Chapter Text
Shepard paced the confines of her room. She listened, as she always did, for something beyond the gentle hum of the air con.
Outside the day was grey. The tangle of rooves and walkways that led down to the sea was broken only by a small patch of garden where a child was playing. Shepard envied their freedom.
The door slid open, and Shepard jolted. She still hadn’t got that under control.
It was James Vega that strolled in and offered her a salute. “Commander.”
“You’re not supposed to call me that anymore, James.”
“Not supposed to salute you either.” James turned towards the door. “Come on, we gotta go. The Defence Committee wants to see you.”
Shepard hesitated. “Can’t they just watch the recordings?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
“Apparently not.” James smiled. He’d been easy company over the last few months. “You coming?”
There wasn’t much choice. Shepard started after him, panic already starting to crawl its way up her throat. There was no choice but to face them.
The corridor outside was full of people. There was a rush of worried conversation, quiet mutterings that were silenced as Shepard passed by. She was used to being stared at. This was different.
“Vega, what’s going on?”
James glanced back over his shoulder at her. “Couldn’t say. Just told me they needed you… now.”
“Now,” Shepard repeated. She quickened her pace to match James’, and found her path blocked by Anderson. His smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Anderson.” She moved to salute, caught herself, and reached out a hand instead.
He shook her hand, but not before smothering a look of discomfort.
James had told her she looked like hell. Now she believed him.
“You look good,” Anderson said without conviction. His gaze skipped over her roughly cut hair and away to Vega who shook his head slightly.
“How you holding up since being relieved from duty?” Anderson asked, already leading the way down the busy corridor.
Shepard sucked her breath in, and looked away for a moment. “It’s the least I deserve.”
Anderson’s expression tightened. “You’re right about that.”
“What the hell is going on?”
“Admiral Hackett’s mobilizing the fleets. I’m guessing word made it to Alliance Command,” Anderson said. “Something big’s headed our way.”
That explained the fear she could hear in people’s voices, and in the way they looked at her now.
“The Reapers,” she said.
“We don’t know,” Anderson said. “Not for certain.”
“But we’re not ready, not by a long shot,” Shepard said. Her voice rang down the corridor.
Anderson didn’t falter. “Tell that to the Committee.”
“I have.” Shepard said. “They said I was making it up, they said—“
“Then tell them again,” Anderson said. “You’ve seen what the Reapers can do. Hell, you spoke to one, then blew the damn thing up. That makes you our best hope of defeating them.”
The secretary looked up at their approach. A few days ago she wouldn’t have spared Shepard a second glance. Now she offered a tight smile, and Shepard recognised the same desperate expression on the face of everyone in the office.
“They’re expecting you, Admiral.”
Anderson led the way into the Courtroom Access area.
“Good luck in there, Shepard,” Vega called after them.
If the Reapers had arrived, luck wouldn’t be enough. The door opened, and Kaidan walked out shaking his head. He hesitated when he saw them.
“How’d it go in there, Major?” Anderson asked, pausing long enough to let Kaidan draw level.
“Okay, I think. Hard to know. I’m just waiting—“
“Admiral,” the secretary called.
The last time Shepard had walked into that room, everyone had regarded her with barely concealed sneers. Every answer to their questions had been met with derision. They’d called her a murderer and a liar. She’d returned to her room in numb disgrace.
This time they watched her carefully. Glances were shared. They wore the same look as the secretary.
“Admiral Anderson. Shepard.”
The Committee were seated.
“What’s the situation?” Shepard asked.
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
Dizziness swept over Shepard. She had told them over and over again over the last few months, years even. The Reapers are coming. We need to be ready.
They had ignored her warnings, laughed in her face, and left her trapped in that room without a word from her friends. Now they sat looking at her like she was some kind of saviour. It was too late for that.
“The reports coming in are unlike anything we’ve seen,” Councillor Warwick said. “Whole colonies have gone dark. We’ve lost contact with everything beyond the Sol Relay.”
Shepard was handed a datapad. The list scrolled by her. Colonies, ships, people she’d tried to warn.
“Whatever this is—“
“The Reapers,” Shepard said. Fear kindled in the eyes of all those before her, and she patted her leg pocket reflexively. She'd given Thane her knife.
“I told you they were coming, what they were capable of, and now they’re here.” She glared at the Council. Warwick looked away.
“Then… how do we stop them?”
All this time, and they were only asking the right questions now.
“You can’t stop them. This isn’t about strategy or tactics. This is about survival. They’ll come for us all, friend and foe.” Shepard paced forwards towards the desk. “The Reapers are more advanced than we are. More powerful. More intelligent. They don’t fear us, and they’ll never take pity on us.”
The Committee looked at each other. Their power had ebbed away. Shepard felt a horrible sense of exhilaration now that the moment had finally come to pass.
Warwick finally looked back at her. “But there must be some way.”
“If we’re going to have any chance at surviving this, we have to stand together,” Shepard said.
Councillor Alphonse bunched his fists in front of him. “That’s it? That’s our plan?”
Shepard didn’t even try to reply. There was no point.
“Admiral.” One of the Officers on the comms had got to her feet. “We’ve lost contact with Luna Base.”
Voice erupted around her. Anderson was talking. The Council started to mutter, heads close, and on the screen above their heads the live feed spluttered to life.
The ident signature marked it as UK Headquarters. A soldier looked out. His voice was lost amidst gunfire and static. Smoke billowed behind him.
A Reaper horn sounded. Shepard recoiled as the picture erupted into debris, and the signal broke.
The picture was replaced with a myriad of live feeds, each one showing panic, and the end of the world as they knew it. Reapers settled against the skylines.
“Why haven’t we heard from Admiral Hackett?” Anderson asked.
Shepard raced through the possibilities. None of them were good.
“What do we do?” Alphonse asked.
“We fight, or we die.” Shepard looked to Anderson. He was already on his omni-tool, issuing orders, and at the edges of the room people began to move.
“We should get to the Normandy,” he said.
There was a noise above them, louder than thunder, vibrating through Shepard’s chest.
Everyone turned to look out of the window and up into the sky.
Red lightning pierced the cloud. A Reaper dropped into view across the bay.
The Councillors pressed closer to the window, but Shepard backed away. They were trapped in this box of a room. Her warning was lost over the explosion.
She ran, shrapnel tumbling past her, and ducked as the desk flew over her head. Shepard scrambled upright in time for another explosion to suck the air from the room.
Her breath was stolen as she was blasted back into something.
Somewhere people were screaming.
“Shepard!”
The voice forced her eyes open. It was an order, and despite the pain Shepard raised her aching head.
Anderson found her. He took her arm and pulled her up.
“Here, take this.” He thrust a pistol into her hand and started towards the exit. “We’ve got to get moving.”
The floor was littered with bodies in various states. Limbs lay in corners. Blood and flames coated every surface.
She paused to check the comms officer but found no pulse.
“This is Admiral Anderson, report in anyone.” He stopped by the remains of the window. “Major Alenko, is that you? What’s your status?”
Shepard abandoned her search for survivors and went to stand beside Anderson. Outside the city was blooming with smoke. A Reaper swept buildings aside with ease.
“I can’t raise the Normandy,” Anderson said, his face grim as he looked to Shepard. “Alenko, you’ll have to contact them. We’ll meet you at the landing zone. Anderson out.”
Her head was still aching. Everything was burning but Shepard felt cold. The Normandy could already be in pieces at the bottom of the bay. Overhead, a ship plummeted to earth in a ball of flame, and Shepard watched until it flickered out of existence.
Another Reaper landed ahead of her. Two more were striding across the bay.
“Shepard.” Anderson said. “Come on. Kaidan’s headed to the Normandy. They’ll pick us up if we can get to the Spaceport.”
Anderson led the way out onto the jumble of metal walkways that made up the city rooves and set off at a run. There was no choice but to follow.
“Anderson, what is the Normandy doing down here?”
“Complete refit. Couldn’t leave her full of Cerberus tech.”
A Reaper blast somewhere nearby shook the beam beneath their feet, and for a second Shepard expected it to give way. Anderson paused, took his bearings, and set off again. He was talking to himself as he ran. A couple of times he shouted something over his shoulder, but it was impossible to hear over the din surrounding them.
They stopped at a large flat section as Anderson ducked into cover and fished a comms device out of his pocket. “Here, I’m patching you in.”
Shepard took the device and pushed it into her ear with shaking hands. Kaidan’s voice crackled to life. “We’re almost to the Normandy. I’ve got Lieutenant Vega with me, but we’re taking heavy fire.”
“We’re about five minutes out,” Anderson said as he jumped over a duct and headed off.
There was a flicker of movement on an adjoining roof, and Shepard raised her arm instinctively. Husks were already swarming up the sides of the building. She picked off a couple with her pistol then followed Anderson down a ladder. More husks scampered up.
Another shot, and Shepard was out of ammo.
It had been a long time since she’d used her biotics. She watched the purple light splash out to knock the husks over and felt a shaky sense of relief.
“Shepard!”
She looked up, saw the Reaper beam aimed towards them, and threw herself down on the ground.
The world shook beneath her. Glass pelted her back, and a hot gasp of air singed the back of her neck. Shepard raised her head and saw that the building they’d been about to enter was full of fire.
“We’ve got to find a way through,” Anderson said. He got to his feet, glass falling from his back, and headed straight into the building.
Shepard followed.
She was already burnt, cut and exhausted. Training in the gym hadn’t prepared her for this.
“Over there,” Anderson shouted, and Shepard took point. She staggered towards the orange glow of a door panel, reached out her hand, and snatched it back as a husk flailed its way through.
This time Shepard raised her pistol. She faltered for a brief second. These husks hadn’t been made here, it was far too soon for that. They’d been brought ready to use. More humans she’d failed to save.
She felt a vicious stab of nausea as she beat the husk into stillness. The gun was sticky in her hand.
Anderson reached her side, and together they shifted the fallen husk out of the way.
The door panel flickered green and went out.
“This way.” Shepard wedged her body in the gap and forced open the doors.
Once Anderson was through, Shepard closed the door as best she could.
Her eyes had to readjust to the wavering darkness of the room. There were a few small fires to see by. The walkway was covered in collapsed roof struts, and to the side of it was a dark drop.
“This is a goddamned mess,” Anderson said as he clambered over one of the struts. “Every minute those machines are here, thousands of innocent people die.”
Shepard moved some debris aside and glanced back behind her. “It’s hard enough fighting a war,” she said, moving forwards to help Anderson shift a beam. “But its worse knowing no matter how hard you try…you can’t save them all.”
Anderson paused and looked at her for a long moment. “Exactly.” He sighed, shoulders drooping. “They hit so fast. I thought we’d have more time.”
There had been time.
“We knew they were coming,” Shepard said, her chest tightening. She helped Anderson through the tangle of metal, aware that her breathing had sped up, and that her heart was pulsing in her ears. She wanted to scream. Instead, she kept moving.
“And they still just cut through our defences.” Anderson didn’t look at her this time. “We need to go to the Citadel. Talk to the Council.”
“The Citadel? The fights here.”
“It’ll be everywhere soon enough.” Anderson stopped, his face lined in the shadows of the firelight. “You said it yourself. The Reapers will destroy everything if we don’t stop them. The Council has to help us.”
He rose, and stepped out onto the uncluttered edge of the walkway.
“You sure about that?” Shepard asked. She moved to his side and went ahead, shuffling carefully along the edge of the drop.
“No. But you’re a Council Spectre. That has to count for something.”
Her word had stopped counting a long time ago. She’d sounded the warning over and over again. She had acted to protect as many as she could, covered herself in the blood of innocents, and none of it had made a difference. The Galaxy didn’t care for the words of a mass murderer.
Shepard opened her mouth to reply, felt the entire building shift under her feet, and for a second she pitched towards the darkness.
“Gotcha.” Anderson pulled her back upright.
“Thanks.” Shepard gave him a weak smile. “I owe you one.”
“More than one,” Anderson muttered.
They made their way out into a brightly lit corridor. To Shepard’s relief there was ammo scattered across the floor. In a few seconds they were back out onto the roof and headed towards the bay.
Everything looked much worse. More Reapers. More fires burning in the distance, and everywhere the sounds of chaos drifting up from the city. People were screaming. Her nightmares had somehow escaped the confines of her head.
“Major Alenko, we’re in sight of the spaceport. ETA three minutes,” Anderson shouted as he dashed down a slope.
“We’ve made it to the Normandy. Taking heavy fire. Oh god!” There was fear in Kaidan’s voice. “They’re gonna take down that Dreadnought. Evasive manoeuvres.”
“Kaidan?” Shepard said, scanning the sky as they rounded the corner of the building.
She’d expected to see the Normandy there. The Reaper in front of them fired, and Shepard saw the Dreadnought catch the full force of the blast. It glowed brightly, one last star in the sky, before vanishing in a luminous halo.
The shockwave knocked Shepard off her feet. Her back connected with metal, and the walkways beneath them gave way with a screech. She fell, stunned and tumbling towards the water. Her fall was finally arrested by debris near the water’s edge.
It hurt like hell. Shepard pulled herself upwards and searched the sky.
This was a terrible idea. They were losing ships faster than she could count. The Normandy needed to get the hell out of there.
“Normandy, we’re going to reroute,” Anderson said as he scrambled to his feet. “Do you copy?”
There was a stream of garbled static in reply.
“Normandy, this is Shepard. Get out of here. Go straight to the Citadel and get help. Do you copy?” Shepard said. This time there was only silence.
Shepard cursed under her breath.
“Friendlies,” Anderson said, nodding towards a couple of Alliance personnel who had taken cover nearby. “Maybe they’ve got a radio.”
“You two alright?” Shepard asked as she approached the soldiers.
“Get down,” one of them shouted. “They’ll see you!”
They screech told Shepard who they were. Cannibals were clawing their way across the shifting sea of metal.
“You find a radio, I’ll deal with these,” Shepard ordered. “And tell the Normandy to leave.”
She didn’t wait for Anderson’s reply. It was easier to focus on the enemy in front of her. She started shooting, interspersing her shots with biotics to knock the cannibals into the sea. They bobbed for a second before vanishing into the waters.
No matter how many she dropped, more appeared. Shepard found herself out of ammo, turned her head to check on Anderson, and heard the sweet sound of approaching engines. She would know that sound anywhere. Anderson had ignored her.
“Cavalry has arrived,” Joker said over the comm.
The Normandy swept overhead, banking around low and steady.
“Let’s go,” Shepard said, her legs already carrying her forwards.
She skittered over the debris, all weariness washed away by the sight of her ship. It dipped slightly and the ramp opened to her. Kaidan was waiting. She gave a pulse of her biotics and leapt onto the opening ramp.
Kaidan steadied her, one hand tight on her arm, and Shepard turned back for Anderson.
“Come on,” she shouted over the scream of the engines. There was no time to lose. Another ship plunged into the bay mere kilometres away.
There was something in Anderson’s hesitation that told her he wasn’t going anywhere. His gaze was shifting beyond her, and Shepard saw shuttles converging on their location.
“I’m not going,” he said over the com. “You saw those men back there. There’s a million more like them, and they need a leader.”
“No. You should be the one to talk to the Council,” Shepard insisted, already moving back down the ramp. “I’ll stay here, do what I can.”
Anderson threw something at her and she caught it without thinking. It was her dog tags. “Consider yourself reinstated.”
She glanced at the tags in her hand and back out to where Anderson watched her. There was no time to argue. They were sitting ducks there on the sea.
“Anderson—“
“It has to be you, Shepard. You’re the only one that can do this. Now go. That’s an order.” He saluted briefly and turned away.
Kaidan nodded at her, already talking to Joker, and the Normandy lifted sharply.
There was an explosion nearby, and Shepard caught sight of the shuttles loading survivors. She couldn’t see Anderson.
The ship shook again. There was a flash of light in the narrowing gap of the ramp.
“Anderson?” Shepard shouted, listening for any voice on the comm. There was nothing but static.