Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
—
Ilos
As they exited the Mako, a door slid open on the right side of the barrier, with an elevator ahead. Seeing no other choice, Shepard and Co. took the elevator to find a way to deactivate the barrier.
But found something much more interesting.
A Prothean VI, with its avatar malfunctioning due to thousands of years of lack of maintenance.
"You are not Prothean, and you are not a machine either. This eventuality was one of many that was anticipated. This is why we sent our warnings through the beacons." The VI spoke, and Shepard crossed his arms, listening.
"Looks like some kind of VI program. Pretty badly damaged." Garrus was sure Liara would like to be here very much.
"I do not see the taint of indoctrination upon any of you, unlike the other that passed recently. Perhaps there is still hope."
Shepard didn't want to dilly-dally anymore and went straight into the matter.
"Alright, I need you to tell me what the Conduit is and deactivate the barrier so I can stop Saren and the Reapers."
"Very well." The VI then launched into explaining how the Citadel was an enormous mass relay, meant to bring the Reapers straight into the heart of the seat of the Galactic Government, a.k.a. the Council, and then the Reapers would shut down all the relays, splintering the galaxy and making it an easy target.
It also spoke of the Protheans' efforts to sleep through the cycle and rise after the Reapers had gone back to the dark space, only to realize there were too few left for them to continue their species, and they chose to sabotage the Citadel to give the next cycle the chance they never had.
Vigil, the VI, gave them a program to corrupt the Citadel's systems to stop the relay from activating, and just as the team was about to leave to pursue Saren, Shepard stopped. "How much power do you have left?" With the trove of information the VI had on the Reapers, and seeing its deteriorating condition, Shepard didn't want the VI to be deactivated.
"Less than one of your months."
Meaning the VI would be gone by the time anyone came to Ilos.
"I got an idea."
Taking three of the fusion cells from Mako, which would cut its power in half, Shepard jury-rigged them to the VI, lengthening its remaining time by at least six months, more than enough time for someone from the Citadel to reach Ilos and set up shop, after Shepard stopped Saren, of course.
—
Shepard rerouted the laser cannon's charge to the shields and the engine, driving through the ruins and Geth beyond Mako's maximum speed, ignoring the synthetics and solely focusing on reaching the Conduit, which was a smaller relay meant to catapult them to the Citadel.
—
The Mako rolled over as it came into the Citadel, slamming into Geth stationed around the other end of the Conduit.
Crawling out of the now useless vehicle, the team rushed to the elevator, only for Saren to lock it halfway to stop them.
In the skies, the battle between the Geth and the Citadel forces continued, with the defenders on the back foot due to the surprise attack as well as Sovereign literally smashing its way through their defensive line.
"Suit up, we are going on a walk."
—
Blasting the glass open, Shepard extended the range of his anti-gravity generator, holding Wrex and Garrus by the back of their armor, and he launched himself upwards, dragging his teammates through the air towards the Citadel Tower.
Not to stay idle, Wrex and Garrus opened fire on the Geth to assist the Citadel forces.
—
Shepard lowered Garrus and Wrex on the ground and landed himself last. Raising their weapons, the trio searched for Saren as they approached the console.
Saren showed himself, flying up on his glider as he threw a grenade, which Shepard launched back at the Spectre with his biotic lasso, knocking him out of his glider.
"Nice try, but you have to bring something heavier if you want to kill me, like a nuke or something."
With an animalistic scream, the rogue Spectre pulled the trigger of his pistol, the grain harmlessly hitting Shepard's shields, before a single laser bolt courtesy of Garrus went through his head, and Saren fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
Loading the program into the console, Shepard gained control of the Citadel and opened the arms, and radio chatter poured in.
Destiny Ascension was in a pinch, with the Council aboard, and Joker was waiting in the Andura sector with the entire Arcturus fleet, ready to save them if necessary.
His teammates had differing ideas on what he should do, but with the anti-proton torpedoes, there was nothing to worry about in Shepard's opinion.
"Joker, save the Ascension; use the torpedoes to take out the Sovereign. The Geth should be easy pickings afterwards."
"Aye aye."
—
Normandy's small complement of space battle-rated anti-proton torpedoes were a different beast compared to the atmospheric-rated ones, as each one blew apart and melted several Geth ships, cutting the numbers in half by itself, leaving the Alliance to easily pick apart the rest.
Joker saw that the Citadel's arms were opening and readied all the remaining atmospheric torpedoes and released a full salvo on Sovereign.
—
Waiting for the space battle to be over, Shepard and co checked the surrounding area to avoid any more surprises.
They weren't expecting the dead Spectre to rise, with crimson energy arcs pouring out of his body, burning away the organic parts and leaving behind a synthetic skeleton of a Turian.
It jumped, screaming with a voice that did not belong to Saren.
"I am Sovereign, and this station is mine!"
Garrus pulled the trigger of his rifle, sending a single bolt at the cyborg zombie's head, which it dodged by jumping. Shepard proceeded to slap it with the biotic halo mid-air, and Wrex launched his plasma grenade, eviscerating the abomination.
—
Just as Shepard and his team finished Sovereign possessing Saren's corpse on the ground, Normandy's torpedoes hit the main body, blowing chunks out of it, leaving glowing craters on its body, before one last torpedo hit its mass effect core, causing an explosion that literally blew the fearsome dreadnought apart.
And it sent debris and a shockwave straight on to where Shepard and his teammates stood.
—
On Normandy's med bay, two pairs of eyes snapped open.
—
"Goddammit, someone find Shepard now!" Anderson shouted as the rescue teams were going across the debris left by Sovereign's destruction. Comms were down, and they couldn't locate his or his teammates' omni-tool signals and had to search manually to find him.
—
An hour later, Anderson stood before the Council with Udina, reporting on their progress so far.
Suggestions of something that might have happened to Shepard were raised quickly and crushed even swifter by Anderson.
"What the hell are you lot yapping about now?" Came Shepard's grumpy voice, as he walked up to the Council with a bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, eating noodles.
"Shepard? Where the hell have you been?"
"Getting some food; all that chasing made me hungry, though it took a long time to find a place in one piece."
"Maybe you should have let us know, son? Some people"—Anderson looked at the Council very pointedly, who shuffled on their feet, "thought something might have happened to you."
Shepard rolled his eyes. "Please, that bitch couldn't kill me if it tried for a million years."
"I hate to interrupt you, Commander, but there is a matter we would like to speak about." Valern was already stressed enough from the attack in his advancing age, by Salarian standards, that is, and didn't really want to hear about Shepard's invincibility.
The Council then launched into a nice speech about how grateful they were about the Alliance saving their asses, honoring the sacrifice of the dead Alliance personnel, and thanking Shepard by giving the Alliance a Council seat and letting Shepard choose who would be humanity's Councillor.
"I'll need a minute." Shepard put his arms around Anderson and Udina and stepped away from the Council, bringing both men closer to whisper.
Naturally, his first thought was choosing Anderson, but Shepard wouldn't saddle him with a position he didn't want. "Alright, Anderson, do you want to play politics, or would you rather stay in the navy?"
Anderson didn't expect Shepard to consider him, in lieu of his lack of knowledge when it came to politics, as well as his dislike of it. "Honestly, son, I'll watch your back if you make me the Councillor."
"As will I." Udina intervened, as this was the step in his political career he always wanted to take, and he didn't want it to go to anyone else.
"And while I hate to admit it, Udina's better with politics and backroom deals than I am." He would do his best, but politics was treacherous, and Anderson preferred the hustle and bustle of military life over it.
"As Captain Anderson said, I am better with politics, and I know better than to cross you." Unlike a certain rear admiral in the navy.
"Alright, but remember, Udina, one wrong move towards me, and your next best career move will be to retire." That or Shepard would kill him, but so far Udina was tolerable.
"Message received, Commander."
—
In the end, Udina was named Councillor with his endorsement, and Anderson would be his aide.
Shepard's next step was to give a detailed report on Ilos, especially Virgil, and to send research and engineering teams immediately to secure one of the most valuable working pieces of Prothean tech, as well as giving the Council the entire helmet cam footage he gathered while on the hunt for Saren.
The part where the Sovereign took control of Saren's corpse had disturbed the politicians.
Of course, just because he was done with the Council didn't mean he was done altogether.
—
"Shepard, good work down there, son. Your torpedoes worked wonders. Any chance…" Admiral Hackett began after shaking Shepard's hand, only for the Commander to hand him a datapad before he could finish his sentence.
"Everything you want is here, Admiral."
"Thank you, Commander. Alliance is already waiting to mass produce the torpedoes and start refitting ships with laser weaponry. With these, we will have a greater chance against the Reapers."
"Yes, sir. If there is nothing else, I promised my team a celebratory dinner."
"Go and enjoy yourself, Commander, and send the bill to the embassy; it's the least we can do."
Shepard would do exactly that.
—
Since Citadel was still under lockdown, Shepard had to convince the authorities to let one of the more luxurious restaurants open, as the owner was all too willing to host Shepard and his team.
They ordered a lot, especially Wrex, who ordered every single bottle of alcohol the establishment had for a taste test, and he was sure Udina would have a heart attack upon seeing the bill.
After the literal feast, the team returned to Normandy.
—
Matriarch Benezia and Rana Thanoptis had woken up following the Sovereign's destruction with holes in their memories, which was a more severe case in Benezia than in Thanoptis.
Liara, after Shepard had the Council drop the charges against her mother, took her to Illium to rest, promising to send everything her mother remembered regarding the Reapers to Shepard and the Alliance.
Tali left to return to the Migrant Fleet with all the data they had gathered on Geth so far as her Pilgrimage gift.
Garrus returned to his old job at C-Sec, but Shepard made sure to recommend him as a Spectre, with Nihlus considering mentoring the younger Turian.
Wrex decided to save the Krogan again, or at least try, since the galaxy would need the Krogan to meet the ground forces the Reapers would re-purpose from the corpses of organics.
Jenkins, who had fought against Saren's forces on the Citadel valiantly, had been promoted to Sergeant and joined the crew again, with orders for Shepard to go and hunt down the remaining Geth while the Alliance helped secure the Citadel.
Shepard also wrote a recommendation for Ashley, helping her finally break the William's Curse, as she called it.
Since the laser weapons would go into mass production soon, Shepard allowed his teammates to keep the weapons, warning Tali to not disclose it to the Fleet, since it might just goad them into attacking the Geth.
Soon enough Normandy took off, ready to carry out its next mission.
—
With this, ME1 is over, and we'll continue with ME2 on the next update.