The final countdown

Disclaimer

Starcraft is the property of Blizzard entertainment.

Mass effect is the property of Bioware.

Any elements used in this story are used only in order to create a story for no monetary gain nor do I claim any ownership over them, beyond the names and characters unique to this story.

Asteroid X-57

Time until impact - 00:55:53

Shepard

He would need to have a chat with Wrex or this was going to become a problem.

Now as for the scared batarian.

"Do not dare to grab that gun" Shepard turned towards the scared alien as he saw that the batarian's gun had not fallen that far from his feet. But to Shepard's honest surprise the kid decided to kick the gun further from his grasp.

He truly did surrender.

"Please" the batarian began in a juvenile voice "I didn't want to come here. I swear!" Shepard could see that the kid was truly frightened.

"Stand up" Shepard ordered "Why are you here then?" He continued to aim his weapon at the alien's head so he wouldn't try anything funny "Well?" He was growing impatient.

"..." he shivered in fear "I was the only one that knew how to operate these controls. They brought me here to help activate them" the kid had voluntarily confessed to his own involvement in all of this.

Why?

"Shepard" Garrus' voice got his attention "On his neck".

Shepard pushed the head of the batarian with his gun and saw what Garrus wanted him to see.

There was a barcode tattooed on his neck.

"..." Shepard began to understand what was going on "Did you come here voluntarily?" He began to ask the questions the alliance had designed to identify formerly enslaved individuals.

The alliance had devised a plan to undermine the authority of the batarian hegemony because of all the attacks that were coming from their territory by teaching their enslaved populus to run towards alliance and council space in a covert manner.

But as a way to identify those individuals that were truly enslaved people and not undercover agents of the hegemony they needed to make certain questions before turning those individuals to alliance command so their background could be checked thoroughly.

"No. I did not" The kid answered.

"Does the Hegemony speak for you?" code: did the hegemony sell you?

"Yes. They speak for their interests" code: I was bought by them or they put me in shackles.

"Does the cultural union stand?" code: Were you enslaved your whole life?

"No. The union was dissolved" code: No. I was enslaved recently.

Shepard nodded and made one final question without following that protocol.

"Why were you enslaved?" Shepard's openness on this one question surprised the kid, but to everyone's surprise he began to cry openly.

"My father…" he began to weep "His name was Charn. He… he was killed by Balak two years ago" the batarian looked down in sadness "He sold my family into slavery before killing him".

Shepard felt pity for this one.

"I'm sorry, son" he stopped aiming his gun at him.

"My mother…" he began to cry again "My sisters… they… I will never see them again".

Shepard was conflicted on what to do with him. He did not buy the story in its entirety but knew that batarian were notorious for having most of their civilian population living as chattel slaves, with as much as 40% of their population being the highest figure as to how many of them lived on what was the lowest tier of their caste system. Of those living in middle or higher caste it was mainly between two type of people:

The rich.

Or the family of those who worked in the upper echelons of their military.

"What's your name?" Shepard finally asked this question.

"Ekrork" the kid replied after a moment of consideration.

"Are you willing to make things right?" Shepard asked as he looked at the kid through his helmet.

"Commander, what are you talking about?" said Kaidan who continued to look at the batarian with suspicion.

Shepard motioned his head towards the console and as the batarian turned to see he understood what the commander wanted him to do.

Ekrork approached the console and as Kaidan was going to stop him, the commander stopped the lieutenant's advance with his arm so the kid could do what Shepard was expecting him to do.

True to his words, the batarian knew how to control the torches as he deactivated this one without much effort.

"See? I was telling the…" Ekrork was interrupted by a terminal that began to show the image of a human.

"Commander. Is that you?" it was the voice of Kate Bowman.

"Yes. We deactivated the final torch" Shepard answered as he approached the terminal as the young batarian moved to the side "Is everything alright on your end?".

"No commander" Kate began to speak frantically "We don't have anywhere else to run and the batarians…" something out of frame got her attention "AARON LOOK OUT" the sound of heavy blow was heard before a batarian came into frame and grabbed the frightened woman by the hair.

"So this is where you were" one of the batarians on the other end began to speak "Why would you pink skinned bastards come-" the batarian stopped as he turned towards the still open console and saw directly at Shepard "So this is why" the batarian struck Kate with the butt of his pistol as he relished in the action.

"STOP!" Shepard demanded something he knew would not happen.

The batarian on his part ignored his demand "You must be the one who stopped the torches and killed those useless bastards. I am Balak and you have cost me an investment in gear and ammunition" he said this as he looked completely indifferent to the loss of his men "But it looks like you are too late. The course is set and this stupid rock will find a use by killing the whortless people from 'dirt' as they deserve" he said this with a satisfied grin.

"You won't get away with this" Shepard said as he glared at the bastard "Count what little time you have left".

"HA. I could say the same to you" the bastards grinned "I tell you what. Come to the headquarters alone and I will give you the chance to try and save these pathetic excuses for life that I intended to sell into 'willing service'. What say you, pink skin?".

"Boss. Is that a good…" the batarian out of frame who tried to interject was quickly murdered by his leader as he aimed his gun at him and ended his existence.

Balak turned towards the commander "Well?".

Shepard looked towards his team as they could see that this was clearly a trap.

"No deal" Shepard turned to see that Balak was aiming at somebody new.

"Wrong answer" a shot was fired.

"AARON NO!" Kate screamed as her brother was murdered in front of her.

No.

"Well?" Balak said as he now aimed his gun at Kate.

"YOU BASTARD!" Shepard screamed in anger as he slammed his fist against the console.

Shepard's answer had cost Aaron his life.

The batarian pressed the gun some more "WELL?!".

"FINE, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!" Shepard exploded in anger.

"Perfect. Your companions will remain outside of the building so my men can have a nice long stare at their future property. That human, quarian and asari will be fine additions to my 'family', hehe" Shepard continued to be disgusted at the words of this creature "Sorry for the loss of that lanky beast and his human pet by the way" He must have thought that his second team were dead for some reason "And tell that worthless Ekrork that his mother died like the whore she was" the feed was cut.

The room remained silent as the four men in there were completely shocked at this development.

Fate wasn't on their side.

Time until impact - 00:50:12

Xiltar

He had only broken some of his bones once before.

A charging Tal'darim zealot got the best of him and had broken his leg in an ungodly manner as the heretic dropped the full weight of a kick at his leg.

The battle had been won but that heretic managed to land one final blow before he was incinerated by the warped beam of an Ihan-rii colossus.

He had reminisced about this particular memory since according to what his human caretaker believed, thinking nice thoughts made the pain go away.

The pain that zealot must have felt as his being was atomized in mere nanoseconds brought a figurative smile to his face.

…

He would miss killing those heretics.

"Is the 'splint' comfortable?" Ashley Williams asked him as she had fashioned some loss panels into a sort of cast to hold the broken arm of the Protoss in place.

(Yes) Xiltar answered this but in truth he still felt the pain vividly (I will be alright for this journey, make sure that Liara is still fine).

Ashley nodded and turned to the asari as she had been to rest as the wound wasn't recovering well.

"So it took an explosion to leave you like that?" Wrex asked as he looked at the protoss in curiosity "What the hell do they make your people out of?.

(Faith, evil and a lot of moronic decisions) Xiltar was tired and wished to rest but humoring the mad krogan could prove worthwhile (Did they truly enslaved a kid and sent him to war?) Xiltar felt true curiosity to what the krogan had explained to them once he had returned without the rest of their people.

"Yes. Almost killed the cowering fool" Wrex said while still being somewhat angry.

"I don't think that's something worth boasting about. Even if it was one of those batarians" Tali made this statement from the gun emplacement as she took part in the conversation.

"SHHH!" Williams ordered them to stop as they turned and saw that Liara was shifting uncomfortably in her medicine induced sleep.

(Sorry) Xiltar apologized for the group as his words would be the only ones not to disturb the asari.

The group remained silent as they waited for the commander.

(Hey) Tali began to think of some sentences so they could continue to talk (Is the arm any better?).

He thanked that the quarian showed some worry but knew that this conversation wouldn't truly be about his arm (Yes, friend Tali. Thank you) he felt the conflict in the mind of the quarian (What is bothering you?).

Tali cursed under her breath to his amusement (Am I that obvious?) She was but Xiltar wouldn't tell her this outright.

(Just had a premonition) he lied (Do you need my help with something?).

(No, nothing like that…) She sighed (The batarians. Did you meet anything like them in your… universe?).

Xiltar caught that doubt emanating from her mind as she most likely did not believe that he had come from another universe like he claimed since this galaxy seemed to be oblivious to the concept of either spatial or temporal perforation unlike Xiltar's people.

But he was quite sure that this wasn't his own universe… or even the hell of his people for that matter.

All because there was no sign of Amon.

(Yes. There once was a species called the Panator on the world of Kaush'thet) Xiltar sharer the memory he had of an old painting of those creatures which resemble humans with more ape like features and bulkier frames while possessing extra limbs (They had an interstellar empire made out of dozens of species who were born into a disgusting caste system like that of the batarians. My people entered into a war with them as they began to expand into our realm).

(What happened to them?) Tali asked.

(...) Xiltar did not wish to share the truth of what had been done to that one race (We freed the slaves races and sent them all back to their homeworlds) he hoped this ruse would work.

Tali sighed before she asked one final question (Was that a lie?).

Xiltar looked down in shame (Half of it) he decided to share the truth since he wasn't that convincing in his deceit (We sent them all back to their homeworlds to a stone age level of technology, but we did not free them from their own cruelty) Xiltar could sense the disappointment in the quarian at his words (This was done thousands of years before I was born. Had I the chance to do the opposite I would have done that without regret).

Tali chuckled at his attempt at nobility but it would seem that she did not believe this (I… hope you are telling the truth. You may actually come better off as a true hero rather than… the alternative).

Xiltar remained silent as he doubted this himself.

After more time passed the hatch finally opened to reveal the commander who looked far too worried.

"Good thing you are back command-" Ashley stopped as she saw who was following the commander. Reacting quickly she grabbed her rifle and aimed it at the unknown creature who was masked by a helmet of the batarians.

Xiltar quickly pearled into the mind of this person and… oh.

"Williams stop!" the commander stopped Ashley from killing their prisoner as he had brought a batarian "We don't have much time. The batarians have hostages and they want to ransom them with a stupid duel" the human turned to Xiltar "He told me that he was a slave. Is this true?".

Xiltar turned to the young batarian and began to dig through his mind (His father was a lieutenant of Balak, his name was Charn. He was indeed sold into slavery almost two years ago. He told you the truth) Xiltar glared at the scared batarian as he began to think slurs at the 'magic' that was Xiltar's telepathy (He is a rude creature for sure).

"What the fuck was that?" Ekrork screamed in fright as he was pushed to a seat by Shepard and cuffed to said seat.

"We don't have time for this" Shepard turned to Williams "Ash, take us to the headquarters. NOW!" he said this as he grabbed a handle to not lose his balance.

The soldier followed orders and made her way to the cockpit of the vehicle along with Alenko.

Tali and Garrus changed places as the quarian had shown she wasn't ready to control the gun well enough for what he had been told by her.

"Xiltar!" Shepard called the protoss as he had become distracted for a moment "I know you are in no condition to fight but I will need your help" he turned to Wrex "Yours too".

Wrex huffed before nodding to the commander.

"Read my mind" Shepard ordered him.

Xiltar nodded and did as asked.

…

No honor.

No regret.

This Balak would find no sanctuary that would shield him from the wrath of this protoss.

(What do you want me to do, commander? I won't be able to fight as before with only one arm and half my body scorched, but I am willing to aid) Xiltar agreed with more defiance on his soul.

"I know that you are capable of teleporting for some unknown reason…" Shepard began "Do you believe you could do something similar with more than yourself?".

(I may be able to do something better) Xiltar's answer perplexed those present (I may be able to cloak some of our allies for a time. I remember doing something similar with Tali'Zorah once).

"When?" Tali asked in shock.

(On the presidium. When I brought you to the clinic) Xiltar kept surprising the group since his involvement with most of them seemed to precede their first meeting.

"Regardless" Shepard interrupted this diversion in the conversation "Would you be able to bring Wrex and Garrus to flank the guards who will be waiting for us?".

(Yes) Xiltar leaned forwards and began to speak only to Sheaprd (And after I have taken them to their position I will search for Balak and break his windpipe myself).

Shepard rubbed his neck but decided to not fight the protoss on this.

-But Wayfarer. Your blade wasn't repaired. You won't be able to fight appropriately- Dot interceded to the protoss' annoyance as he exited his compartment somehow.

"Wait. You have been fighting without a weapon?" Wrex asked in shock at how stupid this seemed to him.

(...) Xiltar thought of what to say (There were many boxes to be thrown… and many necks to be broken).

A collective shudder was felt as everyone realized what the alien had done.

"Kids these days" Wrex said this before getting something from his back and handing it to Xiltar "I want it back".

Wrex handed Xiltar a knife that to a human would seem like a short sword due to its size.

The protoss could see that there were some written marks on the hilt of the knife.

It said 'Honor to the head of clan Urdnot' as he used Wrex's mind to translate it.

(Do not tell anybody) Wrex thought this so only Xiltar could 'hear' him.

(How?) Xiltar asked in surprise.

(Tell the quarian to not be so obvious when you two are talking) Wrex added as he smiled at the protoss.

…

Truly a bizarre universe.

Time until impact - 00:42:03

Shepard

The drive towards the last point was one of the most stressful moments of his life.

But they had finally arrived and their plan could commence.

Balak wanted for his team to remain outside of the base, so Shepard agreed to do so as far as the bastard knew.

But he never agreed that they would remain in their tank forever.

(Good luck Xiltar) Shepard thought this as the protoss began to escort Garrus and Wrex as they grabbed onto him so the alien could turn them invisible to prying eyes.

(...) Xilar took a moment to answer (If what I understand of this… luck is correct, then the feeling is unneeded) he took a moment to think of something else (Zeratul Toridas).

He would need a translation for that later.

Shepard approached the gate and saw that some batarians were expecting him as they got out from behind some rocks "I'm here" he replied so his suit's radio would pass the message to the batarians.

The one in charge grunted towards Shepard before jerking his head towards the tank "Where are our slaves?" he said as the bastard mocked the commander's team.

"You won't have them until Balak and I are through" Shepard approached the batarian and intimidated him "But you pussies won't be around long enough to know who won" he headbutted the batarian and pointed a gun to the rest "Let me pass. NOW!".

The other batarians were successfully intimidated and allowed the human to pass by himself.

As Shepard passed through the door and the batarians behind him gave Balak the report, he gave the signal (Now).

Xiltar, Garrus and Wrex decloaked behind those fools who remained at the door and quickly ended their pitiful existence.

Shepard made his way further into the structure (Xiltar, are you there?).

(Yes) Xiltar confirmed his presence as he cloaked the rest of his team again and began to follow Shepard.

(Did you bring the rest?) Shepard asked.

(Yes… but there is something else that concerns me) Shepard was about to ask why but the alien answered (The sheer number of batarians in this structure surpasses my expectations. My skills will not avail us if we are to kill them one at a time).

(What are you planning?) Shepard asked.

(Turn off the lights. Let darkness consume their valor) Xiltar explained (We will go ahead and get ready. Walk at a slower pace to buy us time).

Shepard nodded and continued to walk towards the meeting point with the batarian leader.

After one final door Shepard found himself inside a gigantic hall with a domed roof which showed the ever approaching colony of Terra Nova.

The end was nigh for the innocent there.

"So our little hero finally decided to come" the disgusting voice of Balak taunted the commander from the main office that stood overlooking the hall as he stood at the edge while looking down at Shepard "You human mongrels are so predictable." Shepard could not see where Kate was and this worried him "Now that you are here we can begin" Balak motioned for one of his last men to activate a button on a panel.

The glass roof of the building began to be covered by blast shields.

"What do you want?" Shepard glared at the batarian through his helmet "There's nowhere to run and your men are almost gone. Face it, you lost".

"I never lose, human" Balax extended a hand in which he held a detonator "I will tell you how this is going down. In that room to your left are the only survivors on this rock. I intended to sell them later in the hegemony, but now they will serve as my ransom" he smiled "Along with you".

"Like hell I am" Shepard pointed his pistol at Balak for this.

But the batarian just glared "Their room is filled with the explosives I intended to kill you with, but this is how things will go: I die, they blow up. You try to stop me, they blow up. The alliance doesn't let me pass…" he did not finish his monologue as the man who had activated the blast shields fell dead to his right as a knife appeared on his throat and the detonator was ripped from Balak's clutch by Garrus.

(We break your spine, nobody blows up) Xiltar said for those few batarians that remained as he and the rest of his people decloaked.

"What the-" Balak did not finish his threat as Wrex kicked the batarian off the balcony and made him fall right down next to the commander.

(Have fun, commander) Xiltar said as Garrus pressed a button and turned all the lights off with the intent of blinding their enemies.

Shepard smirked and as the dim emergency lights came up he approached the cowering batarian.

The commander holstered his gun and began to crack his knuckles "What was that thing you said about losing?".

Balak made his last play.

"KILL HIM YOU IDIOTS!" not many batarians remained but none followed his order as their compatriots died around them before Xiltar went for the next one with Wrex's knife as the krogan continued to rampage on his part.

"You deserve no mercy" Shepard said before he began to pummel the bastard.

It was over.

A few minutes later

After he had his fun pummeling that bastard Shepard left the unconscious creature in Xiltar's care as he went to release the hostages.

Quickly after they were freed, Kate Bowman along with chief engineer Simon Atwell released the control system from lockdown and began to maneuver the asteroid towards its original orbit.

Shepard accompanied them as they went into the control room in order to make sure there were no more traps present.

Fortunately the batarians had played their last trick.

"Thank you commander…" Atwell began "You saved my family and the innocent people of Terra Nova. Thank you!" the old man thanked the commander as he shook his hand with teary eyes "You saved us".

"Not all of you" Shepard said with guilt as he turned his gaze towards the poor woman who had just lost her brother because of him.

Kate had not approached the commander or any other person after they were released and the trajectory of the asteroid had been adjusted.

She was next to the railing, most likely overlooking that piece of shit Balak, who was currently being guarded by Xiltar and Wrex as Garrus joined them.

"Do you know what happened to her brother?" the old man asked the commander.

Shepard nodded solemnly "It was my fault".

The old man was surprised at first but understood why the commander seemed so guilty "She has always been a strong headed woman" he shook his head "I don't think she will ever forgive you".

"Never said I wanted to…" Shepard began "But I know how to make things right" the commander placed a hand on the shoulder of the old man "Balak won't escape justice. He will answer for his crimes".

The old man nodded "Make sure that he does" Atwell removed his omnitool and gave it to the commander.

"Why are you giving me this?" Shepard asked.

"I won't be needing it. I planned to retire if I survived this whole fiasco" the old man smiled "Consider it a gift and make sure that whoever ends up with it makes good use of it".

Shepard smiled and nodded.

"Enjoy your retirement" the old man nodded back at the commander's words and made his way to Kate. The commander then connected back to the Normandy "Normandy, this is the commander. Tell admiral Hacket we have apprehended a pair of batarian prisoners for him".

Joker answered "Aye, aye. commander" something sounded off about the pilot "Boy do we have a story to tell you once you return".

Fuck.

Would his day truly be over?

Afterword.

No it wouldn't

Dragonaut344Doomed - Hello M8.

Saw a little bit of the game and I have to admit that most of the races present an interesting design and lore. Have to admit that the endless space inspirations did kept me from trying the game as I have used too much of my time trying (and failing) to be competent at endless space 2 with the voidyani (Stupid quarian fetichism of mine).