Shepard had told them not to scream on the way down. The fact that what they were doing was crazy and bordering on suicidal meant she needed to be able to concentrate even more than usual, not be distracted by unnecessary noise.

After all Pressly had been half right when he stated you needed 100 metres of open terrain for a mako drop. That was the minimum recommended safe distance listed in the manufacturer's operation manuals, but the shortest confirmed successful drop in a combat zone was 76 metres and the current training record at the Villa was 42.8. Shepard knew because she had set it.

Twenty metres was half that. It was unthinkable. Insane. Even Murdock, her pilot for the Villa stunt, wasn't mad enough to suggest trying it and he had later been declared certifiable. Still, those records had all been carried out on the old Hastings class frigates, the Normandy had much better specs. Plus Joker kept claiming to be the best pilot in the Alliance and she had smashed every IFV related record in Villa history, if anybody could pull it off it would be the two of them.

Joker was confident at least. Then again he wasn't the one that would go splat if anything went wrong. Shepard spent a few more minutes confirming the proposed approach trajectory, making sure they were both on the same page and knew what the other was doing, before heading down to the cargo bay. She geared up, strapping herself into the driving seat of the mako and telling the squad to stay quiet for the next few minutes and let her focus, no matter what happened. In fairness, at least they waited until she'd hit the ground.

"Uh, Shepard?" Garrus was just unclenching his muscles after what had to be the scariest moment in his life when he suddenly realised they didn't seem to be stopping. In fact if anything they seemed to be picking up speed. The commander didn't acknowledge him and he followed the direction of her narrowed gaze to find Saren walking backwards away from them, his eyes locked onto the mako as the bunker doors started closing between them. "Tarc! SHEPARD!"

"FUCK!" The human swore as she took her foot off the throttle, slamming it onto the brakes and wrenching the steering wheel round, the mako skidding to a halt mere centimeters outside the very solid and now undisputedly shut door. "Tali, see if you can hack it open. Everyone else covering fire."

...

Trish's work colleagues could tell there was something wrong with the brunette within minutes of her walking into the office. It was like her body was present but her mind wasn't as she kept glancing at the news screen in the corner, almost as if she was waiting for something to happen.

She'd nearly called in sick this morning with how nauseous she was feeling, but she was aware enough of her own personality and foibles to know that sitting at home with nothing else to do but worry was not a good idea. And worry she certainly was.

So far there had been no mention of her fiance's unauthorised flight from the Citadel, no claims of humanity's first spectre going rogue or committing treason and needing to be brought in for justice, but she was certain it was only a matter of time. She couldn't work out if she was glad about the prior warning from Nikki or not. Finding out from an impersonal news report would likely have left her distraught, but she didn't feel particularly strong or whole right now either. She certainly wasn't productive.

Realising she wasn't going to get any of her own work done any time soon she decided to head over and chat with Matthias, the project lead on the new tech armour Nikki had been field testing for the last couple of months. He was more than willing to boast about the latest improvements to the project and the distraction was working right up until he proudly declared:

"We've finally found a way to manually trigger that energy pulse field like your Nikki wanted. It still overloads the shield resulting in a good two minutes before the defensive properties can be brought back online, but she assures me the explosion is worth the trade off."

"Wait, what!? You're telling me she's planning on deliberately destroying her own shields in the middle of combat?"

"Ah, I'm guessing she didn't tell you about the incident with the biotics." At least Matthias had the decency to look contrite.

"I'm going to kill her." Trish declared with feeling, but the look of anger on her face quickly transformed into one of dedicated focus that her co-workers were much more familiar with. "Let me have a look at the code a moment, there's something I've been working on for Polaris that might be able to help reduce cooldown times for you."

...

Liara felt as if all her birthdays had come at once, certainly her muscles were sore and weary enough to have aged a century or three since the mission started, but the archaeologist inside her was thrilled at all the new discoveries, almost like little presents with Ilos being the planet that kept on giving.

First it had been what the rest of the team had dubbed 'those creepy statues'. Tali had been unable to hack the door, forcing them to search for a control room and they'd discovered row upon row of the seated figures. They had to be well over 60,000 years old but were remarkably well preserved, excluding the one the commander had briefly taken refuge behind that had promptly lost its head and shoulders to weapon's fire. Geth armatures didn't seem to be programmed with an appreciation or concern for historical artifacts. As they continued on their way to the objective Liara wondered what the statues were supposed to represent. The tentacle mouths proved they weren't a collection of famous protheans, perhaps some kind of deity or mythical creature? Either way they were like nothing she'd ever seen before.

Then they reached the control room and found actual working prothean technology! Well ok, according to Shepard 'working' was a bit of an exaggeration. The recording was heavily degraded, only a few words distinguishable, but even that was more than what was found on most prothean planets. Not to mention the implications and possibilities of the discovery that the Feros cipher had apparently transferred an understanding of the prothean language into the commander's brain. The asari hadn't recognised a single word despite decades of study and she wondered if she could convince Shepard to share the cipher with her when this was all over. It could completely revolutionize her work.

An understanding of Prothean hadn't been necessary for their next discovery however. A VI calling itself 'Vigil' had been monitoring their comms since they landed and managed to piece together enough of their language to communicate with them all. Shepard had focused on the five key questions: who, what, how, when, why, and the answers had been universe shattering. Liara would have loved to spend more time talking to Vigil, her head filled with a thousand questions, but the knowledge that Saren could open up a portal to dark space and allow the rest of the reapers through to wipe out sentient life was enough to convince her to turn her back on the pinnacle of her career. Although it was still so hard to walk away.

"T'Soni, let's go! You can come back after we save the galaxy." Yes, Liara thought as she jogged to catch up with the others, I definitely have to come back here.

...

David Anderson was not having a good day. He was starting to think he should have gone on the run after punching Udina after all. However going on the run was what a guilty person would have done, and he had no intention for his obituary to read 'killed while resisting arrest'. Instead he had sat calmly and patiently at the ambassador's desk, sending out orders or suggestions (depending on rank) to those members of the Alliance he could trust.

C-Sec had arrived before any Alliance MPs and so he had been forced to spend the night and most of the following morning in a C-Sec holding cell, his eyes closed as he sat with his back against the wall, desperately trying to ignore the drunken singing from the cell next door. He had never seen the musical version of 'Fleet and Flotilla', and now he was certain he never wanted to. How he wished for the silence and solitude of an Alliance brig. Even if it did mean he would be one step closer to a court martial.

"Anderson! Your escort's here." Came a bellow down the hallway. Finally, he smiled grimly to himself, not opening his eyes until he heard footsteps halt outside his door. Sometimes wishes do come true.

He stood, walking over and offering his arms through the bars so he could be handcuffed before they let him out. As he was marched away an argument broke out among his erstwhile neighbours over who would make a better Bellicus. Thankfully the transfer paperwork had already been taken care of by the time he reached reception and he didn't have to wait. Even so, they had only just made it to the parking lot when the first distant explosion ripped through the air, shortly followed by the faint indistinct chatter of far away weapons fire coming from the direction of the Presidium.

"Who would be foolish enough to attack the Citadel?" One of his guard's asked as they all instinctively took cover.

"Five hundred credits says it's geth." Anderson replied with forced casualness, shrugging as the Corporal looked at him. "Shepard did try warning people."

"Shut up. Don't talk to the prisoner." The squad leader tried to take control, pushing the N7 into the Alliance shuttle. The enforced silence left him alone with his thoughts and they weren't pleasant. If the geth were here then Saren must have achieved his goals on Ilos, the question was whether Shepard had been too late to stop him, or did she arrive just in time to be overwhelmed and killed by the rogue turian?

He dragged his mind away from such dark topics, focusing his gaze outside the window to the chaos unfolding on the ground below. He should be down there, helping protect and evacuate the civilians or fighting back the geth invaders. His attention was caught by the relay monument, the rings spinning and glowing blue like the giant transport devices dotted around space it was supposed to represent. All of a sudden something shot out from nowhere. It looked like an Alliance mako but surely he had to be hallucinating? A glance at his escort confirmed they'd seen it too, an expression of pure befuddlement on their faces.

"What the hell was that?"

"Shepard." Anderson declared with a sudden sense of certainty, hope beginning to rise in his chest. "Commander god damn Shepard." He laughed, the marine detail watching warily as he shook his head in glee, only stopping when the vehicle jerked suddenly, sobering instantly as they crashed towards the ground courtesy of a hit from a geth armature cannon. Near their impromptu landing site a group of geth were dragging screaming civilians towards those strange husk creating spikes. It looked like he was going to get to fight today after all. He quickly took off his handcuffs, earning another horrified look from the poor men assigned to bring him in.

"How..."

"I'm an N7 son. I could have escaped at any point in the last twenty hours, I just didn't want to. Now are you going to sit there gawping or come with me and show these geth what humanity can do?" He didn't wait for a response, breaking into the shuttle's weapon locker for a standard issue assault rifle before stepping out onto the war torn Citadel.

...

Saren watched Sovereign attach itself to the Presidium tower with a strange sense of detachment. Surely he aught to feel something. Pride in a job well done, a sense of accomplishment for years of work finally coming to fruition, horror at what he was about to unleash. Hang on, where had that thought come from? It vanished as quickly as it came, the fear of his thoughts being altered disappearing before he even had a chance to fully realise he'd had it.

He was unsure how long he'd stood there, effortlessly and thoughtlessly inputting commands on the control panel before gunfire erupted in the council chambers behind him and he turned to find that dratted Shepard woman rapidly advancing towards him. The human was like a varren with a bone, never letting go no matter how hard you kicked it. It was infuriating. Imagine if she was on our side. Why would he ever want a human on his side? They were responsible for his brother's death. All organics will share the same fate in the end.

Again, the thought did not feel entirely his own. He didn't have time to analyse it now though, the heavily armed mixed species squad behind him presenting a much more pressing issue as he casually stepped off the end of the podium, dropping onto his personal anti-grav transport. He decided to take out his confused frustration on the human, throwing a grenade in her direction but she had the gall to dive out the way of the blast. See what I mean? Infuriating.

To make matters worse, not only did she not die but Saren swore he heard a petulant, almost childlike whine of:"Not again! Why don't I ever get a hoverboard?" He aimed his pistol ready to fire the moment he had a target but was stopped by a thought insisting he make her see, make her understand and join them. It was a bloody stupid thought, another part of him stated. When you're winning you should go for the kill, not give the enemy time to recover.

Despite his protests he felt his mouth open and heard his voice say: "I was afraid you wouldn't make in time Shepard."

"Sorry if I kept you waiting, traffic was a nightmare and don't even get me started on how slow those Citadel elevators are. In the end I decided I'd be quicker walking." She was bantering. The dawn of the reapers was here, the end of this cycle nigh and the damn human was bantering. How he hated them.

"You've lost. You know that don't you?"

"I'm still breathing, don't count me out just yet." Shepard risked glancing round her cover as she called out, finding the rogue spectre's attention fixed firmly on her position she pulled back so he couldn't see her and gestured to Garrus on the other side of the stairwell. Her turian companion nodded and started crawling backwards.

"In a few minutes Sovereign will have full control of all the Citadel systems. The relay will open and the reapers will return." Saren was still talking, it had seemed stupid to Shepard at first but now it made a bit more sense, he was simply stalling for time.

"A few minutes? Bah, that's plenty of time for me to stop you." Her words were strong and confident, but in the privacy of her own head Nikki could only hope she was right about that.

"You survived our encounter on Virmire, but I've changed since then, improved. Sovereign has upgraded me."

"Oh yeah? The Bluewire mark seven is an improvement over the mark two but it's still a shit omni-tool." There it was again, that mocking, that inability to take things seriously. Of all the spectres in the galaxy why did the council have to send a human after him? Just kill her, she can't help us, better to kill her now. He wasn't even sure which of the voices in his head were his and which were Sovereign's any more.

"You don't understand Shepard, there is a place for organics in the new order." He tried once more to make her understand, or at least his voice did, he wasn't entirely sure why he was bothering, or which side he even wanted her to be on. "The reapers need men and women of action, people like us, Sovereign recognises your value, you've impressed it. Surrender to the reapers and you will be spared. Join us and we can find a place for you." She laughed. Spirits help him, the damn pyjak laughed.

"Don't tell me you believe that? I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. The reapers would never see us as allies, merely tools. They're just using you and once you help them destroy everything good in this galaxy they'll just throw you away. No, I'd rather die fighting than live like that."

"Then you will die, you and your companions. Everyone you've ever known and loved."

Oh hell no, Shepard thought, her sense of humour vanishing in an instant as she wondered if Garrus had had enough time to get into position yet. Try and kill me all you want, but you do not get to threaten Trish. The turian was still talking, sounding almost desperate as he insisted the reapers couldn't be stopped. It reminded her of the bone chilling message on Ilos but the last cycle's scientists had kept working after the destruction of their people and given them a chance. It was a chance Shepard intended to make the most of.

"Think it through Saren. Sovereign needs you, he can't bring the rest of the reapers through without your help. Stop helping them. Resist. Stand aside and we can end this now, before any more make it through. Sovereign's just one ship. A fucking big one granted, but if we work together we can stop it."

"The reapers won't give up. They'll find another way." A series of clicks in her ear informed her her teammates were in position and she made sure her shields and tech armour were both on max before standing up in front of Saren.

"Perhaps, but not today. And not through the Citadel. That gives us an advantage none of the previous cycles had, and if we push them back today then we'll have time to prepare for them, they've lost the element of surprise now."

"Maybe you're right, maybe there is still a chance for- urgh!" The turian grabbed his head and Shepard recognised the mental struggle between puppet and master from her talk with Benezia on Noveria.

"Sovereign is too strong. I'm sorry it's too late for me." He declared before several things happened at once, the world slowing down as Shepard watched events unfurl before her. One of Saren's hands placed his pistol under his own chin, even as the other tried to throw a grenade at her, meanwhile his shields flickered and faltered as Tali hit him with an overload. The familiar sharp retort of Garrus's sniper rifle rung out a split second later, seemingly echoed by the sound of the ex-spectre's own pistol. Wrex biotically batted the grenade back to source and Nikki felt her skin tickle as Liara covered her with a barrier. There was a moment where the turian simply wobbled in place, the various different forces impacting on his body canceling each other out, before he toppled from his perch and crashed dramatically to the ground below them.

"Well..." Shepard paused, struggling to think of a suitable witty remark before shaking her head. They didn't have time for one liners. Instead she gave the go-ahead for Tali to upload Vigil's data file while she used her Spectre authorization codes to listen in on the various channels and frequencies in use around the Citadel and among the fleets, trying to get an idea of what was happening to the bigger picture so to speak.

It wasn't looking good. Sovereign was inside the closed arms, clenched tight round the tower as it attempted to signal it's brethren. Several geth drop ships had also made it inside but the bulk of the enemy fleet remained outside, the vast majority of them focused on bringing down the Destiny Ascension, while a mere handful bothered engaging the rest of the Citadel forces.

"Normandy to the Citadel. Normandy to the Citadel. Tell me that's you Commander?" It seemed her channel jumping hadn't gone entirely unnoticed and Nikki smiled as Joker's voice sounded in her ear.

"You were expecting someone else?"

"Ares, god of war, or possibly the tooth fairy. Instead I somehow got a mix between the two." The pilot replied with impressive speed.

"I can't work out if you're calling me the god of teeth or a war fairy." Shepard shot back and Joker chuckled before suddenly remembering the gravitas of the situation.

"Uh, I'm sat out here with the entire Arcturus fleet any chance you could open the relays and let us in."

"Will do, soon as I figure out which button to press." Her study of the control panel was interrupted by noise of dissent among her team. "Uh guys? Can we maybe save the galaxy first, argue among ourselves later."

"Sorry Commander, we just heard a distress call from the Destiny Ascension. They can't hold out much longer and the council are onboard."

"Sod 'em, they wouldn't listen to us before why should we listen to them now." Wrex declared churlishly, everybody else was quick to add their own opinions, varying between purely emotional responses and actual tactical reasonings.

"ENOUGH!" The N7 bellowed. "Tali I need the relays unlocked and the arms open now. Wrex, Garrus, make sure Saren's definitely dead." They muttered slightly at the obvious piece of make-work, but obeyed anyway.

"I hope you know what you're doing Shepard." A final remark on the way past. I hope so too, Shepard sighed but kept the thought to herself.

"We heard the distress call too Commander." Joker quietly piped up. "What's the order, save the Ascension or focus on Sovereign?" It felt like an age but was only mere seconds as her brain whirred through the possibilities and made a decision. Knowing that either way the casualties would be high.

Forget the council a moment, they're not even supposed to be there. Their evacuation ship is usually the Libero, they probably only changed at the last minute because they realised Saren would know that. The reason the geth are focusing on the Destiny Ascension is because she has the largest main gun in council space, possibly in the galaxy. She's the biggest threat to Sovereign out there. The planetry defense cannons on Eden Prime didn't even cause a scratch and the Fifth fleet doesn't have anything that can come close to matching the DA's firepower.

"We need to save the Destiny Ascension. Don't let her leave the system afterwards though, I get the feeling we're going to need her guns."

...

Saren, it turned out, hadn't been quite as dead as he was supposed to be. An oversight that Shepard and co had been only too keen to rectify. There was no doubting the result the second time round, although there was little time to celebrate it when the destroyed remains of Sovereign were rushing towards them.

"Run!" Shepard shouted and that was the last they saw of her until the rescue crews showed up, Captain Anderson in tow.

"Take it easy you're safe now. Where's the Commander?" His heart sank slightly as he followed their pointing hands in the direction of an even bigger bit of debris, but he didn't have to worry long.

"When you dig her out, punch her." Garrus declared resolutely without trace of sympathy. "She's been singing the same damn song over comms for fifteen minutes." With that ominous warning he left the med team with the Normandiers and headed out to find his protegee.

"Three blind jellyfish." Anderson suddenly understood the turian's request as he neared the rubble. "Three blind jellyfish, sitting on a rock. Then one fell off. Two blind jellyfish. Two-"

"I think that's enough don't you Shepard?"

"Anderson!" Her grin was interrupted by a coughing fit, specks of blood making their way out and he rushed to her side in concern. "Anderson, I need you to tell Trish something for me."

"Don't be stupid Shepard, don't talk like that." He started, but she grabbed his hand and motioned for him to come closer.

"Tell her... tell her I want triple chocolate ice cream at the wedding."

"GOD DAMN IT SHEP! Tell her your bloody self." She burst into pained laughter and he gave a light punch to her shoulder, prompting a not very believable 'oww' sound. "Serves you right."

He lifted the chunk of metal that had been pining her down, enabling her to wiggle out, although she needed help standing. They made their way towards the others, Shepard hissing through gritted teeth with every step.

"So," Anderson started, hoping to distract her. "Any particular reason you were torturing your crew with children's songs?"

"Was practicing."

"Practicing for what?"

"Me and Trish, we've been talking. After the wedding we're going to try IVF."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks, bit early yet though. No guarantee it'll work and there's still a few more logistical details we need to decide on. Fingers crossed though."

"Well I wish you luck."

"Thanks... Hey Anderson?"

"Hmm?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the brig?"

...

Author's note: Finally! That chapter was a real pain to write. I'm still not 100% sure I like it but it's the best I could get so please let me know if there's anything in particular you liked or disliked. I know there's a few moments of banter when they should really be using the time on more serious things, but they were the only bits that flowed and wrote themselves, everything else was a struggle.

Either way that's the main storyline of the first game wrapped up, but I've got a few more chapters planned before we reach ME2, including a couple of the side missions from ME1 that haven't been covered yet because Nikki was so focused on stopping Saren, not to mention the all important wedding (which I really hope I can do justice after so many months of teasing).