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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
- 47
- 48
- 49
Author’s notes: Welcome to chapter 48 of Reunited! Yeah, I wrote this with my limited free time being stuck in the barracks after firing rounds at metal targets and shit. Anyways, we’re nearing the end and I want to thank you guys once more for the support and reviews you’ve given to this fic. If any of you have suggestions on what I could write in future chapters please don’t hesitate to PM me. As usual, here’s the link to my adultfanfiction.net account: http: //members. Adultfanfiction. Net/profile. Php? No=1296890817&view=story (just remove the spaces between the periods and you’ll get there).
“Mmm. That was great.”Miranda sighed lazily as her redheaded wife sat down beside her. “So…feeling good?”Megan purred, her finger lightly stroking the lavender oil soaked lips of Miranda’s pussy. “Oh indeed. But…no thank you.”The brunette laughed as she gently batted away her wife’s teasing fingers. “But don’t I deserve a reward for such a good massage?”Megan pouted. “No. Remember, this was what you promised me for letting you go groundside on the geth servers. I’m going to take a shower.”Miranda smirked as she walked off to the shower, leaving a pouting Megan sitting on the bed in a tank top and her gym shorts.
She was craving a hot chocolate, so she headed out of the room and into the lift. It was 2330 according to standard Earth GMT time that all human ships went by so there wouldn’t be many crewmembers up. Oriana was probably sleeping alone right now as Danner was assigned to night watch, and Sam was probably sleeping with Meg and this hour. When Megan reached the mess, she was surprised to find Joker, Ashley, Jack, Garrus, Kelly, Thomas, Nicole, Verlus, Javik, James, Viktor, Bethany and Kirrahe sitting around the mess table. “No matter how many crazy missions we have ever been or will ever be on, we’ll never top Megan calling in an orbital strike to kill a Reaper that was right on top of her.”Bethany said as she took a forkful of the leftover peach pie from dinner.
“Speak of the she-devil.”Thomas smirked as everyone turned to Megan. “Surprised you’re not cuddling up to XO Shepard right now.”Ashley teased as Gardner came out of the medbay with a mug of coffee. “Couldn’t really sleep. Plus, I need a hot chocolate right now.”The redhead replied, opening up the tin of ready to drink hot cocoa power and dumping a few spoonfuls into her cup before mixing it up with hot water and taking a slice of leftover pie and sitting with the crew. “So, cheerleader was keeping you up all night huh?”Jack chortled as she stole a bit of Ashley’s pie, earning an annoyed look from the brunette soldier.
“Yeah. I knew I should’ve never promised her a deep tissue massage in exchange for getting to disable that geth server. Now my arms feel completely dead.”Megan sighed as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, savoring the great creamy taste but wincing as she’d scalded herself. “So Shepard…deep tissue massage huh?”Joker grinned lewdly as Megan rolled her eyes and sighed to the guffaws of the gathered crew. “Don’t you have a ship to pilot? And I thought you didn’t trust anyone to handle your baby?”She sighed. “Erin’s piloting it. Plus, I more than trust her at this point.”The pilot replied. “Indeed. You trust your AI that has been unnaturally implanted into a human body so much you repeatedly stick your genitals into hers.”Javik grumbled.
“Alright Javik, enough. You may not like AI, but Erin or EDI is fully human now. She has asked all kinds of questions and experienced the full spectrum of emotions humans go through. She may have been an AI, but she is as human as I am.”Megan said sternly, defending her crewmember and friend. “Foolish. Only when the machines turn on you will you learn the error of your ways primitive.”Javik waved dismissively. “You always kill the happy times. We just destroyed a Reaper, and here you are, spoiling the mood.”Reznov berated the prothean. “Indeed, killing a Reaper face to face is impressive. I must give credit to the Captain for having bravery to face down a Reaper.”Javik complimented.
“Thanks I guess. So Jack, don’t you have to go back to teaching the Grissom kids?”Megan asked the biotic teacher. “Nah. The assholes that be arranged for asari matrons and matriarchs to teach the kids. So they basically have Samaras coaching them in biotics now. Sure, I’d love to teach those little cunts, but they’ve got goddamn matriarchs with literally centuries of experience teaching them! I’m good, but shit-they’re better off with those big-titted asari teaching them. Plus, does Ash’s ass qualify as another reason?”Jack replied, squeezing Ashley’s firm ass as the Latina soldier yelped. “Disgusting primitives mating like animals everywhere on this ship. Even the bathroom is not sacred!”Javik cried out.
“And this attitude is probably why the Protheans never won the war.”Thomas said matter of factly as Gardner took the empty seat next to him with a mug of milk in his hands. “Ah, he’s just being a grumpy old geezer since he ain’t got anyone left to mate with.”The chef said as Javik glared at him. “So, what crazy missions have you guys been on? Tom, you never told me about any missions when you were still an N7.”Megan asked. “Well, there was this one right when I came out of officer school. So we were on a search and destroy mission on Anhur where a batarian terrorist group was preparing to hit human colonies with chemical and maybe even nuclear attacks.”Thomas began.
“Jesus Christ. You would think that they’d enslave and then sell off all the people they capture like regular terrorists do.”Nicole spoke up. “Yeah, but these bastards weren’t your run-of-the-mill terrorists. They were full on genocidal terrorists with a major hatred for humanity. So anyways, we stalked these terrorists for a week before moving in on them, and boy we were surprised and not in a good way. We only counted 8 throughout our stakeout, and we assumed that there was double the number staying hidden inside, but nooo. Hey Chloe.”The British sniper paused to kiss his lover on the lips before continuing, gazing at her as she made herself some tea.
“There were 40 fucking batarians in that building, and just 6 of us breached. I was one of the 2 snipers providing overwatch and I ended up having to go in as Lynette and Kevin went down within minutes and the rest of the team was suppressed. These fuckers didn’t just have assault rifles and shotguns, they had bloody machine guns. So I had to go round the back alone and flank them. Fortunately, I found their crates of grenades and I toss them around like Santa Claus giving out presents on Christmas. Killed a crap ton of batarians and their leader, but you know what the 2IC and one random terrorist does? They run into the garage and come back with a fucking tank.”Thomas snorted derisively.
“A tank? Let me guess, they were set up in an abandoned warehouse? Because that is a totally original, out of the box place for terrorists with anger issues and too many guns to set up in.”Garrus wisecracked, drawing chuckles from the assembled crew. “Dead right. So we’re all well and fucked, and no Javik, there was no airlock nearby so we couldn’t pull that on the tank. Anyways, the tank keeps firing at us and tried to run us over. I think the 2IC was incredibly pissed, because he couldn’t aim the tank straight and kept smashing into things. Eventually, the idiot manages to flip the tank on its side and I popped open the hatch to blast the 2 bastards inside. I capped the gunner, but the second jumps out at me like a bat outta hell.”Thomas recalled as Chloe took her seat beside Megan.
“So what happened?”Chloe asked her boyfriend. “So he has this huge batarian hunting knife in his hand and he gets me in the 1^st swipe. I wasn’t wearing armor, so he cut right into my chest and left a nasty arse scar across it. He missed the next 2 swings, and I finally got enough distance to just empty my Predator into his face.”Thomas concluded. “So that was what caused the long scar on your chest? That must have hurt a lot.”Chloe murmured as she sipped her tea. “Medigel is one amazing anesthetic. But it did hurt quite a bit, and now I have bragging rights.”Thomas chuckled. “Bitch please. You wanna see mine?”Jack chortled. “Oh, you have nothing on my Garbear’s scars.”Kelly interjected, grabbing onto Garrus’ arm.
“Garbear? Alright…”James chuckled as Garrus looked like he was trying to dissolve into the ground. “Never understood the human practice of giving their mates nicknames. I still can’t.”Kirrahe wondered as Megan turned to him. “Major, I think the easiest way to explain us humans giving our partners pet names is because it’s an affectionate term only we will use and no one else uses. So it identifies us, and also shows our endearment. Well, that’s the reasoning behind it I guess.”The redhead shrugged. “I see. I still don’t understand it now, but maybe I will in the future.”Kirrahe hummed, toying with his mug of salarian drink.
“Hey, you guys are still not sleeping?”Meg yawned sleepily as she shuffled into the mess hall, her auburn hair all mussed up as everyone turned to the researcher. “Hey Meg, what brings you here at this hour of the night?”Megan greeted. “I’m hungry. And thirsty. Plus, Sammie snores really loudly.”The petite brunette revealed as she opened the fridge door to snickering. “Miss Jensen, I can fix up something for you if you’re hungry.”Rupert offered. “Oh no thanks Mr. Gardner. I just want the pie and some ice cream.”Meg smiled, politely turning down the offer as she got a bottle of water for herself and taking out the remaining pie, cutting a large portion for herself.
Meg took her food and water and joined the conversation, taking the unoccupied seat next to Nicole. "So what about you Nicole? Any crazy missions with Cerberus or when you were still a merc?"Thomas asked. "I got a highly lucrative assassination contract once to take out a krogan warlord. I went in all stealthy and shit, evading patrols and his personal bodyguards until I cornered him by myself. He still is the toughest son of a bitch I've ever fought with to date. He managed to toss me like a ragdoll all over the room before I finally killed him with a huge krogan sword he had mounted on his wall. Barely got outta there with my life."Nicole summarized, wincing at the memories as everyone listened transfixed.
"Not bad at all...anything else Nicole?"Verlus asked. "When I just joined Cerberus, I was assigned to protect a rich and powerful Cerberus funder's daughter. I posed as her personal assistant at first, but she fell head over heels in love with me. I kept telling her that I wasn't interested but she refused to give up. She just kept showering her affections on me till one day, she forced herself on me. I had to shove her away and run off. When I came back, she was a totally different person. She fired me on the spot and screamed at me, even throwing things at me. So yeah, my first Cerberus mission was a failure."Nicole recounted. "A lot of first missions go wrong. My first mission as an STG operative was a recon op that almost ended in failure."Kirrahe commented.
"Really? Why's that? Your team was compromised before achieving the objective?"Garrus asked curiously. "No, but we were compromised on extraction. I lost more than half my squad and for me it was a failure even though all our main objectives were completed."Kirrahe replied solemnly as everyone nodded respectfully. "Losing that many people is harsh man. I feel you."Arthur spoke up as he ambled into the mess hall. "Hey Arthur. So tell us your story."Megan greeted as he made himself some tea. "The most successful one was the 2180 Covington Towers hostage rescue. You remember the dramatic footage of the guy breaching in from the 104th story window right? That was me. I was the 1st to enter and we got through that without any casualties."Arthur began.
"So the guy in the news vids was you? I never knew that. By the way, weren't you going to tell us about your ops that went bad?"Ashley asked. "Right. So there was this one op where I was fresh out of officer school where we were supposed to seize a freighter full of disruptor torpedoes and all kinds of small arms that was hijacked by some Blue Suns. We went in, but we found ourselves caught in a really big crossfire. What intel didn't know is that just an hour before we raided the freighter, a bunch of batarian pirates had stormed the ship too. Out of 12 of us sent in, just 4 of us made it out. I had to scuttle the ship just so we could get away. It was a shitty first op by anyone's standards, but Alliance Command didn't think so. They even gave me a commendation."Arthur sighed as he told his story.
"So Meg, what've you been doing so far? You're always cooped up in the AI core with Wiks. By the way, I don't see him much."Megan asked the scientist, who was looking quite left out. "Oh, I and Padok are working on the signals that let the Reapers indoctrinate their victims. The pattern is really interesting. It keeps adapting to and overcoming whatever we try to block it with. It's almost like its alive!"The Cerberus researcher said excitedly. "So Reapers indoctrinate people by blasting signals into their heads? That's bloody screwed up."Thomas commented. "Well, that's the simple explanation. It's a lot more complex than that and it actually consists of multiple layers, like a layer cake if you will."Meg corrected.
"I see. So how's Wiks doing?"Erin asked. "I'm doing very well Lieutenant. Thank you for your concern."The salarian researcher in question replied as he ambled into the mess hall. "I don't see you around much. C'mon, take a seat and talk with us."Megan smiled and beckoned to him as he did so. “Thank you. I have been very busy analyzing the Reaper forces that we have encountered so far as well as researching the Reaper indoctrination signals with Miss Jensen. I must say, she is extremely intelligent and it’s been a pleasure to work with her.”Padok commended the petite scientist. “You flatter me Operative Wiks. I only helped a little.”Meg replied modestly.
“Don’t sell yourself short Miss Jensen. You’re one of the best researchers I’ve worked with so far.”The salarian scientist assured her before carrying on. “I have also catalogued the behavior of all the Reaper ground units and I found a few weak spots for each. Never shoot a cannibal in the abdomen, always go for the head. The torso is already armored but their heads are not. Same goes for the commissars as well. As for the brutes, they are heavily armored almost everywhere, a fact that I’m sure all of you are well acquainted with. However, their inner thighs are not protected by armor, much like their shoulder joints. Shooting the shoulder joints to not do much damaged to the brute, but shooting the inner thigh is highly devastating.”Wiks briefed.
“I see. So what about the banshees or tanks we’ve seen so far? Any weakness for them?”Verlus asked. “For the banshees, shooting their bloated stomachs has the most effect as everywhere else is well armored save for that. As for tanks…their only weakness is probably a rocket launcher.”Wiks replied. “So is it confirmed the tanks are elcor that have been turned? By the way, why do the mutated asari have such huge stomachs?”Arthur asked. “Yes most definitely, tanks are indeed elcor. As for the asari, the stomachs seem to be holding a reservoir of eezo. That is why they can use biotics nonstop and not have any ill effects.”The salarian explained.
“I see. So, were you on a lot of combat missions for the STG or are you strictly research?”Thomas asked. “I have been on recon missions before. I’m a scientist, not a soldier like Major Kirrahe. I usually observe and record enemy characteristics, not shoot them.”Wiks replied. The banter lasted for half an hour more before everyone grew tired. “I see. Well, we should all get some shut-eye before hitting Thessia, yes?”Thomas said as he stood up, clutching his plate as well as Chloe’s and walking off to the kitchen. “Yep, we should get some sleep. Goodnight everyone.”Megan yawned, picking up her plate and heading to the kitchen as everyone mumbled their goodbyes.
“Oh Goddess, no.”Nyla breathed harshly at seeing her homeworld being devastated by Reapers as the shuttles flew over Thessia, the live feed showing them the ravaged, blazing ruins of Armali as they flew in fast to the drop point. Across from her, Samara was visibly tense as she gripped her Acolyte SMG tightly, breathing deeply. Megan, Garrus, Jack, Legion, James, Viktor, Danner and Susan were in the lead shuttle with them, and Thomas, Michael, Jacob, Ashley, Nicole, Jade, Erin, Kirrahe and Javik were in the other one. Megan hadn’t planned to bring so many squad members, but when they realized that Thessia was under heavy attack, she decided to go with more people.
The shuttles slowed to a hover over a hastily set up asari outpost as the entire squad quickly bailed and the shuttles lifted off, barely missing a salvo of rockets and cannon shells from rachni and Reaperised elcor. “You there! Who’s in charge here?”Megan snapped at a stressed out looking asari. “Captain Shepard! Asari High Command said that you’d be here! I’m Lieutenant Kurin and I’m in charge here!”The purple skinned asari yelled over the hammering of the nearby turret. “Asari High Command wants my squad to push up to the temple. Can you provide support?”The redhead asked as her squad fanned out, joining in the fight and gunning down Reaper forces on the bridge.
“We’re barely holding this outpost as it is! I’m sorry Captain, but I really can’t spare any support!”Lieutenant Kurin shook her head vigorously as she pointed to 2 asari huntresses bunkered down behind the front barricade, clutching their X40 Zealot assault rifles close as fire from cannibals, scions and commissars kept them pinned down. “You two, get this barricade patched up!”The asari yelled just in time for a salvo of rounds from tanks and rachni to hit the outpost, killing a dozen asari soldiers. “Shit! Squad, report in!”Megan screamed, getting up to her feet and helping up the lieutenant as they had both been knocked off their feet by the explosions.
“I’m good, I’m good! Tank down!”Thomas yelled from his sniper position a little further back as a shot from his Widow rifle downed a tank, the mutated elcor crashing to the ground as a banshee leapt forward with a biotic jump. “My platform is unharmed, Shepard-Captain.”Legion reported, firing his Javelin sniper rifle at the banshee, destroying its biotic barriers and leaving a gaping wound in the abdomen. However, it still wouldn’t go down even though the wound was gushing eezo, or at least until one of Jade’s homing grenades and a long burst of fire from Reznov’s X77 Typhoon finally brought the mutated asari down.
“We’re fine Captain! The asari are not though! There are only 14 of them left!”Reznov bellowed as he mounted his machinegun on the badly damaged barricade, laying down a heavy stream of gunfire on the advancing Reaper troops quickly racking up the body count as Javik, Jack, Ashley, Jacob, Nyla and Samara joined him at the barricade. Jacob warped a commissar that had been trapped by Samara’s singularity field, blowing the Reaperised turian apart and taking out a few husks that were charging towards them. Javik was killing scions easily, lighting them up with his particle rifle before using his special biotic attack on them.
James and Verlus were wounded in the blast with James was more gravely wounded of the 2 as he pulled out a large piece of shrapnel out of his leg that somehow penetrated his armor, groaning in pain as Verlus stumbled around, obviously disoriented as he bumped right into Garrus, disturbing the turian’s aim as Jade quickly brought him down and tended to him. “I’m sorry Captain, but you’re on your own! I can’t possibly throw away the lives of my troops for something I don’t even know why we’re here for! Shazia, shore up the barrier!”Kurin cried as an asari huntress added her biotic strength to the exhausted asari soldier who was holding up a biotic barrier around the machine gun turret, which was being operated by Danner as the asari using it earlier had died.
Javik strode over to the asari, placing his hands on her head. “You are a brave warrior at heart, but you have been discouraged by all the loss you have seen today. You must not let that discourage you. Use the deaths of your comrades as motivation. Avenge them!”Javik said sternly, removing his hands from her head. “By the goddess…you’re a prothean. An actual prothean. I believe in you.” The lieutenant gasped. “Talon Swarm, this is outpost Tykis! Captain Shepard and her squad are here and they need immediate air support! Is anyone out there available to provide support?”Kurin screamed into her radio. “This is Talon 2 en route to your position.”One asari pilot responded. “Talon 5 is 5 minutes out. Hold tight!”Another asari pilot acknowledged.
“Lieutenant, the reason why we’re going to the Temple of Athame is because Councilor Aethyta told us that there’s a Prothean artifact hidden in there that could win us this war. That’s why it’s so important we get there ASAP.”Megan spoke up as Kurin nodded. “I see. Don’t worry, you have my full support. Go get what you need Captain, me and my huntresses will lock down this area!”She yelled as Megan dashed to the barrier, where a brute, a few scions and several cannibals were cut down by a stream of high caliber rounds from the turret Danner was operating. The redheaded Vanguard fired her X7 Valkyrie into a trio of cannibals and commissars, cutting them down rapidly as Erin’s overload fried the commissars’ shields.
"Keep moving forward! We were supposed to be at that temple as of 10 minutes ago!"Megan screamed over the din of gunfire and explosions as everyone leapfrog advanced. Samara and Nyla were wreaking havoc on the opposing Reaper forces, obviously fuelled by their anger of what the Reapers had done to their home planet. Nyla's face was contorted in anger as she took it out on the Reaper troops, while Samara had her jaw tightly clenched even though her face was still impassive. They fought their way through the ruins of Thessia, cutting down Reaper forces by the dozens as they rushed to their objectives. Scions, tanks and brutes would be cut down by the snipers adding their large caliber rounds to the biotic power of Nyla, Megan, Jack, Samara, Javik and Susan, and the grunts would be mopped up by the rest of the squad.
"Look! Another squad over there!"Nyla yelled, pointing at a squad of asari huntresses on the roof of a building nearby, running towards them. However, a harvester swooped down on them, firing its rockets at them as they fired back to no avail. The roof collapsed, killing any huntresses that weren't killed by the rocket barrage. "No!"The asari Spectre shrieked in dismay as the Normandy squad pumped lead and hit the harvester with biotic and tech attacks, only managing to severely wound it as more ground forces closed in. Nicole was in the midst of the enemy as usual, her katana chopping down cannibals and husks with ease as her grenades softened up the heavy troops for the squad to kill. Samara's and Nyla's biotics seemed to be even stronger than usual, ripping into Reaper husks with more ferocity than before.
As they advanced into a large open plaza, methodically clearing it out of Reaper troops, there was a biotic blast that flung the rubble of a collapsed building everywhere as 3 banshees emerged from the breach, backed up by 2 scions and a dozen cannibals and commissars. “Don’t worry about these mudaks, I’ll kill them.”Reznov growled as he put aside his Typhoon, whipping out the Cobra missile launcher he had at all times and hefted it onto his shoulder, taking aim before firing. There was a loud whoosh as the rocket flew to its target, taking out the targeted banshee and its sister closest to it along with a commissar. The rocket detonated with an almighty roar and flash as the Reaper troops were simply vaporized. Viktor tossed aside the empty launcher and got back on his X77.
“Nice shot!”Ashley called out, throwing a frag grenade which detonated and killed several cannibals and commissars as she gunned down the survivors with her Argus battle rifle. “More husks and cannibals! Samara, get a singularity at that breach!”Megan yelled, reaving a scion as it fell down dead. The asari justicar silently complied, singlehandedly firing her Proselyte SMG at a pair of cannibals that promptly died as the husks and cannibals rushing in were sucked into the biotic singularity, floating around helplessly as the snipers picked them off easily. The last banshee was brought down by Javik’s biotics, the prothean wearing a grim smile of satisfaction at killing the strongest Reaper unit on the field.
“We’re clear!”Thomas yelled as he warped the last commissar into ashes. “Triple time it squad! We’ve wasted too much time here!”Megan barked as everyone hurried forward, rushing through the ruins. “Next up should be Outpost Serenia. Hopefully the snipers and commandoes there haven’t died yet.”Nicole spoke up as they carefully made their way through a partially collapsed skyscraper. “The Reapers, turning asari into these…monsters.”Nyla hissed in fury, using her biotics to slam a fallen steel beam out of the squad’s path. “It was much worse in my cycle. Some people offered up their children as sacrifices, hoping the Reapers would spare them.”Javik recalled angrily.
“What happened to those people and their children?”Jade asked as they exited the ruins of the skyscraper. “Do you truly wish to know the fate of those people?”The prothean shot back. “Probably not. Let’s hurry it up.”The Texan engineer replied as they kept moving forward, looking around to see Thessia burning around them. “My God. Thousands of years of civilization…all gone. Just like that.”Susan murmured in shock as a Reaper dreadnought sliced a skyscraper into half with its laser. “The Reapers must be stopped no matter what. No matter how many lives we lose, we will stop them.”Samara intoned, her jaw set as everyone nodded. “Good. Use your anger as fuel to stop the Reapers, asari.”Javik agreed.
As they approached Outpost Serenia, the sounds of gunfire and explosions became louder and louder. “They’re in trouble! Hurry it up!”Michael urged as they rushed into an expansive garden courtyard, hastily turned into an outpost. There were 4 snipers on different balconies, picking off Reaper troops with their standard asari military issue X71 Herald sniper rifles efficiently as just half a dozen exhausted looking commandoes fended off waves of incoming Reaper troops with their biotics and guns. “Snipers, get to higher ground and work your magic! James, Reznov, both of you get to higher ground and start pumping out grenades and rockets! We’ve got a metric fuckton of scions and tanks inbound! Everyone else fan out!”Megan barked out as the squad did as ordered.
James pumped 3 airburst grenades from his X25 Falcon into the middle one of an advancing trio of brutes, staggering them and damaging the armor on the middle one before sprinting for a spiral staircase as Viktor set up on one of the 5^th floor balconies next to an asari sniper, raining down grenades from his own X25 onto an advancing tank, slowing its already slow advancing speed down to a crawl. Arthur took the place of an asari sniper that had been shot and killed by a commissar, downing the commissar with a quick shot as he began to hammer away with his X7 Valiant sniper rifle. Samara and Nyla were in the front, spawning biotic singularities and warping Reaper troops into nothing as a furious pace as Ashley, Jacob and Verlus supported them with accurate gunfire.
Javik’s face was grim as he singlehandedly brought down an indoctrinated elcor with his biotics and his particle rifle as Megan’s biotic reave finished off a banshee that had been set on fire by Erin and peppered with Garrus’ and Verlus’ rounds from their Phaeston rifles. Nicole was thinning out the horde of Reaper troops effectively as she sliced apart husks, cannibals and commissars with complete impunity, flitting about in the enemy lines with amazing grace. Jade was limiting herself to point defense with Erin, as the submachine guns of both women couldn’t reach far enough to effectively engage. Thus, Jade was firing homing grenades while Erin was blasting Reapers with incinerate blasts, both women occasionally firing their guns at any Reapers that got too close.
“Dammit, we’re pinned down here when we should be at the temple!”Megan yelled in frustration, slamming a husk into an advancing brute, killing the husk as a boom from both Michael and Thomas’ rifles sounded out just as the brute’s head exploded. The distinctive sound of Legion’s Javelin sniper rifle echoed out once more at the same time that a banshee slumped to the ground without its head. “Shepard-Captain, 2 asari gunships are on station as I speak.”Legion blared through his head speakers loudly. “This is Talon 2 at your disposal, Captain Shepard.”The asari pilot radioed in as Megan slumped down behind the planter box she’d taken cover behind next to Javik.
“Finally! I need close air support covering my squad as we push up on the temple now! The temple contains an objective that’s beyond critical to this war effort!”The redhead screamed into her mic just to be heard over the explosions and gunfire. “Roger that Captain.”Talon 2 replied evenly as the rocket pods on the gunship began spewing its deadly payload at the horde of incoming Reaper forces, taking them down easily. “We’re taking heavy fire! We have to go low for a minute! Talon 5 is on station!”The slightly panicked voice of Talon 2’s pilot yelled over the blaring alarms going off in the cockpit as another gunship began its strafing run, hammering the Reapers with rockets and chaingun fire.
“Sorry I’m late Captain. Had to shoot down a harvester en route.”Talon 5 apologized as she pulled the gunship into a hover, cutting down a few cannibals and commissars with the chaingun as their rounds were easily absorbed by the kinetic shield. “Don’t sweat it. We need covering while we move up to the temple, the primary objective is there.”Megan replied. “Copy that, I have you covered. Talon 2’s back in the fight too. You’re clear to move!”The asari pilot radioed back as the gunship duo rained down fire on all the Reaper troops while Megan’s squad advanced on the temple, dashing through a shallow pond filled with debris and dead Reaper troops.
However, a Reaperised elcor got close enough and fired the cannon mounted on its back, hitting Talon 5 dead on the tail section. “Tank got me! Talon 5 going down!”The pilot yelled in panic as the gunship spun out of control, crashing into the ground hard. “Shit! Captain, requesting permission to check the crash for the pilot!”Arthur called out as a burst from his X7 Valkyrie put down a cannibal hard. “Take Nicole and hurry it up!”The redhead barked back as she covered Erin, who was hacking the computer controlling the barrier system on the main entrance to the temple that was denying them access. “Roger that! Move out!”Arthur gestured to Nicole as they rushed towards the crash site.
“I’m close to getting this thing open! Give me-uh, give me twenty seconds!”Erin stammered as she focused herself on hacking the system to drop the barrier. “Don’t worry Lieutenant; we can hold the line here easily.”Kirrahe assured her, finally dropping a scion after a long burst from his X90 sniper rifle after he had hit it with an incineration blast. “Alright it’s down! Move in!”Erin screamed, zapping the shields of a commissar which was promptly hosed down by a rapid stream of bullets from Vega’s machine gun. Everyone fell back into the temple, taking cover behind the plethora of cover options available. “Goddammit, the pilot’s dead! Coming back now.”Nicole reported in.
Just then, another harvester swooped in and fired a barrage of rockets at Talon 2. The gunship exploded in midair and dropped to the ground like a stone in a fireball. “No! Curse you, you fucking Reaper piece of shit!”Nyla shrieked in rage as she emptied her X40 rifle at the harvester while throwing a warp bolt at it. The harvester just shrugged off her attack and continued flying off to wherever it was headed. “This is the Temple of Athame? Then I assume that the statue there is supposed to be her. But I can tell you that it is most definitely not her. She is not an asari.”Javik said bluntly, striding up to the statue alongside Megan as everyone made sure that the temple was clear.
“I got dead huntresses over here. Four, to be precise.”Erin reported, shaking her head as she inspected the corpses lying in the rows lavish pews with Jade, Samara and Viktor. “These huntresses had their throats slashed open. And they all have stab wounds through the heart. The Reapers did not do this. We most certainly have another enemy here.”Samara spoke solemnly, closing the eyes of a dead huntress. “And I got a couple of dead asari here with the same kinds of wounds. They look like scientists. So if the Reapers didn’t kill them, then who the hell did?”Jacob wondered as he gently laid the 2 corpses aside, noting that one of them was still clutching onto an Acolyte pistol.
Megan and Javik approached the statue, regarding it as the rest of the squad inspected the numerous artifacts all throughout the temple. “Hmph. It looks like the asari turned Athame into a primitive like themselves. She would have been beyond disgusted.”Javik commented as Megan turned to him. “You knew her personally?” “No, she was dead for more than eighty years before I was born. However, Athame was the legendary avatar of Protection, and every prothean worthy of being called a prothean knew all the stories of her and her exploits.”The prothean answered as Thomas inspected a sword next to the plaque announcing the statue.
“Hmm…a replica of Goddess Athame’s sword. Interesting.”The British sniper mumbled as Nyla walked up to them. “According to legend, she wielded this sword against jealous gods who threatened our ancestors.”The asari Spectre informed them. “They were a race called the Oravores. Thessia had vast resources, and we protected you from them.”Javik explained, looking at an old tome nearby. “Are you actually suggesting that Protheans intervened in our past?”Nyla asked, shocked as Javik nodded. “It is not a suggestion, asari. And that page on that text depicts how we taught asari mathematics. Before that your kind could only count as high as your toes. We took pity.”The prothean said unhelpfully as his gaze turned back to the statue.
“And what do we have here?”Verlus asked, pointing at a fragment of an ancient wall that had a mural painted on it. “This is a primitive rendition of Athame. She’s speaking to her ancient asari followers in this mural.”Samara explained as she scanned the area thoroughly. “Another one of your myths that somehow looks prothean. We were here since the beginning, watching you grow. As I have explained before, Athame was us.”Javik spoke up as Samara shook her head. “Javik, what you are implying is beyond staggering. I cannot believe it.”The justicar said quietly as they continued searching for the artifact.
Megan touched the plaque and just as the redhead did so, the statue crumbled away as everyone turned to stare, even Arthur and Nicole, who had just returned from their attempted search and rescue skirmish. Soon, a glowing Prothean beacon was revealed to everyone’s shock. “Not once in my entire life did I ever suspect that this statue was a façade for a prothean artifact. I have seen it countless times, and yet its true nature has eluded me all this while.”Samara commented. “This is amazing Shepard. The beacon seems to think you’re prothean.”Nyla breathed as Javik rolled all 4 of his eyes. “Or perhaps it is because of the real, live prothean standing right next to her.”The avatar of Vengeance grumbled.
A ball of green light floated out and Javik touched it, turning it into the hologram of a prothean. “Jesus Christ. So all this time while the asari have been beyond anal about enforcing the whole ‘don’t hide your prothean shit, share it with us’ law, they have a fucking huge ass beacon complete with AI right smack dab in the middle of their capital city. Fucking unbelievable.”Michael cursed as the hologram stood still for a few moments. “So the asari hide this little gem here and keep it for their own consumption so they can be the apex race. How delightful. No wonder they always seem to be one step ahead of everyone else every single time when it comes to new tech.”Garrus drawled disdainfully.
“So the asari have hoarded the knowledge of my people for their own power and influence gains. Tragic.”Javik said condescendingly. “That can’t be! I can’t believe that my own people would keep something like this a secret!”Nyla vehemently protested. “According to the intel, this temple is thousands of years old. Lots of time for the asari to make some serious head starts and a metric fuckton of progress.”James chimed in, scarcely believing what he’d just heard over the past 15 minutes. “It is hard to accept this, even though all the evidence is there. So much of what I have known has changed. At least, what I thought I knew.”Samara said, her eyes downcast.
“Right or not, the asari should’ve shared this knowledge with everyone as soon as the shit hit the fan. Now thanks to their selfishness, we’re all fucked up the ass.”Megan growled as the hologram came to life after going through what was presumably its boot up sequence. “Obtaining chronological marker. Hold…timescale established. Post-prothean cycle confirmed.”The hologram said as it gazed upon everyone present. “This was one of our most advanced AIs. It was impossible for even the Reapers to hack.”Javik said as it seemed to look outside of the temple. “Reaper presence detected. This galactic cycle has already reached its extinction terminus. Systems shutting down.”The AI said as it began to flicker. “Stop! We require answers!”Javik snapped at it.
“To what question?”The prothean hologram asked. “We need to know what the Catalyst is in order to finish the Crucible.”Megan asked urgently. “This is not just the AI, it has been implanted with the memory of one of my people.”Javik spoke up as the hologram turned to him. “I am called Vendetta, an advanced virtual construct of Pashek Vran, overseer of the project that you refer to as ‘Crucible’. He died fighting the Reapers in the battle of Tranbir 9. Your remaining time is also at an end.”The hologram informed them. “He died at Tranbir 9? The most brutal last stand in our history? I’m…impressed.”Javik muttered to himself. “What happened to the Crucible in your cycle? Why didn’t you people deploy it?”Megan asked.
“We were sabotaged from within. A splinter group argued that we should dominate the Reapers rather than destroy them. They fractured our order of battle. Later, we discovered that the separatists were indoctrinated.”Vendetta replied before continuing, evolving into a hologram of the Milky Way galaxy. “Our studies of past ages led us to believe that time is cyclical. Many patterns repeat.” “Like the Reaper attacks, no?”James piped up as he looked closely at the hologram, fascinated by the AI. “And beyond. The same peaks of evolution, the same valleys of dissolution. The same conflicts are expressed in every cycle but in a different manner. The repetition is too prevalent to be merely chance.”Vendetta concluded, morphing back into its original prothean form.
“Aren’t the Reapers responsible for this cyclic pattern?”Kirrahe asked. “Perhaps. Though I believe that the Reapers are only servants of this pattern, not its master.”The AI offered as Erin appeared deep in thought. “That is highly unlikely and it doesn’t make sense.”The blonde murmured, thinking hard about what the AI had just said. “So who’s the master then? Some other race older than the Reapers, or the Big Man Upstairs himself?”Danner asked, speaking for the 1^st time since they’d entered the temple. “Unknown. Its presence is inferred rather than observed. The only certainty is in its intention…galactic annihilation. You now stand on that precipice.”
“But we’re not gonna fall over it. We just need to know what the Catalyst is and we could very well halt the cycles! It isn’t too late!”Megan urged. “If the Reapers have arrived to end your cycle, this discussion is too late.”Vendetta said dismissively. “I just fucking said that we can break the cycle! We found your plans for the Crucible and we’re building it right goddamn now!”The redhead yelled. “The Crucible is not of Prothean design. It is the cumulative work of countless galactic cycles stretching back millions of years. Each cycle adds-” “Yes I get the general idea. We will be the 1^st cycle to deploy the Crucible and win as soon as you tell me what the Catalyst is!”Megan said impatiently.
“Listen to the human. She can be trusted.”Javik growled in annoyance as the AI turned to him. “I detect you are one of us. You are Prothean.” “The last. I am the final hope to avenge our people.”The avatar of vengeance confirmed. “Your mission is known to me. Do you believe that this cycle can deliver retribution?”The AI asked. “They have earned the right to try.”Javik replied. “Very well. If you have correctly followed the plans for the Crucible, I will interface-indoctrinated presence detected. Activating security protocols.”Vendetta reverted into a ball, speeding back to the beacon as a duo of harvesters swooped in, firing their rockets as everyone scattered for cover.
A lone figure jumped off the back of one of the harvesters, calmly walking up to the beacon as everyone laid down heavy fire on the harvesters. “Who the-Kai Leng. You! Everyone focus fire on that son of a bitch!”Megan screamed as everyone turned to fire on the indoctrinated assassin, whose shields flickered wildly as he staggered with the volume of fire the squad was throwing at him. “You have something I need!”Kai Leng yelled, pulling out a detonator and initiating it, causing massive explosions that shook the entire temple as the support columns collapsed, the floor following suit soon after. “It was a fucking trap!”Ashley screamed in horror as she jumped back just as the part of floor she was standing on fell away.
As the squad struggled to find a piece of ground that wasn’t collapsing while simultaneously dodging harvester rocket fire, Kai Leng leapt from one section to another effortlessly, reaching the beacon effortlessly as he hacked the beacon, stealing the prothean AI as Arthur jumped on him. “Oh no you don’t, you fucking sack of shit!”The Commander roared as he wrestled Kai Leng to the ground and rained punches on the indoctrinated assassin. He began to rain a flurry of punches on Kai Leng, but the ex-Cerberus assassin simply kicked him off and jumped back onto his feet, drawing his katana. “I’d like to see you try and stop me, ju tao.”Kai Leng sneered as he lunged at Arthur.
“Lei hoi wai, ga tsan!”Arthur snarled as he drew his own combat knife and parried the katana away before leaping forward, delivering a hard chop to Kai Leng’s left ear before slashing at his neck with the knife. Even though Kai Leng was disoriented and dazed, he still managed to dodge Arthur’s knife as he pulled out his S357 Talon pistol and shot Arthur. The Commander fell back with the impact of the shot, falling into chasm below as Kai Leng ran off, stumbling badly several times along the way. By now, almost the entire temple floor had collapsed and all of the Normandy squad had fallen down into the chasm below. All the biotics in the squad created a massive biotic field to slow down their fall and they landed relatively softly.
“Goddammit! Son of a bitch got away!”Arthur roared, frustrated with himself as they got to their feet, surveying their surroundings. “We’re on street level now. Oh, goddess.”Nyla gagged as she realized that she was standing in the abdomen of an eviscerated asari huntress. “Normandy, do you copy? Normandy, come in.”Megan spoke into her radio, trying to cut through the interference. “I read you. What happened? The sensors are showing that the temple just collapsed!”Oriana replied through thick static. “The temple floor collapsed. Kai Leng was there.”Megan spat out as she silently checked on her squad, making sure they were good to go.
“Kai Leng? What the bloody hell was that bastard doing there?”Miranda interjected. “I don’t know, but there was a prothean beacon containing an AI with info on the Catalyst, and that fucker stole it. We’ve failed the mission. We’ve failed.”Megan choked out as everyone fell silent, the magnitude of what just happened hitting them hard. “I-I got it. Should I send the shuttles for extraction?”Oriana was the first to break the silence. “Yeah. Send them now.”The Spectre replied emotionlessly as they moved out of the once lavish lobby they had fallen into and into the war torn streets.”Alright. The only clear spot that’s good for pickup is about half a click north-northwest of your position. Marking the location on your maps. Stay safe.”Oriana signed off.
“Stay safe. At this point, does it really fucking matter?”Danner asked bitterly, 2 shots from his X99 DMR taking out 2 cannibals as the squad fanned out across the expansive pedestrian avenue as they began firing at the Reaper foot soldiers. They ran into a trio of huntresses who’d been separated from their unit and were pinned, and they joined them. “Do you know if there are any civilians left in this area?”Megan screamed just to be heard over the constant gunfire. “No! They’re all either dead or they’ve already been evacuated! That’s why we’re here to begin with!”One of the asari huntresses screamed back as she hit a scion with a biotic warp.
“Incoming harvester! Get inside, now!”Thomas yelled as everyone rushed into the ruins of buildings on either side of the avenue to dodge the harvester’s rocket barrage. The squad that followed Megan into the left building found an asari clutching her child tightly, both civilians scared beyond belief. “We’re getting out of here! Follow us, we’ll protect you!”Megan urged them as they both nodded wordlessly, terror in their eyes as they ran back outside; taking on the Reaper forces once more. However, it seemed like the Reaper troops had caught wind of their presence as there were even more hostiles than before. Megan’s squad advanced slowly, cutting down the hordes of Reaper troops methodically.
“Finally! We’re a hundred meters out from the extraction point!”Nicole called out exuberantly as she decapitated a brute before cart wheeling to the side to avoid a banshee’s biotic blast. “Keep pushing ahead, we’re almost there!”Megan yelled, gunning down a cannibal caught in the open with her X7 while her reave field finished off a tank. The Reapers had different ideas as more and more indoctrinated troops came crawling out of the woodwork. One of the asari huntresses was vaporized by a banshee’s biotic blast while another was crushed to death by a brute that was promptly shot down by Thomas’ X98 Widow. “Fuck! I’m hit, I’m hit!”Erin cried out as she fell back onto the ground, clutching her stomach.
“Erin’s down, Erin’s down!”Michael called out as he took down a scion, but not before the scion fired at his position. His shields were completely depleted as it absorbed the explosion, but Danner next to him wasn’t so lucky. “Shit! Dan, stay with me!”Michael yelled as he rushed over to his fallen comrade. “Relax, I’m not gonna fucking die. Think I broke something though.”Danner coughed, grasping at his right leg as Michael scanned it with his omnitool. “Yeah, your leg’s all kinds of fucked up. Guess I’m gonna have to drag your stupid ass along.”Michael grunted as Danner picked up his Saber rifle and began firing at the Reaper troops as they made their way into the rubble strewn open plaza.
Suddenly, a dozen cannibals and a few commissars opened fire, obviously waiting in ambush as the Normandy squad was pinned down. “Gah spirits, they got me!”Verlus yelled as he went down in the hail of gunfire alongside Megan. “Ah shit! I’m down!”The redhead cried out as Legion pulled both Spectres into cover before firing his Javelin at an incoming tank. “Where are you hit?”Verlus asked as he applied medigel to the wounds on his arms and upper torso. “Fuckers got me in the chest. I’ll live though.”Megan grunted as her armor administered medigel to her gunshot wounds, stopping the bleeding and numbing the pain as she popped above cover, pulling 2 cannibals to herself with her biotics as James hosed them down with hot lead.
“Shuttles are 30 seconds out! Hang in there!”Oriana urged over the radio as the squad continued to fend off the ever increasing Reaper attacks. Legion claimed yet another banshee head with a shot from his Javelin, and everyone was racking up a formidable body count. However, there were too many Reaper troops to deal with, and a charging brute eventually slipped under the squad’s arcs of fire and smashed right into the civilians. The asari child let out a terrified shriek as the Reaper indoctrinated krogan smashed her small frame into the ground, raising her up in its claw for one last smash. However, the Normandy squad was faster and the brute fell down dead before it was able to bring its claw back down.
“No-no-no-no-no...”Megan pleaded as she rushed up to the child, who was gasping for breath and bleeding through her nose and mouth. “Stay with me, please, stay with me!”The redhead begged as she cradled the asari child in her arms. The asari child wrapped her arms around Megan’s neck, wheezing pitifully before she died, her frail body shuddering out her last breath. Megan then looked up to see Nyla checking on the mother, shaking her head in sorrow as the shuttles came in to land. “Come on, shuttles are here! We have to go, now!”Thomas’ yelling cut through the fog in Megan’s brain, prompting her into action as she ran to the shuttle, still carrying the dead child’s body.
“Ah goddammit, I’m hit!”Jade cried out, tumbling to the ground in front of the shuttles as a commissar emptied its thermal clip into her. “I gotcha, hang tight girl!”Jacob yelled, gunning down the commissar and 2 cannibals that were rushing forward with his X60 Harrier before hoisting Jade up to her feet along with James. Both men virtually tossed the wounded engineer inside one of the 2 shuttles before closing the door. “Everyone’s in! Go, go, go!”Megan screamed as the shuttles lifted off, the shields barely holding up against the gunfire. It was a solemn ride filled with dread and reluctant acceptance back to the Normandy, and even Joker didn’t say a word.
An hour later, after a very depressing holo conference with Aethyta, Megan trudged into her cabin, throwing aside her helmet with more force than was necessary. Even Miranda, who had followed her wife wordlessly up to the cabin, was taken aback. Megan then sank down to the floor, her head propped up against the fish tank as the eyes of the dead asari child began accusing her in her mind. Why did you let me die? You said you would protect me! You liar! The redhead clutched her head and began to cry, sobbing loudly as Miranda just sat down beside her, holding her wife close as she began to tear up as well.
What do we do now without the Catalyst? Without it we have no chance against the Reapers. I’m so sorry Zack and Tabby. Mum and Dad have failed you. I’m so sorry. Miranda thought bitterly as she began to weep silently.
Translations
Ju tao=pig head (basically means retard/dumbass in Cantonese)
Lei hoi wai, ga tsan=Dream on, asshole
Final notes: Yeah, sorry this one was so depressing. But then again, losing Thessia ingame was depressing because of the look Shepard had when Kai Leng managed to get away and when he/she heard all the distress calls on the radio. It was definitely not because of the whole Liara raging scene, which did really nothing for anything. As for why I did the fight dialog between Kai Leng and Arthur in Cantonese, I’m Cantonese so I just went with what I knew best. Anyways, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but cleaning my rifle takes a whole lot more time than I expected, and we’re pretty much being run ragged every hour of the day. Thanks for reading this, and do remember to drop a review. As always, have a nice day and adios!
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