Advisor Garrus Vakarian, Shadow Broker Liara T'Soni, Second Lieutenant James Vega, Second Lieutenant Imogen Keeling, EDI, Soldier Javik, Master Thief Kasumi Goto.

Red blood sluggishly trickled past his armoured boot as he stepped from cover, mere inches from the half-decapitated corpse of a dead guardian, his shield covering most of the cadaver itself. Marcus took aim down the sights, found his target, and fired. He didn't even waste time waiting to see if the shot killed the assault trooper he was aiming at, instead ducking back into cover as bullets began to eat away at his shields, now shooting into thin air as he reloaded his SMG, grunting as he did.

"We've got guardians advancing up the right!" Keeling barked.

"EDI, James, suppression!" Marcus ordered, "Everyone else, focus fire down the corridor! Push them back! Everything you've got!"

EDI complied with his orders in an instant, her body jutting out from behind a support strut to send a long spread from her SMG slamming into the shield of an advancing guardian, holding down on the trigger until it hissed and steam poured from the popped thermal clip. Letting it clink against the ground as she removed it, the synthetic slammed in a fresh one with quick precision and methodicism, and brought it up again, firing another burst into the man's shield while simultaneously reinforcing her body armor, the shots from the guardians' Talon heavy pistols pinging harmlessly off her kinetic barriers.

James joined the game too, this time shouldering his new favourite, an N7 Typhoon, his main favourite, his Revenant, strapped to his back as he crouched, hefted the titanic weapon, and began to pour tremendous amounts of firepower down the Cerberus ranks and slamming into the guardians trying to advance. With the two of them combining attack patterns, even with their shields, the guardians were hard pressed to advance and instead bunkered down, moving into a crouch as they slammed their shield on the ground and hid behind it, occassionally popping a hand out to fire of pot-shots with their hand cannons.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad went about the usual. Despite the narrow confines of the corridor they were trying to advance up of, it worked twofold for their side; for one side, it provided Cerberus with a good attack point; they couldn't advance anywhere except up the corridor and up the sides where offices were situated, but for their side, it gave them a bottleneck to force Cerberus to charge their position; right into their awaiting, high-velocity lead.

Marcus again ducked under the water that pissed down from a shattered pipe up above, feeling the cool water bounce off his helmet as he aimed down the sights of his mattock and popped off two quick shots, both in quick succession, watching as one caught an assault trooper through the eye, dropping him immediately, followed by a second catching the foot of an unlucky nemesis who's shields had been done, causing her to stumble and collapse onto the ground, only for her to duck into a roll and come back into position, raising her sniper rifle to locate her atta-

One shot pierced her weapon, rending it useless as the barrel was shredded and blown apart by the penetrating round. The nemesis growled in its feminine high pitch, moving to its side to grab whatever sidearm awaited it...

Another shot, ramming into her throat, blood gushing out in a fountain as it pierced her armor, tore her skin, muscle and bone asunder, and then blew out the other end, red blood flowing down her chest to drip onto the ground as she dropped her sidearm to the ground, instead grasping her throat as she began to suffocate, a mixture of choking on blood and instant lack of oxygen and rapid blood loss contributing to a fast death.

One made even faster as a third and final shot entered her chest, likely slammed into her heart, and killed her instantly. The power of the shot sent her slamming into a wall, crumbled body sliding back down in a heap as red blood continued to bubble from her ruined throat, but this time, she was limp.

He turned away, nodding silently to Garrus in thanks, the turian in question taking time to let his Reaper sniper rifle recover from its overheating process before firing again.

EDI and James fell in as the guardians managed to advance again, moving forward in an attempt to deal with James and EDI and rid the squad of their heavies. Instead, they began firing wildly off to the side as they closed in, Marcus frowning as he turned to the source...

...only for said frown to turn into a reluctant grin, despite their situation.

He watched EDI, or at least her holographic representation, run blindly through an office window and crouch behind a devastated desk, blue blood over its surface and mixed with brown sludge of a spilt coffee, now long dried up. Nonetheless, the guardians fell for the foul move, and turned to deal with the non-existent threat.

EDI's hologram depleted and winked out of existence just as Keeling appeared, slashing upward with her omni-blade. He watched as one trooper lost control of his shield, and then saw it was because the man was now missing his arm; the rest of it now stuck to the shield as it collapsed to the ground, crimson flowing from the man's severed arm.

The guardian barely registered it as he turned around, other hand still holding his weapon, "You stupid bitch! You'll pay-"

She sent an armoured haymaker straight across his helmet, sending his helmet reeling back before twisting on the spot and facing the second guardian, who was now raising his shield to defend himself. Instead of trying to get behind though, she simply rammed her blade through the slot, hoping it was long enough to hit. Luckily for her, her gambit ended up correct as the hiss of contact could be heard, shortly followed by the soldier going limp, Keeling ripping the blade from his face before roughly kicking his cadaver away.

Without even looking, she swerved and sent her blade slicing down the middle of the guardian's unarmoured chest. She winced instantly as the smell of rank, rotten flesh assaulted her nostrils, pale blue and green guts spilling out from the man's opened belly and falling to the ground as the guardian screamed, cybernetics blinking from the intestines.

He collapsed to his knees, and with that, she took out her pistol, placed it against his head and pulled the trigger, wiping away the red blood that spilled against her visor as his mutilated body collapsed ontop of his own guts, the smell becoming too much for Keeling to handle as she moved back into cover, turning off her olfactory filters as she did.

Suddenly, there was a lull in the enemy fire, and Marcus turned to see what had happened. He almost smiled again as he watched Kasumi appear and then disappear, causing one assault trooper to turn and fire in a blind panic, the shot instead pinging off a wall. Kasumi then appeared again, slapping a centurion across the face, and vanishing again. Angrily, he spun to fire, but instead of hitting his intended target, he instead got a one in a lifetime look at the insides of an assault trooper's mouth, the dead soldier collapsing to the ground.

Just as Kasumi moved to decloak behind a phantom however, said phantom spun around and grasped at thin air, Kasumi appearing and gasping at the sudden change of events, the phantom tightening her grip as she moved to slash down with her sword...

He heard something clatter behind him, followed by a gunshot that impacted the phantom's shields around the head, causing her to stumble and her blade to swing to the right, moving away from Kasumi's head. Marcus could only watch in amazement as Garrus charged forward, fury in his eyes as he let out a guttural yell, closing the distance in mere seconds.

He brought the butt of his pistol down upon the phantom's head, the weapon cracking and splitting as the casing broke from the impact, but the main barrel remained intact, allowing him to spin around and slam his elbow, into the phantom's face, the already dazed soldier sent flying back from the blow as he collapsed onto her back, likely suffering from a broken nose.

The turian descended on her, even as Cerberus troopers approached from all around. He straddled her, pinning the phantom to the ground before sending a flurry of punches into her face, unrelenting and never stopping, just moving with unstoppable ferocity and strength that only Marcus or a krogan could hope to match.

All Marcus could see was the enemy forces encroaching on him. Kasumi, no longer in trouble, had rushed away, cloak active and then appeared again, slumping against a pillar behind them in a heap, gasping for breath as she held her throat.

Luckily for them though, Kasumi and Garrus had unknowingly lured out the majority of the Cerberus troops right out into the open.

Now was their chance to punch through before they were encircled.

James saw his opportunity and leapt out with Javik, the two of them combining firepower to level a swath of destruction on the paramilitary force. Liara unleashed a whorlwind of warp fields, Keeling fired non-stop, and Marcus elected to join Liara, body glowing bright blue as he sent a shockwave directly down their line.

The typhoon itself totally eviscerated the centurion leading the group, tearing through his shields like they were nothing and littering him with holes before he crumbled to the ground. This continued as he raked across their formation, six assault troopers dropping like dominos, heads splitting open, chests exploding and limbs sent flying.

Javik did the same, his particle rifle slicing an assault trooper clean in half while the rest slammed into and annihilated the shields of a combat engineer, melting through armor and flesh to cook the man's insides before spitting out the back, the engineer falling to the ground in a pool of steaming hot blood.

He turned and fired at an approaching guardian, hitting the shield head on. But unfortunately for the guardian, his shield was designed to deflect bullets up to 90 cal in penetration, not particle or plasma weaponry. So when Javik's rifle fired and slammed into his shield, the edges glowed red hot and the metal hissed and melted, before the shot pierced its hide and hit his collarbone. Successful, he jerked the rifle right while holding onto the trigger, causing the beam to swerve right and half decapitate him, body slumping to the ground.

At this, his rifle finally hissed as it overheated, a long cloud of steam pouring from the chamber as it shot open to vent the unwanted heat. Hissing, and watching as a phantom quickly approached, he holstered his weapon and brought his biotics to bear, body glowing a lime green as he picked the phantom up effortlessly, levitating her in the air. After a moment, tendrils pulsed and lashed forward, wrapping around the phantom's throat and beginning to squeeze, painfully. And after only a minute, the phantom went limp, having now been suffocated, and he tossed her aside, letting his biotics subside as he brought out his rifle once more.

Whoever wasn't annihilated by James' and Javik's united assault was thrown aside by Marcus' biotic freight train, and whoever survived that was hit by a warp field, body's wreathing as they were vaporized at the atomic level, one atom after another. Kasumi, sufficiently recovered, joined the fight and soon, the battle was over, falling quiet as Cerberus retreated, making a tactical withdrawal back into the structure.

He took a deep breath and holstered weapon, swapping it for his shotgun, deciding he had exhausted his mattock enough. He took a second to examine their surroundings, as he hadn't had a chance before Cerberus went on the offensive, and noted that the corridor was an absolute mess; signs of battle were everywhere, numbering from bullet holes on the walls to shattered glass and ruptured pipes spilling running water. The ground was soaking wet, and chairs were knocked aside, desks overturned. Some bodies were present, and one of the doors was jammed, a green interface flashing off and on as it became confused whether or not it was opening or not, the door having been jammed halfway open by a piece of debris.

Sirens still rang in the background, and the building was still dimmed by a red glow, the words 'Code Ten' flashing on signs all over the corridor.

His investigation finished, he turned to Garrus.

Long after the phantom was dead, her sword now hanging limply in cold, dead hands, Garrus was still punching her face, but his pace was slower now, having lost all the energy he had. The turian's expression was blank, his taloned hands leaving nothing of the phantom to even recognized; her helmet had caved in long ago, and from within the grooves blood leaked, some of it dry and some of it fresh, dripping from whatever crevice they could find. Needless to say, she was a ruined mess.

"Garrus," he began softly, standing behind him. The turian finally stopped, one last fist slamming her across with the face, but it was then Marcus discovered her neck had already snapped, her head simply lolling to the side with unnatural ease; nothing stopping it or delaying its travel into that position.

Garrus stood up, and when he turned, Marcus saw his hands; bruised and battered, along with what was likely to be a few broken knuckles. Even with his hands armoured, he had been punching solid metal for a long time, and now the injuries were showing, the metal guards having cracked and fallen off, allowing him to see his injuries.

He hesitantly placed a hand on the turian's shoulder, ready to yank back if the turian snapped. He decided to play the commander, evaluating his condition, "You okay, Vakarian?"

The turian looked up at him, not expecting the use of his last name but quickly nodded, blowing out a large breath. He looked over to Kasumi, and when he saw she was okay, he nodded, turning back to Marcus, "I will be."

He wasn't convinced yet. "I can't have you pulling stunts like that again, Vakarian. That was reckless, irrresponsible. You broke formation without orders. I need to know for certain: are you good, or a liability?"

Garrus looked angry for a moment but quickly nodded, straightening his back, "A momentary lapse in judgment, Marcus. It won't happen again. I-"

"Good," he stated, removing his hand to crouch down and pick up the turian's discarded pistol. Quickly bringing himself back to his two feet, he shoved the weapon into his grip, and nodded, "Go retrieve your sniper rifle and fall in. We're not stopping. We need to find the executor and clear this building before reinforcements arrive; from our side, our theirs, is up to us."

He gulped, nodding, letting the pistol snap onto the magnetic clamp on his hip, "Yes, Marcus."

He turned away, turning back to his squad as he hefted his claymore once more, cracking his neck to prepare for the final push into the core of the structure, "We're almost there, people. One more push."

And so they continued. Cerberus were likely reinforcing their positions now, but at least within the confines of the building, they couldn't bring their Atlases to bear, which rid Cerberus of a serious tactical advantage.

It was likely the whole invasion force knew they were here now. Marcus and his squad had practically laid waste to half of the enemy battalion on their way to this building and whilst inside it. He was just surprised to see such a lack of potent resistance; for a clear strategic position, Cerberus seemed very unwilling to commit their forces to defending C-Sec Headquarters. That, or they were just taking their time to recoordinate their troops. As it was, him and his team were already well inside the complex.

He moved up and tapped the interface quickly, watching the door open to reveal a combat engineer crouched behind it, typing at his omni-tool as he likely tried to lock it and block their progress.

He only got time to snap his head up and look at who stood over him before receiving a knee to the bottom of the jaw, the force snapping his head back to slam back on the ground, followed by an omni-blade entering through his mouth, the only sound was a pained choke before he went limp. Tearing the blade out, he ignored the hot spray that burst into his neck from the sudden removal of the device, coming to stand and motioning to his squad to follow without even a momentary glance at them.

Time was of the essence, and it was quickly running out. They had to stop Cerberus before the Citadel fell.

Because once it did, it would be a bitch taking it back.

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June 22, 2186

1324 hours.

Cockpit, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-2, In Orbit near the Citadel, Widow System, Serpent Nebula.

The Reaper War, The Citadel Siege.

Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor, Yeoman Kelly Chambers.

The Citadel was under an epic siege of huge, awesome magnitude. Cerberus had likely thrown in every resource they had into this gigantic operation: battalions of troops, companies of Atlases, an entire friggin fleet! All to take the seat of galactic government.

And the Normandy could only sit there, watching the Cerberus Fourth Fleet in its still orbit, unaware that they were being watched by the alliance stealth frigate. The Citadel Defense Fleet had been warned about the siege, and now sat behind the Normandy, led by the asari Ascension-Class Dreadnought, the Destiny Ascension. A turian Tribune-class dreadnought, the replacement for the Iron Conviction which had been lost during the Battle of the Citadel, the THS Swift Judicator, stood at the head of the main fleet, accompanied by a human dreadnought named the SSV Vesuvius, which led the rest of it. Both were built solely for the Citadel fleet.

They couldn't attack Fourth Fleet for risk of damaging the Citadel, but they couldn't just sit there either, because Cerberus held no such qualms about firing back; which means Cerberus would be getting free kills with no repercussions. So they just sat there, out of range of the enemy ships, but unable to save the Citadel.

Joker leaned back in his chair, frowning as he tapped his fingers idlely on the inactive console infront of him.

"Could you stop that?" Kelly asked, looking irritated, "Its really annoying."

He snorted, straightening his cap, "Noone asked you to stay on the cockpit. You can leave, anytime you want."

"You're right, noone asked me too," she glared straight at him, clearly not in the mood for his antics, and for what, he didn't know, "I'm here because I want to be. There's nothing else to do on the ship."

"That your excuse, Traynor?" Joker asked, raising an eyebrow, "Nothing to do?"

The comms specialist just shrugged, looking incredibly meek as she flattened her hair, "I've finished all my calculations and EDI seems to have completely devoted her processes to her mechanized form, so I can't really ask her for help on anything."

"That is correct," EDI replied, her purple pawn appearing on the console next to them, "An approximate-"

"I don't want an approximate, EDI," he growled, cutting her off rather rudely. To make up for it, he continued in a much gentler tone, "I just want Cerberus to move at least one damn ship. They're just gawping at us; like they're teasing us. Practically begging us to give them a reason to open fire."

There was a lull in the room, and EDI seemed to go silent. He frowned, turning to her console to see her hologram still visible. His frown deepening, he leaned forward, almost yelling, "Hello? Can you hear-"

"They may have just lost patience, Jeff," the AI replied in a-matter-of-fact tone, laced with what he swore was mirth, "I've just detected enormous fleet activity. The Fourth Fleet is on the move and appears to be repositioning."

He laughed, "What? You can't be serious! Why move now?"

EDI's response was immediate, "It appears they have evaluated our strength and composition and have elected that the 'odds are in their favor.' Their flagship is remaining behind with their carrier and the rest of the fleet seems to be forming a diamond formation around them. Fighter pickets will be launched soon, and we are not in a state to repel them."

Joker laughed, leaning back in his seat as he chortled, unable to contain himself and his incredulosity, "The 'odds' are not in their favor! The assholes have one dreadnought! We have three! Four, if you count the Normandy! And one of those dreadnoughts is the Destiny Ascension, mind you!"

"You are assuming that firepower is the key factor of winning in a scenario," EDI replied drolly, almost enjoying this conversation, it seemed, "It is not. For one, Cerberus is able to choose the terrain for which they battle; for example, they have chosen to battle us in orbit over the Citadel; a strategic location we require and therefore are forced to engage Cerberus in battle. They have the Citadel behind them, which gives us the necessity of being cautious; this is costly in naval combat, and gives the enemy an edge. Also, their fighter cover will render our dreadnoughts defenseless, and their slow speed makes it hard to maneveur, meaning the enemy can snipe our dreadnoughts before we can get in range. Also, they do not know of the Normandy, so they could not analyze our force as having 'four dreadnoughts.'"

He rolled his eyes, poking his cap up alittle as it began to tighten around his head uncomfortably, releasing the pressure it was causing, "You've got a point. Still, I don't see why we don't just snipe their dreadnought and get it over with. The Normandy could be in and out in seconds; deploy thanix, target dreadnought, bam, gone. Probably incinerate the carrier while we're at it, too. The thanix has more of a punch than we give it credit for."

EDI didn't agree, "It would be more beneficial to await the reinforcements requested rather than-"

Suddenly, a new, more familiar voice came over the comm that caused Joker's eyes to widen in surprise as he leaned forward towards the console, "Anyone there? Someone want to explain why the Citadel fleet isn't at the damn Citadel?"

"Grunt!?" he exclaimed, hitting the response button, "What the hell?"

"Ah, Joker," the krogan replied, a grin evident in his voice, "I didn't expect you to be here."

"Said the traffic controller to the quarian party clown," Joker dryly replied, "Seriously, Grunt, you took your time! Wrex said you'd be on the Citadel two hours ago."

"Got a bit...behind schedule," Grunt growled, seemingly talking to someone off the comms, "Took a bit to get this bucket of bolts to actually take flight. A pyjak could build a better ship. Enough of that, though. What's going on? My ship received four seperate Council-related transmissions on the way here, all relating to the Citadel. What's going on over there?"

Joker sighed, stroking his stubble as he leaned back in his comfortable, leather seat, "Cerberus is attacking the Citadel. Who knew, huh? We're sitting here waiting for reinforcements and you picked one hell of a time to arrive; the enemy fleet just popped out to say hello. Can't imagine they'll have a nice goodbye, though. I'd recommend hanging behind until the Citadel fleet deals with this."

"Battlestations!" EDI shouted, cutting him almost immediately after he finished, "Perform evasive! Hard to starboard, course 3.4 relative! Jeff, move!"

He didn't even ask what the hell she was on about and simply opened up his console, inputting the necessary commands. Receiving them, Ken and Donnelly gave the drive core the needed juice to pull off the maneveur, Joker watching as they shifted off to the right slightly. The lights in the cockpit, CIC and flight deck dimmed to a dull red; battle conditions.

He was about to ask what the hell that was all about when it happened.

A javelin torpedo, shooting right past them, missing by a mere few dozen meters off the port side. It arched out until it slammed into the kinetic barriers of the Ascension, the massive vessel shrugging it off like the stick throw that it was. Still, Joker was bewildered by how that could have happened. When he turned around, he saw the Cerberus fleet hadn't gotten any closer, which means they couldn't have fired that shot...not so accurately, at least.

Suddenly, a new signature appeared on their sensors, and Joker frowned at the display, discovering it to have a Cerberus IFF and of the frigate weight class. How the fuck did he not see that before?

"EDI, what the hell!" Joker exclaimed, "Where did that ship come from!? Its right ontop of us!"

Kelly and Samantha were off the cockpit in seconds, rushing down the flight deck to their assigned posts. Joker just sat there, awaiting EDI's answer, which came quickly.

"It is a Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate, of the same design as the Normandy," the AI replied simply, "It has a stealth drive."

His mouth opened and closed, looking for words, but it seems he didn't need to as the ship in question quietly drifted into view. EDI was right; it was definitely the exact same make as the Normandy. And he didn't mean as in the SR-1 design, he meant the SR-2 design. It looked like an identical copy of the Normandy.

Except this one was covered in the gold and white of Cerberus, its logo painted all over its hull. And then his eyes landed on its name.

CAW Deliverance.

He was incredulous, freezing for almost a second. Holy shit. Cerberus built another ship...

"They are firing again!" EDI declared, but he was way ahead of her; he had been watching the GARDIAN battery on said ship rotate to face them, and his console beep as it acquired a lock-on. He made a sharp turn to port, firing off decoys as he went. The maneveur was successful, with the missiles intended for them finding a home in the decoys drifting in space, exploding in brilliant light almost a full one hundred meters off their bow.

Back into position, he shifted the Normandy to face the Deliverance once more, the angry pilot having had enough of this. He turned to EDI, a light in his eyes. They attacked my ship. I will not lose another Normandy. I will not. I will not. "EDI, bring up the bow GARDIANs, two of our point lasers and load two torpedoes into their bays. Lock onto the Deli-"

"They are hailing us," EDI cut off, "Should...should I put them on loud speaker?"

He had been more surprised at EDI's hesitation than the idea that Cerberus could be hailing, because they were likely going to ask for them to surrender. Over my dead body.

Still, he humoured them and opened the channel, watching the identical cockpit of the Deliverance appear on the screen infront of him, a female pilot sitting in the pilot's chair with Cerberus colors. The captain stood in the middle, crisp Cerberus officer's uniform straightened around his thin frame, not exactly a well-built man. He was well kept though; combed blonde hair, rough but washed skin and solid brown eyes that held a hidden steel in them.

"Normandy, this is Captain Banes of the Deliverance. I hope you like our new ship," he stated, his voice portraying no attempt at humor, "She's the pride of our fleet, and the Normandy's successor. Your ship is just a bit obsolete now, I'm afraid."

He chuckled bitterly, already hating this man, "Don't mean shit if your pilot's crap."

Said pilot seemed to notice this, shooting him a glare from her position in her chair, but from where she was on screen at the bottom, only the area where her eyes were and up were visible, making it an amusing sight. Banes looked unfazed however, shaking his head, "I can assure you, our pilot is one of the best we've got. And we've got our own AI; I'm sure EDI has met Eva before."

He was shocked by this, but tried not to show it in his face. Eva's dead. We killed that thing on Mars, didn't we? Or did Cerberus recover and rebuild her? Damn, if the Deliverance has an AI, then they've got us completely matched. We have no advantage over that ship.

Except me.

"She has," Joker grinned, deciding to continue mocking the man, "And I'm pretty sure last time Shepard gave her one hell of a beating. Tell Eva that EDI sends her compliments; she's absolutely loving the body. It was so nice of her to let her have it."

"Where is Shepard?" Banes asked, ignoring the pilot's taunt, "Where is your incorruptible commanding officer? I would very much like to speak with him. Captain to captain. To negoitate surrender, of course."

Joker pretended to think that over, stroking his beard to overexaggerate the gesture. Eventually, he came back, shrugging, "He's down on the Citadel. Probably wiping the floor with Leng's fat corpse, I'd imagine. You know...hero stuff. Kicking ass and all that. He apologizes for not being able to be here; but he does have important things to do and absolutely hates being interrupted."

"This isn't a game, Flight Lieutenant," Banes growled, taking no smugness out of the situation. He knew full well that they were both evenly matched for firepower and ability, and found no point in gloating over it. Besides, the Deliverance was a brand new ship; it hadn't been through its paces like the Normandy was, "If Shepard is not here, I will talk with you. Surrender and prepare to be boarded. You have a full minute to think over it."

Joker shook his head, holding up a hand to still Banes, who had been about to sit down, expecting Joker to accept his offer, "Hold your horses, Captain. I don't need a full minute to think over it. You'll have your answer now: Kiss. My. Ass."

Banes sighed, shaking his head as he sat down, "Such a shame. The Normandy is a beautiful ship; I was hoping not to have to destroy it."

"Sir, they're locking on to us," the pilot shouted, looking agitated.

Banes looked down at her, frowning, before looking back at Joker, face relaxing as he came to a realization, "Ah...you never intended to hear me out. You've been using this time to lock on your-"

"AH! Going to have to stop you there," Joker held a hand to stop him, grinning ridiculously, "Can't have you giving away my entire plan. See you in hell, assholes." And with that, he cut the comms, turning to EDI immediately, "Fire."

And so she did. The Normandy must have lit up like a Christmas tree as two GARDIANS, two point lasers and two javelin torpedo bays opened and fired, missiles streaking through space towards the Deliverance, red beams cutting through the void and arcs of blue light charged towards their target.

He'd give their pilot credit, she reacted fast enough to totally avoid the torpedoes, but the GARDIAN missiles hit dead on its belly, but were absorbed by the frigate's kinetic barriers. Damn, they must have cyclonic barrier tech as well! They've got us matched for everything! The lasers bounced off their shields too, but unlike them, the Normandy had managed direct hits; where the Deliverance had not.

The ship came to a standstill, a second javelin erupting from its hull to move towards them. It was too close though, giving Joker no time to perform evasive maneveurs.

"All hands, brace for impa-" the torpedo hit before he could say anything, the entire ship almost rocking from the impact. But just like the Deliverance, they had cyclonic barrier tech as well, their kinetic barriers absorbing the blast, but just barely.

The Deliverance was given no time to press its attack however, quickly finding itself under sustained bombardment from one the fleet's vessels as it shields flashed almost constantly, shot after shot pounding it, with GARDIAN missiles, gattling guns and pulse lasers giving their barriers all kinds of hell. Even cyclonic barriers wouldn't hold up against that for long.

Joker silently watched, with widening eyes, as the belly of the frigate opened up, two blast doors sliding away to deploy the maw of the beast; mechanical arms extending until two, twin barrels were in position, their barrels large and daunting. They began to hum with cobalt energy, and Joker could only watch as the Deliverance as it turned slowly to face the Swift Judicator, the ship that had begun shooting at it, and continued charging its thanix cannons, dodging all subsequent attacks.

"Damn it," he raged inside, annoyed that they couldn't even make a dent in the Deliverance. Cerberus built damn good ships, and the Illusive Man knew everything about the Normandy; rebirthing it in the form of the copy cat stealth frigate that matched them in every way. Whatever they had, the Deliverance had.

Except him. And Shepard's squad. And the Normandy's crew.

And they were a special bunch.

Smile crept along his face as he began to think of a plan in his head, eventually turning to the holographic pawn beside him with a broad grin, "EDI, how strong are the Deliverance's shields currently?"

"They are non-existent," EDI replied, Joker listening to the well-timed response as the Swift Judicator was joined by the asari heavy cruisers Hope's Guidance, Train of Thought, Benevolence, Truth's Arch and Long Life. Numerous turian ships joined as well, with four destroyers flanking the Swift Judicator and firing non-stop javelin torpedoes, all of which missed as a combination of a human pilot and advanced AI outmaneveured every attack sent against the ship; whatever hit simply pinged off its heavy Silaris armor, "They only have Silaris Armor to protect them. However, with Eva's processing power solely focused on the ship she is on, she will be able to restore their shields in approximately forty seconds."

He bit his lower lip, deciding to risk it as he hummed the engines, "EDI, prep the upper GARDIAN batteries; every single one along the spine."

A few moments passed, and the AI returned, "GARDIANs along the spine of the ship are deployed," nodding, he began to acellerate towards the Deliverance, keeping it low at first so as to not draw any attention. Just basic thrust; no more than one galactic mile per minute, "Targetting solution required for full preparation."

He grinned, beginning to increase thrust, "The Deliverance's thanix cannons; the general area around it. Enough to put it out of commission and make sure it isn't a threat, but don't fire until I give the signal. I want to get close enough to ensure we get the kill." He knew his options were limited. The thanix cannon was only useful when it was against massive capital ships such as individual Reapers, but against a frigate, the chances of scoring a hit were so low he didn't want to bother. That, and the time needed to charge it would give the Deliverance time to disable theirs or move to a safe distance. So, getting in nice and close and simply crippling the Deliverance was the better alternative.

"Jeff, I must inform you that getting too close to the Deliverance will alert them to our intentions," EDI advised, "EVA will have the same combat software that I do. She will calculate our trajectory, the weapons we have locked on with and then-"

"EVA maybe good, but she doesn't navigate the ship, the pilot does," he smiled, increasing speed to a dozen miles per minute, "And she isn't nearly as good as me."

Full military speed now, and they were quickly closing the distance. Within moments, they were directly underneath the ship, its thanix cannon almost one hundred percent charged.

"Jeff, EVA has locked on weapons," EDI informed him, sounding worried, "They are firing!"

He almost shouted when he leaned forward, shouting until his voice cracked, "Shit. FIRE!"

And it all happened in seconds.

The Deliverance's thanix cannons were totally annihilated as the Normandy's GARDIAN batteries tore them asunder, the area round the blast zones being shredded and evicerated, bits of hull and armor being blown off in a maelstrom of explosions, devastation and ruined hull. The thanix cannon was non-existent, blue glow disappearing and leaving nothing left but the mangled ends of the extended arms, which quickly folded in as they were retracted, and the Deliverance began to move into full reverse.

But the Deliverance had dealt back a more fatal blow. Their own batteries had fired at the same time, slamming into the Normandy's hull with enormous force. Due to their proximity, only their Silaris armor plating was around to protect them, and even that couldn't save them from the sheer momentum of the assault.

Joker was thrown back in his chair, crying out as he felt a rib break as he gripped the seat in pain, straining his knuckle bones to the max, but he didn't care. He heard many officers cry out in the CIC as the vessel shook from the impacts, a loose cable flying from the ceiling as it was yanked loose by the tremors. He heard a gasp and then listened again as it was cut off, the pilot turning to see an unconscious Samantha, blood gathering around her nose where she had broken it on a bulkhead as she knocked her head against it.

Then, as quickly as they had plagued the ship, the quaking stopped. Finally able to take a breath without fear of another explosion rocking the frigate, Joker turned back, ignoring the flaring pain in his ribcage as he watched EDI's holopad light up again, "Damn it...damage report. Give it to me."

"We have lost a GARDIAN battery, and another is severely damaged. One shot narrowly missed one of our javelin torpedo bays, and another destroyed four pulse laser turrets," EDI reported, detailing it like she was reading a list, "All lighting has been lost to Deck 3, with emergency lighting only present in the Medical Bay, Gunnery Control, Life Support and the Port Observation. The elevator is working with minimal damage, and minimal damage has been caused to Deck 1. However, Engineering was the worst hit. I believe they were trying to cripple us for a boarding action."

He widened his eyes, immediately hitting the comm to engineering, "Adams, report!"

Adams response was yelled through a hiss of static, the cacophony of a klaxon and the hiss of something being vented, but it wasn't directed at him, "Daniels, get Donnelly and get the hell out of here! EDI, seal engineering: Emergency Order Override 10-4567-12-Delta Foxtrot!"

EDI's disembodied voice could be heard on the other end, "Override accepted, commencing emergency lockdown. Quarantine will be initiated in twenty seconds."

"Joker!" Adams spoke, clearly talking through a mask due to the distortion in his voice, "Engineering's a damn mess! I've had to shut down the engines; drive core's taken some damage and it might be too dangerous to use it! We've got radiation leaking into engineering and we've got a plasma leak on the maintenance deck! I'm shutting down the area and the engines are down; we're dead in the water!"

"Just get out of there, Adams!" Joker demanded, cursing their luck. Without the engines we can't move; not even the damn thrusters'll work without power from the Tantalus drive core. Damn, that means the stealth drive isn't operable either! Fuck!

"We're out! Engineering is sealed," Adams panted, now with his mask off as his voice returned to normal, "But Donnelly's out cold; explosion knocked him out. We did what we could, Joker. We just barely managed to save the drive core from imploding, let alone overloading."

"Just get Kenneth to sick bay. We'll take care of the rest," he groaned, hand coming to grab at his rib, the pain almost unbearable. He cut the comm, turning to his side, "EDI, contact Michel and Chakwas and tell them Samantha's knocked herself out. They can find her up here with me in the cockpit."

"You should have Chakwas look at your injury, Jeff," the AI seemed to plead, which was definitely odd for EDI, "I detect that you have cracked at least two ribs."

Two is it? Feels like one. He didn't really care however, waving the AI away, "You worry too much. Damn it, what about the Deliverance? You'd think they'd have come to finish us off, the state we're in."

"They have tactically withdrawn back to the Citadel. They entered stealth a full minute and a half ago."

He widened his eyes, looking at her with a flabbergasted expression, "Wait, they just left? They had us! Why would they just leave?"

"You are correct, in that they had us. Had we been alone, they likely would have finished us. But with the Citadel Fleet firing at them and their thanix disabled, they deemed the situation unfavourable, even with an advanced ship such as theirs, and elected to retreat. They will likely not reveal themselves again for awhile."

"Well damn. The abomination of nature lives to fight another day. Still, I don't like the idea of the Deliverance just flying around under stealth. Makes me...nervy," he explained, wincing slightly at the prospect of the ship one day popping up behind them and attacking them. When that happens...well, I'll be taking that ship with me. Nobody hurts my baby and lives to tell about it. This ship and me? We're one. The Normandy's first and only pilot had been Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, and it was going to stay that way, if he had anything to say about it. I'm the only one who can really make her dance.

"The Citadel Defense Fleet is moving in, Jeff," EDI declared, "They are assuming battle formation."

He widened his eyes, opening and closing his mouth in surprise at the sudden change of attitude, "What, now they're willing to attack Cerberus? What the hell took them so long?"

"Coupled with Cerberus being too close to the Citadel and with the Deliverance present, the area was not tactically viable and would inflict too much collateral damage, and a surgical strike would have been impossible," EDI replied, sounding almost sarcastic, but maybe that was just his well-wishing, "Cerberus however has no longer got the upperhand. They have moved from their strategic position and placed themselves in the open, enabling us to face them on an open playing field."

"Well its a pity we can't join them," Joker sighed, taking off his cap and letting it fall into his lap, smoothing a hand over his bald spot that he liked to hide, "Not in this state, anyway. Can't even aim the damn thanix."

"I am detecting activity at the Widow Relay," EDI cut in, peaking his curiosity, causing him to sit up from his slumped position, "Multiple signatures. IFFs ping as Systems Alliance, Hanar Primacy, Volus Protectorate and...four unknown signatures. There are also a few merchant and freelance IFFs; many of them unregistered tankers," she finished. After a few moments, she spoke again, but with a different announcement all together, "We are being hailed by the head of the fleet. IFF registers as the SSV McKinley."

Hackett? He nodded for the comms to be opened and almost immediately, Hackett's gruff voice sounded through the PA, "Shepard, this is Fleet Admiral Hackett. I've brought the reinforcements requested; what is the status of the situation, over? Is the Council secure? How much of the Citadel has fallen?"

He blew out a long breath, speaking up, "The captain isn't here, Admiral; he's on the ground attempting to locate the Council and ensure their safety. I'm the closest thing to senior command, currently. As for the status on the Citadel...well they've got a huge ass fleet hovering over it and the defense fleet's sort of rushing to deal with them, so yeah."

"I see," Hackett replied, shoving no sign of hesitancy in his voice, "Then its a good thing I brought the cavalry. I thought I'd bring in all the heavy artillery we could."

He chuckled, "You're not kidding; that relay's still flashing. What did you bring?"

"For our naval force, I've brought Adina's First Fleet and my Fifth Fleet. Hanar have sent five cruiser task groups, and the volus sent what bombers were left from the Pax System attack. The rachni have also sent what ships they have; its only four, but from what I've heard, they make damn good warships. We've also brought a few dozen freighters and tankers, but they're just for carrying ground forces. As for them, we've got two battalions of mercenaries with a mixture of Grim Skulls, Eclipse and Blood Pack. We've also got four batarian mercenary units, the 3rd, 9th and 21st Frontier Alliance regiments, as well as five hundred rachni soldiers and one hundred and ten brood warriors, along with a few thousand workers. A few hanar marine companies are assisting us and...well, did the captain tell you anything about any STG support he was getting?"

"No, nothing," Joker frowned, "Why?"

"Well I don't know how he did it, but there was a revolution of sorts on Sur'Kesh recently. They're calling it the 'Segregation of the Military and the Government.' Long story short, those loyal to the Union have joined Dalatrass Linron in refusing to help the UGC while a much large contingent have sworn allegiance to our cause; we've got the entire First Infiltration Division helping us, under the command of a Major Kirrahe. Said he owed Shepard a favor."

Joker smiled, remembering the salarian well, "I remember him. Good to see someone's given their government the middle one."

Hackett nodded, "We've also got a Miss Nought and her students. She insisted on coming. I won't tell you what she said exactly, but she certainly hates Cerberus, and that's good enough for me."

He sighed, raising an eyebrow as he did, able to easily recognize who the person was simply by the fact that she hated Cerberus and had students. Jack finally got a proper name? About time. I was sick of calling her by a male name. That shit was getting awkward.

"Well, I wish we could help you, Admiral. We had a run in with a Cerberus stealth frigate and we managed to disable its heavy weapons, but they disabled our engines. We're dead in the nebula, you could say," he groaned, "So we're not going to be much help."

The lights of battle painted the background, the Citadel Fleet having engaged Cerberus, soon to be joined by their reinforcements, "You might as well just leave us here. We could do with a few engineers though; our engineering section is flooded with radiation," before Hackett could respond, Joker quickly added, with only a hint of confusion, "Also, could you tell me just how you managed to get here with such a large force so quickly in the span of an hour? Talk about fantastic response time."

"The Crucible project is...closer than you think," Hackett cryptically responded, clearly not wanting to go into the specifics of that, "And I'll have a few of the salarian engineers we have sent over immediately. Could you explain the nature of the radiation leak?"

The man scoffed, "Catastrophic, from the way Adams worded it. Whole compartment is filled with radiation, and I'm sure he said something about the drive core almost having overloaded. The engineers will have to ask him. He's an engineer; he knows more about it than I do."

"Very well. Stay put, and we'll recover you as soon as we can once this is over," Hackett stated, sounding quite confident. With a fleet this size, we could wipe the floor with that Cerberus force four times. "Hackett out."

The comms went dead, and the cockpit was filled with silence until Michel appeared, crouching down next to Samantha's unconscious form and cleaning her up, resetting her nose while she remained asleep.

"Doctor Michel, Jeff requires medical attention. He has broken two ribs."

Joker was not happy, shooting a glare at the AI pedestal.

A much different voice answered, Chakwas stepping into view with her hands on her hips, "Is that so?"

Joker shot EDI one final glance before surrendering, "Traitor."

The Normandy just sat there, waiting for the battle to be over.