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Reunited	By : Boompeew Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 25156 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mass Effect series or its characters. I do not make any money from this fic; it is purely for reader enjoyment.

Chapter List
- 32
- 33
- 34
Author’s notes: Chapter 33 in my fanfic about Captain Megan Shepard and her beautiful lover, Miranda Lawson, and we’re still going strong with lots of ideas coming up! Of course, Cerberus is still gonna be that shady group with unknown intentions that are only too happy to help out against the Reapers. But…they are doing their usual morally grey shenanigans behind the scenes, but that’s for later. If any of you have suggestions on what I could write in future chapters please don’t hesitate to PM me.

The Normandy SR2 exited FTL speeds right beside a massive naval battle that was happening over the larger of Palaven’s 2 moons, Menae, between the Turian Hierarchy’s naval fleets and a few thousand Reapers. “Goddamn…how many Reapers are there?”Captain Megan Cassandra Shepard cursed as Junior Flight Lieutenant Erin Deanna Iverson, who was essentially EDI transferred into a human vessel while still retaining copies of herself on the Normandy, turned back to her. “There are currently 1403 Reapers in this sector, and that number is a blend of dreadnought and destroyer class Reapers. Rough estimates of the total number of Reapers as put together from data collected by asari, turian, salarian and human fleets currently stand at slightly over 3000.”The blonde android reported. Even though she was now fully human, data from the quantum supercomputers on the Normandy still transmitted data straight to her brain.

“Good God. How many dreadnoughts does it take to destroy a Reaper?”Lieutenant Commander Miranda Anne Shepard, Megan’s wife and XO of the Normandy wondered in disbelief just as a Reaper destroyer gutted a turian cruiser with a point blank blast from its laser right in front of the Normandy. “According to combat transmissions, at least 5 dreadnoughts have to be firing simultaneously at one Reaper dreadnought in order to destroy it. And a destroyer takes 2 cruisers to down.”Erin replied as Flight Lieutenant Jeff ‘Joker’ Moreau dodged the cruiser which was now exploding with a curse of “Holy shit!” The Reaper destroyer that had just killed the cruiser now blew apart thanks to a volley from a turian dreadnought, causing Megan and Joker to simultaneously curse.

“I’m surprised that Quentius was the friendliest to you during that briefing.”Miranda commented as the Normandy continued to duck and weave its way through the battle. “I know right? Sparatus used to be the biggest asshole on the Council while Tevos was the least hostile to me, and now it’s the complete opposite. Even Udina called Irissa a bitch…at least in private. But then again, Quentius needs us to help his homeworld out, so him playing Mr. Nice Politician is to be expected.”Megan surmised as Joker turned his chair to face them. “And now, ladies and gents, I give you: Palaven.”The ace pilot said theatrically with his arms outstretched as Miranda and Megan looked dead ahead past the dusty crater-strewn surface of Menae to see a planet larger than Earth that had more than half of the planet’s surface on fire. And the worst thing was, everyone could see the blazes clearly even though they were still in space and not even in the stratosphere of Palaven.

“We have friends down there. Garrus and Kelly…I hope they’re alright.”Miranda sighed sadly, shaking her head as Joker pulled the Normandy in for a final approach to the naval yard, which was surprisingly intact. “Yeah, me too. C’mon, we’re going to get suited up.”Megan said to her wife and her copilot as both nodded and followed her out of the cockpit but stopped when Joker spoke up. “Shepard! Take care down there, alright? And take care of Erin for me too.”The pilot stood up as he asked. “I definitely will Joker. You take care of the Normandy for me.”Megan smiled back as Erin went up to kiss Joker passionately. “You take care of yourself too, flyboy. I’ll take care of myself.”The blonde winked as she rejoined a smirking Miranda and Megan as Joker saluted them all before they headed to their respective quarters to armor up before heading to the armory.

At the armory, they were joined by a fully armored Lieutenant James Vega and Lieutenant Ashley Madeline Williams who were checking over their weapons. Erin then held up the newest SMG to enter their arsenal, the X7 Hurricane. “That thing fires at a rate of 1200 rpm. It’s freaking loco, I’ll tell you that.”James piped up as he loaded his X76 Revenant. The lift doors opened to reveal 2^nd Lieutenant Danner Gossimah, 2^nd Lieutenant Oriana Janine Lawson, Spectre Nyla T’Lokk, and Jentha Garcia, who strode out into the armory, chatting amongst themselves. Due to the fact that most of Danner’s squad was wounded during the attack on Mars, Admiral Anderson reassigned Danner to the Normandy permanently. Oriana, of course, was delighted that she could be so near to her boyfriend every day, while Miranda almost had an aneurysm upon finding out that her little sister and her boyfriend were going to be in close proximity to each other every day.

"Oriana, you're going to stay shipboard for the rest of our missions as I instructed you to, I assume."Miranda stated plainly as she holstered an X7 Hurricane before picking up her personalized X7 Valkyrie rifle. "Yeah yeah I am. Now quit nagging. By the way, we still have yet to locate the Primarch, but I'm working on it with Samantha. You guys will probably find out his location from the troops a lot faster than we will, so you might wanna ask around."Oriana briefed the team as they all nodded. "Alright people, we're gonna go there and assist the turians in securing their perimeter before we find out the Primarch's location. Everyone clear?"Megan ordered as everyone replied "Yes ma'am!" in unison before they headed out of the Normandy and onto Menae. "Holy hell, Palaven is huge from here. And those fires must be freakin' massive if we can see em from here."James commented as he ran alongside Megan, Miranda, Ashley, Danner, Erin, Nyla and Jentha with his machine gun out and ready.

"All the more reason to stop the Reapers Vega."Ashley replied, inhaling deeply as she ran with the squad to the sounds of battle with her X7 Valiant at the ready. After a minute of brisk jogging, they reached the entrenched turian defenders who were engaging Reaper troops. "Danner! You get up on that tower and join that turian sniper and start sniping these Reaper bastards with your X99! Nyla, Ash, you two get up on that ridgeline over there and start sniping! The rest of you, spread out and hold this position!"Megan barked as everyone wordlessly complied with her orders. Jentha deployed a combat drone while firing her X96 Mattock battle rifle at the Reaper forces, while Miranda warped a scion into nothing as she fired her Valkyrie at the oncoming Reaper husks. Megan threw a massive shockwave that flung all the Reaper troops hunkered down behind cover out of it, killing some of them as the members of her squad who were not sniping jumped into the turians' trench.

"Turian husks! Watch it, these putos have shields!"Danner yelled as he fired his semi automatic sniper rifle at one of the aforementioned turian husks, killing it. "Got it!"Erin yelled as she overloaded one of the turian husks shields before gunning it and 3 more cannibals down with her X7 Hurricane, obviously impressed with the near-insane rate of fire but also struggling with the considerable accuracy issues associated with such a fast firing weapon. "One of them is deploying something-watch it, that thing is providing a biotic barrier to all the other troops!"Nyla warned as she destroyed the object and the husk that deployed it with her X90 Indra, a fully automatic sniper rifle jointly developed by the STG and the Alliance that had entered limited service with the Alliance and STG 6 months prior.

"These turians are acting like squad leaders, deploying these barrier generators and boosting the combat performance of other Reaper troops! Take them out first!"Erin yelled as she and a few turian soldiers eliminated a horde of charging husks and cannibals. "On it! Hey someone get that scion over there!"James bellowed as he mowed down at least a dozen cannibals and husks and suppressing the rest with one long spray from his X76, allowing the turian troops to eliminate the remaining two dozen. "I believe that the closest equivalent to these turians are commissars!"Erin yelled as she reloaded while Miranda, who was right next to her, killed more husks and cannibals with Valkyrie rifle before hurling a warp field at a scion, severely weakening it. "Commissars it is then! We'll have to report this to Intelligence!"Megan yelled back as she pulled a few cannibals and husks over to herself as she and a few turians shot them dead.

After a few more minutes, the Reaper force was wiped out by the combined firepower of the Normandy's squad and the defending turians. "Lieutenant Arcus Tovik of the 6th Regiment. Thank you for the assist Captain Shepard."A turian with white and red face on Megan's left paint thanked as he offered his talon in greeting. "You're welcome Lieutenant. Now, can you tell me where Primarch Fedorian is? We're looking for him."The redheaded Vanguard asked as she shook his talon. "He's at Firebase Condor, our main headquarters. That's on the dark side of this moon, which simply means that you're on the wrong half of Menae."Tovik answered as Megan snorted at how far off she and her squad was from their objective. "Thanks Lieutenant. We'll be moving now, but good luck and good hunting. If anything major crops up, just hail the Normandy to provide some fire support. Set your radios to this channel."Megan instructed as she showed the channel on her omnitool.

"Thanks once again Captain. Good luck to you too."Tovik bare farewell as the squad headed back to the Normandy. "Joker, if a Lieutenant Arcus Tovik asks you to drop some rounds on a position, do it. Clear?"Megan asked as her ace pilot simply replied with an affirmative. "Okay, we're going in the Kodiak to Firebase Condor. By the way, does anyone know what happened to the Hammerhead?"She continued as James shrugged. "I dunno Cap. You'll have to ask Esteban about that."The big man replied as Miranda arched an eyebrow. "Esteban? Who's that?"The brunette asked. "Just my nickname for ol' Cortez...we're here." The team arrived at the Normandy and quickly boarded it via the shuttle bay. “Cortez, we need a drop-off at these coordinates.”Megan ordered the pilot as she transmitted the coordinates that Tovik gave her to Steve.

“Got it ma’am. Just hop in the shuttle and we’ll be ready to fly in under 30 seconds.”Steve saluted as he hopped into the cockpit of the Kodiak, which Megan noted had mass accelerator cannons on the front sides. The squad did as the dark skinned Lieutenant said and true to his word, the Kodiak was up and out in under 30 seconds. After approximately 1 minute of flying, Cortez approached Firebase Condor, which was a massive, sprawling base that had an airfield attached. “20 seconds! The LZ is hot, so watch yourselves!”Cortez yelled as Vega opened up the armored panel on the shuttle’s side and turned the X134 chaingun mounted on the door outward and began firing on the Reaper troops on the ground. A few seconds later, the shuttle landed and he, Megan, Miranda, Ashley, Erin, Nyla and Jentha jumped out to find themselves near the main command post.

Without missing a beat, Megan led her team into the command post and found the one who looked like the most important. He was standing at a holo table displaying the real time map of Menae as he barked orders to his men. "Tobestik, get your men and Epsilon squad up on the northern wall! Sergeant Bartus, you and your men go reinforce the airstrip, and Lieutenant Garrik, you keep working on that link to Palaven Command!"He barked, to which the 2 men and the female lieutenant snapped off crisp salutes and "Yessir!" "You're in charge here, I assume? I'm Captain Megan Shepard of the Spectres."The redhead approached him as he nodded. "I'm General Corinthus, and I'm in charge here. What brings the famous human Spectre out here?"The General queried. "I'm looking for Primarch Fedorian. We need him to attend the war summit at Sur'kesh."

"Fedorian's KIA. His shuttle was shot down a few hours ago as it tried to leave the planet."Corinthus sighed as Vega and Jentha began muttering in disappointment. "Dammit. Well, do you know who the new Primarch is?"Megan grumbled as the General simply shook his head. "With all the dead and MIA here there's no way of knowing who's in charge unless I contact Palaven Command. Unfortunately, our comm sat dish was badly damaged a few hours ago, and it happens to be located in PMCM South, which was overrun and is currently being held by Reaper troops."Corinthus replied Nyla looked puzzled. "PMCM South? Where's that?"The asari Spectre asked as Miranda cut in. "Palaven Military Command-Menae: South Sector, I believe. Fortunately, turian succession protocols are extremely clear cut and red-tape free, so if the General manages to raise Palaven Command, we'll have a Primarch for the summit."The brunette responded.

"Correct on both counts Lieutenant Commander Shepard. If that comm tower was repaired, I can reach Command and find out who's the new Primarch."The turian General confirmed. "So you want us to launch a counterattack and take back PMCM South. I hope you at least have a few men trying to retake that place."James concluded as Corinthus nodded, slightly annoyed that James had correctly guessed his next request. "I have 3 platoons pinned down there right now. They launched the counterattack just 15 minutes ago, so their casualty count shouldn't be too high." "Well just break out the tanks General!"Ashley stated plainly as he just snorted and shook his head. "If only it were that easy soldier. You've seen the flying things right? Those Harvesters have been tearing through our armored columns like a plasma knife through butter. Unless we gain near total air dominance, I'm not going to send armor out. It'll just result in more casualties."

"Alright General, my team and I will head over there now to assist your troops."Megan ended the debate as Corinthus nodded, finally hearing a smidgen of good news. "Thank you Captain. One of the platoons is a combat engineer platoon, so once you reach that tower, they'll repair it as fast as they can. I'll assign a platoon to guide you there."Corinthus informed before he radioed his orders to one of his squads. "Got it General. C'mon team, we're moving out!"Megan snapped as the team briskly made their way out and was met by a 40 man team just outside of the command centre. "Captain Shepard. I'm Sergeant Tonn Vargas of Gamma Platoon, 102nd Regiment, and these are my men. We're going to guide you to PMCM South and provide you with support. If you and your team require more heatsinks, the armory is just over there."The Sergeant pointed at one reinforced module.

"Thanks Sergeant. Anyone need to grab more heatsinks?"Megan asked her crew, who all shook their heads in unison. "Alright then Sergeant Vargas, lead the way." The 40 man turian platoon made haste for the position of the 3 pinned down turian platoons with Megan and her squad rushing alongside them, and 5 minutes later, they found the platoons within metres of the comm tower. 2 of them were advancing while one stayed back to provide covering fire. Miranda guessed that the platoon staying behind was the engineering one as they had large packs with shovels and metal poles on their backs and about 5 of them were carrying demolition charges. "We've broken their lines! Push forward men!"A turian wielding a rifle that Megan had seen only a couple of times before and carried only by turians yelled as the 2 platoons rushed forward, taking several casualties in the push.

"Move up and assist them! Ashley, Danner, get your sniper rifles out and cover their advance! Nyla, cover the left flank and Miri, you cover the right! Move!"Megan yelled as everyone moved up while those addressed seamlessly obeyed, gunning down a good few of the hundred-plus strong Reaper troops as they pushed forward. "I got the scion and the 2 cannibals on our 2!"James yelled as he fired an armor piercing plasma shot, nicknamed a 'carnage' shot by Alliance marines, at the scion, melting through its armor before he put it and the cannibal duo down with a long burst from his X76. "Lieutenant Actus! Captain Shepard is here with her squad to retake this place with us!"Sergeant Vargas barked at the turian who was just ordering his troops to move up.

"The Spectre? Excellent! Beta Platoon move up! Everyone cover them!"The lieutenant roared as everyone put some serious fire on the Reaper forces, effectively cutting them down to half strength as husks, cannibals, commissars and scions died in withering hail of fire as the engineering platoon rushed forward and took no casualties thanks to the massive amount of accurate gunfire put out by the Normandy's team and the turian soldiers. "Take those Reapers troops out now! We're running short on time here!"Megan screamed just so she could be heard over the deafening gunfire as the remaining Reaper troops fell. Megan then biotically charged right into a horde of the last few Reaper troops, throwing them off their feet before she finished them off with short bursts of gunfire to each of their heads.

"It's clear for now Lieutenant! Get the engineers on repairing that comm tower and we'll hold the Reapers off!"The redheaded Captain ordered Actus as he nodded. "You heard her Beta! Get on it while we cover you!" "Actus, we're going to need at least 10 to get this thing repaired! Keep them off us!"Beta Platoon's leader yelled once the engineering team had run a quick check on the tower. "Make it faster! We may not have enough ammo!"Miranda yelled as she covered the right flank, sweeping her X7 Valkyrie around as she scanned for incoming Reaper troops. "We're hurrying as much as possible already!" "We've got incoming- shit, what is that thing?!"Danner yelled into his mic as Ashley and he began firing upon the metallic monstrosity. "Whatever it is, it can't be good! Just kill it!"Nyla answered as she fired her X90 at several incoming cannibals and husks attempting to flank the team.

"We got incoming! Tag one!"Megan hollered as her Reave field vaporized a scion after emptying more than half of the thermal clip of her Valkyrie into the monster beforehand. Miranda claimed the lives of a commissar and a few cannibals with a warp on the huskified turian and headshots on the batarian husks. For a minute, the Normandy team and the turians held off the Reaper forces with ease until the things that Danner had mentioned before showed up, slowly lumbering along towards their position. "My analysis of those things indicates that they're krogan husks and they're armored up with 30mm thick armor!"Erin yelled as she fired a plasma incinerate jet from her omnitool at one of the 6 Reaperized krogan, hitting it dead on the bulging abdomen and staggering it before she also deployed her combat drone.

Jentha also deployed her combat drone while firing an incinerate jet at the same husk while the rest of the team took care of the remaining husks, scions, cannibals and commissars before focusing fire on the krogan husks. "They don't seem to be dying!"Nyla screamed in frustration as she reloaded her X90 before tossing a warp at the same husk that Erin and Jentha had set alight. The good news was that 3 of the krogan husks had been distracted by the combat drones and were busy taking powerful, devastating swipes at the drones but missing entirely, and the bad was that the other 3 just continued plodding along. Finally after much gunfire and biotic and tech attacks, the Reaperized krogan that was first set alight fell on its face and let out a pitiful howl as it died. One of the remaining krogan husks put itself into a classic charging stance and everyone knew what was coming next.

"Everyone scatter and take cover! Don't bunch up!"Actus yelled as he continued firing at the krogan. It then charged at breakneck speed into a barricade and just shattered it like glass, sending a duo of turians who'd been taking cover behind it flying a considerable distance away. "Holy shit, that was brutal!"James yelled as Megan threw a reave field at said krogan. "Brutes it is then! Take them down before they charge!"Miranda yelled, warping the other brute which was winding up for another charge. It charged, but fortunately everyone cleared the area fast enough and there were no further additions to the 2 casualties from the first charge. Finally, with more gunfire and tech and biotic attacks from the turians and the Normandy squad, the 2 undistracted brutes were eliminated.

Upon hearing the death howls of their kind, the other 3 brutes turned their attention from the combat drones to the defenders. "Oh that's not good."Jentha gulped shakily as she popped the used heatsink out of her Mattock battle rifle. One fell just as it turned around thanks to a shot from Danner's X99, but the other 2 just kept on coming. "Stand clear!"One of the turian soldiers yelled as he fired a rocket launcher that Megan knew was only in use by the turians, and Alliance ONI had designated it as the ML105 Cobra rocket launcher. It had more than thrice the power of the more commonly seen and used ML77, but it only held one shot. The rocket hurtled towards the brutes at twice the speed of sound, detonating upon impact on the lead brute, instantly reducing it to a pulpy, viscous mess of flying organic liquids and bits.

The second brute had half of its body badly damaged by the rocket and it staggered around, not yet willing to die. Nyla threw a warp field at it, detonating the warp that Miranda had already thrown at it, finally killing the beast with a sizeable biotic explosion. "Well that did it. Are you guys done back there?"Megan hollered at the turian engineers who were still busy repairing the comm tower. "About 5 more minutes! The damage is worse than we thought!"The engineering team's leader yelled back as Megan shook her head. "Make that 3! Erin, go help them! I think we're ok on defenses for now!"The redhead commanded as Erin just ran to the tower and began helping the engineers to repair it. "Captain, my men are putting down some ammo boxes, so you and your team can replenish your stock of thermal clips if you need them."Actus informed the Spectre.

"Thanks Lieutenant. How many casualties did you take?"The redhead enquired as she walked over to a turian with a X76 Revenant machinegun who had just laid down an ammo box, nodding at the soldier in thanks before grabbing some thermal clips and tossing them to James, who was right beside her, before taking some for herself. "After the push when you arrived, I had 103 men left. Now, I'm down to 74. Sergeant Vargas' squad took 13 casualties, and they're down to 27 men."The turian lieutenant sighed in dismay as Vega choked on the water he was drinking through the tube of his Camelbak. "Fuck! 42 casualties in about...less than half an hour. That's loco!"The beefy lieutenant sputtered. "I don't know what loco means, but it's ridiculous to lose that many good men in just 30. And the worst part is, it's considered an 'average' casualty level."Actus shook his head.

“My god. How are your interceptor squadrons faring?”Megan muttered. “Better than us, but not by much. Those flying things-those harvesters, they keep taking out the interceptors with ease.”The turian lieutenant shook his head as the redhead just sighed. “Fuck this war. Ash, Danner, regroup on us.” “Copy that Captain. Good timing too; we’re almost outta clips.”Danner replied over the radio as the turian engineers finally completed their repairs on the comm tower. “We’re done here! See if HQ can finally reestablish contact with Palaven Command, and we have to get more men here to set up defenses!”The engineering leader yelled as he motioned to his men to dig in and to fortify their positions. “Captain Shepard, come in.”General Corinthus’ exhausted but relieve voice sounded on through the radio just as Danner and Ashley jumped off the ridge they’d taken up positions on earlier.

“We’re here General. What do you need?”Megan responded. “Ah good. I’ve finally managed to contact Palaven Command thanks to your excellent work, but it’ll take them some time to find out who’s the new Primarch. So you might as well come in and rest up before setting out to find whoever the new Primarch is. I’ll have another better equipped engineering team to set up defenses at the comm tower.”Corinthus ordered as Megan nodded, only then realizing how tired and thirsty she was. “Alright team, we’re headed back to Corinthus while Palaven Command works out who’s the new Primarch. Where’d you get that rifle from Danner?”Megan asked as she and her team trudged back to the command post. “Ran outta ammo for my X99, so I had to pick it up from a dead turian sniper.”He shrugged as Actus stopped him.

“Wait…this X13 Raptor…it’s Tekera’s. She’s dead?”Actus said in disbelief as Danner turned around to face him. “I dunno if it was her sir, but the previous owner of this rifle was definitely dead.”Oriana’s boyfriend replied as Actus sighed deeply. “I see. Thank you lieutenant, you should probably get going now.”He said as he began to walk in the direction where Danner and Ashley came from. “Where are you going?”Vega hollered after him as he just kept walking. “I’m going to retrieve my sister’s body.”He just replied hollowly before the Normandy squad kept walking. “Damn war.”Megan mumbled to herself as she walked beside her wife and looked at her appreciatively. “What’re looking at me like that for?”Miranda asked as soon as she noticed her Captain and wife’s gaze on her.

"Just appreciating my beautiful wife while I still can."Megan smiled in reply as she leant in to plant a quick kiss on Miranda's cheek as they continued back to the command post. "Why thank you Mrs. Shepard."The brunette laughed softly despite herself. They reached the command post in silence after that, and they found General Corinthus in a much better mood than they had left him. "Thank you for helping us get that comm tower operational again. I just got word from Palaven Command that the next Primarch is General Adrien Victus. He's at Firebase Talon, about 3 klicks southeast of here."Corinthus briefed the team. "Victus? I've heard of him a few times before."Miranda mentioned as she gratefully accepted a canteen of water from one of the orderlies, who was busy distributing water to the team.

"He's well known for his aggressive and unorthodox tactics. Unfortunately, wild behavior doesn't get you very far in the Hierarchy."The general continued. "Well, he's exactly the kind of man I need at the summit to represent the turians."Megan observed before a very familiar voice broke in. "Indeed, we need an unconventional turian to run the show for us in these times. Good to see you again Shepard, Ashley."Garrus said with his mandibles splayed out in a grin. "I didn't see you come in sir. Sorry about that."Corinthus saluted Garrus, much to Megan's surprise. "Don't worry about that General. Sorry to interrupt, actually, but Victus isn't there at Talon when I checked in about half an hour back."Garrus replied as Megan chuckled. "Now you've got generals saluting you Garrus? Well I never!"

"Heh, it's a long story. I'm an advisor to the Hierarchy on the Reapers. Good to see you too Erin."The turian ex-cop chuckled as he returned Erin's wave. "Well, do you know where the Primarch is Garrus?"Ashley asked her longtime friend and sparring partner. "I'm not sure myself, but we'll go check in at Firebase Talon 1st."Garrus replied as he led them out of the command post. "By the way, how're you and Kelly? Where is she?"Miranda asked as Garrus shifted his sniper rifle; a large one that was basically a larger and scaled up version of the Phaeston rifle that was standard issue to Hierarchy infantry. "She and I are doing well, and she actually took up a first aid course for turians. She's over there in the field hospital, assisting the doctors. You want to see her now?" "After we get the Primarch. I'm not having Victus die on me, not now."Megan replied as Garrus nodded. "Good idea. Kelly's probably very busy too."

"James, this is Garrus Vakarian. He's been with me ever since I became a Spectre, and he's one of my most trusted crewmembers. Garrus, this is Lieutenant James Vega. He's a hothead, but he's reliable."Megan introduced the turian and the big man to each other as they shook hands. Once they were done with the introductions, Megan motioned to go outside with her head. "Lead the way, honorable Advisor Vakarian!"The redhead teased, causing the Normandy squad to break out into chuckles and Garrus to choke on his laughter. They left Firebase Condor and made their way to Firebase Talon with Garrus on point with his sniper rifle and Miranda closely following him. "I heard about Earth and it falling to the Reapers. I'm sorry."Garrus lamented as they got a good view of Palaven in the distance burning.

"It was hard to leave Earth like that...I'm sorry for your planet too. How're you people holding up?"Miranda replied as they turned a corner to witness a Sovereign class Reaper pounding along on a flat plateau firing its laser. "Look around you Miranda, that should give you a good idea of how we're doing." "Shit. What is the casualty count?"Ashley swore. "3 million dead the 1st day, 5 million the 2nd. You see that huge blaze right over there? That's where I was born."The turian pointed at one of the largest patches of fire as the squad shook their heads in unison. Suddenly, a turian interceptor was smashed right out of the sky by one of the flying Reaper creatures dubbed as a 'harvester' and crash landed right in front of the squad in a huge explosion! Garrus, Miranda and Nyla, who were in the lead, were knocked onto their backs by the blast. "Holy shit! That was close!"James yelled as he picked himself off the ground.

Megan ran over to the mess of bodies, pulling Garrus off and breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that Miranda was unscathed. "You alright?"She asked as she pulled her wife followed by Nyla up on their feet. "I'm fine."Garrus and Nyla replied in unison as they dusted themselves off while Miranda did something unexpected." "What?!"The brunette yelled as she frantically jammed a finger into both her ears to try and clear them. Megan just shook her head and kissed her wife on the lips before motioning to everyone to move out. Soon, Miranda regained her hearing and not a moment too soon, as she heard the faint moaning of husks that everyone else missed. "Husks!"Miranda yelled, pivoting athletically on her heels to face the groans of the husks with her X7 Valkyrie at the ready.

Just as she uttered the last word, husks began appearing over the cliff line. Megan and Ashley switched to their M7 Crusader and M11 Wraith respectively and began blasting away the husks with their shotguns. James elected to keep his X76 out instead, laying down a constant stream of hot pain on the husks. Barely a minute later, they were cleared to move. "What rifle is that Garrus? I've never seen it before, and it’s pretty much the only rifle I've seen that fires explosive rounds."Erin asked. "It's a Krysae sniper rifle. It just got out into the field not too long ago and it's issued to Blackwatch and other elite groups."Garrus answered as they continued on the rocky path to Victus' last position. "So Captain, do you really think that this summit will work? I mean, asari and salarians? No offense Spectre lady, but where's the meat? Where're the krogan and batarians?"James questioned as Nyla just shrugged.

"Well, according to whatever sketchy intel we have, the batarians were wiped out by the Reapers from the very start."Miranda replied. "The krogans were hit by the genophage and they haven't forgiven anyone since then."Nyla pointed out as Garrus titled his head slightly. "The genophage was developed by the salarians."The turian pointed out. "And the turians administered it."Ashley piped up. "And the krogan have hated them both since then. So no, the krogan won't be joining us James."Megan concluded. "That's too bad. I fought with a krogan once. They're tough sons of bitches."James grunted as Megan and Garrus shared a glance and chuckled, both remembering Virmire where they had taken on hordes of angry krogan while pursuing Saren. The place where Kaidan died too. Wonder what he'd say about this clusterfuck. Megan wondered solemnly.

Suddenly, a distant but still loud explosion sounded across the canyons and the Normandy squad turned to the source of the sound to see a turian frigate exploding after being hit by a Sovereign class Reaper. "Damn. How many men do you think were on that ship? 50? 75?"Vega sighed as Garrus paused to think. "About 80."The turian sniper replied softly. "Hard to see a ship like that go down." "Not to mention the men who were serving in her."Megan added on to Vega's statement. After a few more minutes, they arrived at Firebase Talon, which was relatively quiet. They then learned that Victus was leading troops at Firebase Raptor, which was currently the hottest zone on all of Menae. "Move it guys! I don't wanna get there only after the Primarch's dead!"Megan barked as everyone double timed it to the Firebase to find a massive firefight taking place between the turian defenders, who were either barricaded in or on the roof of the modules.

"This is going to be crazy! We've got at least 400 Reaper troops here!"Erin yelled as she fired an incinerate jet at a brute before following up with a long burst from her X7 Hurricane SMG. "Don't worry about those brutes, my rifle stumbles them!"As if to prove his point, Garrus then fired his Krysae sniper rifle at one of the brutes that was preparing to charge the group, knocking it off balance and rendering it unable to carry out its charge and was quite easily dispatched by both Miranda and Danner. Megan reaved a scion into nothing but a puddle of goo before turning on a husk who'd managed to sneak up on her as she was on the left flank. Calling upon her biotics to increase the force of her punch, the redhead punched the husk right in the forehead and smashed its face in, leaving it to drop to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Meanwhile, Vega was keeping a couple of commissars and a half dozen cannibals suppressed behind cover while Ashley tossed an incendiary grenade behind them, killing most of the cannibals and setting the survivors, commissars included, on fire and driving them out of cover, resulting in them becoming additional kills for James. Nyla threw a singularity into a cluster of Reaper troops, taking a scion and 2 brutes off balance and sucking the other lighter units in, allowing herself and the turian troops to finish them off with ease. The scion went down first thanks to a well timed shot from Jentha, and the 2 brutes were killed by a massive biotic explosion thanks to Miranda's warp field detonating Nyla's singularity. Thanks to the crowd control abilities of Garrus' rifle which a few more turians were also using, and the biotics of the Normandy's ladies, the Reaper troops were eliminated within 15 minutes of Megan and her team arriving on site.

However, there was one last brute left who charged a particularly large module despite all the gunfire being directed at it. “Dammit! General Victus is in that module!”Garrus yelled in alarm as he ran as fast as he could to get a clear shot on the brute as Megan whirled around to see the brute in question charging towards the module. I’m not going to lose this Primarch too! The redhead though desperately as she flared up her biotics and charged right at the brute, much to Miranda’s horror. “Megan!”The brunette Sentinel screamed in horror as she fired her rifle until it clicked on empty in a vain attempt to kill the brute. “What is she doing?!”Nyla yelled as she threw a warp at the brute, weakening its armor plates.

Megan slammed into the brute, knocking it off balance as she fired her shotgun, which she had whipped out mid-charge, and its capacity of 4 shells into the brute but with little effect. The Spectre then screamed with frustration as she dropped her shotgun and charged her biotics up beyond the maximum limits, causing her to start bleeding from her nose and a severe migraine to manifest as her L5x implants threatened to overload. Redirecting all the biotic energy towards her fists, Megan punched the brute, who was now swinging its massive armored claw at her, severely wounding it as her fists smashed straight through the armor and right into its flesh. At the same time, the brute’s claw connected with Megan’s chest, sending her flying into the module where General Victus was in. The brute roared in pain at Megan’s powerful attack and tried to advance upon the fallen redhead, but the turians and the Normandy squad finally cut down the brute.

Fortunately, most of the force from the brute’s attack was absorbed by Megan’s biotic barrier, and the redhead had the presence of mind to use her biotics to soften her landing against the wall of the module. However, that didn’t stop Miranda from going into full blown panic mode as she made a mad dash to the module where her wife had ended up in. When the frantic and near-maniacal brunette reached General Victus’ module, she found her beloved redhead sitting on the ground, propped up against the wall as Victus and a turian medic tended to the redhead, who was rubbing the back of her head. “What the hell were you thinking back there?!”Miranda hissed at her wife, and the temperature in the surrounding of the module dropped drastically.

“That brute was going to kill Victus. I had to stop it.”Megan replied, her tone was that of a sad, chastised young child afraid of her parent’s punishment. “The Captain is okay. Her bleeding from the nose is due to an overexertion of her biotics, and her implants are dangerously hot. She shouldn’t use her biotics for the next 2 days, otherwise the implants will overheat and overload and kill her.”The turian medic pronounced before he ran off to tend to other wounded troops. “You’re General Victus right?”Megan grunted as she forced herself to her feet. “Yes Captain Shepard. I know who you are. I can’t wait to find out what brings you out here.”Victus replied as Nyla and Garrus joined Megan and Miranda in the module while James, Danner, Ashley, Erin and Jentha set up a perimeter outside the module.

Victus then turned to Garrus, who holstered his Krysae. “Vakarian, where’d you go?” “Bunch of brutes on the right flank. I believe your exact words were ‘get those things the hell off my men.”The turian sniper snarked back snidely as Victus’ mandibles flared slightly in a smile. “Appreciate it, Vakarian.” “General, you’re needed off planet, which is why I’m here to get you.”Megan spoke up as she cleaned the blood from her nostrils and upper lip before staunching the trickle of blood from her nose. “It will take something beyond important to leave my men and turian brothers and sisters in their fight.”The General countered as Miranda cleared her throat. “Primarch Fedorian was killed. You’re the new Primarch, Primarch Victus. We need you to chair a summit and represent your people in the fight against the Reapers.”The Sentinel informed him as his mandibles flailed a little at the revelation.

“I’m Primarch of Palaven? Negotiating for the turian Hierarchy?”Victus mumbled in disbelief to himself as he turned to look at Palaven, which was in full view of his current position. “I’ve spent my whole life in the military. I’m not a diplomat…I actually hate diplomats.”He shook his head. “That makes 2 of us. Besides, what makes you think I’m not qualified?”Megan smiled at his admission. “I’m not really a ‘by the book’ kind of person…and I piss people off. My family’s been military since the Unification War. War is my life. It’s in my bones. But that kind of passion is…deceptive. Can make you seem reckless when you’re anything but.”The Primarch replied matter of factly. “War is your qualification. And right now, we need leaders who’ve been through that hell.”Megan returned as Victus nodded.

“I like that…you’re right.” “And honestly, uniting these races is probably going to take as much determination and effort as fighting the Reapers themselves. You’ve seen the devastation of Palaven Primarch. The situation on Earth is doubly worse than this. I need an alliance, and I need the turian fleets.”Megan stated forcefully and emphatically. “Give me a moment to say goodbye to my men and women.”Victus finally relented after a long silence as Megan just nodded, stepping aside to allow the Primarch to leave the module and bid farewell to his troops. “Joker, what’s your current position?”Miranda spoke into her radio, paging Joker. “Providing fire support to turian firebases on the ground ma’am. Had a couple of wannabe kamikaze dragons splattering themselves on the ship, but we’re golden.”The helmsman replied as he brought the Normandy in for another strafing run on a huge column of Reaper troops.

“We’ve got the Primarch. We need a pickup at these co-ordinates.”Miranda ordered as she activated her homing beacon. “Roger that ma’am. We’ll be there in about 30 seconds.” “Without him down here, there’s a good chance we lose this moon.”Garrus commented, tilting his head towards Victus, who was now shaking talons and exchanging emotional goodbyes with his troops. “Without Primarch Victus’ presence at the summit, the chance that all sentient life will be lost is up to 88% higher.”Erin said seriously, her brain calculating and evaluating all the possible outcomes in seconds. “You’re right Erin. But look at that! And they want my opinion on how to stop those things? Failed C-Sec officer, failed Spectre, vigilante…and I’m their expert advisor? Think you can win this one, Shepard?”Garrus pointed at a Reaper dreadnought which was lumbering across the ground far away as he shook his head.

“I really don’t know Garrus. But I will try my damndest to kill every last one of these bastards or die trying.”Megan reassured him with fire in her voice as he turned back to her. “I’m damn sure nobody else could pull this off. For what it’s worth, I’m with you.” “Welcome back Garrus. And just so you know, I can’t do this either. Not without my wife by my side.”Megan smiled as she pulled Miranda in close by her waist and kissed the brunette, who returned it before breaking off the kiss far too soon. There were appreciative whistles from Jentha, James and Danner while the other witnesses just chuckled. Primarch Victus returned to the squad’s position and nodded at Megan, letting her know that he was ready to go.

“Before we go, I understand your need for the turian fleets Captain, but I can’t spare them. Not while my world is burning. But if the pressure could be taken off Palaven…”The Primarch began just as the Normandy landed just outside of the small firebase’s perimeter. “That’s a damn tall order.”Miranda observed as Megan and Victus nodded in agreement. “We need the krogan. I can’t see us winning this war without them. Get them to help us, and we’ll help you.”The Primarch spoke as Megan sighed. “Everyone always wants something before they help. The krogan…I dunno. Wrex is their leader, so maybe there’s a little hope there.”Megan groaned as the squad and Victus began walking to the Normandy. “Well Lola, looks like your summit just got the meat, and got a lot more entertaining.”James piped up as they boarded the Normandy via the cargo ramp before it took off.

Just as they boarded the Normandy and headed for the lift, the doors opened to reveal Oriana striding out with datapad in hand as James collected everybody’s weapons and took them to the armory. “Captain, the asari councilor, Dr T’Soni, and Admiral Hackett are all waiting on vid comm for you. I’ve collated all the combat data on the Reaper creatures you faced, and I’ll send the data along to all the forces once you green light it.”Miranda’s younger twin reported in as she saluted Victus, who returned the salute. “Send the combat data immediately to all the people fighting the Reapers. God, what does it take for a girl to catch a break with her wife around here?”Megan grumbled as she got into the elevator with everyone else. Ashley guided Garrus back to his beloved gun battery alongside Jentha and Nyla while Oriana took Victus into the War Room, where he would monitor the war situation .

After taking a quick shower and letting herself get checked over for any injuries from Miranda and Chakwas whom the brunette had summoned to the Captain’s quarters, Megan headed down to the vid comm room still extremely sore from the encounter from the brute. “EDI, patch Hackett through.”Megan ordered the AI, who complied silently as the veteran admiral materialized on the QEC. “Captain, have you got the Primarch for the summit?”Hackett asked. “Yessir. This Primarch Victus is actually the new Primarch. The old one was KIA. Also, the krogan will be joining us at the summit.”The Vanguard replied to Hackett’s surprise. “Krogan? Well…I see. Well, looks like you’ve got your hands full Captain.” “Have you figured out how the Reapers hit Earth, sir?”Megan asked.

“It wasn’t all that complicated really. They surged through the relays and hit Arcturus Station before we knew what the hell was going on. From there, it was a short hop to the Sol system. Earth didn’t stand a chance.” “How do you see us winning this war Admiral?”The redhead questioned. “By making you the tip of the spear.” “I’m flattered, but the Normandy is only one ship.” “And a fast one too. You can move quickly, hit a target and leave before the enemy has time to react.”Hackett replied. “It’s definitely an advantage, but can it win the war?” “It’s the larger principle that matters Shepard. We’ll never defeat the Reapers in a full frontal assault. The battle against Sovereign 3 years ago took everything we had, and that was just 1 Reaper. So we have to find out their soft spots and hit them hard there, and avoid their strong points. And when I find gaps in their armor, I’ll hammer them with every ship, soldier and bullet we’ve got.”

“How long can we keep that up sir?”Megan asked. “For as long as it takes. The reality is that everything I’m doing is a delaying action for you Shepard. I’m buying us time and keeping us fighting while you grab everything you need for this Prothean device so keep at it.” “Has the analysis of the Prothean blueprints turned up anything yet?”Megan changed the subject. “The scientists are right; both appear to be weapons of some sort. One of them is a big one, and I’m talking Arcturus station big. Beyond that, we can’t really say much other than it’s gonna be a hell of a thing to try and build.”Hackett replied tiredly. “Do we even know what the big one does? Isn’t it risky building something that big when we don’t even know what it does?” “To be honest, the thing scares the shit out of me but the Reapers have forced our hand.”

“Well, then what about the other weapon?”Megan asked as Hackett shifted on his feet. “The other weapon is a ship mounted weapon that can only be installed on dreadnoughts and cruisers. The scientists along with the Alliance Engineering Corps have nearly completed their studies of it. They’re calling it an ion cannon because of how it functions.” “I see. Nothing more sir.”Megan replied as Hackett nodded. “Alright then. Oh one more thing before I sign off. I’ve arranged for the delivery some new weapons for you to collect on the Citadel. Also, the Illusive Man has requested that I send you a few crates of weapons that he’s giving to you, so they’ll be in the manifest as well. Hackett out.”The admiral concluded as his hologram fizzled out. “EDI, put Liara on the line.”Megan sighed as she stretched a little to relieve the soreness.

“Yes Shepard.” Liara’s hologram winked to life and Megan could see that the Shadow Broker was visibly excited as she could help but keep bouncing around. “Shepard! I’ve just discovered a massive Prothean complex on Eden Prime! It could very well hold the key to the Prothean superweapons we’ve discovered!”The asari nearly yelled in excitement as Megan’s ears perked up at the news. “Alright then, give me the co-ordinates and my team will be there.” “No, I want to go with you. This could be the biggest find in recorded history! I’m still at the Citadel, so you can pick me up there?”Liara suggested hopefully as Megan sighed, considering the fact that she still had to check up on Thomas, Nicole and Michael who were in Huerta Memorial Hospital and acquire the gun shipment that Hackett had told her about. “Okay then Liara. We’ll be at the Citadel in about 4 hours.”Megan finished as she ended the call, sighing deeply as she wondered about what Councilor Irissa wanted.

Final notes: I hope that the length of this chapter compensates for my prolonged lack of update. I would like to thank everyone who made the good effort to review the last chapter, and I’d love it if everyone who read this chapter could give it a review as well. Next up, I’ll have a short preview of what’s to come and this will be towards the ending of the game. So do stay tuned and keep reviewing if you want that preview!
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