~Author's Note~ We are getting close to the end.

Enjoy the chapter.

"Cloaking systems are online, Commander," Joker's voice came over the comm. "We should be completely invisible to those squid."

She shook her head. Joker had enthusiastically caught on to the idea of calling the Reapers names in order to reduce the fear of them. So long as he kept the names somewhat civil, she was okay with it. This had, however, lead to the entire crew trying to outdo themselves in coming up with reasonable names, and unreasonable names, for their enemies. There was currently a contest going on, and a vote on the best name as well. Soldiers really would do anything to pass the time.

Traynor motioned her over to her computer. She started heading that way, only slowing to tell Joker to take them in closer. Kerath had neglected to say just how close he needed to be to get the virus to work, but with the Normandy cloaked, they were not going to be detected by the Reapers unless they physically ran into them, so the closer the better.

Traynor just motioned towards her console. "A message came in for you, Commander, as soon as we hit the system."

She knew it would be a few minutes before they were in position, so she brought it up on her screen.

Katelyn, this is Gene. I've got Sam and BGH with me, pretty sure my communications are being tracked, since we stole this shuttle. Tim is still slightly ticked off about what we did to his toy, and for taking that ship from him. I'm going to drop Sam and BGH off wherever they want, then I'm probably going under the radar. I'll still try to do what I can about the Reapers, but I won't be in contact for awhile. I cannot believe that egomaniac is still trying to get even with the end of the galaxy looming.

There was nothing else. Sam was Samara, that much was obvious. Gene would have been easy to figure out from the content of the message even if Katelyn hadn't given Miranda the nickname, (Ms. Gene Perfect), due to her always talking about her genetic structure. BGH... now that was a bit tougher. But mentally going through the list of those people Miranda would have wanted her to know was alive, it only fit one person. Zaeed's favorite saying, after all, was that they would all be "big goddamn heroes" when this was over.

That left only two people awol, and she was pretty sure that one of them would be looking out for the other. Kasumi still hadn't given up on Jacob, even though the man was expecting a child by another woman. Shepard shook her head again, a half-smile on her face. Despite her insistence to the contrary, she had been worried about her crewmates, and did not relish the idea of destroying the Sol System while not knowing whether or not they were still on Earth.

Joker's voice came over the comm again. He sounded puzzled. "We're being... hailed, Commander."

Shepard looked up, incredulous. "The Reapers?"

"Er, not sure, Commander. It appears to be from a small craft in the earth's atmosphere. There are several of them, behind the Reaper's lines around the planet."

She looked over at Garrus, who shrugged, as puzzled as she. How were they hailing a cloaked ship from inside Earth's planetary atmosphere?

"Well, Joker, patch them through. If it is the Reapers, a talk over the communications system won't hurt us. I hope."

But it wasn't the voice of Harbinger that came over the comm next. It was Kasumi's, and Shepard had never been so glad to hear the little Japanese woman. "I'm telling you, that's the Normandy's signature!... It vanished because they activated their cloaking systems, baka!"

Shepard laughed, then spoke into the ship's communications hub. "Kasumi! How nice to hear from you."

"Shepard!" In a stage whisper, she spoke to someone with her. "I told you it was the Normandy."

Shepard shook her head. "We're kinda running on a tight schedule here, Kasumi. What are you doing back there?"

"We picked up some refugees and we're... stuck. We were just talking about whether to make a run for it when your signature showed up for a split-second."

"So you need some sort of distraction. Well, I think we can oblige. Stand by, Kasumi."

Shepard turned to Garrus. "What do you think? Any ideas?"

He shrugged. "Firing the main cannon at them would certainly get their attention. They undoubtedly know the ships are there, however. Which leads to the question of why they are not simply-"

"Commander! The Reapers are moving in on the group of ships! If you're gonna do something you better do it now!"

Kasumi's voice came back over the comm. "Shepard! The Reapers, they're- NO!"

Joker spoke again, more urgently. "The Reapers opened fire on the ships, Commander. Three down."

"De-cloak, Joker. Send a call to them." Shepard's face was hard, her mouth set in a grim line. She was not going to sit here and watch Kasumi die.

Another voice, this one male, came through the her earpiece. "Commander. We're hit. Kasumi got thrown against the side of the ship and she's out cold."

"Jacob? You're with her?"

His voice sounded grim. "She found me after our failed assault, got me working on rounding up refugees."

"Stand by, Jacob." Then, to Joker. "Open fire. Just let them know we're here, then fall back, see if they come for us."

Garrus laid a hand on her shoulder. "Commander, the mission-"

She brushed him off. "I am not watching another of my crew die. And we're not blowing this place while Kasumi is alive anyway."

Kerath, who had not said a word the whole time, looked up at that. He spoke quietly, for a Geth. "We're in range, Commander, and they're here."

She turned towards him. "Who's they?" The words hadn't finished leaving her mouth when a ship leaped into the system. It was rather obvious what it was for, since it was a simple cargo cruiser.

Joker's voice came over the comm again. "It's on autopilot Commander. EDI can easily override the systems and send it into the relay whenever you wish."

"We're gonna be far away from here when that happens. So is Kasumi, and Jacob, and everyone in those ships. Fire the Thanix, Joker. Give those bastards something to worry about."

The Reapers inexplicably broke off pursuit of the small band of ships as soon as the first shot from the Normandy's main gun cut across their path. A single ship's weapon wouldn't hurt them, Shepard knew that, the Reapers knew that, and yet they weren't coming after her either. What were they playing at?

The small band of ships immediately left Earth's atmosphere, heading for the Relay. Jacob sent her a message as he crossed paths, letting her know he'd get Kasumi to a medical frigate before he headed down to see his wife. As if she would have expected otherwise. That still didn't explain why the Reapers had let them go.

Then Joker spoke again, his voice grim. "We're being hailed again, Commander. And yes, this time it's from them."

She glanced over at Kerath. "The virus?"

"I shall began the upload. Communications with the Old Machines may help in that process, as it should keep their attention somewhat split."

"Alright, then patch the bastard through. Just... send it to the communications center this time. Garrus. With me."

The two of them took the winding route through to the comm center. Garrus spoke, softly. "What do you suppose Harbinger could want? Gloating doesn't seem like it's in the Reapers' nature."

"No. And him letting the ships go like that. Something doesn't add up, Garrus. It's like we're... we're not even worth his time. I think I hate that feeling worse than the idea that they can beat us."

"We'll make him pay for thinking that, Shepard."

The doors to the comm room opened before Shepard could respond. The glowing form of Harbinger hung over the console.

"Shepard," it said, without any preamble, "this war of yours is pointless. We are invincible. You are nothing but a mere annoyance, and one that will soon be gone. Why do you persist in this foolishness?"

She braced her hands on the console, glaring at her enemy. She was in no mood for this. "We seem to always have the same conversation when we talk, Harbinger. Obviously I think I can win. As a matter of fact, I am going to win. I would accept your surrender as a compromise though. Leave this galaxy and I won't annihilate you."

"Such bravado. Even for a race as arrogant as humanity, you go beyond their presumptuousness. Why does an insect believe it can crush the pinnacle of evolution?"

"Why is the pinnacle of evolution concerned with crushing an insect?" Shepard countered. "Why do you bother with us if we are so insignificant?"

"We are no more concerned with crushing you than a god would be concerned with destroying a larvae. It is merely a side effect of our purpose in this cycle, and several of the ones before it. This cycle is taking too long, Shepard, there is not enough time left for this galaxy to waste. We ordered that those ships be allowed to leave as a gesture. Now, listen to us.

The cycle must continue. We have told you this innumerable times, but you refuse to believe us. Even when your Crucible failed, you continued to fight. Do you not understand yet? We allowed the plans for the Crucible to survive through the centuries because it was we who designed it. It is nothing more than a convenient way to get all of your fleets in one place and crush them. It has happened before. You believe you are the first cycle to use it? It is a fail-safe so that you spend all of your time and energy constructing something that will not serve to help you at all. Although, those plans were created prior to our discovery of the problem we now face."

Shepard stood there in disbelief. She had thought this might be the case herself, but to hear it confirmed... they had thought of everything.

Harbinger continued, unaware, perhaps, of the effects its words were having. "This war, while it is, and always has been, inevitable that we will win it, is costing us time. Too much time. This galaxy is coming to an end, and we cannot stop it. Not without... you."

Shepard recovered from her shock. "Well, this is a new card indeed. Not only can you not do something, you need a single human to help you?"

"You misunderstand, Shepard. Not a single human. All of humanity. We need every last member of your race. We attempted this enterprise with the Collectors, but it failed to work. Because of you, Shepard."

"This... enterprise? You mean, the part where you liquefied the colonists and tried to create a Reaper from their remains?"

"It was not their remains, Shepard. They were alive, fully conscious, joined to the Reaper consensus. Ascended. It is glorious."

Shepard grimaced and so did Garrus. "Thank you, but I prefer to remain in this state."

"But you cannot, Shepard. Your current state is woefully inadequate to perform what is necessary. You cannot even fathom the necessary data in order to bring your own knowledge to bear in your current form. You must be ascended."

"Why, Harbinger? Why do you want to make a human Reaper?"

"To join your collective insight and knowledge to ours. Humanity is one of the most widespread races across the galaxy, and yet you have only been on the galactic scene a few hundred years. You see things other races do not, attempt things other races do not. With the limited time we have left, we have only the resources to create one more Reaper. One last attempt to stave off destruction. If it fails, then we are all doomed. But if we do not even try, we are all doomed for certain. Humanity is the best of the races for this task, and so, we chose you.

"The galaxy is dying. What you humans refer to as the "Mass Effect" is killing it. Slowly, over millions of years, but then far more rapidly once it began building up. Once we realized what had happened, it was far too late to stop it. Our current estimate places a time limit of less than half a millennium before complete galactic annihilation.

"You see, Shepard, while the Mass Effect has given you great advances in galactic technology, and has given you the ability to travel the stars like gods, there is an unintended side effect. Every single time it is used, whether it be to power the smallest of machines, or the Relays themselves, it gives off a small quantity of dark energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, and this side effect is what the power of the Relays is converted into. The quarians have already discovered the consequences of this, on Haestrom. Our Geth were there as well, researching the effect, just to help our calculations as to the time we had left."

Shepard had stood silent, her mouth open in shock. She remembered finding Tali on Haestrom and the quarian's findings on how the dark energy in that star had caused it to rapidly age.

"How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"Let me show you."

Before Shepard could get a word out, she was ripped from her body and thrown into a sea of stars. The galaxy floated around her, the Reapers spread out in a pattern over it. Now that she was looking at it from their perspective, she could see it. They had ringed the major human systems, keeping nearly the entirety of the human race within their circle. She could see the galaxy's stars, some of them already dark, some turning so, and she realized that time was passing at an enormous rate. One by one, the stars went dark, going out with a final puff of light that took their system with them. In an alarmingly short amount of time, there were none left. Slowly, even the Reapers began to shut down, until finally, there was nothing. No life, no light, only the cold, dark, emptiness of the void.

She gasped, sucking in air, and she was back in her body. Garrus was shouting at the thing on the console, demanding it let her go, but he whipped around when he heard her gasp and hurried over to where she had fallen when Harbinger took her consciousness.

"Kate? You alright there?" He reached a hand out to her and she took it, hauling herself up. "This lying bastard was saying he had no intention of hurting you, after spinning us that tale-"

"He's not lying, Garrus."

He stopped, mid-sentence, his eyes opening a bit wider. "Are you sure? Perhaps he's trying to indoctrinate you-"

"No Garrus. He's not lying. I know." She approached the console again, where Harbinger sat, waiting.

"What do you want me to do, exactly?"

"Give us humanity. Perhaps, if we hurry, the human race's combined knowledge, vitality, and most importantly, their ability to advance at such a rapid pace, will give us the added insight and ability to do something about this problem in time."

"Perhaps?"

"There is a large chance that adding the knowledge of humanity will do nothing. But if we do not even try it, then the galaxy is doomed for certain."

She paused. "Give you humanity? I doubt I would be able to convince anyone else of this, especially when they know they'd have to... well, essentially die."

"There is no need for that. Give us the location of the fleets. Do not warn them we are coming. We know you know where they are. We will crush them, and then we can easily ascend the human race without opposition, and thus, in time to do something about this dark energy problem."

The thought of giving over the fleets to the Reapers was repugnant to her. If there truly was no other way, however... "And if we fix the problem? Then what? You were reaping the galaxy far before you were aware of this dark energy threat."

"That is correct. It is only the past seven cycles that we have attempted to make new Reapers in order to add their knowledge to ours. After we deal with the dark energy threat, the cycle will begin anew. But, that will be a few centuries, at the least. What is left of galactic civilization may be better equipped to stop us at that time. It is a risk you must take.

"If you do not take it, we will crush you nonetheless. It will simply take more time, and this extra time wasted will most likely result in complete galactic destruction.

"It is your decision, Shepard. It has been you who have delayed us at every turn, first by defeating our vanguard, Sovereign, then by ending the Collectors before they could finish their purpose, and then finally, by resisting your own indoctrination. It must be you who decides this. Give us humanity or allow all life to be extinguished.

"Make your choice, Katelyn Shepard. Decide the galaxy's fate."