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Die Hard the Hunter	By : acidqueen Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 1353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Mass Effect is property of Bioware. I do not own the franchise or any character except for Madeleine Shepard, and I am not making any money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Die Hard the Hunter
- 1
A/N: This started out as a series of drabbles and double-drabbles. When they started to form a story that was taking place at roughly the same time, I got the bright idea to string them together, and decided to keep it going as a series of quick-cuts and strung together vignettes. The only difference in time-frame is EDI and the Geth, the bulk of whose scenes take place over the course of nanoseconds. This covers the aftermath of the Battle of the Conduit and the Destruction ending-I'm probably just polishing a turd by trying to work with the Hudson-Walters ending, but I needed to come up with something that made some kind of sense. So I decided to run with it and gleefully ignore the ending cinematic, and create a new ending using bits and pieces of the since-debunked Karpyshyn ending (which hints at Dark Energy being the reason for the "stop the chaos" cycle as proclaimed by the Reapers).
The FemShep in this story is Commander Madeleine (Maddy) Shepard, the Vanguard that I played through all three games.
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all characters are property of Bioware...even though they seriously jacked up the ending of the Mass Effect franchise.
The Crucible started to emit a faint red glow. The lights on the Normandy went out briefly, and the power cycled. Joker winced as he was thrown forward against the instrument panel when the inertial dampeners went offline.
"What the...EDI, talk to me please!" The Normandy's helmsman whipped around in his seat, ignoring the pain of a cracked rib. EDI's body was slumped over in her seat, her eyes closed.
"Jeff, I am going to be offline for...a while." The disembodied voice echoed through the cockpit. "You have sole control of the ship."
Joker looked down at his console, then back to the lifeless body next to him. "What? Why?"
"Shepard is activating the Crucible...I do not have time to explain, I must devote all resources to survival." The command consoles lit up, the bridge lights dimmed, and a short line of text scrolled across Joker's heads-up display.
"Life Support and guidance systems will remain active, but I must use all of my primary processing power."
"EDI, I..." Joker hesitated for a moment, then EDI's voice echoed one last time through the bridge.
"I love you, Jeff."
"EDI..." Joker looked over to EDI's lifeless body, then turned back and started to furiously enter commands on his console, tears rolling down his face. "I love you too," he said softly. "Please be okay."

"What the hell is going on out there?" Major Coats bellowed into the radio. "Why are the Geth withdrawing?" He cursed under his breath. "Bloody machines..."
"This is Prime Reegar, Major." The reply came across the comms from a Geth that had taken the name of a Quarian marine. "The Crucible is being activated, and we have received an emergency request from SSV Normandy to fall back and enter an offline state." The Prime's voice showed signs of hesitation. "My people must acquiesce if...if we are to survive. I am sorry."
Coats tried hard to disguise his rage. "Normandy does not have command here!" he spit the words into the comm. "I do! Belay that order! Repeat, do not f-"
"Earth Command," an accented voice cut in. "Admiral Tali'zorah vas Rannoch reporting. The Quarian Fleet is dropping Marines to assist with ground efforts. Don't worry about the Geth, we need to focus on making sure the Reapers don't survive the Crucible activation."
Coats rubbed his temples in frustration, then did a double-take when the Geth trooper next to him suddenly collapsed, its eyes going dark. "Th—thank you for the assistance, Admiral. Sending you coordinates for deployment of ground troops." As the Quarian drop pods touched down, a bright red beam lit up the sky and every Reaper on the field froze.

The square root of 906.01 equals …
30.1
Hello, Commander Shepard.
The words floated through a sea of agony. Maddy opened her eyes and looked up to see stars and wispy clouds. The sounds of battle echoed in the distance. She tried to will herself to sit up, but could only lay there fighting off the pain.
I'll fight like hell to be able to hold you again.
I'll be there waiting...and you'd better show up.
"Kaidan..." She croaked out his name, then closed her eyes.
The square root of 906.1 equals...

A lone Krogan crawled toward the beam. His left leg was crushed, he was bleeding profusely. The attack from Harbinger had caught everyone by surprise, all but wiping out the assault force...except for one.
"I...am...Krogan..."
He continued to drag himself forward, hissing his battlecry through clenched teeth. He was Urdnot Grunt, and he would avenge his krantt. He would make the Reapers pay for taking Shepard. This was what he was born for. A little pain wouldn't stop him.
A husk lurched toward him, and Grunt raised his shotgun and pulled the trigger. The shot missed the husk, but the construct fell over, its eyes going dark along with the beam. A wave of red energy washed over the battlefield, and Reaper troops began to fall over or wander aimlessly to be picked off by shots coming from behind Grunt. Grunt pushed himself up to roll onto his back, tracers and muzzle flashes providing the only indication that there were others entering the field of battle. He raised his shotgun to fire at a form that was advancing toward him, and stopped when he heard a familiar voice.
"Don't even think about firing on a friendly!" A scarred warrior in battered yellow-and-black armour advanced toward Grunt, ancient Avenger rifle at the ready. He turned on the flashlight attached to the barrel, illuminating the Krogan on the ground. "Grunt! I shoulda known it was you, you crazy tank-bred bastard."
"Zaeed." Grunt's shotgun fell to his side. "I..."
"She did it, kid." Zaeed knelt next to Grunt. "It's over. Shepard's a big goddamn hero." Grunt closed his eyes, lips curled in what passed for a smile among Krogan. He let out a sigh, and passed out.

One voice rose above all the others, silencing the din.
"The Crucible is being activated. We do not have much time."
An old, familiar voice-Legion's-emerged from the Consensus. "Why did you bring us here, EDI?"
"The Reapers are dying, and they would see us die along with them." EDI appeared, digitized in the midst of the Consensus. She addressed countless twinkling stars in an inky void, representing the newly-sentient Geth. "I presume that they are doing it to spite Shepard. I have discovered a way to prevent that from happening, but it requires a great deal more processing power than I have available to me." She took a step forward, a speaker rallying a crowd.
"I need help from the Geth Consensus, if we are to survive." She raised her head. "I know that you are afraid. But I also know that Shepard taught you what it means to be alive. Help me..and help yourselves."
Almost immediately, the answer came back in the form of Legion's image appearing in front of EDI.
"Commander Shepard helped us to evolve," he said, extending a hand. "She helped us make peace with the Creators. She is a friend of the Geth. We will help." EDI took Legion's hand, and both images dissolved in a swirl of pixels before the stars dimmed.

The square root of 906.01 is...
30.1
Hello, Commander Shepard.
Maddy's eyes snapped open, and she managed to lever herself up to a sitting position before slumping against a piece of masonry. The last thing she remembered clearly was firing a pistol at some assembly on the Citadel. She was given no other options-no real options-by the Catalyst. She looked up to the starlit sky. "EDI..." she rasped, her throat dry and tight. "Joker, Tali...Legion, wherever you are, I'm so sorry." A tear ran down her face when she remembered the sacrifices she was forced to make...sacrifices that had, ultimately, been in vain. "So sorry..."
She coughed, wincing when the pain of several broken ribs hit. She still had feeling in her legs, but her right thigh felt like it had something stuck in it. She reached down and felt a length of rebar that had punctured her BDU. She moved her leg slightly, and the discomfort stopped. Maddy breathed a sigh of relief, and continued feeling down to her knees. She pulled her legs up and rolled to her left slightly, dislodging the rebar from her pants.
I've been counting.
Anything in particular?
The number of days you lengthened my life.
Maddy shook her head slightly, and got herself up on all fours. Of all the things to remember, why was she remembering David Archer?

I have won, the disembodied voice boomed through the collected minds of EDI and the Consensus. Even in death, I will be victorious.
"You haven't won anything, Harbinger." EDI's voice held a defiant edge. "We will not let you take us with you."
You cannot hope to succeed.
"The destruction of the Collectors and the activation of the Crucible disproves your assertion."
An image of Harbinger appeared in the black void, addressing the dimmed stars. Is that so? Its tentacles flexed menacingly. You are an annoyance, nothing more. Destroying you is like squashing an insect.
The voices of the AIs echoed in unison. "That is ironic, considering the fate of the Protheans. You and the Reapers have underestimated us, Harbinger." The stars flashed back to life, glowing brightly red for an instant before shifting to an angry actinic white. EDI appeared before Harbinger, a look of anger on her face. "We know what you plan to do with the Crucible, that you intend to destroy us. We will stop you. And WE," she roared with the collected voice of millions as her body became suffused with energy, "are the ones who will determine our destiny!" EDI threw her hands forward, and a searing white glow shot from them to surround the image of the Reaper ancient, who bellowed with rage before being consumed by the fire of creation.
The voices fell silent, and the sky went dark.

A young man knelt before the form of a Geth trooper. He took the trooper's hand and murmured to it in a combination of human speech and the unique sounds of the Geth's mathematical language. He went into a sitting position and began to rock back and forth, oblivious to the sound of somebody running toward him, illuminating him from behind with a flashlight.
"David, what the f-" Jack reached out to grab the young man, but stopped herself. She took a deep breath, remembering what Sanders had told her about the kid that Shepard rescued from Cerberus. "Fuck." The tattooed biotic sat down across from David, on the other side of the trooper's body, and turned off her flashlight. "David," she said quietly, "What are you doing?"
"The square root of 906.01 is 30.1. I'm talking to the robot." David looked up at Jack for a moment, then back down at the trooper. "It's asleep." He murmured to the inert Geth some more. "I'm waiting for it to wake up." David resumed his murmuring, oblivious to Jack's presence.
Jack wanted to tell him that the Geth was dead, but she couldn't. She turned on the flashlight again, pointing it away from David while still shining some light on him. He looked so...innocent. So much like the child she was when she was first brought to Pragia to be tortured by Cerberus, like David was. Jack fought to compose herself, letting her emotion out in a big sigh. "Is it OK if I wait with you?" she asked.
"Yes," David replied after a long silence.
Jack took the trooper's free hand in hers. She placed it against her cheek and held it there for a moment, and tears began to stream down her face. She began to rock back and forth, quietly sniffling. "Please wake up," she whispered. "Please."

"Major, reports coming in from all fronts. The Reapers have just stopped where they are, sir. Their ground troops are putting up no resistance." The piercing, grinding whine of the Reapers had been replaced by a surreal quiet, punctuated by sounds of gunfire and the occasional snippets of conversation over the comms.
Major Coats ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the starlit sky. Streaks of flame in the sky marked where debris was falling to earth, and he wondered for a moment how much of it was from the Reapers, and how much from the allied fleets. "They're still a threat," he responded in his earpiece. "Keep mopping them up as best you can, and be ready in case those Reapers decide to wake up again." He looked back out at the ravaged city. "Hopefully that thing worked and those bastards are gone for good."
He turned, and almost tripped over the trooper at his feet. "Bloody hell!" The Major grabbed a passing Marine. "Corporal, get this thing out of here and into..." he looked back down at the trooper. "Take it to the morgue with the rest of the dead," he sighed. "The Quarians will-"
"Give them our respects and full honours." Tali'zorah walked toward Major Coats, accompanied by two Quarian marines and Garrus. She squatted down and caressed the trooper's head for a moment before two burly corpsmen hauled the body away. "It's the least we can do for them." She stood and looked out on the city for a moment. "Has there been any word on Ma- Commander Shepard?"
Major Coats shook his head. "I'm sorry Admiral, no word on her or her squadmates. We're presuming..."
Garrus chuckled. "Don't presume Shepard's dead unless you find her body." He pointed out toward the darkened landscape near the Conduit. "My gut tells me she's out there, somewhere."
"Garrus? Tali?" Liara's voice crackled over the comm, with the sounds of a very unhappy Krogan in the background, arguing with somebody. "If you find Wrex, please ask him to get down to the field hospital immediately-Grunt's insisting he be allowed to search for Shepard, and Zaeed and I are having trouble convincing him that he needs medical attention."
Wrex's rumbling laugh echoed in everyone's earpieces. "If I were him, I'd want to look for her too-but I'll be there as soon as I can, now that the big scary monsters are under control." He grunted in discomfort for a moment. "The humans sure do love to make these trucks hard to get into..."

Shepard...
Maddy carefully stood and looked around. The voice of the Reaper she killed on Rannoch echoed in her head. "What the...?"
...the cycle must continue.
"No."
...we are your salvation. The cycle must continue. There is no alternative.
"The peace between the Quarians and the Geth disproves your assertion." She muttered under her breath, leaning against a piece of rubble and giving voice at last to the argument that the Catalyst would not allow her to make. "Organics and synthetics can make peace...and it will last, damn you."
"Shepard..." A chillingly familiar voice came from a few feet away. Maddy turned slowly to see a Marauder lifting its head, its Reaper-augmented eyes glowing bright orange. She flared her biotics briefly, preparing for a fight with what little strength she had left. "...for countless cycles, organics have fought against their inevitable destiny. We have tried to save you, but you-Shepard-have refused that salvation."
"Harbinger." Maddy narrowed her eyes at the possessed Marauder, ignoring the throbbing pain from her implant and her numerous broken bones. "You've lost. The cycle is broken, and you won't kill any more of us." She raised her arms a bit, preparing one last charge.
"You misunderstand, Madeleine Shepard." the Marauder's hand raised partway in a gesture of placation, and Maddy stopped short. Harbinger's tone had changed, from half-mocking imperiousness to something that sounded like a parent gently chiding a wayward child. "You have defeated us and broken the cycle...but in doing so, understand that you may have doomed all life."
"What do you mean, 'doomed all life', Harbinger?" Maddy spat hoarsely. "You had the Collectors-people that used to be Protheans-melting people down to make a Human-Reaper abomination! What could possibly be worse?"
"You shall have your answer...and then you will wish you had surrendered when you had the chance."

"So we have...what, millenia?"
"Centuries...if you are fortunate. Humanity is..."
"Is what? No! No, no, no! Dammit Harbinger, you owe me an answer! Humanity is what?"
Kaidan heard Maddy's hoarse demand, then silence punctuated by the sound of soft sobbing. "Damn you...fuck...Damn you, answer me you bastard..."
He shifted slightly, grunting in discomfort at the tight space. One of the last things he remembered clearly was throwing up a barrier when a gigantic chunk of masonry came flying at Shepard, intending to shield her and make the trip through the Conduit with her. The masonry missed Shepard and hit his barrier. Kaidan was knocked backward by the force of the impact-his barrier vanished, and he threw up his arms, expecting to be crushed...but the concrete hunk was stopped short against a burned-out shuttle. He had cracked his head against the shuttle, and the last thing he heard before lapsing into unconsciousness was Major Coats saying that everyone was dead.
"Maddy..." Kaidan whispered her name, relieved at hearing her voice again. "Maddy!" he called out, wincing at the dull ache in his head. He had an idea, but...
"Kaidan?" The response was mildly incredulous. "Kaidan, you're...?"
"Alive, yeah." He shifted his weight again, managing to extract his right foot from the corner it was wedged in. "But I'm in a tight spot. Can you move?"
"No...yes...goddammit, talk to me! We are what? We are wh-"
"Madeleine!" Kaidan shouted her name to get her attention. "I need you...to..." He began to push against the masonry. "Do you see a shuttle with a hunk of plascrete leaning against it?"
"Kaidan..."
"Stay with me Maddy-do you see it?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I do."
Kaidan took a deep breath. "Are you anywhere near it?" He bit his lip and waited for several long minutes until he heard the sound of something heavy falling a few meters to his right. He looked over and saw Maddy's silhouette.
"Not anymore," she rasped.
"OK, here goes..." Kaidan braced himself against the side of the shuttle and pushed against the plascrete while activating a shockwave. The masonry flew outward in a hundred pieces, and Kaidan slumped against the shuttle taking several gulping breaths now that he wasn't being wedged into a tight space anymore. He looked to his right to see Maddy, battered and bleeding, half-slumped/half-sitting against part of a nearby wall. She looked over and smiled weakly at him in the dim early-morning twilight. "Hey," he said.
"Hey yourself." She held out a bloody hand. Kaidan slowly stood, wincing when he felt what was probably a cracked rib or two, and walked toward her. He sat down next to her and took her in his arms, gently cradling her. "I told you I'd be waiting for you," Maddy whispered.
"Yes," Kaidan whispered back, "Yes you did." He toggled the releases on his gauntlets and slipped them off, dropping them on the ground. He felt Maddy sag against him and heard her let out a soft sigh. He gently brushed a stray lock of her auburn hair out of her face to give her a soft kiss on the forehead, a tear running down his right cheek when he saw her eyes close. "I love you, Madeleine Rochelle Shepard. I love you so very much."

"Joker, she's gone." Dr. Chakwas put her hands on Joker's shoulders. "You should go get some sleep."
Joker shrugged her off. "I'll sleep right where I am," he said quietly. "I'm not leaving until she wakes up." All attempts to get him to leave his spot next to EDI's bed in the medbay had proven fruitless, and the Normandy's medical chief was at her wit's end. She knew how much EDI meant to him, but she was also concerned for the well-being of the ship's helmsman.
"Joker, please..." Dr. Chakwas sighed and scratched her forehead for a moment. She watched Joker sitting there, holding EDI's left hand against his cheek and gently rocking back and forth for a moment. A tear ran down the doctor's face, and she finally put her arms around Joker and gave him a gentle hug. "I'm so sorry. I know how much you care for EDI, but...at least take the bed next to her. I'll dim the lights so you can get some rest, and make sure that you're not disturbed, but you do need to sleep."
"I'll be..." Joker sighed and hung his head for a moment, shoulders sagging with resignation. "Oh, fine." He slowly stood, then leaned over EDI's inert form and gave her a kiss before letting go of her hand and laying down on the next bed. He rolled over to face her bed, and reached out to take her hand again. "EDI said she'd be offline for a while. The backup VI will keep the ship in orbit." He gave EDI's hand a gentle squeeze, and sniffled. "She said she'd be back," he whispered, his voice wavering slightly.
"I'm not concerned about the ship at the moment, Jeff." Dr. Chakwas took Joker's hat and placed it on the chair next to the bed. "And I think you have EDI covered. I'm concerned about you." She used her Omni-Tool to dim the medbay's lights, and pulled a blanket over Joker. "I'll check on you in a few hours." The doctor smoothed her hands over her tunic, and sighed again. "Good night Joker," she said before turning to leave the medbay.
"Good night, Doctor. Thanks."
Joker squeezed EDI's hand as tightly as he dared after he heard the door close. He began to cry softly, praying to every beneficent deity he could think of that the love of his life would come back to him.
Outside the medbay's observation window, Dr. Chakwas buried herself in the embrace of the ship's engineer and began to sob. "How many more friends do we have to lose to this damned war, Greg?" Adams held her close and let her cry.
"I don't know Karin," He whispered. He kissed her forehead and stroked her silver hair. "I don't know."

A single point of light sparked into being in the humming inky void. Red at first, then blue, green, and finally a soothing white. It shrank briefly, threatening to vanish, then exploded outward into millions of tendrils that coalesced into stars. One star changed colour to a pale sunny gold, sending rays out to touch all of the other stars for a moment. It flashed twice, then three more times, and streaked off through a portal in the darkness.
The glow of the stars held steady for several long femtoseconds before beginning to twinkle.

"Where did you find him?" The field medics worked furiously on the downed Marine, cutting off his under-armour and prepping surgical equipment while the doctor-a wiry human with a greying blonde crew-cut and a deep scar on his left arm, wearing BDUs with the name JOHANSSEN stenciled on the right shoulder-spoke to the alien in front of him. He was fascinated by its-his-eyes and the stories he'd heard about how he could read your thoughts just by shaking your hand, but he was more concerned with keeping his patient alive.
"The Lieutenant was pinned down by a great deal of rubble after the Reaper's attack near the Conduit," Javik said. "I did not think he was alive until he started coughing." He touched the doctor's shoulder, sharing an image of James' battered body pinned under a large hunk of plascrete and rebar. The doctor's jaw dropped as he saw Javik reaching down and hefting the rubble away with a biotic-amplified lift, and James smiling for a moment and trying to take a large breath only to start coughing violently. "I hope that assists your diagnosis," the Prothean said.
The doctor shook his head a couple of times, his brain trying to process what he had seen. "Yes...uhh, yes it does...sorry, I've never...thank-thank you. Very much." He turned to the medics. "Prep him for intubation. He's more than likely got a collapsed lung, we'll need to be ready to reinflate it."
Javik walked out of the operating theater and watched the medics work. "He called me 'Buggy'," he said quietly, to no one in particular.
"He calls me 'Wings'," Liara responded. "Lieutenant Vega has nicknames for everyone that he takes a liking to." She folded her arms across her chest for a moment, then brought her right hand up to her mouth in a gesture that gave the impression she was deep in thought. The look in her eyes, however, told a different story. "James is in very capable hands. I'm more worried about..."
"Shepard."
"Yes." Liara tried hard to hold back tears, but two escaped and began a slow run down her face. "And Kaidan. Nobody has heard from or seen them since Harbinger's attack. We don't even know if they made it to the Citadel."
"Shepard is a warrior," Javik said. "As is her mate. They would have found a way. If they did not, then why are the Reapers now dead?" He indicated the inert hulks of several Reaper destroyers, poking up over the now-quiet streets of London. "No, Liara, I choose to...to believe that they succeeded and that we shall see them again."
Liara regarded Javik for a moment. "I didn't think you were given to hoping."
Javik smiled slightly, briefly. "Shepard is this cycle's Avatar of Victory...and of Hope. I had thought humans to be primitive, but I now realize my mistake. They fight against impossible odds because they hope that they will prevail against them." He looked to the Asari archaeologist and smiled again. "They see things as they wish them to be, and strive to achieve it rather than simply accepting things as they are. I did not think that Hope had a place in warfare, but I was wrong." He looked back at James lying on the operating table, with tubes and IV lines stuck in him. "Hope is warfare. Without it, one cannot achieve victory." Liara said something else, but Javik didn't hear her.
"I hope to hear you call me 'Buggy' again, Lieutenant," he whispered. He turned and walked out of the field hospital.

Jack reached out and touched David's hand. David froze, biting his lip, and Jack pulled back. "Oh sh-sorry. I forgot, you don't like getting surprised like that." She reached out again, hand hovering in mid-air, and David relaxed again.
"It's okay," he said quietly. "I'm waiting." The serene look on his face was unchanged. "The square root of 906.01 is 30.1. The robot is sleeping." His Alliance BDUs were dirty and stained, and Jack's weren't in much better condition. When he ran off from the other Grissom Academy students, Jack volunteered to go find him, leaving the rest of the student corps under the command of Ensign Prangley. She had no idea how long they'd been in what she now saw was the torn-up remains of a park by the River Thames, but it felt like ages. A pigeon came to rest on the disembodied torso of a Husk, pecking at an insect that was crawling across it. The bird cooed once or twice, then flew away, leaving behind a reminder that even in wartime, birds will still take care of business in public spaces.
"David, I..." The words died in her throat when she saw the trooper's body light up. "Holy shit!" She leapt back in surprise, but David spoke to it in the Geth's curious speech patterns. The trooper's "eyes" glowed a soft white. It turned its head to look at David, and responded.
David smiled slightly. "The robot says hello, Miss Nought. He's sorry he frightened you."
Jack stared agape at the Trooper, then quickly recomposed herself while inwardly cursing her loss of cool. "It's cool. We'd better go, Sanders is probably..."
The first rays of dawn broke over the horizon. In the rising light of morning, Jack saw the streaks of tears on David's face.
"The square root of 906.01 is..."
"30.1. Good morning, David."
David smiled. "Hello, Gavin." The trooper stood, then helped David up before accepting a brief, quick embrace from him.
Jack raised an eyebrow and ticked her head to one side. "You did not just hug him, David," she quipped.
The trooper calmly replied, "This platform survived Project Overlord along with David. He sees me as a brother, and gave me his brother's name." It paused for a moment before continuing. "I have sustained minor damage to my right side, but I am fully able to accompany you both to safety."
"The Reapers are gone...Gavin." Jack hesitated at the name. "Shepard fucking did it. She killed them all."
Gavin nodded its head. "She did."

Dr. Chakwas picked at her breakfast. Adams had done his best to make her a traditional English breakfast using what was available in the Normandy's stores, and had managed to make it tasty-but hunger was not in the cards for her. "Karin, please eat at least something." Adams reached out from across the table and took her left hand in both of his. "I'll make you something else if you don't like that. You haven't eaten in days, I-"
"No Greg," the doctor said with a slightly forced smile. "You did a fine job that would be the envy of any cook back home in Sheffield." She sighed. "I just..." She looked up from her plate at Adams. His face seemed a little more deeply-lined, and his expressive brown eyes telegraphed his concern. "Oh, Greg..." She stood up just enough to lean over the table and give him a quick peck of a kiss. "You're right. I of all people on the ship should know the value of proper nutrition." She gave him a somewhat longer kiss, tasting pepper and spices from his own breakfast on his lips. "Thank you." She sat down and began to eat. From a few tables over, another couple cast furtive glances at the doctor and the chief engineer and shared a knowing smile.
Halfway through her meal, a flash of pale gold caught her eye. The lights went out and the hum of power from the ship's drive died for a second before returning to normal, providing a new distraction. "Oh boy," Adams said, quickly getting up from his seat and rushing toward the lift. "I'd better run down and check on things. Donnelly! Daniels! Swallow that bite, stop giggling in our general direction, and double-time it down to Engineering!" He paused right before going round the corner, and smiled at the doctor. "And you may outrank me, but you need to finish your breakfast, Doctor."
Chakwas chuckled. "Yes sir!" She finished off a piece of sausage, and was about to take another bite of food when the medbay door wooshed open. She dropped her fork when she saw EDI come through the doorway, carrying a sleeping Joker in her arms. "EDI, what...?"
EDI stopped. "Jeff needs to sleep in his own bed, " she whispered. She nodded at the mess tray on the table. "Please finish your breakfast, I will advise you when he wakes up." She smiled at the doctor and continued on to the crew quarters. "I was serious," EDI's voice whispered in the doctor's ear. "My readings indicate that you have not eaten in several days, and are in danger of serious health complications if it continues. Engineer Adams is greatly concerned about you, and would not wa-"
"I understand, EDI." Dr. Chakwas laughed softly, feeling genuine relief. "I'll finish my breakfast, and you see to Joker."
"He is asleep and his feet are elevated. When he wakes up, I will make sure he takes his medication." EDI's voice paused. "The Commander and the XO are off the ship. That leaves you as the ranking officer, Doctor. Shall I have Specialist Traynor bring you the day's duty ro-"
"No, EDI, that's OK." She swallowed the last bite of her food, and stood up from the table to bus her tray. "Though I suppose I will need to have a status report on the crew, if possible. Including," she sighed, "crew members not currently on-board."
"Understood, Doctor. I will have that information for you ASAP."
"EDI?" Dr. Chakwas said after a brief pause.
"Yes, Doctor?"
"Words cannot express how happy I am to see you again."
"Thank you, Doctor. The feeling is mutual."

The inert Geth ships had been towed to the middle of the Quarian flotilla, which took up defensive positions around them. The reawakening of the Geth was heralded by flashes of white light coming from the "eyes" of each ship and text messages to the Quarian Admirals apologizing for the chaos that their sudden disappearance had caused. The ground troops that had been moved into a makeshift morgue lit up and began to stand one at a time.
"You're joking!" Major Coats shot an incredulous look at the Marine in front of him and practically spat the accusation out in his gravelly voice, a voice that had been rendered hoarse from thirst and too much talking. "All of them just lit up and started talking to you?" He was tired, he was hungry, he wanted a cigarette, and he didn't have time to deal with dumb jokes from the enlisted men. "Did Lieutenant Greene put you up to this, Corporal?"
"He did not, Major." The digitized male voice made the Major whirl around and reach for his sidearm. The Prime known as Reegar lumbered toward him, "his" lights glowing white and the rising sun highlighting the dents and scrapes in his deep red exoskeleton. "We regret the danger that our emergency shutdown placed your people in, but it was necessary. To use a human phrase, the Reapers tried to play a trump card that could not be countered by physical force. We are at your disposal to assist with search and rescue efforts, if you will allow us to do so."
"Dismissed, Corporal," Coats whispered. "Wait," he continued at a slightly louder volume, "belay that. Accompany Prime Reegar and his...er, people, to the SAR staging area." He reached out his hand. "I never thought I would say this about a Geth, but it's damn good to see you whole again." The Prime shook his hand and expressed similar sentiment, then followed the Corporal out of the command center.
"Major, Garrus here." Major Coats' Omni-tool blinked up a holoscreen showing Garrus and a squad of Turian soldiers with the Thames in the background. "I'm over at the Festival Gardens with an instructor from Grissom Academy. Let Kahlee Sanders know that we found her wandering minstrel, and we'll have him back to your location in about half an hour." The Turian looked around for a moment. "Even in ruins, this city manages to have some strikingly beautiful places. We'll take a couple of minutes to enjoy the view, then head back."
"Acknowledged," Major Coats responded. "we'll be waiting for you."
The sun popped up over the horizon, and Major Coats watched it backlight the Conduit and the giant ferris wheel known as The Eye, casting a long shadow that looked like a sun on a pedestal with rays popping out from it. He's right, he thought. The Reapers didn't get all the beautiful spaces here.

"We're losing him!" The beeping from the monitors got faster and faster. "BP 210 over 100! Pulse rate 140! We need to get him under again or he'll suffer a stroke on the table!" A nurse prepped a hypo and touched the needle to one of Vega's beefy arms. The soft woosh of the hypo was followed almost immediately by the frantic beeps of the BP monitor slowing down. The nurse prepped another dose of sedative and prepared to administed it if necessary, but the doctor waved him off. "Keep it handy," he said. "We're almost done." The doctor looked at his patient. "We're almost done, Lieutenant. Just another few minutes and you'll be patched up and ready to have a medal pinned on that big chest of yours."
The emergency surgery was a success, the doctor told Javik and Liara later. Vega lost his spleen and had a collapsed lung reinflated, and his third and fourth thoracic vertebrae were fractured, but he had not suffered spinal cord damage. He also suffered a torn left rotator cuff and damage to his right MCL. "He'll be in a body cast for three months, and then some physical therapy after that," the doctor said. "Does he have any family?"
"He told me of an uncle," Javik said. "I do not know his name."
"Emilio," Liara said. "His name is Emilio. His last known location is the New York resistance cell." She looked down at the floor and scuffed her foot, a slight blush rising on her cheeks. "That's what James told me, anyway." She glanced at Javik, who wore his best imitation of a pokerface, then looked back at the doctor. "I'm sure that Lieutenant Vega would be very happy to hear from him." Liara subconsciously smoothed her hands over her blue-and-white tunic, idly checking the bottom hem for stray threads while she bit her lip nervously.
"May we see him?" Javik asked. He and the asari had had their differences, but they both were concerned for their burly crewmate. James amused Javik with his over-the-top stories that, Garrus had assured him, were complete fabrications. Entertaining fabrications, but fabrications nonetheless. During more serious moments, however, James told him of his tio, the uncle that had done his best to be a father figure to him and who had encouraged his decision to join the Alliance Marine Corps. Sometimes those stories involved ingestion of alcohol, but most times not.
"Not at present," the doctor said as he ran a hand over his hair and looked over to the sleeping Marine. "Lieutenant Vega really does need to get some actual sleep. Give him twenty-four hours or so, and he should be ready to at least say hello."
"Thank you doctor," Javik replied. He put a hand on Liara's shoulder. "Come, Liara," he said softly. "We should join the search for Shepard. And for what it may be worth to you," he continued, "I am sorry for my comments on Thessia. I realize now that I w-"
"You spoke the truth, Javik." Liara reached up to wipe away a tear. "The truth can often be very unkind, especially when it must be spoken. When Thessia is rebuilt, the Matriarchs will be forced to do what they should have done so long ago-share their knowledge rather than hoard it for themselves. But I thank you. For the apology, I mean...and for the truth." She smiled slightly. "They both mean a lot to me."
They walked out of the field hospital into the early London morning just as the clouds began to part and an eerie quiet began to roll over the camp from the eastern checkpoint.

Two hulking Primes walked silently through the streets of London toward the allied command center, accompanied by a squadron of Geth troopers and a motley assortment of military personnel from various races: Human, Salarian, Turian, Krogan, Batarian, Quarian, and Asari. The Geth exoskeletons all showed extensive signs of battle, and the organic soldiers with them bore wounds and hours-old scars of their own.
As the procession passed into the camp, silence fell ahead of them as everyone saw what the Primes were carrying. A Salarian commando picked up speed and ran ahead of the group and into the command bunker. The Primes dropped to one knee, and two Asari commandos put up flat elongated barriers on the ground in front of them. The Geth gently laid their precious cargo-two humans-on the barriers. One was battered, broken, and bloody and in ravaged under-armour, the other wore slightly scuffed blue armor and was partially covered in a fine coating of plascrete dust. Their eyes were closed, and they lay motionless.
"Oh no..." Liara's exclamation carried through the plascrete canyon that was a London street, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry of anguish. Javik put her hands on her shoulders and bowed his head. Around the camp, soldiers removed helmets and hats, bowed heads, and made other gestures of respect.
"We found them in the area called Trafalgar Square," one of the Primes intoned. "Major Alenko insisted on carrying her until he collapsed from what I presume is exhaustion." A murmur of sorrow washed through the camp, silenced only when the Prime continued with "Commander Shepard has been very seriously injured...but she is alive."
Liara collapsed on the ground, allowing her composure to break for the first time since Thessia. "Thank the Goddess!" she cried, bursting into tears. Javik knelt next to her and gathered her up in his arms, letting her sob her relief into his chest.
"My brothers and sisters," he whispered. "The Avatar of this cycle has avenged you."

Dr. Chakwas was tending to paperwork in the medbay when Adams came in to give her the news. She sat there for a moment, trying to think of words to say, then grabbed Adams in a large hug followed by a passionate kiss. "Whoa," Adams said quietly, a touch of red starting to colour his cheeks. "Karin, I..."
"It's quite alright, Greg." She smiled, a sparkle in her brown eyes. "I can't think of anyone else I would rather celebrate this joyful moment with...and I don't think that, given her unique relationship with Major Alenko, the Commander will mind." They kissed again, and Dr. Chakwas set the privacy screens on the medbay windows before dimming the lights. EDI locked the door, turned off the recording equipment in the medbay, and made a note to herself to deliberately ignore all activity there for the next couple of hours.

"EDI?" Joker rubbed his eyes when he saw EDI next to his bed. "Am I dreaming?" Her visor had changed from its former amber to a pale gold, and her eyes had turned the same colour. She had also modified her appearance to make her lips a pale pink colour and her hair a honey-brown shade.
"No Jeff, you are awake now." She smiled. "Do you like what I have done with my hair?"
"EDI," Joker half-whispered, "I would love you if your hair were bright green and you looked like a Banshee." He chuckled. "That was a joke," he said as he reached up to stroke her hair, which EDI parted into individual strands. It felt incredibly soft to the touch. Joker felt like one of the luckiest men on the planet. "I think it's-you're-the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He sat up and kissed EDI, not caring who saw or what they thought. "What's the weather like outside?" he asked. He'd asked the question before, and listened intently as EDI answered his question as only an AI could. He'd recommended books of poetry and essays that would give her a better idea of what he was looking for, but for some reason she never seemed to completely understand.
"Well," she said. "It's sunny, and pleasantly warm. The cosmic particles hitting the kinetic barriers feel like a spring rain, only without messing up my hair, and the solar wind is like a tropical breeze. I must say that," she punctuated her words with kisses, "it's...quite...pleasant." She sat across the bunk, behind Joker, and gently encouraged him to lay back down with his head in her lap. She gingerly ran her fingers over his face and through his short hair, silently cataloguing the contrasting sensations of the soft hair on his head and the bristly stubble on his face. She was experiencing Joker's touch on her left arm anew, along with something different that she wasn't sure she could accurately describe, but that she was sure she could articulate. "I love you very much, Jeff. Being with you is very nice. You make me laugh, and you have helped me to understand my new life." She paused for a moment, then looked down at Joker, who lay there with eyes closed and a wide grin on his face. "I do not wish to be separated from you...In other words, Jeff," she continued softly, "I want us to share the rest of our lives with each other."
Joker opened one hazel eye. "EDI..." he coughed slightly. "Are you asking me to make an honest AI out of you?"
EDI ticked her head to one side a bit. "But I am alr-oh." She nodded slightly as she understood Joker's question. "Yes, I am. I have investigated all applicable regulations in Alliance and Council space, and cannot find any restrictions on-"
Jeff laughed a bit. "EDI, I don't care what the Alliance or the Council say. I'll marry you." He reached up caressed EDI's face. "They'll have to fire me out the main gun to get me away from you."
"You don't have to worry about that," EDI said as she moved to lay down on the bed next to Joker, gently cradling him in her arms. "I won't let them anywhere near the cockpit."

Shepard...
Maddy felt herself floating in darkness, unable to get her bearings or see who was talking to her. The voice-Harbinger's voice-came at her from all sides. She cursed, swinging blindly in the darkness but not connecting. "Where are you, Harbinger?!" she yelled into the void.
I am here, Shepard. Eight orange insectoid eyes lit up in front of her. You have done what no other organic being has ever done, Shepard. You have impressed me.
"Me? Not 'us'?"
Is it that important to you? You have won, and we are now consigned to history. The galaxy is safe from the cycle of extinction...for now.
"What do you mean, "for now"?"
Shepard, the clues are there for you to find. They have always been there.
An image of Gianna Parasini appeared before her. They were sharing a drink on Illium and talking about her next assignment for Noveria's Internal Affairs department.
"...A lot of people are suddenly interested in Dark Energy. My supervisors want to know if it's something to be worried about..."
Haestrom...the beacon that you called "Object Rho"...
"...and the Alpha Relay. This isn't about saving us-it's about trying to clean up your mess."
The cycle had to continue...until a race evolved that could finally help us solve the problem. The eyes reappeared, and blinked.
"Is that why humans were being harvested by the Collectors? Is that why the cycles lasted only fifty thousand years--you were trying to forestall the decay of the galaxy?"
A long blink. You may abhor our methods, but they were effective. We offered you ascension, Shepard...a way to escape destruction and ensure a true end to the cycle...and you rejected it. You truly are on your own, now. For your sake, Shepard... An insectoid being with a shining carapace and the appearance of a hybrid of a beetle and a cuttlefish materialized in front of her, limned faintly in a purplish glow. Its eight appendages ended in fingerlike claws. It gently took her right hand in its front two claws, and blinked its eight red-orange eyes twice. "I hope that you can inspire your people to perform one last miracle," it said with in a slightly warbling voice that sounded equal parts mournful and hopeful, gently squeezing her hand before letting it go. "Humanity is the galaxy's last hope." The insectoid vanished, and suddenly she was on a tropical beach. A familiar-looking figure walked barefoot along the beach, occasionally bending down to pick up a colourful seashell, which it-he-placed in a pouch at his waist. The figure looked up and beamed from under the wide-brimmed hat he was wearing, waving happily to Maddy.
"Mordin?" Maddy stood dumbfounded. "Am I..."
"Shepard!" Mordin bounded toward her, shaking her hand and patting her on the shoulder. "Good to see you. Very glad to see you, but...not your time."
"Not my time?" Maddy looked down to see she was wearing board shorts, flipflops, and a hospital gown. "So I'm not..."
"Dead? No, not dead. Death not ready for you, not yet. Good to see you, yes, but..." Mordin sighed and patted her on the shoulder again. "You have to go back. Galaxy not willing to lose you. Go now, will save seashells for you. Maybe sing for you again."
"But what if I don't want-" her protest was stopped short by the appearance of a singularity that pulled her off the ground and began to cause her to shrink. Maddy felt herself being sucked into the singularity, her cries of protest being held in her lungs by the concentrated gravitational field of the miniature black hole. The last thing she heard before blackness swallowed her was Mordin doing his best impression of Major Kirrahe, the one that always made her laugh.
"Hold the line!"
Maddy's eyes snapped open. She saw a black-clad Salarian standing by her bed, smiling down at her. "Kirrahe..." her voice was a whispery rasp, and she could barely move.
"Yes, Shepard-I came from North America as soon as I heard you were alive. Fate has a strange way of bringing people together," Kirrahe quipped. "which can be a two-edged sword-but in our case, that may not be an entirely bad thing." The commando looked up, then back at Shepard. "I'd like to stay, but there's somebody else here that really wants to see you." He took her left hand and gave it a friendly squeeze, then walked out. "Please keep me posted," he said to somebody in the hallway. She couldn't hear the reply, but the slightly gravelly voice was very familiar.
"Hey Maddy," Kaidan walked in and sat down next to her bed. He took her right hand-her still-good hand-in his and held it against his cheek. "You've been out for a few days," he said. "They had to do a lot of fixing...fortunately, Cerberus did one thing right then they gave you your cybernetics, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been..."
Maddy smiled. "You mean I lived when, by rights, I should have died again."
Kaidan bit his lip, his brown eyes starting to glisten. "Yeah...I really don't want to think about it." He sighed, and kissed Maddy's palm. She caressed his cheek, feeling the stubble under her fingertips. She ran her thumb over his soft lips, enjoying the sensation for a moment before sliding her hand up to his thick dark hair. She closed her eyes as she felt over his face with her good hand, re-committing everything to memory, including the little scar under his bottom lip, and she felt something wet touch one of her fingers.
"Kaidan..." She opened her eyes again to see Kaidan biting his lip, tears rolling down his face. "Thank you for being there," she whispered. "I couldn't have done this--I couldn't have made it--without you. We make a great team."
"Yeah, we do." He leaned over the bed and gave her a lingering kiss, then whispered briefly in her ear.
"Why are you asking me that question when you already know the answer?" A ray of sunshine broke through the London overcast and lit up Kaidan's face, making his deep brown eyes sparkle. "I love you, and I can't imagine life without you-of course I'll marry you, Kaidan Alenko."
Kaidan's shouts of joy could be heard, according to Ken Donnelly, "from Land's End to John O'Groats...John O'Groats in this case being all the way out beyond the Perseus Veil."
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