I didn't forget about you guys, I swear! I've been so busy lately, I just haven't had the time. But I swear, I will finish this story!

From here on out, everything was written before ME3 was released. Just trying to get a good level of polish to make it acceptable to publishing, but all of the story and concepts were there. The rest of this has been falling into place easy enough, so you should be seeing the end of this in the next few updates. A three month old baby certainly puts a crimp in the plans of a writer, though, so take that with a grain of salt.

Bioware owns the characters, places, things, etc. I merely place them in different positions when they're not looking. :-)

It was three days later. Shepard had called the entire strike team into the briefing room to let them know everything that he and Ash knew about the reapers. Miranda and Kelly were also both there, and Shepard would be briefing the rest of the crew later, but he wanted to talk to the team first.

It had taken a while for him and Ash to completely sort through all of the information that the meld Shiala and Liara had performed on them had yielded, but finally, they had understood it all. Where to begin in telling the team, though, was proving difficult.

"I know this is going to be difficult to understand, but… the reapers aren't mindless killing machines. In fact, they're not killing machines at all."

Jack snorted. "Yeah, well, tell them that."

"Eons ago, they were created by a race, or a person, that they refer to as The One. There's no other information about The One other than it created the reapers, and tasked them with safeguarding the galaxy."

"We don't know what happened to The One, but we believe they, or it, either died or left the galaxy." Ash picked up where Shepard had left off. "The reapers were ordered to protect the younger races, and help them develop. So they setup the mass relay network, and built the Citadel. By leaving the technology out there for the younger races to discover, they planned to make contact with space faring races once they reached a certain level of development."

"What we believe happened is that they saw the more advanced races start to spread, and couldn't control it. Instead of letting the younger races that were still developing possibly get crushed, they decided to… 'prune the tree,' if you will."

"They started what they refer to as 'The Cycle.' They believe that this is the only way to keep the population of the galaxy manageable, so that there aren't too many advanced races taking up all the space and suppressing the younger races."

Shepard motioned to the ship surrounding them. "All of our technology, kinetic shields, artificial gravity, the mass relays, FTL communications… they created, then left so the younger races would find it and grow according to a predetermined path, which inevitably leads to a reaper invasion, and then extinction of every race advanced enough to be using the technology."

They were all silent for a moment as they processed this information. Finally, Jacob spoke up.

"So, they leave their technology behind, let us grow by using this technology, then kill us all because we've used their technology to threaten the younger races? I don't buy it."

Kelly countered him. "It makes sense, if you think about it. They're trying to protect the galaxy. What better way of doing it than removing the races that would threaten the younger ones? If they wiped out all life, there's no way to say that life would ever start again. It's like pulling weeds from a garden, you put down fertilizer for all the plants, but when the weeds start to threaten the tulips, you pull them out."

Jacob grunted. "I always hated gardening."

Ash interrupted. "Regardless as to if we all buy it or not, it's true. And there's something more." She looked to Shepard. "We know that we're not the first to fight back. The protheans fought back, and had the most success of any previous race, but they only delayed the reapers. It took decades, but eventually the reapers wiped them out."

"We can't fight them and win people." Shepard's words cut through all of them. He hated saying it, but it was a truth that they all needed to know, and had to understand. "We can fight them and take a lot of them with us, but eventually… they'll win."

Shepard refused to let them give up though. "We still have a chance, though. And I'm going to take it. I'm not giving up or getting ready to lie down and die any time soon. But I need you all to trust me. We're going to go to the Citadel and confront Harbinger himself."

"Ha." Zaeed stood up. "We go there and then what? 'Oh please, Mista Reaper, please don't kill us all?' Don't seem very appealing to me. You said it yourself, we can't beat them in a fight, so what's the point?"

Shepard looked Zaeed in the eye. He knew he has a point, but Shepard had another idea.

"No. I know there's not going to be any mercy from the reapers. And I'm not going to ask for any. If this doesn't work, I'm going to fight until the end, just as I know each one of you would."

"Alright, then, what are you planning," asked Garrus.

Shepard looked over the room. "Easy. I'm going to convince a machine that's millions of years old that it's wrong. It's our only shot. But I understand if any of you want to leave, to try to spend some time with family or loved ones. I won't hold it against you."

He let his words hang in the air for a moment. He was a little surprised when Garrus stood up.

"Normally, this is where I would make a sarcastic comment about how we're all going to die. But Shepard, if anyone can do it, it's you. I'm with you until the end."

Miranda stood up, followed quickly by Jack. "So are we."

Kasumi, Tali, and the rest all stood to show their support. He felt Ash put her hand on his shoulder. "Alright then. Let's finish this."

Ash and Shepard were in their cabin. The Normandy was making its way through the war to try to reach the Citadel. But they had a call to make to an old friend before they could rest.

Shepard and Ash both stood in the office area of the cabin. The glass wall in front of them was in its screen mode, and the two Spectres were waiting to get through to the Fifth Fleet.

After a while, Admiral Hackett's familiar face appeared. "Shepard, Williams, good of you to call. I hope you have good news for us all."

Shepard shook his head. "Sorry, Admiral. Nothing more than a plan. But I need your help, and I can't ask this of anyone else."

Hackett smiled grimly. "Hell, Shepard, after all you've done for me, you know you can count on me."

Shepard typed for a moment on the terminal. "I'm sending you some coordinates. In two days, we'll be at the Citadel, confronting Harbinger. If I need to, I'll send you a signal over this channel. I'll need ships to go through the mass relay there and attack everything on the other side."

Hackett didn't respond for a moment. "How many are waiting on the other side?"

"Six," came Ash's soft reply. It was clear that he realized what they were asking.

Hackett nodded. "Of course." He was silent for a moment, lost in thought. "Shepard, let me ask you something. Do you truly believe that we have a chance? That we can all survive and push back the reapers?"

Shepard didn't answer for a moment. He searched his feelings, looking past all the doubt and fear that he had, and knew that he had an answer for the Admiral. He stood a little straighter, and with every bit of himself, said "I do, Admiral."

Hacket nodded to himself. "Good. That's all I need to hear. You send the signal, Shepard, and I'll lead them through myself." He turned his attention to Ash. "Lieutenant Commander Williams."

Ash straightened up as well. "Yes sir."

"You're a credit not only to the Williams name and the service, but to humanity. Your grandfather would be damn proud of you."

Ash's eyes began to mist. "Thank you, sir. That means a lot coming from you."

"Now, on a personal note, Shepard is the closest thing I have to a son. You take damn good care of him, Marine, understood?"

Ash smiled and looked to Shepard. "I will sir."

Hackett nodded, satisfied. He stepped back away from the camera for a moment, and snapped a salute off to Shepard. "Give 'em hell, son."

Shepard and Ash both snapped to attention and returned the salute. "You too, sir."

The Admiral finished the salute. With no more words being needed, he closed the comm channel.

Ash and Shepard waited until the screen was dark before they finished their salute.

As always, all reviews, comments, critiques, etc are welcome, positive or not!

Up next... the confrontation.