87

Three weeks later

Omega Nebula

Sarabaric system

The frigate Normandy-SR2.

- Your lobster's running late," Joker said as Shepard and I stood beside Joker in his deckhouse. It was all set - three weeks of waiting, building the Gorn and some analogue of the Catalyst at a brisk pace and working out a plan, and now the Normandy, Executioner and three aircraft carriers were ready to go. There were also three "surprise" ships. This was the answer to the swarm of seekers against whom we decided to use a gas that would cause rejection of the implants that were embedded in each individual. The gas was going to be used in the base's ventilation system. True, it wouldn't work against foot soldiers, they don't breathe, and their chitinous skin is immune to gases, but bloodhounds need to breathe, so the gas was irreplaceable. The other two ships were huge servers designed for cyberattacks. They had enough power to hack into Reaper, let alone the bug base. It was needed to open doors and partitions and chase those bugs back and forth, setting off alarms here and there.

We also cared for those who would distract the bulk of the enemy.

Yagi, there will be fifty thousand armed to-the-teeth psychos, ready to turn anyone into mincemeat with miniguns and grenade launchers. They would have to land in hangars and similar large spaces, then take up defences there and hold so the bugs would believe they had them pinned down.

A hundred thousand Vorka were to run through the base's vents, behind or blocking the bugs. Plus, the Collectors would send reinforcements there to stop such mayhem. You'd think there'd be no reason to have so many Vork. The answer is simple - the size of the base. Even in the game, it was not small; what to say about the original? Three hundred twenty kilometres high and 10 kilometres wide. I'm even afraid to imagine the total length of all the ventilation ducts, to be honest.

And a hundred and fifty thousand geth. They'll be the main force in the coming operation. They must take over every corridor, hall, warehouse, lavatory, etc. Every metre of this base was to be carved up. The bugs would send all the other forces to stop them. But they will only do a little in the corridors so that the numerical advantage will be useless. In the halls - yes, they'll have to sweat, but that's what the Vorka are for, to intercept the Collectors' reinforcements in the corridors before they reach the open halls.

That's 300,000. Well, that's enough. Regardless, however, everything depended on our team. We had to go through the corridors to the command centre and kill the Chief. With his death, all the soldiers in the base would die, as the link with the Harbinger would be lost. After that, we were supposed to bring the Gorn, fire it at the Omega-4 repeater, take control of the entire network and give the Reapers the green light. It was a long shot, but we could do nothing about it. It was the only chance.

- Not much. The Gorn's flying like a barrel of bricks. You don't want to break it or smash it against some gas ball," I justified Nargul. It wasn't his fault. No matter how hard we try, the Gorn is clumsy, slow, and gives Nargul real pain. Morally.

- I hope he doesn't take too long. Everyone's already on edge. I want to get this over with," Shepard explained to me and then looked out the porthole, where I could see the Omega station glowing red.

And then, five minutes later, Nargul popped out of FTL with Gorn and a few dozen cruisers. It's not much.

- Okay, let's get started," I said. - Nargul?

- I hear you. It's time," he answered me briefly. - I'll fly in the vanguard, take out whatever's protecting the approaches to the base. With any luck, they'll send everything they've got to me immediately. Then you'll be left to storm the base.

- As agreed," I replied. - Good luck," I said, and after waiting a while, Nargul disappeared into FTL in the direction of the Galactic Core.

****

Behind the Omega-4 transponder.

The core of the Galaxy. Here, there was a gaping black hole that wouldn't even let out light. Here, there were billions of pieces of wreckage from the thousands of ships that had once attempted to pass through the Omega-4 repeater. And it was here that the Collectors' base had been. It was already the base of thousands of Reaper minions who were supposed to be scouting before the Harvest.

Coming out of FTL, the Nargul accidentally crashed into some wreckage (judging by the symbols, a turian cruiser), but its size allowed it to do so. Rising above the level of the wreckage, he looked around. He wasn't hiding on purpose; that was the calculation. Once the Forerunner was informed of who had arrived, he would immediately send everything against it. And Nargul would have the power to destroy it.

After hours of flying, a few Oks spotted the giant dreadnought but didn't attack - there was no point. But the base had already raised the alarm.

A huge swarm of M.L.A. Reapers had dropped out of the base and headed towards Nargul. 10,000 in all. They were coming in tight formation. From the outside, it looked like a wall glowing with thousands of red lights. They intended to become a gnat for the Reapers' worst enemy, which would slowly but surely kill him. It made sense, the Reapers, including Nargul, had no weapons against the M.L.A. But Nargul was going to handle this one differently.

I am hacking into the control link.

Hacking complete.

They are introducing the virus.

Deployment.

7%... 15%... 23%... 36%... 41%...53%... 67%... 72%... 84%... 96%

100%

Implementation completed...

Override Control...

Activation of self-destruct protocol: Yes/No...

Yes...

All the Oki flying at Nargul began to explode, shattering into small, almost microscopic pieces. And at the same time, not a single sound rang through space. The silent space remained silent, even though the explosion of Ock's mass core would have made a loud rumble in the atmosphere.

The battle did not end there, however. Now the Collectors decided to finish off the Traitor with cruisers. There were seven of them, and all had already managed to form a triangle, tip to tip, with Nargul. He couldn't hack into one of those, but that's what his weapons were for.

Like the Lord's main calibre, two guns were in the large claws, and two more particle accelerators were in the small ones near the head.

It is aiming, then charging. Firing. A red track of molten metal at 5% the speed of light pierces through the bug ship, nearly vaporising it. A second gun fires a few seconds later, sending another ship into oblivion. All that remains is the ship in the Centre and two ships on each side. The Centre Nargul rams it, reinforcing its shields and turning off its guns. Then, after flying a little further, the dreadnought turns one hundred and thirty degrees towards the cruisers it had rear-ended. Thanks to its segmental rather than monolithic hull structure, the Nargul could turn quickly on a low vector, even if it had to fly belly-up for a while. Though in space, "up" and "down" are relative, if not unnecessary, concepts.

Charging. Firing. Two particle accelerators pass diagonally and slice through the Collectors' ship, causing the latter to explode, the accelerator hitting the core. That leaves three ships.

Those are already trying to turn around, but so far, all they can do is fire weapons against the M.L.A., which Nargul is like a dead poultice.

The main gun charges and fires another shot. One ship explodes, and another is damaged and trying to escape the fight.

Suddenly a yellow beam passes across the hull. One ship still managed to fire, but the shields only sagged 7%.

The accelerator charges and fires. The yellow beam hits the ship's main gun, blowing it to pieces with an explosion from the inside.

The last one is left, and it's already trying to escape to the base, charging the main calibre and firing the last shot. A clot of molten metal crashes into the engine, although the location of the hit is unimportant. Except for the bits that didn't get hit, the ship was practically vaporised from that shot.

And then Nargul saw the trouble. The entire Collector base was bristling with hydrodynamic guns. There were several thousand of them, which was too big a problem even for an ancient Reaper. A barrage of several thousand of these weapons could easily kill anyone.

Fortunately, there was a backup plan for that.

****

Near the Omega 4 transponder exit.

A fleet of Executioners, five carrier ships and ten cruisers came out of FTL. The Executioner could create a mass corridor for itself and let others use it. So now everyone was ready for battle, and Xad was in command of this small armada.

- What's your status, Nargul?" the Protean contacted the dreadnought.

- The fleet was destroyed, and the plan worked, but the base had a good defence. The kind that would kill me.

- There's a reason we brought the M.L.A.," Xad confirmed. Yes, the scout drones they'd sent out hadn't seen any weaponry at the base, but Legatus, may his paranoia be blessed, didn't believe it. He didn't believe it until he brought in 2,500 MLA, 750 attack aircraft. And now it was up to them to destroy the base's external guns. Doing it with the Nargul's main calibre is both time-consuming and stupid.

- All M.L.A.'s! Battle formation! Destroy the base defences! - Xad started giving orders. Using the M.L.A. was more than the best idea. The base's guns were bulky and clumsy, just for destroying cruisers, dreadnoughts, and big targets that only a blind man would miss. They'd only hit M.L.A.s by accident.

All the M.L.A.s were lined up and heading for the base within a minute. It took another three minutes to reach the base. And then the light show began. Several hundred guns fired at the Legate's troops at once, but the formation disintegrated, though not everyone could dodge. Then hundreds of missiles were fired at the guns and immediately began destroying them. The gun turrets had kinetic shields, but the missiles didn't care. What to speak of laser weapons that melted the guns and blew them up? But it was not without casualties. Rays of molten metal hit the M.L.A., but there was nothing there. It was only a platform. The geth were in Virtual. However, that doesn't mean no one tried to evade those rays - the entrusted property must be protected.

The M.L.A. did all sorts of tricks, let alone guns that tried to hit anyone. But the forces were unequal and not in favour of the Collectors. Already after ten minutes of fighting, almost all the guns were destroyed. The rest continued to fire, sometimes even successfully, but they were soon blown to pieces.

- All right, gentlemen. It's time to begin," Xad ordered. He was in command now.

As ordered, thousands of shuttles began to fly out of the cruisers and the Executioner. They carried thirty, sometimes fifty Jags or Vorka, and the geth could fit a hundred, if only without the Primes.

After a minute, the first troopers stepped onto a floor probably made of organics and immediately began to spread out. The Vorka entered the vents while the Yagi put up barricades and turrets before the enemy could reach them. The geth began to move quickly through the corridors, sometimes leaving roadblocks in case the enemy miraculously got behind them. But ahead of the planet were the drones that scanned the corridors and halls.

And so, the first enemies were detected. They ran in droves to the wide halls where the Yagi were already entrenched, to the corridors where the geth were running, and even climbed into the ventilation system. So far, the operation was going according to plan.

But after ten minutes, the Collectors went on a real banzai attack. Most likely, they hoped the Yagi needed more time to fortify themselves. Naive. Portable fortifications, kinetic dome generators, turrets, defence drones and a bunch of angry Yagi, half of them biotic. And as soon as the first "light-eyes" emerged from the corridors the geth hadn't deliberately gone into, the Yagi opened fire.

Hundreds of red laser beams immediately shot into the bugs, which ran at the fortifications. The first ranks were reduced to near ash; the second ranks repeated their fate. The third managed to put up shields, but they were useless. Grenade launchers were silent, as heavy equipment had not yet failed. Snipers (and the Jags had them) were blowing away those with heavy weapons, such as accelerators, or glowing ones, coming under the direct control of the Chief. Before they could fully transform, they were already bursting with .50 calibre. Then came the Praetorians, on whom they had to waste RPG missiles. When the first wave was over, the second wave came, then the third and fourth, but the Jags held on. Thanks to Tori, they had no fear and followed orders. No, they weren't mindless zombies. Tori never did that. His compulsion involved giving the victim an obsession. So obsessive that he would execute it immediately unless, of course, his I.Q. was low enough to be able to command quickly. That's why the vorka and Yagi were chosen. Tory had easily taken control of these two races because they were stupid. But now they were the ones who were now tearing apart piles of bugs, turning them into mincemeat or even steam. Tori's thoughts and emotions were being transmitted to the victims as well. Today it would be over. Today vengeance would be exacted.

The geth were moving fast enough at first, sometimes they managed to run through whole halls without fighting, but then the bugs started to run into the geth. They immediately killed them and moved on. There were casualties, but not many, thanks to the Primes, who carried kinetic dome generators that blocked the corridor. Because of them, the bugs didn't have time to kill the geth before they died.

In the halls, the Geth's cover groups were repelling the Beetle landing parties. They flew straight to the target on platforms to land. At first, RPGs and 50 calibres shot down the platforms, but there were too many of them, so some managed to land and land at least some. Those "at least some" didn't even get a shot off before lasers killed them and sometimes grenades.

The Works, on the other hand, were running through the vents. The tactics were quite tolerable. One biotic fighter, wearing medium armour and carrying a portable kinetic shield, walked in front, with the others following behind him. When an enemy is seen, everyone stops, the frontman holds the shield, and two others shoot at those in front. The biotic, on the other hand, was needed in case the shield went down; it wasn't infinite, after all. And so it went on constantly, almost no variety at all. Except that sometimes the Vorka would throw light and noise around corners to shoot bugs again. It strongly resembled a conveyor belt. But the most important thing was that there were no delays. The doors opened by themselves, as the cyberattack was already working.

****

The frigate Normandie-SR2.

The whole crew was thinking about their thoughts before the decisive battle of their lives. And they had a lot to think about...

****

Thane

Well, here it is, the last fight. I'm taking a holiday after this one. I need a holiday—me and Kasumi. I'll introduce her to Kolkata. Hopefully, he won't mind. And I'll have to start paying my taxes so Koliat can do it. But where are we going to live? I don't think Kasumi's going to like Kahya. It's all drills. And there's a lot of jellyfish and Kasumi's Japanese. They like to eat them. Okay, stop, Tane, that's disrespectful. Anyway, calm down. Everything's going to be fine.

****

Kasumi

Would Taine agree to live on Illium? It's beautiful there, and the planet itself is quite self-sufficient. Just have to pick a flat. And a way to get David there. What about a crane? No, it could fall. Lift? They'd notice. A cargo shuttle through a hole in the roof? Who's going to fix it? And if it rains, the carpet will get wet. And there will be carpet. Persian. I've got one left. Well, we'll think of something. First, we have to choose a flat. And furniture. And an Aerocar. And a bed. Oh, Kasumi, is that what you're thinking? We're about to land on a base crawling with bugs, and you're thinking about a double bed. And pillows. And a silk duvet. Oh, shut up!

****

Samara

Let's tell Garrus now. No, he'll worry. And he'll keep me off the base—anyway, he can. Stun me, tie me up, beg me. Shepard might even order it. No, that's not why I've been through so much with the captain so that minutes before the finals, I'll be banned because of my... Status. And it's short notice; it's only a week. Normally no one notices anything at this point, but Mordin's as ubiquitous as Susie or Legatus. At least he didn't say anything, thank you. Hey, Samara, take it easy. Everything's going to be all right. We'll beat the Reapers now, and then we'll live somewhere and raise our daughter. But what should we name her? How about Lyra? Or Tela? Or maybe Neya? Oh, Samara, you're doing great. Now the most difficult and responsible mission in your life, you're thinking about what to name your daughter, about whom your lover knows nothing. You're like a virgin.

****

Garrus

It's strange. Why is Samara so nervous? I thought I reassured her that I was going to be okay. She was so worried. I can't believe she's worried again. She's got the time. I'm the one who should be worried about her! What if a sniper kills her? Or a rocket-propelled grenade launcher? Or she trips and breaks her neck? Yeah, I've done that before. All right, Garrus, pull yourself together. You're doing this because you don't want Palaven to fall in flames. Yeah, the Protean videos the Legatus showed us. Anyway, it would help if you thought about the good stuff.

Like family. Father, sister. Oh, especially when she yelled at me when I admitted I was on Tessia. And the funny thing is how she figured me out, given my helmet. The way she shot me. She's going to make a good detective. I shouldn't have talked to her at all. No, I should have. It was nice talking to my mum. She's recovered, thank Mordin. And I should have warned her about what was about to happen. I'd rather have them on Palaven than in some convalescent colony. At least that way, I'll have some peace of mind. Then I'll come too; I have to introduce them to Samara. Hehe, Dad will be surprised.

****

Mordin

I am a typical scholar of the Salarian race,

I've studied Turians, Azari and Batarians.

I'm good at genetics (that's biology),

Because I'm an expert (that's a tautology).

I study everything from science to dance,

I'm a typical Salarian scientist.

****

Legion

First, we defeat the Collectors, then the Reapers, then... And then what? What do we do? Well, that's interesting. I don't know. Oh, yeah, I got it. Everybody loves video games. Let's make them ourselves. Yeah, I know. I have a lot of ideas. Although, who'll care about games when the relays and the Citadel are gone? Who am I kidding? Games are what we need to escape from this horrible reality. But what's the name? What names are there? Yeah, they're almost all taken. Although. No, not all of them.

You could call the game. Mass Effect. Yeah, that's right. And the Reapers do come, and the G.G. has to save the Galaxy from them, just like Shepard. Yeah, that's never happened before. It's all about a good story. And different weapons. And graphics. And dialogue. What about dialogue? Let's make each answer have a few options. Yeah, I'll do that. And I want you to be able to make your character. You know, appearance, biography, character. Or choose your name. Okay, we'll think about that later. In the meantime, let's run a systems diagnostic. 709,373 times.

****

Zaid

Okay, rifle - one piece, pistol - two pieces, grenades - fifteen pieces. Thermoclips, thirty, knife, one, machete, one. Plasma blade - one piece. Unic - one piece. Armour - one set. Kinetic shield - two pieces. Head. Whoa, whoa, what!? Goddamn it, Zaid, the fourth time in a row you can't do an inventory. All right, that's enough! Zaid Massani, relax your buttocks! No fucking Key Shock batar has ever made you as tight as some Huskies. Huskies, my arse! Relax, relax, I'm telling you. -- For Karin's sake, relax! She sees everything! She's probably watching your heartbeat! I can smell it in your arse! If you can smell it in your arse, calm down and don't embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend. Otherwise, everyone will know she's gay because she's dating a woman! Come on, Zaid. It's all according to plan. Take down the Collectors, the Reapers and anyone who lays a finger on Karin. Well, that last one's for the long term.

****

Jack.

Okay.

Getting out of Purgatory - check.

Getting the contract of a lifetime - check.

Find the love of your life - not supposed to, but there is.

Fuck the Collectors - no, it's not. It should be crossed out.

Bend the Collectors - there, that's better. What's next on the list?

Find a home for me and Miri - it's coming, my love. It's coming.

****

Miranda

I wonder why Jack keeps writing on the uni and sometimes crossing out. Okay, I'll find out later. Damn, I'd like to see if it's important. No, Miranda, stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. You're not at Cerberus anymore. For which I can thank Shepherd for the rest of my life. I'm finally not with those damn psychos. Especially Ghost. As soon as we're done with the bugs, I'll get the guys to help with him. How do we kill him? Headshot? I can't wait. Burn it? Interesting. Throw him out the airlock? Javik has an imagination. Cut with a fork? Jack's option seems more appropriate. Rip it open with biotics? Need to be faster. Give it to the rachni to eat? Legatus has an imagination. I am curious to know how Tali gets along with him. Enslave him? Heh, that's even more interesting. Yeah, I'll put him in a poison-pink dinner jacket and make him bring me breakfast in bed. And Jack will use him as a punching bag. No, that would kill him. And I don't want that. He doesn't deserve a quick death.

****

Javik.

What am I supposed to do after this? No, really, what do I do when it's over? Damn, I've been thinking about this all my life, and now, revenge is near, but what to do next... That's a dilemma. Could you help Azari? What's her name? Liara. There's no other choice. His Reverend will order it to be done. I can't go against his orders. And then. I'll go and rule the Hanarans. Yeah, they'll think I'm a god there. And if I can improve the Hanar so they're all biotic. Well, we have to start somewhere. Empires were built from scratch, too.

****

Grant

Bitch, it's itchy! Let me kill someone, just someone! Bitch, bastard, bastard, if I don't shoot bugs in a minute, I will hit someone. Like Mordin. No, then I'm going to get hit by Shepherd. I don't want that. Then I'll hit Garrus. No, that would be worse. Oh, well, I'll bang my head against the wall, break a couple hundred crates and calm down. And then I'll kill the bugs. And eat them. I hope they're good.

****

Rex

Let's get started, shall we? I'm hungry. No, I ate three chickens, of course. With bones. And some of that buckwheat. And rice. But I'm still hungry. And here we are, landing. Oh, I should have asked for more borscht. That would have been enough. No, these dumplings are better. Yes, exactly. I'll eat them after the landing. I've got three kilos left in the freezer; that's enough. And yes, let's hurry up.

****

Liara

Here we go, the last mission. It's the last one now. I'm not letting Jane go on more missions to save the Galaxy. The flat on Illium is empty, and I'm dying to return there. Jane would not want to go back to Earth. She never liked it. Although, it does rain on Illium. Well, better there than on a human colony or flying back and forth on the Normandy. I've nothing against her, but I want to settle down somewhere. Somewhere where Jane can be happy and forget about the war. I can help her with that.

****

Tali.

Kyla, is that why I did it? That's what drove me when I tried to pull Legate's processor out of the platform while he was supposedly asleep. Oh, Kila, I meant well. Я... I don't want anything to happen to him. Something always happens at crucial moments like this. It's always like that in human films! No, Tali, calm down. He's going to be fine. Except he's angry with me now. He didn't get mad, but he won't talk to me now. Kila, what a fool I was thinking. Oh, he said it right once. You do what's best, but it's always the same. All right, well, time to concentrate on the mission. Except for what happens afterwards. Back to Rannoch? They won't let me go there with the geth. Maybe Legatus will accept the Quarian platform. Yes, it would be better for everyone. He doesn't care; he said so himself, but I can help on Rannoch. That's where we need help. But first, we have to deal with the Reapers.

****

Shepherd

Well, the hour has come. It's time to get this over with. Where did it all start, anyway? With me being made SPECTRE for political gain. And Nilus is getting shot in the head. I certainly didn't think then that some geth would become my best friend and that I would storm a huge base to save the entire Galaxy from giant squid-II starships that exterminate all intelligent life in this Galaxy every fifty thousand years. Who would have thought it? And I certainly never dreamed I'd meet a living protean, and I never dreamed I'd find the love of my life. Liara. Damn, I'm so worried about her. No, Jane, take it easy. You're going to look after her; nothing will happen to her. We'll be fine, and then we'll go somewhere where we'll be happy, just the two of us. And it won't matter if I become the most wanted criminal in the Galaxy. I'm willing to do it for Liara's sake, for the crew's sake, for everyone in this Galaxy. You can only come out as a partial winner. You can't make things go well for you and your enemy be defeated. Everything has a price. And if my reputation is the price for all lives, even one life, Liara's life, then I'm okay with that. I've already done too much bad in this life. It's time to do something good, so I don't live this life for anything.

****

Legatus.

So. This is it, the end. The end of the mission. What I've been striving for these past two-plus years. It's finally over. And I don't have to end it all by choosing one of three endings. I got my ending, and I'm glad I was able to do that. I'm also glad I found another meaning in life. Tali. My treasure that I would give anything for. If I had been told three years ago that the meaning of my life would be a Quarian, I would have walked past that man, mentally realising that he was smoking something. But now... Now I have her. And for her, I will fight to the end.

- That's it, it's time," I said, getting the green colour from Xade. Everything was ready, and now was our exit.

- Hey guys," Susie contacted us. - Good luck.

The plan was simple. Advance through the corridors and halls, then go to the lift platforms and fly to the command centre. Oh, and kill the Chief, of course.

We first didn't even meet any resistance, so we ran fast. I was in my combat platform, in which I was on Tuchanka, and ran ahead of the others in case someone ran out at us. It takes a lot of effort to break through armour.

But the freebies couldn't last forever, and we had a hiccup in the first hall. Several squads of beetles were passing by. We dealt with them almost instantly, they didn't stand a chance, but now they knew about us, which was discouraging. Doors opened in front of us immediately; the cyberattack was going like clockwork. Occasionally we saw a vork running through the vents, but mostly we ran from hall to hall.

After running through three halls, almost unopposed, we still came across a well-prepared bug position. The bitches were waiting for us.

The first thing I shoot at is the one already starting to glow. It explodes and disintegrates into molecules. Then we all take cover and start killing as best we can.

Liara and Tali work a singularity-warp combination, Samara and Thayne a pull-strike combination, and Miranda and Jack an up-and-down combination. Rex and Grant also work the bugs with shotguns, getting their dose of high and fun, while Javik fires his rifle. Garrus blows everyone's heads off. I throw a grenade at the wall; it bounces off and explodes, tearing four of them apart. Shepard also keeps up and kills the ones he can. Mordin and Kasumi keep the bugs from flanking or taking off.

- Let's go! - Shepard shouts as we finish off everyone who tried to stop us. We had to hurry; at any moment, the boss could realise that we weren't just some idiots; we were on his mind.

In the next hall, we ran into organised resistance again.

- You don't think that's a lot of people, Legatus!? - Shepard questioned, throwing a grenade at a particularly raucous trio behind cover. The incendiary grenade did a good job on them - only the implants remained.

- Honestly, Shepard," I decided to answer, but I shot the Firefly with half a clip. - That's not much!

- What's a little more? - Rex asked, firing his shotgun three times, killing two of them and hitting the third with biotics.

- A lot is with the Yagi," I answered. - One squad had a corridor blocked by husky corpses.

- So there are Huskies here, too? - Shepard wondered.

- Huskies! - shouted Javik, but we didn't pay much attention.

- Yes, Javik, Huskies!

- No, Captain. There's a Husky over there! - shouted the protean, realising he was misunderstood. Indeed, when three bugs were left, fifty of those blue-eyed zombies and three offspring ran out of the corridor.

- Shit recalled, that's it," Shepard muttered. Even I used to think that was an accordion. It's a classic.

The Huskies were hit with biotics so they wouldn't waste ammunition. Unlike the game, the Collectors didn't want to share with us. But on the offspring, we had to bring Krogan down:

The first one was knocked down and crushed by Rex, Grant killed the second one against the wall, and the third one was picked up and then lowered by Javik. Very "gently" lowered.

And after that, we moved on. Resistance was already in the corridor, but Javik, Rex and Grant, who were in the vanguard, just crushed them all, and we ensured we didn't get rear-ended. The doors were still closing behind us, though.

****

The command centre of the Collectors' base

The Chief ran back and forth in his den, trying to fix the situation. Pressing buttons like a mad Salarian pianist, he gave hundreds of commands. Still, suddenly he began to notice that half of the holograms had disappeared altogether, and half of what was there was burning a bright red light instead of the usual green.

Pressing one special button, the Chief looked at the holographic model of the base. The result could have been more comforting. The enemy occupied half of the hangars, and even the former Proteans' huge forces could not dislodge them. Enemies in the ventilation and synthetics, who were taking over every corridor of the base, were a major hindrance. With such forces of synthetics, one should not systematically capture the base but try to break through to the core and the command centre. And the Chief took advantage of this, sending more and more forces at the synthetics to dislodge them and break into the flank of those defending the hangars.

Then the Chief did turn his attention to those who had attacked him in the first place: Yagi, vorka, geth. The Chief didn't question how this was possible; he only did his best to drive them out of his base and fulfil the Forerunner's orders.

But it was proving to be a difficult task. Individual squads of his soldiers, weak in numbers, were being killed by vork that jumped out of the vents. The geth was destroying stronger units, and reinforcements for the dead were not coming up, nor were units to counterattack.

Suddenly the Chief noticed that another squad was making its way through the base in small numbers. At first, the Chief just started sending squads at them. But all he kept hearing about was their deaths. The Chief was interested in this and decided to see what was happening.

He didn't have time to take control, but he did manage to see. A living protean. It did make the Main man feel something inside, though. Some... visions. Of some protean and... And many more proteans. It's called... People. My people.

Orders must be obeyed. That's the main thing, and the Chief knows it. So he decides to activate everything he's got. The Organians call it "going all-in."

It doesn't make sense. It's about tactics. It's about the mission. We have to hit them with everything we've got. In the name of the Empire!

Warning: Enemy detected in sectors 1.34.73-7.45.11.

Warning: Enemy detected in sectors 9.54.23-14.34.76.

Warning: enemy detected in sectors 23.43.65.-34.25.61.

Order: lock the doors 17.342.254.-134.32.64.

Request denied

Order: lock the doors 231.65.89.-235.61.95.

Request denied

Warning: unknown gas detected

Introduction of gas into ventilation system: 100%

Implement the emergency protocol for chemical containment of the ventilation system

Request denied

CAUTION: REJECTION OF SEEKER IMPLANTS!

PROBABILITY OF CHEEK IMPLANT REJECTION: 100%

MORTALITY RATE OF CHEEKS DUE TO IMPLANT REJECTION: 100%.

CHEEK POPULATION:

100%... 95%... 83%... 71%... 65%... 54%... 47%... 33%... 24%... 17%... 3%... 0%

Seeker extinction

Orders: activate soldier pods.

Emergency protocol for activation of soldier pods has been implemented.

Activation of all soldier pods

Warning: partial activation of soldier pods

Number of activated soldier capsules: 45%

Warning: order to recycle all biomaterial has been entered.

Start of biomaterial recycling.

Recycling: 13%... 43%... 78%... 100%

Introduction of the obtained biomaterial into the Proto-Reaper.

Introduction: 11%... 23%... 45%... 75%... 100%.

ATTENTION: INCOMPATIBILITY OF BIOMATERIAL DNA WITH PROTO-REAPER DNA!

Proto-Reaper utilisation protocol introduced.

Activation of the Proto-Reaper core.

Proto-Reaper core power: 32%.... 46%... 67%... 85%... 100%

Shutting down the Proto-Reaper core cooling system.

ATTENTION: PROTO-REAPER CORE OVERLOAD!

ATTENTION: PROTO-REAPER CORE OVERHEATING!

EMERGENCY SEALING OF THE PROTO-REAPER COMPARTMENT!

A violent shaking shook the Chief. The entire base felt the jolt of one megaton of Proto-Reaper core explosion. The Chief couldn't handle the situation any longer. Over half of the soldiers were recycled, and the resulting substance was sent to the Proto-Reaper, allowing the hackers to activate the recycling protocol. D.N.A. mismatch, spoilage of the product, need for disposal. A simple chain of logic had just allowed the hackers to destroy the fruits of months of endeavour.

Now what the organics called panic returned to the Chief.

No, he didn't feel panic. He feels nothing. He is a servant of the Reapers; he must carry out orders.

That protean. He's alive. The other one. But they're Proteans. They are the ones on the base. They've become allies of the Reapers. They've risen.

That's what happened. He's just a fake. An inferior being. He must be destroyed.

What if we are counterfeit? If he's the last protean and we're just enslaved people.

We must kill him. To fulfil an order. Reaper orders. Gratitude. For the Rapture.

What if there was no Exaltation? If it was all a hoax.

Machines don't lie.

But lies are logical. There is a compulsion if we are under compulsion.

Compulsion is a weapon. Weapons are only raised against enemies. We are not enemies of the Reapers. We have ascended. We are on par with them.

Compulsion creates enslaved people. Huskies are slaves. That protean is real. So we are Huskies. Enslaved people. Under compulsion.

OBEY ORDERS! KILL THE PROTEAN!

What's the point of killing him? There is no point. He will help. He will save us. He'll break the Cycles!

There is salvation in the Cycles. Salvation through destruction!

No. Salvation lies in inaction.

- Я! CROGHAN! - The Praetorian has seen much in his life, much less experienced. But falling on top of a krogan in a full battle dress, he had not. As soon as he fell on the krogan, Grant started shooting off the bugs with his shotgun. We covered him while Tali and Liara held a barrier for Grant. Then Samara throws a singularity at three bugs, and Jack quickly blasts them with a warp. That leaves another... a hell of a lot more!

- Zaid, give me all your grenades! - I ask the mercenary, and he silently gives me all seven. I start setting them remotely so they explode on impact. And then, I start grabbing one grenade at a time, pressing the button during the swing and throwing it behind the fortifications, having time to calculate the flight path. All the grenades explode one by one, blasting the beetles left, right, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up.

- Liara, Tali, Jack, Miranda, hold the barrier! - Shepard shouted. - The rest of you, full power to shields and G.O.! - the order was obeyed, and there was a reason for the banzai attack. The bugs were pinned to the cliff, where platforms would lead us to the Centre. That's why we went in a coordinated line, almost in step, under the cover of the barriers, while shooting the beetles' heads, arms, legs, organs and everything they had. It wasn't long before victory was at hand.

- Quick to the platforms. They'll be right back! - I shouted, and no one objected. Suddenly, a door opened behind us, and bugs poured in. We immediately started shooting back, but there was a huge pile of them. It looked like they'd just broken something and opened the door manually, and there were about a hundred of them, according to what I could see on my thermal imager.

- GRANT! GET AN R.P.G. AT THEM! - Shepard shouted while I was hacking into the damn platforms. So there's no password on them. I fucking believed it. Oh, those biowarfs.

- G.E.T. 'E.M., BITCHES! - Grant shouted and fired the last incendiary shells into the corridor. The rocket even managed to fly a few metres inside, and I could see through its eyes that there were not a hundred but three hundred and quarter bugs in the corridor. Then the rocket exploded, vaporising everyone who was there. And the fire spread to our old positions, but we were already flying on seven platforms docked together.

- They're flying," said Garrus, shooting one of the bugs flying on a platform. But there were nine platforms. Quickly they reacted. The biotics immediately started working on them. They shot down one, then a second and a third. Garrus and the Legion shot everyone on the fourth. Then we joined in. Ultimately, only three platforms docked with us, and they landed a landing party. Which I safely threw grenades at. Not for nothing.

Then we had to fight off the flying suicides. Suicides, because Garrus and the Legion felt like they were in a shooting gallery, and biotics calmly worked with simple blows. Some still managed to fly, but only because of their numbers. It was like a rain of bug corpses, by God.

- Ready," I said as we began to approach our destination. The bugs kept coming, and shooting them off was getting harder and harder. They were coming out of every crevice like a honeycomb. The Chief brought down everything he had and diverted all the reinforcements for my troops. But it was too late.

Once docked, we started shooting off the flying bugs and, simultaneously, the Huskies crawling up from below. Still, the entrance to the Centre was a hundred metres high.

I started hacking at the door, Javik prepared a plasma blade, and the rest of us fired at the swarm of bugs. There were thousands of them, and they kept piling on.

- LEGAT! - Shepard yelled.

- LEGAT, COME ON, YOU METAL SHIT! - supported Captain Zaid, who squeezed the trigger and fired indiscriminately. There was no point in aiming; you'd hit someone anyway. I only got 50%.

- LEGATUS, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! - It was Jack.

- Legatus, please hurry! - Shouted Tali, and here it was already 90% per cent. Legion managed to grab his leg but managed to shoot the husky with his sniper rifle, but then a bug grabbed him and carried him off. And there was no more charge in the rifle, needing to reload. The bug took Legion into a cloud of bugs, and we lost sight of him. But at the same second, the door to the Command Centre opened.

Javik, filled with rage and hatred, ran into the Centre with his plasma blade activated and immediately saw the Chief Collector. He was doing something on the console. Javik was approaching him step by step, and the swarm of bugs was approaching us, trying to sweep us away in numbers. While Javik was running those three metres, the Chief had time to turn his head to the protean, and I saw in those eyes... Pain. Pain, sadness, suffering, and some kind of... Hope. He knew we were already here. He could have been ready and torn Javik apart with his biotics right now because I already knew that the Main were powerful biotics, that the Azari matriarchs, and even Morinth, were smoking nervously. But he didn't. Didn't even try. And Yavik didn't care about that. He swung and struck right across the head. The blade travelled diagonally between the two pairs of eyes and stopped where the mouth should be. The Chief stared into the eyes of his compatriot. His eyes went blank instantly, and then I heard his voice.

- Thank you," it was a hoarse, dull voice filled with the most sincere gratitude and relief. Afterwards, the body of the main man immediately collapsed to the floor.

The second the Chief Collector fell to the floor dead, the entire swarm that was moving at us, all the tens of thousands of beetles that flew to the rescue of their Chief, turned into corpses and began to fall to the floor of the corridor on which we were flying just a minute ago. Their number was so huge that the pile was now ten metres thick.

And so it was all over the base. All the soldiers, Praetorians, offspring and brats, huskies and other nasties just passed out and fell to the floor.

But that wasn't what I was worried about now. I couldn't contact the Legion. And that was the worst part. I couldn't locate it, nor could I contact it. After checking a few things, I realised he still needed to return to Virtua.

- Legion!" shouted Shepard into the tunnel where there were tens of thousands of organic Collector corpses. Her voice echoed through the empty corridors of the base. There was no response.

But suddenly, one of the corpses began to move. Then it moved away, and I saw what I wanted more than anything. Legion emerged from the pile of corpses. He had no right arm, half his left leg, and his head was hanging by three wires and tubes, though it still worked.

- Shepherd! I'm alive! - He raised his whole arm. He didn't have his rifle on him.

- Oh, you devil. We felt scared! - I said, coming to the edge. - All right, we'll figure out how to get you out of there. Wait.

- Kila, we did it, - said Tali almost in a whisper, though everyone heard it.

- Yeah... - said Zaid. - We did it. THA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.... WE DID IT!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

- Now, that's what I call a fight! YEAH! - Rex cheered.

- Bitch, that was something... - said Jack, snuggling up to Miranda. Their example was followed by everyone who had paired with them. Samara to Garrus, Kasumi to Thayne, Liara to Jane, Tali to me. All of them had wounds. Some were in the arm, some in the leg, and grenades hit some, but most importantly, they were all alive. And now there's one last thing to do.

- The horn is one hundred per cent loaded.

- Fire.

The Gorn's yellow beam fired into the Omega-4's transponder. It became several times more powerful, glowing yellow. Then the repeater shot a yellow beam to its pair. The same thing happened there, after which the beams began to fly from repeater to repeater, cutting across hundreds of thousands of light years in a fraction of a second. Thousands of ancient machines were coming under the control of their new masters. Eventually, the beams reached the Citadel, which also lit up yellow.

- Come on," came the order, and now the moment of truth had arrived.

The Citadel, already completely evacuated by the sudden siren that demanded all inhabitants to leave the station, began to fulfil its main function. The Presidium ring, which had always been the cultural Centre of the station, now came into motion. The two rings separated and began to rotate on different axes. The Council Tower began to glow with a bright yellow light. An enormous repeater activated. After a few more minutes, as the speed of the rings reached their limit, the first Reapers rushed to the other repeaters, as there was no one on the Citadel.

All the repeaters began to connect with yellow beams, which was where the Reapers travelled. "The Collectors had already told them where to go, so the Reapers didn't stop. The transponders sent hundreds of ships in different directions to spread the load.

If someone were watching this picture from another galaxy, for example, he would see the entire Milky Way covered with a yellow web, along which thousands of ancient machines were going to the next Harvest to all corners of the Galaxy.

The repeaters were working at maximum capacity. The rings were spinning so fast that they could hardly be seen, and the light of the lemon-yellow had already turned almost white. However, they were still doing their job.

Omega-4 was also, like its brethren, working at its limit. And so, the first Reapers began to jump out of it. Accelerated to mind-boggling speeds, they hardly had time to realise where they were and where they were heading by inertia. And they were heading for a black hole. They still had time to activate their engines but could not influence the situation. The Reapers flew into the hole and immediately disappeared in it because even the light, and thus its reflection from their body, could not escape from the hole.

More and more Reapers jumped out of the repeater. Nargul, who was now in charge of the repeaters, didn't even try to care about getting out of the jump safely. This caused many Reapers to crash into each other but continued to fly into the hole. All of them tried to slow down, all of them tried to escape from something that even they had no control over, but nothing would save them.

And then, the Harbinger himself jumped out of the repeater. It turned out to be huge: five kilometre long tentacles and twenty kilometres high. He immediately began to save himself. His engines were enough to resist the monstrous gravitational force of the black hole. He was gripped by it, and he could not fly away from it, but he was capable of not flying into it. For a while, until a Sovereign-class dreadnought crashed into the Forerunner. Both of them, losing control, hurtled into the blackness of the unknown.

The last Reapers were flying towards the hole. They had already stopped coming out of the jump; just a few dozen left had not yet flown away. But their fate was already sealed; it took less than a minute for the last representatives of the oldest, albeit artificial, creatures to leave the Galaxy forever.

After a few more seconds of continuous operation, the Omega-4 repeater did collapse. The rings detached piece by piece, the null element dissipated, and the hull fell into small pieces.

It was the same with the rest of the repeaters. They all collapsed, leaving hundreds of thousands of unremarkable metal fragments in their place.

Eventually, it was the turn of the Main Repeater. The Citadel's rings also collapsed, and giant, gigantic petals crashed their opposite ends into each other, destroying the buildings and leaving behind mere foundations.

That was it. That was the end of the Reapers. They were gone in a black hole. And either they had been torn apart by the immense gravity, or they had managed, by some miracle, to cross the event horizon and reappear somewhere else. But it didn't matter now. They were gone from the Milky Way Galaxy. The cycles were broken. Forever.

****

Kronos Station.

- So," the pathologist began. - What have we got here?

- Brain haemorrhage. Blood poisoning. Extensive necrosis of the heart, lungs, stomach, liver," said his colleague.

- Well, so much for the all-powerful Phantom," the Cerberus doctor joked. - How did this happen, by the way?

- I'm not sure exactly, but I think it was those strange nanorobots, which he called "nanites". He had a shitload of them, and then one day, they shut down. And then some implant in his brain shut down, and that's what caused the bleeding.

- Okay, all right. Let's cremate him. There's no protocol for his death, so we'll go with the "unknown corpse" protocol. All right?

- Deal! - agreed my colleague, and the corpse of the all-powerful ghost, found dead in his office almost immediately after the destruction of the Citadel, was sent for cremation.

****

One year from now.

- And in other news. The Quarian Republic has announced the start of production of the so-called "warp engine", created recently by the Quarian engineer Tali'Zora. This invention has already been tested, and according to our data, the engine can speed up to five times faster than the transponder speed. This invention has become most relevant with the destruction of all repeaters a year ago. The Turian Hierarchy, the Salarian Union, the Systems Alliance and the Azarian Republics are already requesting to begin negotiations to purchase this development. Negotiations are scheduled for next Thursday. And now military news from the civil war-ridden Batarian Hegemony...

Tali couldn't watch the news any further, so she switched off the T.V. She didn't like listening to news from the Hegemony anyway. It was mostly nuclear explosions, genocides and coups. All in all, nothing interesting. But the first news story had already pissed the Quarian off.

- Legate!" she called to the geth, who was in the Quarian's platform. He couldn't live any other way on Rannoch, even though there was plenty of geth on the planet now. Still, the geth were much better builders than the quarians.

- Yes, dear? - came a voice from just behind the girl. She hadn't even seen him standing there while she was lying on the couch.

- Tell me why you told everyone it was my invention. It's not!

- Actually, it is. You created the Warp Engine," Legate began to justify himself.

- I only suggested the idea! - Quarian did not stop. - And also scribbled something on the unic, and you immediately saw it as a brilliant idea, brought it to mind, made all the calculations ...

- It's your design. That says it all.

- Oh. Why did you put my name on it? No one's ever going to leave me alone now.

- Too much attention to your humble person? - Legatus asked, even though he already knew the answer.

- Yes! I-- I've had enough of your attention. And now I have to be present at these negotiations. Do you know what sharks of diplomacy will be there? What am I compared to them?

- Don't worry, Javik will go with you," the Legate reassured the girl. - He's so hard-headed, you couldn't find a better diplomat.

- Oh, it's going to be a terrible week.

- Don't be afraid. I'll be there for you," Legatus said calmly, kissing his beloved. - Always.