Chapter 33: Beginning of the End

Only a few days had passed since Shepard and Garrus had rescued David Archer. From the messages that Rah had been sending her, the man was starting to settle in nicely. All of them knew that it would be some time before David was back to normal, but he showed that he was recovering as it was.

In those few days however, news had come to light that Shepard couldn't believe. A certain reporter, one with an extremely long name and an obnoxious personality, had run a report about Shepard. The reporter, a Miss al-Jilani, had plastered all over the extranet in a matter of hours that Shepard was Cerberus. The reports that continued to cycle around her were all claims of Shepard faking her death to join the terrorist organization.

Shepard spent the better part of a day reading over the various articles on her and what she had allegedly done for the terrorist group. One article however, made her heart skip a beat. It was one of a text interview between al-Jilani and "The General of the Alliance Marines".

al-Jilani - It's good to hear from you General-?

General - You've been bogging down my staff for several days now. Spit it out.

A - The matters I need to discuss are of the highest importance sir. Would you mind if I asked you about one of your marines.

G - If it's not classified, sure, fire away.

A - Are you aware of Commander Shepard's return from the dead a few months ago?

G - Yes. I gave her the orders to let her become public again.

A - So then you know about her involvement with Cerberus?

G - You think me a child Miss Jilani?

A - W-what?

G - I didn't get to my rank and position by being an idiot. Cerberus is a group that we have had agents in for years now. Shepard was one of those until recently. It was under my orders that she exposed herself and in doing so, crippled many operations inside of Cerberus.

A - So you condone that Shepard is a member of Cerberus?"

G - Hell fucking no. Shepard is one of my marines. During her time in Cerberus, she informed me of everything happening to her and around her, both in reports and in video. I am not a simpleton that you apparently believe me to be.

A - I've never-

G - I read your articles Miss Jilani, I know your opinion of the Alliance Brass. Believe me when I say this, there is a reason that there are classified things in the military and in the government. If Shepard had been exposed any earlier, she would have actually died then and there.

-connection lost

Shepard heard the door to her cabin open and grinned at Garrus who walked in.

"Kate?" He asked, surprised at the look on her face. "Have you not been seeing the news lately?"

"Oh I have." Shepard replied, pointing at her terminal. "So has a friend of ours."

Garrus peered over her shoulder at the screen. "Your friend is a prick Kate."

"I heard that Scarface!" Rah's voice laughed out from the terminal.

"W-What?" Garrus stammered.

"Who do you think pointed this out to Sarge? Her own looking?" Rah's voice chuckled. "I called her and sent her this. It hasn't been posted yet, and if that fucking reporter doesn't I have contacts to make sure it does get posted."

"Garrus is right though Rah." Shepard replied. "You are a prick."

"Thanks!" Rah's beaming voice replied. "I do need to ask you something though Sarge."

"Anything." Shepard replied to the N7.

"I need you to go to Vancouver." Rah told them after a sigh.

"Why?" Shepard didn't understand. If the Alliance's official stance was that Shepard had been infiltrating Cerberus, why would she need to go to Alliance HQ?

"There are still a large amount of people that want you dead. Even though it's our stance to everyone else, the other admirals don't see it my way." Rah told her, he clearly didn't like the task of telling her all this.

"What about the others in the marines? The N7s?" Shepard asked. She didn't give a damn about the Navy in the long run, but they were still her superiors in the end.

"The marines and the N7s still have your back. You're one of ours and we never leave a man behind. The admirals on the other hand, they don't give a shit." Rah sighed.

"Anything you can do about them?" Shepard asked, trying to keep her hopes down.

"The best I can do, is find ways to delay the trial that they want you put on. In all honestly, you'll end up under house arrest, temporarily stripped of your rank, and the Normandy will be grounded."

"I'll give it some thought." Shepard told him, it was all she really could do at this point.

"Let me know Sarge. I still have time before I'm forced to come and get you myself." Rah told her, an apology in his voice. "Fuck. I need to go. Stupid rookies can't do anything right."

"Have fun." Shepard chuckled back, just before the connection was cut.

"So what are we going to do?" Garrus asked her, draping his arms over her shoulders.

"We should talk to Joker and that others first. See what they want to do. Worst case, I'll fly the ship back to Earth alone." Shepard sighed, resting her head on his cowl.

"I wish I could go with you." Garrus told her softly, nuzzling the top of her head.

"You'd need to be on Palivan. You need to get the Turians ready." Shepard told her mate, placing her hands on his mandibles.

"I don't know if I can." Garrus told her honestly.

"You might not, but I know you can do it." Shepard told him. Garrus never had confidence in his abilities to lead people, not since Omega.

"We'll talk to the others tomorrow." Shepard told him after a few minutes of silence. "No use worrying now."


Rah crashed onto his bed. After calling Shepard, and fixing the mistakes that some of the new kids, soldiers that had been sent to him for another project he'd started, who couldn't understand how to set up a gym he was exhausted. It was a simple task of ordering them around to put everything in the right spots (so that everything would fit), but afterwards he'd spared with them. He put them through the "meat grinder" as they called it and no one left the gym without being sore all over.

The day after he'd returned to Grissom with David Archer, the training facility on Elysium had been finished. With that, came his job of setting up everything for training those that would be sent to him. For now at least, he only had the Ghosts and a dozen marines from a few different units.

The marines had been ones that nobody wanted. Ones that were reckless and prone to running out into enemy fire without regard to anyone else. They were the exact kind of people that he wanted.

He was having the techies that he'd been given develope a new type of armor, one that he'd called Terminator armor. The new armor would be made from the hulls of cruisers, and armed with heavy weapons that only tanks and fighters had equipped on them. He was making a squad of soldiers that would be able to go up against a battalion and win with only minor damage.

The downside to this however, was that Hackett wouldn't have the funds to build a cruiser with what he was doing.

Speaking of Hackett. Rah groaned when his omni-tool beeped at him. He looked to see that it was infact Hackett. Rah was a bit surprised to see however that the admiral was asking for a vid call.

"Steven." Rah spoke when he answered the call.

"Robert." The older admiral replied, his face just as weathered as normal.

"I assume that this isn't a call to find out about my day?" Rah asked, his sarcasm laced through his voice.

"No. This is on a more important matter." Hackett replied, his face and voice cool. "It's about the Reapers."

"What about them?" Rah asked, sitting up straight, his voice and face deathly serious.

"I've lost contact with someone that was working on another project with the Reapers. Her aides say that Batarians have taken her." Hackett told him.

"Why would Batarians take one of ours? Trying to start a fight they can't win?" Rah asked, confused about everything. Hackett had information that he needed still.

"She was working in Batarian space." Hackett told him. "Doctor Amanda Kenson, the one they took, has evidence to support Shepard's claims of the Reapers coming. According to her, they'll soon be at our doorstep in weeks."

"Where is she?" Rah asked. He needed this woman back, the galaxy needed her.

"She's being held in a batarian prison. I'll send you the location." Hackett told him. "Get one of the Ghosts to do this. We can't risk an incident happening that could tie us to it if something goes south."

Rah knew he was right, the Batarians had been threatening war ever since humanity had gained a seat on the council. However, Rah wouldn't send just anyone on this mission.

"I'll get it done sir." Rah told hackett. The admiral nodded and disconnected.

Rah got off of his bed and strode out of his room. He pulled up his omni-tool and called his aide.

"Jenny." Rah spoke when the woman answered. "I'm going to be off planet for a while. Give my duties to Major Summers until I'm back."

"Yes sir." Jenny replied around a yawn. Rah only just realized that it was only 0200. "When will you be expecting to return?"

"I don't know. Anywhere from a day to several weeks." Rah told her bluntly. "Make sure you take care of Urz while I'm gone."

"Urz won't be a problem." Jenny replied, a note of concern in her voice. "Is there something wrong sir?"

"Something is always wrong." Rah replied, his voice light. "Please let Sanders know about this as well. One of her classes is working on something for me."

"I'll do it right away sir." Jenny replied after another yawn.

"Do it when you're fully away Jenny." Rah chuckled and cut the connection.

"You know that Jack won't like this." Fox told him, her avatar appearing next to him.

"She won't have a say in this." Rah replied, hating himself for the words. He didn't want to keep her in the dark, but in this case, the fewer people that knew, the better.


"Jack?" A female voice woke Jack from her slumber.

"Huh? What?" Jack stammered, lifting her head off her pillow and looking around. "Who?"

"It's Fox." The female voice spoke again. Jack looked to see that her omni-tool was active and was the source of the voice.

"The fuck do you want?" Jack asked the AI, burying her head back into her pillow. It hadn't yet connected in her mind that Fox contacting her after a week of hearing nothing from Rah could only mean one thing.

"Rah needs you." Fox told her. With that simple phrase, Jack wakened fully.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, concern in her voice. "He's back? Where is he?"

"He's in his room on the station. He needs you, but he won't admit it." Fox told her, Jack swore that the AI was worried, and that scared the piss out of her.

Without a second thought, Jack rolled out of bed and threw on a pair of pants and a top, not even bothering with anything else. She stormed out of her room, ignoring the fact that it was still a good five hours before she needed to be awake.

Silently, Jack padded through the empty halls of Grissom. When she found Rah's room, the light on the lock was red. Before she could even move to knock, it flickered green and opened for her.

Jack stepped into the dark room, only seeing the outline of Rah's form from the light behind her. Jack could see that Rah was sitting on his bed, hands clasped before him and his head down. Before the door closed behind her, Jack could see the shaking of his shoulders. The very room felt cold and heavy around her, it felt as if she should simply find a hole to hide in for a while.

"Rah?" Jack asked, her voice worried when the N7 said nothing after several minutes of her simply standing there.

"Jack?" Rah asked, Jack could feel the air around them change. It went to more of a forced calm, as if a storm had passed, only for a hurricane to follow in it's tracks. "H-how'd you know I was here?"

"Fox told me." Jack replied, slowly walking towards him. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Jack knew that Rah had left the system entirely. Sanders had told her that Rah needed to head out of the system for a bit, but would be back later. Other than that, Jack knew nothing about what had happened.

"Y-you, uh, you could say that." Rah replied, a forced chuckle in his voice. Jack could tell that he was doing everything in his power to make it seem as if he was fine, that nothing was wrong, but Jack could see right through it.

"What happened?' Jack asked, when she stood before him. She brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders and his hands went to her hips. Jack could feel him shaking.

"Best if you don't-" Rah began, but Jack silenced him, bringing her lips down to his.

"Robert, you've been my rock, my anchor." Jack spoke softly to him, her voice soothing and comforting. "You've done more for me than anyone else ever has. Let me return that. Let me be yours for once."

"I have another name to add." Rah told her after a moment of silence. "One name that is the culmination of 304942 innocent souls. Souls that died because I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't good enough."

Jack was stunned, but she didn't let it show. What could possibly have made him say this?

"Tell me what happened." Jack told him. Rah pulled her to him and held her close. Jack sat on his lap and he buried his face at the joint of her shoulder and neck.

"I delayed the Reapers from coming." Rah told her after a while of the two of them sitting there. "But I didn't have the time I needed."

"Talk to me about it." Jack soothed him. "It helps, I know."

"Hackett gave me a mission, one to go and find an undercover scientist. She'd been captured and I had to rescue her. I took her from a Batarian prison and back to the facility that she'd been working at.

"The scientist had found a device, and managed to figure out the Reaper's plan. They were going to enter the Galaxy from darkspace, then use the nearby relay to jump to every system in the 'verse. The only way to stop them, was to destroy the relay."

"You did what you had to." Jack soothed him. She knew that her words wouldn't do much, but she had to be there for him, as best she could be.

"No. I could have saved them. There were four days that I had to get them out of the system before the Reapers would arrive. The scientist, she was indoctrinated. She knocked me out, sedated me. She kept me from doing my job. She kept me from saving the lives of all those innocents."

The way that Rah told her all of this shattered her heart. Rah began shaking against her and she could feel a wetness begin to soak through her shirt and into her skin. The man that had triumphed over impossible odds, saved countless lives, saved hers, had been broken. It fell to her to pick him up, and put the pieces back together.

"Robert." Jack spoke softly. "You couldn't have done anything. You couldn't have known. You did the best you could."

"My best wasn't enough." Rah sobbed into her shoulder. "It never is."

"That's not true." Jack told him. "Your best saved me from going even farther down my path of hate and death. Your best is why we saved the crew of the Normandy and most of the colonists from Horizon. Your best is what kept us all alive on the Collector base. Your best is why the Skyllian Blitz started and stopped on Elysium."

Jack gently forced Rah to look up at her, for ever good it did in the pitch black room. "Your best is what gave those people a quick and painless death. A death free from the torment the Reapers would have put them under."

Rah squeezed Jack tighter against him. She knew that he understood her, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Lay down, and get some sleep." Jack told him, easing his body back as she did so. "I'll be here when you wake up."

"I can't ask that of you." Rah told her when they were both laying on his bed, him in her arms.

"It's not up to you." Jack told him and brought their lips together. "Get some sleep."

Rah didn't say anything. For a long time, the two of them lay in silence. The silence was broken however when Jack heard a small snore come from Rah.

"Fox." Jack spoke quietly to the AI, knowing that she was listening in through Rah. "Have my classes canceled for the next two days."

"Thank you." The AI replied softly from her omni-tool.


After the destruction of the Alpha Relay and the Bahak system, the Batarians had been outraged. All of their blame, turned to Shepard. As she was a public figure, and had ties to Cerberus, she was the easiest to blame.

A day after the event, Shepard received word from Jack that Rah was a mess because of it. Shepard didn't need any other reason than that to turn herself in, if only to protect her friend and brother.

Shepard stopped at the Citadel to drop of Garrus, Ken, and Gabby. None of them wanted to leave, but they understood that they had to. Ken and Gabby needed to stay hidden for as long as they could, or risk the same fate as her. Garrus needed to go back to Palivan, but he promised her that he would find a way to stay in touch.

With only Joker, Chakwas, and herself on the Normandy, Shepard headed to Earth, ready to face the trial that would likely await her. She only hoped that her pilot and doctor knew what they were doing by staying with her.


A/N: So insomnia... That is all.

Anyways, thanks all for the continued support! Hope you all like this!