Spectre B. 01

A/N - I originally planned this to be the last chapter of 'Book One'. However, as the chapter developed, I figured that I'd rather split everything up into two smaller chapters rather than one larger chapter. 'Book Two' will start after the prologue of Mass Effect 2, as the prologue of that game will end 'Book One' at the end of the next chapter.

Australian / British standard English. There is a good chance of reading the following: lots of profanity, characters drinking, typos, and bad grammar at times.

Proofreading and editing suggestions provided by OhDave1. Any mistakes are still mine.

Comments are appreciated as always.

Feedback by email is always welcome. Enjoy chatting with anyone who likes my work.

*****

Shepard and the Battle of the Citadel.

*****

"Everyone okay?" I groaned as I think we were all feeling it. In the silence of the Mako, I could hear the alarms blasting away and the distant sound of gunfire and screams.

"I think we're all fine here, Shepard," Ashley replied, "Good thing we were all buckled in. Belt right across my tits though."

"I'll massage them better for you later, Chief."

"Oooh, I might need that too, Shepard," Liara added.

We managed to extricate ourselves from the Mako. I took a moment to check it over and I felt myself saddened that it was destroyed. I rested a hand on it and thanked it for its service. It had been a fantastic machine, and although there had been times that she'd proven to be a temperamental beast, she'd kept us alive.

I felt Liara rest her hand on my shoulder. "She was good to us, Shepard. Kept us alive."

"Yeah. I'm going to miss the old girl. I've spent a lot of time in Mako's, but this one was special."

Glancing around, I noticed that we'd crash-landed on the Presidium. That was one good thing as I had a feeling that it was the Citadel Tower that we needed to head towards.

"Reckon this master control unit is where the Council meets?" I asked almost rhetorically.

"I think we should speak to Avina first," Garrus suggested, "She might have an idea of what's going on here."

Avina was the Citadel VI. Usually full of useful information for visitors and tourists. Thankfully, we didn't have to ask many questions as Avina gave us a rundown of everything happening on the Citadel. The situation was fucked, to put it mildly. Apparently, geth were running riot across the entire Citadel. Krogan were almost mentioned as being on the station. And our destination was confirmed when Avina confirmed that Saren was seen in the vicinity of the Citadel Tower.

There was some relief that the Council had been evacuated to the

Destiny Ascension,

the pride of the Citadel Fleet, along with up to ten thousand civilians. That was protocol regarding any attack on the Citadel. All five Wards had been placed under lockdown. C-Sec were responding to the emergency though I could not get through to them as lines were down.

I tried opening up communication lines to the Council or the Alliance, but the geth had jammed everything. If not the geth, then it was simply due to the situation in the system being entirely fucked.

"Okay, we need to move quickly, but none of you are dying now. Understood? Check your targets. Use cover. And communicate."

"Yes, Shepard," my group replied in unison.

We were greeted by husks, the once humans that had been changed completely by Reaper technology. They were mostly harmless unless they got close enough to release a static charge which fucked our shields. It barely took a couple of bullets to put them down. We made our way to a nearby elevator and boarded, wondering what the hell we were walking into.

I knew things were going to be even worse when Saren must have made it inside. The arms of the Citadel started to close. I don't think any of us even knew such a thing was possible. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the elevator we were ascending in ground to a halt.

"Well, shit," I muttered before I aimed at the glass, "Helmets on and seal up your suits, people. Looks like we're doing this the hard way." I glanced at Tali who looked at me with amused eyes. "Well, I guess you're already fine, Tali."

"I guess I do have one advantage when it comes to zero gravity and no oxygen."

Everyone activated their boots as it wasn't unusual for soldiers to work in zero gravity, depending on what sort of planet or moon they were operating on. All Alliance boots were magnetised though I still checked with one footstep first before I was confident enough to clamber out of the elevator. Once were all gathered outside, we looked around and were amazed at what we could see. The Citadel was completely sealed, and I could only imagine that Sovereign was inside and doing its best to open the relay.

I reminded everyone to be careful once we made contact with the enemy. If anyone was blown from their feet, they were going to float away.

"That's when my biotics will come in handy, Shepard," Liara suggested, "I can lift some enemies out of the way. Won't even need to bother shooting them if they just start floating away."

"Whatever works. And here come the geth..."

In the silence of space, no one can hear you scream. That's what they say. Whether anyone heard our battle on the side of the Citadel tower is something only they would be able to explain. I had a feeling few people were left alive on the Presidium. I could only imagine the chaos that was now going on in the five Wards.

The geth were hitting us with everything they must have had at their disposal. Tali simply couldn't launch her tech attacks quick enough. Liara assisted by doing just as she said, firing biotic attacks in tandem with Tali. Ashley and I worked together, moving cover to cover. Garrus watched our rear, taking out anything that got too close to us for comfort. As for Wrex, he was being more circumspect due to the zero gravity though he was still our battering ram. Still made us chuckle with how he faced down the largest of the geth units without a hint of fear.

We reached an open area that Liara suggested was a series of exhaust shafts. They provided cover for us just as they allowed the geth to use cover. Tali and Liara continued to combine their attacks to get the geth from out behind cover. Krogan warriors stupidly charged at us. Liara used her lift ability to send them floating harmlessly over our heads.

Moving forward slowly, I knew that time was of the essence, but I wasn't going to waste our lives when I knew that every minute counted. We'd made it this far. I wasn't going to start sacrificing lives. I was already realistic about the situation. We might stop Sovereign this day, but the Reapers would still be out there, waiting in dark space. And if they were capable of wiping out civilisations over the spans of millions of years, they would be smart enough to figure out another way into the galaxy to begin their annihilation of our cycle.

Saren must have got into the Citadel defences as turrets rose and started to fire at ships in the distance while others started to fire at us. I shouted at my team over the radio to keep their heads down and move with caution. Thankfully, most of the fire wasn't aimed at us, and as long as we moved quickly, the turrets didn't have long enough to lock onto us.

Tali then pulled a blinder, hacking two of the turrets and she had them firing at the geth. I wasn't the only one chuckling at the sight of geth floating away as they were blown away from cover. More krogan warriors were pouring forward, left thinking that I'd have to ask Wrex how Saren had managed to recruit so many of them.

It was a real maze and I'm sure we did end up lost more than once. In the distance, we could see the Citadel Fleet in battle with the geth. Explosions suggested that both sides were taking damage. I could only hope that Joker was on the way back to the Citadel in the

Normandy

as I hadn't managed to get a message to him before we'd flown through the Conduit. Given that the geth had likely retreated from Ilos as soon as Saren had made his way through, I could only imagine that Joker now had the

Normandy

at full power in an effort to get back to help us however he could.

"We must be getting closer," I stated, "Any idea where we actually are, Liara?"

"No idea, to be honest. I'm guessing that you're just heading towards the Reaper?"

"Bingo! I figured this was the best way."

Wrex laughed away. "Only Shepard would have his team heading

towards

a Reaper. What next, Shepard? Battling on foot against a thresher maw?"

"What would the krogan think of me if I did?"

"A quad, Shepard. A great big fucking quad."

A geth dropship landed overhead, just as I thought we'd dealt with the worst of it. I could almost hear the collective groan as the ship dropped what looked like hundreds of units. But I was somewhat confident that this was their last play. We must have been close to an entry point into the tower.

"One last push!" I shouted, "We must be getting close for them to send this many against us. Give it everything you've got!"

I'll be honest that it damn near killed us. So many of the larger geth units. Rockets seemed to rain down on our positions, only saved by taking cover and the strength of our shields. Groups of geth pushed hard to get close enough to take us down. Tali's Omni-tool must have been red hot from the number of attacks she was sending in their direction. Liara must have been running hot at the same time. Biotics might have come naturally to her like all asari, but I knew enough that even they would be left exhausted from continual use. It sapped physical energy, and I knew was a mentally exhausting task at the same time.

Each step forward brought more confidence as we slowly smashed the geth lines and moved forward. There were no more krogan. I mentioned this to Wrex, and he mentioned that the krogan we killed were idiots and deserved to die. He then added that they were traitors to his people as they should have known that Saren would never have a genuine cure for the genophage.

"Never trust a turian," he finished with a sideways glance at Garrus, "Though I guess they're not all bad."

We finally found a vent that would lead us into the Council Chambers. We tried to get through as quietly as possible, climbing out and onto solid ground as silently as possible. The alarms continued to ring which meant that we could make a little noise. There were numerous fires, smoke filling the air. Once everyone was with me, we stepped forward carefully.

The last pitiful line of defence was around a dozen geth. We put them down easily before approaching the platform where I would usually speak to the Council. Saren was ahead of us. Before I could shout out a command or even put a bullet in his back, something I wouldn't do anyway, he jumped down from the platform and disappeared. The Master Control Terminal holographic interface was where I thought it would be.

"Spread out!" I ordered, "Shout if you see that turian bastard!"

He reappeared moments later and flung a grenade in my direction. I'd taken cover and the grenade skipped on by harmlessly, exploding a few metres away. My shields faltered though remained strong. I peeked around the corner and was shocked by what I could see. He was more machine than turian now. Sovereign had now fully indoctrinated him.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make it in time, Shepard."

"Wiping out your geth army slowed me down a little bit, but I'm here now. Why don't you step down from the board of yours and face me down, turian to man?"

He snorted. "You've lost, Shepard. In a few minutes, Sovereign will have full control of the Citadel's systems. The relay will open. The Reapers will return."

"Over my dead body."

"Bad term of phrase there, Shepard," Ashley hissed, "We'd rather you not be dead."

"I'll give you some credit, Shepard. You survived our encounter on Virmire. You were stronger than even Sovereign considered. But I've changed since then. Improved. Sovereign has upgraded me."

"You're still dead whatever happens, Saren. All you've done is make it more painful in the end. Come on, let's settle this like men."

He shook his head as I made a series of gestures. Tali and Liara. It would be a one-shot deal. Garrus was further back, no doubt the turian lining up Saren in his sights. I didn't care who got the shot in that took the bastard down. The only thing that mattered was Saren being dead and the Reapers stopped.

"You don't understand, Shepard. There is a place for organics in the new order. 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."

My laughter ran around the chamber despite the crying alarms. "You are totally fucking delusional!" I retorted, "We spoke to Vigil on Ilos. You're indoctrinated. We know all about the Reapers and what they have planned. You're indoctrinated, Saren. You have no fucking idea what's truly going on. You're nothing but its slave now."

"Again, you don't understand, Shepard. The relationship is symbiotic. Organic and machine intertwined, a union of flesh and steel. The strengths of both, the weaknesses of none. I am a vision of the future, Shepard. The evolution of all organic life. This is our destiny. Join Sovereign and experience a true rebirth!"

"Saren, I'm going to put it simply. You have no fucking future."

I gave the signal. In my mind, it all happened incredibly slowly. Tali keyed her attacks on his shields. I noticed them failing as Liara stood up and attacked, putting the turian in stasis the moment his shields failed. I wasn't the only one to open fire. There was a crack of two other rifles as I aimed for his head. Three bullets slammed home at once.

Saren staggered where he was hit, gurgling something, before he tipped off the side of the board and tumbled to the glass floor below, smashing through it and onto the floor of the garden that was below the glass. A massive shard of glass had gone through his chest at the same time. There was no way that he was getting up from that.

"Good shot, Garrus. You too, Ash."

"Thank you, Commander," Garrus stated.

"I wasn't taking any chances with that fucker," Ashley added.

I knew that I was going to need some help with this and asked Tali to help me. She was an engineer and definitely knew her way around computers as well. I had the rest keep watch in case there was a surprise counterattack, simply because communication lines were still down and I simply had no idea what was going on outside. All I knew was that Sovereign itself was somewhere above us and it would surely not be giving up just because Saren was dead.

Tali got to work, and she announced that the file Vigil had given us had worked. We now had full control of the Citadel though she mentioned that it was possible that Sovereign would possibly counter this.

"Tali, work on opening the arms. We need to let whatever fleets have arrived inside. Can you open a communications channel? As wide as possible to anyone who could possibly hear us."

"Working on it, Shepard."

Tali worked quickly as our ears were soon filled with all manner of noise. I asked Tali to focus on one line in particular.

"... the Destiny Ascension. Main drives offline. Kinetic barriers down to forty percent. The Council is on board. I repeat, the Council is on board."

"Normandy to the Citadel. I repeat, Normandy to the Citadel. Please tell me that you're there, Commander."

"I'm receiving you, Joker. What's your status?"

"We caught that distress call, Commander. I'm sitting here in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus Fleet..."

"I knew Admiral Hackett would come through for us," Ashley stated.

"We can save the Ascension. Just unlock the relays around the Citadel and we'll send the cavalry in!"

"Tali, open those arms. Joker, once you're through, link up with the Citadel Fleet. There are ten thousand souls on that ship. Do what you can to help."

"I hope the Council appreciate what you've just done for them, Shepard," Wrex warned, "They don't have the longest of memories when you help them."

"Alliance ships, move in! Save the Destiny Ascension!"

I almost smiled. I should have known that Admiral Hackett would have been in the thick of the action. We heard his orders about only firing once the targets were locked. We heard that the geth picked up their arrival and were moving to counterattack.

"Commander! We're picking up reinforcements!"

"It's the Alliance! Thank the Goddess!"

We could only hear the reports of what was going on through our radios. The Alliance lost ships. They could be rebuilt but it meant the loss of many servicemen and women. But I heard them counting off the number of geth ships that were being destroyed in return. The focus had been on saving the

Ascension

, and when Admiral Hackett called in that the ship was now clear and should retreat, you could hear the cheers in the background.

"Alliance Fleet! The Citadel arms are opening. Focus all fire on Sovereign!"

While the fight continued outside, I looked down at where Saren lay. I knew the turian might be dead, but Sovereign... I wouldn't be confident about our victory until the Reaper was dead. We climbed down from the platform to where the turian was dead on the ground. Everything seemed normal as I put a couple of bullets into his corpse... Just to make sure the bastard was dead...

We could hear the reports of what was going on outside. The geth were not retreating, no doubt fighting to the last ship. What other choice did they have now that Saren was dead? Their only hope was somehow Sovereign winning the day. And they no doubt knew that the rest of the galaxy would now go hunting for the geth in return.

My fear about Sovereign having more than one trick up his sleeve was proven correct when Saren's corpse started to change. It was enveloped in a red electrical glow. It was obvious this was the result of the changes that Saren had allowed to be made. The organic matter of his body started to disintegrate as his body rose from the dead. By the time Saren's body had changed, he was now little more than a husk. But I could almost feel the power. Sovereign had obviously transferred something into Saren's body to defeat us.

"I am Sovereign! And this station is mine!" the husk roared.

We spread out into cover as it was immediately apparent that this iteration of Saren was incredibly powerful. The attacks were constant, barely allowing any of us time to look out of cover and attack in return. We started to time our attacks, and we found that the Saren corpse was still susceptible to biotic and tech attacks. We quickly worked out how to time our attacks particularly as the Saren corpse darted about quickly, a reminder of a particular type of geth unit that was a real pain in the arse to take out.

"Not a step back!" I shouted.

"Keep up the attack. No retreat! All firepower on Sovereign!"

Hackett demanded of his ships.

Then the Saren corpse summoned geth to fight his battle. It was a diversionary tactic as the Saren corpse attempted to get in closer and wipe us out one by one. Despite the confined space, we didn't let it get close. Talli switched her attacks to dealing with the geth, Liara continuing her focus on the Saren corpse. Wrex was trying to get close enough to wield significant damage of his own, but even he couldn't sustain the damage he was taking.

Geth bodies piled up on the ground and I could just feel that the Saren corpse was wilting. The one thing that I was wondering was if Sovereign was fighting us, was it also concentrating on the firepower that it was taking outside. Even a Reaper couldn't sustain that sort of damage forever, could it?