~Author's Note~ Thank you all for the reviews, it's kinda like the drug of choice for us fanfic writers. :P Keep 'em coming, I am trying to respond to everyone who reviews.
Dan, I'd send this to you personally if you had an account. You said that Samara never says her three daughters are the only three Ardat-Yakshi in existence. This is incorrect. Shepard asks her: "How many children do you have?" And her response is: "Three. And three ardat-yakshi are in existence today. It is as it sounds." If you don't believe me, go to the following link and skip to 3:25, (obviously you need to remove spaces first). www. youtube. com/watch?v=iE6NcEQuc7U
Just another example of lore inconsistency in Mass Effect 3 compared to the rest of the series.
Thanks for the review, though, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
I found this on the bioware forums, and thought you guys might appreciate it.
www. youtube. com/watch?v=7zagpVInvjA
It's a fan's alternate ending of ME3 and it is ridiculously good. This is pretty much what I was expecting would be the standard ending- I thought Shepard would only live if basically you did pretty much everything right.
S/he has another video that uses MaleShep/Liara, this one uses MaleShep/Tali. S/he's currently making the other videos with the other LIs for both FemShep and MaleShep, so keep an eye on his/her channel. Again, you'll need to remove the spaces. If we could somehow splice this into the game after Anderson and Shep's conversation, it would be a great, albeit bittersweet, ending.
Enjoy the chapter!
Maybe there was a god after all. Shepard had been doubting that the last few weeks, hell, the last few years. But either someone up there was watching out for them for once, or she was just insanely lucky.
Either way, she wasn't going to complain that they had managed to get back to Alliance HQ without running into any more of the enemy's troops. A good thing, too, considering Garrus was out of ammo entirely, and Tali had only two shots left. It would pretty much be her and her omni-tool against whatever the Reapers threw at them. And who knows how long Tali's rushed repair job would hold up.
Garrus sucked in a breath as they crossed into the structure that held Alliance headquarters. Or, more accurately, used to hold Alliance headquarters.
The Reaper's ground forces had obviously struck here, and struck hard. Bodies were piled everywhere, though she didn't see any spikes around. Maybe they were too busy clearing out the other pockets of resistance to bother with creating more troops, but she was sure that would change shortly.
She looked around at the ruined interior, considering. The place seemed sound enough, the structural integrity didn't appear to be in any danger of letting the building fall down on their heads. It didn't look like any heavy weapons had been deployed, except right at the entrance itself, where a missile had obviously been fired. The charred remains on the floor underneath made it probable that its target had been a banshee. At least whoever fired it took that thing out. She had seen entirely too many of the twisted Asari matriarchs to ever let her sleep easy again.
Garrus stepped up beside her. "Orders, Commander?"
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. They needed her to be focused. "We'll stay here for a bit. It's as good a place as any. Spread out. Tali, see if you can find a working radio. Or one that you can make work again. Garrus, search the place for any weapons and ammo you can find. And medpacks. I know you said the Geth helped fix your arm, Tali, but I'd feel better if we got you some medi-gel to put on the wound."
The two acknowledged her orders. Tali began searching over the equipment, and Garrus began looking over the soldiers.
Shepard strode to the forward area of the building, where a group of computers sat, unblinking, silent, dead. She worked over them for a short while before giving up in disgust. Maybe Tali could coax something out of these machines, but her own technical expertise could not.
She turned to regard the entry-way. It was obvious the Alliance had put up a fight, from the multitude of enemy corpses massed in the entrance. It was also obvious it hadn't been enough. She looked closer, thinking she had seen something move. There, again, almost like something was still alive and breathing in that mess. Shepard peered closer, and had begun to walk towards the entryway when she saw it.
An all-too-familiar set of pink and white armor was almost buried under the pile of husks and cannibals.
"Ash!"
She ran over to her LC, dragging the corpses of their enemies off of her. Ashley gasped as Shepard pulled the last one over to the side.
"Thanks, ma'am, it was getting," Ash coughed for a moment, and it was obvious she was badly injured, "getting hard to breathe."
"Garrus! I need you over here! Bring some medi-gel!" Shepard yelled, hoping Garrus was somewhere within hearing range. "Just... stay still Ash. We'll get you patched up in-" Shepard sucked in her breath as she saw the arm of a banshee protruding completely through Ashley's chest.
Ash smiled. "No need to lie to me, Skipper. Just... tell me something. Did you finish this? Did you get them?"
Garrus and Tali came running up, the former with a medkit already opened, but he stopped when he saw Ashley. He had seen too many wounds to think this one could be treated with medi-gel. Tali covered her face with her hands for a moment, then looked up again, trying to keep her composure.
Shepard blinked away her tears. She was not going to cry, damn it. She had seen friends die before. "We got 'em, LC. Bastards paid for what they did." She would make sure of it.
Garrus blinked, confused, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Good. I knew we would. Humans aren't capable of letting someone wipe us out." Her eyes focused on Garrus for a brief moment. "You take care of her, you big dinosaur. You hear me?"
Garrus nodded, solemnly. "I give you my oath."
Ashley nodded back, her features relieved. "It... it was an honor to serve with you, Vakarian. I may not have ever said that... but it was. And... Tali... best damn engineer in the whole galaxy."
Tali's voice shook as she replied. "Shepard is a great-"
Ashley forced herself up, just a bit, pointing a shaking hand at the quarian. "Shepard's got nothing on you, ya hear me? Quit... quit selling yourself short. You get yourself back to your homeworld and build that house, hear me? You make it the best damn house on Rannoch. For me."
Tali could only nod in response.
But it was enough for Ashley, apparently, as she laid back, satisfied. "Skipper. I- I'm sorry for ever doubting you for one second, I- I should have-"
"Stop it, Ash. You were here with me, when it counted." Shepard couldn't stop the tears now.
Ashley nodded, her eyes closing. Shepard could barely hear her whisper. "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against... against the dying of the light..." Ashley's head lolled gently to one side, and her eyes closed.
Tali gently laid Ashley's broken assault rifle on her chest. "Keelah se'lai, Ashley Williams vas Normandy."
"Keelah se'lai." Shepard took a deep breath and stood up, wiping away the tears. "You can let yourself grieve when the job is done, Shepard. Pull it together," she muttered to herself.
"Tali..." Shepard's voice cracked and she paused a moment, closing her eyes to keep the tears from flowing. "Tali, there's a group of computers over there. See if you can't get one of them up and running so we can get a message to Alliance command."
"Will do, Shepard." The quarian's voice wasn't completely steady, but it was better than Shepard felt.
She vaguely heard Tali began working on the machines. She just had to keep it together for a bit longer. Tali could contact the Alliance and they could get the hell out of here.
She opened her eyes to see Garrus regarding her steadily. "She died a hero, Shepard."
Why was that supposed to comfort her? "I know Garrus. Too many people have died as heroes today. No more. And don't get any ideas yourself."
"So long as you promise not to go out in a blaze of glory."
She chuckled, though the sound was anything but cheerful.
"Shepard?"
"Yeah, Garrus?"
"This may be inappropriate. But... well I need to know. Why did you tell the Lieutenant Comm- Ashley, that we had finished this?"
Shepard took a deep shuddering breath, collecting her emotions. Then she looked at Garrus with such intensity in her gaze that he felt a shiver go up his spine.
"Because we have, Garrus. The Reapers are finished. They just don't know it yet."