"Shepard-Commander, we detect no more geth in your vicinity. Reinforcements are minutes away."

"You get anything from the base?"

"No. The Old Machines have not registered us as a threat. We recommend haste. The creator fleet will be overrun unless you sever the geth connection to the Old Machines soon."

Jutting out from the floor like a balcony, high above the silo, was the ideal spot to call the airstrike. From this elevated vantage point, the trio could see the vast expanse of the landscape. The silo was built directly between a fjord, with water churning against rock formations dispersed throughout.

Tali was in awe. "This battle was centuries in the making. To see it finally end…"

"And what comes next, Shepard?" EDI asked her. "Once the geth are disconnected?"

"One thing at a time. First things first," she replied, unholstering the sync laser from her back. Peering over the edge of the platform she was on, she could see the bottom of the silo below her. A large red light at the top of a tower blinked back at her.

"Normandy's weapon systems are ready to sync to your target." EDI informed her. "I recommend you withdraw to a safe distance."

"Oh, hell yeah."

She aimed the digital targeting reticle of the sync laser squarely at the tip of the Reaper spire, transmitting a laser-accurate coordinate. "Target locked," came the confirmation from EDI, and as she said so, the sleek form of the Normandy swooped in on swift wings overhead and dropped a barrage of missiles straight into the silo. The explosions rocked the complex violently, and true to EDI's warning, Shepard lost her balance. She fell to the level below, surrounded by ash and scorching air.

Regaining her senses amid the rumbling, a massive synthetic claw emerged from the silo's depths, reminiscent of a titan breaking free.

"Reaper!" she yelled, realizing that one had been dormant beneath the transmitting tower.

Down the ring, a geth transport rumbled into view. "We have located transportation," Legion informed her.

"Copy that! Everyone get to the ship! Move!"

Emerging from the depths, the awakened Reaper destroyer began its ascent to the surface. "Keelah, it's huge!" Tali exclaimed, rushing past Shepard.

"Move!"

Reaching the transport amidst the smoke from the silo's earlier impacts, Tali panted, "How are we supposed to fight that thing?"

"I was hoping your fleet would lend a hand!"

Suddenly, an enemy geth platform descended in front of Shepard. Without hesitation, Tali knocked it down, and EDI calmly shot it dead.

As they clambered into Legion's waiting transport, the Reaper fully emerged from the Silo, slowly turning to face them. Shepard manned the back turret, shouting, "Go!"

The craft accelerated out of the tunnel onto the Rannochion soil and into full view of the Reaper Destroyer, its colossal legs crashing into the complex and throwing dirt and debris into the air as it began following them. She fired the craft's gun turret at it, but it was like throwing rocks at a ship. What she needed was a big ass gun. Rannoch lacked organized organic life: no metropolises, no settlements, only wildlife and geth. There were none of the constraints that had sealed their defeat on Earth, no cities to be caught in the collateral damage of return fire.

"Shepard to Fleet: It's not a Reaper base! It's a live Reaper! I need an orbital strike!" The sound of her gun turret echoed her desperation. "We're clear! Fire at will!"

A missile from orbit, arriving swiftly and without warning, slammed into the Reaper. The shockwave from the blast Shepard could feel rattle her bones, and the land around the Reaper cratered. It was a direct hit, and the Reaper sputtered in a great arc of fire and electricity as it tried righting itself again and collapsed.

Admiral Gerrel joined in, "What did we hit?"

"The firing chamber. It's a weak point when it's priming."

"Damn it, their jamming towers have us targeting manually. We can't make a precision shot!"

"We may escape before it recovers," Legion advised.

"No, pull over."

Shepard leaped off the transport. "If we run away, the geth stay under Reaper control, and the quarians are dead. This ends now." Contacting the Normandy, she instructed, "EDI, patch the quarians to the Normandy's weapons system. I want the targeting laser synced up to the whole damn fleet."

Shepard was high on adrenaline, her blood rushing in her veins with a beat that felt like it could never end. She ran across the ground, targeting laser in her arms, teeth-gritting against the sheer audacity. The Reaper, slowly recovering from its violent assault, began righting itself in the dirt.

"Shepard to Fleet! I'll pait the weak spot. Link up with the Normandy and be ready to fire!"

Some rounds from orbit glanced off the Reaper's hull, which it now turtled itself up to protect its vulnerable parts, not letting the quarians catch it unawares again.

EDI's calm voice appeared in her ear. "The destroyer is in range. Missiles are ready to launch."

The Reaper, seeing her run towards it, opened the protective plates on the front of its body to blast her into kingdom come. While it charged and fired a beam of pure red death, more orbital rounds impacted it, throwing its accuracy off and saving her from being turned into pure carbon. She aimed the laser at the eye and pulled its trigger, but the Reaper quickly retreated again, protecting itself from the rounds that rocked it to and fro.

"C'mon you son of a bitch."

The Reaper, planting itself firmly into the ground of Rannoch's soil again, lowered the shielding plates around its eyes and blasted. It raked a straight line through the ground, scorching it black across the landscape. Rolling out of the way, Shepard righted herself and held the laser still, homing it in.

A round from orbit struck it on the eye, and the mechanism holding one of the protective Reaper plates faltered. Great mechanical grinding sounds rang out from it through the air; it was hurting. It marched closer to her, every volley trying to bridge the distance to snuff her out and recover itself from the damage.

After the third volley, there was no more room for Shepard to run, and its angry mechanical eye bore down on her, certain of its victory. It opened its plates and charged up one more time, and she prayed to whatever gods there were out there for a lucky break.

In orbit, Gerrel's fleet had finished moving into position, and the data from the sync laser was finally hooked up to every major gunship he had. Each fire had incrementally calibrated the system, bringing it closer to EDI's pinpointed data. The last coordinates were received, and the fleet's gunships collectively let it have it. A massive volley of kinetic rounds was fired from space-worthy guns in succession, all towards coordinates the size of the pin head.

Fire raged down on the Reaper, its impact fierce and relentless. As the rounds struck, the colossal entity staggered, struggling to find stable footing. But when it attempted to counter with a metallic roar, another devastating volley from orbit met it, the force of the collision amplified by the atmosphere and the unyielding laws of physics. Damaged beyond function and unable to recover, it collapsed and crumbled into the dirt, shaking the ground with its impact.

Shepard's breath left her lungs in a rush, the sheer force of the adrenaline crash making her recognize the narrow escape from obliteration. Trying to shake off the residual tension, she approached the cliff's edge for a closer look at the fallen behemoth.

Yet, the Reaper was not defeated. To Shepard's surprise, an eye on its underside whirred to life, emanating a malevolent red glow fixated on her miniscule form.

"Shepard," it boomed, its voice both echoing in the surroundings and resonating inside her skull, raising goosebumps on her skin.

"You know who I am?" she asked it, surprised.

"Harbinger speaks of you. You resist. But you will fail. The cycle must continue."

"What are you talking about? We stopped Sovereign and the geth. We stopped Harbinger and the Collectors. We've earned a straight answer."

"It is not a thing you can comprehend," the Reaper said ominously.

Undeterred, Shepard stepped closer. "We might surprise you."

"You represent Chaos. We represent order. Every organic civilization must be harvested in order to bring order to the chaos. It is inevitable."

As her team neared, they witnessed the unusual confrontation.

"Without our intervention, organics are doomed. We are your salvation."

"You're killing everyone in the galaxy to save us?"

"The cycle must continue. There is no alternative."

"Organics and synthetics don't have to destroy each other!"

"The battle for Rannoch disproves your assertion. Finish your war. We will be waiting." With that, the crimson eye dimmed and died.

Tali, joining Shepard's side, gazed at the vanquished foe. "We did it. We killed a Reaper. Keelah…"

Behind her, Legion worked diligently on his omni-tool. "We can confirm that the geth are no longer being directed by the Old Machines. We are free."

"You did it, Shepard!" Admiral Gerrel's voice came emphatically over the comm. "The geth fleet has stopped firing. They're completely vulnerable!"

Oh no.

"Shepard-Commander," Legion pleaded with her, "the geth only acted in defence after the creators attacked. Do we deserve death?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"Our upgrades. With the Old Machine dead, we could upload them to all geth without sacrificing their independence."

"You want to upload the Reaper code?" Tali questioned. "That would make the geth as smart as when the Reaper was controlling them!"

"Yes, but with free will. Each geth unit would be a true intelligence. We would be alive, and we could help you."

Shepard couldn't see Tali's face, but the quarian's body language spoke of her inner turmoil. "Our fleet is already attacking! Uploading the code would destroy us! Shepard, you can't choose the geth over my people!"

"Do you remember the question that caused the creators to attack us, Tali'Zorah?" Legion asked. "'Does this unit have a soul?'"

Shepard had made her decision. "Upload the code to the geth. Tali, call off the fleet if you can."

Legion moved to the cliff's edge and created a geth interface in his hands, a spherical program native to his system. "Uploading. Ten percent."

Tali, meanwhile, was in communication with the rest of the quarian fleet. "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. All units, break off your attack!"

But Admiral Gerrel resisted, "Belay that order! Continue the attack!"

The stubbornness of the quarian admiral made Shepard's blood boil.

"Twenty percent." Legion intoned.

"I beg you, do not do this. Please," Tali entreated Legion.

"We regret the deaths of the creators, but we see no alternative. Forty percent," the geth replied.

Desperation evident, Tali looked at Shepard. The quarians had reclaimed their homeworld, and for what? To get blown away at the first opportunity?

"Ah, hell," Shepard snapped, "Legion, keep going."

"Shepard?" Tali asked.

Shepard put her finger to her ear and connected to the quarian line, speaking as clearly and loudly as possible. Her patience had run out. "Everyone listen up! This is Shepard. If you don't want to be blown out of the goddamn sky in about half a minute, stand down now."

Tali, riding on the wave of Shepard's fierce gravitas, joined as well. "This is Admiral Tali'Zorah. Shepard speaks with my authority."

"And mine as well," Admiral Koris chimed in.

But Admiral Gerrel persisted, "Negative! We can win this war now! Keep firing!"

"Sixty percent," Legion informed.

Shepard could not believe her ears. Her voice took on an edge. "The geth are about to return to full strength. If you keep attacking, they will wipe you out. A few years ago, I saved you from the geth at the Citadel. Just recently, I helped you take out that dreadnought–"

"Eighty percent."

"-But I'm through saving you. If you keep attacking, I will stand and watch while the geth lay you to waste. It's your call. Keelah se'lai."

Finally, Gerrel's voice came, hesitantly, "...All units… hold fire."

Shepard took a deep breath of relief.

But then Legion reported, "Error, copying code is insufficient. Direct personality dissemination required." He looked to Shepard, his platform's light bright. "Shepard-Commander. I must go to them. I'm… I'm sorry," it said uncharacteristically apologetically, "It's the only way."

And so they arrived at the end of Legion's journey, as it had been for Mordin and Thane. While Mordin had found redemption and Thane had found purpose, Legion had found that forbidden fruit once dropped, opening his and his people's eyes to the knowledge of good and evil. As Shepard pondered, she was reminded that 'Rannoch' in the quarian language meant 'walled garden'. A fitting name.

"Legion…"Tali said softly, "The answer to your question was 'Yes'."

Legion's light focused on her. "I know, Tali. But thank you. Keelah se'lai." The geth turned back towards the horizon before the servos keeping his synthetic limbs upright failed, his platform lights dimmed, and he crumpled to the soil of Rannoch.

.

An injured quarian limped toward them, meeting them on the rock outcropping where they stood. "Commander!"

"Admiral Raan. I heard your ship made a crash-landing. Glad you got out in one piece."

The quarian admiral, hunched perhaps from pain or shame, struggled to maintain her posture. "I was listening over the radio. If Han'Gerrel hadn't stopped–" she started, placing a hand over her mask.

"He did."

"We've taken heavy losses. I don't know if we can…" She gestured toward the barren landscape. "Where are we supposed to go?"

Behind her, heavy footsteps and the hum of electrical motors signaled the approach of a geth Prime. It moved with surprising haste. Tali aimed her weapon, unsure of its intent.

"You are welcome to return to Rannoch, Admiral Raan," boomed the imposing platform. "With us."

"Legion?" Shepard asked, hope evident in her voice.

"No. I'm sorry, Commander. Legion sacrificed itself to give us all intelligence. It will be honoured."

"Good."

"And we will honour Legion's promise. The geth fleet will help you retake Earth, and our engineers will assist in building the Crucible."

"As will ours, of course," Raan added.

"Admiral," the Prime inquired, "had you considered possible settlement sites?"

"We…" the admiral stumbled, at a loss for words, "the southern continent had excellent farmland, as I recall."

Shepard looked at her, concerned. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I believe so, Commander. Thank you."

While Raan discussed further with the Prime, Shepard turned to Tali, who gazed out over Rannoch.

"Shopping for another house?" Shepard teased.

"Beachfront property."

"Claim it fast. It's a buyer's market."

Tali laughed softly, a deep relief arriving after the insane journey they had taken. She sat, absorbed in the view, and Shepard joined her.

"You alright?" Shepard asked. "Working with the geth won't be easy."

"I'm not staying. I'm coming with you."

"Oh? I thought your people needed you."

"What do I know about negotiating with AIs?" Tali quipped.

"You and EDI seem to get along."

Tali laughed again, looking out at the horizon. "My people need me out there. Sooner or later, the Reapers will come for Rannoch."

"We did just kill one of them."

"So I'm coming with you to stop them... If you think I can help."

"You sure about this?"

She sighed, her gaze distant. "Yeah. I look at all this… this picture of hope and peace. And all I see is everyone I've lost. My team on Haestrom. My father. Even Legion. I'm mourning a geth. How crazy is that?"

Shepard nodded understandingly. "It's not crazy at all."

Tali pushed herself off the group and slowly back to a standing position. "It is beautiful, though, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is."

A quiet moment passed, a thought turning in Tali's head before they had to return. "It'll be years before we can live without our suits completely, but right now…" With a contemplative pause, Tali touched her mask and, with a soft hiss, removed it. "Right now," she said, her voice clear and unobstructed by any mechanism, "I have this."