Chapter 30

I don't own Mass Effect.

Hey ever realise that the Citadel tower is the centre of the ring of the Citadel and the Presidium but the layouts are completely different to each other? I mean the one just has a massive walkway while the other has connecting bridges all over the place.

Just bought the Halo novel Fall of Reach and the audiobook, I never really understood why people liked audiobooks before but if you have the right narrator it makes quite the difference. I even went on to buy three more from the same author.

Story Start


Climbing into the mako after Kaiden descended in the elevator with the spare heat clips and emergency supplies Shepard immediately took off.

She didn't lift her foot up even as we started to encounter geth. The geth were either blown up or torn up by Ash's shooting or run over by Shepard's driving. I'm not sure if Saren left them behind to slow us down or if they were on ther way to the Conduit when we interrupted them. Either way we were thining hid army.

"I'm getting some readings up ahead." said Ash who had taken over from Tali

"That could be the Conduit. Callum from what I remember its going to be guarded can you remember how many? There's also going to be geth haven't been able to make it through." said Shepard

"There are going to be a few of the Colossus tanks, other than that I'm not sure." I answered

"I'm picking up some boggies, a lot of them but there are definitely a few tanks." said Ash "At this speed we should be able to get a visual soon."

Before we could go much further our comms crackled

"Shepard, how far are you from the Conduit? Vigil just picked up a spike and he thinks you only have a couple of minutes left." warned Kaiden

"We're not that far, Ash says we should be seeing them soon." answered Shepard

"I see them now. Shit, I'm counting four Collosus and a dozen or so geth platform." swore Ash

"Concentrate on those closest to the Conduit!" ordered Shepard "No way we can take down the Collosus in the time we have left but we can stop any of the geth from following us through."

What followed was Shepard's best (or worst) driving. I had no idea what was going on outside from the limited view I had of the main vid screen as we were constantly jerked in each and every single direction. We seemed to be avoiding the worst of the damage, that said there was only so much we could avoid. While the big balls of plasma that geth tanks shoot was slow enough to get out of their heavy guns and the guns and rockets of the other geth platforms were much harder to avoid.

If we didn't know about the time limit, we would have sat back and slowly brought down the geth's numbers before moving in. Something that Saren was likely planning on, but then again there was more than enough firepower to take us out should we push through. Thankfully Shepard's driving simply defied logic, making it hard for the geth to predict where we were going to be.

"Shepard our shields are about to fall." warned Ash

"Just a little bit more and we can make a break for the Conduit." said Shepard as she jerked the mako to the side suddenly

"Seriously Commander, we can't take much more of this!" repeated Ash worried

"And...Now!" shouted Shepard as we suddenly jerked yet again and activated the boosters until they were depleted. When they almost were I felt a much bigger jerk, like we were fired from a slingshot before we suddenly skidded to a stop as Shepard slammed on the breaks and the sound of crunching metal was heard as well as the sound of something snapping.

"Ash cover the Conduit! Everyone else out!" ordered Shepard

As we quickly exited the mako I took aim at the Conduit, the so called 'Relay Monument' which was currently glowing. After a few tense seconds of watching it went dark.

"Good, looks like no one followed us." said Shepard before activating her omni-tool "Garrus, Solana, Wrex...any of the Normandy crew?"

"...Shepard that you?" asked a voice

"Garrus?" asked Shepard

"I'm here, Solana and Wrex are a bit busy at the moment." answered Garrus before taking a shot. "Wrex has really enjoyed using that pack. Things have been hectic ever since the monument started acting up."

"It's not a monument, it's a relay. Saren's brought his entire army through it." answered Shepard "Looks like I was wrong about Saren sneaking geth on to the Citadel."

"I wouldn't be sure about that." responded Garrus "Soon after the monument/relay started glowing we started getting reports of sabotage and attacks on the limbs of the Citadel. My guess Saren really did have some Geth on the Citadel, that or some of his thugs managed to avoid C-sec this whole time. Any chance you can meet up with us?"

"No sorry, there's too many geth between us and you. They're not pushing at the moment but that could change, also they kind of need us here...the Citadel got hit hard. Thankfully they've been unable to push too far into the wards." said Garrus

"Understood, we'll follow Saren and deal with him. You do what you can down here." responded Shepard

"Good luck Shepard." said Garrus before hanging up

After Ash joins us we head to the elevator of the Citadel tower, Shepard casually shooting a geth that stuck underneath one of it's wheel. Climbing inside we start the journyt up, Ash doing a check on her gun on the way up.

Unfortunetly we didn't make it far, not that I expected to. Before the elevator ground to a holt.

"There goes the elevator." said Ash

"Guess we're walking from here on out." responded Shepard before using her shotgun to blow open the window...which in hindsight was a bit odd. This was the elevator to the Citadel tower where you would see the Councilors.

I would have figured the elevator would be bulletproof or at least bullet-resistant. Exiting the elevator, I experienced an intense feeling of vertigo as a hundred-metre drop or more suddenly became forward and forward suddenly became down.

I was curious at when did the centre of gravity change for the outside of the tower? It wasn't like you could walk up the tower from the base. Turning around I see Sovereign perched on the top of the Citadel tower. Either way I certainly wasn't about to see how high I could jump.

"Alright that's our target, let's get going." said Shepard switching to her assault rifle.

At first we didn't encounter any resistance as we made our way up the tower. That however changed as we entered a narrow corridor that had three krogan in it. They had no chance. Ash's gun alone was enough to inflict serious damage on them and she had Shepard, Gamora and myself backing her up.

If they had dug in or hid in one of the corners they could have held us off for a lot longer. We might have had a lot of firepower but that was only at mid range. If we were forced into close quarters Ash's gun would become a lot less effective and Shepard wouldn't be able to use her grenade launcher without risking one of us being caught in the blast.

After a short but intense firefight (the krogan didn't even try to get into cover or try to avoid Ash's fire) we continued on.

But that was the consequence of using indoctrinated tank born krogan. They might be very good at following orders but that's it. If victory could be decided by a suicidal charge or last stand then you were good. If they needed to think independently or make their own decisions then they were fucked. They would probably fall to their death without question on bad, incorrect or just misunderstood orders such as crossing a clearly unsafe bridge instead of seeking an a different and much safer path.

Passing an elevator with a broken window we continued up. The next firefight was broken up through a few corridors, mainly geth and enough to slow us down but not stop us.

Taking a right that immediately changed as we faced a wide and uphill battle. Full of geth and their drop shields, for the most part Ash used her gun to more to get rid of the shields the geth were hiding behind than the geth themselves. Using my Settler I was able to take a number of them out before we reach top of the slope.

"Rocket incoming!" shouted Ash suddenly as we quickly got to cover

Thankfully the rocket missed everyone and exploded harmlessly behind us, after that it was a simple matter to take it out before it took a second shot. Throwing a lift at a remaining geth I watched I drift off after Ash made sure it couldn't shoot back. Thankfully Saren didn't have many biotics (if any) left under his control. Most of his biotic forces would have been lost on Noveria and while the tank grown krogan were definitely a threat I doubt Saren could give them biotics or teach them how to use them without giving them significantly more time to...mature.

After dealing with the geth in the open area we found ourselves in a narrow corridor with a few geth and a single Juggernaught that we were quickly able to take out.

"Okay unless the map Garrus gave me is wrong we should be coming up to some turrets. If we can hack them we'll be able to stop any geth reinforcements from landing nearby." said Shepard quickly checking her omni-tool.

Sure enough at the end of the corridor was another wide open area, this time filled with turrets. Unfortunately, it also had a geth drop ship depositing troops.

"Cover me!" shouted Shepard as she performed a biotic charge, not at the geth but at the nearest turret before hacking it. Repeating the action she made it to another turret and got it under our control as well.

With two turrets firing we quickly drove off the drop ship before it could drop off many geth, unfortunately by the time it had all off, it all but taken out one of the turrets. Clearing the remaining geth, a Juggernaut, a rocket trooper and a couple of standard platforms we continued on. Ash had gotten hit with a sabotage, taking her gun out but Gamora was able to cover her with a biotic shield until she was able to get it working again which didn't take very long.

Before we left the area Shepard activated the last turrets. The geth wouldn't be dropping off any troops here anytime soon.

Up until now things have almost been easy, Ash's gun was more than enough to deal with the limited geth that we had faced until now. Shepard hadn't even needed to fire the grenade launcher. That was about to change though, the geth were finally starting to regroup and unless I was mistaken the next open area would be full of turrets shooting at us.

Entering another narrow corridor we immediately entered another firefight as heavy geth platforms and krogan began pouring in from the otherside. Immediately we opened fire, Ash's rifle doing by far the most damage.

Switching to my assault rifle I load one of the large heat clips and join in. With the numbers and speed they were coming in I couldn't miss and their was no point stopping and taking aim with my Settler rifle or Fat Bastard pistol.

When the clip was full I lashed out with a strong wave, detonating a singularity that Gamora had placed moments before.

"Venting!" warned Ash as the last geth fell. The amount of heat that pack could hold was astonishing, we had been firing almost constantly for the last few minutes and only now was Ash venting it, and not because she needed to but because the fight had ended.

"Okay." said Shepard activating her omni-tool and showing us a map. "According to this there are four rocket turrents in the next area. There's no way the geth would have kept pushing here for no reason. It would have been obvious that they couldn't take us out there but they kept throwing themselves at us, the only reason that makes sense is if they were using that time to hack and fortify the turrents."

"What about that tunnel there." said Ash pointing at the map "It could take us around, we could avoid the turrets altogether."

"We could but its a tight fit. Also Saren isn't stupid and neither are the geth. We might avoid the turrets but there is no way its left unguarded. Worse they could want us to head there."

"Kill zone?" asked Ash

"Yes, a few krogan or Primes could hold it. A few more would be a serious threat, even if we could take them out them out space looks restricted enough that we'd be tripping over them afterwards. If we had Wrex and Solana I'd risk it but I don't want to risk Ash getting into close quarters. The fact that there's a second path could also bite us in the ass. If we take to long the geth guarding the turrets could come around and attack us from the rear."

The fact that what I said back on the Normandy agreed with Shepards assessment, that it might even be thr reason for the assessment went unsaid. For good reason, while i doubt anyone was listening in, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"So what's the plan?" asked Ash

"I'll go first, clear the area closest to us. Ash you'll follow behind me. Gamora you'll cover Ash and join us. Callum you stay behind and take out the turrets, your arrows should work, just save enough for Saren.

Also, give us a heads up if you see a rocket heading our way. Kinetic barriers or not if one of those hits us its game over." said Shepard giving me an apologetic look at the poorly chosen phrase. As you destroy the turrets we'll move up, Ash when we get to this point I want you covering our front and left just incase those hiding in the tunnel wants to come out and meet us."

As she said Shepard went first, the rest of us giving her as much cover as we could as she found a save spot behind one of the many barricardes that lined the outside of the Citadel tower. As Ash and then Gamora joined her I provided over watch.

"Rocket incoming!" I warned

As they ducked deeping into cover I took aim at the first turret before releasing. Not sure a single arrow would be enough to take out the turrent, I release a second arrow before pulling the trigger.

There was no massive explosion nor did the turret vanish, instead there were two small explosions. One near the centre of the turret and the other one slightly to the left. But they seemed to do the job as the turret stopped firing. It would probably be a good idea to still keep an eye on it though just incase it was playing possum.

The turret behind that one however was still firing and had seemingly switched targets and was aiming at me, as were a number of geth platforms. Considering I just took out one of the turrets and was more exposed thann the others I wasn't surprised. Thankfully the others were quick to remind the geth that they were still here.

Ducking into cover down the corridor we had come from I let my shields recharge and stayed there until I hear the rocket exploding. Creating a strong barrier around myself I duck back out.

The second turret was significantly further away, well outside the effective range of an assualt rifle and in the range that you'd need a sniper rifle. I could switch to my Settler and use over powered rounds to take it out instead but I don't know how much time we had left.

It took me a lot longer to aim but holding my arm steady I got there. Quickly ducking back into cover I avoid another rocket and pull the trigger.

"Callum that second turrets down. I don't suppose you can hit another from where you are?" asked Shepard over comms

"Afraid not commander, there both outside my line of sight." I answered

"Thought so." sighed Shepard "Come down to us and take out the third one. Fourth as well if you can."

Returning from the corridor, I move to join the others who had pushed forward. Though not forward enough to worry about hostiles coming from the second path and trying to flank them, not yet at least.

Aiming I take out a third turret, again using two arrows to take it out before ducking into cover to ready another arrow. I had started with twenty arrows, I had used two on Illos, and six on the Citadel so far which meant I had a total of twelve remaining. If I used two more to take out the final turret that would leave ten for Saren and Reaperfied Saren...hopefully that would be enough.

Standing up I pull back my bow and take aim, before I could line up my shot however a sniper took out most of my shields forcing me into cover.

"Shit, they have a sniper!" I warned. Whether the sniper had just arrived or hadn't been in a good spot to take me out until now I didn't know.

"Can you make the shot using barrier to protect yourself?" asked Shepard

"I don't think so, it takes too long to aim at that distance. Holding a strong enough barrier to hold up under sniper fire might be difficult." I answered.

Like my own biotic shield a biotic barrier was about more than just forcussing and forming biotic energy...you had to hold it.

There were many factors that determined a the strength of a biotic skill, power of the user was one of the main factors but there was also will power and concentration. No matter how strong your biotics were, if your concentration wavered so did your biotics. Getting someone to stumble was a good way to get them to drop their barriers...at least temporarily. Conversely even a weak biotic could perform a powerful biotic move if they concentrated hard enough, they just couldn't repeat the action or hold it.

I could create a barrier strong enough to stop a sniper, but they knew where I was and even aiming quickly would give them time to fire a single shot, probably more. Ducking down after I take the shot would give them time for another shot. My shields would save me from a sniper shot, my barriers would save from another. More if I concentrated, but holding that level of concentration would be difficult enough even without having to aim at a distant target.

To be safe it would be best to keep it at two sniper rounds. One for my barriers and a second one for my shields plus what was left over from my barrier. I should still have enough shields to protect me. Theoretically I could do it, while it was safer to only count on taking two snipers rounds, I could probably take another without much risk.

But I doubt that I'd be quick enough to count on only taking two or three hits, not with such a distant target for me to hit. Worse there could be more snipers.

"Didn't think so." sighed Shepard "We'll just have to get closer or get you a better vantage point."

Moving up we continued to take out geth, being sure to stay near cover incase the sniper took another shot. Ash had had the most trouble due to the backpack. Gamora and I used our biotics sparingly, mostly either lift to render them vulnerable or throw to send them flying into space where we wouldn't see them again.

Soon we got to the point where we had to worry about being flanked.

"Ash keep an eye on left!" ordered Shepard.

While Ash kept an eye on her left she didn't open fire in that direction. Instead, she kept firing forward, for now at least it looked like they weren't going to be flanking us.

"Rocket incoming!" I warned

The rocket hits near Shepard sending her into cover. The same time this happens Ash is suddenly hit with an overload stripping her shields away. Ducking into cover she was able to avoid any fire coming from the front...unfortunately the fire didn't come from the front but the side hitting Ash in the side.

"Ash!" shouted Shepard

Thankfully Gamora was quick to step infront of Ash with a biotic shield at the ready, undoubtfuly saving her life.

From near Shepard's cover came four geth platforms. They must have been hiding for some time as they were completely unexpected, I could have sworn all geth that close were already dealt with but obviously I was wrong.

Hitting one of the geth with an explosive arrow I immediatly detenate it while Shepard fired her shotgun while she was behind cover drawing their attention. Creating a singularity at the centre of the geth I immediately detonated it as well. Using a following-up throw to take out one of the remaining geth while Shepard takes out the other.

"Callum cover us!" ordered Shepard as she rushed over to Ash.

Switching to my Settler I ready an over powered round and wait for any geth to pop their head.

"Ash you okay?" asked Shepard as she applied omni-gel

"I'm fine." grimmanced Ash "I got lucky, the wounds are only flesh deep...armour took most of the damage."

"You going to be okay carrying that pack?" asked Shepard

"I'll be fine, just don't expect me to run anywhere." answered Ash

"Callum how many of those 'special' arrows do you have?" asked Shepard

"Eleven." I answered the seemingly over-the-top number of explosive arrows had been whittled down to half and we haven't even seen Saren yet.

"Ash stay at the back this time with Callum, Gamora your with me at the front." said Shepard

Pushing forward, this time more cautiously we get close enough for me to aim at the last turret without taking a minute to aim making sure I a strong biotic barrier around myself. This time I only let lose a single arrow, in the process I took two sniper rounds. My biotic barriers took the brunt of it and my kinetic barrier was mostly intact but it proved that not trying to hit it from further away was a good idea.

One arrow wasn't enough to take out the turret, not completely. It smoked, it fizzled but the turret still turned yet it seemed unable to fire.

"Ash take that turret out!" ordered Shepard "It might not be able to fire at the moment but I don't want to take any chances!"

With only a few standard platforms and a sniper protecting the last remaining turret it wasn't hard to take it out, and once the threat of rockets being shot at us was gone it was all too easy to take out the remaining geth, even the sniper. Ash's wound seemed to slow her down but that was it.

Strangely we never had to deal with any reinforcements or attacks coming from the tunnel, I wasn't sure if it was due to to those guarding the area not knowing any better. AKA fully indoctrinated and not knowing the difference between waiting to fend off an attack and waiting for an attack that would never come.

If there was an ambush waiting in the tunnels a normal force force would have already attacked us once it was clear that we weren't heading that way or after we had passed our side of the tunnels. A fully indoctrinated person did whatever they were told and only what they were told. I'm pretty sure that if Saren told them to hold their breath they would do it until they died or collapsed.

"Should we check that tunnel?" asked Ash

"... no." answered Shepard after giving it some thought "Either there's no one there or we avoided triggering a trap or ambush. I see no reason why that should change. Let's just head to the hatch that will let as back into the tower."

Continuing past the last destroyed turret we come across the access hatch that would let us inside.

"Okay there's the hatch. I'll go first, Gamora your behind me. Then Ash and Callum." said Shepard before opening the hatch.

Once again I felt the odd sensation of gravity changing direction. This time it was even worse as the hatch wasn't that big and we had to crawl inside. At one point my hands and elbows were inside the hatch while my knees were on the outside. Both felt like they were on the floor and both were grounding me in two very different directions.

Closing the hatch behind me I follow the others and find ourselves near the fountain at the front of the council chambers. Almost immediately we came under fire, aiming my Settler at a geth at the top of the stairs I take it out. Making our way up the stairs we start taking out the geth that were scattered around the garden area of the room, there weren't that many of them. I guess the majority of those that had been nearby were already dealt with by us outside or were busy dealing with C-Sec, either way there was less than a dozen geth to take out. The majority of those were in cover limiting how many Ash could take out, Gamora and I helped her with that by dragging them out of cover when we weren't taking them out ourselves.

When the last geth fell we pushed up the stairs...just in time to see Saren jump over the edge.

"Be on guard he'll..." started Shepard only to be cut off as Saren suddenly returned on his floating platform and threw a grenade right in the middle of us.

Instinctively Gamora and I created a bubble around the grenade before it went off, opening fire with his pistol Saren forced us into cover. Some of us had better cover than others.

"I should have known that it wasn't over between us, that I'd meet you for one final confrontation before everything is over...you almost got here too late." said Saren

Saren was different to the last time I saw him, though I never really got a good look at him before. The geth grafted arm was completely different, instead of grey geth synthetic tissue it was jet black with red energy pulsing down it, and into his chest which looked like he had an extra rib cage packed on top of his own. His other limbs were different too, it was hard to tell what was attached to his armour and what was attached to his armour as black tubs and rods seemed to go in and out of his skin. Each one had energy running through it.

"What the hell have you done to yourself!" shouted Shepard

"Sovereign sensed my doubt the last time we fought...he made me stronger so I wouldn't doubt again." answered Saren

"He indoctrinated you, you idiot! How much of you is left at this point?!" shouted Shepard

"My mind is my own Shepard! Join me and we can save both our species, maybe more. All we have to do is prove useful, in a few minutes the Reapers will be here...there is still time to seek their mercy." said Saren "Kneel down and obey them!"

"Mercy?! They're Reapers! Do you have any idea how many species they wiped out? How many billions died. There's not a single Prothean left alive, do you realy think every single one Prothean wanted to fight to the death?" asked Shepard "No species does that. Not even turians, your own species does that."

"The Protheans resisted the inevitable, they chose their side. Why let them change it when things were all but decided? But if we side with the Reapers now, help them before things begin, show that we can be useful then we can live on." said Saren

"Useful?!' asked Shepard in disbelief "How can we be useful? They built the Citadel for fucks sake, and as long it existed or at least as long as we know it has been taken care of by the Keepers. You know, the keepers, the bug-eyed little shits that are always watching you and self-destruct the second you touch one? Either they were created by the Reapers or they were a race that proved 'useful' to the Reapers. Either they can make races to fulfil any need they have...making having us pointless or our species will live on...as mindless drones. Is that how you want your race to live on? As some kind of mindless hall monitor?" asked Shepard

"No your wrong! If I prove useful my people can live on!" shouted Saren

"You're lying to yourself. Sovereign will use you and then throw you away. 50,000 years is a long time, do you really turians can make themselves useful for that long? Even if they spend their entire lives serving the Reapers they'll still replace them as soon as it's convenient." said Shepard "Imagine generation after generation of turians serving each and every desire of the Reapers, living their entire lives as if they were machines on a factory line. No sleep, no rest, nothing but fulfilling their will and working for them tirelessly. After a few generations of that could you even call them turians anymore? At best the DNA of your species will carry on but their spirit... their culture, everything that makes a turian a 'turian' will have been long dead. All you would have done is made the turians the 'keepers' of the next cycle."

"Enough!" shouted Saren "I had hoped that another race would survive but if the turians alone survive...so be it. I won't waste any more time on you." said Saren opening fire and charging toward us.

Ducking out of the way we return fire, Ash's gun which up until now had annihilated anything it went up against was unable to strip Saren of his shields. It was almost like his shield were recharging as we were firing on them which should be impossible. Then again he was covered in Reaper tech.

Swapping to my bow I take aim...and release. Unfortunately, Saren saw it coming, twisting his body to the side it missed him completely by mere centemeters, a second arrow was stopped by a powerful biotic barrier.

"Callum we got geth coming at us from behind! Ash keep Saren busy! Everyone else keep those geth off us!" ordered Shepard

Switching back to my Settler I used overpowered rounds to take out the geth as quickly as they can come up the stairs, Gamora and Shepard taking out their own share. It might have made it a bit unwieldy but I used the large heat clip, however there was a problem. As quickly as we were taking them out more geth kept arriving and Ash didn't seem to be able to put a good enough dent into Saren. Whenever she seemed to be making progress in taking out his shields he zoomed off to recover, worse he did strafing attacks, using biotics, rockets and grenades or just his pistol or assault rifle. We were able to avoid most of the damage, but that wasn't the problem. Little by little they were whittling down our shields while Saren's stayed as strong as ever.

Between the geth and Saren's floating platform, there was no safe place for us to hide to let our shields recover. Each centimetre of the gage that represented our kinetic barriers was a tough fight to regain. Gamora, myself and even Shepard used barriers to give ourselves at least sometime for them to recharge. Ash however...little by little we were losing our shields and unlike Saren, we couldn't sip away on a platform to let...wait platform! I might not be able to hit Saren but if I can take out his platform I'll at least limit his mobility.

Switching to my bow I quickly aimed at Saren and released. Smirking he created another barrier around himself to block it...however that smirk faded into a snarl when he realised I wasn't aiming at him and my arrow buried deep into the platform he was on.

Keeping that snarl, he aimed his overly large pistol at me...it was only then that I realised my kinetic barriers were all but depleted, only a couple of centremetres were left on the gage. It wouldn't be enough to stop his shot.

The same time he pulled the trigger was the same time I created a barrier around myself...too late. My still forming barrier and what little was left of my shields managed to slow the round but not stop it as it collided with my visor and pain blossomed through my skull.

I would find out later that as Sarens round hit my visor it sent a shard flying into my eye. If I was any slower creating by barriers if my shields were any lower or if my head had been on a different angle the round would have killed me. Instead I lost an eye.

"Callum!" shouted Shepard "Gamora help him, Ash give them some cover."

I barely noticed as Gamora crouched next to me and began trying to take my helmet off. The pain made it difficult to concentrate on anything and half my vision was gone, my right side. What was left could only see a mix of blood and a fractured visor.

"It's serious, he's lost the function of one eye. While not in danger he needs immediate medical aid, medi-gel isn't going to be much use." said Gamora making Shepard swear.

As Gamora started to examined the wound more closely and apply some medi-gell I realised my bow was nolonger in my hand.

"Where's my bow, I need my bow." I said pushing Gamora's hands away, trying to hard find it. I must have dropped it, it had to be nearby.

After a moment I could feel Gamora pressing something into my hand making me look down. It was my bow.

Pressing the trigger I heard the sound of my explosively wrapped arrow go off followed by the sound of something crashing.

"Good shot! Saren just lost his platform. He fell onto the circle of rocks below us. Ash make sure he stays there! We've got him pinned and isolated and I don't want that to change. Callum are you right to keep fighting?" asked Shepard as Ash maintained constant fire.

Vaguely I tried to remember which of my eyes was dominant. But it was hard to really think, whether because of the wound or the painkillers that were undoubtedly flooding my system, I had no idea.

"I'm not sure I have much of a choice." I answered

"Probably not, Callum you stay up here provide cover with your gun or biotics. The rest of us will push forward, it's time to end this." said Shepard swapping to her grenade launcher. Ash used her gun to keep Saren down, Shepard used her grenade launcher to keep the number of geth down while Gamora used her biotics and pistol to take out the geth that were proving hard to hit. I myself used my rifle and singularities to strip away their shields and keep too many geth from pushing against us at once, I was even able to take a couple of shots at Saren. Not that they did much, his shields were just ridiculously strong.

As the others pushed forward down the stairs I stayed behind using an elevated position to my advantage.

Even without his platform Saren was still a threat, a big one. He was known as one of the best Spectres for a reason. But the fact that was no longer able to fly over us while dropping grenades on us was a massive improvement for us. Ash advanced from the front, Gamora and Shepard moved to flank him. If Saren stayed where he was it was only a matter of time until he was taken out and he knew that. Throwing a grenade at Shepard, forcing her to stop shooting to concentrate on making a barrier Saren tried making a break for it. If he made it he'd undoubtedly find a much better spot to fight us off, a spot that we'd have to make ourselves vulnerable to take him out or would limit how many of us could put the pressure on him. It was hard enough taking his shields out as it was, I didn't want to know how bad it would be if things were made any harder.

Simultaneously both Gamora and I channeled our biotics and slammed Saren into on a krogan sized rock stunning him and hopefully breaking a couple of his ribs...that was all Shepard needed. A biotic charge brought her into arms reach of Saren where she pulled back her arm and plunged her omni-blade into Saren's chest.

"That's for Eden Prime you bastard!" snarled Shepard

Saren wasn't about to go down easily however. Pushing back with everything he could Saren stopped Shepard from pushing her blade any further. Struggling as much as she could Shepard couldn't get Saren to budge. Twisting her arm suddenly the omni-blade suddenly snapped, pushing her arms down and then forward Shepard pushed Saren backwards.

As Saren stumbled and tried to recover...clutching and the piece of omni-blade that was sticking out of his chest Shepard unleashed a devastatingly powerful spartan kick that drove it completely in. Gasping Saren dropped to his knees, his eyes going wide in disbelief.

"And that's for every time you nearly got one of my team killed." spat Shepard leaving Saren to die on the ground alone after kicking his gun away. No point in risking Saren shooting them in the back before his lungs filled with blood.

Heading back up she glanced at Callum who was being tended to by Gamora while Ash provided look out. Even if they didn't know Sovereign was about to reanimate Saren's corpse there was still a lot of geth around.

Activating the console, Shepard inserted the program that Virgil gave her on Illos hoping it worked...it did.

"I'm opening the Citadel." said Shepard typing in the needed commands.

Outside the Citadel

Destiny Ascension-Bridge

"This is Matriarch Lidanya, commanding officer of the Destiny Ascension. We have the Council on board...I repeat we have the Council on board. Our shields are failing! Can anyone respond?!" asked Matriarch Lidanya desperately

"Commander we have incoming FTL." said one of Lidanya's bridge crew filling her with a mix of hope...and dread.

"Who is it?" asked Lidanya

If there were reinforcements they was a chance the Council and by extension herself and crew could make it out of this alive. If was more geth though...well the odds were bad enough as it was.

"I-its the Alliance." said the crew member in both surprise and hope. "I'm also picking up reinforcements from the Primachy. They have hundreds of ships each!"

"This is Admiral Hackett to the Destiny Ascension, get out of there we'll cover you as best we can. To every other ship out there, we are dealing with a unknown ship of unknown make and origin. What we do know it's more powerful than anything we have, it's a bear and we are the bees. I want fast attacks only, go in and get out. Stay away from the front if you can, I doubt that those legs are just there for decoration." came the order over the speakers

"You heard the Admiral." ordered Lidanya "Get out of here."

As the Destiny Ascension lumbered away hundreds of other ships surged forward to protect it and distract the geth ships from attempting to follow the Ascension. Lidanya sent them a silent thanks, they just saved the ten thousand plus crew members of the Ascension...a fact that would no doubt cost some of them their lives.

After clearing the space around the Destiny Ascension the majority of the ships continued on as the arms of the Citadel opened. Around a fourth stayed behind, as the large unknown ship turned to face the incoming ships they opened fire. As Hackett ordered they came in, fired and left just as quickly. As some of the ships left the Citadel enitely some remained behind to circle and the fourth that had stayed behind made their own run.

Back in the Council Chambers

"The arms are open and the fleet are about to engage Sovereign but it's not over just yet. Any second we'll have to deal with geth that want to take back this area and avenge their boss. I want everyone ready to fight them back. Callum, Ash how are you feeling?" asked Shepard

"Like I just lost an eye." I answered making her give a slight wince as Gamora checked over me "That said I can probably hold my own."

"My sides a little stiff but I should be fully combat-ready." said Ash

"Good, now I want..." started Shepard only to be interrupted as the entire room if not tower started shaking.

"Ahhh Shepard we might have a problem." said Ash looking down

While I knew Sovereign re-animating and taking over Saren was coming that didn't prepare me for when it happened. The pulsing red that was going through his body increased dramatically and red electricity started arching around him as the body started to shudder and shake. If I didn't know any better I would swear he was still alive. The worst part however was the smell, I never thought about what fried turian smelt like before but I sure did know how it smelt now.

As the flesh literally started to melt off the bone like it had come out of some sort of fucked up slow cooker Reaper-Saren got to his feet. His lower jaw was complelty gone as was all his flesh. The only thing left aside from his bones were the augments that had been grafted onto those bones. Just as some of us started to aim at...it, Reaper-Saren crouched and leapt impossibly high onto the distant ceiling.

"Fuck that thing moves!" shouted Ash as she brought her gun to bear.

All her shots missed however, Reaper-Saren was just too quick.

"Callum, Gamora I want to hit it with your biotics if you can so the rest of us can hit it. It works with the geth hoopers, hopefully it will work what ever that is. I'll use the grenade launcher to deal with any geth that try attacking us. With his new speed, it will be useless on whatever Saren's become, give me a hand to deal with them if you can. Ash I want you keep him on the run, don't worry about taking him out just keep him on the move. I didn't see anything on him that could be a weapon but I don't want to take that chance." Shepard ordered

With that we got to work, Ash kept her gun on Reaper-Saren but the few shots that connected didn't seem to do much. As did the biotic attacks of myself and Gamora, they appeared to just slide over it. Kinetic barriers neither completely stopped nor were unaffected by biotic abilities. It depended on their quality and how they were calibrated however.

A low-tier kinetic barrier did nothing to stop biotics. Mid-tier provided some defence...if calibrated for biotics it made it difficult to use some abilities to their full extent, for example trying to lift them felt like you were trying to pick up something slimy. If you weren't careful they would just 'grab' their shields instead of them causing a stumble. There were usually two ways around this, one was simply to damage their shields enough to get through or use more biotic power...the equivalent of scooping up a small fish with both hands instead of using two fingers.

This was only if they were calibrated for biotics, and aside from the asari most species didn't have that many biotics. This meant in most cases you were more likely to have to worry about a tech attack than a biotic one. Resulting in most kinetic barriers, and the vi that runs them being set up to deal with mass effect rounds and tech attacks rather than biotics. Just like sniper vs smg rounds, they couldn't be calibrated for both.

High-tier however had much better processing power. They could either be calibrated for protection for both biotics and tech or much better protection for one of those. It was like they had two different kinetic barriers at the same time. Another option was setting up 'profiles' that the vi could switch between. The problem with that is the wearer could become vulnerable if a powerful biotic/tech attack was then followed by its opposite.

Saren was a Spectre and a rich one at that. There was noway that he hadn't had one of the best kinetic barrier one could get and as Shepard had said before, the geth and Sovereign had probably improved them even further. Now that Sovereign had taken direct control of Saren I had no doubt he could switch the shields from offering the best protection from gunfire, tech and biotics or decent protection of all three within seconds.

That said they were still affected by whatever attack hit him, just not nearly as much as they otherwise should be. It was going to be a tough fight to take him down even without having to worry about the geth that were undoubtedly on their way to reinforce him. However he might be vulnerable to my arrows, its velocity is just too different to regular mass effect rounds. That and while Saren had biotics I doubted this...thing did.

I still had to hit the thing though and it was unbelievably quick. Loading my bow with one of my remaining seven explosive arrows I lob a singularity down and Gamora did the same. We left both undetonated before repeating the action as Shepard aimed and fired the grenade laucher at a group of three geth, taking two out completely and crippling the third. The goal at the moment wasn't to take out the incoming geth but to either herd them into points where we could take out multiple platforms at once either via biotic detonation, grenade or arrow. Or to slow them down enough that we could take out Reaper-Saren, using sigularities to limit their approach was extremely useful and we can always detonate them just before they faded for a small biotic explosion.

With Gamora handling the singularities and helping Shepard I switched my focus to Reaper-Saren though I'd better keep an eye on...never mind.

"Gamora I'm going to see if I can hit Saren with another explosive arrow, can you tell me if Shepard needs it instead?" I asked

"I can do that." answered Gamora nodding "Can I use your rifle in the mean time? I believe I can do more damage with it than with my pistol or assault rifle."

"Help yourself." I said offering my back to her and soon felt her removing the gun in question "Let me know if you need any heat clips."

Pulling my bow back I take aim and start to follow Reaper-Saren around the room. Ash kept him on his toes, he barely had time to land before she forced him to jump away again. Definitely for the best though as a number of times I saw the flashing red that was pulsing over his form intense and a targeting laser appear from one of his eyes. My first arrow missed, as did the second but not by much.

"Callum Shepard could use some help." interrupted Gamora.

Turning back to the main battle I saw a number of heavy geth platforms incoming, Shepard was busy dealing with a couple of groups that was trying to push forward. I had a quick think about it, and used three explosives arrows to take them out. This left me with a single explosive arrow...I needed to make it count.

Watching Reaper-Saren jump around I try to learn where he would jump next. After a minute of watching I aimed at where I thought he was about to land and fired as he was mid jump...hitting him in the upper arm right next to the shoulder. It wasn't where I wanted it to hit but it was good enough, taking my eye off him I give a quick look to make sure Shepard didn't need any help anytime soon, I was about to detonate it when Ash suddenly shouted.

"Callum don't!"

Surprised, I look up at Ash only to see...Saren's amputated arm hit her in the chest. Looking up I see a three-limbed Reaper-Saren glaring down at us before jumping away out of sight.

"He just ripped off his own arm without hesitation ." said Ash

"He must have known that the arrow could have taken him out. Look on the bright side, with one limb down he's going to be that much easier to take down." said Shepard reassuringly

As if in answer to her remark Saren was suddenly in our mist, colliding suddenly with Ash with extreme force. As she hit the ground there was the sound of something breaking, fumbling I reach for my sword...and miss complelty. Even if Reaper-Saren hadn't leaped away it still would have been a clean miss. I did however notice that when he leapd away...he had all four limbs.

"What the hell! He just lost a limb! How'd he get another?" asked Ash angrily

"The limb looked geth in origin." said Gamora helpfully "Perhaps he took it from one of his followers."

"If he can replace his own body parts how the hell are we going to defeat him?" asked Ash

"That's the least of our problems." said Shepard nodding toward Ash, or more accurately her back. Reaper-Saren's frontal attack had just taken out her back pack.

"FUCK!" swore Ash letting the pack drop and disconnecting the cable. No point in carrying around dead weight.

"Callum can I have some heat clips?" asked Ash

Without answering I passed over two large heat clips followed by two extended clips. While Shepard took the heavy ammo pack that Gamora carried and put it on her back

"Thanks." said Ash

"Listen we're running out of time and heavy ammo. Unless I'm wrong Callum has used all his explosive arrows, Ash lost her backpack and I only have just over fourteen grenades left. We need to put an end to this and fast." said Shepard "Callum do you have any regular arrows?"

"Plenty." I answered

"Good, I want you and Gamora focusing on the geth reinforcements but be ready to hit Saren with everything you have, biotics and otherwise when I give you the word. Ash, you might have noticed that his shield provides him a lot more protection against biotics than normal. We need to get rid of those shields so Gamora and Callum can pin him down and take him out with everything we can. With how much of a fight he's put up so far we're only going to have one chance and we've already used and lost most of our cards." said Shepard

While Gamora continued to use my Settler I used my bow, both of us used singularities to slow incoming geth as much as possible and then detonating them. While singularities wasn't my favourite or most powerful attack. That would be either slam or shield followed by slash or shot it was the most useful in this situation. It allowed me to block off areas for an extended period of time while still taking geth out elsewhere.

"I'm reloading." said Gamora

"Got it." I answered

As Shepard fired her grenades I fired my arrows. Ash might have lost her ability to fire nearly an unending amount her assault rifle had one of the quickest cooling rates by fire. That combined with the heat clips I gave her meant she almost able to have the same rate of fire...as long as she kept it short and sweet. The moment where Reaper-Saren was landing or Ash was letting her gun vent for a few seconds Shepard was firing her grenade laucher, when he tried hiding out of sight she also fired. Doubtfully doing much damage but every second it couldn't recharge it's shields was a bonus...eventually.

"Callum Gamora pin him now!" shouted Shepard suddenly

Looking up onto the ceiling Gamora and I simultaneously create a singularity. Instead of two singularities forming they condensed into a single, large and extremely powerful one. As one we all opened fire, as Shepard had warned...we probably only had one chance to take him out. To be safe Shepard had swapped to her assault rifle as did I. Round and round hit Reaper-Saren, when our guns filled with heat we either vented or added a new heat clip and kept firing. On any other enemy it would have been labeled gross over kill. On this enemy...not so much.

Eventually, after countless rounds, when Reaper-Saren's body was full of holes, his skull half gone and the rest of him fairing no better the singularity failed he dropped to the floor.

Instead of stopping Shepard brought her grenade launcher back out and fired...every...single...round she had left. By the time she had run out Saren was in pieces, no one part of him was connected to another.

Even if Soverign still had control over the body, which I doubted there wasn't even enough left of Saren to drag him over here and bite our ankles.

His arms, legs and rib cage was spread throughout the room. The only thing left of him was about one third of his skull and about one fifth of his rib cage and his collar bone...that was it.

"Please tell me its over, if he starts putting himself together like a jigsaw puzzle I will freak the fuck out." said Ash

Thankfully that didn't happen, what did happen ever single piece catch fire...and melt into nothingness. As we all caught our breath however we heard large explosions above us. Looking towards the large window that stood behind the Councilor's platform we saw a large piece of debris heading our way.

"RUN!" shouted Shepard as we turned about and headed back the way we came. Shepard quickly taking the lead.

Instead of leading us towards the elevator like I expected however she darted to nearest partially closed area. A corner out near one of the stair cases.

As we ran, the room started to darken as the debris blocked out the light. We had barely gotten to cover when the large window shattered. Instinctively I created a biotic bubble around us, Gamora doing the same and strengthening the shield far more than I could alone.

For the most part not much collided with the bubble, bits of glass and shrapnel as well larger pieces. Nothing that would have killed us but would still have given us serious injuries...well more serious injuries.

A few metres away however was a different story. The rocks where Saren had fallen and used for cover were broken by fragments the size of the mako. The half a dozen trees that were in the area were either broken in half or hand missing branches while the area we were fighting in was covered in more bits of debris.

Shepard had known what she was doing when she lead us to our hiding spot. I realised, if we had stayed where we were we would certainly be dead. That was obvious, but instead of trying to put as much distance between us, she headed to the nearest place that would provide safe cover.

"Shepard we just saw that tower being hit are you okay?" asked Garrus worriedly

"We're all alive if that's what you mean." answered Shepard "But Callum needs medical asap and Ash needs her own check up."

"On it, I'll make sure someone is sent your way while we clean up the remaining geth." said Garrus before ending the chat.

We could have left the tower and found medical aid on our own but we had no idea where fighting was still hot. That and we were all spent from the constant fighting.

Twenty minutes later

It took about twenty minutes for anyone to get to us. A team of five heavily armed C-sec individuals and one medical/tech first aid officer. Clearly fighting was still going on.

The medical/tech officer saw me first.

"Asside from the eye your fine. You're lucky, most people who got an injury like yours wouldn't be walking out here on there own if at all. I'll look over your friends and then we'll take you to one of the hospitals we have secured." said the officer before moving onto Ash, Gamora and then finally Shepard.

When he was finished he came back "Okay the most obvious is Private Maclean who has lost an eye, Gunnery Chief Williams has a few busted and bruised ribs plus some internal bleeding. Not a lot but it's better to be safe than sorry so I would like to get her in right away. Gamora I'sley shows some signs of biotic exhaustion and you yourself show some signs of regular exhaustion and muscle fatigue."

"So while Ash and Callum aren't combat-ready Gamora and I am. Ash, Callum you're going to medical while Gamora and I link back up with Garrus...see if he needs any help." said Shepard

"Actually Commander I'd like to go with Callum and Ash." responded Gamora, making Shepard look between me and Gamora with a slight smile before turning to the officer "What's the fighting like out there?"

"For the most part it's over, most geth stopped coming in and they started to back out about ten minutes ago. There are a few firefights here and there but it's nothing compared to what it was before. All that's really left is weeding out the forces that were left and dealing with any traps or ambushes." answered the officer

"In that case go ahead Gamora, they should be happy having an extra person there to protect it just incase there is an attack, be prepared to help out if there is a fight nearby though. Speaking of ambushes however, we think there might be one near the hatch on the outer side of the tower. There was a small side tunnel that we expected someone to use to flank us. It could be full of traps or indoctrinated krogan, or geth with bad programing." warned Shepard

"Indoctrinated?" asked one of the C-sec armed troops confusedly, a turian

"That ship that just blew up, it does something to your mind, altering it. We've encountered numerous individuals who are no longer themselves, you might have received reports on say krogan charging without a sound.

"She's right Calisia, I've heard that too. I just thought the krogan finally learned stealth." said another

"Well you were wrong." said Shepard with a touch of annoyance at the racist remark. "Saren had a facility where he was studying it, he didn't seem able to control it that well though. Some were brain dead, some were mad and one tried to stab us in the back the second we tried to rescue him."

"Ahh ma'am...should you really be telling us this?" asked the officer

"Probably not." answered Shepard with a smirk, which then faded "But you needed to know. Don't worry about taking them alive, there's nothing left of them, or if you do be very careful. If it makes it easier think of it like they've been through intense brain washing, they'll kill you even if they die in the attempt...but their ability to plan is also degraded. They can't think for themselves so it should be easy to lure them out."

"I'll let other teams know ma'am." said the officer thankfully

Three hours later

It took hours to clear the Citadel, not completely. The majority of hostiles were gone but it would days if not weeks to deal with all the geth and their left over traps, even then krogan half dead from both starvation and exhaustion would be found in remote corners of the Citadel on their feet...unmoving. But after a few hours the Presidium was safe enough that the Council was happy to return. Callum and Ash were in a nearby hospital, named after some asari with a particularly long-winded name that Shepard couldn't hope to pronounce correctly. Solana and her team took some wounds, Solana had some cracked plates and Garrus had a wounded shoulder from when he had to deal with two snipers at once but the rest would be mission-ready after a day or two of RR.

"Ahh Shepard thank you for meeting with us." said Tevos graciously as she joined Captain Anderson and Ambassidor Udina who were already standing near the rest of the Councilors "We are gathered here to recognize the enormous contribution of not only your team but the entire Alliance to end Saren and the geth threat. Spatacus has already informed me that Admiral Hackett confined the Primarch to ready a fleet in preparation to come to the Citadels defense. Something that he only did because of you."

"Many turians and human's lost their lives so that we...the Council might live." started Valern, making Sparticus dip his head and spread his manables in shame. "They were brave and couragus soldiers who will not be forgotten."

"...there is no...the discipline your people showed when the Citadel was under threat reminded me of..." tried Spartacus fumbling, struggling to find the right words.

"What Councilor Spartacus is trying to say is that we all agree that humanity has earned it's place on the Council. If you have any recommendations I'm sure they will go a long way." smiled Tevos, a smile that soon vanished.

"You think hundreds if not thousands of peopled died just to save you stupid idiots?" insulted Shepard "How self-intitled are you?"

"Commander!" hissed Udina horrified

"Shut it Udina, this is a wake up call and already the Council's reaching for the snooze button. Those 'brave' soldiers didn't die 'for' you...they died 'because' of you. Learn the difference! If you three hadn't repeatedly buried your heads in the sand most of them would still be alive today. I understand why you first doubted me about Saren and then when I warned you about a possible attack that would bypass most of you're defenses but that's all you did. You did a piss poor investigation of Saren, you did a piss poor job and helping me chase after him and you did a piss poor job planing for his attack yet the entire time you've been acting like you deserve a gold star! Do you have any idea how bad this attack could have been if he still had Spectre status! I continually warned you how big a threat he was! Oh and if those soldiers, Alliance or otherwise died for anyone it was the one they were fighting next to, their fellow sentient. The innocent civilian on the Citadel that you failed and the ten thousand others on the Ascension you put in danger! Saren was an ex-spectre, a detail that you only just released. He would have known things about the Citadel that people who lived their entire lives on it wouldn't have and he certainly would have known you're planned escape route yet you did nothing to change. To be perfectly blunt if you had been alone on a shuttle under attack and it came down between saving you, and keeping even a third of those people alive or saving the Destiny Ascension which would have put itself in harms way to protect I would have just let you go down and let you suffer the consequences of your mistakes while trying to help the Ascension." said Shepard cutting them down to size

"I admit we have made many mistakes." started Sparatcus, finally finding his voice as he spoke remorsefully "But I promise things will be different from now on."

"Will it?" asked Shepard "Because I noticed you said Saren and not Sovering or are you still arguing about that not being a Reaper or at least a Reaper ship? Please tell me your not going to argue that it's some sort of geth mega-ship when it's clearly much more powerful and has different tech."

"The attack has only just ended, first we need to rebuild before we can start to...investigate the origins of Saren's flag ship." said Tevos diplomaticly

"In other words in a few years you might do something, well don't worry. As everything else so far I'll sort this out myself. Back on Illos we found a Prothean facility, likely one of their last. It was full of failed cryopods and a VI that was on edge of doing the same. I left some of my team there to make sure that didn't happen." for a second Shepard thought she saw Valern twitch but then dismissed it.

"That is a remarkable find." said Tevos smiling despite the lashing she just received "As far as I'm no Prothean VI has ever been recovered, there is evidence that they were used by them but they were either beyond recovery or their programing was too simple to hold anything useful."

"It is a remarkable find." agreed Shepard "And I'm be happy to give the Council it...after we have made our own copy."

"Commander with it's age that might not be a good idea. With how fragmented it is such and act might irecobly damage it." frowned Tevos

"Then I'm afraid we might be unable to had it over." responded Shepard

"Must I remind you that sharing of Prothean technology is one of our most important laws?" asked Valern

"You may." answered Shepard evenly "But such laws only include physical technology such as the beacons, archives and data disks. There is no mention of programs, software or virtual intelligences. By this time my team has already moved the VI onto a new hardware that was designed, created and then patiented by Tali' Zorah nar Rayya and Liara T'Soni. Their work was funded by the rest of my ground crew and a small part by the Alliance.

As such rights to the VI belong to those who found it, those who recovered it and those who own the device that holds it and to a lesser degree those who funded the creation of it and those that funded or supplied resources to help in its discovery.

That means what happens to the VI is up to the complete descrecion of me and my team. As you have not provided a single credit of funding during the entire time we have been chasing Saren nor aided in the descovery or location of Illos you have absolutely no say nor power in what happens to the VI. The only government organisation that has even the slightest say is the Alliance who have provided significant resources and financial help during the whole ordeal.

Plus I'd like to remind you what happened the last time we tried to hand something of importance over. How it was destroyed by one of your most trusted Spectres who also tried to blow up a human colony and who then went on to attack the Citadel. I'm sure everyone involved will be happy to make sure you get a copy...after its assured that it can't be destoyed or otherwise lost.

I am more than happy however to provide you with the location of the hardware that used to contain it however, after I have picked up the remaining members of my team...we didn't have much time for sightseeing and I want to be sure I give you the correct location. After that you can send your own team of specialists to retrieve it."

Next to her Udina seemed to have lost his voice at the constant disrespect that she was showing the Council. Though at times he did seem happy at the amount of possible leverage she was also giving him. If the Council were expecting her to forget all the problems they caused her and give them a smile as they said how much they 'regretted' what happened they were surely mistaken.

"I'm sure you will do what you feel is best." said Tevos diplomaticly once again if with more 'I'm wiser and smarter so you should listen to me' in her voice than usual.

"And I'm sure you'll do...something that you can say is important for everyone to make yourselves look good. " Shepard before turning around and walking away.

"Oh, one more thing." said Shepard, stopping suddenly "Have you started?"

"Started what?" asked Tevos cautiously

"Why counting how many people died because of you...or have you already forgotten our last conversation?" asked Shepard

Valern didn't display any outward reaction, Tevos lost her 'wiser than you' air but the biggest reaction came from Sparatus who'd looked like he was just punched in the gut.

She wouldn't know it just yet but Shepard had just changed the playing field completely and forever. The Council would never again have the same image and power they once did as unlike the last time she dressed down the Councilors down this was done in a public area. If it was done in the Councilor's chambers they could have used their power and influence to stiffle it like they did before. Here...not so much, they could try and indeed they did but their were too many witnesses and too many cameras to prevent the news that the newest Spectre and a hero of the Citadel had just ripped the Council a new one.

Such an act would slowly but surely chip away at their power as people would no longer settle with the Councilors 'final' decisions but would push and push and then go elsewhere if their answers or deal was not good enough instead of just settling for what the Council was willing to offer. Would no longer do things in order to gain the 'goodwill' and only the 'goodwill' of the Council. After all the humans had a beacon, gave up a beacon...and got nothing. Yes it was destroyed but that wasn't the humans fault.

If the Council wasn't willing to give something in return for a beacon, something that was one of the most valuable things out there and was beyond priceless...as Liara had once said getting one was worth almost any cost. If someone had found one in their backyard they could have asked for anyting in return either through legal or illegal channels. If they had asked for their own personal cruiser or even dreadnaught in exchange, every single species and black market organisation would be lining up and making offers.

Yet they got nothing, not even the slighest of retributions. The closest anology would be giving up colony rights to a pristine world only to get nothing in return and to make things worse it was the Council's own agent who had gotten the beacon destroyed. If such an unfair thing had happen to the humans...a race who had just been offered a Council seat and who's soldiers had died to protect them even though it was not their job to do so, what chance did anyone else have at getting something out of them should they be the ones to lose something instead?

After all the volus had spent thousands of years trying to get a Council and had arguably done more for galactic stability through their creation and then the maintenance of the credit unit than the asari themselves, yet they only got table scraps. Those two ugly facts painted an even uglier picture. There were also the matters of the quarian and krogan race.

Everyone and their uncle knew that one was made up of thieves and the other one were violent thugs yet individuals of both these races were part of the team that saved the Citadel. One had even personally saved dozens of innocent lives on the Citadel, fighitng alongside turians. A race that they were supposed to be incredibly violent towards and showing no hesitation in confronting his own bretherin if it mean protecting another or putting himself in harms way to protect those around him.

Perhaps the blame lay not with their actual species but with others. After all, any volus would tell you it didn't matter how good a product was, the company or how many credits were involved it if wasn't managed well. A turian would say the same about their rifle. The krogan rebellions had been terrible but they also had been a long long time ago and perhaps the Council at that time was just as flawed as this one was. They were uplifted to fight a violent war...maybe they were never taught what to do when it had ended? If Commander Shepard could teach a krogan how to be a hero why couldn't the Council? Especially since they had centuries to try? The way the asari Councilor acted surely she at least could have done something similar...yet she didn't.

As for the quarians, the geth had been created over three hundred years ago yet this was the first attack outside the veil. Something else that could be laid at Saren's feet as he had been the one leading them. So if the geth hadn't actually done anything in three hundred years why were the quarians still being punished for creating them.

The once tight grip that three individuals once had over the entire galaxy...was gone.

It also changed other things, not only had a 'suit rat' been on Commander Shepard's team but she also had what was arguably one of the most valuable pieces of equipment in the galaxy due to what was on it. That would go on to affect the treatment of the quarian race, as while a lot of people didn't know much about quarian they did know they lived in close-knit communities. Why take the risk of insulting someone who could be a friend of the one who had something the Council dearly wanted...yet were unable to force her to hand over?

The same individuals and universities that had laughed at Liara for ideas suddenly changed their tones in the hopes they could get access to the VI that was recovered on Illos...or at least opinions and views that she had gained from it. Unfortunately for them the Liara that they had to deal with was much different to the one before. Her experiences had changed her, her knowledge of what the future held had changed her. Where once she would have been over joyed now she refused to waist time on those who only wanted to hear their own voices or use her to support their own shaggy tits. She did remember those who listened, aided or even had a good constructive debate that didn't decend into insults. It didn't matter that they disagreed with her theories, that was their. What mattered was how, those such people were extremely thankful that they had not laughed or dismissed her out of hand like so many had done.

Illos

On a small balcony over looking thousands of cryopods.

"Any sign of them?" asked a salarian, faint marks on his armour marking him as an STG commander.

"No sir." answered a second salarian while a third had a sniper aimed somewhere at the gound below them. "Though I am still picking up faint energy readings."

"We know the Shepards MO, she wouldn't leave three of her own behind while she's chasing Saren without good reason, even if they had the least combat strength of them." mused the nameless STG Commander. "Or even because of that fact. They must have found something down there that was worth decreasing their overall strength and leaving three of them to fend on their own."

His team had followed Shepard to Illos, just like they had followed her elsewhere. The only exception was Feros do to the possibility of the Thorian finding them and even then they were almost on the ground before they had learned of it.

They watched and followed Shepard and her team as they dealt with the geth on Illos. They had watched and waited as a barrier suddenly sprung up stopping the mako...that had been a close one. The speed Shepard had been driving at made it hard for them to follow her undetected, when she suddenly stopped they nearly got into range of being detected. They watched as she entered a hidden elevator. Watched as the barrier feel, watched as they returned less two crew members and watched as a third reentered the elevator carrying crates and what could possibly be a power source if was his tech said was true...whatever was down there was definitely important.

"What do you want us to do?" asked the tech

"We can't wait here, while the Normandy has left atmosphere it won't be long until they return or someone esle shows up and we need to have whatevers down there before they do. All team members get ready to engage. Your targets are a female quarian, a male human with tech and biotic skills and an asari with limited commando training plus whatever she has learned on the Normandy. Remember geth weapons or simulated rounds only, we can't let anyone else know someone esle other than the geth was here." said the STG commander hanging up and waiting for a response.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Casting a frown he looks at his tech

"Check to see if there is any interference. " he ordered, as the tech turned around to check their equipment he continued "All teams respond, we are about to urgh!"

Confused the tech turned back to face his commander who was standing stock still...staring at disbelief at the sword sticking out if his chest. With a squelch the sword was pulled free and his commander fell bonelessly to the side revealing who was standing behind him.

He had a yellowish skin tone, human had such strange skin tones. Thought the tech idly, what was most recongisable about this human was the visors over his eyes...they seemed to give him a permanent glare.

With a start the tech dropped his tablet, catching the attention of the sniper behind him and reached for his pistol. Before it had fully unfolded the man's sword sung through the air and cut his hand cleanly off at the wrist. Before the tech could scream the sword circled around and through his throat.

The sniper though had already reacted and had his sniper pointing directly at the man. Darting forward the man spun so his back was to the salarian's chest and the sniper was haemlessly over his shoulder. Thusting backwards the molecular thin blade easily byassed the last salarian's armour, ribs...and into the Salarian's six chambered heart. Soon he joined the rest of his fellows laying dead on the floor.

Pulling out his sword the man placed it in the nook of his elbow before closing it and sliding it along. Specially placed cloth wiping the blade clean...no point in leaving more blood to clean off the ground.

Checking that no other salarians were nearly he activated his comms and made his report.

"Illusive man my team and I have finished dealing with the STG team." said the man

"Good work as always Leng, they would have been a problem if they had not been dealt with. Dispose of the bodies, I want to make sure there's no sign that they ever landed on Illos. Don't bother scaning their ship either, I doubt they would be foolish enough to leave any evidence and I don't want to risk a recording of us hacking it being sent back to their command."

"Of course, by the way sir the Commander seemed to think that Shepard's team had found something interesting. Do you want me to take them out and grab it as well?" offered Leng

"Negative Leng." said the Illusive man surprising him.

"Sir?" questioned Leng

"Shepard about to save the galaxy, that means she's about to save humanity. Letting her teammates leave here live is a good reward is it not?" asked the Illusive man and Kai Leng found himself reluctantly agreeing. Loyalty given should be loyalty returned which was the real reason he made it look like a certain soldier on Eden Prime look like he had died with his fellows when the truth was anything but...pity that, if had more time there Cerberus could have gotten an intact beacon. Shepard might try to kill him if they ever meet but unless she got in his way or he was ordered to he wouldn't.

"Besides Shepard is Alliance, that means they will eventually get it which means we will eventually get it too. On the downside side so will everyone else. Then again if the STG had gotten their way only they would have so all things considered its an improvement. Also I have something much more important for you to grab...much more. After that is secure I want you take anything you can get away with, including at least one Prothean corpse. Make it look like either it wasn't there or the geth took it with them. Worst case sensrio we pin it on the STG, we do have evidence that they followed Shepard here after all." said The Illusive man before hanging up.


And with that Mass Effect comes to a close, I have a surprise chapter coming up and epilogue and after that I'll be writing some one shots to help set the scene for the sequel but for the most part this story has finished and I'll soon get to work on the sequel


RedvsBlue omake

The battle up the Citadel tower had almost been easy. But what esle did she expect when she had brought Tex and Caroline on the same team. She also brought Caboose but that more to stop him from somehow accidentally blowing up either the Normandy or Citadel when she wasn't looking. Not even the keepers would be able to undo the damage he could do. She swore sometimes it was so bad she thought he could single handed take down Sovereign just my walking room to room if she ever got him on board that was. To be fair Caboose did his own share of damage, though it was concering that he was shouting out how much he hated puppies and babies while he was literally throwing krogan around with a strength that rivaled if not surpassed Tex.

When they incountered Saren they had no problem taking him out. Even when he became Reaperfied there wasn't a problem. After Sovereign had insulted Carolina and Tex by saying they were inferior they and both taken turns holding him up by his ankles...while the other one beat the shit out him. The worse part for what remained of Saren was that they quickly realised that they didn't need to hold back and Tex had already stated that after this they were planing on taking him back with to be their personal work out bag...apparently she and Carolina went through a lot of the and having him would save them hundreds even if he only lasted a month or so. If Saren had any brain functions left or if Sovereign could feel anything it was not going to be a good couple of months.

That was the good news, the bad news was that the program Vigil had given her had failed. It didn't override Sovereign's control and the arms remained closed. While Carolina and Tex especially were something else not even they could take down Sovereign, at least not before he had time to bring in the rest of his friends.

Because of this Shepard was getting worried and thinking of any plan she could. She had definitely been spending too much with Red and Blue though as so far her best plan involved putting a bomb under his ass and hope it either took him out or damaged things enough that he couldn't get things started.

"Church would now what to do...Church always knew what to do." said Caboose

"You sure we are talking about the same Church?" asked Tex who had changed from doing haymakers on Saren's torso to using his head as a speed ball.

"He had his moments." argued Carolina who was now holding Saren by his midsection so Tex could get a better angle.

"He's also dead, dead dead...again. " said Tex in reply

And once again Shepard had no idea what they were talking about and these were the two...that asside from their ridiculous strength and kill made the most sense.

"I hear him sometimes...in my head. Sometimes he hears me...he tells me to shut up." said Caboose walking towards the platform "Church I need you, Church, Church can you hear me? Church..."

Over and over Caboose called out for Church to the point even Tex stopped punching...gradually that was. Just when it looked like she was going to go over and say something.

"WILL...YOU...SHUT...THE...FUCK...UP!" roared a voice suddenly and a giant blue hologram appeared infront of them. "I mean holy shit do have to be so annoying all the time? I just need a bre...where are we?"

"Church?" asked Carolina stunned, dropping Saren on his head.

"Yes...sorry do I know you?" asked the apparent Church

"Hold on...don't you recognize her?" asked Tex

"No should I...wait we didn't sleep together did we?" asked Church worriedly

"You wish asshole!" shot Tex

"Suck it bitch." shot back Church

"It might not sound like it but they care for each other." said Caboose...was it just her but did he sound smarter? Not smart smart but not as dumb as he usually sounded.

"What's the last thing you remember?" asked Carolina

"We were dealing with a possessed Caboose. Since Tex and I were ghosts we went it to drive out O'Malley." answered Church

"Church...that happened years ago." said Carolina gently

"I've been gone for years?" said Church shocked before realising something "I've been in Caboose's head for years?!"

"No, not really. After you and Tex droved out O'Malley you went on to have many adventures and meet new friends including Washington and myself. We...worked together for a time, you aloud me to do things I couldn't normally do...and then you died one last time saving Red and blue team." said Carolina emotionally

"Hold on...I died...for those idoits?" asked Church angrily

"Sorry that he's not the same as you remember." said Shepard

"No he always was an ass, its just who he is. He must have somehow copied himself in Caboose's brain and one remained behind. At least now I know why he got so bloody stupid afterwards, Caboose barely has enough brain cells for himself let alone a second idiot...I thought it was due to all the representations of blue and red team that died while we were in there...plus all the other damage. " answered Tex

"So what's happening now and more importantly...what happened to him?" asked Church nodding at Saren.

"He called Carolina and Tex a lower form of life." said Shepard

"That bastard!" cursed Church surprising Shepard

"Awww." said Tex

"Only I'm allowed to call my bitch of a girlfriend a lower form of life." continued Church completely ruining the mood.

"Well fuck you too." retorted Tex

"You know..." started Carolina "While that one has already been taken out the real him is above us."

"Oh really?" asked Church...somewhat interested

"He also said you had a small dick, that Donut is more of a man than you and Sarge is clearly a better leader than you and the only reason your battles in bloodgulch took so long was because he was taking things easy on you due to how sorry he felt for you." lied Carolina

"Oh that asseholes going down." promised Church before vanishing and appearing infront of Sovereign as a colossally sized hologram

"YOU CALAMARY LOOKING MOTHERFUCKER!" shouted Church "YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME!"

"Artificial intelligence, obviously of inferior design. Compared to me and the rest of my kind you are nothing. Shepard might have stopped Saren but she has failed to stop me. Your weapons are useless against me...soon my kind will flood through the Citadel and wipe your civilisation from the face of the galaxy. Just like we did to the Protheans and every race that came before them. The cycle cannot be stopped. " boomed Sovereign

"Well guess what, I'm not an artificial intelligence...I'm a motherfucking ghost and I'm about to haunt your ass!" said Church before charging forward and vanishing when he hit Sovereign.

"Wha...no this isn't shut it bitch! I'm in charge here! No, we are eternal, we transcend your my foot is about to transced your ass!"

On and on this happened fighitng for control...maybe, it was hard to tell. Sovereign would try to say something only to interrupted and insulted. Eventually through Sovereign started to break apart. The reason why though was it clear, was it due to just how unbelievably stubbon annoying and stupid Church was, was he simply overwhelmed? If it was Shepard couldn't blame him, every moment she spent with any of them was to much and unlike herself she doubted Sovereign had built up much of a resistance against them. Was it due to the fleets attacks finally making it through his barriers or was it because Carolina and Tex just found out that Saren wasn't as sturdy as they thought he was. Either way it didn't matter it was over and thanks to Sovereign's last words the entire galaxy knew there were more Reapers out there...once again Red and Blue team have saved the galaxy thanks to their sheer annoyability.