46

Alker

- Yeah... This is embarrassing... . - I said, looking at what was left of Captain Shepherd. - Load her up. And be careful." With those words, the two Stormtroopers began stacking what was left of Captain Shepard into the cryo pod.

There wasn't much left. Luckily, it didn't make it into outer space like in canon, but somehow stayed on Normandy, which then fucked up the planet with all its might and strangest of all, it didn't explode. It just collapsed on impact with the surface. So what was left of Shepard was her whole body, head, left arm, half of her right arm, left leg without a foot, and her right leg was left as some sort of stump about 11 centimetres long of her body. The face, on the other hand, was just fucked up. The lower jaw was gone, the hair and the top layer of skin were burnt off, the eyes were gone too, and the brain was completely dead, so there was also an open cranial trauma. So it was terrible. And we didn't even have time to help. It was only a week after the Battle of the Citadel. The Council sent Shepard here and there to see if the Geths had really shut down with the death of Nazara. And Shepard's second target was Alker. And that's where the Collectors' ship was. We got that from the news while trying to get my consciousness and the Virtual to the Light of Kila without destroying my identity. It took a long time until they succeeded. It did, however, a day after the news. In the meantime, the Salarians had had the misfortune of a complete technological breakdown. I had turned on the water, but not the electricity. So they've been having as much fun as they can all week. There were even food and fuel riots. And then I watched as the police and the army had no weapons. No electricity, no mass effect. Heh heh heh.

- Comrade Legate, what to do about it? - suddenly asked the gett, who came up behind me. Turning to him, I noticed a whole leg in his hands.

- What is it? - I asked, and unfortunately, my voice didn't show the extent of my stunningness.

- The DNA test shows that this object is part of Captain Shepherd's body," the Gete said nonchalantly.

- "Put it in the pod. - I replied, and he quickly carried out the order. And so, we're all done. We've got Shepard; all that's left is to take her out. Of course, looking at the first Normandy like that was... Creepy. All those mangled pieces of metal sticking out of the ground, one of the engines... All in all, there was nothing good about the place.

- Comrade Legatus. An unknown enemy ship has appeared in the planet's orbit. Type - cruiser. Presumably, an Alliance System.

- Your division! - into the ether, I blurted out, and the pilot of the Light of Kila continued.

- Comrade Legatus. The communication encryption system is not similar to the Alliance encryption system.

- How about a shorter one," I suggested.

- It's Cerberus," replied the pilot.

- Shit. "Light of Kila to destroy the enemy ship.

- Acknowledged. Warning: An enemy landing party of five shuttles is headed your way.

- Acknowledged. Destroy the cruiser, and we'll take care of the landing party. There was no point in running towards them; the Cerberus transport was about to land. Well, it's time to start having fun. I don't feel sorry for anyone but Cerberus.

I pull out my RPG. We've now started mass-producing it and the ammunition for it. I fire a shaped charge grenade at the shuttle. I hit the fuel tank, causing the shuttle to explode in midair. I reload the grenade, and the first shuttle lands. Right sideways to us. The door opens, and I fire a thermobaric charge into it. The missile flies into the shuttle, causing all 5 people to burn alive despite the armour. Three transporters are left, one of which is three times the size of the other two. I jam their comms, grab my rifle and run towards them. Behind me are two Primes with Drell miniguns and 10 stormtroopers, two dragging the pod. So, the enemy sees us and starts firing. I hide behind the rubble and get my rifle and two grenades. I jump out and assess the situation. Three behind a piece of hull, one firing from a hole, like from a DOT. Two more behind another part of the hull, and in the middle, between them... "The Atlas that came out of the big shuttle. Oh, bollocks.

It took 15 milliseconds for all the thinking. Nobody even noticed me, and I was already throwing a grenade at the one who fired from the "embrasure". The grenade hits the hole and explodes as soon as it touches the soldier. The soldier is torn to shreds, and the other two die, losing their limbs. Then I throw a second grenade at the other two. Those are torn apart by shrapnel. Cerberus attacks, but two Primes with miniguns open fire on the fleeing ones. Three are immediately impaled, spraying their blood on the back of the fleeing men. Then another gets his head blown off, and the other two blow their arms and legs off. That leaves four who hide behind a piece of the inner wall.

No grenades, and the Atlas is already aiming at all of us. Seconds later, it opens fire. Knocks the shields of one of the Primes, but both manage to escape. I load a fragmentation rocket for the RPG. I jump out, take aim in a quarter of a second, fire and hide. Atlas doesn't have time to do anything, and I'm loading a tandem rocket. I can't let Atlas get away with that. I peeked out of cover but immediately hid back as the missile flew at me, and then the shelter began pounding from a machine gun. A machine gun like that would take out my shields in a heartbeat. Not Prime, though. He gets up and starts pounding on Atlas with a machine gun on my order. Atlas gets distracted by it, and I get up and fire immediately. The projectile hits the cockpit glass, practically vaporising the pilot - his armour melts, he has a hole in him from the jet of molten metal, and all the organics in him turn to ashy dust.

That's it. The fight is over. Cerberus' cruiser in orbit had already been destroyed, so they needed more time to bring all their forces here. Except we've got the last shuttle coming in. The whole squad's heading for our shuttles, and I'm loading another shaped-charge missile. Aiming for the flying machine. It sees it and tries to go up. I shoot at it and hit it in the rear. I don't punch the fuel tanks, but still, the shuttle loses control, soars up, does a barrel roll, then usually flies parallel to the ground, and then a second later, it goes down. I didn't see how it fell, but there was no explosion. Anyway, they'll be rescued anyway. Or not. I don't care about those xenophobes. And here we are, boarding the shuttle and heading back to the Light of Kila. Through the porthole, I can see a Cerberus cruiser. To be exact, three large ones and tens of thousands of small pieces of debris are left on the ship. Well, that's your own fault. Don't attack me when I'm looking for bodies.

****

Dreadnought "Light of Kila"

- What are we supposed to do with this? - Xad asked, looking at the cryo-capsule's interior chamber and the scanner readings.

- I don't even know. I take it the Proteans didn't revive their soldiers," I asked the Protein.

- 'No. They wanted to do that sometimes, but religion and culture didn't allow it. With us, dying for one's country was one of the highest rewards. Such soldiers became demigods. Their names were written in temple texts and prayed to. They were believed to become 'Kharul' - fighting angels, if you translate it into your language. They guided worthy warriors and showed their hands and eyes to teach them how to fight. So to resurrect such warriors... Heh, don't be ridiculous. And besides, why would you do that? She's dead entirely. We need to prepare for the Harvest.

- She's the key to our victory. Tell me, did you have a leader during the war? One who was followed by millions. Someone everyone listened to," I asked, and it made Xhosa feel sad.

- No. After the Citadel fell, the repeaters stopped working. The only thing we had were the FTL engines. They were five times faster than yours, but it wasn't enough. Every cluster, every sector, every race was on its own.

- Here. And in this war, she would take the lead. She warned everyone, but no one listened. But when the Harvest begins, they will realise she knows more than they do. They will follow her because they will be afraid, and she will know what to do. Now she has died too soon. And not in battle, as warriors are supposed to do. She was ambushed and died in space. Is that how warriors die? - That made Cassad think, and then he answered.

- You are right. We will need a leader, and your politicians need to be fit. Nor are we. Who will listen to a Geta, a hologram protean, a giant plant, and the queen of a race that once practically wiped out the galaxy? No offence, Girla. - Xad said, turning to the Rahni Queen. She and Tori were there, too, and listened in silence.

- Nothing. I understand. It disgusts me to think that my people were willing to exterminate such beautiful creatures as the Azari. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.

- You haven't had a long life," Tory remarked as if to imply that he was the oldest. No one argued with that.

- All right. Let's think about how we can revive her. Tori, can you rebuild her?

- Yes. However, I can only restore her body. But her mind and personality won't be fixed. I can't do that," Tory explained.

- 'I see. Then we need to think about what to do. We still have three more years, but we have to hurry.

- We should ask the Goths. They won't refuse us if we ask nicely and offer something in return. - Xhasad suggested.

- Not an option. They could stuff implants in her that would separate her from a Geth only by the presence of skin and brain. And that's not even certain. No, we'll have to do something else," I said, and I had it all figured out within three seconds. - Well, let's do this. We'll work with the organists. We'll hire the best people, we'll give them resources, and we'll pay them. Xad, you did know how to grow organs, didn't you?

- Well, yeah, it's pretty easy. And you need to learn how to do it. We used to do it on an industrial scale, but you... Except for synthetic blood and implants. And that's a miracle of miracles for you.

- Good. Let's get this technology to the experts. They won't know about us. They'll be working on the orbital station. We'll buy the station from the Goths in exchange for the technology. We'll buy the equipment from Illium. It's the most accessible place to do it. It's all about finding the right people. The best of the best.

- Hmm..." Xadh thought, "It might work. As long as they don't find out who we are.

- That shouldn't be a problem. Now, about you," I said to Tori and Girla.

- About what? - Tori asked.

- 'Basically, we need an army of Rahni. How many can we raise in three years?

- Hundreds of thousands. But it would drain me," Girla warned.

- 'I see. 'Then... - I thought, and then I immediately thought, "Can you transfer the gene code of the rahni queens to Tori so he can create them from scratch?

- Yes. That's... It's possible...

- That's great. If we have dozens of queens, the process will go faster. And an army of Rakhni would always be relevant. And we'll find a place to put you. In the system where Red October is, there's a planet with a nitrogen-chloro-ammonia atmosphere. It's literally riddled with caves. No volcanic activity. Would that work for you?

- It's okay. The caves have always been our home," the queen replied.

- 'Good. We'll be there soon. Right, now, Tori.

- Yes?" he asked.

- We're going to make a Chief soon.