Chapter 27: Armageddon

Liara's shuttle

Liara was in her shuttle, going back to Hagalaz, to search for the reapers again. Due to what she had found, it made the Shadow Broker more determined.

A Month Ago

Liara was waiting in her shuttle waiting for Admiral Hackett. She looked at the sight before her; the prothean weapon in front of her was huge. The device didn't look damaged only incomplete though without going in they could not find out the full extent of any damage. The shuttle beeped, Admiral Hackett was approaching, the Admiral's ship hailed her shuttle. And Liara vessel docked with the dreadnought, SSV Kennedy, the ship was huge though all dreadnoughts were. She came out of the shuttle and met Hackett and his entourage, she received some looks as she waiting, it was not a surprise it was the same back on Mars. The Alliance did not trust aliens even after they joined Council, if it weren't for the fact that they had members like Shepherd and Kaiden among their ranks, they could have easily been seen as a lighter version of Cerberus.

Admiral Hackett shook her hand and they went to the bridge. The soldiers stood up and gave the Admiral a salute while some of them gave the asari dirty looks, if she hadn't toughened up those years before she might've shrink at their gaze. "So this is it? God that thing is huge…"

"Yes, my guess is that the power it has is closer to that of a mass relay" Liara said. "If Cerberus had gotten their hands on the location…"

The Admiral looked at her and frowned. "Cerberus was there?"

The asari nodded. "Yes, they had killed the drell guards and taken some of the data from the Archives" she said. "We were lucky they couldn't dig deeper to find the location"

"The scientists have dug up blueprints to this thing, they said it was surprisingly simple but elegant in scope" Hackett said. "Building this thing will be the greatest attempt in human history…"

"And don't forget galactic history, it may take everyone to build the weapon" Liara said. "I'll continue to search for the reapers on my end, as for the weapon I would keep its location secret from Cerberus, you know how they like their sleeper cells"

Hackett nodded. "Godspeed Doctor…"

Now

As her shuttle entered the Sowio System, her omni-tool beeped, it was Garrus, the man she loved. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, it's been a long time since she seen him in casual clothes. Liara smiled. "Garrus, how are you doing?"

"Fine, I'm back on Palaven, I…had to bury my mother" he said solemnly.

"Goddess, I'm so sorry for your loss" Liara said sadly.

"Don't worry about it, Li, we turians are made of tough stuff" Garrus said. "What about you? How have you been doing?" Liara sighed and pitched the bridge of her nose, she was exhausted searching for the reapers, the weapon and getting into a life or death struggle with Cerberus really took a lot out her. She started to wonder if other maidens' lives are this exciting or if it was just her….

"Finding the reapers is much harder than thought even with the Brokers resource"

"Not surprising, they're sneaky bastards, I'm trying to get Palaven ready when they come" he said.

"Do you think your father will listen?" She asked concerned. She had heard a lot about his father, an ex c-sec officer with ties to the Hierarchy government. He is very by the books kind of person, and according to Garrus very stubborn, though the young turian probably shouldn't talk.

Garrus smirked. "Heh, he's getting me an audience with the Primarch" he said. "If this works, the whole might of the Hierarchy will be ready" Liara nodded, the Primarch wasn't just the leader of the turians, he was also the leader of the military, whether his people go to war or not depended on him.

"Having the Turian fleet will help, but we need…"

"Boss, I know Li, we can prepare all want, but Shepherd is the only one who can pull us through this"

Liara shook her head. "It's too cruel, no person show have to shoulder such a burden"

"I know, but, he won't have to shoulder this alone" Garrus then heard a voice. "Ah, looks like it's time, wish me luck…"

Liara smiled. "Luck, take care of yourself Garrus"

"You too, Li" The image went away. The shuttle made it to Hagalaz, but unknown to Liara, she was being watched.

Outside Hagalaz

A lone ship was waiting, waiting for the perfect chance to act. "Sir, the asari has landed"

"Good, tell everyone to finish their perpetration" The captain's com beeped. "This is Captain Jones of the Fenrir, identify yourself"

"This is the crusier, Albion, I'm here with the Osiris, the Ifirit, and the Anazi, awaiting your orders" he said.

"Have your people finish making preparations?"

"Yes, it is an all green for the other ships too" Jones gave a smirk.

"All hands, ready weapons and shields, We are going in"

The Shadow Broker ship

The shuttle landed in the ship's private hanger away from her agents, she may be looking to save the galaxy, but she still had to keep her identity a secret, she couldn't risk having traitors not when the reapers could attack at any time. Before Liara could make it to her office, Feron ran to her, she could tell from the drell's face, that something was wrong.

"Feron, what is it?"

"It's Omega….it's been taken by Cerberus"

Liara's eyes went wide. "What? How?"

Feron sighed. "Aria was caught off guard, but Cerberus underestimated how far the citizens would go to protect the station" he said. "They were close to running them off the station"

Liara frowned, that sounded about right, Aria may have been a thug but she was a very capable leader. Cerberus would not be able to oust her so easily, not when she had the loyalty and respect of most of the people on Omega. "What changed?"

"Fifteen Cerberus cruisers, they threatened to destroy Omega, if Aria didn't surrender, they would have looked at a massacre"

"Where is she now?"

"Last I heard she was going to the Citadel" he said.

"I doubt the council would allow it, considering she is the leader of the Terminus Clans" Liara said.

"I thought that too until, I ran across some data, apparently Aria have some history with Councilor Tevos, what that history is in detail, I don't know" Feron said. "But that's not end of the bad news…"

Liara signed. "Tell me"

"There has been some activity at the Perseus relay…"

Liara frowned. "Perseus…oh no don't tell me…."

"It is exactly as you guessed; the Quarians have declared war on the geth"

"Now? With the reapers approaching? How can they be so foolish?" she asked. She then had a horrible thought, Tali was very loyal to her people, there was no way she would leave her people when they declared war on the geth. Not even her love for Shepherd would stop her from joining them in battle. "Is Tali…?

Feron shook his head. "No, as far as I know Tali'Zorah is still on Earth with Shepherd"

Liara sighed. "Good, she's a good friend, she needs to be spared of her people's foolishness for once" she said. "Anything else?"

"There have been reports of a mass migration of krogan to Tuchanka, by order of Urdnot Wrex" Feron said. "Including a krogan, that matches the description of Urdnot Grunt"

Liara nodded. "So the krogan are preparing, good we will need them, and hopefully they can stand a chance despite the genophage" The ship then shook, almost causing Liara to fall. "What was that?!" The com came up.

"Broker, we're under attack!"

"From who?" Liara said in her distorted voice.

"IFF reads Cerberus, oh shit! They're starting to board" The com was abruptly cut off, Liara frowned, it seems the Illusive Man took her army challenge seriously. Her agents were well-trained, only the best of the best could be recruited to serve the Shadow Broker, but unfortunately Cerberus was as trained as her agents.

"How did Cerberus find us, I thought the Normandy AI deleted anything Cerberus had on us" Feron said.

"The Illusive Man is a very pragmatic man, I doubt he wouldn't have copies" She said. "Grab a weapon Feron; we will need to protect the ship"

Feron shook his head. "No, get to the hanger, I give you time"

"No way, I'm fighting with you"

"Liara, you can't fight, you are the Shadow Broker in your hands is information that could save the galaxy"

"But…"

"I promise your bondmate, that I would protect you, I'm keeping my word" he said. Feron took a rifle of the stand. "Go I'll catch up!"

Liara hesitated. "Okay, I'll get as many of the resources on to the shuttle a I can" she said. "Be careful…"

Feron smirked. "If I can survive the old Broker, I can survive this" He went to join the other agents. Liara went to the terminal, Ferron was right, she did have information that could save galaxy and if Cerberus get their hands on it, they could ruin the war effort.

"Glyph, upload as much of the data as you can" A sliver-gray drone appeared.

"Of course, Dr. T'Soni" Liara went to work to save the data.

Untrel System (Kite's Nest)

After the Trial, the reputation of the Hegemony went on a downward spiral; Shepherd's reputation of the hero of the citadel was stronger than even they thought. However they somewhat knew that this was going to happen, so they accelerated the project they started two years ago. And the research bore fruit, an ancient warship, and prothean, possibly older. With this, they hoped the Batarians and the Hegemony will reclaim their place in the galaxy. However, things are never that simple.

"Balak, we have a problem…"

"What is it?" Balak was a terrorist that tried to crash the asteroid X-57 into the Human colony of Terra Nova; he was stopped by Shepherd and spent the next two years rotting in a cell. However thanks to the Hegemony; he was able to escape custody of the Humans, and was personally chosen to head the project. When the project was done, the first thing he was going to do was get his revenge on Shepherd.

"We just lost contact from Khar'shan and the Hegemony"

Balak's eyes went wide. "What? Can't you get anyone?"

"No, something's wrong…"

Balak frowned. "Make preparation for the relay…." Someone spoke up.

"We have another problem, there's activity coming from the relay, something big is coming…" he said. The relay sparked and a ship came through, it was a ship they had never seen before, it was a black-grey ship with multiple limbs sticking out, it looked like the Earth animal, the squid. But there was something else about the ship, it struck terror in the batarian, it was something primal when they looked at the ship it felt like darkness was closing in and crushing them. "It's heading for Khar'shan"

"Intercept it!"

Hagalaz

Feron went to meet the agent, when he got he was shocked. It was a blood bath; Cerberus was pushing them back like they were nothing. He saw a turian being out manned by Cerberus, he went to join him. The drell could see faint shimmer of light, it had female form and was about to stab the turian from behind, Ferron took out his pistol and shot the light in the head. The soldier fell to the floor and decloaked.

The turian turned his head. "You, you're that drell, the Shadow Broker captured you!"

"Things change, now are you going help push them out or not?" The turian nodded and glowed blue. He threw a throw field and knocks one of them against the wall, with a sickening snap. Ferron was impressed by the display, turian biotics were very rare among the Hierarchy, as they didn't trust them, their lost was the Broker's gain. Feron, shot the compactors and shock the upcoming crowd. A comm broke.

"Feron, I got the most of the equipment on board, we need to go!"

"Got it" He looked at the turian. "Let's get out of here"

"But Cerberus…"

"Do you or do you not want to live?" The turian looked at him.

"Yes, I want to live…" He ran away with Feron, to meet with Liara. Turian was utterly shocked when he met the Shadow Broker, he expected the Broker to be bigger from the voice. "An asari…"

"Liara, we're here" Liara nodded and raised the comm.

"This is the Shadow Broker, calling all agents, you are to all abandon the ship, immediately" she said. "This ship is no longer safe"

"Are sure we should just abandon it, Cerberus could use it as another resource" The turian said.

"Who ever said I was going to the leave the ship in one piece?" Liara asked. The turian blinked and Ferron just nodded. The three got on the shuttle and left the ship as with rest of the broker agents. Liara opened her omni-tool and pressed the code for the self-destruct. As the shuttle left the planet, they could only watch as the ship went down in flames along the Cerberus troops.

Illusive Man

"Sir, we got news from Captain Jones of the Broker raid team"

"And…?" He asked.

"The Broker destroyed the ship, and some of our men were on the ship…"

He took a sip of wine. "But the ship is no more?"

"No sir, we never had a chance to co-op the network"

"Acceptable losses, either way, the broker won't be a problem anymore"

"Sir!" A new image came up. "Speak…"

"Sir, the Alliance found something…interesting on Mars…"

Luna-Three months later

Luna, Earth's moon, in the early days space exploration the moon was an early source of helium-3, Luna is now mined for materials used in space habitat construction. Two dozen major stations have been constructed at Earth's L4 and L5 Lagrange points, all from lunar resources. Anderson came to the base due Hackett finding something, when he got there the people was working franticly to find out why their posts were going dark. "How bad is it?" Anderson said.

"Bad, we just lost contact with our deep-space outpost, they were keeping tabs on the Batarians, making sure they didn't try anything" Hackett said.

"Did we get anything?"

"One, a massive blip on long-range sensors" he said. "Whatever it was, it just wiped out the Batarian homeworld…"

Anderson frowned, the Hegemony had very capable soldiers, for the whole homeworld to be wiped out had to be immensely powerful. He didn't want to believe, but it seems the day of reckoning was upon them. "Is this what Shepherd warned us about?"

Hackett sighed. "I'd bet my life on it"

"How long do we have?"

"Not long, I've sent word and the fleets are mobilizing" Hackett said. "You know what you have to do…"

"God help us all…"

The time for waiting is over! The Reapers are here!

The Battle for Survival begins next time! As always Review and Comment.