The Reaper was dead in the water - utterly still in a pocket of blank space. With its legs splayed at odd angles, it looked somewhat like a hand hanging limp and asleep. Even in this state, however, it appeared dangerous, as if it would wake at some unknown provocation to resume its terrible purpose.
"Better to see one with all the lights out," Garrus commented as he squeezed into the already-tight group of people at the helm. The display at the CIC was not good enough for anyone who had seen one of the Machines in true form, or for any who so fervently wished each and every one utterly obliterated from existence.
He caught Kaidan's eye as the Major turned to greet him, and nodded in response to the hand he had set on Garrus' armor. It was enough between old friends.
"You've seen one like this before?" Cortez asked, brows high.
"Yeah," Kaidan answered, contemplative and considering eyes back on the dead colossus, "they boarded it to get the Identify Friend Foe mechanism in order to pass through the Omega 4 relay. It might -"
"And while I'm still sure it was worth it," Garrus interjected, "it's not something I'd like to have to do again. Those things are creepy even when they're dead."
"'Even a dead god can dream.'" Liara's voice was a chilled recitation, and no one cared to ask how she had gotten the direct quote.
Husks crawling from every corner. Eerie recordings of a research crew slowly becoming indoctrinated. Painstakingly going mad. A sick sacrificial altar to the verb of "god." A lone Geth's scratched N7 shoulder guard gleaming brightly in the light of the core.
Tali'Zorah vehemently shook her head and waved off both memory and Reaper. "Yes, let's blow it up before someone tries to get something useful out of it."
Kaidan turned, checking the faces of the people he trusted most, and weighed the possibility of gathering anything useful that could aid them from the ship against the much-needed catharsis and safety that lay in exterminating even a single Reaper.
"Joker, any life signs on that ship?"
"None, and I put in my vote for pulling the trigger."
"EDI?"
"Confirmed. No life signs aboard, and its shields and mass effect core are offline."
"Do it."
The crew watched through windows, on the display, and on every console as cannons fired blasts of continuous light at the lingering shade in the silent vacuum of space. From the impact center, fragments began to appear, splitting off of the body in patches and pieces and chunks, surrounding the shadow in a glinting, glittering shower for the few moments before, with a blinding flash, the reaper hull split and shattered beyond all recognition.
The relief was palpable, and though cheers rang out here and there along the length of the ship, in the cockpit a quiet sense of satisfaction reigned. Fights, scraps, and complaints forgotten for the moment, they smiled.
Even if it wasn't much, for now, it was enough.