Chapter 55

Shepard and Tali had just eliminated the last of the geth resistance and were running towards the petitioner's platform - where Shepard had stood as he was first made a Spectre - when Garrus's hushed voice came over the radio.

"Commander, I have a visual on Saren. It looks like he's interacting with the main Citadel systems, but I can't see what he's doing. His shields don't appear to be active, and he's not paying any attention to his surroundings. I have a firing solution."

Something about Garrus's phrasing triggered Shepard's internal bullshit detector, and he acted on his instincts and requested a small clarification from the turian. "Is it optimal?"

Silence on the radio was the only answer, telling the commander all he needed to know.

"Garrus!" Spike demanded. "Do you have a clear shot or not?"

"Not . . . exactly." Garrus finally responded. "But I'm confident that I can send the round home, and thread it in between the holographic displays."

"Negative, Garrus." Shepard said as quickly as he could. "I say again, do not take the shot. I know you're good, but that's not the opening to try to take advantage of. We only get one chance at this plan working, and we need to wait for a high-percentage shot. You are weapons cold until I give the word. We're almost there, so just hang on. Confirm that you understand my order."

A brief moment of hesitation was the only indication that the turian was unhappy with the Spectre's decision, before his innate turianness overrode his recent re-education in thinking for himself that he'd received while under Spike's command. "Confirmed, Shepard."

"Thanks for the heads up though, buddy. From here on out, maintain radio silence until you have a sight window with a chance of success of at least 90%. Let me know with two clicks on the radio. Three will tell me you can't miss. You'll go weapons-free on my mark."

A single click of the radio was the only response from the embedded marksman, causing Shepard to smile at his teammate's professionalism. No matter who wins or loses our little kill contest, I'm gonna buy that motherfucker a round at the bar. Two, if he actually manages to kill the bastard.

Before Spike could make any further plans for after the battle or one-person wagers, he and Tali ran up the final set of stairs to the Council's hearing area. From the top of the stairway, they saw their prey for the first time since the Mako's initial drop onto Ilos; what felt like a lifetime ago. At the far end of the platform, Saren heard the noise made by his pursuers and turned towards them. With a smug grin, the enemy turian threw a grenade at the commander, before stepping off the ledge and plummeting downwards. Tali and Shepard dove in opposite directions and each managed to get far enough away from the explosive to avoid losing more than 50% of their shields. While waiting for his kinetic barrier to recharge, Spike risked a look over the top of the concrete planter that he was using for cover.

Saren Arterius was riding his hover-platform in midair, aiming a pistol at Shepard's head and wearing a malicious grin. Since Saren was obviously not interested in putting an immediate end to this conflict, the commander risked a closer look. What he saw was horrifying.

Most of the turian Spectre's left side was no longer organic, including the eye that Shepard had put out on Virmire. What happened to cause the rest of the damage? Shepard thought to himself, as his eyes continued to traverse his enemy's body. The repairs appeared to consist of hardened pieces of husk body parts, connected between each other and to the turian's body with the same elastic tubing that was used in geth platforms. His - Or is it 'its' now? Shepard thought - replacement left eye was such a dark blue as to nearly be considered black, and the iris was actually lighter than the rest of the orb. As Spike stared at it in revulsion, the eye whizzed across the ocular opening at speeds no real organ could achieve. What the fuck did Saren let the geth do to him? And who was his doctor, the geth version of Dr. Frankenstein?

Having given his opponent sufficient time to cower in fear, the hybrid monstrosity finally spoke. "Commander Shepard. I'm so glad to see you here - I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time."

"What the fuck do you mean, 'make it in time?'" The commander asked, having pulled his head back into cover immediately upon Saren's first sound. "Make it in time for what?"

"The final confrontation, of course. I think we both knew it had to end this way. One Spectre against the other. The galaxy's false savior against the true protector of civilization. A mere human, against the preeminence of evolution."

This is just fucking great. Apparently whatever quack they had cutting him up on the outside decided to do a little renovating to the inside, too. I can smell the fucking crazy on him from here.

Saren continued monologuing, uncaring of the derogatory thoughts aimed at him from the human Spectre. "You know you've lost, don't you? Even now, Sovereign is solidifying his hold upon the Citadel. In minutes, he'll have complete control of the station. And then he'll activate the mass relay, and the Reapers will arrive. I will be as a god unto the people of the universe, sparing those who are faithful to me. You could have been one of them, Shepard." The bionic turian shook his head at Spike's folly. "You could have served me, protected me; and through me, the Reapers. Now, you will be culled from the herd with the rest of the unfit -"

Whatever the insane half-turian, half-synthetic former Spectre was about to say was lost to the commander as his ears were pleasured by the sweetest noise in the history of the galaxy. Three clicks of the radio seemed to echo within Shepard's helmet, as an impulsive desire to watch this mad bastard die took control of the human's body.

Spike stood up and spun to face his antagonist in a single, fluid movement. The ex-Council agent was so surprised by the action, that he stopped in mid-word. Acknowledging the fact that, even insane, the turian was still a threat, Shepard did not bother with an explanation of his enemy's demise. Instead, he sealed Saren's fate with two words. "It's time." He then started jogging towards the end of the platform.

Even as Saren went to raise his pistol, which had ceased pointing at the human Spectre at some point while he was waxing poetic, Garrus's talon was tightening on Inara's trigger. Less than an eyeblink later, the tension broke and a small pellet of metal was sent speeding towards Saren's skull. True to Shepard's prediction, the hoverpad had augmented the quasi-organic's personal shields and was able to diffuse much of the explosive power of the modified round. The HMW SR X, however, would not be denied. The bullet carried more than enough kinetic energy to blast through the barrier and remove most of the synthetic half of Saren's face, leaving only the jawbone and left mandible still attached.

Some dark blue blood, bone fragments, and metal shrapnel was propelled outwards and fell across Shepard's torso, painting a grisly scene onto his metal chestplate. He was undeterred, however, and quickly reached the access point that had been used by Saren mere moments before. Looks like I owe Garrus two rounds at the bar when this is all over, he thought while beginning to interface with the technology. Within seconds, he had his omni-tool active and tracing the terminal's recent history, attempting to follow and, if possible, undo Saren's previous activity. Several seconds later Shepard's investigations revealed that Saren had been making sure that all means of communication, both within the station and from the station to the ships on the outside of the Citadel, had been cut off. Spike was joined by Tali, and together they were able to undo the major blocks put in place by the now-dead Spectre and obtain an outgoing signal.

Tali began taking control of the Citadel back from Sovereign, using the data and software provided by Vigil on Ilos. While she was doing that, Shepard began cycling through the emergency comms channels, in order to get an idea of what the situation was outside of the Citadel's shell. At nearly the same time as they both completed their tasks, Garrus joined them, bringing the team back up to full strength.

"What's the situation, Commander?" The turian asked.

"It's not looking good. The Council made it aboard the Destiny Ascension, but what with it being the flagship and all, the geth have been hammering it like there's no tomorrow -" which there may not be, if Sovereign has his way. "Apparently its kinetic barriers are at 40% and falling, and its drive core is offline."

"That's terrible!" Tali cried.

"I agree." Garrus said. "If we don't act, the Council could be destroyed. Can you open the Citadel's arms? Perhaps the fleet can attack Sovereign directly and force the geth to protect their leader."

"It's worth a try." Shepard nodded to Tali, who immediately began the process. "In the meantime, I'll try to contact Joker. Hopefully he was able to find the Fifth Fleet, because we could really use their fucking help." He input several commands into his omni-tool. "Citadel to Normandy. Do you read me, Joker?"

The normally-sarcastic pilot's answer was anything but, and sent a wave of relief through the ground team. "This is the Normandy. Is that you, Commander?"

"No. It's Saren and I was wondering if I could borrow a cup of sugar. Of course it's me!" The Spectre responded irritably. "Sitrep, now."

"The Normandy's sitting at the head of the entire Arcturus Fleet, Commander, waiting just outside the Andura Sector relay. If you unlock the mass relays surrounding the Citadel, we can hit Sovereign so hard his ancestors will feel it."

Against his better judgment, the commander couldn't help but snort at the pilot's colorful description. "I suppose you could at that, Joker."

"Or the Fleet could save the Destiny Ascension." Garrus chimed in.

"Shit. That's not a bad plan either." Shepard said as he began unlocking the Widow system's numerous relays.

"What's it gonna be, Commander?" Joker asked, having heard the turian's comment and seeing the first signs of life from the mass relay in front of him. "When we come through, do we go after Sovereign or the Council?"

Shepard took precious seconds to run through his options, knowing that the time was well-used because a wrong choice here could be disastrous. Shit. Well if this isn't the proverbial rock and a hard place, then I don't know what the fuck it would be. Sovereign is the real threat - he's a giant, fucking nigh-impregnable dreadnought with enough firepower to vaporize a small moon, or glass half a planet on a whim. So the right choice should be to tell the Fleet to take down the Reaper, regardless of the cost to us or our alien allies. But saving the Council may also be the right choice, too. Even if we destroy Sovereign, there's no way the Reapers are gonna sit back, shake our hands, and say "Good game. We'll leave you in peace now." No, they've gotta have a plan C, and probably plans D, E, and F after that. They won't stop until either they win, or we kill every last one of the sons of bitches. And having a Council that not only owes me a massive favor (for pulling their asses outta the fire, despite the shit I had to put up with because of them) but also has no choice but to respect humanity for literally saving the galaxy, could come in real handy down the road. No matter which choice I make, it has to be the right one for the long term. An immediate victory means jack shit if it dooms us to lose the war to follow. Fuck!

"Alright, Joker. The relays should be open now. Come on through, and bring your friends with you; you've got a party to crash. Strike hard, strike fast, and bring the rain. I want you to . . ."