Here we are, at the end of the line. Again, written pre-ME3 (which only shows how horrible I am at keeping up on my fics... sorry!)
As always, Bioware owns all. Yes, even your house, they own that. And your cat.
The Normandy emerged into normal space flanked on all sides by Reapers. They formed a lane that lead directly to the Citadel, and their intended target: Harbinger. Shepard knew that this was it, it was all up to him.
He walked from the cockpit back to the conference room. He heard EDI confirm that she was patched in to the Citadel, using it to broadcast their signal throughout the mass relay network to any and every receiver. He passed Miranda and Jack. Jack let go of Miranda's hand long enough to snap off a salute that any marine would have been jealous of. Miranda followed, then the rest of the crew who had assembled on the CIC.
Ash was waiting for him outside the conference room. "Ash, I just wanted to say… thanks. For always believing in me."
Ash smiled. "Shut up, Skipper. Now go give 'em hell. I'll be here after you end this." Shepard could only nod as Ash stepped aside, opening the door for him.
He heard the door slid shut behind him, the holographic display already up and running, showing an image of Harbinger there before him.
"Harbinger."
You delay the inevitable, human. There is no bargaining for your life. There is no mercy.
"There is only the cycle, right?"
You are correct.
"I know why you're doing what you do. Why you wipe out every technologically advanced civilization, leaving the less advanced alone. I know everything."
You know nothing!
Shepard smiled grimly. Harbinger's anger confirmed that Shepard was right. "I know that we were wrong in our assumptions. We thought you needed to process the bodies of living organisms for fuel. But if you took every living creature, there'd be no fuel for you later, and it's too far to travel to another galaxy. But that's not it, though, is it? You're trying to protect the galaxy. You're trying to protect those less advanced species from the space faring ones, so that they have the chance to grow, to mature. You don't want us accidentally destroying a species that has the potential to reach the stars. That's why you come in and wipe out everyone that's progressed to a certain level, isn't it?"
You are correct.
"You try to make sure that other races have the chance to develop. But what about the races that are already here? What about all the potential that they have?"
Potential is meaningless. The balance must be preserved.
"Yes, your precious balance. But you do everything you can to destroy the balance of the galaxy. You come in, commit genocide, and leave. Instead of fostering the races, helping them progress in a controlled and sustainable manner, you let them grow out of control, and then you have to come in and wipe everyone out because the galaxy's getting over crowded. It's the same thing that happened to the krogan. It wasn't right then, and it's not right now."
Right and wrong are meaningless. They are constructs that the feeble minded hide behind. Saren understood that. He accepted it. You do not. Your pride does not allow you to understand…
"No, I understand. It's YOU who doesn't understand! This isn't the way to do this. Right now, every person, on every ship, every station, and on every world, is listening to us. We understand that we have to protect the younger races, that we need to let them develop on their own. You don't understand that you have us all develop along the same lines, just to repeat the cycle again and again and again. If you allow us to grow on our own, to develop the technology on our own, then you won't have to do the same thing. We may be guilty of not giving planets or races the chance to develop, but you're guilty of the same thing!"
You cannot stop us from completing our task.
"No, we can't. But we can damn well make sure it costs you." With that, Shepard keyed his omni-tool, sending a message to Admiral Hackett and the Fifth Fleet. On the holographic display, he saw Hackett's team attack the reapers that were orbiting Feros. The attack lasted moments, and while all but two of ships of the fleet were destroyed, their thanix cannons were able to disable and destroy the Reapers.
"Every ship that we have has those cannons. You can wipe us all out, but we're taking some of you with us. And I saw firsthand how difficult it is to build a Reaper to replace one that has been destroyed. And you can be damn sure that we'll be leaving behind the knowledge about you and what you are, and how you can be destroyed. It might take time, but eventually, you'll be facing extinction as well."
Harbinger was silent for a long time. Shepard began to fear that Harbinger had simply taken this time to start attacking again, until he got a response.
What do you propose?
Finally, Shepard thought to himself. He took a deep breath before he answered. "We all understand now that we have to be more careful in our use of this galaxy, and the worlds within it. Every race deserves the chance to develop on its own path, free from interference. Any worlds with developing races will be given that chance. The council will setup a force to make sure that no one interferes. There's no need for wholesale slaughter. With patience, temperance, and understanding, we can all benefit, and grow together."
Idealistic, Shepard, though unrealistic. Every being of every race will eventually look to serve itself before others. Our eons of experience have taught us that.
"But don't you think we deserve the chance? You've always exterminated life when it reaches this point, but what if we're able to progress beyond what we are now? You've never given a race the chance to show that they can progress any further than this. You've been doing the same thing for millenia, only you never learned from your mistakes. We have."
The cycle…
"Deserves to be broken! Nothing you've done in the past has worked, why keep doing it?! Face it, as protectors of sentient life in the galaxy, you've failed! You've failed The One."
HOW DO YOU KNOW OF THE ONE?!
"Does that really matter to you? You're just going to exterminate me anyways. But I know… I know you were created and tasked with protecting life in the galaxy, not wiping it out! You've turned into the very danger that you were tasked with stopping! What would The One think of you if they knew what you'd been doing all these countless millenia?"
You…
"I am not negotiating! We will fight. And we will fall. But we will not go alone. We will take as many of you as we can with us. And what damage will this fighting cause the galaxy? What harm will that cause developing races, having a reaper corpse crash onto their planet?"
Harbinger's silence told Shepard he had hit a nerve. He refused to let up though. "We've learned from our mistakes. It may have been too late, but we've learned. You're the ones who haven't! Why protect the younger races if you're just going to wipe them out later on anyways? Now you have two options: we can fight and do everything we possibly can to wipe each other out, or you can get the hell out of our galaxy!"
Harbinger was silent. Shepard stood, glaring at the holographic image of Harbinger before him. Slowly, Harbinger's claws folded up to its body.
Very well. We shall depart. But you will learn, Shepard, that there are far more terrifying things in this universe than us.
The image of Harbinger faded from view. Joker's voice came from over the comm. "Commander… all ships are reporting in… the reapers are disengaging! They're all headed to the closest mass relay, and bugging out! You did it!"
Shepard smiled slightly. He heaved a deep sigh of relief, and felt the tension leave his body. He turned to leave the briefing room, and was almost bowled over as Ash ran into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck and planted a powerful and deep kiss on his lips. She eventually broke the kiss, breathlessly saying "You did it, Skipper! You got them to leave! It's finally over!"
"Stopping the reapers was the easy part, now we have the REAL challenge to face." Ash's face fell, and her brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Shepard could barely keep a straight face, and felt his smile slipping through. "Did you forget Chief? We have a wedding to plan!"
She smiled at him, and they shared a more tender kiss. Finally, she took him by the hand and led him out of the briefing room to the CIC. As soon as the assembled crew saw him, they started clapping and cheering. He smiled, and shook the hands of the crew as he made his way to the podium behind the galaxy map. He took a moment to let them get it out of their systems. He finally raised his hands to try to get some quiet so he could address them.
"All right people…" he said looking over everyone. He looked down at Ash, and saw her love for him shining through her eyes. He looked over to Miranda and Jack, saw their arms wrapped around each other as they looked to him. Garrus and Tali were next to them, in a similar pose. He saw Grunt, Zaeed, Jacob, Kasumi, and the rest. He was so proud of them all. They had all risked everything, and in some cases, sacrificed everything, to give him the chance to do his job. Their loyalty and faith in him was awe inspiring, and he felt humbled to have them by his side.
He didn't consider himself a words person, so he knew no speech that he could make could convey his feelings to them. In fact, he could think of only three words he could say to them.
"… let's go home."
The crew cheered, and Shepard stepped down from the podium. He reached for Ash's hand, and, feeling her intertwine her fingers with his, took the rare opportunity to relax. There was still a lot of work to be done, and no one could tell what tomorrow would hold, but for now, they could all savor the knowledge that there would be a tomorrow to look forward to.
The End
So, there we go, the end of Rules of Engagement. It's been far too long since I've started this, but at least it's now complete.
I'll be posting a post-script to this tomorrow or so (need to find it on the various thumb drives that are around my house) so also be looking for that. But otherwise, thanks to all my reader for sticking it out to the end with me, I appreciate it!
As always, all feedback is welcome! :-)