Here is the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. We are getting to the part of the game where the most swearing is done...at least it was that way on my play through. Please read and review. Suggestions, comments, and questions are always welcome. Enjoy!
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Luke felt his body being pulled into cover but his vision remained blurred. His ears were ringing from the blast as he felt someone apply medi-gel to a burn on his face.
"Luke!" The voice sounded so distant and soft accompanied by the rolling of thunder, but as his vision started to clear up, he could see Liara hovering over him. He could see bullets spark as they ricocheted off the metal barricade that the team was using for cover.
"Luke, wake up," Liara said softly.
Luke groaned as he sat up making sure to keep low enough that he was exposed to Saren's barrage of bullets.
"You've lost. You know that, don't you?" Saren said as he fired a biotic attack that shook the floor beneath them.
"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve!" Claire snapped back.
Luke looked around. They seemed to have found themselves stuck between a psychotic nut job and an unwinnable situation. They could not waste time or retreat. If Sovereign gained control of the Citadel and released the rest of the reapers on the galaxy, no one would stand a chance.
"You survived our encounter on Virmire, but that was simply a fluke. I've changed now…improved. Sovereign has upgraded me," Saren's voice sounded different from Virmire. It seemed more synthesized, like a triple tone rather than the normal dual tone of regular turians.
"You let Sovereign put an implant in you! Have you lost your damn mind? That thing is using you! You're indoctrinated!" Luke blurted out. Saren responded by lobbing a grenade over Luke's cover, which Luke promptly abandon launching himself biotically out of the blast radius. Wrex caught him but accidently pulled the human down on top of him.
"You are not a very comfy pillow," Luke said rolling off the krogan.
"Don't try to be." Smirks crossed the two friends' faces as the positioned themselves to be able to start shooting if Claire gave the order.
"I suppose I should thank you, Shepard. After Virmire, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said. About Sovereign manipulating me and indoctrination. The doubt ate away at me until Sovereign alleviated it. It strengthened my resolve." Saren raised a three fingered hand and formed a fist as biotic energy started to form an orb of energy around it. "Now, my doubt is gone and I believe in Sovereign completely. The reapers need organics. Join us Shepard, Sovereign can find a place for you too."
"This isn't you talking Saren! Sovereign is controlling you through you implants. It's taken the thing that made you a great spectre and turned you into a pawn. Open your eyes!" Claire shouted as she held her pistol up ready to fire.
"The relationship is symbiotic. When organic and machine unite, it is a vision of the future. The strengths of both and weaknesses of neither. This is true rebirth," Saren cried as he fired another few rounds at the team's hiding spots.
"We'd rather die and stay dead than like as some cold heartless machine's pet!" Luke shouted.
"You are insignificant and in this particular conversation, irrelevant. You and your companions will die along with everyone you know, everyone you love, and everyone you've ever met." Saren seemed so sure of the outcome. It was truly damaging Luke's calm. "The reapers can't be stopped. Not by the protheans. Not by you, Shepard. Not by anyone. The cycle must continue."
"Saren, you were a spectre. A defender of freedom and justice. The first and last line of defense for the Council and everyone in Citadel space. You and I can stop Soveriegn. All you have to do is step aside and the invasion will never happen," Claire shouted back. A calmness cast an almost eerie tone over Claire's voice.
How can Claire be so calm in this situation? What the hell is she thinking? Luke adjusted his position in cover and glanced out to get a look at where Saren was and gage the distance.
"We can't stop it! You saw the visions! You know what the reapers are capable of. We either comply or die. The reapers are too powerful!" Saren retorted. Luke could see the turian struggling to comprehend what was being said to him. He was starting to doubt. If Claire could keep him distracted for just a little longer, he might be able to close the distance with a biotic charge and kill the traitor before he even knew what happened.
"Some part of you knows that this is wrong! You can fight this! Fight it Saren!" Claire shouted.
Luke watched in astonishment as Saren's gaze lowered and his hand slowly rubbed his temple, like there was an itch that he could not quite scratch. "Maybe you're right. Maybe there is still time for…Ugh!" The former spectre lurched forward in pain. Luke could see the lights flickering in his implants. He was fighting them. Saren himself had given Luke his opening. "The implants…They're too strong!"
Leaping from cover, Luke fired a biotic pulse that launched him forward. He covered the distance in less than half a second. Jamming his pistol up under Saren's jaw, Luke had only one thought. For Ash.
The blast echoed off the walls as the former spectre started falling backward. The sudden change in weight on the hovercraft caused it to tip sending Luke toppling over after him. Luke reached out grabbing hold of Saren's chest plate and used him as a battering ram. The turians heavy body and armor collided with the glass over the small atrium below shattering it. Luke braced himself for the hard landing he knew resided in his very near future.
000
Mallory stood behind Joker in the cockpit as the Arcturus Fleet launched and formed their formation behind them. Kaidan had remained in the copilot seat since the drop on Ilos. Once Claire and the rest had been deployed and they had discovered the conduit was a relay, Mallory took the Normandy to Arcturus Station to rally the fleet and head to the Citadel to aid in the defense. Now they simply were sitting at the relay ready to make the jump but the system was locked down.
It was crazy to think, but maybe Saren had made it to the Citadel and the invasion had started. Could Claire and the others have failed? Mallory even found her thoughts encompassing her brother. Was he even still alive with an attack on the Citadel raging?
"Mallory, we've patched into the comm buoys. We should be able to get a message through to the Citadel," Kaidan informed her. Mallory nodded and opened the channel, but the moment she did a message blared through the speakers.
"This is the Destiny Ascension. Our kinetic barriers are down. We are being overwhelmed. We need immediate assistance. The council is on board, I repeat, the council is on board."
Mallory pushed her stomach back down as she glanced helplessly at the relay status sensor still reading locked.
"Normandy to the Citadel, Normandy to the Citadel. Come on commander tell me that's you," Joker said zeroing in on an open channel coming from the Citadel.
"You were expecting someone else?" Claire's voice announced over the radio. Mallory pumped her fist. Claire made it. She had control.
"Claire, it's Mallory. We caught that distress signal from the Ascension. Unlock the relays and we can bring in the cavalry. We've got the entire Arcturus fleet behind us. We can save them," Mallory said. She heard an argument in the background about not wasting reinforcements and conserving their strength to take Sovereign down. She understood the strategy and it made the most sense, however the Acension had the fire power of five Alliance cruisers.
"We can't lose the Council and definitely not the Acsension. I'm unlocking the relay. Save them. I'll have the arms open in a matter of minutes," Claire responded.
"Roger that. What about Saren?" Mallory asked. The whole crew seemed to hold their breath waiting for the answer.
"I took care of that bastard. For Ash," Luke stated. Mallory could not help but breathe a sigh of relief at hearing her brother's voice. Of course she was happy to hear from him and that Saren was dead, but she still felt the venom of his statement about Ashley.
"Relay's unlocked. Cavalry is on the way!" Joker announced throwing the Normandy into full speed as the rest of the fleet followed.
000
Claire and the rest of the team made their way down to Luke. As they entered the atrium, they found him standing over Saren's body with his pistol in his hand. His eyes fixed on the dead turian's face.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Claire asked. She knew the traitor was. It was unmistakeable, but she was suttly giving Luke permission to fire a few more rounds in to the corpse. Lord knew she wanted to.
Luke glanced back at her before firing five more round, three to the chest and two more to the head. "I think so."
The moment he spoke, an ungodly noise ripped through the tower and the entire structure began to shake. Claire grabbed her brother and pulled his away from their dead opponent as more glass fell down on them.
"Spirits! What is that?" Garrus shouted as he pressed himself to the wall with Wrex and Tali. Liara took shelter form the barrage of glass with Claire and Luke on the other side.
"I think Wrex might have missed lunch!" Claire shouted back. She saw a hint of a smile cross Luke's face.
Suddenly, a large red bolt of what appeared to be lightning struck Saren's corpse. The flesh melted away from his face as the lights on his implants and armor turned from blue to red. The taloned fingers stretched to form long curved, dagger-like weapons. A red ball of energy formed under the chest plate and melted away revealing nothing but armor and bones left. The corpse sprang forward slashing at the team then leapt up and clung to the wall looking out at them.
"The hell?" Luke said taking aim with his pistol. Claire took aim with her rifle. She could not make sense of this. Saren was dead. She watched the strange sight as it crawled along the wall eying them like a fresh meal.
"I am Sovereign. This station is mine!"
"Not a chance ass hole!" Luke shouted.
"Fire!" Claire ordered. The teams weapons sparked to life, and the fight was on once again.