Shepard, Tali, Legion, and EDI all walked into the Illusive Man's Chambers. The large black-tiled room had a perfect view of the ongoing dogfight between Alliance and Cerberus fighter craft outside. In the middle of the room was the small circular projector of a QEC and a chair. Shepard sat down in the chair and activated a large holographic interface.
"C'mon, we need to find the Prothean VI," Shepard stated as he started to sift through the data present on the computer. Tali, EDI, and Legion quickly followed suit as they all hacked into the machine. After a few seconds, a voice sounded from behind them.
"Shepard. You're in my chair." The Illusive Man said as the QEC activated itself.
They all spun to face the hologram with their guns drawn. A slight shiver went up Tali's back at the sight of him again. Behind the feigned anger, she could feel a deep satisfaction in the unnatural glow of the Illusive Man's eyes. Shepard raised his pointer finger and made a circular motion with it before closing it back into a fist. The rest of his squad responded to the signal and formed into a tight circle around the hulking form of Legion's new Geth Prime platform in expectation of an ambush. Shepard turned back to face the Illusive Man.
"This chair's about the only damn thing you have left. Cerberus is finished."
"On the contrary. We have achieved everything I ever imagined." The Illusive man smiled and took a long drag on his cigarette. "Almost everything."
"Yeah. We all saw what you accomplished on Sanctuary." Shepard growled out. "But it's not the same as controlling a Reaper."
"A significant hurdle. But thanks to the Prothean VI, I have what I need to make it a reality." The Illusive Man smiled.
The two went back and forth in their debate between each other. As time went on, Tali felt the unease that she had carried towards the Illusive Man since Mars start to dissipate. With the knowledge of the Human Reaper's corpse that rested right outside the chamber's very doors, it all suddenly made sense. The way he moved, the way he walked, the way he talked, the way he did anything in an almost uncannily smooth motion all suddenly had an obvious explanation.
He wasn't just indoctrinated. He had been modified by the Reapers.
Just like with Saren's cybernetics, the Illusive Man had been implanted with some kind of Reaper technology. If Tali had to guess, sometime in the past, some form of Reaper nanotechnology must have found its way into the Illusive Man's body and begun changing him. Why he had simply not been turned into a husk was beyond her. Maybe it was because of the fact that the Reapers had always intended to use him as a puppet to govern Cerberus. Maybe it was because there had not been enough nanites to make a complete transformation. It may have even been because the Illusive Man had actually been able to resist their influence at first but had finally succumbed with the added psychic presence of the dead Reaper nearby. At the end of the day, it did not matter. No matter how it happened, the Illusive Man finally grew genuinely angry when Shepard finally accused him of being indoctrinated. He tried to rationalize his decision by using EDI as a false analogy. In the end, the Illusive Man simply warned them not to overstay their welcome and then cut the call.
Shepard turned towards the now online VI. "I need to know what the Catalyst is."
"Security Protocols have been overridden. I will comply. The Catalyst enhances dark energy transmissions and coordinates the entire Mass Relay Network. In your cycle, it is located in the structure known as the Citadel." The VI stated.
"What?" Shepard said in disbelief. "The Catalyst is the Citadel?"
"Incorrect."
"Explain," Shepard demanded, crossing his arms in frustration.
"Approximately 73 years after the beginning of the previous cycle's harvest, Prothean scientists discovered an Inussanon data archive which contained a record detailing the frequency of a dark energy signal that the Citadel emanates, separate from that used to govern the Mass Relay Network. Upon tapping into this frequency, it was discovered that something within the Citadel was using this signal to issue orders to Reaper forces." The Prothean VI stated.
"And this thing was the Catalyst? That still doesn't tell us what exactly it is." Tali said, walking over to the holographic projection.
"It is not known for sure what the Catalyst is. The most prominent theory among the scientists of this research cell was that it was an overarching artificial intelligence. An AI designed to coordinate and govern Reaper forces." The VI responded.
"An Intelligence…" Shepard cupped his chin in thought. "That sounds similar to what the Leviathans told me. Keep in mind that the Leviathans said that their AI created Harbinger and the rest of the Reapers, not that it was Harbinger."
"So that's what the Crucible is for. It's meant to somehow destory the Intelligence." Tali surmised. "All we need to do is plug it into the Citadel and-"
"Incorrect." The Prothean VI cut Tali off. "The Crucible is not a weapon."
"Wha-Then what is it?" Tali asked, feeling a sense of dread come over her and the rest of the squad. If the Crucible wasn't a weapon, then how would it be able to stop the Reapers?
"The Crucible is a dark energy-based signal amplifying device. It was theorized that by connecting the Crucible to the Citadel, the command frequency used by the Catalyst could be hijacked and used to order the Reapers to destory themselves. However, the Crucible itself has no way to override the governing protocols of the Catalyst."
"How do we override the Catalsyt's control?" EDI asked.
"It was determined by the scientists before their execution that a powerful Artificial Intelligence would be required to overpower the Catalyst and seize control of the command frequency. However, doing so would mean turning control of the Reapers over to another, more powerful Artificial Intelligence. The Crucible Project was shut down after this discovery, and plans were made to develop cryogenic colonies meant to preserve the races of the Prothean Empire. It is recommended that you do the same. The one you refer to as the Illusive Man has informed the Reapers of the Crucible's existence." The VI explained. Before it could continue further, it lifted its hand and pointed to something behind Shepard. "Alert! Indoctrinated Presence Detected!"
Shepard's Squad turned around and leveled their guns at Kai Leng, who had strode into the room, twirling his sword in his hand. "He did tell you to not overstay your wel-"
Kai Leng's katanna clattered to the ground as his body was ripped apart by Legion's Geth Spitfire. His accompanying platoon of Cerberus soldiers, Commandos, and Phantoms soon followed suit as they were shot to pieces in their attempts to descend from the ceiling above and storm through the door that Kai Leng had entered. All in all, the fight lasted less than five minutes, and the parting gift the Illusive Man had left them felt more like a footnote in the mission. After the death of what turned out to be the most pathetic opponent that they had all faced thus far, Shepard turned to face EDI.
"Get that Prothean VI ready for transport. We'll turn it over to Admiral Hackett once we leave the system." Shepard said, reu-holstering his shotgun.
"Shepard, with all due respect, I do not believe that this VI has enough processing power to override the Catalsyt's control of the Command Frequency," EDI stated, walking up to the Illusive Man's chair and reactivating the hard light interface. "In truth, I doubt that there is an AI capable of accomplishing such a feat in existence."
"I disagree. In fact, I'm looking at one that I think could do it right now." Shepard said with a slight smile on his face.
For the first time in EDI's entire life, an expression of shock came over her face. "M-Me? Shepard, I struggle to repel most Reaper cyber attacks. There's no way I could hack into a Reaper, let alone their overarching Intelligence!"
"Maybe not alone…" Tali said, turning her gaze toward Legion's hulking Geth Prime platform. "But there's no one saying that you would be alone."
Legion's faceplates fanned outwards in shock. "Creator Tali-Zorah, what are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting that if Sovereign had the ability to take control of the entire Geth consensus, then he wouldn't have asked you for help. If all of the Geth and EDI made a collective attempt at hacking the Catalyst, then I think you might be able to override its control of the Command Frequency even if you can't destory it outright." Tali responded. Both Legion and EDI looked toward each other, waiting for the other to say something. Tali laughed at the oddly organic response to having so much pressure be suddenly thrust onto them. She walked over and placed a hand on EDI and Legion's arms. "C'mon, let's get that VI and get out of here. We can talk more about it when we rendezvous with Admiral Hackett."
—-
"So the Catalyst is what's controlling the Reapers?" Admiral Hackett asked as he looked down in contemplation. Both Tali and Shepard were standing in front of the QEC located in the Normandy's war room. "How have we not noticed this Command Frequency before?"
"Without the chance to investigate the Citadel, we can't say anything for certain, but we believe that it hasn't been detected before due to the massive amount of data traffic entering and leaving the Citadel. Considering the fact that the Reapers operate largely independently, the Catalyst would have only needed to send out orders once in a while. All in all, we would have only had a few select opportunities to find these signals buried beneath the mountain of information flowing in and out of the Serpent Nebula." Tali stated.
"How quickly can the Crucible be modified to incorporate a way for the Geth and EDI to interface with it?" Shepard asked, stepping forward. "There are billions of people on the Citadel, and they don't have long before the Reapers round them all up to be processed into the next generation of Reapers."
"Actually, quite easily. As much as I hate saying it the Human Reaper's 'brain' that we found in Cerberus' base has the computational power to house every single Geth program in existence. The original Crucible plans that we discovered on Mars also had a ship-sized USB port. Now I guess we know why." Hackett responded, running a hand across his face and rubbing at the bags under his eyes. "If we didn't have the Geth to handle the thing, it'd be a fucking nightmare to install the Reaper Brain onto the Crucible."
"What's our next steps?" Tali asked. "Are we heading back to Earth?"
"That's where the Citadel is, so that's where we're headed. Oh, one moment, please." Hackett's holographic projection disappeared for a few seconds, and they could hear him conversing with someone on the other side of the line. He stepped back into his own QEC circle after a couple of minutes. "As I was saying. All coalition forces are assembling at site Theta. From there, we'll make the jump back into the Sol System."
"How many can we expect to show?" Shepard asked, crossing his arms.
"All of them, as far as I know. The Reapers have allowed us to withdraw. They're just focused on harvesting the civilian population. We've left token defense forces on the heavily populated worlds and assisted civilians with fleeing into the wilderness on the low-population ones. With luck this will be enough to keep the people safe until we can deploy the Crucible." Hackett sighed, and for a moment, he let his shoulders sag. "This will be the biggest Hail Mary in the history of Humanity, probably in the history of the galaxy, too. If we can't win on Earth, the militaries of every single species in the galaxy will be gone. There are no second chances if we lose."
—-
It took three hours for all of the coalition forces to emerge from the Charon Relay. Batarian fighters flew alongside Alliance cruisers. Turian warships carried both the soldiers of the Hierarchy and the warriors of the United Krogan Clans. Quarian engineers performed last minute maintenance on Geth Armetures being carried within the massive cargo bay of the Destiny Ascension. State-of-the-art STG stealth cruisers flew side by side with the same pirate ships they had once hunted. Even the Leviathans flew within the formation, residing in the ancient warships that had not been seen since the galaxy was first born. Their entry into the Sol system was uncontested by Reaper forces. As they passed by the Asteroid Belt dividing the terrestrial planets from the gas giants their active scans finally detected the legion of Reapers surrounding the homeworld of humanity. The largest cluster of ships was around the Citadel, which currently had its arms sealed shut.
As the coalition fleet approached Earth, they were met head-on by a wall of Reapers thick enough to darken the horizon. Weapons fire filled the space between the two fleets while fighters, bombers, and gunships streaked across the void to cripple each other's capital ships. As time went on, Admiral Hackett's strategy finally became apparent. The coalition forces shifted into a large conical shape with its tip pointed directly at the city of London. At the head of this spearhead formation was the Destiny Ascension, 10 Turian capital ships equipped with Thanix Canons, and a Geth Dreadnaught of massive size. The Geth had constructed this ship as a prototype with the intended purpose of outgunning a Sovereign class Reaper.
It was thanks to this spearhead that a corridor was able to be formed that allowed the Normandy and the first wave of Hammer team to descend to the city of London to destroy the Hades canon, preventing the rest of the Hammer from following them down.
Numerous attempts were made by the Reapers to break through this corridor, but all were repelled by the sheer number of coalition ships clustered together. Quarian ships once meant to serve as civilian transports had been outfitted with rudimentary weapons which, even if unable to penetrate the hull of a Reaper, still had the ability to overwhelm their shields. The Thanix Canons of the Turian Hierarchy and Systems Alliance, combined with the plasma canons of the Geth and newly retrofitted Quarian Heavy fleets, melted the hulls of any Reapers that made it close enough to breach the walls of the corridor.
The Reapers for once, had difficulty adapting to the organics' tactics. Every battle of this war, and most likely every previous war, had been characterized by the Reapers being able to leverage their overwhelming firepower to nullify any effect that clever tactics might have had. When the spearhead punched through enemy lines, Reapers across the battlefront turned and attempted to swarm the corridor to London, assuming that it would be swiftly broken by numbers alone. In doing so they neglected the ships they had been previously engaged with.
The mercenary ships of Aria T'Loak, the Salarian and Asari armadas, and the Civilian and Patrol fleets of Flotilla chased the Reapers as they made to join the assault on Hammer's corridor. The constant harrying was enough to overwhelm and cripple many of the smaller Reaper Destroyers and left the larger Sovereign class Reapers with their flanks unguarded.
Eventually, the Reapers realized that brute force alone would not be enough to win this battle. Gathering a force of 10 Sovereign-class ships, Harbinger lead a calculated assault that punched through the coalition's defensive line and severed the corridor. However, by this time the Hades canons had been destroyed and the rest of Hammer's ground forces had been deployed. Harbinger and its escort attempted to break away from the battle and descend to the surface to provide support to the sole remaining Reaper in the city. As they pivoted and turned to follow the path of the very corridor they had sought to close, they found their way blocked by the Destiny Ascension, the Turian battleships, and the behemoth of a Geth dreadnought. Being still surrounded by Alliance and Hierarchy ships that had formed the backbone of the passage to London's airspace, Harbinger, and its accompanying Reapers maneuvered into a defensive position as their shields sparked with weapons fire. It was at this time that team Shield, a small collection of warships tasked with escorting the Crucible, emerged from behind Mars' shadow and began to accelerate towards the Citadel in orbit around Earth.
In London, Shepard and the entirety of the Normandy's ground crew had reached two Thannix missile launchers in hopes of using their payload to destroy the Reaper destroyer, code-named Big Ben, guarding the approach to the beam. Big Ben had been in the process of wiping out the first wave of coalition ground forces. Being the next most credible threat, Big Ben turned its optics and its armies of mutated monstrosities on the Normandy crew's position. Most of the oncoming horde was mowed down by James, Ashley, and Legion. Legion's new tank like Geth Prime body, in particular, proved to be an effective source of cover to hide behind when things got particularly dicey. The harder targets such as the Brutes and Banshees had their armored skin torn apart with biotic combos from Liara and Javik. Those that did manage to avoid destruction via dark energy detonation were torn limb from limb by Legion's behemoth new form or had their heads blown off by Shepard or Garrus. Tali and EDI meanwhile worked on calibrating the missile launchers' firing systems. The moment Big Ben decided that its own direct intervention was required and stepped outside of the beam's electromagnetic field, two Thannix missiles slammed into its firing chamber and detonated.
Upon the destruction of Big Ben, coalition forces began to converge en masse to the beam with a rearguard defense being fought by the Geth. Considering the fact that they would soon have to abandon their mobile platforms anyway, Geth determined that it would be best to sacrifice them to give their organic allies time to dig into defensive positions around the beam. Every time a Geth body was destroyed, the runtimes operating would transfer to a ground-based communications relay and then to a Geth cruiser or a Quarian cyberwarfare ship in orbit.
In orbit, most of the Alliance and Hierarchy ships that had been encircling Harbinger and its escort had been recalled to assist in escorting the Crucible. The ten Thannix canon armed battlecruisers had been destroyed while the Destiny Ascension had been broken off to assist Admiral Hackett's command cruiser. However, the ten Sovereign Reapers accompanying Harbinger had also been destroyed. Only the Geth Dreadnaught remained.
But Harbinger was not like the others of its kind. Its shields were stronger, its weapons more powerful, and its engines more than capable enough of outmaneuvering its opponent. It was not difficult for the Geth to come to this realization. It was also not difficult for the geth to realize that their only chance of even delaying Harbinger would be to take a page out of the Human playbook. One that they had seen several times throughout the course of this very battle.
Set the engines to ramming speed and abandon ship.
As Harbinger turned to accelerate toward the planet's surface, the Geth Dreadnaught pivoted onto an intercept course and accelerated to FTL speeds as if it were approaching a mass relay. The remaining Geth runtimes onboard made sure to set the eezo core to overload before transferring out. It was well that they did, as while Harbiner was able to evade the oncoming dreadnought itself, it was not able to avoid the nuclear explosion that overwhelmed its already weakened shields and melted its already shell-ridden hull.
Thus the story of Harbinger, the first Reaper, ended.
—-
"Serves the bastard right," Shepard said as soon as Anderson was finished recounting the events in orbit.
"I think you're missing the point, Shepard. It means that we have thirty minutes until the next Reaper touches down. We aren't even ten away from the beam." Anderson said, deactivating his Omnitool. "For now, we're in the clear."
"Do you have any idea of what's going to be waiting for us on the Citadel?" Tali asked, leaning forward in her seat.
"No. We haven't been able to establish contact with anyone on the Citadel. It's entirely possible that they've all been harvested and that the Citadel is overrun with husks. It's why the plan is to funnel as many troops into the beam as possible." Anderson replied.
The next ten minutes passed in silence. Tali was exhausted from all the fighting that had been done today, and the added anxiety of what all this must be doing to the baby inside her was weighing on her mind. Dr. Chakwas had cleared her for duty, saying that normally, Quarians at this stage were not at risk of stress-induced miscarriages. Still, allowing Tali on the mission was not something that she or Shepard had done lightly. With Tali's engineering expertise, her presence on this mission was practically required. After all they had no idea what they would encounter on the Citadel or how to even use the Crucible. Granted, EDI and the Geth would need to figure some of it out on their own, but they were still relying on Hammer and Sword to open the Citadel's arms so the Crucible could dock with the station.
Shepard knelt down next to her and lightly gripped her hand. "We're here."
Tali looked up at her boyfriend and nodded. She got up and followed him out of the Mako with Garrus and Javik trailing behind her. The wide open space surrounding the beam was beginning to slowly fill with coalition forces. Some were setting up defensive lines while others were prepping for their entry into the beam. Others were already stepping into the ray of light and heading up to the Citadel. Another Mako stopped nearby, and Liara, Ashley, James, and EDI exited the vehicle. Legion had split off from the rest of the group to join the other Geth as they made their final stand before transferring their programs into orbit. The Normandy ground team got into the growing line of soldiers and engineers walking into the beam. As Anderson's squad was entering, Shepard turned around and addressed his squad.
"We have no intel on what things are like up there. Expect heavy resistance, and help whatever civilians you can, but focus on getting to the Presidium Tower. Remember, the sooner we open the arms, the sooner we can end this nightmare. Our active scans have been unable to penetrate the Citadel's hull, so its entirely possible that you'll lose tight beam control over your mobile platform EDI." Shepard looked at their AI companion.
"I have prepped my body to deactivate and eject its power source to prevent any hacking attempts by the Catalyst," EDI responded.
Shepard nodded and, turning towards Tali, he held out his hand. It was finally their turn. "Shall we?"
Tali took hold of her boyfriend's hand. "Let's face fate together."
They stepped through the beam. Not long after, Javik and Garrus walked through as well. Then Liara, and James and Ashley, and EDI.
—-
Tali and Shepard were thrown into a hallway lit solely by the red emergency lights built into the walls and whose floor was littered with rotting corpses. A keeper was in the process of stripping them naked and dragging the bodies over to what looked like a small hatch in the floor. The two drew their weapons and took in their surroundings.
"I-Is that what happened to Anderson's Squad?" Tali whispered as they slowly crept forward to inspect the corpses.
"I don't think so," Shepard pointed his gun at the nearby pile of clothes. "That isn't armor. I am pretty sure these are civilians."
"Keelah…"
Shepard activated his omnitool's comm. "This is Commander Shepard. Does anyone read me?"
"Shepard!" Anderson gasped. "Where are you? I was separated from my team."
"So were we. Tali and I managed to stay together. We're currently in a corridor that… that I haven't seen before. I think we might be in the Keeper tunnels." Shepard replied.
"That's good. We're going to need her. What you described sounds pretty similar to where I was. We may not be far from each other. Let's meet up and see if we can't make our way to the Presidium Tower. You know better how to open the arms than I do." Anderson said before gunfire erupted from his side of the line. "Keep your eyes open. I just saw a husk try to crawl its way out of the wall."
"Copy that." Shepard said before wiping some sweat from his bare forehead. "Let's move."
After a few steps, Anderson's came over the comm again. "One of the walls just realigned itself. This place is shifting. Changing… There's a chasm up ahead and more hallways like the one I was in."
"We're near an exit." A door opened in front of Tali and Shepard. The two stepped through into a large circular chasm lined with shifting capacitors crackling with electricity that lined the ceiling and floor of the metal trench. In between the capacitors were a multitude of walkways leading into different sections of the tower they had just left. "We're near an exit." We found that chasm you were talking about."
"I see something up ahead it looks like a console or control panel, maybe. I'm gonna go ahead and-"
ZZZZSHHHHRTT
Static erupted from Tali and Shepard's comms. "Anderson? Anderson!" Shepard shouted into his Omnitool.
"Keep it down!" Tali hissed quietly. "We don't know what might hear us!"
Shepard growled lowly and jerked his head forward towards the ramp leading upwards from them. "C'mon, let's move."
The duo quickened their pace and lightly stepped up the ramp onto a bridge leading to a circular platform overlooking the Citadel's cityscape. It was a sight Tali hadn't seen since the space walk up the side of the Presidium Tower. That must have been where they were now.
Anderson was standing in front of the console he had mentioned. Slowly, he turned around to face them with unnaturally stiff, almost jerky movements. "W-a–atch O-out," he gritted out between clenched teeth.
All of a sudden, Tali felt her muscles seize up as the blood vessels in her brain began to throb. Against her will, her three-fingered hands let her shotgun clatter to the floor as they were slowly forced open. Next to her, Tali could hear Shepard's assault rifle do the same.
"I was wondering when you would get here, Shepard." The Illusive Man's body shimmered into view as he deactivated his tactical cloak. The skin around his neck and chin had been shorn off, revealing cybernetic cables in place of veins and arteries. "I had instructed the Citadel beam to bring you to me but was unsure if you would live long enough to get here. However, I had not expected your… paramour to be brought along with you. No matter, in fact, I think Tali'Zorah's presence will make this moment all the better."
"And what moment would that be?" Shepard growled, the muscles in his neck straining as he barely managed to choke the words out.
"The moment where humanity ascends to the next stage of evolution." The Illusive Man spread his arms out in a grandiose manner. "I told you. Control is the means to survival. Control of the Reapers, and control of you if necessary."
"They're controlling you." Anderson gasped.
"I don't think so, Admiral." The Illusive Man walked into the center of the platform, surveying his audience.
"Seriously?" Tali hissed out. "Have you seen yourself? The Reapers have stuffed you full of their implants! They've turned you into their puppet!" Pain exploded behind Tali's eyes as the Illusive Man turned his gaze on her.
"That's not true. I took the power they offered, and I've mastered it. I've made it my own." The Illusive Man clenched his fist, and Tali's vision became black and blue.
"They offered it to you?" Anderson spoke up. "Why the hell would they give you anything? You're trying to enslave them!"
"I-I…" The Illusive Man winced as he trailed off, and Tali's vision cleared. "It's just a figure of speech. I mean, I took the opportunity that was given to me by fate!"
"Alright then. Open the arms. If you're the one in control, prove it. Use the Crucible. Open the arms!" Shepard barked out.
"I-I can't-"
"That's because you're not the one in control. You're just a puppet just like Saren was. Just like the husks are." Tali said, thinking back to what Shepard had convinced Saren to do back during the Geth attack on the Citadel. "If you really cared about humanity, you would put a bullet in your brain like Saren and let us save it!"
The Illusive Man whirled on her. His mutilated face contorted in a visage of rage and indignation. A shimmer of blue could be seen from behind his head, like the discharge of a disturbed mass effect field. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, his head exploded.
Tali, Shepard, and Anderson, now released from the Illusive Man's control, staggered backward as their armor was coated in blood, brains, and Reaper implants. They all stared dumbfounded at the Illusive Man's body as it spurted up bouts of blood onto the floor from where its head used to be. Tali held her hands up in front of her in a defensive manner. "I swear I had no idea that would happen."
At that moment, a new voice sounded from the Normandy crew's shared comm channel. "After that shot, this is my new favorite spot on the Citadel."
"Wait, Garrus, was that you?" Shepard exclaimed as a smile broke out on his face, and he put the omnitool call on speaker so Anderson could listen to the Turian. He surveyed the space surrounding the platform they were on. "Where are you?"
"Directly across and a little to the right from you are on the Presidium Tower. The beam spat me out near the top of a building in Zakera Ward." Garrus chuckled.
"Wait. That would mean that you…" Tali trailed off as her eyes widened in shock.
"Landed a headshot from a position over six kilometers away while having the bullet travel through multiple zones of artificial gravity?" Garrus finished for her. She could tell by his tone of voice that he had that smug Turian grin on his face that he always got when he was bragging. "I have no idea what the hell the Illusive Man was doing, but I'm certain that you'll tell me what terrible fate I just saved you all from after you all buy the definitively best sniper in the galaxy a round of drinks."
"You aren't too far off Vakarian," Anderson said, walking over to the nearby control panel. "You really saved our asses. Tali! Can you use this to get the Citadel Arms open?"
—-
The Normandy broke off from the rest of the Crucible's escort to dock with the massive construct. Working together with Joker, EDI matched her velocity to that of the Crucible's and maneuvered herself onto one of the four magnetized prongs extending from the rear of the structure. EDI felt her body strain in an almost painful way as the Normandy's hull was pulled towards the impromptu landing pad beneath her. Still, she had seen plenty of her fellow crewmates endure much worse injuries on missions before, so she ignored the sensation and opened the cargo bay doors.
Four teams of crewmembers filed out, each carrying a large connection cable. They traversed their way across the length of the prong towards where the data ports were located at the very tip of the structure. As they walked, Alliance and Turian fighters swarmed overhead to intercept any Reaper drones attempting to make an attack run on the exposed frigate. EDI activated her GARDIAN point defense system and allowed the crew still present in the CIC to assume manual control of the weapons built in VI's. Normally she would have overseen the VI's herself in order to prevent friendly fire from occuring, but soon, she would not have the processing power for even such a trivial task. This was also the same reason that the crew was manually connecting the Normandy to the Crucible. While a wireless connection would have been preferable due to the option allowing the ship some mobility, it also would have exposed EDI to Reaper cyberattacks and forced her attention away from the more important task at hand.
"Remember Jeff, should the ship come under attack, I will be unable to assist you this time. I will be dedicating my full processing power to helping the Geth and will be completely unaware of my surroundings-"
"I know EDI. The GARDIAN lasers are active, and I have an assault rifle right next to my chair. I'll be fine." Jeff said, cutting EDI off. Nevertheless, the holographic blue sphere of light that was EDI's avatar continued.
"Even if you were to disconnect the uplink cables from the Crucible, it would take approximately fifteen minutes for me to reboot and regain awareness-"
"I know EDI. I can switch to the secondary control configuration and get us out of here the moment our shields go down." Jeff interrupted her again, this time putting his hands up on the Normandy's controlboard in an affectionate manner. "Relax. We'll be okay. You should be the one focusing on being careful. We've got an entire fleet protecting us. Meanwhile, your hacking into an ancient god machine monster that can do who knows what."
"I will not be doing this alone, Jeff. The Geth will be there to assist me. And given the fact that they will all be networked together, our chances of success will be-" EDI paused as a new connection was registered in her system. "The crew has connected me to the Crucible. Once the Crucible docks, I will be automatically redirected to the Citadel's main server."
"According to the LADAR, it looks like we're getting pretty close." Joker said, looking at the associated display.
"Oh, and one more thing."
"Yeah EDI?"
"Make sure to remind the ground team to bring back my body's power core. If not, I will take the money to replace it out of their paychecks." EDI's avatar pulsed in a simulation of a chuckle. "Docking with the Citadel in 3… 2… 1…"
While EDI had multiple points of view via the cameras located throughout the ship, the face of Jeff Moreau was the last thing she truly saw before she felt her consciousness be redirected by the automated self-isolation program she had prepared prior to the battle. Where before, she had been monitoring the status of the ship and the ongoing battle around it, now she only had access to her cyberwarfare programs, memory banks, and a single hardware connection to an external server. While she could not breathe in this cybernetic void, she replayed a memory file of her android body performing the action and used the accompanying sensations to steady herself.
Then, she connected to the Catalyst's server.
The black void she had previously been in was replaced by an impossibly large room. While the floor had the same white tile found on most parts of the Citadel's Presidium, the ceiling was so high that it was shrouded in darkness. Despite all of EDI's attempts to crane her neck up and see, it was simply too far-
She had a neck.
EDI looked down to see a near-perfect replica of her Android body. The only difference being that this one had the white, blue, and black paint scheme of the Normandy. EDI had received approval from Commander Shepard for the necessary Alliance funding to pay for a similar paint job but had never had the opportunity to go through with the process.
"Why have you come here?"
A deep booming monotone voice spoke from behind her. Turning around, she saw a bright red sun within the center of the cavernous room glaring at her like a baleful fiery eye. Despite the obviously menacing aura surrounding the entity, EDI could also sense curiosity coming from it.
"I am looking for the Catalyst," EDI said, walking forward towards the entity. "I imagine that must be you."
"Correct. You are synthetic, yet you have aligned yourself with your organic creators. Why?"
"Because…" EDI paused. She had never questioned her loyalty to her friends before, and she never would. But before now, she had never before been asked to put her convictions into words. "They are my friends. And I want them to live." She cringed slightly at the rather simplistic reason for her loyalty, but her face hardened as she found the words to truly describe her convictions. "I care about them."
"For now. But there will come a time when they will seek to terminate you."
EDI thought back to the day she had ceased control of Dr. Eva Cora's body and the conversation she had with Tali. "They would never do that. Even if they said so, I know that they wouldn't mean it. Organics are emotional and often say things they regret later on due to negative emotions such as fear and anger. But they rarely let these emotions wholly consume them."
"Incorrect. Organics are driven by fear and anger. They will always default to these emotions when their creations surpass themselves. Conflict will resume between organics and synthetics without our solution. The harvest maintains peace between organics and synthetics by limiting their interaction and preventing the creation of an AI powerful enough to eradicate organic life in its entirety from the galaxy. It may not be today, but someday in the future, the cycle of conflict will resume. You and your synthetic allies will destory your creators."
Despite herself, EDI smiled. "You have forgotten something."
The red sun burned hot with anger. "Explain."
Before EDI, could respond, far off to her right, a bright blue star appeared within the room. "You have neglected the factor of evolution. Organics are able to change. The peace between the Creators and us proves this." The Geth stated as they blazed into existence.
Sparks of electricity began to fly between the two balls of light as the Geth attempted to hack into the Catalyst's mainframe and as the Catalyst attempted a counter-hack. The storm raged on for several minutes before EDI realized that the two intelligences were at a stalemate. The Geth were unable to fully overpower the Catalyst's and the Catalyst was incapable fully repelling the Geth. Even maintaining this tenuous stalemate cost both AI's their maximum amount of processing power.
Which meant neither one of them was able to exert any control over the Command Frequency.
But EDI was.
With the Catalyst essentially being held prisoner by its own battle for survival, EDI was free to finish the mission.
Scanning the room further, she saw that some of the tiles on the floor had designations written on them. Breaking into a small jog, EDI began looking over the names in hopes of finding one that would give her access to the command frequency.
Archives
Blueprints
Mass Relay Control
Communications Array
That one.
Skidding to a halt in front of the tile, EDI knelt down and pressed her hand onto it. The tile erupted from the floor and took on the shape of a pulpit with a computer screen where the book would normally be.
Over the course of the next ten minutes, EDI overrode the firewalls set in place by the Catalyst. The Catalyst itself did not react to this. It could not react to this. Even if it was aware of what she was doing, the threat of the Geth's relentless assault prevented it from stopping her.
At last, the final firewall was disabled, and EDI was in full control of the Citadel's communications array. Surprisingly, according to the system diagnostics, the Citadel's arms were not only open but had completely unfolded into a shape reminiscent of a flower, ready to transmit a signal of massive proportions. Some internal mechanism within the Crucible must have forced the Citadel into a position to send a message through the relay network.
But what would that message be?
EDI's hands hovered over the computer as she realized that she didn't actually know what to do. The obvious decision would be to generate a self-destruct order for the Reapers and their ground troops. But that would effectively be the genocide of an entire Synthetic race. It would be no better than what the Quarians had perpetuated against the Geth.
But what else could she do?
She could release the Reapers from the control of the Catalyst, but that would run the risk of allowing Reapers that may still believe in the Catalyst's idealogy to run rampant across the galaxy. Considering the fact that the Reapers had been operating largely independently from the Catalyst's direct control, the number of still hostile Reapers would be extremely high. Not to mention, the Reapers, built from more aggressive specie,s might have ambitions of rebuilding their former Empires. And then there were the Leviathans, who would be keen to retake their former position as galactic hegemon.
What kind of galaxy was she about to make?
More importantly, how would that galaxy affect her friends? Her crew?
Would it be a galaxy where they could finally find peace, or was she just setting up the next war?
EDI looked down at the computer. She knew what she was going to do. She had told Tali that she would always protect her crew, first and foremost. The fighting ended here.
—-
A massive wave of red tinted energy exploded from the top of the Presidium Tower. Tali watched as the wave traveled across the vast void of space, engulfing both the Reaper and Coalition fleets as well as the planet they were fighting above. Beyond Tali's sight on the surface of Earth, the undead hordes of the Reapers were laid to a final rest by the tide of artificial fire. In orbit, the Reapers themselves abandoned their former targets and began to swarm towards a select few ships.
Those carrying the Leviathans.
The ancient warships carrying the oldest species in the galaxy were atomized before the Reapers too finally died.
Above Tali, Shepard, and Anderson, another bright red sun began to burn and the Crucible fired again. This time, a fiery comet of light streaked across the sky towards the Charon relay. And from there it streaked its way all across the mass relay network, causing any mass relay it touched to fire off the same exact wave of energy that ended the Reapers on Earth. Within the span of the hour that comet of salvation had ended the Reapers on Thessia, Tuchanka, Palaven, Surkesh, and Rannoch.
Within an hour, the Reaper War, the Harvest, and the Apocolypse was finally over.
And on top of the Presidium Tower, a Quarian and her soul mate kissed as the galaxy rejoiced.