The Battle of the Citadel. I decided to tell it from Luke's point of view since everyone usually sees Ilos. Hope y'all like it. Please R&R and enjoy!
Luke sat in Chora's Den with a batarian whiskey in front of him. The amber drink burned with a slightly more ashy flavor than human whiskey and cheaper too. Not to mention whiskey from Earth had a pretty hefty import tax on it.
The dancers bobbed and weaved along the walls and over the bar, but Luke's focus remained on his drink. His fingers scraped his chest as he pondered what his next move should be, although, clad in his armor, he could not feel a thing.
He had never frequented Chora's Den because of his profession, but with the new owner in charge C-Sec inserted fewer and fewer undercover agents and lost their main reason to raid the place.
Checking his omni-tool for the time, Luke noticed that it had been nearly 14 hours since he released the lock on the Normandy allowing Claire and the others to escape. Nothing on the news about the possibility of an attack on the Citadel or about his attack on Udina; no warrant for his arrest, nothing. I seemed odd to him that no one was coming after him, especially for knocking out the ambassador.
"Luke Shepard, imagine finding you in a place like this," someone said from behind him as the stool next to him was pulled back slightly of of his peripheral vision.
Turning his head to greet the new arrival, Luke quickly recognized his old partner, Bailey. Dressed in his C-Sec common uniform with an overcoat, Bailey reminded Luke of the old "cop movies" from the mid 20th century. Luke smiled and reached over to shake his old friend's hand. "Good to see you Bailey. What brings you to this little slice of Hell?"
Bailey sat down and signaled for the bartender to bring him a drink. "I have been tasked with finding you and bringing you in for questioning." Bailey was never this formal or official. He never spoke the way protocol dictated unless he was trying to pass along a message or reporting to a superior.
"I see. Questioning about what?" Luke downed the last of his whiskey as he adjusted his position on the stool. The image of a jaw that had been introduced abruptly to his fist recently crossed his mind causing a slight smirk to grace his lips.
"There's a long list but to sum it up: reckless endangerment of Alliance personnel, destruction of Alliance military property, and assault on Earth Ambassador Udina," Bailey said leaning forward on the bar crossing his arms as the bartender sat a glass of whiskey in front of him and refilled Luke's.
Silence was all that passed between them for a few seconds. Luke sighed, hoping his friend would not try to arrest him just yet. Finally, Bailey spoke words that Luke had dreaded hearing. "I'm sorry Shepard. I have to take you in."
Yet as Bailey reached for Luke's arm, Luke pulled away. I can't get arrested right now. What if Claire couldn't stop Saren and he launched his attack on the Citadel? If Sovereign is half as powerful as it claimed, the fleet won't stand a chance and a lot of people will die.
"Look Bailey, I get that you are following orders, but give me twenty-four hours. If we're both still alive after that, you can take me in." Luke saw the way Bailey's eyebrows scrunched together and how his eyes narrowed, his spotting-a-liar face.
Bailey sighed and turned back to his untouched drink. He quickly knocked it back and stood up. "Don't make me regret this."
Luke smiled without looking at his friend. "You know me, Bailey. Deny everything, regret nothing. I don't really have a handle on that second part." Luke fingered the rim of his glass as thoughts of Ash started to slink into his mind. The way she would smile when she caught him staring at her or how she would touch his shoulder so gently to get his attention.
"Neither of us have."
Luke looked over at Bailey as his old partner left. Luke knew what Bailey regretted, his son.
Luke's omni-tool lit up as a message flashed across it. Instinctively, Luke reached over and opened the message. As he read, his heart pounded in his chest heavier and heavier, until he was certain that the entire bar could hear the steady drumming in his chest.
A geth fleet has just cleared the relay with a massive dreadnaught leading the charge. That has to be Sovereign, but then what was so important on Ilos?
Luke linked into the comm buoys and sent an urgent message to the Normandy. Hopefully Joker would see it and come to help, but if that ship was Sovereign, they would have to pull a miracle out of someone's ass.
"Claire, I wish you were here," Luke said softly as he scanned his credit chit and made his way toward the door.
If that fleet was coming in, the ward arms would be closed and they might have a fighting chance. A fighting chance…he would have to do the fighting. No one at C-Sec had any experience fighting geth. Sure they had had a few shoot out with krogan mercenaries and other merc groups, but they had never faced anything like this.
"Bailey! Wait up! I need your help with something!" Luke shouted sprinting to catch up with the man. Bailey turned to face his friend. Luke noticed quickly the absence of color in the man's face. He must have already seen the message about the attack and the battle being fought over their heads.
"Shepard, for the love of God tell me that this is a joke or something. Citadel controls are not responding and there are reports of fighting in the presidium."
Luke looked at his friend puzzled. How could they have already landed on the Citadel? They could not have gotten that close without the Citadel fleet shooting down boarding craft. How the hell did they get on board? Or were these sleeper agents? Either way, he had to get to the presidium and help hold them off.
"Get us to the presidium and call in back up. We're going to need every man we can get," Luke said falling in step with Bailey as they both printed for the C-sec cruiser. Luke wished that their compact shuttle was a combat dropship. Landing under fire would likely cost C-Sec many lives, but he could not worry about that now.
000
Luke's gaze held out the window of the shuttle as Bailey brought them into the Presidium from the access tunnels. Smoke bellowed from all over as fire fights raged below. The beauty of the presidium that had captivated him when he had arrived all those years ago as being marred by the violence that he had been fighting so hard to keep from coming to pass. Stopping this attack was now his top priority, not matter the cost, he had to protect the people living on the Presidium.
"I'll set her down near the Alliance Embassy. We'll make that the rally point for C-Sec." Bailey's tone illustrated just how shocked he was by the spectacle being played out before them. Luke wonder if what was going though his mind was tearing away at Bailey's as well.
How the Hell did so many hostile troops get onboard the Citadel? There's no way they snuck in, not with their numbers and weapons. It would've set off every sensor C-Sec had…yet they've been taken completely by surprise. They are going to be decimated.
The shuttle started taking fire from below, some shots even ripping though the thin metal. Bailey jerked the controls rolling the shuttle. Luke tried to reach over and correct the destabilization but even with the inertia dampeners, the g-force of the roll had pinned him to the side of the cockpit. Luke watched his life flash before his eyes as the floor of the presidium approached at an unsettling speed.
"All the shit I've been though and I'm gonna die because my partner can't drive!" Luke shouted as the shuttle, now resembling swiss cheese, crashed into the front desk of the Human Embassy. The desk splintered into pieces as panels and papers were thrown everywhere.
Luke groaned as he sat up. He would definitely feel this crash in the morning. His neck ached, most likely from getting tossed around like a rag doll. He reached up to push on the canopy to try and release it reached behind his head and switched his amp on.
"Bailey, you alright?" Luke asked as he started to climb out of the busted vehicle. Yet hearing nothing, Luke turned to look back and found Bailey unconscious. "Damn it, come on man. There's no sleeping on the job!"
Slipping back down to his friend, Luke tried pulling him out of the wreckage but the console had pinned the man's legs under it. Biotic energy surrounded his hands as he wedged his fingers under the metal plate. He had to be careful not to hurt Bailey while trying to get him unstuck.
Damn it. Come on. Come loose! Luke finally ripped the entire console out, yet as he did, a geth trooper fired a shot nailing him in the chest. His shields crackled as he stumbled slightly backward.
"Hold this!" Luke roared. Hurling the console with all his might, the panel connected with the geth's head and taking it clean off. As the metallic beast fell, Luke pulled Bailey up over his shoulder, but as he started to climb out of the shuttle, he heard that noise that was so familiar and never boded well for those caught in the cross fire; the metallic and lifeless language of geth like growl or a low feedback on a speaker.
A shock trooper hovered over a victim that it still held in its grip. The young asari receptionist that had been at the embassy for as long as Luke could remember. She use to look so busy shuffling papers about and taking calls, yet she always made time to assist anyone that approached her. Seeing her cold and lifeless in the geth's hand made his blood boil. Ripping his pistol from his side, he fired a single shot that ripped through the synthetic's central eye sending it to the floor.
"Claire, tell me you are on your way," Luke said as he set Bailey down propped up against the crashed shuttle. He would have to keep moving forward if he was to keep fighting, he could not give Saren's forces a chance to regroup or fortify their position. Who knew how dug in they already were. But leaving Bailey alone and unconscious was not an option. Waiting for C-Sec back up would have to be the plan for the moment.
Luke took cover behind the shuttle and leveled his pistol. The weapon could not stop that many enemies at once or provide covering fire, but he could use the pistol like an extension of his own arm and accurately dispatch enemies. He would hold his position until more C-sec officers arrived to secure the position, then he would push forward and try to find the source of their troops.