MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA SERIES II
CHAPTER 17
Garrus' legs pumped as he raced with his squad mates making their way towards the Council Chambers. Artillery fire roared everywhere and the floor beneath him shook. His heart was pounding from their last encounter with a Geth ship that landed nearby them previously to replenish the Geth forces. Luckily, they were able to get the turrets back online to take the vessel out. The fight was a hard one to endure. Geth troopers kept coming and a few Krogan that were picked up from the Virmire facility. His shields and armor had taken a beating, but fortunately, he still had some ammo clips left. His mind flashed back to when they first landed on the station, after taking out the husks, he saw Andromeda. A look of fear was all over her face as she had a pistol drawn. For a brief moment, a wave of peace fell over him after seeing her. She was alive. She managed to survive the attack by Saren so far. She told him that she and others were hiding in Fist's old room at Chora's Den. He advised her to go back and hunker down until they handled Saren and his forces. As much as it pained him to see her leave, he knew it was best. She would have never survived the onslaught they had encountered so far. He thought troopers on Virmire or Feros were bad.
"More Geth!" Shepard yelled to his team as he dove to take cover.
"What a surprise," Wrex muttered as he stood his ground and opened up a barrage of rounds into their query. The Geth seemed to almost scream as its metallic body was torn apart before it finally crumbled. More Geth came in from behind. They made a clicking noise as if they were communicating to one another after seeing their comrade fall.
"I think you pissed them off," Garrus smirked over to the burly Krogan.
"Good," Wrex charged at his foes.
"You're crazy! You know that?!" Shepard yelled at his teammate as he followed suit to help out.
"You just now are realizing that, Commander?" Garrus countered as he took on the assault as well, unloading his weapon on the Geth trooper in front of him. Once they fell, their destination revealed itself. Up ahead was a square locked panel that had to be the maintenance shaft that led to the Council Chambers.
"Finally," Shepard put his weapon in one hand as he crouched down to unlock the shaft door.
The Council Chambers were not as lit up as normal and small fires raged throughout among dead charred bodies. Alarms blared as gunfire could be heard outside as the Alliance vessels were fighting the Geth ships. Their surroundings brought an eerie chill down the Turian's spine. He never had to encounter anything like this and he prayed to the spirits that he wouldn't have to again if he survived this final run. After taking out the remaining pockets of Geth troopers, they charged up the steps to see Saren at the control panel. He noticed them and growled out in annoyance. He stepped off the platform onto his hover craft and threw a grenade disc at them. Garrus jumped to take cover from the blast as he clenched his assault weapon tightly against him. His ears rang from the blast. He looked over to his left to see Shepard and Wrex hunkered down behind flower boxes. Shepard turned his head to see Saren hovering at the platform on his craft. Garrus tensed his mandible as he gripped the handle of his gun tighter. He desperately wanted to lurch up and open fire, but he held back. Shepard was in command and he had to give the order. Shepard seemed to be hesitant on opening fire as if he wanted to see what the traitorous Turian had to say.
"You've lost. You know that don't you?" Saren spoke up as he looked upon them with his icy blue eyes. "In a few minutes, Sovereign will have control. The relay will open. The Reapers will return."
"Fancy hardware is not going to save you!" Shepard yelled back as he kept his head covered for any surprise fire.
"I have improved since our last meeting. Sovereign has upgraded me." Saren's voice hissed in pleasure.
Garrus shook his head as he snuck a peek at what Saren was talking about. He was right. Wiring could be seen throughout spaces of his body and connectors attached to the back of his skull. He was almost as disgusting as those husks they saw. "How could you let them do this to you?" Garrus spoke up in disbelief, his voice softened.
"Organics have found their place. Shepard, you have impressed Sovereign. Surrender and you will be spared." Excitement filled the mechanized Turian.
"Let's just kill him." Garrus could hear Wrex try to whisper to Shepard. Shepard motioned out with his hand for the Krogan to be silent. Talking to Saren was giving more time for the Alliance forces. If they drew Saren out now, their time may be cut shut short before the relays open.
"I'd rather die than live like that!" Shepard spat in disgust at Saren's offer.
"Then you will all die. Everyone you know and love. Everyone you know and met. You will all die." Saren became frustrated at their unwillingness to turn over. Garrus' finger itched on the trigger. The conversation was not going anywhere and Saren could not be changed.
"Organics won't have a place. Don't you see? The Reapers will just devour them. You are a coward, Saren. You could have fought but you gave up!" Shepard shifted his body some to turn more towards the indoctrinated agent.
An enraged howl escaped Saren's lips as he raised up his hover craft. The talking now was over. "You leave me no choice!"
"Now!" Shepard sprang up as he raised his weapon and began to open fire. Garrus and Wrex jumped up and followed suit. Saren swerved and tried to do counter maneuvers but the onslaught was too much. His shields couldn't withstand the firepower and the rounds started to pierce his armor. He grunted loudly as his body became torn up. Unable to stand any longer on his craft, he fell off onto the glass floor beneath him, shattering it. Seconds later he landed with a sickening thud. Garrus and the others stepped closer to the platform to see Saren pinned down with a huge shard of the glass floor that penetrated both sides of his body. Dark blue blood trickled out from his mouth as his body became internally damaged. His voice gurgled as he tried to speak but blood flooded it. He desperately tried to pry the glass out of his body but it was no use. Seconds later, his eyes went dark and his body lay lifeless. Shepard narrowed his brow as he looked on. "Make sure he's dead." Garrus nodded his head as he was surprised that Shepard was giving him the opportunity to finally take down Saren. He walked back down the platform as he saw Shepard and Wrex open the panel to re-establish a line of communications outside the Citadel.
"Repeat! The Council is on board!" An Asari's voice instantly filled the comm. "We are sustaining heavy fire."
Garrus paused as he looked on. Wrex huffed, "Why save their asses? They didn't try to help us." Shepard nodded almost considering Wrex's proposal. He could get the Alliance fighters to help out the Council but then that would risk losing them to fight against Sovereign who was clearly the greater threat.
Anger filled Garrus as he turned to get in on the conversation. "Commander, this is bigger than humanity or the Krogan." He shot a side glare to Krogan. "We need the Council to sustain stability among races once this is over."
"Commander. We can save the Ascension." Joker's voice filled the comm.
"Save their asses, Joker." Shepard ordered. "Garrus, check on Saren."
"I hope they appreciate this," Wrex pouted.
With a sigh of relief, Garrus returned to his previous task as he jumped down to the grassy flower garden that Saren fell into. He took out his pistol as he neared the corpse. Aiming at the head, he shot and the head exploded. No reaction. It was finally over. Looking back up, Garrus tapped into his comm. "He's dead."
Seconds later, the ground shook violently and Saren's body writhed as electricity overcame it. The glass shard exploded as a sickening cry came from Saren as his body shook. The platform collapsed from the immense power surge and Shepard and Wrex came tumbling down. The Turian's skin fell as his mechanized skeleton was revealed. He was a husk! His red burning hollow eyes glared at them. The dead came to life as Saren spoke out, "I am Sovereign and this station is mine." He launched an EMP that struck their weapons causing the rifles to momentarily overload. Shepard growled in disgust as he switched to his hand gun. He fired effortlessly as the husk jumped easily to avoid the impact and then began to launch heavy blasts. One blast caught Garrus off guard as he fell back.
"He's pissing me off!" Wrex roared as he tried to aim on the jumping husk. It was hard to get a good sight on him as Saren sprinted and then crawled quickly at them on all fours.
"Just step on him, Wrex!" Shepard yelled as he saw Saren crawling directly to the griping Krogan.
Saren almost began to chuckle as Wrex lifted up his foot to try and then leaped up to take a position against the wall once more. "He's just screwing with us!" Garrus yelled as he took cover this time to avoid being hit again by the blasts.
"Split up. Hit him from all sides! The bastard can't hit all three of us!" Shepard sprinted to the left side. Saren locked on and began to fire hitting the Commander's shields square on. The man grunted as his shields left him and he was taking some of the hits.
"Wrex to the right!" Garrus took point as he began to fire at Saren. Wrex followed suit from his right. Saren howled as their rounds caught him off guard and his shields were becoming depleted. He snapped his head to take focus on Garrus. Garrus ducked to avoid being hit as Shepard and Wrex continued to open fire.
With Saren's shields depleted he began to be struck over again and again by the oncoming onslaught. "Ha!" Wrex laughed as he saw his fire making their mark. Saren turned his attention on Saren and leaped towards the Krogan in a last stitch effort. "Come on, you pyjak!"
"Kill it!" Shepard barked as he and Garrus continued to fire relentlessly at the husk as its attempt to take at least Wrex down as in vain. It collapsed and crumbled into black dust as Sovereign's control was lost. There was nothing left of the once well known Spectre.
"That's it?" Wrex looked around as if he was hoping there would be a more pockets of Geth as he turned and give Garrus a smirk.
"You could go fight the actual Reaper outside if you want, Wrex." Garrus grinned back.
"Hush, you two!" Shepard instantly tapped back into comms to check on the battle raging outside.
"Sovereign is going down! Repeat! He's going down!" All fighters break away to avoid impact!" Admiral Hackett said through the comm.
A heavy explosion could be heard outside and the room shook as Sovereign was taking damage. Shepard glanced up outside the tower's window as something caught his eye. Garrus was just about to see what the man was looking at, but Shepard's voice stopped him. "Take cover!"
Garrus scrambled to desperately find some place of refuge in the grassy garden. He saw Wrex already making his way back up the downed platform. Suddenly a deafening crash was heard behind him and then he felt everything shake. The roof seemed like it was collapsing. He felt something heavy fall on him and then his world went black.
"Anderson! We found them!" A muffled voice could be nearby that made Garrus open his eyes. He tried to get his bearings but his eyes were still adjusting. Pain filled his wrist and arm and he clenched his teeth to withstand it as he tried his best to shift his body. There was something heavy holding him down. A deep groan could be heard nearby. He turned his head to see a blurry image of Wrex being helped up by a blonde hair C-Sec officer.
"Wrex..?" Garrus coughed as his eyes focused and he realized he was still in the Council Tower. He and Wrex somehow managed to make it up to the upper level before the impact.
Captain Anderson moved over to Garrus and knelt down to tend to him. He motioned for a nearby officer to run a diagnostic on the Turian's well being with their omni tool before be moved. "It's over. You're safe now. Where's the Commander?" The dark skinned man's eyes glanced at Garrus and then back over to Wrex who was standing nearby. The Krogan shook his head solemnly as he looked back at the destroyed section of the Council Tower. Anderson followed his gaze and Garrus could see horror fill the man's eyes. Was Sheppard really dead?
"Get him up." Anderson refocused his attention as he gingerly helped the Turian to gain his balance as multiple officers worked to get a piece of the infrastructure off his body. Garrus stumbled a bit to walk and he felt pain go through his body as he tried to place weight on one of his legs. "Let's get them both to the medical clinic. Dr. Michel will want to see them."
"Captain!" One of the officers called out as he pointed back to the damaged area. "I saw movement!"
Wrex and Garrus paused as they turned to look over. There was movement! Seconds later, Shepard slid down a piece of ceiling and he limped his way to them. For once, Garrus thought he saw Wrex smile as the yellow skinned Krogan looked his way with disbelief in his eyes. Commander Shepard was alive.
"Anderson, can you get one of your men to go to Chora's Den? Andromeda is there with others in hiding." Garrus requested as he made his way over to the med transport vehicle. "I hope she made it."
"Understood. Officer Leng will see to it."
"So it's finally over, huh, Wrex?" Garrus turned to look at the compatriot beside him. They have come a long way. First things were tense with their species' past, but now he believed he would trust the Krogan with his life.
"Over? What am I going to do now?" Wrex sat down on the transport vehicle.
"Merc?" Garrus teased as he sat down beside him.
"Don't worry, Wrex. I'm sure we can find more Geth pockets out there to let you play with." Shepard joined in as he patted the Krogan on the shoulder.