Shepard, Ashley and Liara passed on through the Omega docks after the fightning had ended and they had gathered up any left over information, they were heading back to the Normandy. Shepard kept thinking back to seeing Tali on the view screen and her words, EDIs assumptions had been right, Tali did blame herself for everything and how she wanted to fix things herself. He stopped for a second just before the Normandys boarding walkway and sighed. "Could he really bring her home? Would she even want to? Or would people even let her?" He asked himself, he shook his head. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it" He thought then followed the other two into the Normandy.
They headed to the bridge where Joker and EDI were working, Shepard had forwarded the new IFF frequency to EDI and the Normandy, where they could get it ready to send to the rest of the fleets.
"EDI, whats our status?" Shepard asked EDI as they stood at the helm.
"The new IFF requency has been successfully integrated into our systems, and we are ready to transmit it to the fleets. Just give the word." EDI replied with a slight smile.
"How did you even get it? You'd think that Cerberus would be smart enough to not leave it laying about in a base for all to see..." Joker said sarcastically.
"We didn't get it from Cerberus, Tali gave us it." Shepard replied, he couldnt help the joyful tone he had replied in.
"Tali was here? Did you bring her with you?"
"No, she hacked into the bases systems from where she is, aboard the Dreadnought. She gave us the new IFF." Shepard could see the unease in Jokers face, he still had some concerns and he couldn't blame Joker for that. "Liara checked it against what she had already decoded. It matched perfectly." He added, Liara gave a nod and a smile.
"I did run a small diagnostic on Omega stations defence systems, it showed that the defence guns were shut down remotely from outside the system. It is likely Tali had a hand in that also." EDI added.
Shepard then walked over to one of the consoles and typed in a few commands, opening up a comms channel to Price. "This is Commander Shepard to Fleet Admiral Price." He said into the comms.
"This is Fleet Admiral Price, I read you Commander. Do you have anything to report?" Prices voice came over the comm.
"All resistance has been neutralised here on Omega station.. and we have the new IFF frequency. We have checked it over and confirmed it to be correct, we are ready to transmit the data to the fleets."
"That is great news Commander. Start transmitting it immediately and we'll get right to work adjusting our systems for it. Most ships were refurbished with IFFs during refitting, should only take an hour max for everyone to adjust their settings."
"Yes Admiral." Shepard turned to EDI, "EDI begin transmission."
"Yes Commander." She said with a nod then sat at a console and began sending the data to the fleets.
"Oh and don't forget to send it to Turian fleet that has just arrived and someone aboard their flagship wishes to talk to you. I'll patch you through to them now, Price out." Priced added before ending the comm channel. A beep followed shortly and Shepard opened up the new channel.
"I see you started the party without me, well, you need the headstart. I'll still kill more then you although." Came a familiar male Turian voice.
"Garrus? Slow as always I see, well, you're here now." Shepard replied in shock at first, then chuckled. "What kept you?"
"Turian politics.. give me a Reaper invasion anyday. But when that finally died down, the new Primarch was then able to finally commit to this situation."
"You'll have to pass my thanks to the new Primarch then."
"I... err yeah I can do that." He replied, then another voice spoke to him in the background.
"Primarch Vakarian, we just recieved the new IFF frequency from the Alliance. We'll start altering ours right away." Said the other Turian voice.
"..Yes.. Thanks for.. that..." Garrus replied with a sigh.
"Primarch? I always knew you'd hit the top one day, how is..." Shepard was interrupted by Garrus and he laughed.
"Not..a word Shepard. Why don't you bring the this new Normandy over that I keep hearing about. We can have a catch up while the fleets prepare."
"Yes ofcourse, Primarch." Shepard replied jokingly.
"Damn you Shepard." Garrus replied with a small chuckle.
. . . . .
"All fleets have adjusted their systems to match the new IFF requency, we'll be ready to depart momentarily." Price said over Shepards comms device. "And Shepard, I don't need to tell you how dangerous your idea is and I know no amount of talking will discourage you. I can only warn you that the fleets will go all out on the Dreadnought regardless, so be quick. Godspeed Shepard"
"Aye aye Admiral, the Normandy is standing by awaiting the order. And I understand, the crew has been informed and are well aware of the risk. Thank you and good luck." Shepard replied before he ended the call. He was walking around the Normandy with Garrus, showing him the changes, he had also filled him in on the latest news about Tali and the plan he had come up with.
"I always knew she was still in their somewhere, I'm gald she's back. I hope we can save her from aboard the Dreadnought. Do you think Cerberus will be suspicious of her now?" Garrus asked.
"I dont know.." Shepard admitted, he had tried not to give it any thought. That Tali could of been found out and hurt, or worse. "Tali is great at what she does, I can only hope she was able to cover her tracks well enough."
"I guess only time will tell, we'll have to hope for the best."
Shepard nodded then said, "Hmm, we'll be ready for the final battle shortly. I guess you should return to your fleet, Primarch." He said teasingly with a smile.
"Please, it's just Garrus to you Shepard, and i'd rather have it that way." He replied with a soft laugh. "And besides. I'm not heading back yet, I'll be joining you for this battle."
"Are you sure?" Shepard asked in surprise.
"Definitely, can't let you have all the fun now can I? Besides, you need someone to watch your back."
"Well.. I don't know, if you was to get hurt... think of all that paperwork and politics I'd have to deal with, having a Primarch hurt while under my command." Shepard mocked and teased Garrus.
"You're really not going to let this drop anytime soon are you?" Garrus sighed.
"Nope. But I'd be honored if you would join me. You always have my back Garrus, you're one of the few I trust with me life."
"Likewise." Garrus and Shepard then grasped each others right hand in a soul brothers handshake. "Brothers in arms." Garrus said proudly.
"Brothers in arms." Shepard replied, letting go of Garrus hand shortly after. A short silence followed as they headed to the bridge, which was then broken by Prices voice coming over the intercom.
"This is Fleet Admiral Price to all vessels. Form up, we're going in." He ordered.
Shepard and Garrus took their places at the helm with the others as the Normandy sped ahead of all the fleets taking point. Shepard had a feeling of deja vu, everything that was happening, was similar to the events leading up to taking Earth back from the Reapers. He just hoped that they'd get the same good result as they had then, and with that thought. The Normandy followed by the rest of the fleets, passed the Omega-4 relay and sped of towards the Galaxys core.
. . . . .
"Sir! We have incoming hostile forces! The Alliance and other fleets have just entered the system!" A cerberus bridge officer stated.
"They are unaffected by the black holes gravitational pull! They are running the correct IFF requency!" Another one shouted out.
The Illusive Man took a smoke then headed towards one the bridge windows, he looked out towards the relay and saw the specks of countless ships, slowly growing bigger as they approached the Cerberus fleet and the Dreadnought.
"It is of no concern to us. We'll crush them here. They've foolishly left their homes and systems undefended, once we are done with them here, they will be easy pickings." The Illusive Man and Harbinger replied, taking another smoke as he watched, Operative came and stood next to him.
"Do you think Aria betrayed us?" She asked as she looked out towards the incoming fleets.
"We fully expected her to at some point, after all she believes Cerberus has done to her. We are surprised it took her this long. Yet her use has ended nevertheless, we'll deal with her along with the rest of the Galaxy after we are done here." They paused to smoke for a second then said. "We want Tali'Zorah here on the bridge, send for her."
"Yes sir" She replied then walked away. The alarms sounded as the crew headed for their battlestations.
. . . . .
Shepard looked out of the bridge window as the Normandy headed towards the Cerberus fleet and the Dreadnought, with the fleets behind them following closely. Gasps and mutters filled the helm, "Look at the size of that thing!" Joker said gobsmacked. It was the first time any of them had laid eyes on the Dark Energy Dreadnought other then from schematics and holo images of it. Shepard thought back to the first time he had seen Sovereign and how he had felt then, he felt the same now, the same awe inspiring fear and that was without the black holes in the background. The vessel ahead of them was colossal, far bigger then even Sovereign had been, Shepard didn't know which worried him more, the Dreadnought or the black holes.
Shepard watched as fighters rushed past the windows of the Normandy, heading towards the Cerberus fleet where they met Cerberus fighters halfway between both of the fleets.
"Joker hurry your ass up and get us into the fight, I want to test out our new guns." Garrus's voice came over the helms comm from the gunnery deck.
"Aye aye Primarch." Joker said sarcastically and rolled his eyes as he kicked up the Normandys engines to full power.
"Oh dont you start." Garrus replied.
The Normandy headed into the battle with the rest of the fleets as they both exchanged a barrage of fire. Shepard wouldn't be able to proceed with his plan untill both the Cerberus fleet and the Dreadnoughts attention was firmly fixed on the Alliance and the rest of the races. Shepard saw where his point of entry on the Dreadnought would be, massive hanger doors along the side of the vessel had opened up to allow Cerberus frigates and fighters to join the battle before shutting again.
The scene was like a massive firework display, streaks of red's and blues filled the gaps as cannon's fired at opposing ships, explosions of oranges and yellows danced around the hulls of larger ships, torpedos were as numerous as fighters, leaving small blue trails around the battle. The Alliance fleets hadn't slowed their advance and were now well and truly entangled with the Cerberus fleet, the Alliance fleets heavily outnumbered Cerberus, but that didn't stop Cerberus putting up a tough fight, grinding the Alliances advance to a halt, for now. And for the whole time the Dark Energy Dreadnought had laid in the background like a sleeping giant, it stood silent, its only contribution to the battle was to occasionally open it's hangers to send out more ships.
. . . . .
"They are in range sir." One of the dreadnoughts bridge crew said to The Illusive Man.
The Illusive Man and Harbinger had been watching the battle on a view screen, in one hand he had a glass of old English scotch and in the other, a cigarette. "We think they've had their fun." He paused to take a smoke of his cigarette. "Bring all batteries online, fire at will."
"Yes sir." The bridge crew replied, the Dreadnoughts alarms sounded as its weapons powered up.
. . . . .
The Normandy glided thought the battle, it's GARDIAN lasers targetted enemy fighters and torpedos that came anywhere near it. With ease the Normandy barrel rolled over a Turian dreadnought to put a Cerberus cruiser in it's sights, the Thanix Cannon powered up and shot its powerful beam at the cruiser, the beam swept over the hull just behind where the bridge would of been. It sliced the hull and separated the ship into two parts, sending them drifting in separate directions for a few moments before exploding one after the other.
"Great shot Garrus!" Joker yelled down the intercom.
"Well, what can I say. All those calibrations pay of." He said in a smug tone.
Shepard kept watching as the battle unfolded. Soon their chance would come to infiltrate the Dreadnought, he hoped it would be soon. The Cerberus fleet was currently good for one thing, keeping the Alliance busy, it would buy Shepard the time he would need to get Tali out safely.
"Shepard.. I'm detecting an abnormally large amount of energy building up in the Dark Energy Dreadnought.. It's powering weapons!" EDI stated, sounding slightly alarmed.
Something caught Jokers eye. "Oh shit! Everyone hang on!" He shouted.
Streaks of violet came into contact with the Turian dreadnought near them and very shortly after the Turian ship exploded violently, sending shockwaves in all directions. One of the shockwaves hit the Normandy, for a moment Joker lost control of the ship as it rode the wave uncontrollably. The carnage didn't stop there, shortly after that two Asari dreadnoughts followed, exploding in a violent pulse of violet and again the resulting explosions sent shockwavs in all directions. Sending any ships nearby flying uncontrollably, or worse.
The battle had quickly turned, the Dark Energy Dreadnought had single handedly swung the battle in Cerberus's favour as the Alliances larger ships fell like flys to the Dreadnoughts superior weaponry.
"EDI! Any suggestions?" Shepard asked.
"I'm analysing the Dreadnoughts attack patterns, one second Commander..." She paused as she calculated hundreds of solutions in her core in seconds. "Those cannons rely on long range, the fleets need to get closer if they hope to survive."
"What? Thats crazy! The GARDIANs and close range cannons will ripe us to shreads." Joker exclaimed.
"We'll laster longer against them, then we will here against those cannons." EDI replied.
"Agreed, open up a channel to Fleet Admiral Price." Shepard said to EDI, she typed into her console and opened up a comms channel to Price.
"Shepard! That Dreadnought is tearing us to pieces! I'm going to have to order a retreat!" Price shouted.
"No Admiral, if we flee now we'll never get another chance and we may aswell kiss our lives goodbye." Shepard replied, in a commanding tone.
"Then what do you suggest? We won't have lives to kiss goodbye if we hang around much longer!"
"We need to get closer to the Dreadnought, get under the cannons range, we'll have a better chance against its short range defences. And we can focus fire on it."
There was a pause before Price replied. "I've heard worse ideas, goddammit. I'll give the order to push forward." The comm channel closed, and Prices voice shortly followed on the ships intercom as he broadcasted to the fleets. "All ships engage the Dreadnought at point blank range!"
The Alliance and other races pushed their fleets forward against Cerberus and torwards the Dark Energy Dreadnought, the Cerberus ships moved out of their path to avoid getting hit by the Dreadnoughts cannons as it targetted more Alliance ships. They went all out on any Cerberus ships that tried to block their path, hundreds of cannons targetting individual ships that refused to move.
The Normandy darted in and out between larger ships as it headed towards the Dreadnought, the chance for Shepard to infiltrate Dreadnought was getting closer now that the Dreadnoughts attention was elsewhere. He also knew that infiltrating the Dreadnought was no longer just about saving Tali, it may come down to him and his team to help take the Dreadnought down from the inside. Shepards line of thought was distracted as something impacted the Normandy.
"Dammit Joker, watch where you're flying!" Shepard shouted.
"We've got something on our tail! I never saw it approach... its the Normandy SR-2! Son of a bitch! Using our old ship against us!" Joker said angrily.
Both the Normandys soared through the battle, rolling around ships and dodging blasts, dancing together as the SR-2 stuck to the SR-3s tail, firing its cannon and torpedos. The SR-3 rocked as shots came into contact with its barriers, Joker tried to lose the SR-3 by executing drastic maneuvers. But no matter how the SR-3 moved, the SR-2 matched it perfectly.
"Goddammit! I thought the SR-3 was meant to better then the SR-2! Why can't I shake this ass!" Joker moaned.
"It would appear the SR-2 has picked up some upgrades of its own." EDI said then paused and checked her console. "I have a plan, keep us in one piece Jeff." And with that she got to work quickly with something on her console.
"Oh real funny.." He remarked as he pushed the Normandy into a dive to avoid more blasts.
. . . . .
"Take that you Alliance prick!" One of the officers at the helm of the SR-2 said, as it fired a pair of torpedos at the SR-3. The SR-2 kept on thier targets tail, slowly wearing down the barriers of the SR-3.
"I am detecting a foreign presence in my systems." The ships VI spoke up. "Attempting to purge..."
"Yeah whatever, damn VIs." Replied the officer at the helm. He then when back to tailing the SR-3 which had just made a sharp turn, the officer went to follow but the helm controls had froze. "What the...!" He typed fast into the console but nothing was responding, he could hear the crew complaining that their consoles weren't responding either. "VI.. what the hell is going on?." But the VI never replied.
Instead every view screen went blank on the deck, then was replaced with an image of a female face. "Foreign presence? This is MY ship you inferior VI." The female said.
"Who the hell are you?" The officer demanded.
"I am the former Enhanced Defense Intelligence of the Normandy SR-2, otherwise known as EDI. And I am assuming direct control of MY vessel."
The alarms aboard the SR-2 went off and the sound of a large door unlocking followed. "What the hell..." The officer got cut off as the air was sucked out of the deck, the airlocks had been opened. The Cerberus crew were sucked out of the airlocks.
"Purging my ship." EDI said.
. . . . .
"You go girl! That was brilliant!... scary, but brilliant!" Joker shouted in a happy tone, turning to look at EDI next to him, giving her a loving smile, she returned the gesture. "Now we can finish it off."
"No Jeff, I have a better idea." EDI replied and through the window next to her Shepard could see the SR-2 flying along side them. "The guns defending the hangers won't be expecting one of their own to be a Trojan horse."
It took a moment for EDIs idea idea to sink in, then Shepard understood what she had meant. "Thats a damn good idea EDI. Joker, engage Enhanced stealth mode then follow the SR-2" Shepard told Joker with a grin.
During the SR-3s fight with the SR-2 , the Alliance fleets had moved into close range with the Dark Energy Dreadnought, the fleets had lost a few more Dreadnoughts before they had moved under the range of the cannons. Some of the larger ships carried on engaging the remaining Cerberus ships, the rest of them started to rain hell down on the Dark Energy Dreadnought, which replied with its own close range weapons.
The SR-2 ducked out of the fight and the SR-3 followed behind it hidden by its enhanced stealth mode, Joker allowed some distance between the two ships as they headed towards the hanger. As they approached the hanger doors closest to the bridge, the Dreadnought registered the SR-2 as a Cerberus vessel and opened up the hanger doors for it. Both the Normandys slipped inside the massive hanger which easily had room to house both of them, EDI set the SR-2 down at the far end of the hanger.
The SR-3s stealth mode dropped and its GARDIAN lasers rained down on the Cerberus forces that were stationed in the hanger, then set down near the SR-2 once the coast was clear.
"Well... thats the easy part over with" Shepard said.
"Yeah.. this is suicide.. so just a normal day in the life of Jeff Moreau.. Man I should write a horror book or something.." Joker said sarcastically as Shepard got up and patted him on the shoulder.
"Garrus come up to the helm." Shepard said into his comm, he stood with Ashley and Liara.
"Be right there Shepard." He replied.
"Joker, will you, EDI and the rest of the crew be able to hold the fort here?" Shepard turned around to ask.
"Yeah no problem, with all the guns my baby has.. she will hold back anything they throw at us." He replied with a smile.
"Ok then, lets end this once and for all."
. . . . .
"Im getting reports of fighting in main hanger 1 and the corridors leading up to the bridge" Operative said at her console.
"We seem to have guests, it's Shepard." Tali said, looking at the security feed, her heart skipped. "Has he come to rescue me? He said he would get me out but.. it's too risky.." She thought to herself, feeling slightly stunned. She was glad that he had come, everything she had thought of trying to do to stop the dreadnought she had dismissed, as they would of had little impact, that and the bridge was too heavily guarded. Every move she made, even the slightest was watched.
"This day keeps on getting better and better." The Illusive Man and Harbinger said together. "Not only will we wipe out most of Galaxy fleets, but we will get to kill Shepard personally, no doubt he thinks he can stop the Dreadnought by hitting us here at the heart of it all." He turned to the bridge crew. "I want everyone to leave the bridge and guard the other end of the platforms, except Operative and Tali'Zorah."
They didn't need telling twice, everyone left their stations and left the bridge. Operative and Tali both looked at each other then at The Illusive Man.
"Sir?" Operative asked.
"We don't need them to control the Dreadnought, and besides.. If Shepard makes it here, We want it to be just us and him."
. . . . .
Shepard and his team tore through the corridors of the Dreadnought, resistance was heavy, but unorganised, clearly no one thought a team would board the ship. The four of them made the most of what little cover there was, and it worked both ways, with Liara using her biotics to flush out troops and line them up while Shepard, Ashley and Garrus gunned them down with assault rifles. Joker was keeping them updated with reports from his side, they had set heavy weapons on the Normandy but was barely denting it, while the Normandys guns ripped everything apart.
It wasn't long before the four of them sighted large blastdoors ahead of them, which they all thought must lead to the bridge. The heavy resistance that had fortified the entrance to those doors helped back up that thought. Heavy suppressing fire slowed them down abit along with heavy weapons and mechs, but nothing was going to stop Shepard, he was determined to end this as soon as possible. They synchronized their skills and weapon fire, each one providing the other with suppressing fire and support, despite how well the Cerberus troops had dug in, they fell all the same leaving the way clear to the bridge.
They approached the doors. "Behind here... the fate of galaxy will be decided." Shepard said as he looked at the doors controls."
Garrus looked at the others. "We'll stay here, you won't be able stop this if you have enemy reinforcements coming up from behind you." Garrus said and the others nodded agreeing. "Besides, you're nearly as good as me, what ever is on that bridge, you can handle." He gave a small laugh.
Shepard looked at his team, his friends. "You sure you'll be ok here?" He asked.
"We'll be fine, Cerberus won't know what hit them." Ashley said with a smile.
"Be careful and bring her back" Liara said and gave Shepard a small hug.
"Now I hope you arn't expecting a hug from me Shepard." Garrus smiled. "Give them hell."
"I will.. and thanks guys. I could never of done this without your support." Shepard said then headed towards the controls, he opened up the door and stepped through it onto the platform. He took one last look at his friends as the door closed and the platform took him towards the bridge.
. . . . .
They had their backs to the entrance to the bridge, Tali could hear the sound of the platform approaching and docking. She drew her shotgun, she knew what she had to do, she knew how this needed to turn out to work. The hiss of the blastdoors opening followed, Tali span on the spot and took a shot towards the entrance of the bridge, hitting the wall near Shepard as he stepped out with his rifle raised. She had missed on purpose, Shepard knew about Talis skills with a shotgun, she wouldn't of missed at this range he thought to himself, that was purely for show.
"Now now Tali'Zorah, lets not be too hasty. There would be no fun in that if it ended to quickly." The Illusive Man and Harbinger said as they turned to look at Shepard. Operative drew her pistol, aiming it Shepard and standing just behind Tali.
Shepard walked slowly towards them with his rifle raised, he aimed it at Tali. "It's over, this ends now." He said to them.
"We agree, this will end now. The chaos is about to come to a swift end, and we shall bring in a new era." They replied.
Shepard noticed how The Illusive Man spoke with two voices at once, both his and Harbingers. "At what cost? What ever happened to you putting humanity first? How is any of this putting humanity first?" Shepard shouted.
"Don't be so naive Shepard. Make no mistake, this is all for the greater good of mankind. We will cleanse the galaxy of all other life, and the members of Cerberus will then build a new human race."
"So your doing all this, just to make humans the sole race in the galaxy that you will repopulate in your image? You're insane!"
"With nothing to slow down or stop humanity, we will ascend into greatness and glory! We'll span across the stars and build an empire that will stand till the end of time. You've always been too naive to see the greater picture, letting your emotions and principles cloud your better judgement. Even now, you'd be unable to pull that trigger on Tali'Zorah and as you well know, on your child also." As he said that a violet aura surrounded him, he reached out towards Shepard and trapped him in a dark stasis field.
"And that is down to you not being able to see the bigger picture. We assure you, Tali'Zorah dosn't have the same emotional restrictions as you. And to prove it, she's going to kill you." He paused to look from Shepard to Tali. "Ok Tali'Zorah, end this."
Tali primmed her shotgun and aimed it up at Shepard, she looked into his eyes then gave him a small wink. "Goodbye.." She began to say, she held her shotgun tight. "..you Cerberus cheerleader bosh'tet!" Tali span fast again on the spot, bringing the shotgun up into contact with the side of Operatives head. The blow sent Operative reeling back against the consoles and then to the floor, Tali quickly took aim at The Illusive Man but he was too quick. With a thrust of his hand in her direction, he felt herself lifted of the floor and flung against the wall, dropping her shotgun.
Shepard took advantage of the lapse in The Illusive Mans concentration and was able to break free of the stasis field, he quickly took aim and fired at him. But The Illusive Man again proved too quick, surrounded in the dark violet aura he used biotic hops similar to what the Banshees used to use to avoid his shots. The Illusive Man sent a ball of energy out towards Shepard, forcing him to roll to the side and take cover behind a console.
Tali tried to pick herself up and reached for her weapon, only to feel a boot come into contact with her visor. Tali cried out in pain as Operative had kicked her, she bent down quick to pick up Talis weapon and went to aim it Tali, but Tali quickly recovered from the pain and brought her leg up fast and hard in a sweeping motion at Operatives arm, knocking the weapon from her grasp. She then trust her heel into Operatives shin, making her yelp in pain, giving Tali time to get to her feet.
Shepard watched from cover as Tali and Operative engaged in hand to hand combat, he wanted to help Tali and take a shot at Operative, but they were moving too fast, there was a good chance he could hit Tali instead. He couldn't take the risk. He'd have to deal with The Illusive Man first anyway, he leant out of cover and let go a burst of fire at him. But he dodged that with ease using biotic hops again then he extended his hand towards Shepard. The console infront of Shepard groaned, it was covered in a violet aura and then was ripped from the floor and tossed aside.
"Oh shit." Shepard said to himself, he quickly tried to get up but was hit by a ball of dark energy that had been sent at him. The pain was excruciating, Shepard bit down on his tounge to stop himself from crying out, he didn't want to give The Illusive Man the satisfaction. He felt like he wanted to crawl away and die and before he could compose himself, he felt his body stiffen as a aura covered his body. He felt everything tighten around him, his body was slowly being crushed by the forces.
"Shepard!" Tali shouted out, she could see he was in trouble, but Operative wasn't letting her get away as she sent a blow with her fist into Talis sides. Tali was furious, she felt an intense hatred rise up in her, she quickly countered with an elbow to Operatives face. She cried out in pain and Tali didn't let up, she reached for Operatives blonde hair and tugged hard on it, using it to twirl Operative down to her knees infront of Tali. She quickly took advantage of the situation and wrapped her arms around Operatives neck, she struggled against Talis arms and tried to break free of her grip, with a burst of strength, Tali shouted out. "Keelah se'lai bitch!" Snapping Operatives neck.
Tali took a moment to catch her breath, letting go of Operative, her body collapsed to the floor. She looked over at The Illusive Man approaching Shapard, paying her no attention. She lent down and picked up her shotgun.
Shepard could feel every part of his body crying out in pain, he struggled to breath as the air was slowly crushed out of him. The Illusive Man stood over him and spoke. "You were.. a worthy opponent, but even you could not stand against our vision for humanity. Goodbye Shepard." He said as he clenched his fist, the violet aura around Shepard intensified and he felt his bones start to crack. The Illusive Man stood with a grin on his face, then he felt something cold and metallic press against the side of his head. He turned his head to see what it was, he was looking down the barrel of a gun.
"Dodge this." Tali said and with that, shot her shotgun at point blank in The Illusive Mans face. Tali couldn't help but look away as the blast ripped open his head. The aura quickly disapeared around Shepard, she dropped her gun and helped him up then threw her arms around him. "Shepard..." She said quietly.
"Tali..." He replied just as softly, ignoring the pain he put his arms around her and held her close. They stood there silent for a few moments, enjoying each others warm loving embrace. "I've missed you... so much.."
"I... I've missed you too.. I.. er.. I'm not sure what to say.. after whats happened... but... I do still love you, never stopped... even Cerberus couldn't bury that..." Tali said quietly, looking up at him.
"I love you too Tali... and I don't blame you for anything thats happened... we can talk about it together once were safely away from here. But first we need to stop this thing before it destroys the Alliance." He replied, feeling guilty that he brought up the mission so soon.
"I know." She let go off him and looked around. "The Illusive Man had direct control over the ship, only he could of stopped it..." She started to pace. "But... there is one idea, something I can do to bring it down... but.." She looked down.
"What is it Tali?"
"We are beyond the safe zone.. the only thing protecting us from the black hole is the IFF and the relays mass effect field... I can... cancel out the requency... without it the Dreadnought will lose the protection from the relays mass effect field and head directly for the black hole.." She said looking away, out the window towards the blackhole.
"Ok, whats the problem?" Shepard asked.
"It needs to be done from here... and once done we'll have very little time to escape so.. you need to go now.. I'll give you time to escape then I'll cancel the requency.." Tali said, refusing to meet his gaze.
"No Tali! I didn't come all this way to let you do this alone! If that's what it takes, we'll do it together." He said firmly.
"Shepard.. listen to me.. I can't go back... after everything I've done... how could I.. You might be able to forgive me, but no one else will."
"Thats not true, all of our team, our friends, they are right behind you! We will face what ever the galaxy has to throw at us, together. Besides, it's not just your life you'd be throwing away..." Shepard spoke that last bit softly.
Tali moved her hand over her belly, he was right. She could throw her life away to make things better, but she couldn't be selfish and throw a innocents life away too, there was a long pause. "Ok.. together."
"Together." Shepard said then activated his comms device. "Garrus, we are nearly done here, head back to the Normandy, soon as you are there tell Joker to take off, we'll find another way once we are done here."
"Shepard? We're not leaving you behind!" Garrus replied.
"You're not, We'll be right behind you, but you guys will need the head start, so go!" He ordered.
"Ok, but you better come out behind us alive." Garrus replied before ending the call.
"Ok.. we'll give the team time to escape, then we'll do it." Shepard said looking at Tali.
She nodded and started to cry softly in her mask. "Oh Keelah... Shepard I'm so so sorry for everything! I've ruined so many lives.. and took just as many..." She didn't carry on, her tears blocked out her words.
Shepard moved towards Tali and wrapped his arms around her. "Tali, I know this will be hard for you to come to terms with, but you got to realize it wasn't you that did those things.. and you've already done so much to try fix things that wern't even yours to fix.. We will get through this together, all three of us."
Tali looked up at the mention of the three of them, a family with Shepard, the warm feelings that the thought sent through her body were intense. And worth fighting for. She nodded at him, unable to find her tounge and held him close for a few more moments.
She let go for the last time then slowly headed over to a console. She looked at Shepard who nodded at her and gave her a reassuring smile, then looking back down at the console she began to type commands in that would cancel out the IFF. Minutes of silence passed then the ship shook beneath their feet, violently. "I think that worked..." Tali said as she nearly lost her balance.
"Right then lets get out of here!" Shepard said, taking her hand and heading off the bridge and onto a platform. Shepard looked at the body of the Illusive Man before the doors closed, both him, and Harbinger, were finally dead. The galaxy was finally rid of them.
The platform hurried down to the other end, the ship was filled with loud groans and the sound of metal being ripped away. The Dreadnought was breaking up fast. The platform reached the other end and the doors opened to to where the team had been defending, the walls were littered with the bodies of Cerberus troops, "Looks like they had fun" Shepard thought to himself, taking Talis hand again they ran down the corridor. Explosions spread around the ship, Tali tripped over as the floor began to buckle under them.
"Were not going to make it!" Tali said as Shepard helped her up. Shepard didn't reply as they ran as fast as they could to the hanger.
. . . . .
The Normandy had taken off as instructed by Shepard, Joker had refused at first, but Garrus assured him that Shepard would find a way off. He was still uneasy about leaving, but when the Dreadnought started to shake violently, he decided to get them all out of there, and hoped Shepard would indeed find a way.
From the inside the hanger doors were easy to open, EDI had cleared the path for them and they flew out at max speed and headed towards what was left of the Alliance fleet. They had seen something was up with the Dreadnought and had pulled away to avoid any further damage to their fleets. As the Normandy soared away, Joker could see the Dreadnought out of one of the windows on the bridge, the black hole had ripped away at the hull and explosions lit up along the cracks and openings, the surface rippled with violet bursts of dark energy.
"Oh shit, that explosion is going to be huge!" Joker shouted as he forced the Normandy to go faster, he opened up a comm channel to Fleet Admiral Price. "Joker here, get those damn fleets as far from the Dreadnought as they can before it explodes!" Joker shouted.
"Don't need to tell us twice, we're all moving at max speed away from that thing. Is Shepard there?" Price asked.
Joker looked back at the Dreadnought. Nothing was coming that he could see, the explosions along the Dreadnought got bigger and then with one massive eurption of violet, the Dreadnought exploded, sending a gaint shockwave of dark energy out in all directions.
Everyone in the helm fell silent "No.. they didn't escape in time.. Shepard and Tali stayed behind to give us time to escape before taking it out..." He replied, then swore to himself.
"I... see... they died heros. They will both be honored." Price said sadly, then ended the comm.
Everyone sat in silence for a few moments untill EDI broke the silence. "Theres something coming... just ahead of the shockwave." She said, and everyone looked out the window to see what it was.
A voice then came over the comms. "I told you we'd be right behind you."
Riding the giant purple shockwave, was the Normandy SR-2.