Chapter 78
"Battlemaster.." Kurg said.
"I see it too, Kurg." Shepard responded.
"Look at it..." Kurg said, his eyes wide staring in wonder.
"I know Kurg.." Shepard said, firing at hostile geth platforms.
"Dibs!" Kurg shouted as he took off sprinting towards the weapons crate the shuttle had dropped out.
"Damnit, no fair!" Shepard shouted, grinning as Kurg stood to his full height with what looked like a bazooka. He took aim and fired, sending what looked like a football-sized sphere of crackling red energy towards the Reaper. The air surrounding the monster began to shimmer as its shields snapped into existence, however it had not expected the Krogan of all species to have in its possession antimatter based weaponry. It did not penetrate the beast's shielding but the energy of the explosion blasted the giant robotic Squid backwards half a kilometer.
"Me next, me next, gimme gimme gimme!" Shepard shouted as Kurg smiled and handed the weapon over to her. He then took out his assault rifle and began disassembling the false Geth with enthusiasm. Reegar, Jameson and Grak smiled at each other while joining Kurg in bringing down the ground forces. It took surprisingly little effort to push forward towards the dig site and surround the beacon. Liara huddled in the center of them trying to stay out of harms way while examining the beacon and documenting its every surface.
A deep mechanical grinding noise erupted as the now enraged metal hulk righted itself and started back towards the dig site, however as ominous and objectively terrifying as the sound had been, it paled in comparison to what they heard next.
"SUUUUUUUUCK IIIIIIIIIT!" Shepard bellowed, unleashed the shoulder-mounted weapon at it again. Unfortunately for the Reaper its shields had not recovered fully and a meter-wide crater full of molten metal was blasted into its belly. At that the remaining hostile Geth platforms all dropped to the ground, and the Reaper slowly began making its way back into space.
"Commander Shepard, what is your status?" Angela Suzuki's voice asked from the communicator in her helmet.
"We just fought off what I think was a Reaper, and all the hostile Geth apparently uploaded to it and left with it. How are things back in town?" Shepard responded.
"Cerberus forces appear to have tucked their tail between their legs and run as soon as you did whatever you did. Is Dr. T'soni ok?" Suzuki responded.
"She's still examining the beacon, safe and sound. Angela... How many people did you lose?" Shepard asked.
"We're still hearing back from our officers, but I don't think any civilians were lost. Looks like those defense drills paid off, not to mention your quick and decisive response. The people of Eden Prime are grateful, Captain." Angela said.
"It's our pleasure. We'll scout around to make sure there aren't any more stragglers then head back." Shepard said.
"Understood Captain. Thanks again." Angela said before cutting the connection.
"Shepard to Tali." Shepard said into her comm.
"Go ahead Captain." She said, since this was a public channel she addressed her formally.
"The Boom Stick is fuckin' awesome, can we break up so I can ask you out again?" Shepard said.
"That's not how it works dear, but I'm glad it was useful. Can you write up a proper performance review on it when you're back?" Tali asked.
"Of course. Dear." Shepard responded.
Admirals Chambers and Xen were greeted by the Shan right as the airlock opened.
"Permission to come aboard your station?" Chambers asked.
"Forgive me, what did your first officer say?" Shan said, Chambers was about to roll his eyes when he noticed Xen stifling her giggles with a balled up hand and Shan's lip quirk slightly upwards.
"So Xen already updated your translators it seems..." Chambers said, crossing his arms in mock annoyance.
"Forgive me, Admiral, I could never pass up the opportunity for a good joke. Please do come aboard, we have much to discuss." Shan said, gesturing towards an empty room adjacent to the docking bay. Xen and Chambers nodded and walked with him where they were met by a very old looking Salarian wearing a head dress that looked very much like human dreadlocks.
"Greetings, Admirals. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Mogu and I am the Chieftan of the Oathbound. Welcome to our station." Mogu said, bowing slightly.
"On behalf of the Systems Alliance we thank you for the warm welcome. We have many questions as I'm sure you do, however first I wish to apologize for our abrupt intrusion. We were not sure what to expect when we arrived, Rothschild, our AI brother detected faint energy readings coming from this cluster and we came to investigate." Chambers said.
"No apologies are needed, you said you have come in peace and your actions thus far have not yet proven otherwise. We were surprised when you dropped your shields at the approach of the Gaana, our flagship." Mogu said.
"It was a gamble for sure, but we take diplomacy very seriously." Xen said.
Mogu smiled at this and the three began the process of getting to know each other. First Chambers gave Mogu a brief but brutally honest history of Humanity, which both impressed and terrified the old Salarian, then Xen explained the history of the Quarians including their fall from grace from the citadel after the morning war, their poor treatment of the Geth and their meeting with Humanity and the genesis of the Systems Alliance.
"Well I suppose it's our turn. From your explanations I know you have encountered the Salarians, and while we resemble them in appearance, we are very different to them. Thousands of years ago, our people did something... deplorable. " Mogu explained.
"The Mi'ik?" Chambers asked, Mogu's expression dimmed
"Indeed. Our ancestors had plenty of blood on their hands, but genocide was not something they would abide. There was an intense battle, millions on both sides died, but in the end we made our escape and entered into self-imposed exile here." Mogu explained.
"How have you managed to remain hidden for so long?" Xen asked.
"That would be the cloak. We've deployed trillions of small machines that emit radio noise and randomly fluctuating mass effect fields, effectively masking our presence. Long range sensors would interpret our presence as background cosmic radiation unless very specifically targeted by extremely sophisticated sensor equipment, with which it appears your battlecruiser has been equipped." Mogu said.
"It was a miracle we spotted you, your technology is quite impressive. Had we not been specifically scanning this region there's no way we would have distinguished you from background radiation." Xen said.
"I'll pass your praise on to our scientists." Mogu said, pausing to take a sip of his tea.
"After the atrocities our ancestors committed, the few thousand of us boarded a small fleet of transports and a couple of cruisers and a dreadnought and headed towards dark space, intending to try to find a new home, outside the influence of the Salarian Council." Mogu said.
"Salarian Council?" Chambers asked. Mogu nodded.
"That's what their government was called back then, once they'd completed ingratiating themselves with the Asari and moved onto the Citadel with them, they renamed the government. This was also when they abandoned the old ways." Mogu said, gesturing at the tattoos and carvings on his face.
"So are you a tribal, or shamanistic culture?" Xen asked, her inner geek was absolutely swooning.
"We were before our flight from Sur Kesh, however though we are no longer as spiritual as we were, we maintain our traditions to remember and honor our ancestors who had the courage to turn their back on the horrors of their contemporaries." Mogu said.
The cleanup operation on the planet had been a simple affair, several dozen Human and Quarian prisoners were taken, and were being processed in the brig of the Tyrannicide. Now with Eden Prime secure and no sign of the reapers or their "Angry Friends" the Tyrannicide was orbiting around the planet awaiting its next assignment. A considerable security force had arrived shortly after the battle and was now taking over security operations for the colony.
Liara T'soni sat cross-legged on the floor hunched over a set of schematics she'd drawn on a data pad. She was the foremost authority on xenoarchaeology in the galaxy, and respected highly by her contemporaries within the Alliance scientific community. Her publications were used all throughout the Alliance, and increasingly amongst the Asari Republics, as required reading in archaeology courses, a fact that made her swell with pride and never failed to bring a tear to her eye. However, right now, hunched over her data pads, the venerated doctor of xenoarchaeology was snoring and slightly drooling.
"Keelah, I don't want to wake her up but her back is going to be sore sleeping like that." Tali said to a smirking Shepard.
"I'll take the heat then." Shepard said, lightly grasping the sleeping Asari's shoulder, shaking it slightly.
"Wake up Dr. T'soni." She said gently.
"Five more minutes, mother..." She muttered, then curled up on the floor and began snoring again. Shepard rolled her eyes, then scooped the exhausted Asari up in her arms. It was a short walk towards the shared barracks where Shepard carefully tucked her into a vacant bunk.
"Captain Jane Shepard, the scourge of the Batarian hegemony, N7 badass and doting mama bear." Tali said, snickering. Shepard grinned and flipped her off walking down the hallway towards the elevator that lead to the bridge. Her omnitool lit up alerting her to the fact that her attention was being requested by command. This confused her as she'd already submitted her report on the attack on Eden Prime. Stopping the elevator early, she stepped off and guided Tali towards an unused conference room. She secured it and opened a QEC channel to the Admirals.
"Captain Shepard, a... situation has arisen." Admiral Korris stated. Shepard's eyebrow rose as she noted an almost mischevious expression on the Admiral.
"Of course, Admiral Korris, how can we be of service?" Shepard asked.
"We're assembling a task force in the sol system, the Citadel Council has requested an audience." Korris said, this time a snicker escaped.
"They have, have they? Let me guess, the wanted us to send an envoy..." Shepard said
"Yes." Korris confirmed.
"So we're going to send one..." Shepard continued.
"Yes." Korris Confirmed.
"With an overwhelmingly heavily armed escort." Shepard concluded. At this Korris gave up and laughed.
"Oh indubitably. They requested an envoy, minimally armed with only a small fighter escort and at most 20 marines. We're sending your battlecruiser along with five dreadnoughts, fifteen cruisers and twenty-five frigates." Korris said.
"Oh they're gonna hate that. Shame the carriers are all prepping for you know what. We'll head to Sol as soon as we are prepared to be underway." Shepard said.
"Of course Captain. We will be here waiting for you." Korris said.
"Any news about the Normandy?" Shepard asked. Korris grinned
"Repairs and refit are almost completed. I think Tali's going to like the presents we've left for her. We discussed transferring you permanently to the Tyrannicide as its new commander, however given the trouble you and your crew like to get into, a frigate is a far better match for you." Korris said.
"Also she's my baby." Shepard replied proudly.
"Yes, there's that. Keelah I never thought I'd see a captain eager to give up command of a capital ship just so that they could resume command of a frigate." Korris commented with mock exasperation.
"The Normandy isn't just any frigate, and besides, I want my pilot back and it seems we can't pry him out of the Normandy's cockpit." Shepard replied.
"Well back to it then. As always, excellent work, Captain. Korris out." Korris said before severing the communication. Shepard smiled, soon she would be back in command of the Normandy and all would be well with the universe again.
THE END
AN: Just kidding. Sorry for the long patch without an update. Unfortunately there's going to be quite a bit more delays in my writing. In addition to having lost the insane level of inspiration I was feeling when starting this story, my family and I recently moved into a new home and the vast majority of what could go wrong in fact did. It has been a horrible few months, including a death in the family and between the stress and all of the work I've been doing with the move and trying not to miss work in the process, yeah it's been tough.
Also, in response to some of the comments I've been getting (and please keep them coming) I wanted to reiterate that this story is mine, I borrowed the subject matter from Bioware obviously, but I always thought that adhering too strictly to the laws and canon of the parent material when writing fan fiction was just as bad if not worse than straying too far. This whole exercise is an attempt at being creative.
Also I get it, the Alliance races just squealing in delight and jumping into bed with each other is unrealistic, especially given that our species is a bunch of callous, hateful morons who would never actually learn from a near-apocalyptic world war and would instead continue annihilating each other into extinction, but this is my playground and I want to write a happy story. There are other authors writing more canon-compliant and/or realistic fiction in this genre, if you don't want to hear my shiny-happy touchy-feely hippie bullshit go check out some of their amazing work.