Hey everybody, this chapter is not as big as the last one. This is just leading up to the final confrontation and conclusion to this part of the story. So I hope you enjoy this and write back to me.

December 6, 2683/2183

Exodus Cluster

Asgard System

Asgard Station

The Normandy dropped out of slipspace in front of Asgard Station. The station's docking control operator told the Normandy to dock in docking bay five, Joker did as he was told to do and pulled the Normandy in docking bay five. Once the Normandy was safely clamped down in the docking bay, Shepard and company got off of the Normandy and was approached by five OPF and took them to a waiting room.

Asgard Station

Waiting Room

It had been an hour since Shepard and his team were placed in the waiting room and everyone was getting restless. Shepard was standing near a window looking at the OSA fleet guarding Asgard Station along with Terra Nova and the 75 million people on the planet. As he was mesmerized by the planet's beauty Ash walked up to the Commander "Hey skipper, how's it going?"

Shepard looks away from the planet and stared at Williams with disappointment on his features. "Not so good. While we're here, Saren is getting closer to the conduit which is one more step until the Reapers invade. We need to stop wasting time and go after him."

Ash nodded her head in understanding. "I know what you mean. You would think the Defense Committee would act with all the evidence that you presented them, but any good military strategist has to think things through, at least that's what my dad would say."

Shepard looked at her passionately "I'm glad you're here Ash."

Williams blushed a little before averting her gaze. "W-well... you- you probably wouldn't have gotten this far without me anyway."

Shepard chuckled at that notion. "Yeah maybe. Now let's try and finish this together."

Williams saluted the Commander and took her leave. Shepard then looked around to see Wrex leaning at the corner by himself looking a little grumpy. He decided to walk over and see what was wrong with Wrex, but he knew all too well what's really wrong with the Krogan. When he approached Wrex, it was then that he chose the opportunity to speak. "Commander, things got heated back on Virmire...You did what you had to do, and I respect your choice."

Shepard nodded his head in gratitude. "I appreciate what you did, Wrex. I won't forget it."

Wrex then got up close to Shepard. "Just make sure it was worth it. Saren has to pay for what he's done."

On that, Shepard agreed. "no matter what it takes, I'm going to hunt him down and kill him."

Wrex grinned in satisfaction. "I like the sound of that." As Shepard was about to walk away Wrex stopped him "Commander. There's one more thing I wanted to tell you."

Shepard turned around and looked at Wrex with an inquisitive look in his eyes. "What is it?"

Wrex pulled out a small device that looked like a hard drive. "The Shadowbroker didn't just hire me to hunt down Saren. He wanted me to install this device into the Normandy and steal OSA secrets. His agent told me it would be able to steal the information secretly without alerting your AI. I guess he was getting desperate to win that three-way war he was having with your people and the STG." Wrex handed the device over to Shepard.

Shepard took the device and looked at Wrex. "Thanks Wrex, my people will take a look at it and find what the Shadowbroker has done and keep up our guard in the future. Looks like I owe you twice now." Shepard nodded his head and left Wrex to himself. He then walked over to where Toha, Garrus, Liara, and Tali were in the middle of a conversation. As he neared the group, Toha took notice. "Commander! How long do you think we are going to be here?"

Shepard shrugged. "I don't know, it might be a while before I get a chance to talk to the Committee." Shepard then looked around and saw everyone just standing around each other "What's going on here?"

Toha was the one to answer "I was telling them about Fal 'Chavamee a Sangheili Arbiter who did not believe in the validity of the Covenant's religion…the very first heretic in our society."

Shepard leaned back a little with his arms crossed. He was definitely interested. "I remember that story, about how he was a leader among his clan and was a great swordsman."

Liara then got into the conversation. "It is an interesting part of your history and the Covenant's, but I am confused why all of this was not part of the codex your ambassadors gave to the Councilors years ago. In fact we have little information about the Covenant at all."

Toha then looked away from the others. Even Shepard knew that this was a low in the Covenant's history. "It is not something my kind is proud of. We prefer not to tell other species outside of the OSA as this was a mark of shame." He looked back at the others. "I will tell you this, if it were not for the Arbiter Fal 'Chavamee's questioning of the Covenant theology, I daresay we would not be here right now talking to you." Toha then walked away from the others leaving them all to wonder as to what he meant.

Shepard tried to explain. "It's not easy for his species to get over the actions they did during their time with the Covenant. Honor is very big in their society, and they feel they will never be able to redeem themselves for what happened in the past."

Before anyone could ask why, Admiral Hackett walked in on the group "Commander the Committee is ready for you."

Shepard looked at everyone in the room. "Everybody wait here, this should not take long." Shepard then left the room with Hackett.

Asgard Station

Hallway

As Shepard and Hackett walked down the hallway of Asgard Station, Shepard had many questions on mind. "Admiral can you tell me what the hell is going on?"

Hackett looked at Shepard while still walking. "Why don't you wait a moment until we meet up with one more person, he will tell you what's been going on."

Shepard only had a confused look on his face, but went along with it. The two then reached an open area where Shepard saw the one person he never thought he would see in a while much to his joy. "Captain Anderson, what are you doing here?"

Anderson turned around away from the window and looks at Shepard with a smile. "Shepard, it's good to see you again." Both men walked up to each other and shook hands like seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time.

When Shepard let go, he turned his head and looked at Hackett and then back at Anderson. "So can someone tell me what's going on now?"

Anderson started it off. "Well Shepard, a lot has happened and one of the things is we closed our embassy at the Citadel and evacuated all personnel including the ambassadors."

Shepard was surprised by that. "Well that explains why I was forwarded to Hackett instead of the embassy, but why did we evacuate?"

Hackett explained. "While you were out hunting Saren, Cerberus was looking for any Intel about his next motive."

Shepard was curious "What did they find?"

With a sigh, Hackett decided to continue. "Saren plans to attack the Citadel. When we forwarded this information to the Council, they took action."

Shepard was really confused. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Anderson then took his turn. He obviously didn't like this. "They're only setting up patrols at every Mass Relay linking Citadel space to the Terminus systems."

Shepard could not believe it. This was barely even a punitive measure! "Do they honestly think a blockade's going to stop him? He's on Illos looking for the Conduit right now!"

Hackett shook his head. "The Council doesn't believe in the Reapers, Commander or the Conduit. Hell, they won't even risk a war with the TC if they send a fleet to the Mu Relay to go after him."

Shepard shook his head in disbelief and looked at the other two. "So anything else I should know about?"

Hackett looked at Shepard. The way he looked at him already told the commander that there would be bad news. "Do you remember the Batarian Hegemony and the civil war they were having?"

Shepard nodded his head. "Yeah, we secretly sent Specopss agents to help the anti-slavery group. How did all that turn out?"

Hackett lifts his hand to his face. "Not so good, Aria and the TC decided to help out the Batarians and squashed the anti-slavery group. We were able to get our people out of there without anyone knowing we had a part to play in all of this."

Shepard was surprised by that. "So where does this leave the Batarian Hegemony?"

It was here that Anderson took the stage to explain. "During the civil war, our agents were able to kill the leaders of the Hegemony hoping that would weaken the military leaders. We were wrong, one Batarian took command of the whole government. When Aria and TC arrived, he became the official leader of the Batarians."

Shepard didn't like the sound of that. "So does this Batarian have a name?"

Hackett nodded his head. "His name is Balak."

Shepard could not believe it. He absolutely refused to believe it! "BALAK!" yelled Shepard, making his outrage known.

Anderson took notice of Shepards anger. "I take it you two crossed paths?"

Shepard nodded his head furiously. "Yeah I know that son of a bitch. It was right after I got out of the N7 academy and was stationed on the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, it was under the command of Captain Kenmore. We were patrolling the Attican Traverse for any signs of pirates in the area, then all of a sudden we got a distress call from an independent colony of mixed species that was under the protection of the OSA. A group of Batarian extremists were planning to launch an asteroid at the colony, just for associating with us. Captain Kenmore took the Forward Unto Dawn to the colony and immediately engaged three Batarian cruisers. Kenmore ordered me to the planet to shut down the fusion rockets the Batarians set up to move the Asteroid, I took a squad of ODST's down to the Asteroid and were able to shut down all of the rockets, but the Batarian behind all of this got away and his name was Balak."

Hackett nodded his head in understanding. "I remember that report, you had a chance to capture Balak, but let him go to save civilian lives. That was a tough call, but I think you did the right thing."

Shepard heaved out a long sigh. "I know I did the right thing and I was hoping one day I could catch him for what he tried to do, but it looks like that's impossible now."

Hackett took a seat. "Indeed, but nonetheless, we'll keep an eye on him. If a man can just send an Asteroid into a colony with no regrets, then we need to be careful."

Shepard nodded his head and looked at Anderson. "So are we going to help the Citadel Council?"

Anderson shook his head. "The ambassadors offered to aid them by providing ships to defend the Citadel, but they declined."

Shepard was not surprised by that—after all, politics was also a game where the deadly sin of pride had the ultimate power. "Let me guess, if they had accepted it would only make them look weak in the eyes of the other species on the Citadel."

Anderson nodded his head in acknowledgement of that fact as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Udina said the same thing to the other ambassadors."

Hackett then cut in. "There's nothing we can do for them now, we need to focus on Saren and stop him from bringing back the Reapers."

Shepard nodded his head. The hope he had was clear in his voice. "So does that mean you're sending a fleet to Illos?"

Hackett shook his head with regret. "Only the Committee can decide that Shepard, now let's get going the Committee is waiting."

Asgard Station

Defense Committee Chamber

Shepard walked into the chamber with Hackett and Anderson right next to him. He walked to the podium, while Hackett and Anderson flanked him at both sides before both of them sat down. As the Committee was getting ready to question Shepard, he prepared himself by connecting his Omni-tool to Equinox.

After a while, a male human member of the Committee began the meeting. "Commander Shepard, you stand before this Committee with evidence of a threat outside this galaxy?"

Shepard looked at the Committee members. "Yes I do. They're called the Reapers and they want to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy."

A Sangheili member asked his own question. "What are these Reapers, and how do they threaten us?"

Shepard activated his omni-tool and provided a hologram of their enemy. "The Reapers are sentient machines with advanced technology, and there is one in this galaxy right now."

There were whispers in the chambers about this and all of a sudden a Jiralhanae, obviously a war chieftain judging by the Gravity Hammer settled down behind him, slammed his fist on a table. "It does not matter who these Reapers are or where they come from, we will destroy them like any other enemy."

"Well that would be the case if it were not for their indoctrination." Everyone in the chamber were wondering who said that, when the avatar of Equinox appeared next to the hologram of the Reaper. "Like I said before, the Reaper's are not stupid; after all they are AI's."

A Kig-yar member spoke up. "What do you mean by that?"

Equinox explained himself. "The Reapers have wiped out other civilizations before, the Protheans were one of many that were wiped out by them."

A Yanme'e soldier questioned this. "What evidence do you possess?"

Shepard just looks around unsure of what to say. "Sovereign told me."

The Committee was confused by this as Shepard then explained. "The Reaper I mentioned that is in this galaxy earlier is Sovereign: Saren's flagship. Sovereign told me that its kind has been doing this for a long time. And when I questioned about its kind and the Forerunners, Sovereign said that it and its kind defeated the Forerunners."

A Female Human spoke next. "Commander if there is one thing we know, it is that the Reapers didn't defeat the Forerunners."

Shepard was only confused. "How can you be certain of that? The Reapers are still here and not the Forerunners. If the Reapers didn't defeat the Forerunners who did?"

Every Committee member looked at one another and back at Shepard. The Human male spoke up. "I am afraid that is classified Shepard, but in light of everything you have told us, we have decided to give you are support in attacking Illos."

Shepard was really surprised, he thought he would have to convince them more about the Reaper threat. "So you believe in the Reaper threat?"

The Human male shook his head. "I didn't say that, but whatever Saren has planning it can't be good. So the Committee authorizes the 63rd Scout Flotilla along with the 26th Scout Flotilla to accompany you in attacking Illos and going after the rogue Spectre Agent Saren."

Shepard was at least grateful about what they would give him. He saluted to the Committee and went to prepare for the attack.

Serpent Nebula

Wido System

Citadel Tower

Council Chambers

The Council was preparing for Saren's attack on the Citadel, but in the midst of getting everything ready, Tevos and Valern noticed an increased number in Turian Dreadnoughts and questioned Sparatus about this.

Tevos was the first one to ask. "Sparatus can you explain why the Hierarchy could lend us so many Dreadnought from Turian space?"

Sparatus knew this was coming when the Hierarchy decided to send in the extra Dreadnoughts from their secret supply. He looked at his two fellow Councilors. "I think it's about time I told you the truth about something the Hierarchy has been doing since the Relay 314 incident."

Before he could continue, Valern beat him to it. "The Hierarchy has been secretly building Dreadnoughts at an alarming rate, so much that it goes against the Treaty of Farixen."

Tevos looked at the Turian councilor with shock on her delicate features—this was new to her. Sparatus on the other hand was not surprised that Valern knew about this. After all Salarian STG's were known to uncover any information except for OSA information. "It is true my kind has been secretly building Dreadnoughts, but only because of the threat the OSA represents to the Citadel."

Tevos was not furious about the Turians building Dreadnoughts—she understood the necessity behind it. But still… "My government can overlook this incident, because we have been building ships constantly too. The OSA has made many changes in our society both directly and indirectly. It is only now that I realize that we have lost sight of why we made this Council in the first place; to promote peace between all races."

Sparatus just snarled at that. "Peace is only achieved when all races have an equal amount of power. Not some group that possesses technologies and weapons that can destroy planets with ease!"

Tevos understood where Sparatus was coming from. "There is not much we can do about the OSA, but what we can do now is focus on Saren. How many Dreadnoughts can the Hierarchy bring to defend the Citadel?"

Sparatus thought about it for a moment. "They can bring twenty to defend the Citadel."

Tevos nods her head. "My government can bring in fifteen extra cruisers to support the Destiny Ascension as well."

Valern decided to pitch in as well. "The Salarian Union can bring 25 frigates to defend the Citadel too."

The Councilors all nodded their heads at what they would bring to the table when it came time to face Saren and his Geth. They could only hope that it would be enough to defeat him.

OSA Space

High Charity

Senate Chambers

The OSA Senate was going over Commander Shepard's report he gave to the Committee. The report talked about Sovereign, the Reapers, Indoctrination, and worse the countermeasure against their own teleportation technology.

Anita Goyle went first. "Well it would seem Shepard uncovered much in his hunt for Saren Arterius." She closed the holographic report and looked at her fellow Senators. "The only question I have now is how we shall proceed with this information."

'Rolamee thought it over and came to a decision. "We do not know much about the Reapers, but this Indoctrination is disturbing to say the least and this countermeasure for our teleportation technology is also something to worry about, especially if anyone in the Citadel or the TC gets a hold of this technology."

Tranquility just chuckled at the idea of how dangerous all this was. "You both clearly underestimate our power; the gods are in our favor. And if our enemies attempt to use these technologies we should just wipe them out."

Anita didn't like what Tranquility was saying. "Like how the Covenant tried to wipe out Humanity?"

Tranquility became quiet after that. 'Rolamee then stepped in to cool tensions between Anita and Tranquility. "This is no time to bicker, we must first eliminate the ones who possess any threat to us, and that means taking care of the Geth who posses this technology and Saren's flagship Sovereign if it is a Reaper in this Galaxy."

The Senators all agreed on this and dismissed for the evening.

Exodus Cluster

Asgard System

Asgard Station

War Room

On board Asgard Station, everyone was getting ready for the attack on Illos and was also preparing for the Arrival of the Reapers in the galaxy if the mission had failed. In the War Room were Admiral Hackett, Commander Shepard, Captain Anderson, Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, and Shipmaster Luro 'Taralumee. All of them were discussing the attack on Illos and the defense of the galaxy in case the Reapers arrive.

Hackett was the one explaining everything to the group. "Alright people listen up, we don't have a lot of time and so I will make this short. Saren is on Illos looking for the Conduit to bring back the Reapers, the Committee has authorized the mission to send the 63rd and 26th Scout Flotillas to attack Illos and destroy any resistance on the planet. Rear Admiral Mikhailovich is in command of the fleet, while Fleetmaster 'Taralumee is in command of deploying ground forces to take care of the Geth. Shepard will be the one to go after Saren while everyone else holds the Geth back."

Shepard nods his head. "I will sir, but I am concerned about the Geth's upgrades. By now they must have placed those jamming fields on their ships, so we won't be able to destroy them like before."

Mikhailovich just chuckled. "Countermeasure or no countermeasure, Geth ships are still not formidable against our ships, we can beat them."

Shepard turned back to look at Hackett. "What if we fail and the Reapers arrive?"

Hackett just shakes his head. "Shepard we have been prepared for an attack from either the Citadel Council or the Terminus Coalition for years, but we were prepared to face them not an invasion from outside of our galaxy, but we'll manage…we always do."

Captain Anderson then added his own opinion. "Why don't we stop Sovereign ourselves?"

Hackett sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sovereign could be anywhere in the Mass Relay network, we wouldn't know where to start."

Shepard then remembered something important. "I think I know where Sovereign is going to end up." Everyone looked at Shepard, waiting for the answer. "Sovereign may be leading the attack on the Citadel, the Geth alone won't be able to handle the Citadel Fleet, but with Sovereign there it could turn the tide in its favor."

Hackett thought it over. "If we enter in Citadel space without the Council's permission, it would be considered an act of war."

Shepard shakes his head. "Not if we save the Citadel from being destroyed."

Captain Anderson then pitched in. "Knowing Udina, he would easily be able to hang this over the Council's head and be able to avoid war if we succeed."

Hackett thought it over. "Alright, I will tell the Committee about this and hope it won't come back to bite us in the ass." Hackett then brought up an image of the Mu Relay on the Holo-table "There is one more thing; you will be going after Saren, which means passing through the Mu Relay in order to get there in time. The Mu Relay is deep inside the Terminus system and we all know the OSA is not welcome there."

Shepard just grunted at that. "I'd like to see the TC try and stop us."

But before anyone else could get riled up, Hackett raised his hand for silence "Aria has already allowed us permission to use the Mu Relay; according to her, this is compensation for what was done behind her back. Her exact words upon cutting the transmission were, 'go ahead and put those stupid assholes in jail with your death-row guys'."

Shepard knew Aria never did any kind of favor without an incentive. "What did she ask for in return?"

Hackett just sighed at that. "A hundred million credits."

Everyone was speechless, but not surprised. Shepard then asked on everyone's mind "So you paid her the hundred-mil?"

Hackett nodded his head. "Came straight out of the OSA's back account—the OSA Senate knew that having an account full of the Citadels own currency would come in handy one day and they were right. Now Shepard you have a go."

Exodus Cluster

Asgard System

Normandy Bridge

The Normandy along with the 63rd and 26th Scout Flotillas were lining up and getting ready to head to Illos. Shepard was standing next to Joker on the bridge looking at the fleet of ships he was given to attack Illos and stop Saren. He was not going to waste this one bit.

Joker decided to ask a question. "So Commander do you think we can win this?"

Shepard looked at Joker. "Well that depends if the best pilot in the UNSC can get us to Illos in time. After all, it was Sun Tzu that said 'the soldier who is late to the battlefield, will be exhausted for the battle to come'."

Joker fixed his hat started pressing buttons. "just sit back and enjoy the ride Commander."

The fleet headed straight to the relay in the system and from there to Illos.

Now I know some of you are not happy about how the Dfense Committee don't belive in the Reapers, well not yet any way, so don't jump to conclusions until after all of this.

Codex- Defense Committee

Defense Committee- The Defense Committee was created after HighCommand was established at Terra Nova. The Committee is a conglomerate of High ranking Military officials from each race in the OSA. They are responsible for protecting all OSA joint colonies and dispatching fleets or patrols to any area in the Mass Relay Network. They make all the decisions and can only be overruled by either the Senate or 2/3 vote from high ranking Admirals or Fleetmasters.