A/N: Well this is it the last chapter of Resonance Effect. Book two will be on the way shortly I'm going to edit the first six or so chapters of this first, don't want to scare off potential readers because I used to be a worse writer, minor fixes mostly, But the next book will be on the way. If I'm on your author alerts your good, but if you're just following the story you should check back in two or three weeks.

BTW I made it to fifty reviews!

Anonymous reviewers! I appreciate you taking your time to write a review, and I appreciate every single one, unfortunately I can't respond to them like a regular review, if you really want to talk about RE head over to my DeviantArt page I'd be happy to answer anything there.

Chapter 17: Fade to Black

So, my new appendage stayed under wraps, both literally and figuratively. To hide it from anyone who couldn't be trusted I kept my right arm wrapped in bandages. I told Shepard he could tell Liara about me, all about me, if he wanted to. I think he is going to, from what he's told me she has pretty much guessed there's something up with me. I don't really think Kaidan believes me either, we're friendly enough sure, but I think it's just in his nature to question especially since I'm not Alliance, he never did stop referring to me as a mercenary.

Wrex never confronted me about it, although I think it's simply because he's smart enough not to get involved, not that de doesn't think something's up. He trusts Shepard and Shepard told him not to ask about it, and that's all he needs. Which is nice, not that I have to worry about him anyway, he left for Tuchanka as soon as he could, he did say goodbye though. Sort of. It was more than I expected anyway.

Tali stuck around for the award ceremony. They held it on the Presidium about a week after the battle, you could still see a lot of damage, but things were on their way back to normal. The council, the Alliance, and the Turian Hierarchy all had leaders there to present medals. Everyone got a commendation from the council the highest medal that can be awarded by them outside the Specters. I got a medal from the Alliance as well, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an associate of the Alliance. Garrus got a Turian medal, Shepard, Kaidan, and Ash got Alliance serviceman medals, the Medal of Honor, still called that even if it represents all of Earth and not just the USA. Liara got a medal from the Asari government. Shepard even made sure Tali and Wrex got the Citadel medal, even though Wrex wasn't around to receive it. Oh and Shepard got a gold sticky star of approval from the specters.

Tali left after that, we had a little party on the Normandy, just the squad and crew. She got a few gifts from the squad, turns out Wrex even left something with Shepard for her, a big freaking combat knife with 'this one's got a quad on her' scratched into the side. She got a kick out of that, strapped it to her boot, replacing the old one she had there. We promised to stay in touch, and I told her to tell me if she had something I could help with. I told her about what happened in ME2 with her father as well, but she pointed out that once you kill a Geth the program fries the hard drive and gets beamed back to the Geth collective. Reassembling the parts into a working platform wouldn't do anything, because there is no software, just hardware. That took a huge weight off my shoulders, so we chalked it up to dramatization by the developers. I told her to be careful anyway.

After the Citadel got sorted out Shepard got put back on active duty, hunting down the remnants of the Geth, Liara stayed with him, Garrus wanted to, but he got called back to C-sec. I would have but a higher up in the Alliance wanted to transfer my contract to a different ship, I turned it down so they canceled my contract. Go figure huh? But whatever. I got a job at a weapons shop on the Citadel, I didn't really need the cash, I had plenty from working on the Normandy, but I wanted something to do, and I used the extra money to completely redo my armor. It still had the same basic look as the old, but all the parts were upgraded, the material, the electronics, the shields, and of course it didn't have a right side. The armor for my right arm, which I didn't have to hide anymore I just called it a prosthetic, was just the plates that would normally have been attached to the 'sleeve' simply strapped onto my arm.

Living with Garrus was not really a big deal, we bunked together on the Normandy, which wasn't a big ship anyway, so we were used to living together. He was gone a lot with C-sec, even on the weekends sometimes, so I had a lot of time to 'investigate' my new appendage, modify it a little bit, and tinker around. I built in an Omni tool, it turned an icy blue instead of orange, which was cool, and all of the personalization settings automatically set to my own preferences, I figured this had to be because of my resonance. Only having three fingers was weird for a little while but really didn't much change anything, just made me think humans have extra fingers. Could even still play my guitar, right hand only has to hold the pick after all.

The few months after the battle of the Citadel, were really quite dull, Garrus and I would go out every now and again, Flux usually, not much one for clubs myself but flux wasn't so bad, they serve a mean burger there. We would kind of just hang around and talk, a lot like we did on the Normandy. Sometimes we just hung around the apartment though, play some videogames or whatever. Whenever Shepard got some shore leave, we would meet up with him, Kaidan, and Liara. Those we're some good times. But it couldn't last forever.

I tried to tell Shepard about the beginning of ME2 but, I think he kind of figured what would happen. He kept telling me that he didn't want to know the future, let alone the shakiness that I could predict it with. He made me promise not to tell Garrus or Liara either, so when it happened Garrus got mad at me, Liara took his death hard but didn't blame me or anything. I knew what was coming but… he's still gone, made me feel like I should have told him anyway, Garrus agreed with that. Liara however set us straight, 'Shepard knew that Jon could have told him, he already knew there were two years between the first and second games, he didn't want to know we should respect his decision.'

Liara disappeared before the funeral, I knew she went to get Shepard's body, I told Garrus as much, but Kaidan, and Ash got pretty mad at her. I met Shepard's parents as well, both Alliance, they were nice, Garrus and I talked to them for a while about working with Shepard. Met his sister too, he had mentioned her before, so I was interested to meet her. Amarantha Shepard, contrary to what I expected she was not the default femshep, she was several years younger than John and currently in N7 as an adept. She was about 5'9" or so, around my height, with black hair that she wore in a ponytail. Nice too, she was pretty broke up about John, but maintained herself well.

The night after the funeral was the first time I ever really drank. Garrus and I reserved ourselves, to mourn him together the way soldiers usually mourn for a fallen comrade, by drinking ourselves into a stupor. Of course for me that only took a few beers, he lasted a bit longer. I felt terrible in the morning, not half as bad as Garrus but still bad.

It was only another month and a half before Garrus couldn't take it anymore. He told me he was going to Omega, even asked if I wanted to come, I told him I needed to think about it. He was leaving though, told me to message him if I wanted to join him though, he would keep his current Omni tool around. He left the next morning, left enough credits for six months rent too.

I stuck around for another two months, I thought about Omega every evening, every weekend, any time I was off work. I knew he could use someone he could rely on, knew I wasn't doing anything productive sitting on my ass here. I finally made the decision though. Khalisah al-Jilani did a special about Shepard, questioning nearly all of his actions and outright diminishing him. I was just barely able to keep myself from hunting her down, but I realized that wouldn't help anything, the Citadel wanted Shepard and the threat of the Reapers gone, nothing I could do would stop it. So I decided to take up Garrus's offer, sent him a message. He sent me back a new number and told me to call that when I arrived on Omega.

So I packed up my things and left for Omega.

And that's where I am now. I just stepped off the Shuttle, Omega, a stinking rotting cesspit of the damned. I had decided to wear my armor kept my Phalanx on me and stashed the rest of my guns in my bag. C-sec isn't so tight on outbound shuttles to Omega anyway, and the customs officer knew who I was and didn't think I would cause any trouble. I could have had my stuff get put into regular luggage, but didn't trust that anything I brought would get back to me after arriving on Omega.

So I stood there at the Space port in full armor besides my helmet, Phalanx in my holster, with a backpack, and a duffle bag. I bring up my Omni tool and call Garrus.

"You're here?" I hear that familiar flanging voice.

"Yeah, just got off the Shuttle."

"Meet me at Afterlife, main floor, don't order any drinks."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I'll see you in a bit then."

I end the call and move off towards afterlife, It's just about right in front of the space port so it doesn't take long to get there, the bouncer doesn't give me any trouble getting in, probably figures I have business with one of the merc groups or something. Afterlife, the lair of the Queen of Omega, the place is dirty and reeks of booze and sweat. The music is pounding, and absolutely horrid, techno is fine in my book The Prodigy, Pendulum, they're good, but this isn't even music, rythmless random beats cranked up to max volume. I'm tempted to put my helmet on and block out the sound and smell, but figure that would look a bit strange, and I'm trying to stay inconspicuous. I take a seat at the bar and wave the bartender off when he comes up, a Batarian. Garrus shows up not to long after taking the seat next to me.

"Jon it's good to see you."

"Yeah, good to see you're still in one piece." I reply with a hint of sarcasm.

He chuckles. "Please Jon I can handle myself. It's been hell trying to get some quality weapons without you though."

I give him a wry grin. "Nice to know my talents are appreciated."

"Indeed, I could really use you here Jon, both for your skills as an armorer and as a sniper."

"Well that's why I came, got sick of all the bullshit on the Citadel, trying to sweep Shepard and the Reapers under the rug." I say scowling.

"Just makes you want to kill something eh?"

"Heh, exactly. They don't let me fire my Widow at the range on the Citadel, and I've just been itching for a chance to use her again."

"Well there's plenty of opportunity here, trust me." He gets up from his stool. "Come on then, you should me the rest of the squad."

I nod and get up following him outside to an empty car.

So here begins the next two years of my life, on the dirtiest, shit hole the galaxy has to offer. Better than the Citadel anyway, here you are a criminal, or you're just an unlucky bastard. We're going to give those unlucky bastards something to believe in. God I hope wherever Garrus's base is doesn't smell this bad though.

End of book one

A/N: Well there we are, I'm excited to get to the next step in the Resonance Effect saga, I don't think it will be too long before chapter one of the next book is out, So I'll see you on the other side.

-Jknight out