Chapter Text
The council had finally decided to act, but they still believed that Saren had been the sole instigator in this whole fiasco over the past several months. Even with all that we had gathered and all that we had been through, they still did not think the Reapers were real, if the Turian and Salarian Councilors weren’t so stubborn the Asari would have done something. Not to mention that they supposedly had a reason to believe that it was my fault that Saren had gotten away on Virmire and that given Shepard’s detonating a nuke on the planet did not warrant discretion and took us off the mission. Said they would handle it discretely enough not to start a war in the Terminus. Shepard seethed as Udina gave an order grounding her; I had inadvertently lost my temper and was taken down to a C-Sec holding cell until I could be dealt with. Now it was my turn to seethe sitting in this tiny little cell, one guard outside; it wouldn’t take much to get out but seeing as how the C-Sec Guard was human, it would not look very good. Instead I bypassed the lock on my Omni-tool and opened a screen between mine and Shepard’s Omni-tools. “Be with you in a minute!” she grunted trying to open something, must have been her locker. I turned the volume down so that the guard didn’t get smart and try to come investigate.
“What are you doing?” I had to ask though I knew she was trying to open her locker.
“Trying to open my locker, DAMNIT!” she exclaimed kicking it then flopping down in front of it turning her attention to me. “Not a word”
I shook my head, my mandibles in a slight smile. “They grounded you good didn’t they?”
“Locked me out of everything including my relics, I can’t even work on those to keep me from thinking of ways to strangle Udina and the others.” I said resting her arm on her knee looking at me with those damned brown eyes of hers.
“Making sure we don’t try anything I suppose” I said looking over to the door. “I’m sorry for losing my temper”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s not like the Reapers are at our door just yet” she said rolling her eyes.
“Think of it this way, when they are you can be the one telling them ‘I told you so’” I suggested.
“Yeah, that would be fun, but I think I’d be a little busy saving everyone to even care what to say” she said leaning her head back against her locker.
“You’ll think of something to get us through, you always do” I said fondly. She sighed, she wanted to believe that but with the way that things had gone recently she felt as if it were all slipping out of her hands.
“I tried to talk Saren down. I really did. I think I got through to him if even if it was a little” she said. Her love of all things side was showing again, I didn’t know whether to be thankful she tried to talk my old friend down or just tell her to stop. True she had a way with words and was expert with a gun, but some things just weren’t worth it half the time.
“Thank you, but I somehow you were able to get through that thick skull of his. He always was stubborn and once he had something in his head he follows through” I explained to her about before Saren was turned into a Reaper puppet. We sat in the silence of each other for a few more moments before Joker chimed in of the Normandy’s PA.
“Commander?”
“Yeah Joker?”
“Got a message from Anderson, says to meet him in Flux, that club down near the wards” he said.
“All right, tell him I’ll be there in a moment” she said and the PA blipped out with a quick ‘aye, aye’.
She gave me a pitiful look; she was frustrated; we all were. “Go; see what he needs you for, even if it is just running around the Citadel”
“Okay…” she nodded “Iloveyou” and the link went dead a second later.
Those last words practically floored me as I processed what she had said. She loved me? A human to love a Turian? With all that we had done and had been through it shouldn’t surprise me, but it did. This went far beyond mere warrior’s respect. I had thought that this was just a passing fancy, but after hearing those words, I knew it wasn’t. It made me feel at ease, as I recalled the words of the consort and how she said Shepard had made me feel as if I belonged.
I could remember the first time we met at Arcturus, from reading her file I half expected that I would be forwarding a man for the Spectres or at least an amazon of a woman, but she was not at all what I had expected. Here was this little five six human female, five seven in her boots, with short brown hair tucked behind her ears and dark make up that complimented her nicely, the hero of the Blitz and a military spacer brat. I hadn’t believed it, but I went with it. Then on Eden Prime she saves my life from someone whom I thought was my friend. And now we had shared a drunken night together and we had already touched our fore heads together. Not only did I feel somewhat happy I also felt a bit sick with all the excitement that my mind was putting me through just sitting there in that cell thinking about Shepard and her words. “They might be stoppin’ Shepard but they can’t stop us, ya half-wit guards” I heard Wrex’s booming voice from outside the cell, I looked over and saw that he, Tali and Garrus were outside.
“Fine, but you guys have five minutes and I’m only letting in one of you” the guard said. Garrus had volunteered and entered.
“What are you three doing here?” I asked as I stood to greet him.
“Shepard and Anderson sent us down here; they have a plan to get us off the Citadel and to Illos” he started to explain. “And we’re pretty much here to get you out”
“And how do you plan to get me out of here without alerting the whole of C-Sec?” I asked crossing my arms. Just then we heard an overload from outside the cell.
“Don’t call me tiny!” Tali had shocked the guard assigned to my cell. Garrus, Wrex and I looked at each other with a shrug as we exited the holding cell. “I think we should go now before someone decides they’re going to get nosy”
“Tali? Tali are you there? Ashley and I managed to get most of C-Sec distracted on the other side of the Wards and we’re heading to the Normandy now. Do you all have Nihlus?” it was Liara on the other end of the call.
“Yeah we got him, and we’re on our way to the Normandy as well” Tali confirmed “C’mon lets go before they leave us behind”
“Well this was easier than I thought” Garrus commented as we made quickly made our way to the elevator leading up to the docking bay. Just as the door slid closed some straggling C-Sec officers spotted us and began shooting at us. The door closed and the elevator was on its way before they had gotten too close.
“Had to open your big mouth didn’t you?” Wrex said shaking his head.
“I’m sorry I actually thought this was going well” Garrus said
“Oh shut up both of you we’re almost there” Tali said, she was nervous and I didn’t blame her. C-Sec was waiting for us “Shepard, we have a problem!” she called over the radio and not even a few seconds later Shepard was at the air lock with Williams firing at the guards.
“Make a break for it when the doors open, we’ll cover you!” she called back as they hit one of the guards with a concussive round.
“Go, go, go!!” I called as the door opened. Wrex leading out little pack, Tali in the middle as to protect as much of her suit as possible, while Garrus and I brought us the rear and took out the remaining guards with more concussive rounds.
“What the hell took you guys so long?” Shepard asked with a smile jogging back up to the cockpit with Joker waiting for the board to turn green. I shook my head; everyone had their own little quips but as soon as things were green the Normandy was off.
“Should take us about two hours Commander” Joker said Shepard gave him a light pat on the shoulder and nodded making her way back through the CIC and to her quarters.
\ \ \
“Amalia?” I asked softy entering her cabin, making sure to lock the door behind me. She was standing over her desk looking at some screens, possibly of the little jail break at the Citadel and plans of our attack once we got to Illos.
“Yeah?” she answered looking up to me as I walked over to her to maybe get a look at what the news was saying. She closed her screen quickly with a sly smile, “Uh, nope”
“What? I wasn’t going to do anything. How dare you imply that I would pry into your private terminals; I’m a bit insulted” I said quickly trying to change the subject sitting on the foot of the bed. This felt awkward and I felt like a damned juvenile, spirits what is wrong with me?
“How do I know you haven’t done it before?” she asked, her tone was light as she came over to me wrapping her arms around my neck. I buried my face in her abdomen, her muscles were toned from working out and all the running we did on previous missions, the shirt to her BDUs freshly laundered. I wrapped my arms around her, I didn’t want to let her go, we had come so far since meeting at Arcturus, I still couldn’t believe that this rather small human was the hero of Elysium.
“Because you’re a silly human and paranoid like the rest” I said muffled through the fabric. I could hear her smile as she began to rub that spot behind my fringe to make me relax a little more. I won’t lie I was tense and after that little stunt, I still really hadn’t gotten to sit and decompress. “Amalia?”
“Yeah?” she said leaning her head down on the top of mine.
“I love you too” I said still muffled by the fabric of her shirt but I knew she heard me. She lifted her head, as I lifted mine to look at her and she touched our foreheads together. We had done this a few times before, but now it felt as if it really meant something to both of us.
“You do realize that makes you a silly Turian, right?”
“I know. And quite frankly, I don’t care, spirits be damned” I said as she kissed my face plates. I hefted her up as I stood and fall back onto the ridiculously tiny bed, she let out a yelp as we landed, her legs sliding behind my hip spurs as she straddled me. I held her hands in mine, the stress of this whole mission had made her feel lighter and smaller than she was.
“You do realize there is a carapace in my way now right?” she asked laying down her chin on my collar.
“You just have to work for it now” I said as she sat up again.
“Cheater”
“No this would be cheating” I said as I grabbed her, shifting my weight and flipping us both. Pressing most of my weight on her so she couldn’t move, she laughed, and yelped and kicked as I started to tickle her sides. We carried on like this for several minutes before I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to have her, not like when we were drunk, to mark her again, and to let them all know she is mine.
She wanted it as much I did, rubbing at that sweet spot behind my fringe as I nuzzled her neck. It didn’t take long to strip down to our civvies when all of a sudden I froze. My mind raced, drunk was easy, drunk was carefree, we were sober, and I couldn’t remember if she was allergic or not. I stopped on top of her; this was awkward. I’ve been with Asari, but this was Shepard, she was human, she was the only person, the only thing that made me feel as if I was a part of something. By the dammed Spirits, what was happening to me, acting like a damned juvenile. “What’s wrong?” she asked
“Nothing…it’s nothing. Dammit!” I cursed hanging my head at the base of her neck, I was right there we were both ready to go and I was the one that decided they were going to freeze.
“Nihlus, I’m not allergic, if that’s what you’re worried about. And you must not be either; we would have broken out in hives by now right?” she said reaching up holding my head gently. Her legs tightened around my waist, I closed my eyes and just focused on her scent. She hissed slightly as I entered and began to move; no dulled senses from alcohol, she was warm and felt oh so good. Each little noise she made, each cant of her hips in time with mine, we both began to let go. She was right, we would have either broken out in some way shape or form, or she would have more than likely gone into shock. I thanked the spirits with each thrust we were able to be together like this before we walked to the very gates of hell.
We both lost track of the time, but soon she let out a yelp as she went over the edge of her climax. I sunk my teeth into her shoulder as I followed a short time after letting everything go inside her. I collapsed at her side; the bed was so tiny she had to position herself that she was laying on her side. “Aren’t you going to clean up?” I asked as I lapped at the blood from the bite mark I had given her; her blood a sweet tin taste in my mouth.
“I’ll go in a minute” she said a little out of breath and trying not to laugh at my nuzzling.
“I’m…sorry” I said enjoying the smell of her mussed hair.
“For what?”
“Freezing. I was acting like a damn juvenile at his first roll in the, what do you humans say, roll in the hay?” I said biting down once more then nipping at her neck. I wanted there to be a scar, and the fact she didn’t stop me, let me know she welcomed it.
“You’re fine Nihlus, its ok really. It was a lot better than being drunk, a whole lot better” she said with a smiled squirming a little at my nuzzling. She smelled delicious, if we had more time before hitting the relay, we’d more than likely go for another round.
“You’re ridiculous, human” I said as she maneuvered to kiss my mandibles before snuggling in and falling asleep. I watched her for a few moments, her sleep was calm and there were no signs of any nightmares from the beacons or cipher. She deserved a nap, if only for a few moments.
\ \ \
I must have drifted off myself when Joker called over the comm for Shepard. “Coming up on the relay Commander” he said.
“All right, tell everyone to start getting ready” she said sitting with her legs crossed in the chair at her desk.
“Aye, aye” Joker said shutting off the com. Shepard had showered and was wearing fresh BDUs her boots set neatly to the side of her chair.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, just going over a plan of attack” she said getting up from the chair and sitting on the end of the bed then flopping back with a smile. “No nightmare this time”
“That’s good” I said sitting up “Then what are you doing out of bed, you could have looked at attack plans from up here”
“I don’t think accepting a video call from Admiral Hackett in bed, nekkid, next to a nekkid Turian would have been all that professional” she said with a wider smile showing her blunt human teeth. “And now we’re on our way to stop Saren and Sovereign, and I want to spend a little more time in bed”
“No you don’t. You need to get to the bridge. I’ll get dressed and head to the hold and help get ready for the impossible” I said moving the sheet from my leg and pushing her off the bed with my foot.
“You, sir are no fun” she said sliding off the bed then standing up to get pull on her boots.
“Go before Joker decides he’ll send someone in to drag you out” I said as she came over to me and gave me a light kiss on my mandibles. She left the room with a smile and left me to get ready, and then head to the hold to help the others get ready.
Down in the hold Garrus and Wrex were helping Tali with getting weapons, armor and the Mako ready for the fight on Illos. “Is everyone med interfaces functioning properly?” Tali asked
“Yeah” Wrex said making sure the weapons were in working order.
“Don’t give me ‘yeah’ make sure they are or this is going to be a short fight; and make sure everyone has ample damage protection” Tali said tweaking some reading from her Omni-tool.
“Mako should be good for anything we find or whatever Shepard can dish out on it” Garrus said more to me as I walked into the hold.
“Something tells me we’re going to need every little extra improvement and mod we can get for this fight.” I said scanning the room. Mostly engineers from Adam’s crew, Tali, Garrus, Wrex and the Requisitions officer, the air was tense; we were nearing the end and everyone felt it.
“There really isn’t anything I can do about the speed, but looking at where we’ll be…well let’s just hope Shepard is good at maneuvering.” Garrus said as Tali started to curse at Wrex for one thing or another.
“I’m sure we’ll be fine” I said only thinking to myself will we really be fine, can Shepard pull this off? Of course she can, she was the hero of the Blitz after all.
“You don’t sound too sure Nihlus” Garrus said
“I have all the faith in the galaxy that we’ll end this” I said and made my way to my locker. No, I wasn’t sure of anything at the moment except of my love for Shepard; but if she had gotten us this far then she’ll make sure we all see this through.
I turned to the elevator as the door opened to Shepard, Williams and Laira. “I agree with Pressly and think it’s downright crazy to try a drop like that.” Williams said protesting something.
“I’m sure if Joker says he is able to make such a drop then we should have faith in him shouldn’t we?” Liara asked as they stopped in front of the Mako.
“What kind of drop are we talking?” Garrus asked as I made my way over to the small group.
“We’re going to drop the Mako with a twenty meter landing zone” Shepard said checking systems then going to her armor compartment.
“Is Joker sure he can do it?” I asked
“I have faith in him and that should be enough for everyone else” she said I looked over at Williams who shook her head.
“If the Skipper thinks he can do it then I won’t argue” she said defeated with everyone staring at her.
“Who are you going to be taking with you Shepard?” Liara asked.
Shepard stared at her weapons as she snapped the last parts of her armor on thinking about who would be best. “It’s whoever you choose Shepard” I said quietly enough for her to hear me. She gave me a small smile then proceeded to secure her weapons.
“Wrex, get ready, you too Nihlus. The rest of you to your stations, once we’re on the ground make sure the Normandy gets to Admiral Hackett and the fleet.” She said
“Aye, aye Commander” Williams saluted and headed to elevator for the bridge.
“I’ll see if Dr. Chakwas will need my help in any way” Liara said following Williams.
Tali nodded and headed back to the drive core with Engineer Adams, and Garrus made a few last minute tweaks to the Mako as we prepared for the drop. The drop was cutting it close to crashing and being over and done with before we had a chance to even fight. Shepard managed to kick in the micro thrusters enough that we fell straight down with little more than a ridiculously violent jostle to the vehicle. We landed just as Saren closed the doors to the bunker; Shepard didn’t even cut the engine before getting out and trying to chase after Saren. “Dammit!!” she cursed when the doors closed.
“Shepard we have Geth coming our way!” I called checking my Omni-tool sensors.
“Light’em up!” she called as we made our way around to the incoming Geth. Shepard managed to override some of the Armature controls making them fire on the Geth instead of on us.
“We need to find a secondary control or something for those doors” I called once some of the fire fight had died down before we headed into the next wave.
“If you have any ideas now would be the time to say them Nihlus” Wrex said weapon ready in case the Geth decided to move first.
“The controls should be further down I guess, but there are more Geth and a few armatures” Shepard said wiping some blood from her head.
“Then let’s get moving, the more time we spend here the more time Saren has to get to the Conduit.” Wrex said.
“Right. If you need medi-gel use some now. Roll out!” Shepard called as we headed into more Geth as we made our way around the bunker to the outside controls. When we reached the secondary controls to the bunker door a VI activated. Wrex and I could only hear static and a jumbled mess of a language that our translators could not understand.
“Please tell me I’m not the only one that can’t understand this thing” Wrex said as Shepard stared at it. It was much too broken to get a decent figure or anything for that matter out of it.
“You mean you two can’t understand what its saying?” Shepard asked.
“No…Amalia, can you make what its saying?” I said realizing she wasn’t staring at it to stare but trying to make out what it was saying.
“It’s broken, but it sounds like a distress call.” She said
“Anything else like the Conduit? Otherwise let’s hurry up and get to Saren and wring his Turian neck.” Wrex said; I shot Wrex a flat look as he shrugged. Shepard looked at him endearingly and nodded.
“Let’s go you two, save it for Saren.” She said waking her way out a head of us.
“You do know I’m Turian too right?” I asked readying my weapon.
“Yeah, but you’re not Saren and I’m pretty sure the commander would have ripped me a new one if I had included you in that.” Wrex explained with a chuckle.
“I’d rip you a new one myself if you had included me” I said and followed Shepard. I could hear Wrex chuckle after me was we began to double time it back to the Mako. By this time it was pointless to put on our safety restraints as Shepard took off as soon as we all were in the Mako. The roadway within the bunker was quiet save for a few pockets of Geth, which Shepard managed to make quick work of running them down.
“What are those things, pods?’ Wrex asked peering out to the high walls and almost endless stasis pods that lined them.
“They look like stasis pods of some kind. They down appear to be functional” I said doing some quick scanning with my Omni-Tool.
“That’s a sad way to go” Shepard commented quietly as we rammed into an energy field stopping us.
“It’s a trap!” Wrex bellowed as we were enclosed.
“I think if this was Saren’s doing we’d be overrun by now, don’t you?” I asked the Krogan.
“Nihlus is right, something else is doing this” Shepard said turning off the Mako and exiting to a small hall way to the right of the Mako.
“Wait up Shepard” I called and followed her into the small room with what seemed like the broken VI we had encountered not too long before. The room may have looked small but it was over grown with the planet’s brush, the only thing out of place with the VI flickering and blinking in front of us. It spoke to us in basic; we all could understand it now.
“What the hell? How come we can understand you now?” Wrex asked.
“I have been monitoring your radio conversations so that you all may understand me better” the VI explained “I am called Vigil”
It explained how it didn’t sense indoctrination on any of us, of course we had not been; we had been with Shepard trying to stop this whole thing. Shepard asked her questions and the VI explained. It explained that to preserve energy it had to shut down pods, just to make sure that the next cycle would be able to view this warning. This had also happened before with the Reapers and the Protheans had been wiped out trying to fight the culling of all organic life in the galaxy. Vigil had explained how the Citadel was just a giant Mass Relay, connecting to dark space and the Reapers; that if we didn’t stop Saren the Reapers would return and the cycle would continue. “Is there a way to stop the Reapers, even for just a little while so we can prepare?” Shepard asked Vigil, she was desperate; we all were, for an end to this.
“There was a virus constructed to stop the signal from opening Dark Space. If you can get it downloaded in time, there might still be hope left for this cycle” Vigil explained. Shepard downloaded the virus onto an OSD as the ruins began to rumble and shake.
“I think we should get a move on, before we actually are too late to stop this.” I said as she pocketed the OSD.
“Right, c’mon” she said running to the Mako, myself and Wrex close at her heels. We had gotten all we could from the VI, it would be a pity for Liara but there was not much there to begin with.
Shepard took off like a bat out of hell (as the human saying goes) as soon as the doors the Mako had closed. She ran over any and all Geth that got in our way with Wrex and myself at the guns taking out the stragglers. The Mako dropped down into an aqueduct and we followed its twists and turns and of course more Geth. I would be glad when this affair was done, there wouldn’t be much Geth to deal with. Though Wrex and I would not miss Shepard’s driving. I loved the human, but I would be damned if she drove anything else after this with me in the vehicle.
All of a sudden the Mako had come to a stop. In front of us there was a small relay, and about six Geth Colossuses. “Nihlus, Wrex…off the guns and strap in tight” Shepard said securing her own safety harness. Wrex and I looked at each other and complied. “How long before the relay closes?”
“I say we’ve got about a minute…not much time unless you can pull a miracle out of your ass” I said checking my Omni-Tool.
“Don’t tell her that, she actually might” Wrex said, meaning for it to be a joke, but little did we know Shepard’s mind was already at top speed thinking of what could be done.
“Hold on” She said pressing a few buttons. We heard something detach and fall to the ground before we were at top speed heading for the relay.
“We’re taking fire Shepard!” I called over the loud roar of the engines and the booming sounds of the Colossuses firing at the Mako.
“Sixteen seconds Shepard! I hope you know what you’re doing!” Wrex called
“Here we go!!” Shepard called as we approached the base of the relay. Engulfed in the blue light and sparks the Mako was propelled into faster than light speed. It certainly was not the most pleasant experience and I hoped never to do it again as we were thrown halfway across the galaxy to the Citadel.
We landed with a hard crash in front of the Citadel tower entrance. I could just make out a couple of Geth being hit and crunched as the Mako slid to a stop. Shepard kicked at the door before it flew open to let us out of the flaming vehicle, only to be greeted by husks. We quickly dispatched them and accessed AVINA for damage reports. The poor VI, broken up and yet still sticks to its sickeningly polite parameters. “Not much more we can get out of her” Shepard said applying a quick application of medi-gel to all of our suits through her unity button.
“There are more than likely traps along the way, if I know Saren” I said looking up at the Citadel tower.
“More than likely? Heh lets see him try to stop us now” Wrex said slamming his fists together.
“Then there is no doubt.”
“Just be ready for anything guys, let’s go!”
We wasted no time in getting into the elevator, only to have it stop almost half way to the top. Shepard drew her pistol telling us to put our helmets on. Shooting the glass we made our way outside. The feeling of floating momentarily was disorienting for a moment until our gravity boots kicked in. Making our way up there were Geth and Krogan at every turn not to mention the Geth drop ship, with the Alliance turrets it was dispatched without much of a problem; they were easy compared to the Geth Turrets that we came against. One of the turrets hit Shepard, forcing her to take cover. “Shepard!”
“I’m fine, just take those things out!” she called as she applied medi-gel switching to her shot gun. I could see her blood, the medi-gel was doing its work but after this we all would need serious medical attention.
Wrex and I took turns drawing the fire from the last turret further off as Shepard moved through cover to get a little closer with her shot gun. One of the turret’s blasts grazed the side of my helmet where my scar was from Saren on Eden Prime. It seared at the skin as my kinetic barriers sealed around it. “By the spirits!” I gasped ducking before the next blast could hit me dead on.
“Damn Geth piece of shit!” Wrex said activating overkill and unloading on the turrets as I could hear Shepard’s shotgun laid into it from closer range. Then all was quiet save for the fighting going on above us between the Geth, Sovereign and the rest of the Citadel Defense Force, as Admiral Hackett’s fleet made its entrance.
“Everyone ok!?” Shepard called sitting at the base of the turret.
“We’re fine. The boyfriend took a nasty hit to the side of his head but I think he’ll be fine” Wrex chuckled calling back to Shepard helping me up.
“Let’s regroup and keep going we should be close to an access tunnel into the Council Chambers” She said over her radio with a painful laugh.
“I’m really starting not to like you Krogan” I said dusting off my armor, though I’ll more than likely need a new one by the time this whole thing is over.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s go” Wrex laughed as we made our way over to Shepard checking the seals in her armor to make sure everything was still working properly.
/ / /
“Shepard! I was afraid you wouldn’t make it in time” Saren said as we took out the Geth at the front door to the Council Chambers and headed for him next.
“In time for what?!” she called as we took cover. There was no getting close to him on that hovering disc.
“The coming of a new world…” he started as he explained how the Reapers ‘upgraded’ him.
“Shepard he’s insane, let me take the kill shot and end this” I urged drawing my sniper rifle trying to get a steady shot on the bastard’s head.
“No, wait!” she told me motioning for me to hold my fire. “Then make me understand, Saren” always trying to solve things with her words, this woman was going to be the death of us all. Peering from cover I could see Saren’s resolve falter talking to Shepard. Maybe, just maybe this could work?
“Shepard…” I said over a private channel in our helmets.
“I know what I’m doing Nihlus” she said “No one else has to die Saren, there is still time to stop this”
“Maybe there is still time for you to stop this, for me…it is much too late” Saren said, the fighting outside began to get much more intense. Wrex and I stepped from cover; I didn’t know what more I could add to the conversation.
“You can still help us Saren” Shepard insisted.
Saren shook his head and smiled “Take care of this human Nihlus. Good bye, both of you, and thank you” he said bringing his pistol under his jaw and pulling the trigger. Blue blood and brain matter splattered out the top of his head as the light faded from his eyes and he fell from his platform. All of a sudden a blast came close to the tower and it began to tremble.
“We have to hurry and get that virus into the Citadel’s systems” I said and Shepard made a mad break for the console to upload the virus. The fighting outside was getting worse, Hackett, Normandy and the rest of the fleet had dropped from FTL speed as things began to heat up. We could hear the com chatter as the virus uploaded.
“All right, we’re good to go” Shepard said as the virus finished.
We could hear the com chatter as Hackett and his fleet got close. “Awaiting your order Commander, do we wait and give all we’ve got to Sovereign or should we save the Destiny Ascension?”
This had to be one of the much more tougher decisions of Shepard’s career, she stood in her own thoughts for a few moments before turning to Wrex and I. “Thoughts?” she asked, she didn’t know what to do.
“Leave the Council and tell your Admiral Hackett to hit Sovereign, and hit the damned thing hard” Wrex said “What has the Council ever done besides doubt you anyway?”
“Nihlus?”
I looked down thinking of what I would do. We were Spectres and our job was to the job done no matter what had to be done. Wrex was also right, the Council doubted us at almost every turn about the Reapers and now here we were, fighting to make sure they couldn’t carry out their plans. “…your mission Amalia, you call. I’ll stand by you whatever you decide.” I finally said.
Shepard nodded turning back to the terminal “Joker, you and Hackett hold back until the arms open and then give Sovereign all we’ve got!” she called to the Normandy and Hackett’s fleet.
“Aye, aye!”
“You heard the woman! Wait for the arms to open then let’s hit that thing with all we’ve got” we heard Admiral Hackett call over the com to the rest of his ships. We watched the events unfold from the windows above us. I hoped this didn’t bite us in the ass later, but for right now we had stopped a full scale invasion.
“Make sure he’s dead” she said looking down to where Saren had fallen after he had shot himself. I nodded and we made our way to the body.
Saren was lifeless; for good measure I planted two more shots in his chest “He’s dead Shepard” I said looking up.
“Shepard watch out!” Wrex called as one of the blasts hit the tower hard shaking the platform with the terminal loose, causing Shepard and the platform itself to fall to our level.
I ran to her to make sure she was all right as red lightning began to fill the small room taking control of Saren’s body. We drew our weapons as the body changed and was no longer Saren but now a true puppet of Sovereign’s. Before we could process what was happening the puppet jumped from the floor, to the wall, to the ceiling. Activating overkill we began to unload on it trying to bring it down. Sovereign was controlling it even though it was now occupied with the forces outside. By now the Ascension was lost but Hackett, the Normandy and the fleet were doing all they could. “Stay fucking still damnit!!” Shepard cursed as the Saren puppet continued to jump and fire at us in turn.
“Doubt that’s gonna help much, we need some heavy fire power for this thing” Wrex said as we took cover. Shepard had lost her helmet somewhere in the confusion and blood was trickling down the side of her face.
“That’s why you’re here Wrex” I commented getting out of cover long enough to unload again on the puppet.
“Damn Turian!”
“All right guys, last medi-gel let’s make it count!” Shepard called over all of the noise as she hit a button on her hard suit. The fighting outside was getting intense, though at least it was wearing down not only Sovereign but the puppet as well. With a nod the three of us shot from cover in a last ditch effort and gave the puppet all we had, from Wrexs’ biotics to Shepard’s grenades and my overloads. Finally bringing it down we heard Joker call something from the outside as the Normandy went in for the kill shot on Sovereign.
“Hard on my left!” he called.
We looked up to see what was going on, we could see the Normandy flit by charging the main guns then circling above and around sending the final shot straight through the Reaper. “MOVE!” Shepard called as a piece of debris from Sovereign made its way into the window into the council chamber. Shepard was knocked back, Wrex and I to either side as the debris fell. It felt like an eternity before the tower stopped shaking and all the dust and debris had settled. I could see Wrex not to far away lying unconscious, alive, but unconscious. I couldn’t see Shepard; my head was swimming as I blacked out trying to scan the rubble for something, anything to let me know that Shepard was all right.
I fell back into a memory of Arcturus, reading Shepard’s file, explaining to Anderson I half expected some kind of man or an amazon, as the human call them, type woman at least six foot. Then in walks this five six, average build female with dark makeup and hair tucked behind her ears looking like she had just finished a sparring session. Anderson could barely contain his laughter when she walked in and introduced herself and Commander Shepard, N7, Heroine of the Skyllian Blitz. All I could do was glare at the dark skinned human, I didn’t see what he thought was so funny, no matter what I was still going to keep pushing her name for the Spectres. “Nihlus Kyrik” I introduced myself.
“Nice to meet you, Nihlus” she said, at least I thought it was her voice.
“Nihlus!” it wasn’t Shepard’s voice the tones were deeper “Nihlus!”
The voice belonged to Anderson; my eyes shot open and I sat up quickly as a C-Sec officer called over to him that he had found myself and Wrex. “Nihlus, careful now, you’re safe now. Where’s Shepard” he said making his way to Wrex and I.
I looked at Wrex then to the ground, I couldn’t look at the Captain in the face. “We lost track of Shepard in all the commotion” Wrex said finally as we were helped up to our feet.
“I see…” Anderson said solemnly “Let’s get you two out of here and looked at, then” sadness in his voice though he tried to hide it.
I stopped and looked back at where the debris from Sovereign had hit, hoping beyond all hope that maybe Shepard was somehow still alive. “HEY!” I heard a voice far off.
Anderson and Wrex stopped; they had heard the voice call also. I strained my ears and eyes against the silence. My heart leaped into my throat as we saw Shepard bracing herself and running towards us. She was limping, and she was bleeding, but she was alive. I caught her as she came down and held her tightly; the servos in her hard suit working overtime in her med interface to keep her wounds from getting any worse than they already were. “I knew we couldn’t get rid of you that easy” Wrex chuckled, I buried my face in the crook of her neck, she would ultimately be the death of me though right now that didn’t matter.
“Yeah, well Anderson will tell you I’m a bad penny” she said the pain in her voice from the adrenaline wearing off.
Anderson smiled when I insisted that I carry Shepard so that she didn’t put anymore strain on herself. “I think we’ve already established that” I said following Anderson and Wrex out of the rubble of the Citadel tower.
“So we did win right?” she asked
“Yeah, we won”
/ / /
I stood in the corner of the human embassy office and watched Shepard speak with Udina and Anderson. This was Humanity’s chance to take a stand and join the council and Udina was planning to capitalize, though he left the decision to Shepard. All I knew was that the Reapers were coming and we needed to be ready, Shepard was going to be our best bet on preparation. “So who did you decide on taking the new open council spot?” I asked when Shepard made her way to my little spot in the shadows; she still wore some of the bandages from the battle, she shook her head.
“I chose Anderson” she said looking back at the other two talking among themselves.
“I’m sure he protested.”
“Of course, but he’s been on the front lines, I believe in him”
“I have no doubt he’ll do fine” I said “What do you say we get a head start on that shore leave?”
“Doc says I can’t do anything strenuous for another week, so either way” she said with a devilish smile as I wrapped my arm around her walking out of the human embassy.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about….though it wouldn’t be that strenuous really” I said. I was looking forward to this shore leave, where ever we were headed.
We met with her parents in the docking bay all ready for a tropical vacation, with the whole crew before we had to dig our heels in again and get back to work. The Reapers weren’t that far away; we will be ready, we have to be. “Ready looser?” Shepard asked at the airlock.
“Real mature Amalia, really mature.” I said walking in the airlock and taking the copilot’s seat on the bridge. She smiled shaking her head heading for the galaxy map and hitting in the coordinates to a vacation planet in Asari space. First a small vacation, then we’ll worry about the Reapers afterwards.