PHOENIX RESURGENT

A Mass Effect Story by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: The author of this story does not, in any way, profit from the story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).

Anderson cleared his throat as the other councilors enter the private conference room. The chamber had the very latest anti-survielance security, up to and including being actually situated inside a vacuum flask accessable via only one airlock, and that guarded around the clock. "Thank you for meeting with me Councilors. I know it is late but something important came up."

Sparatus, snorted. "What can it possibly be this time, Anderson? We are very busy and cannot be whisked off at a moment s notice just for your benefit!

Tevos turned slightly, giving the turian a gentle calming motion with one hand. "Sparatus, please. If what Councilor Anderson has to say is important, then we should let him speak."

The turian councilor grumbled incoherently, but nodded. The asari gave Sparatus a reproachful look, quieting him, and then gestured for Anderson to continue.

Anderson cleared throat again, "As I was getting to We have an emissary from the Geth that wishes to speak with us."

The turian's eyes blazed. "The Geth?! Really? After all we did to drive them out of our system they wish to negotiate?"

The salarian councilor spoke softly, almost to himself, "A Geth emissary? Intriguing "

Tevos gave both of her other colleagues a gently quelling look, then faced Anderson again. "We weren't even aware the Geth had such a thing. Are you sure this is legitimate, Councilor? What if they try to attack us for revenge?"

Anderson's lips quirked ever so slightly. "Trust me Councilors once you see who it is you will want to listen." He turns and motions for someone to step forward out of the shadows at the back of the dimly lit room.

Shepard stepped out of the shadows, a lopsided smirk crossing her features at the dumbfounded look all three alien councilors gave her. Double-takes that good usually do not happen more than once in a lifetime, and here were three of them! Poor Valern seemed to be trying to calculate the exact details of her facial anatomy, Tevos's eyes were narrowed slightly, one finger to her lips, and Sparatus...

The poor turian looked as if the annoying foe he vanquished and buried has turned up at his victory celebration. After a long pause, he was the first to regain the use of his voice, "You expect us to believe this is Commander Shepard?"

Shepard glared at the turian councilor. "My ship was attacked and I got spaced. I crashed on a frozen wasteland of a planet where I spent the better part of a year and a half being -resurrected- and trying to figure out who I was! I was utterly alone, friendless, not even knowing who I was, until a Geth I named Legion found me and helped me recover my memory. So if you want to say I'm not me, then come over here, and say it to my face."

Tevos sighed, "Commander, I apologize for this but you must know that it has been two years. We have no idea what happened to you. So if you could explain it to us, then we can move on to more pressing matters."

Shepard grumbled, glaring at the three councilors, then sighed. "Fine. I was still alive when I impacted, though badly burned and starting to freeze. I landed right smack on top of a here-to-fore undiscovered relic of a civilization that predates the Protheans by several cycles. I'm not sure how many times the Reapers have cleansed the galaxy between them and the protheans, but it's been several. My body was almost totally destroyed, and my mind was shutting down, so the inhabitants of the Spire downloaded my mind while they rebuilt my body from their own substance. Legion tells me it's some sort of electrolytically-balanced crystal based on a few elements he hasn't seen before. The upshot is that I'm harder than steel and faster than anyone else in this room."

The turian scoffed and crossed arms, leering down at Shepard. "And you expect us to believe that? Where is your proof to back this wild testimony?"

Tevos spoke, "Yes that doesn't seem probable..."

The salarian proposed, "Might I suggest a demonstration?"

Shepard's fist slammed into the table with enough force to crack it. She was seething at this flagrant doubt about her veracity. "That demonstration enough for you?!" Her eyes were solid glowing portals into the heart of a star. "When are you going to get it through your thick skulls that I am not lying to you! I have never lied to you, and I'm not about to start now. There's too damn much at stake, here. The Reapers are going to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, unless we do something about it." She took a deep breath, held it, closed her eyes, and let it out as she relaxed her hands, obviously trying to calm herself down.

Sparatus snickered softly. "Oh yes. The 'Reapers'... We haven't found any proof to substantiate that there are more like Sovereign. As far as we know that ship was the only one."

Shepard snapped again. "It's not just a myth, you over-plated tin-can, it's a Spirits-blasted fact! Your worlds will burn. Every last turian. Every last asari. Every last salarian and human will become food for these things, unless someone performs an emergency cranial-rectal extraction and makes you idiots look at the evidence!"

Anderson put a calming hand on Shepard's shoulder, "Shepard, you were the only person to have any contact with it and the beacon on Illos. We would only be acting on your blind faith..." He flinched slightly at the look Shepard through over her shoulder at him, withdrawing his hand at the menace in those glowing eyes.

Shepard took another deep breath, "So, the Vigil VI finally broke down. I assume you pulled enough of the wreckage from Sovereign out of the walls of this tower to make a fair-sized cruiser. Analyze that. That should prove the geth didn't build it."

Valern spoke this time, "The materials and compounds used to make that are nothing we have on record. We can't find anything that suggests it was made by any of the known races, and the geth were unaccounted for 300 years commander. How do we know they could have pulled their resources and crafted such a ship?"

"I've spoken to the Geth, through one of their terminals. They acknowledge that the Reapers' technology is far more advanced than anything they have access to."

Sparatus snorted, "You made your career hunting the geth, now you want us to believe that you re -negotiating- with them?"

Shepard smirked back. "It kind of helps to come to your senses on board a Geth platform and have one talking to you, yes. I didn't have a gun at the time, and I figured listening was a more constructive option than dismemberment."

Anderson chuckled. "Typical Shepard."

Shepard smirked slightly and gave a little bow to Anderson. "I aim to please, Sir."

Tevos was silent a moment, then looked to the other two alien councilors. "I'm sorry. But after hearing everything and reviewing it over, we can't bring ourselves to cooperate with the machines that have threatened to destroy us. And with little proof for us to believe you are who you say you are...one of our operatives will have to remove you."

She motioned with her left hand, activating her omnitool. The door behind her hissed softly as it opened. Shepard was beside herself. "You're arresting me? Of all the flaming stupid things to do! The last time you tried something that asinine, I had to commandeer the Normandy and head to Ilos myself, outrunning the entire Citadel fleet, mind you, and-" She cut off as the door opened and a figure stepped through. A lithe figure almost her height, clad in a flat black bodysuit that was clearly only a shade or two away from Spectre-grade light body armor. Shepard frowned slightly. Something about the figure was familiar.

That sense of familiarity heightened dramatically when the figure, her full helmet completely sealed, took one look at her and hissed. "You!"

There was no warning, no preamble, no dithering with half measure. Next instant, Shepard was struck by a high-powered Warp, the conflicting dark-energy fields trying to tear her substance into its constituent atoms. The pain was excruciating. She had not felt this bad under the field when she was still flesh and blood. The follow-up Throw felt like the impact of a god's fist, hurling her against the far wall hard enough to dent it.

She slumped to her knees and shook her head. The residual pain from the Warp field still tingled and shuddered through her, small arcs of electricity sparking off her fingertips. She raised her head at the charging figure. "So that's the game you want to play, huh? Fine."

Shepard uncoiled like a striking snake, spinning around once, and bringing her clenched fist around in a backhand that smashed right into the figure's belly. She followed up with a fluid motion, bringing her leg up and smashing her knee into that same point. The figure was already staggering back, which made the third strike miss impacting her helmet by a hair. Shepard snarled. Finally, a target on which to vent her frustration.

She slid into the fifth balanced form. Poised on the balls of her feet, fists close to her center of mass, she was prepared to snap in any direction, to block or attack. The figure recovered fast, she had struck with about human strength, but far faster than any human could, and of course, her body was far harder than mere bone. "Feeling lucky, punk? Bring it!"

The figure let loose a wordless cry, hopping forward and spinning into a brutal roundhouse to the temple. Shepard leaned back slightly, then snapped her torso to the same side that the kick was going, giving it a hearty assist. Her opponent spun rapidly, off balance, but recovering fast, only to lash out with a rapid flurry of punches.

Well, rapid for a flesh-and-blood creature. Shepard had grown used to Legion's blindingly fast flurries, and each blow landed not on Shepard's torso, but neatly on an outstretched palm. The black-clad figure howled in frustration, and Shepard was hurled backward from her with bone-crushing force. She slammed into the wall again, and this time pinned there as the figure held out her hands, using a directed, continuous Throw. It was an advanced technique, not as power-hungry as the Singularity, but requiring more concentration to keep the field going.

Shepard was in agony. For the first time since her transformation, she felt real pain. Not the pain of a broken bone, she'd gotten used to that back when she was human. No, this was soul-deep. A draining, ravening force that felt as if it set every nerve on fire, gnawed her bones, and sent ice through her veins. Nothing compared. Shepard let out a low grunting groan as she slowly levered herself off the wall, staggered, and took another step. Her eyes were nearly shut, her concentration total. She couldn't see herself, and wouldn t care if she did. Her eyes were giving off a blue-white radiance, her whole body becoming suffused with the electric light that powered her.

With a howl of defiance, of both the pain and her lot in life, Shepard stretched out a hand. She couldn't see the figure's eyes, nor did she hear the cries of the Councilors. She only felt the pain, and her vision had excluded all else but her target. Her tormentor.

Thunder lived.

The bolt wasn't nearly as powerful as the ones she had fed into the gunship. Even so, it still held enough power to lash through the air, and into her target. Only her target was in motion! She was dipping, weaving, leaping to one side, even as Shepard concentrated on focusing the bolt. Her strike was true, but only barely. Instead of hammering home into the target's chest, it struck her knee as she danced aside. The uncontrolled bolt exited her boot a splintered second later, and the target's scream joined Shepard's in agony.

The pain vanished. Shepard staggered and almost fell, gripping the table edge to steady herself as the target stumbled. Using what leverage she had, Shepard hurled herself over the table at her target, both feet extended to catch her just in the center of the chest as she rose. The target slammed into the wall, and before she could recover, Shepard was beside her, bringing her fist around in a powerful stroke. A similar one had stunned a krogan. This one shattered the helmet's faceplate.

What Shepard saw within brought more ice to her heart than her year and a half on Alchera.

AN: DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I thought it would be better to get out -something- this month instead of leaving you guys hanging for -another- month. v.v I'll try to be more regular about this, I promise! Unfortunately, I seem to be running out of ideas. Any of you got some lying around? ^^; Until next time, PLEASE, read and review!