Geth patrolled the base of the presidium. Split into groups, the machines kept their eye open for anything living. The damage they did caused major fires to the structure, which they largely ignored as they continued with the assault and patrols. As a group moved close to the Relay it activated which got their attention. They approached it slowly as a loud hum emanated from the device. A flash of blue light released a smoking Mako that crushed with the group of Geth before it flipped and landed on a wall.
Zenna kicked the bottom hatch open before falling out followed by the rest of her squad. As soon as they emerged, several Dragon Teeth activated, lowering Husks into battle. The group moved into cover and fired taking down the cybernetic zombies. Once down Zenna looked around, getting a feel for the destruction of the Citadel.
"Wrex, Tali, Ash," she said. "You three go secure the main control room. "Coordinate with the fleets if you can. If you can get the guns active, target Sovereign,"
The three nodded and moved off.
"Everyone else into the elevator!" Shepard ordered as she Liara and Garrus moved.
OOOOO
Saren marched towards the MCU. In anger, he fired at a couple of keepers, killing them. Why, he didn't know or care. As he approached the main council stands, a platform extended before him as the MCU activated. A large orange holographic display appeared before him. Saren pressed several buttons to start the process.
"Time to begin," he muttered.
OOOOO
As the lift shot towards the council chambers, Zenna looked outside and sat what was happening as the arms of the Citadel began to close and Sovereign made its way towards the tower. As soon as it docked, the ft they were in slowed down and stopped. Not for the first time, Zenna wondered what force in the universe was conspiring against her.
"For the love of fucks!" she yelled careful not to raise her voice too loud. "Suit up!" she ordered her squad. "We're going out!"
The other two nodded and fitted their helmets on. Once done Zenna fired two shots at the glass wall of the lift. She peered through the opening and saw the depth of the Citadel. She slowly and carefully moved out of the elevator and activated her magnetic clamps. Looking to her left and saw the massive Reaper was holding onto the tip of the tower readying itself to summon his horde.
Shepard cocked her rifle and moved up with her group moved up as quickly as they could. The pathway led to a tunnel where an elevator crashed into another causing the glass to break apart.
OOOOO
Saren focused on the MCU trying to open up the relay and an explosion behind him made him stop. He stepped onto his over platform and hid in the garden below the pedestals. While he did that Shepard and her team continued forward up the final steps to where the councillors would stand. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to find the Turrian, he was here somewhere, she could smell him. Saren popped up from behind the end of the platform and threw a grenade towards his squad. They dove out of the way and took cover. Saren hover over the area on his hover platform.
"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard," he said.
Zenna however said nothing as she moved out of cover and charged at the Turrian at full speed. Saren fired at her, but he rounds either missed or impacted her shield. A memory resurfaced in the Turrians mind as the minotaur advanced. Fear, fear filled him as he remembered the first contact war. His fellow soldiers seeing something big and monstrous just stopped in fear. Their training doing nothing to help them prepare for a minotaur charge.
He snapped out of the memory too late as Shepard slammed into him and the two fall into the garden below. The two rolled away from each other as Liara and Garrus moved up.
"Get control of the MCU," Shepard said as she stood and discarded her weapons.
"On it," Garrus said as the MCU activated in front of the,
Saren stood with a throaty laugh. "I think we both expected it would end like this. You've lost, you know that, don't you? In a few minutes, Sovereign will have complete control of all the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. The Reapers will return," he looked at his weapon to see it crushed and discarded it. "We have won,"
"I still have some tricks up my sleeve," Zenna said as charged and slammed her fist into his mechanical hand.
"You survived our encounter on Virmire," he said twisting her arm to the side. "But I've changed since then. Improved. Sovereign has... upgraded me," to prove that point he kicked the minotaur in the gut.
Zenna stumbled back but quickly recovered. "You let Sovereign implant you? Are you insane?" she moved in with a quick kick to the side which he grabbed.
"I suppose I should thank you, Shepard," he said as he threw her into the wall. "After Virmire, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said. About Sovereign manipulating me. About Indoctrination. And even your reasoning that I might not have been the first," as he spoke Shepard stood and spat a goblet of blood to the floor. "The doubt began to eat away at me. Sovereign sensed my... hesitation. I was implanted to strengthen my resolve. Now my doubts are gone. I believe in Sovereign completely. I understand that the Reapers need organics. Join us and Sovereign will find a place for you, too," he picked her up and threw her across the garden.
"Sovereign didn't implant you to strength your resolve," she shot back while she stood. "It implanted you to weaken it. You were starting to fight his hold and once Sovereign detected that, he implanted you to strength his hold on you!" she moved in with a hick kick making him back up followed by a punch to the gut and an upcut which he dogged. "You're a slave!" she yelled as she tried to punch him again with both fists.
"The relationship is symbiotic," he said grabbing her firsts. "Organic and machine intertwined. A union of flesh and steel," he head-butted her making her stumble back. "The strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Sovereign sees a power in you and has taken great interest. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth!" he followed that comment up by punching her in the gut, kicking her in the side followed by an uppercut.
"Sovereign hasn't won yet!" Shepard yelled baring her fangs as she stumbled. "I can stop it from taking control of the Citadel!" she said as she blocked and attack from the turian.
She grabbed and twisted his arm opening him up. She slammed her fist against his chest a few times before kneeing him in the gut and throwing him into a large rock.
"We can't stop it! Not forever. You saw the visions," he said as he slowly stood losing the will to fight. "You saw what happened to the Protheans. The Reapers are too powerful,"
"No, they're not!" Shepard said not backing down. "If they are as powerful as they say they are, why ask for anyone's help. The Reapers can be destroyed like anything else. You were once a Spectre. Every Spectre takes an oath to protect the galaxy against the evils that plague it. Deep down, I know you believe this is wrong! You can fight this! We can fight this!"
"Maybe you're right," he agreed he said in an almost drunken state. "Maybe there is still a chance for...unh!" Saren grabbed his head in pain. "The implants... Sovereign is too strong. I'm sorry. It's too late for me,"
"It's not over yet! You can still redeem yourself!"
There was a moment of silence from Saren. A serenity of peace came across his face. "Goodbye, Shepard. Thank you." Saren took her pistol and pressed it against his head. He pulled the trigger, blowing a hole through his head. His last moment of defiance against his Reaper master. The glow from his eyes faded. Saren stumbled on his feet and fell down dead.
Shepard walked over to him and fired a few more rounds into him to be safe.
"Got it," Liara declared. "I've got control of all systems,"
"Help me up," Shepard said as she climbed up onto one of the rocks.
Garrus and Liara held out their hands and pulled the commander up onto the main level allowing her to look at the MCU holo panel.
"Quick! Open the station's arms," Zenna suggested. "Maybe the fleet can take down Sovereign down before he regains control of the station!"
"See if you can open a communications channel," Garrus also suggested.
Liara nodded and moved to activate the comms, but what came over them wasn't good news
An Asari voice came on. "...the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down 40%. The Council is on board. I repeat, the Council is on board,"
"Normandy to the Citadel," Joker's voice piped in. "Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that's you, Commander,"
"I'm here, Joker," Zenna answered.
"We caught that distress call, Commander. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet. We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays around the Citadel and we'll send the cavalry in!" he said with determination.
"Are you willing to sacrifice human lives to save the same Council who impeded us every step of the way?" Garrus asked her.
"This is bigger than Humanity!" Liara argued. "Sovereign is a threat to every species!"
"The Council must be sacrificed for the greater good," Garrus shot back. "Don't waste your reinforcements. Hold them back until the Citadel arms open up. Save the human fleet to attack Sovereign,"
"What's the order, Commander?" Joker asked for clarification. It was hard to know Shepard's attention with the argument going on. "Come in now to save the Ascension or hold back?"
Zenna sighed as she looked at the MCU. The Council had impeded her on every turn, not to mention that bastard Udina. But as she looked, she realised that letting them die wasn't a sacrifice they could afford. Humans had a rocky relationship with the rest of the galaxy already due to the war with the Turrians. But if they saved the Council, the leaders of the galactic community it wouldn't solve all problems but it would open more doors.
"Opening the relays now, Joker. We need to save the Ascension—no matter what the cost!" Zenna said
"I hope the Council is thankful for this," Garrus commented.
OOOOO
As the relay activated the ships of the Arcturus fleet emerged from the jump with some heavy back up. The Titian was the largest ship in the galaxy. Twice the length of a human dreadnaught and half the hight, the Titian was a massive ship. It was classed as a dreadnaught carrier, the only one of its kind.
"Alliance ships move in," Hackett ordered. "Save the Destiny Ascension!"
As the fleet moved into position, the Normandy headed the fleet as they dove into the battle. The frigates where the first ones up front with the cruisers behind and the heavier stuff behind them. But they cleared themselves of the Titians main guns. As they advanced the titian fired one of it's two mass drivers which hit one of the geth ships. It detonated taking out two more close to it
"Commander," the Asari navigator called to her CO. "We're picking up reinforcements!"
"It's the Alliance!" she cheered. "Thank the Goddess!"
The Geth ships around the Destiny Ascension were preparing to fire their fire volley. But the Alliance torpedoes flew in fast and demolished the Geth ships before they could finish off the Asari dreadnought. Several cruisers were destroyed in their efforts to defend the prized Dreadnought.
"Destiny Ascension, you are all clear," Joker said to her CO. "I repeat, you are all clear,"
"The Citadel is opening!" Hackett said over the comm. "All ships move in. Concentrate on Sovereign!"
The Alliance ships moved through the arms and towards Sovereign. Looking out at the ship Hackett turned to the Captain of the Titian.
"I don't think one shot will kill that thing," he said, to which the Captain nodded.
OOOOO
Shepard and her squad looked down at Saren's corpse. "Let's get outta here,"
But as they started to walk the area started to shake. Red electricity surged all over the garden with a red haze. Saren's body glowed as his flesh melted off his mechanical parts. Despite being dead, he still screamed out in pain as his body changed to little more then a skeleton of what he used to be. A pulse emanated from his body casing the team to fall as the platform fell. Once the shaking stopped Saren emerged from the garden but it was clear it wasn't Saren anymore. It was Sovereign.
"I am Sovereign," it said in a mixture of Saren's voice and Sovereign's. "And this station is MINE!" he then pounced on the commander.
Reacting fast, Zenna managed to grab him and throw him towards the wall. But that did little as he just landed on the wall with ease.
"It's dodging my shots," Liara exclaimed.
"Fuck, cover me!" Zenna said as she ran back down into the garden and grabbed her assault rifle.
She then got back up from the garden and fired at Saren. "Damn it," she muttered.
Seeing a chance, Garrus used an overload charge on of husk. It worked but Sovereign's shields were enormous that it didn't do much. But it gave Zenna an idea and she fired a concussive blast as Saren was about to land. It sent him to the floor, but his shields were still in place.
Liara threw a warp ball to keep him in place as all thee of them focused their fire at him. The husk screamed as his shields nearly drained. As they did this, the sounds from the battle outside the tower didn't sound like it was going so well. Comm traffic, wasn't helping.
"Sovereign's too strong!" a commander yelled. "We have to pull back!"
"Negative!" Hackett roared. "This is our only chance! Take that monster down, no matter the cost!"
Before they could pin him down, a blast from him made the three fly a few feet as Sovereign's shield fully charged again. It roared and an energy pulse emitted from it. It was ever more powerful than the one during its transformation. It seemed to grow larger and the red electric sparks from it became more unstable. It was powerful, but it also seemed to be weakening. It jumped away making the three go back-to-back.
"Fucking hell," Zenna muttered as she looked around. "It's like fighting a dammed Arachne, without the webs,"
"Arachne?" Liara asked as she scanned the room. "They would be?"
"Half human half spider," Zenna answered making the Asari sweat.
"Ahh, and how do you take them down?" she asked nervously.
Zenna just shrugged. "Take out the webs and legs, something we cannot do at the moment,"
Liara nodded as she saw Saren and fired. The other two followed her shots and fired in the same direction. They managed to hit him, but he fled again making the three go back-to-back again. Saren was toying with them, but then the tower shook as a high impact round hit Sovereign. It didn't shake them off their feet, but it did make them stumble.
Saren wasn't so lucky as part of the wall he was on collapsed and he fell. Part of the debris landed on him taking out part of his shields. It turned worse for him as the three saw where he landed and began to fire at him. He pounced at them and managed to slash at Liara and Zenna causing them to move away and back up. Garrus blocked the attack with his sniper rifle. While the move rendered the rifle useless, it did allow him to kick the husk away and throw a grenade into it's rips.
Jumping away, the grenade detonated making the husk fall down somewhere they couldn't see. "Eat that traitor," Garrus mutated.
After regrouping Saren came out with one final attack. He roared and fired a laser at them but the three managed to move away in time before firing their weapons at him. In his weakened state he couldn't stand the onslaught and fell down dead, destroyed. The tower then shook again.
OOOOO
Despite its hull and thick skin Sovereign's couldn't take the firepower of the Alliance feet especially from the Titian. Its body surged with red electricity while Sovereign fell from the tower.
"It's shields are down!" Joker said. "Now's our chance!"
The Normandy flew under the falling corpse and straight upwards.
"Hit it with everything we got!" Hackett ordered.
The cruisers realigned and continued their barrage with the Titian firing another high impact round at the mechanical beast. The Normandy did a backwards flip and dove straight down towards Sovereign.
"Hold on my flank!" Joker yelled. "I'm going in!"
Several fighters joined alongside Joker. The Normandy and the fighters fired their weapons. The Normandy's torpedo went right through Sovereign's abdomen. The attack caused a chain reaction causing its body to explode. Though one piece of Sovereign was heading straight towards the tower.
OOOOO
Shepard's team moved over to Sarens body to make sure he was truly dead, but as they did a Sovereign came moving towards the, "Move!" she yelled to her squad as the leg impacted the tower.
Once the battle was over, Alliance troops moved though the Citadel cleaning out what remained of the geth troopers. Eventually, crews made it to the Citadel tower to see the destruction caused by Sovereign. The crew got to work in trying to find what happened to Zenna's team. A scrap of Sovereign was torn away and an Alliance soldier pointed his omni-tool, with its flash light activated inside the heap. He spotted Shepard's squad. Tired, but mostly unharmed.
"Captain Anderson!" he called out. "We've found them! They're in here."
Anderson moved in and went to Liara. "Take it easy," he said in a calm tone "It's over. You're safe now. Where's the Commander? Where's Shepard?"
She looked over to the wreckage of Sovereign, Anderson's eyes followed. His lip tightened as he helped the Asari up. But as he did so, out of the corner of his eye he saw some movement behind the wreckage. 'Could it?'
Zenna pushed a large piece of the hull off her and threw something else off before she came out the garden, she fell in. Blood poured from a wound on her head and a new scar had appeared across her face. She walked down onto the main floor and sat on one of the steps.
"Medic," was all she said before falling back unconscious.
OOOOO
After two days, the Citadel was under repair with the help of the Alliance. In order to recognise her heroism, Shepard, Udina and Anderson stood in Undia's office with the Council.
"Ambassador," Tevos greeted. "Captain. Commander Shepard. We have gathered here to recognize the enormous contributions of the Alliance forces in the war against Sovereign and the Geth,"
"Many humans lost their lives in the battle to save the Citadel, brave and courageous soldiers who willing sacrificed their lives so that we—the Council—might live," the Velarn Councillor continued.
"There is no greater sacrifice, and we share your grief over the tragic loss of so many noble men and women," Sparatus added.
"The Council owes you a great personal debt, Commander," Tevos said. "One we can never repay. You saved not just our lives, but the lives of billions from Sovereign and the Reapers,"
Inwardly Zenna scoffed and shook her head.
"Commander Shepard, your heroic actions serve as a symbol of everything Humanity and the Alliance stands for," Velarn nodded
"And though we cannot bring back those valiant soldiers who gave their lives to save ours, we can honour their memories through our actions," Sparatus said.
"Humanity has shown it is ready to stand as a defender and protector of the galaxy," Tevos concluded. "You have proved you are worthy to join our ranks and serve beside us on the Citadel Council,"
"Councillor," Udina started to say but Zenna cut in.
"Shut it Udina," she spat. "After what you pulled you don't get to say those words," her eyes then focused on the Council. "And everything you said about sacrifice, I could go on about how this could have been avoided if you just let me go in the first place, if you wanted to stop Saren sooner you should have let me go and stop him. But… that is all in the past,"
Tevos and Velarn smiled while Sparatus just stayed neutral. "That's good to hear, and in recognition we've reinstated your Spectre status," Tevos said. "But we will be looking at the larger operating standard of the Spectres. Also, we would welcome a recommendation for a human councillor,"
Zenna nodded. "Anderson, he's had to deal with me over the years and his military. He won't have an agender or go for a power grab. He's honourable, reliable, dependable and will be able to offer insight into the demi-himans,"
"Him?" Udina scoffed. "You must be joking. Are you sure about this? Anderson is a soldier not a politician," that earned him a glare from the minotaur,
"You put politics and personal gain over the survival of the galaxy, asshole," she shot. "Be thankful I toss that ass out and airlock,"
Udina gulped and fell silent.
"I think it's an inspired choice," Tevos replied. "The Council would welcome him with open arms, should he accept,"
"I'm honoured, Councillor," Anderson said. "As humanity's representative I'll do everything in my power to help the Council rebuild."
"Sovereign's defeat marks the beginning of a new era for both Humanity and the Council," Velarn.
Zenna stood. "If we're all done, I'll take my leave. If Sovereign isn't the only Reaper, I have work to do," she said before walking out the office.
Codex:
Arachne: An 8-legged demi-human female-dominated demi-human, Arachne are solitary for the most part. Coming together mostly for mating. However, they are largely regarded as the 'scariest' of the other demi humans due to their six eyes and 8 legs. Despite this they are friendly and caring.
Due to their silk, they are mostly used as fashion designers as well as musicians thanks to their unique ability to pick up vibrations. But this also makes them extremely good trappers and ambush specialists for the military. This is also aided by their looks to be even more terrifying. Making them a psychological as well as a physical threat.