Time seemed to be suspended as they stared at the spot where the reaper's image had been. It was Joker's voice crackling over the comm that finally broke through their shock. "Commander? Commander are you there? We've got trouble!"

Shepard reached up mechanically to her comm. "Hit me, Joker."

"Remember you were telling me to keep an eye on that ship Sovereign? I don't know what you did down there, but that thing just pulled a turn that would shear any of our ships in half."

Shepard's voice was soft. "Of course..."

"Commander?"

"Nothing, Joker. Sorry."

"It's coming your way and its coming hard! You need to wrap things up in there- fast!"

The trance like expression on Shepard's face vanished. Hardened. "Back to the breeding facility. Joker will pick us up after we set the nuke."

They all stirred, glad to have something to focus on besides ancient ships and cycles of death that stretched back into eternity. The rage Sovereign had stirred in Shepard she focused on the geth and krogan that tried to stop them. On the AA tower that was threatening the Normandy. She breathed out a sigh of relief when Ashley came over the comm. "Hey, Skipper! Good job on that gun! We're beginning our assault on the other one!"

Shepard motioned to the others and they headed for the spot that had been picked out for the nuke as Ash gave instructions to the salarian troops. They knew they had taken out the final AA Tower because Joker let out a whoop over the comm suddenly. "All right! Nice work! That's one less thing to worry about!"

"God only knows we need it," Shepard muttered.

"Commander, I'm bringing us in. I'll get us as close to the site as I can."

Kaidan ran ahead as they entered the...she honestly would have called it a courtyard or something anywhere else. It was almost pretty with water cascading and whirling everywhere. In reality, it was the base's one real weak point right at the geothermal taps that powered it.

Shepard watched the Normandy land unharmed and Kaidan helped some of their officers carry the nuke off, setting it down.

"Converting a drive core into a bomb...that's ingenuity worthy of a quarian," Tali murmured beside her. Shepard felt her lips twitch into a smile despite herself.

Kaidan turned toward her. "Bomb is in position, we're all set h-"

Her comm suddenly crackled to life on Ashley's channel. "Shepard!"

Shepard hurriedly turned it up so she could hear better. "Ash?"

"Commander, can you read me?"

"I'm here, Ashley. The nuke is almost ready, get to the rendevous point!"

"Negative, Commander. The geth have us pinned down on the AA tower. We've taken heavy casualties. We'll never make the rendevous point in time."

Shepard hissed out a breath. "Damn it all to everlovin' bloody hell. All right, hang on, we're coming to get you."

"Negative! Just make sure that nuke is set. We'll hold them off as long as we-" The comm went dead. Shepard could only hope it was a technical thing and not Ash getting her head blown off.

She looked over at Kaidan. "Alenko?"

He waved a hand toward the marines that had stayed behind. "We've got it, Commander. I just need a couple of minutes to finish arming the bomb. Go get them and meet me back here."

Even as she led the others to the elevator and headed for the other AA tower, despite the fact they had a billion year old giant alien bearing down on them, all Shepard really felt was annoyance. It wasn't until Garrus said her name sharply and she saw a geth dropship approaching that the annoyance became genuine concern. Ash spoke up over the comm. "Heads up, LT! We just spotted a troop ship headed in your direction."

"They're already here! There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site."

Shit. "Can you hold them off?"

"There's too many. I don't think we can survive before you get here. I'm activating the bomb."

"Say what?"

"I'm just making sure this bomb goes off, no matter what."

There was nothing Kaidan could do that the geth couldn't override and he knew it. Even if he could, if Saren or Sovereign realized what it was, they might cut their losses and have the geth detonate it early, ensuring it took all of them with it. He was hoping to hold them off long enough before they killed him.

"It's done, Commander. Go get Williams and get the hell out of there!"

"Screw that, Shepard, we can handle ourselves. Go back and get Alenko, and the bomb!"

Shepard did some quick math. It would be close but she was pretty sure if they took care of the geth fast enough they would have enough time to get her and get out of here. "Alenko, radio Joker and have him meet us at the bomb site. Ash, just hunker down and keep shooting, we'll be back for you in a jiff."

Ash's voice was uncharacteristically sober. "I think we both know that's not going to happen, Commander."

She scowled at the comm as they moved back toward the bomb site. "I'm going to kick your ass for that later, Williams."

For the first time, Shepard was actually taking the attack personally. Putting two of her people in bad danger did not a happy Shepard make. Kaidan was fighting for cover. One of the marines guarding him was down, wounded, and the other one was backing Kaidan up, but she could see he was favoring his right arm. The rest of them hit the attacking geth like a battering ram, a wedge of destruction backed up by Kaidan and the conscious marine. She overloaded one of the final geth's shields and used a biotic throw to toss it, snarling, before turning to scan the rest of the site. Most of them were dead. Good, she would leave Tali and Liara here with Kaidan this time to pick off any stragglers and take the others to get Ash...

"Shepard!"

Liara's cry was swallowed by a buzzing hum above her. Shepard dove to the side right in time to avoid a bolt of energy that came from above, cursing. She rolled, looking upward as she went for cover.

Saren.

Where the hell had he come from?

The turian was riding on some kind of hovering platform that glowed with biotic energy. He fired another shot at her and she dodged, shooting at him. She heard Garrus snarl something and the boom of Wrex's gun as she dodged behind and outcropping. Her shields didn't have enough energy to absorb a hit from one of those blasts.

If they could at all...

Almost casually, Saren dropped off the platform and landed with a splash. He didn't seem at all concerned that he was surrounded on all sides. Shepard and the squad opened fire on him from three different directions only to have every shot absorbed by whatever damned shield was glowing around him.

Saren turned toward her, stopping a few feet away. She signaled the others to back off. There was no point in wasting the bullets. Behind Saren, she saw Tali and Liara move toward Kaidan and the bomb, helping the fallen marines.

"I applaud you, Shepard." Saren made no move to attack, studying her with those creepy glowing eyes. "My geth were utterly convinced the salarians were the real threat. An impressive diversion."

Shepard didn't correct him. If he wanted to believe that was her idea, that was just fine. She scanned the area quickly as he went on: "Of course, it was all for nothing. I can't let you disrupt what I have accomplished here. You can't possibly understand what's really at stake."

"By all means, enlighten me." No more geth had accompanied him. He was focused on her. He hadn't even glanced at the bomb. Either he didn't know about it, or he was waiting for something. Either way, she tried to keep his attention. Garrus was guarding the bomb as well now, and Wrex was standing just off to the side of Saren, his gun pointed at him.

"You've seen the vision from the beacons, Shepard. You, of all people, should understand what the Reapers of capable of. They cannot be stopped."

"Eh. You're just saying that because no one's ever managed it before," she scoffed, deliberately making her tone light. Her shields were back up to full power and she drew a biotic barrier over herself before stepping out fully to face him. The cut on her cheek had stopped bleeding but she hadn't tended to it yet, leaving a dull red slash across her face.

He didn't appreciate her attempt at levity. "Do not mire yourself in pointless revolt. Do not sacrifice everything for the sake of petty freedoms. The Protheans tried to fight and they were utterly destroyed. Trillions dead. But what if they had bowed before the invaders? Would the Protheans still exist? Is submission not preferable to extinction?"

Shepard shook her head in disbelief. "Are you hearing yourself? They would have died with their heads bowed."

"Now you see why I never came forward with this to the Council," Saren said. "We organics are driven by emotion instead of logic. We will fight even when we know we cannot win. But if we work with the Reapers- if we make ourselves useful -think how many lives will be spared!"

"You're a fool," Wrex growled.

Saren barely spared him a glance. That puzzled Shepard, because Wrex was the one who presented the most danger at the moment, yet Saren was actually turning his back on him. "Once I understood this, I joined Sovereign. Though I as aware of the...dangers. I had hoped this facility could protect me."

Why he was so focused on her in particular, Shepard didn't know, but with a flash of insight, she became almost certain she wasn't the one he was trying to convince. She was just a sounding board. "Tell me, Arterius, is Sovereign feeding you these lines directly into your brain, or did it write a script out for you? Because all that talk about logic and becoming tools sounds exactly like the reasoning of a machine."

Oh, he didn't like that. He shook his head like the words were buzzing around inside his skull. "I have studied the effects of indoctrination," Saren snapped. "The more control Sovereign exerts, the less capable the subject becomes."

"Unless it convinces the idiot to work for it without having to exert control," Wrex sneered.

Again, Saren determinedly ignored him. "That is my saving grace. Sovereign needs me to find the Conduit. My mind is still my own...for now. But the transformation from ally to servant can be subtle. I will not let that happen to me."

Shepard nodded toward Wrex, agreeing with him. "It already has."

"No!" Saren took a step forward. "Sovereign needs me. If I find the Conduit, I've been promised a reprieve from the inevitable. This is my only hope."

"If they're so powerful, then why does it need you? It's playing you, Arterius. There's a possibility we can beat them and I think Sovereign knows it."

"I no longer believe that, Shepard. The visions cannot be denied. The Reapers are too powerful. The only hope of survival is to join with them."

"Then answer me this, dear heart: once you give it the Conduit, what's to stop Sovereign from fucking you over?"

"Sovereign is a machine. It thinks like a machine. If I can prove my value, I become a resource worth maintaining. There is no other logical conclusion."

A bullet hit the back of Saren's shield and he half turned to look behind him. Garrus had come forward, mandibles splayed, every line of his body vibrating with rage as he circled the other turian. "You were a Spectre! You were sworn to protect the galaxy. And you broke that vow to save yourself." The outrage in his voice seemed to hit Saren in a way neither Wrex or Shepard had managed to. Maybe because it was a fellow turian accusing him of going against everything their people stood for.

It put Saren on the defensive. "I'm not doing this for myself!" He turned back to Shepard. "Don't you see? Sovereign will succeed. It is inevitable. My way is the only way any of us will survive. I'm forging an alliance between us and the Reapers. Between organics and machines. And in doing so, I will save more lives than have ever existed."

"Really? Because we were just talking with Sovereign not long ago and it still seemed pretty focused on the whole 'killing everybody and continuing the cycle' thing." Even as she spoke, Shepard knew it was hopeless. The poor bastard was as gone as Benezia was; he just had the illusion of control so he could stay useful. He'd answered her question from earlier without trying to: he wasn't hearing himself. He was only hearing what Sovereign and his own hope had made him believe. "The 'vanguard for our destruction', I believe were its exact words. It wasn't making any mention about sparing anyone, useful or not."

Again, Saren shook his head in an almost irritated gesture, as if trying to shake her words off. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. After all he had done to get to this point, he wouldn't hear it. "You would undo my work. You would doom our entire civilization to complete annihilation. And for that, you must die." For an instant, their eyes met, eerily similar to that moment in the Council Chambers during the hearing. Enemies. It could be no other way.

And then his hover platform swept down and he stepped onto it, rising above their heads, dark energy flaring around him. Liara fired off a biotic attack at him while he was still low enough and Garrus, Wrex, and Shepard all opened fire. Whatever energy he was using to power his shields extended over that platform of his, and it must have put a strain on him, because this time, their bullets were clearly doing some damage.

Shepard dodged around another outcropping as one of Saren's blasts sent both her and Garrus tumbling into the water. She lost sight of Saren for a moment as she pushed herself to her hands and knees. It cost her. She barely had time to register the splash of Saren landing directly next to her before the turian seized hold of her. Saren lifted her clear out of the water with one hand wrapped around her throat. What they had seen of the implants and such he had been given hadn't shown them how strong he was. Shepard dangled from his grip, clawing viciously at his arm as his hand tightened around her throat.

Shepard fought off the automatic panic that suffused her brain as her air was cut off. She dimly heard Wrex snarling a string of obscenities at the turian and Kaidan crying out: "Don't fire, you might hit Shepard!"

Spots started to dance before her eyes and she kicked out hard. At first, she thought the sudden pounding in her ears was from inside her head but as Saren started and glanced behind him, she realized it was the nuke's alarm starting to go off, signaling the final countdown. She lashed out and caught the distracted turian a blow right where his jaw and mandible came together. Saren hissed in pain and dropped her, stumbling back as she kicked out again. She rolled to her feet, coughing, her throat on fire. Even as she brought her gun up, Saren was racing back to the platform, leaping onto it and rising upward.

Shepard swallowed hard and looked to the nuke. Liara was helping Kaidan up. He'd obviously been injured in the blast that had knocked her over. The Normandy suddenly swooped overhead, landing not far away.

Ashley.

No time. Even as she turned toward the AA tower, she knew there was no time. The woman might agonize over it, but the commander was already turning away and moving to help Kaidan, motioning for the others to get the other two marines onto the ship because there wasn't time to hesitate.

Howard was waiting. The second they were all in, he was closing the doors and shouting to Joker over the comm.

"Hang on!" Joker called back. The engines fired up, rumbling beneath her boots as he took them airborne, pushing the Normandy to her limits to get them clear of the blast. Kaidan was hustled off to the medical bay and Shepard moved to a porthole, gazing down numbly at the tranquil beaches and beautiful seas rapidly disappearing beneath them. How could such a beautiful place contain so much horror?

...The sky was suave, the sea serene; for me from now on everything was bloody and black- the worse for me -and as if in a shroud my heart lay buried in this allegory.

She was still standing there, staring down at the planet's surface when the explosion she could see through the atmosphere destroyed Saren's base...and took Ashley Williams along with it.

AN: Shepard is quoting Baudelaire again, there. From "A Voyage to Cythera".