Note: I apologize for how long this took. I got sidetracked into my Dragon Age story and this one fell by the wayside for a bit. We are closing in on the end of this part but there are still a few more chapters to go. This chapter is titled in homage to the song I've always used for Sidda, Indestructible by Disturbed.

Thank you all to the favorites and follows, thank you to everyone for reading and hanging in there while I go off on a tangent with another story. Thank you to all the reviews, they are much appreciated. AlienSinger: plenty of Victus to come in next several chapters.

Please enjoy Chapter Fifteen: Indestructible

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Fifteen: Indestructible

The Mako careened out of the Relay Monument at a frightening speed, smashing nose first into the deck before flipping end over end in an uncontrolled disastrous landing. The tank rolled to the right sharply after hitting a staircase before finally coming to a halt with a screech. Smoke rose from the busted tank as Sidda finally proved that the beast was not, in fact, indestructible. The first and second axels were snapped and the right front wheel ripped off, thrown into one of the reservoirs. After everything that the tank had been through; the planets it was dropped onto, the firefights, the drop through an asteroid field onto a base that didn't exist, a trip through a mini Mass Relay finally did it in.

Sidda flopped out of the overturned Mako and crawled out of the way so the others could get out too. When the Mako exited the relay Sidda was at the helm, the Mako had been designed to take a major beating but it was never designed to travel through a mass relay. When it hit, the safety precautions to keep everyone in their seats failed and Sidda was shoved into the console hard enough knock the wind out of her. Wrex, Garrus, and Cerrus wound up a tangled heap as no one expected the crash to be that violent. Pain spread across her chest under her breasts every time she took a breath. It was calamity for a time as everyone crawled from the wreckage.

"Everyone alright?" Garrus asked and received a grumbly groan from Cerrus, nothing from Sidda, and a laugh, of all things, from Wrex.

"That's the best ride I've had all year," Wrex chuckled. "Let's do it again."

Sidda tried her best to move and coughed several times making the pain in her chest worse. "We'll need a new Mako for that," she groaned painfully and slowly moved around.

"You alright?" Garrus asked her directly seeing how slow she was moving and swiftly hauled her to her feet. He didn't believe her answer after she cried out in pain when she got to her feet.

"I'm alright…I'm alright," she said her words short, like they were trying to mask pain. She looked around, the wreckage of the Mako aside, it was clear that Saren had attacked the station. The flattened remains of husks and Geth showed the path the Mako traveled. "We gotta go…we gotta find him."

"Citadel control center, I don't know about you but I've never seen it," he said as Cerrus and Wrex checked the area for any stragglers the Mako might have missed.

Sidda had figured it out; it was something that Vigil said about the Keepers. "It's the Tower. The Keepers run the Citadel, the Tower runs the Keepers. When Sovereign sent the signal the Keepers ignored it…that's where we need to go."

Of the four of them the only one that didn't have an apparent injury of some kind was Wrex, Cerrus had received another laceration that was seeping blood down the left side of his head…it wasn't a bad wound but it was most certainly going to add another scar to his collection. Garrus had a bloody nose and was limping a little and Sidda had what she was certain to be more broken ribs. On this mission to capture Saren she'd already broken more ribs than she could remember in her lifetime. However, this time it felt different…worse, she could only imagine what it would have been like without the armor to protect her chest.

Garrus knew the Citadel better than the rest of them did and took point to take them where they needed to go. The Citadel was clearly under attack given the emergency lighting and alarms; but nobody could have prepared for an attack like this. Even Sidda couldn't have told them to expect this; the Relay Monument was just a replica…not a working mass relay…at least that had been the working theory until Saren proved them horribly wrong.

It was easy to pick up Saren's trail, he and his Geth left a trail of dead people behind, and there were some Geth and Husks that had been dropped by C-Sec before they were killed. Garrus passed bodies of people he knew but focused on leading them on Saren's path.

So far the worst enemies to encounter were the Krogan; those bastards regenerated and were as resilient as they came. The Geth were a little easier to handle, Garrus' tech abilities were invaluable at bringing them down, he hit a destroyer with a power and the weapon it was carrying exploded. It was almost laughable once it was all over, watching the mechanical beast give his weapon a perplexed head cock a split second before it blew up in his face made the whole team giggle.

Cerrus and Wrex were a force to be reckoned with, and whatever got past Wrex was taken out by Cerrus. Sidda provided support with biotics and once in a while Garrus switched over to his sniper rifle and took out the rest from a distance. Watching Wrex go head to head with another Krogan was enlightening; Wrex was a biotic, a Vanguard to be more precise, and when he was turned loose with that shotgun he just laid waste to it all.

Sidda collapsed back into the wall and squeezed her eyes shut trying to bite back the pain in her chest. She groaned and grimaced in pain, her helmet hid the pained expression but when she opened her eyes Garrus was in front of her.

"Commander," he began and she pushed him back.

"I'm fine," she growled loudly really wishing Kaidan was on the team. Something was wrong, she could feel it, this wasn't a garden variety broken rib or two.

Garrus ignored her, she wasn't fine and his Omni-tool lit up over her chest. Just a medical program Kaidan downloaded to everyone's Omni-tool. "No you're not," he growled as he read the screen, he wasn't an expert on Human anatomy but he did pay attention to the basic first aid class Kaidan put them through. "Broken ribs, fractured sternum-…" he started and she shoved him off her.

"I'm fine, Garrus, let's go," she snarled and mustered her fortitude to keep going.

With that the group soldiered on, they fought their way through his Krogan and Geth, Sidda was right about the Tower being Saren's destination, the further they pressed the more bad guys they found. When they finally got back inside after the excursion outside to get around the disabled lift helmets could finally come off.

Sidda's breath grew shorter and shorter as the pain in her chest tightened, then came come uncontrolled coughing, she got the helmet off just in time for Garrus to see her spit blood onto the deck. She saw him coming and held up her hand to stop him from aiding her. He ignored it.

"Commander-…" he ignored her and she cut him off.

"Garrus, I'm fine," she said sharply and righted herself…that was a punctured lung. That was just great.

"Sidda-…"

"Garrus, if I have to say it one more time I'm gonna shoot you," she warned sounding irritated with the mothering. "I'll be fine…let's go." Wrex was silent but understood the worry that Garrus had, Sidda was tough but she was the leader and if she died that wouldn't benefit anyone. Cerrus just eyed her but said nothing, she was strong and determined but he also said he'd bring her back alive. He didn't fancy being shot by her or getting into an argument with her so he said nothing.

Moving along now was fairly quiet; they were going in the right direction if the trail of bodies were any indication. They wasted no more time and quickly found the Council chamber, encountering the first resistance they'd had in about 5 minutes. It was Geth, fanned out and protecting the first room of the chamber, Saren was further up and Sidda guessed that they'd be spread out along the whole way. They needed to end this quick and rush Saren.

Bringing her arms around in front of her to properly hold her pistol hurt like hell on both sides but she managed through it. Her aim wasn't as accurate but her Biotics still kicked ass, her dark energy ripped the Geth apart with violent force. Wrex, Garrus, and Cerrus worked like a well-oiled machine and were beyond accurate, they knew what needed to be done and knew that the quickest way to kill Geth was with headshots so that is where every round landed. They tore through the resistance leaving bits and pieces of machine in their wake until all that remained was her prize, her quarry, Saren. He was in here somewhere.

Something wasn't right about the stillness in the chamber after the last Geth fell. The command console, or what she assumed was the command console, was vacant…something was off. "Careful," she heard Cerrus warn and had every intention of heeding it.

The whirring noise that came next was familiar, Sidda had heard it before and Saren popped up from beyond the council platform, though she wasn't sure exactly where he came from that would have hidden him and his menacing hovercraft.

The team scattered from Saren's grenade, Wrex and Garrus to one side and Cerrus yanked Sidda into cover with him. He'd kept an eye on her since the wreck, she had determination to admire but she was clearly injured, even for a Turian coughing up blood was bad.

"Jesus Christ, again with that thing?" she growled referring to the hovercraft. "How many times do I have to blow it up?" She didn't have something to blow it up this time so getting him off it or bringing it down was going to require some ingenuity.

"Commander, you continue to impress," Saren began from his position atop of the hovercraft. Sidda noticed that something was a little different about him now; he could use the Geth arm now…whatever damage that occurred to cause him to not use it on Virmire must have been corrected. "I was almost afraid you wouldn't make it in time."

Sidda grimaced. "If you wanted me here sooner you could have just sent me an invite and kept the welcome wagon."

She heard the Turian give her a single laugh. "Perhaps Nihlus was right about you after all," he replied and she took a several shallow breaths as her damaged ribs and current position wouldn't allow her to take a deep one.

"Cut the shit, Saren, you've led me on a merry chase across the galaxy, what are you hoping to accomplish now?" she asked as she surveyed the surroundings, it was a really crappy area to fight in, there was cover but no real tactical advantage especially not with him on the damned hovercraft.

"You've lost, you know that, I commend your efforts…you made it further than I thought possible but now it's time for the final confrontation. In a few minutes Sovereign will have full control of the Citadel systems, the relay will open, and the Reapers will return." Saren explained. This was as close to a standoff as they could get. He couldn't get a line of sight on any of them and he had the advantage of mobility.

"I'm not gonna let you just hand the galaxy over to the Reapers, Saren, you know that," she stated and Saren gave her an acknowledging nod. He was conflicted, even now; Virmire had planted the seed of doubt.

"Our encounter on Virmire was enlightening, you survived but that won't happen twice. Sovereign has upgraded me."

"Upgraded?" Cerrus pondered out loud to her in a quiet voice.

"I don't like the sound of that," she muttered to him and returned her attention to Saren. "What did you do?"

"Sovereign has removed all doubt." Saren answered and Sidda closed her eyes mourning the loss of the tiny hope she had to flip him. "I suppose I should thank you Shepard, after Virmire I couldn't stop thinking about what you said, about Sovereign manipulating me, about indoctrination...the doubts began to eat away at me. Sovereign sensed my hesitation; I was implanted to strengthen my resolve. Now my doubts are gone, I believe in Sovereign completely. I understand that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will find a place for you."

Anger burned up and down Sidda's spine and she gained a blue aura momentarily telling Cerrus that she was pissed. She knew she saw the real Saren on Virmire, she had a chance to turn him but now that bloody machine got to him before she could again. "As a slave? Fuck you!" she barked as her anger got the better of her. "You scared Sovereign when you began to think for yourself, to see right through his motives and you let him implant you, don't you see he's controlling you now?"

Saren blinked at that, something wasn't right…this was all wrong. "The relationship is symbiotic. A true union of machine and organic, I am the next step in our evolution, Commander, join us."

"He's using you! We can beat this. You can beat him, I know you can. I saw it in your eyes on Virmire. I know you're still in there. Help me!" She argued trying her best to appeal to Saren. Not the implants, Saren, the Turian she saw in his eyes on Virmire. "I can stop this! I can stop him from taking over the Citadel, move aside and the invasion will never happen."

There was an internal conflict going on, Sidda was correct, Saren was still in there. He may have been a hard to take, a racist, with a serious bug up his ass, but he was the best Spectre in the galaxy. Turning him into Sovereign's top Lieutenant wasn't easy for the Reaper; Saren had a mind of his own, and was very intelligent. No matter the amount of the Reaper tech that Sovereign put in him Sidda was right, Saren was still there, the Turian was still in there. "We can never stop this," he said after a moment sounding frustrated and Sidda actually allowed a slight smile. "Not forever, the Reapers are too strong. The Protheans were the pinnacle of existence and the Reapers wiped them out."

"You know this is wrong, Saren, fight him!" she shouted. "I know you have your flaws but we all do, Nihlus spoke highly of you, he trusted you, I remember you came to get him after he was captured by the Batarians. You know that Sovereign is dangerous, that the Reapers will annihilate the galaxy, fight him! Help me!"

There was a pause as she heard Saren begin to tell her that she was right and then he growled in pain dropping to one knee. "I'm…the implants…Sovereign is too strong…I can't…it's too late for me."

Sidda got to her feet stood face to face with him much to the utter dismay of her team. Cerrus tried to pull her back down but she waved him off. "It's not too late. Fight him! Fight him and help me. Move aside!"

Saren remembered all he'd done in his service to his master. All the people he'd killed, Humans, Asari, Quarians, Salarian…Nihlus. Nihlus was his student but he'd come to think of him as a brother, he fought with him, protected him, counted on him…and he killed him. He'd killed the only person he trusted enough to call a brother, the despicable act haunted him and he remembered it all. The trust Nihlus had in him when unworriedly turned his back to him, the blue mist that sprayed when the bullet blew through his head. The memory slapped him in the face and it horrified him with disgust and shame. "What have I done?" he said quietly as he reconciled all the reasons that she was right and he was wrong. He locked eyes with her and for the only moment in his life he respected a human. Shepard had showed him the meaning of true resolve and dedication and he was glad she had. "I'm sorry," he told her and put his pistol under his right mandible. "Thank you, Shepard."

The shot rang out and Saren fell from the hovercraft, he took his own life after being pulled back from the dark side. Sidda wasn't sure how she felt about it; of course she was thrilled that he was finally dead but it was a bittersweet sense of victory, he died remembering who he was, seeing the indoctrination and he went out on his own terms. It didn't feel like a victory.

"Son of a bitch…" she commented and took a moment to let it all sink in. They were quiet as she pulled the OSD from its hidey hole in her greaves and inserted it just as Vigil had instructed. She tapped a few keys letting the Citadel do the rest and opened a channel with her Alliance code.

"Shepard? Shepard, do you read?" a familiar voice crackled through the comm. Sidda nodded to herself with a slight smile. "Come on, Commander, talk to me."

"I read you, Joker, status?" she asked as the controls beeped a few times.

"Yeah, we're here on the other side of the Relay with the entire Arcturus fleet, open the Relay and we'll join the fray." He reported and she gave the console a puzzled expression. Vigil had said the OSD would return control to her and unlock the Mass Relay.

"This is the Destiny Ascension we, need immediate support…we have the Council onboard." Another voice cut in, probably the commanding officer of the council's flagship.

"Commander, did you get that?" Joker asked and she nodded even though he couldn't see it. "How do you want us to play it?"

Sidda gave it a quick thought, there were pros and cons to the decision and they all crashed through her mind. "Unlocking the relay now, Joker, save the Destiny Ascension. I repeat, save the Destiny Ascension." She ordered and Cerrus stepped toward her with an expression like he was just about to disagree with her.

"Commander, no, save your fleet," he blurted and she looked over at him briefly. "You're going to need all the firepower you have to take out Sovereign."

Count on Cerrus to take the opposite side of whatever she said. "They'll still have enough to hit Sovereign after they clear the Destiny Ascension," she replied and Cerrus shook his head.

"Commander, you don't know that, save your fleet," he argued and the other two weighed in.

"I agree," Wrex commented and Garrus glared at him as did Sidda.

"There are ten thousand people on that ship, Cerrus, are you saying just let them die?" Garrus snarled and Cerrus embraced the idea that he was at odds with everyone.

Cerrus knew the basic specifications of Asari ships, they built them tough. "The Destiny Ascension can hold, you have no idea what it's going to take to destroy a Reaper," he said and Garrus scoffed loudly.

"You really are an asshole," Garrus commented and Cerrus' jaw clenched as he glowered at Garrus.

"Say you save the Ascension and you lose a lot of ships doing it and can't put down Sovereign, then what?" he had a point but Sidda's decision was made.

"The decision has been made, Cerrus, can it," she snapped but she figured that he wasn't going to just let that go. Cerrus was a good officer, a hell of a soldier, and usually right despite his tact. He argued with her more often than not and she knew he was going to argue about this and cut him off at the pass. "Go and make sure he's dead," she ordered now standing face to face with him. Sidda was pointing to where Saren fell through the glass. Her tone was enough to make him stop fighting; he didn't agree and grudgingly did as asked.

The Citadel fleet was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer force of the Geth; it was too late now to admit that Sidda was right, it was all a fight for survival. The Defense fleet wasn't just going to step aside and stood their ground however futile.

Victus stood on the CIC as the Lante exited the Relay at the head of the line with the Normandy and Hackett's ship Orlando. The order went out from Hackett to save the Destiny Ascension andVictus agreed, they had to do it quickly though since the target was the Reaper. If the Alliance fleet got bogged down trying to help the behemoth Asari ship they wouldn't have enough left in both time and firepower to deal with Sovereign.

"Normandy, go after Sovereign, the rest of us can handle this," Victus ordered and came to realization after he gave the order that this wasn't his show, he shrugged it off and dealt with it. "Tactical?"

That was Maridus; he tapped the screen before him and studied it quickly as the computer laid out what he needed to see. "Destiny Ascension's barriers are nearly depleted, major hull damage to the ventral." He reported.

"Zara, take us in," he ordered. "Weapons, target the nearest Geth ship attacking the Ascension and fire."

The fleet opened fire all at once but it was ugly. The ship shook under Victus' feet and he gripped the console next to him. Maridus' console complained more and more and he interpreted the results. "The Cape Town's been destroyed."

"Maintain course," Victus ordered and looked at the tactical screen. "Bring up the GUARDIAN; target the cruiser, fire when you get a lock."

The majority of the fleet hit the Destiny Ascension with overwhelming force but the Geth saw them coming, it deteriorated into a giant mess as the Alliance charged in drawing the Geth. The pitched battle was a fireball as the Geth destroyed two Alliance cruisers during the initial run. It took a few nail biting moments to clear the Destiny Ascension but the brute force of the Alliance accomplished just that.

"Destiny Ascension, you are clear," Maridus informed them over the comm. "Retreat, I repeat, retreat and protect the Council."

With the arrival of the Alliance, Sovereign bypassed everything to get to the Citadel and the Normandy was in hot pursuit. Letting the little frigate go was the best option and the rest of the fleet would have joined had they not gotten bogged down by all the Geth that was swarming around like fireflies.

The Lante shook to the right and to the left as the dorsal was hit twice in rapid succession. Alarms sounded through the Turian frigate as the ship complained about all impacts it was taking. The ship was being swarmed. Victus growled loudly as the hits just kept on coming, his ship was tough but repeated hits were going to become a problem if they didn't make them stop. "Zara, get us out of the middle," he barked.

"The whole thing's a 'middle'," she snapped back at him and Victus growled to the pilot.

"Get us out of here!" he barked louder uninterested in her opinion. He heard his pilot growl out frustration and Victus felt the subtle movement beneath his feet. It may have been subtle under his feet but he knew that Zara was probably maneuvering the frigate in some highly evasive movements. The Lante fired its mass accelerator as the Orlando dealt with the swarm that was pestering the Turian ally. "Pursuit course for Sovereign, go!" he ordered and Zara immediately changed the frigate's direction.

Maridus assessed the tactical screen as the Lante screamed toward the Citadel. "The Normandy is being pestered," Maridus announced, "two ships…dead ahead."

It had been a while since Victus had been in a battle like this; he was lauded for his unpredictability and his unconventional tactics. "Tactical, target both ships, one with the GUARDIAN at full and one with the Mass Accelerator," Victus ordered and of course Maridus voiced the warning he already knew.

"We'll suffer a severe power drain," his first officer said and he nodded in a silent acknowledgement. This order was carried out and the Turian frigate fired both its main weapons at once. The drain on its power was felt immediately, the power grid flickered as GUARDIAN sucked it away. The Mass Accelerator hit its intended target but did not destroy it, the GUARDIAN, however, hit its target dead on and blew it into a cloud of vapor.

The Citadel arms were closing fast, they couldn't dally any longer. "Normandy, get to Sovereign, we'll entertain the enemy, go now."

"Understood, Lante." They heard Kaidan's gravelly voice reply. The Normandy disappeared into the Citadel's arms as it barely made it before the station closed to a bullet shape. Now it was practically impenetrable to the outside forces. Zara's piloting skills were put to the test as she didn't wait for orders to position the frigate for a kill. The remaining Geth ship that'd hit by the Mass accelerator was rendered into debris quickly by the weapons team.

"General," Maridus started as his screen lit up with more targets, "engineering reports power grid is down to 52%. The full blast from the GUARDIAN took a lot out of it."

"She'll hold," Victus replied. "Tell Vellereck to shunt as needed."

"The Warsaw's in trouble." Communications reported. "Barriers are down…weapons are offline."

"Take us to them," he nodded, the fight outside had become a bit more manageable.

The Alliance cruiser was in the middle of a three on one fight and losing the battle. A hit from a Geth ship punched a hole vertically on the port side, she was drifting, and listing as the Geth continued to pummel the mighty cruiser. They didn't have much time and Maridus' tactical screen blared that as it analyzed the situation. Victus hovered over his shoulder quickly deciding the next course of action.

"Weapons, targeting solutions, fire when you get a lock," he ordered.

As soon as the Lante's targeting system locked the frigate opened fire. She may have been an older Turian ship but she still packed a hefty punch. That wasn't to say the fight was easy, the Geth turned to fight them and landed more than a few direct hits but the Lante's barriers held despite the complaining alarm for their power grid. Firing the GUARDIAN at full blast, while at high speed, with the barriers at full, and using the Mass Accelerator was a bit much and must have damaged it since its recharge was supposed to be done by now instead of moving at a snail's pace.

There was smoke in the air in the CIC when a conduit blew out, starting a small fire. It was quickly put out but it added a haze to the tactical lighting. "Warsaw, you are clear," Victus said there was a pause before the response came through.

"Thanks for the help, Lante, I owe you a drink." The cruisers' female commander replied back and Victus allowed a soft snort.

"My pleasure, Captain…Turian Brandy," he said back and had his ship break off to finishing mopping up the Geth.

They didn't get far, maybe a minute later the Lante took a hard hit that made the warship buck violently. People still standing were thrown off their feet including Maridus who tumbled into the weapons station. That wasn't a normal hit; something actually punched through their barriers and hit the hull. "Report," Victus said but Maridus was already ahead of him scrambling back to his multi-purpose station for a report from the ship, they were no longer moving under power and they could both feel it under their feet.

There was pause as he took in what the screen was telling him. "Core's offline, weapons and barriers are down."

Victus let a curse escape as he punched up his engineer on the comms. "Vellereck," he barked but his chief engineer cut him off.

Vellereck was expecting the General any second and as soon as he heard the General's voice he didn't wait on ceremony. "We took a hit directly above the core, caused a power surge. I'm bringing her back online now, two minutes." He reported and Victus swore again.

Two minutes may have sounded like a short time but they were on the combat clock now. Two minutes was an eternity. "We're not gonna be here in two minutes," he hissed. "Tactical?"

Again, Maridus, as first officer he had multiple functions but Tactical was his main. "Two Geth ships inbound on attack trajectory." There was pause before he spoke again accompanied with a warning alarm. "They're firing weapons. General, without the barriers, if they hit we're finished."

That really didn't need to be said, Victus knew that. "Well aware of that," he replied flatly and keyed the comm again. "Vellereck, barriers in the next 30 seconds or we're all dead."

There was no response and his ship was still half dead in the water. This wasn't how he saw going out, his ship with no power, and no teeth. There was a rough shake but it wasn't nearly as hard as he expected, it didn't feel like an impact and he gave Maridus a curious look, his first officer was gazing at his screen blinking a few times. Something was wrong and he could see it on his face. "That was the Warsaw…" he began quietly, "she took the hit for us."

Victus blinked, they'd just save that ship, her barriers were down and weapons were offline but they still managed to save the ship that saved them. "Status?"

His first officer returned to business as the frigate hummed back to life and console complained. "She took both hits…they're gone." It was a sacrifice that wouldn't go unnoticed it was just that now was not the time.

"Back online, Adrien," Zara said in the comm and Victus looked to his XO.

"Bring us about, charge all weapons," he ordered and gave his XO a very pointed look. "Find the two that took out the Warsaw." Maridus nodded sharply and fed his tactical data into the comm and navigation system.

"Grid's at 40%...Vellereck reports he can't get it to hold a charge," Maridus informed and Victus didn't care.

"Divert all power but life support and barrier to the weapons and ram it down their throat." Maridus nodded at the order and passed it on, he found the ships that'd sunk the Warsaw and weapons got a firing solutions on them as they screamed toward them as fast as they could, charging their weapons as they did so. When they were in range she opened fire, both Geth ships took several direct hits in rapid succession and never stood a chance.

As the battle wore on, it was evident that the Geth were on the losing side of it, but they still knew nothing about what was going on inside the sealed tin can until the arms started to open revealing a perched Sovereign being harassed by the Normandy. As soon as ships could get a lock, the ones that weren't actively engaged in another fight, opened fire until the Reaper blew apart sending massive chunks of debris hurtling into the Ward arms. Most people who witnessed the destruction of the menacing vessel looked on in shock, no one had ever seen or heard of anything like Sovereign but here it was…a sentient ship, and now it had been destroyed by the Alliance.