Chapter 8: Final Showdown
(A/N: Okay last chapter of ME1. Will write ME2, sorry if I disappoint but seriously please review it. Always welcoming that type of thing. By the way this chapter will fairly short. Sorry but running dry in the think tank recently. Ah well on with fan fiction thingamajig. Enjoy or not whichever works for you)
The trip was almost instantaneous but we arrived too late it seemed to alert anyone of Saren's infiltration of the Citadel or of the fleet amassing on the doorstep of the Citadel. Two Geth were policing up bodies when they saw the Mass Relay statue nearby begin to flash. They moved closer and were soon crushed by the five hundred pound Mako APC. But unfortunately we smashed into a side of the presidium tower. "Damn it. Hey Shepard sorry I crashed your ride," I said. I unclipped my safety belt and fell onto the roof of the Mako.
Damned thing was almost on its side. I moved onto to my side to see Shepard was already getting out. No time for jokes right now, I thought. I reached behind me and grabbed the rifle I had been given and followed behind the rest of the squad. I watched Tali get through the "door" with ease while I had a hell of a time since we'd decided to patch up the wounded on the elevator ride. Mike hopped out behind me and helped me up since I had just fallen on my face.
"Gotta stop falling on your face man. Women like scars but not when you do it to yourself," he said. Mike was always a joker even at the wrong times. I rolled my eyes as the few Husks descended from their spike things.
"Take 'em out," Shepard said. We complied quietly vocal wise but loudly gun wise. I let loose a torrent of fire from my new rifle and took the heads off two husks. Ashley and Garrus took out another two while Mike dispatched one with hand to hand combat. Tali and Shepard dispatched the last one with shotgun bursts and a pistol shot to the face. We noticed an Avina avatar to our left and tried to use it. Damned thing was obviously experiencing massive damage to its circuits and the avatar image was going… wonky. By wonky I mean that it showed up facing different directions or even upside down.
But it was able to tell us that the council had been successfully evaced. Shame, bastards didn't give the Geth a chance to kill them. Ah well maybe the impending fleet would do that. Shepard got what info he could out of the thing and we got into the elevator. As it ascended, Tali helped administer the new medical stuff onto my lower back. Damned thing felt good as new when it was done. Unfortunately Sovereign reached the Presidium tower and Saren shut down the elevators.
"Everyone suit up we're going outside," Shepard said. We donned our helmets and Shepard shot out the glass. We walked out carefully to avoid propelling ourselves into space. As we made progress we began to encounter Geth after Geth soldier. Even Krogan battle masters unfortunately. I kept pace as we moved through the little trenches of the Presidium tower. Our progress was fairly good until we were ambushed by a Geth drop-ship.
"Drop-ship! Incoming! Take cover!" Mike shouted. We took cover just as it hovered over a passage that we needed to go through and began to spill out Geth forces. "Damn! The fucker is covering our exit point! We might need to find another route," mike said.
"Negative. We don't have a lot of time right now. Tali, Tex any ideas?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah just keep the fucking synthetic bastards off us," I said. Tali ripped open a panel for the nearby C-Sec defense tower. I ran to another tower and did the same. In about twenty seconds or so, we hacked the first two and they began pumping out multiple rounds at the drop ship. When Shepard realized what we were doing, he quickly ordered us to hurry up with the hacking. We had about four towers on before the Geth ship pulled out of harms way. "Alright lets go!" I shouted.
"right you are Tex," Shepard said. We ran through the trench system encountering sparse resistance. But that sparse resistance turned out to be Geth Destroyers or even Juggernauts. But we also kept running into Krogan berserkers and battle masters. As we made our way started to get a glimpse of Sovereign.
"Holy shit! I knew that Sovereign was big but didn't think he was that big," I said.
"Just get used to it. If we don't stop this thing then we'll be seeing more of those things about the same size pouring in," Shepard said.
"Right. Well better take care of this one," I said. Took us a little longer to get to the Council meeting chamber but we got there. We hopped through and were welcomed with familiar gravity. Unfortunately for me I fell flat on my face again.
"Damn man what is it with you and falling flat on your face?" Mike asked.
"Don't know. Probably because I was always thrown around in karate," I said.
"You can take off your helmets now. Except you of course Tali," Shepard half joked. We ran up to the ramp where Saren was working on something. He saw us coming and shut down whatever it was he was working on. We ran up and he dropped down to the floor below.
"Damn looks like he bugged out. Shep, looks like high time to use that data thing Vigil gave us," I said.
"Yeah no shit. Lets file that in a memo entitled shit we already know," Mike said.
"Knock it off. Why would Saren just leave knowing we'd be right behind him?" Shepard asked. And with that Saren popped up and started off with throwing a grenade, causing us to retreat to cover.
"I was afraid you wouldn't make in time Shepard," Saren said.
"Why did you think I'd be late?" Shepard said.
"I wanted you to see the Reapers return and give you one last chance to join them as I have. If you don't then you have truly lost, in just a few minutes, Sovereign will gain full control over the Citadel and open the Mass relay here and the Reapers will return!" Saren said.
"Yeah will I still got a couple tricks up my sleeve and they're damn good too. Especially since two of them are itching to avenge their squad that you killed back on Eden Prime!" Shepard said. Mike and I went over to the right but still found us in his sights.
"I had a feeling that a couple of marines survived. Didn't know they had joined your squad though. But no one here will survive. Sovereign has improved my body or upgraded it if you will," Saren said.
"Well that explains why you kill coldly. You're a fucking cyborg!" I shouted.
"Tex, pipe down and get a fucking bead on the fucker if I can't talk him out of this," Shepard shouted," Listen Saren, Sovereign's controlling you and you don't even know it!"
"Lies! Sovereign wants me as and ally! He gave me a chance to live against the Reaper invasion!" Saren shouted back.
"They did the same thing to the indoctrinated Prothean's. but then they just to rot! You think they want to have you their side? You're being used! They don't give a damn about you! All they care about is the death's of trillions! You're a spectre! You swore to uphold the peace and defend Council Space! Now you've got a chance to do that immensely! Help us Saren! Help the council!" Shepard shouted.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe- ugh! No I can't! Sovereign is too strong in my mind! I cant break his control!" Saren shouted.
"Fight him! You can do it Saren! Fight him!" Shepard shouted.
"Goodbye Shepard. And thank you," he merely said. He drew a pistol and put it to his head and pulled the trigger. He killed himself to save the galaxy and give us a chance to stop Sovereign. Shame he had to do that though. Saren fell of his hover vehicle and slammed through the glass beneath him. We ran to the control panel Saren had been using and powered it up.
"Tex upload Monty and I'll upload the file," Shepard said.
"already on it commander. Uploading the annoying A.I. program now," I said.
"I am now in the Citadel master computer. And I do take offense to that annoying A.I. remark," Monty said as his avatar of the British General appeared. "I have full access but it will not last long. We must do something right here and now before we lose control," Monty said.
"Open up the arms maybe the Citadel fleet can take out Sovereign," Ashley said.
"What? After the beating they took in the first few seconds of the invasion? They've got the same amount of chance for success as a snail winning a marathon," I said.
"Attention I am picking up a signal attempting to hail us. Patching it through," Monty said. He allowed the man on the other side to talk to us.
"Normandy to Commander Shepard. Come in Shepard can you hear me?" Joker said.
"I'm here Joker. What's going on?" Shepard asked.
"I'm here at a mass relay with the entire Arcturus fleet ready to jump in and kick some ass. Even got a few extra ships thanks to that Admiral Thompson. Open up a relay and we'll jump in and save the Destiny Ascension and ran hell on those Geth bastards," Joker said.
"Copy that Joker. We'll open them up and you jump in the fight," Shepard said.
"Wait commander. Maybe we should them back until the Arms are open. Make full use of the reinforcements," Ashley said.
"Sir much as I hate the council we can't just abandon them. Send the fleet in. If my dad is commanding the fleet then casualties will be a minimum. He's fought in all kinds of battles. He can coordinate the fleet with ease," I said.
"Whatever you decide Shepard we'll follow it to the letter," said a familiar voice.
"Dad, glad to hear your voice for once," I said.
"Good to hear yours to Tex. You're commander going to make a decision or what?" he asked.
"Yes I have. Admiral I'm opening the arms. Get in and save the Destiny Ascension," Shepard said.
"Wilco. Moving now," the admiral said. Monty silently opened the Mass Relay and allowed the entire Fifth fleet and ships of the first fleet to enter.
Outside the Citadel
The Alliance Navy flooded into the star system and Admiral Thompson's voice filled the speakers on the ships.
"All units, listen up. We need to save the Destiny Ascension at any cost. At any cost," the admiral said.
"Commander, we're detecting multiple contacts entering the system. It's the Alliance!" the Ascension's navigator exclaimed.
"By the Goddess, we're saved," the commander said. The Geth ships hitting the Ascension were soon hit hard by the Alliance ships. But the fight did not come without a cost. During the fight, eight Alliance cruisers were destroyed. The first was the Warsaw. Cape Town and Emden followed soon after. Then the Jakarta and Madrid exploded as well. Finally the last three, Cairo, Seoul and Shenyang, were destroyed as well. But the Destiny Ascension was saved and began to bug out with it's precious cargo. The Citadel arms opened and the massive ship Sovereign was revealed.
"All ships concentrate on Sovereign. Bring that monstrosity down at all costs," said Admiral Thompson. And the fleet quickly began to engage the ship.
Inside the Citadel
Shepard peered over into the pit where Saren's body lay and said," Make sure he's dead."
"On it Chief. Don't like the idea of desecrating bodies of the fallen though," I said. I hooked up a rappel line to a spot where the hook on was and rappelled down. Mike just used my line after I was down on the ground. I drew my forty-five pistol and fired a second shot into Saren's brain. "If he wasn't dead before, he's dead now sir," I said. I walked back to the line and started climbing up when the place shook like a thing possessed. I fell back into the pit with Mike as the ramp Shepard and the rest of the squad were on fell. as this happened, Saren's body just burst into flames. This revealed the extent of the implants he'd been given by Sovereign.
"Uh Tex, please tell me you got something up your sleeve," Shepard said as the new Saren rose.
"Nope. Whatever we got is what we fucking got. Let's kill this fucker now!" I said. We quickly regained ourselves and started firing at the thing. It jumped along the walls like Spider-man. But he had all kinds of weapons to help him. Laser eyes and even rockets. I fired my new rifle until the barrel glowed red hot. I ditched the weapon and drew my M-24 and resumed firing. Unfortunately the son of a bitch was tough to kill. But he wasn't invincible. No way in hell was he going to win against us. Finally though after nearly thirty minutes, the new Saren took a bullet and fell to "Earth". his body burned away for the last time and for some reason Sovereign just gave up.
His shields went down and he couldn't maintain his position on top of the Citadel tower. He toppled over and the Fleet took full advantage. The ship that delivered the fatal blow to the ship was none other than the Normandy. We watched as the fatal blow was delivered. For a few seconds the only sound that was uttered was a cheer from us. But then Shepard watched as a piece of Sovereign came toward us and said to us," Go."
We didn't get far before the piece of junk hit us. It knocked the living out of us even though it never actually hit us just the stuff around us. Anderson and some C-Sec personnel showed up to comb for survivors and found us. Or at least Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Mike and I. We were separated from Shepard once the debris hit. But the bastard proved he was a tough man to kill, he cam running over a piece of debris and stood there, just like a damned poster boy.
"Show off," I said jokingly.
"I ought to be saying that to you Tex. That damned Asari slit your throat and you still come out okay," Shepard shouted back in a calm voice.
"You'll still need to tell your dad how you came out of that one. Tex I've already talked to your father and he says your Shepard's problem now. He's not letting you get a desk job after what just took place," Anderson said. I smiled at this and shook Anderson's hand.
"You people will report back to the Normandy. Shepard has to come with me. Sorry friend but politics," Anderson said.
"Better you than me," I merely said. We walked back to the ship still rubbing our wounds as we made our way to the ship. We eventually learned humanity finally got a seat on the council and Shepard choose Anderson to take the job, soldier turned politician, who knew. But now we were still waiting for the reapers, didn't understand why since we just killed the vanguard. Shepard was adamant they'd return but I was too far in this to disbelieve him now. Might as well just believe him though, never was wrong about anything so far. Now we were just waiting for the reapers to come and get their asses whooped.
End of ME1. Thanks for reading if anyone is reading. Like I said at the top please review. Will post ME2 fanfic later in the future.