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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.
—
Omega
"What the fuck?!" Aria jumped back, aiming her weapon at the white tear in space.
Shepard stepped out of the tear, bypassing the force field that would have imprisoned him.
"What the fuck was that?" she screamed.
"Nothing," he said, giving her a blank stare.
"I...ugh, fine. I saw nothing," she relented. This was far too troublesome to investigate. Handing the device back, she followed him.
"They must have rerouted the reactor controls. Let's check upstairs," he said, walking towards the nearest stairs. Petrovsky had not left many guards on the path, just a couple of mechs and Centurions.
The controls were left undefended while a host of mechs closed in from behind. The reactor itself also powered dozens of wards across the station. Merely shutting down the reactor would kill everyone in these wards.
He simply rerouted the power before Petrovsky could do anything.
"Garrus, the force fields are about to be down," he said.
"Nice timing. Cerberus forces are in full retreat, and Nyreen agreed to work with us for the push to Afterlife," Garrus reported.
With the Talons joining them, this battle would be over sooner than anticipated.
"Tell everyone to be careful about adjutants," he added. Those monsters were dangerous to the common soldier.
"Understood, we'll hold position while you get ready to join us."
"We are going to have to fight through these mechs unless you have a better idea," Aria replied as a flood of mechs was climbing up the stairs.
"Yeah, I do," he said. A biotic tendril wrapped around Aria's stomach, and he took off.
—
Following the signal of his team, he landed right outside the Talon base. The battle was already over, and the troops were gathering the bodies to burn them.
"Is everyone ready?" he asked Garrus. There were several people around him, his old teammates from the days when he was cleaning Omega.
"Yes, a two-pronged attack. Us with half of the forces and Talons here, with Bray leading the other half," he laid out the plan.
"Let's finish this," Shepard said, cracking his knuckles.
"Aria? Bray here," Aria's lieutenant called out on the comms.
"Report."
"One of the scouting teams found Cerberus escorting engineers down in the maintenance tunnels. They're moving gear. Look to be setting explosives to the station's central support columns," the batarian said.
Shepard took a deep breath. Petrovsky was relentless, it seemed.
"Tell the teams to engage and delay them. We're coming," Aria ordered.
"Got it."
"If they detonate the main column, they'll cut off the way to Afterlife. Our offensive will be stopped cold," she said. He turned to his second in command to lay out orders.
"Garrus, lead the assault with Nyreen. The two of us will handle the explosives," he said. A large force would slow them down in the tunnels.
"We'll meet you near Afterlife then," Garrus replied. He turned to prepare the forces for the attack.
"The only way to the column is through the tunnels. Come on."
—
"Don't let those pyjaks through," a krogan screamed while pushing Cerberus back.
"Guard our back; we'll handle these bastards," Aria ordered.
Shepard threw one of the mechs back to the other, shattering both like piñatas. A large round struck his reflectors. He shot the sniper at the back of the tunnel section in return.
Aria threw a singularity inside the smoke deployed by the Centurions and finished them off at close range.
Three mechs tried to surround him. He launched them back at the wall while Aria took out the last trooper with her biotics. Another Centurion came around the corner. He died before even firing back.
The catwalk to the other side was gone with an explosion. The two jumped the gap with biotics.
"Shepard, we are pushing to the Gozu district. You are missing all the fun," Garrus said.
"I'll live."
He hacked the door to the Central Support. Turning left, he saw Cerberus Guardians waiting for them. One of them ordered a lockdown to keep Shepard and Aria away, but the first Guardian already took a laser bolt through the visor of his shield.
Aria tore the shield from the next one and blasted his head off. Shepard shot the third Guardian, leaving the last one to Aria. She slammed him against the wall, opening the way.
Hacking through another door, he slid down the ramp and shut down the fan. He moved through the blades. Jumping the gap, he listened to the comms as Garrus warned him about forces being sent their way.
He switched the pistols to microwave mode and cooked the troopers in the area.
"Over there. We can get to the bomb controls once the access panels are open," Aria instructed. Shepard used the console to open the panels. Cerberus must have done something because the controls locked down.
Just in time for more Cerberus forces to come down.
"You deal with the bombs; I'll handle Cerberus," she said. Her technological capabilities did not include bomb defusal.
He ran to the first column, shooting a trooper that got too close. Piggybacking on the signal, he shot down all four bombs at once.
"The explosives are neutralized. Let's clear the room," he said. Cerberus troops understood that they had lost and began to retreat. Unwilling to let them leave like that, Shepard and Aria shot down many of them.
"Garrus, the bombs are neutralized," he informed, already moving out of the room.
"The Gozu district is clear. Cerberus is in full retreat to Afterlife from all fronts."
Shepard chuckled. Had it been left to Aria, this whole battle would have been very difficult.
"The adjutants?" he asked.
"Petrovsky's men managed to assert control over them, but their numbers aren't enough to turn the tide."
Which meant they were already destroyed.
"Good. We are joining for the last push."
"How do we get to the Afterlife from here?"
"Straightforward," Aria muttered. She launched a biotic orb at the fan ahead, causing electricity to spark. The blades stopped, opening the way forward.
Through the doors and up two ladders, he could hear fighting.
"Cerberus," he said.
"How do you know? It could be the Talons—never mind," she backtracked as the corpse of a Centurion broke through the window up the wall.
The cause was an adjutant that had gotten loose. Climbing another ladder, he could see the Cerberus troopers desperately trying to stop an adjutant.
"Damn it. Ahz, there are adjutants here. Track our progress and seal the rooms behind us," Aria ordered.
She would have to do a lot of cleaning after Omega was taken back.
"Yes, Aria."
Further inside, he found a small lab where the Cerberus scientists had created the adjutants. The corpses around made it clear that the whole project had not gone the way they thought it would.
The logs detailed the process, but he was more focused on the scientists. If they weren't dead, they would soon be.
The two were almost at the Gozu district, but another hurdle stood in their way. Cerberus troopers were waiting for them, and an Atlas dropped to the field.
"Stand back," he said. Throwing the grenade inside, he closed the door. When the whining of the laser grid grenade died down, the room was clear.
They reached a Talon checkpoint where Nyreen had gathered civilians for protection. There was also a batarian preaching about how humanity was a blight on the galaxy, but he had fainted like a dainty bitch upon seeing Shepard.
Garrus and his team were there, waiting for him to join the final push.
"Garrus, what's the situation?"
"Cerberus is holding the entrance to Afterlife, and we've got a small army of adjutants closing in. They'll be around the entrance by the time we reach there."
"James, ready your grenade launcher. They shouldn't be a problem for you," he ordered. Once the way to Afterlife was open, the army would focus on the adjutants while he took Petrovsky down.
"I got them," James said, patting his oversized weapon.
"I can't wait to get my hands on Petrovsky," Aria grinned, her teeth showing.
—
Shepard ordered the forces to advance behind the cover of the reflector. Cerberus had turrets and cannons set up around the entrance. Sharpshooters of his team would clear them out before they dropped the reflector.
James and Ashley were at the back with the heavy guns, waiting for the adjutants.
"Go," he ordered. The reflector moved forward, and the small army followed him. Cerberus opened fire as soon as they were in sight. The mass-accelerated grains couldn't pierce through the reflector. Garrus, Hailey, and Kaidan took the shots.
The forces spread as the enemy firepower decreased, taking cover for when Shepard would drop the reflector.
When the last turret was a pile of scrap, he entered the command to shut the reflector. The volume of fire from his side was deafening. The Cerberus troopers that did not take cover were shredded. Those that did could not move without facing the same fate.
"Biotics, now," he ordered, launching a singularity. Several more followed, pulling the enemy out of the cover, right in front of the weapons fire.
"Adjutants, five o'clock," James called out from the comms. He glanced back, seeing red explosions turn the monsters to ash.
"Secure the area and put the adjutants down. Aria, Nyreen, with me," he ordered. The gathered forces turned around to assist James and Ashley.
He hacked the doors inside, and the three of them stood before the last forces of Cerberus.
"Commander Shepard. I considered a thousand ways to keep you imprisoned, but you found the thousand and first way to escape."
"You lost."
"All Cerberus forces, stand down. We have lost this battle. Surrender yourselves to Commander Shepard's forces."
For the first time in his life, he had fought an enemy that took the loss with grace rather than just fighting to the bitter end out of spite.
Aria looked ready to choke the life out of him, but Nyreen was too honorable to kill an enemy that had surrendered, no matter how much she wished to.
Shepard, on the other hand, had no issue shooting a war criminal like Petrovsky. Especially after he tried to leverage his knowledge of where they had found all the Reaper and Collector tech to get VIP treatment.
"I'll have to do a lot of cleaning, but you'll have your eezo and the mercs."
"Commander, we retrieved everything in the databases," Kaidan reported.
"Any intel on how they found all this tech?" he asked. This much tech wouldn't just be lying around.
"Leviathan of Dis. A Reaper corpse that the batarians had. Its location was lost during the civil war, but Cerberus managed to retrieve it by luck," he explained.
Shepard rolled his eyes. Good thing he had killed most of the upper management back all those years ago. Chances are, they were already indoctrinated.
"Where is it now?" he asked. A Reaper corpse in the wrong hands was a bomb waiting to go off.
"Connection with the Cerberus base is lost. Their last report said that the Reapers were advancing on the system."
The Reapers must have discovered the corpse and retrieved it to prevent any insight into their technology.
"It must be gone then. No need to bother."
"Aria, take care of yourself and the station. We have a war to win," he said, turning around to leave.
"Good thing the galaxy has you and your team. We'd all be screwed otherwise," she called out.
—
Unified Command was pleased with the results, the eezo, and the mercenary forces, less so with the whole Leviathan of Dis. The envoy of the Batarian Republic admitted that there were mentions of a secret research site. The records of it were sparse, with no mention of any location, and they had greater concerns than possible Hegemony propaganda.
—
Exodus Cluster
Utopia System
Two hundred thousand ships clustered around the mass relay, waiting.
The entire might of the Citadel Space had been gathered for the greatest battle the galaxy would ever see.
The SSV Normandy arrived in the system, and he was immediately contacted by Admiral Hackett, who would be arriving aboard with the rest of the United Command Staff.
Admiral Hackett for humanity, Primarch Fedorian for the Turian Hierarchy, and the Vol Protectorate.
Admiral Han'Gerrel, along with Legion, was representing the Federation forces.
Matriarch Lidanya was the appointed leader of the asari fleets, a salarian he did not know represented his species, and Wrex was there as the Krogan Overlord.
"Commander Shepard, it is good to see you again," Primarch Fedorian said, shaking his hand.
"You too, Primarch Fedorian," he replied.
"Vakarian," the primarch nodded to his former advisor.
"Sir," Garrus nodded back, standing at attention.
A holographic representation of the Harsa system, focusing on Khar'shan first. The surface of the planet was darkened by the shadow of the eldritch fleet above it.
"Commander, we'll keep this short. The STG stealth vessels have reported back, and Khar'shan is in dire straits. The armed forces are shattered, and the scattered guerrillas won't hold on for much longer. The population centers are being processed into Reaper troops," Hackett summarized the situation.
The Unified Command didn't even have the opportunity to disseminate the intel.
The mass relay in the system was projected next, along with the Oculus swarm.
"We'll enter the system and create a perimeter around the mass relay. We have the range advantage in the sky, but the enemy Oculi are a problem. We can neutralize the gravity nets, but the Reapers don't have to worry about losing soldiers and can just use the Oculi against our torpedoes," Primarch Fedorian continued.
"Their numbers were depleted on approach to Khar'shan, and our combined arsenal is significantly larger. The Reapers didn't have the opportunity to replenish them back to the previous numbers," Legion reported.
"Currently, the Sovereign-class Reapers are holding steady around the orbit with most of the destroyers. Several are assisting the ground offensive, but they are insignificant," the salarian admiral explained.
"Curious they didn't hold the mass relay," Shepard said, stroking his chin.
"What are you thinking?" Fedorian asked.
"Anything unusual in the system? Anything at all?" he asked. This smelled like a trap. If the enemy were the krogan of old, he would say they were waiting for a glorious battle. The Reapers were abominations of logic, and faulty or not, they wouldn't just try to win a battle in space.
Even if both sides annihilated each other, the Citadel forces would be victorious.
"Nothing we could detect under the current circumstances," the Salarian replied.
"This is a trap, but we don't have enough intel to know what it is," he said. It was the only logical conclusion.
"Enemy surveillance in the system means we can't approach too close without discovery, even with stealth ships," the Salarian admiral said.
"We have no choice but to spring the trap to know what it is," Hackett stated, referring to the difficult decision they would have to make.
Shepard's eyes narrowed at the map.
—
In the next chapter:
"The mass relay just released a pulse, and the rings are torn apart. The pulse scrambled our mass effect core," EDI explained. Which meant they could not go into FTL without fixing the cores.
"Shepard, I am getting anomalous readings from the system's star," the AI added, and it all made sense to Shepard.
"Fucking bastards," he grumbled. They were going to sterilize the entire system in a bid to kill the Unified Command Fleet.
"It appears to be going supernova," EDI said, echoing what he was thinking.
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