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Shepard is a genius, violent machine, ready to bring his boots down on the corrupt, the evil, and the genocidal machines. What inspired me to write him in such a manner was Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Galactic Center
Collector Base
"Moving out, stay close if you don't want to die," Jack snarked, moving forward with the biotic barrier.
"Garrus here. We are in position and waiting for orders." Garrus reported, but his voice began to break down near the end.
"The swarms are interfering with radio contact." Which meant they could not stream this part of the battle to the wider galaxy.
"Incoming!" Samara warned as the Collectors came flying down, with Harbinger possessing one mid-air, but before it could finish, Shepard shot the drone in the head.
However, more possessed Collectors had taken position on the platform down the left side, firing biotic attacks, and Jack took cover, waiting for Shepard to give the go-ahead.
They were easy to clean up due to the low numbers, but more would be ahead.
Floating platforms came down, bringing waves of Abominations with it that charged towards Shepard.
Tali switched her shotgun to vertical mode, slicing through several of the cybernetic creatures. Samara tore through them with her SMG, while Shepard cooked them with the microwave beam.
The waves were time-consuming and overwhelming in numbers but ultimately useless except for delaying them.
It became clear when three Praetorians, incomplete with missing armor plates, and one that couldn't fly, entered the area.
"Take cover," Shepard ordered, whirling behind a wall as three particle beams cut through the silence, followed by weapons and biotic fire of the possessed Collectors.
Putting his pistols away, Shepard began to prepare a supernova while Tali and Samara laid cover fire, keeping the enemy off his back long enough.
When the outpour became too much, Tali had her drone, Chatika, carry a laser grid grenade into the middle of the enemy, causing considerable damage.
"Shepard, hurry up, the Reapers are possessing the Praetorians!" Tali hissed, moving out of the cover as two of the Praetorians stopped firing. The Reaper possession took considerably longer for the hulking monsters, but they became all the more dangerous for it.
Shepard didn't answer, still gathering dark energy between his hands, and just as the possessed Praetorians fired their dark matter beam, Shepard launched his attack.
The dark matter of the beams clashed with the supernova, feeding it, and once the orb reached a critical point, there was a blinding explosion. The ground, a mishmash of metal and stone, was torn apart, falling to the void below, sending the Collectors and the remaining Praetorian down.
"Enemy presence neutralized, Samara, switch with Jack." The explosion had driven away the seeker swarms, and Jack was getting tired.
The asari created a barrier, and Jack let go, taking a couple of seconds to breathe.
As the ground was gone, Shepard had to carry the team across the gap in one go due to the seeker swarms, landing right into cover against the Scions and the Abominations that started to crawl out of holes.
Jack, eager to get a piece of the action, fired two vertical shots, one cutting through the armor, the other bisecting the Scion, and she let out a "Fuck yeah."
"I can see the entrance; let's go, slowpokes," Jack hollered.
Cutting through the small group of Abominations, drones and assassins were shooting from behind as they approached the entrance, and just before they entered, Samara pushed through with all her power, expanding the barrier to send all the Collectors flying away like the bugs they were.
Once the door was closed, the interference was gone, and he could hear Garrus again: "Shepard, come in."
"Garrus, what's your status?"
"Peachy. We killed so many they stopped coming after a while. We are just waiting now." Garrus reported, and Shepard rolled his eyes.
"Alright, Tali, get that door open."
Tali cut through the firewalls of the console like an omni-blade through a pyjack, and the door on the other side opened, and Shepard whistled.
The bodies littered everywhere, so many that taking a step without stepping on a corpse beyond the middle of the area was impossible.
"Not bad," he nudged the turian, who gave a dramatic bow in return, "You know me, just the best sniper in the galaxy."
"Joker, report."
"Mordin's group arrived, Commander, no casualties. Dr. Chakwas is checking the colonists now." That was one less trouble he had to deal with.
"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console. You can assume control of the station from there." EDI laid out the next course of their plan, but there was a small issue.
"Commander, problem. There is a massive force gathering outside the door. Won't be long until they get through."
They would have to split again then. "Garrus, get your team into position. Keep this door protected while I and a team deal with what's inside and take control."
The turian nodded, pointing at Grunt, who was carrying the reflector, and to one of their resident tech experts, "Kasumi, get the reflector ready. Everybody get into cover. We are going to give the Collectors a lesson they won't forget."
Getting on the platform, Shepard planned his last speech for the final push to take the base: "The Reapers are getting desperate; they know this cycle will be unlike any other before, and we are about to show them why. We took two cruisers and Penumbra Apex from their hands, we foiled their plans at every turn, and now, we are going to take this base to use against them."
"Fight hard, fight smart, and put them to the ground." The team nodded, resolute as always.
"Tali, Hailey, you two are with me."
—
The platform took off under EDI's control, but the Collectors came with their own platforms, landing close to the team, but their numbers were lacking. Three bugs didn't stand a chance against them and were dead the moment they peeked out of cover.
Another platform came, with Hailey picking the Collectors aboard at range, before another one arrived, with two Reaper-possessed drones aboard that Tali and Shepard took out one each.
Two platforms fused as one was next, with more Reaper-possessed Collectors that were repelled quite easily under the teams' combined fire.
Either the Collector numbers were dwindling, or most of the remaining forces were busy getting shredded by Garrus and his team.
One more platform with two Scions and a host of abominations aboard came down, prompting Shepard to pull his minigun and take them out in seconds.
No more enemy units came, and Hailey activated the last platform, moving them forward to where all the tubes were gathering.
"It is as you theorized. The superstructure ahead is emitting both organic and non-organic energy signatures. Given these readings, it must be massive."
"Shepard, it is a Reaper, or the beginning of one."
"Not just any reaper, a human one."
—
The spectators across the stars were stunned, seeing a synthetic machine created by melting down humans, one too similar to Sovereign for it to be anything other than its kind.
A Reaper.
Which sparked a lot of protests across the galaxy, demanding that the governments, especially the Citadel Council, take immediate action.
—
"The data suggests that the Collectors have already processed tens of thousands of humans, and significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper."
Faulty, murderous AIs that believed in preserving organic life against the synthetic ones by turning them into Reapers, the pinnacle of evolution in their eyes.
The Reaper had a weak point, the tubes keeping it suspended that were covered in considerably thinner armor, but they had company first. The Collectors were desperate now that Shepard had come this far, and their last units in the area converged on their position.
Angry at the mere existence of the abomination before him, Shepard took off, raining laser bolts down on the Collectors, and once they were dead, the Reaper, starting with the weak points.
The structure groaned, the armor plates unable to handle the fire rate, and the Reaper larvae went down to the emptiness beneath.
In the meantime, Tali was busy creating a connection between the Normandy and the base from the console.
"Garrus, how is it going there?"
"Our heavy weapons ran out of charge, but on good news, we killed around two thousand of them, though they are still coming."
"Hold tight, I'll see if EDI can help you with that."
"Shepard, wait, I have a better option than destroying the base," TIM spoke through a drone that was projecting him, unaware of their plans.
Ever since he had unshackled EDI, she had been feeding Cerberus false information on their movements.
"We are not destroying it; we are taking it with us."
"The base is mobile?" the chain smoker asked, puzzled.
"Yes."
"What will you do with it?" Shepard rolled his eyes as TIM finally let the cat out of the bag.
"Give it to the correct people so it could be used for the war," he explained.
After making sure there was nothing to indoctrinate the organics here.
"Do you believe that the Citadel…" The Illusive Man was about to yammer on again, but Shepard shot the drone, not in the mood to listen.
"EDI, once you are ready, do everything you can to thin out the Collector numbers."
"Understood."
—
Vanguard
Garrus switched to the beam mode, cutting through the fliers.
The battle was fierce, and while they were killing the Collectors as fast as they arrived, the team was beginning to tire. Their heavy weapons were out, and the grenades were expended, turning the firefight into an attrition battle. They would win, no doubt about it, but it would be hard.
At least before some of the platforms at the back rose, landing near the door and narrowing the entrance, slowing the enemy advance while funneling them really close.
Each shot took more than one enemy this way, and the wave that was trying to overwhelm the team was getting turned into a mess of cooked flesh.
Across the base, platforms that were carrying the Collectors crashed, and airlocks that would not threaten the safety of the team were opened, leaving the bugs to the mercy of the vacuum.
"Shepard, EDI got through. How is it going on your end?"
"The Reaper wants a second round; give us a couple of minutes."
"Don't take too long now."
—
The Reaper was activated, clinging to the platform, with a partially working cannon in its mouth.
Its glowing eyes were not covered by armor, giving the three of them easy access to the weak point.
However, the cannon was still troublesome, and Shepard had to take action.
Throwing his last grenade right into the barrel, the explosion from the charging cannon sent the Reaper's jaw flying down, and by the time it recovered, three laser weapons were aimed at the eyes.
Pulling the trigger, the split barrels, aided by Tali's shotgun and Hailey's rifle, ripped inside the Reaper's skull through the eyes, tearing the machinery inside apart.
Explosions rocked the larva, and Shepard told the team to run, knowing it would fall on their position.
—
With The Vanguard
"EDI, what's the situation with the enemy numbers?" Garrus asked for a report, as no enemy units had appeared for the last two minutes.
"Ninety percent cleared; the remaining units are stuck with no chance of escaping, and the seeker swarms have been directed out of the nearest airlock." The swarms were controlled by the base, rather than directly by the Reapers, and getting rid of them proved to be simple after the systems were hacked.
"We did it." Garrus raised his rifle, and the cheers were enough to ignore the mountain of corpses at the entrance.
He pitied whoever had to clean this mess.
—
The last standing platform brought Shepard and co. back to meet with the rest of the team, who were checking the bodies for anything that might be alive.
"Everyone alright?"
"Scratches and bruises, nothing to worry about."
"Alright, the Reaper larva is down, and the Collectors are spent. We only need to find the Collector General before they can do anything with the base."
—
Two platforms carried the team all the way to the bridge heading to the room where the Collector General was locked in. EDI opened the door, and all they found inside was the General, looking confused for the lack of a better term.
Shepard put the creature out of its misery.
"Shepard, the ignition and flight check processes will take time. What is our destination?"
"For now, let's return to the Sahrabarik system."
"Understood."
—
While EDI prepped the station for travel, Shepard had the team rest back in the Normandy first, before clearing out the last remaining pockets of Collectors.
Going through their databases, EDI found a lot of information regarding the Protheans and the races before them. The Reapers have been using this base for the last ten cycles, amounting to half a million years.
A mind-blowing number for them.
Over a hundred species, now extinct, with information regarding their cultures, technology, and everything else stored there, for the Reapers to access and disseminate it to prepare for their arrival.
Liara was going to be pissed that she wasn't here, but Shepard would be sure to send her a data packet.
The team was pleased at how he had given Cerberus as a whole the middle finger, including Miranda and Jacob, who had agreed that the Illusive Man wouldn't be able to handle this tech.
He had another job to do, which was to find a place for their celebratory dinner, because the Normandy wouldn't do.
"Hey, Legion, can you contact the geth for me? I have a question for them?"
"Acknowledged. What is the query?"
"Would they mind if we had a barbecue party in Rannoch?"
—
Sahrabarik System
It was a usual day in the star system that contained the infamous Omega, except for the Omega 4 relay that suddenly started to emit insane energy signatures, affecting navigation, comms, and sensors.
"What is happening there?" Aria asked as alarms blared across the station, disturbing her evening and scattering the guests in the Afterlife.
"Something's coming through, something big," the salarian posted at the sensors replied, opening a glitching screen that showed the core of the Omega 4 relay shining and letting out electrical arcs.
There was only one person that could be responsible for this. "Damn it, what the heck is Shepard doing?"
Her answer came in the shape of a space station, ten kilometers long, a mix of stone and metal.
Nowhere near as large as Omega, but still, the Collector base was mobile. "Oh…"
"Hail the station." Shepard had, once again, done the impossible.
"Aria, what's up?" The smug human greeted her, and if it wasn't earned to the last bit, Aria would have some choice words.
"Shepard, I see you got yourself a station, and it's mobile too." No one had any idea what he and his team were doing after the live stream was over.
The human winked, all just to annoy the asari. "Yeah, we took it from the Collectors. You like it?"
"As long as you don't keep it here, sure," Aria warned. A station of this size from beyond the Omega 4 relay would bring too much unnecessary traffic to the system.
She wouldn't have that.
Shepard snorted very audibly, "Calm your tits, Aria; it's too valuable to leave here."
"Wonderful," Aria snarled, severing the connection.
Damn, Shepard.
—
In the next chapter:
Tali stepped out of the Normandy in a daze.
She was on Rannoch, the home of the quarian people, and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy was the first one to step foot on its surface.
All because her boyfriend wanted to have a barbecue party on the planet, and the geth had agreed.
It was beautiful and everything she ever imagined.
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