12

Shepard, Liara, and Tali walked along the deck towards the captain's bridge. Garrus and Rex, on the other hand, entered the captain's bridge through the porthole and were heading to meet Shepard. The ship itself was in complete disarray. A bunch of wires hanging from the ceiling. Various items scattered throughout the ship. The hull was full of holes through which the light from the bright Tikkun star penetrated.

"How could the building withstand such an impact?" Liara began, trying to defuse the situation.

"Don't even mention it..." Shepard continued. "Any building on Earth would have suffered the same fate as the twin towers after such an impact."

"Who?" Tali asked.

"Ah, sorry, that's... from our history. A clear example of how civilian aviation can be used for non-civilian purposes," Jane explained.

"Um..." Liara didn't understand.

"Look it up on the extranet. Enter September 11th. They'll understand you," Liara was about to say something when suddenly Rex spoke over the radio.

"Shepard. We just stumbled upon some quarians. We didn't engage, and they turned the other way. They didn't notice us. They're heading towards you. We're following them," Rex whispered, and Shepard was already thinking about where to hide. She didn't want to mess with the quarian landing party. As Tali had quickly explained, they were stubborn, uncompromising patriots of the Fleet. If they met Shepard, they might even open fire. Of course, with Tali, their chances were higher, but they wouldn't be patted on the head for killing the admiral's daughter, who had been on a pilgrimage. However, the mission would still be at risk, as the quarians would start yelling at them that it was only the Fleet's business, and they didn't want to hear about the Council. And during that time, the geth could escape. Fortunately, Shepard quickly found a place to hide.

"Here," she ordered, pushing both of them into the cabin and locking it. Darkness immediately enveloped the room, and a minute later, quarian speech was heard.

"Well, that's the last deck."

"Yes, it seems there's no geth here. It survived the landing after all."

"Great. We lost it. Now go find that geth. Daro'Zen will have our heads if he finds out."

"That's for sure... What? Yes. Yes. I understand you," it seemed that the quarian was talking on the radio. After that, he addressed his comrades again. "So. The geth has been detected. Other geth from Saren are chasing it, which jumped out of some huge dreadnought that is now almost landing on the planet. Yes, that's right. Alright, let's go. We have a chance," and everyone immediately ran off the ship. Shepard came out and immediately saw Garrus and Rex, who were approaching them.

"Well?" asked Garrus.

"They found it. Not on the ship. Geth from Saren are chasing it. That's it, we're leaving. Joker, pick us up!" said Shepard, holding the radio.

At the same time.

From the start

I was almost out of the Bastion. The structure was embedded in a mountain, so it had decent protection, but knowing Nazara's patience, I think this defense will fall anyway. So it's better to get away from here, otherwise Nazara will wreck everything so badly that only heretics will remain from the geth.

Inside, the Bastion looked a bit strange. High ceilings, lots of corridors, and all the walls covered with platforms, which were most likely for defense. And there were tens of thousands of platforms. Not to mention the turrets of all calibers, drones, and even tanks. I even found a "sleeping" tank that I had never seen before. It was black and twice the size of a Colossus. And why do geth have such a love for walking tanks? It's very inconvenient. Don't believe me? Ask Shepard. Or at least ask me. In the first Mass Effect, I ran over these tanks with the Mako so deliciously, not letting them stand up, so they weren't that much of a problem for me. Although, if you put these tanks in narrow, long corridors, try to dodge their volleys. And even though these tanks won't be able to maneuver and will be just kamikazes, as strange as it may sound, the enemy losses will be significant. In general, as I walked through the corridors, I began to notice that some platforms were activating and following me. Well, okay, they're probably going to defend the Bastion. Although it's strange. Wouldn't it be easier to load into the platforms closest to the entrance? And not all platforms are loading, but only those I passed, and not even all of them. Something's wrong here. I can feel it in my gut. And it didn't deceive me.

At the very entrance, a delegation of many Primes and Juggernauts was already waiting for me. There were scouts on all walls, assault troops, rocket launchers, and ordinary geth soldiers standing along the walls. And there was a nice bunch of drones in the air. And all of them, without exception, were looking at me. It made me feel creepy. No, seriously, why are they looking at me like that? Because of all this, I stopped and turned back, but behind me was a motley crowd led by a Prime. And now it turned out that I was blocked on both sides. Even the top was blocked by drones. Damn, it looks like some kind of ambush. I have no other associations in principle. I decided to part peacefully.

"So what does all this mean? "I didn't know any other questions. What else could I ask: "How are you?"

"Geth choose their own path," the Prime began. "If we follow you, will the Creators forgive us? "well, that was unexpected. I didn't expect this at all.

"At least we'll have a chance," what else could I say to them? Lying to them right now is definitely not a good idea.

"Then we will follow you.

What a twist. What a surprise. No, I understand everything, but... Ah, never mind, we need to get out of here now.

"Good. But we need a ship to leave.

"We have no ships.

"But you can load into them, can't you? Or hijack them?

"We are now disconnected from the Consensus. We cannot take the ships of the Consensus. It would lead to war," well, it would have been better if they had taken a ship first. Maybe they tried but were not allowed? Well, that could be the case. Damn, I always knew that geth were greedy. They would drive any volus to the grave if they went into business, and they're still stingy. Oh, these geth!

"Any ideas on how we can leave?

"Yes. 10 km from here, there is a preserved ship of the Creators. It might still be operational, — wow, now that's good news.

"It will do. But how do we get to it?

"The Consensus has allowed us to take transportation.

"Good," and suddenly a strong shake swept through the entire complex. It seems Nazara has started to play around. And that means it's time to leave.

We entered the hangar, where there was a huge number of transport vehicles. The very ones Legion used to save Shepard from the Reaper on Rannoch in the third Mass Effect. Only there were thousands of them here. And I immediately understood how many people were following me. To put it briefly, we took all the vehicles here, assuming that 10-15 platforms were assigned to each. I'm serious, they even stuck outside to escape with me. In general, after five minutes and three more strong jolts, we finally left the hangar outside.

We were traveling through a sandy plain, where there wasn't a single stone. Just a flat expanse with bushes, and only in the distance could rocky cliffs and boulders be seen. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the sun brightly illuminated the planet with its shine. It was only 9 o'clock by the local Greenwich equivalent, so the sky still had a pink hue. And yes, it was kind of winter here, in the sense that the days were short and the nights were long. And that's it. There was no snow on Rannoch. At all. Only rain, sometimes hail, and dust storms "in winter." A fantastic planet.

In general, 1200 such aerocars filled with geth to the brim traveled across the plain, and suddenly I saw that we were already being chased. Geth heretics on the exact same aerocars as ours began to flank us, overtake, and try to approach me.

— Damn. Destroy them! — with these words, I pulled out my rifle, which fortunately had not been taken from me, and fired at the first heretic car that decided to approach me up close. After doing a triple somersault, the car with the geth was left behind. But immediately a couple of hundred of his friends took his place. And then it started.

A light show worthy of Michael Bay himself began with the Sovereign, who had already stayed behind and flew after us, hanging its tentacles, shooting a red beam at us. I immediately turned right, but not everyone was as lucky as I was. The heated red beam of molten metal, accelerated to an unimaginable speed, swept across the ground, simply evaporating those geth who didn't manage to escape, and melting the sand, turning it into a glass-like mass. And as soon as I turned around, I understood something.

It turned out that BioWare had slightly underestimated the size of the Sovereign. By how much? Well, if I were to trust the calculations of my positronic "brain," its body was 4 km high, and each tentacle was 1 km long. And now this monstrosity was flying after us. Although it wasn't doing so very well. It seemed that most of its energy was spent on keeping this massive machine from crashing under the influence of gravity, and also on shooting at me. So, I wasn't too worried that it would catch up with me. But its geth were quite capable of that.

And now a real mess began. Essentially, we were surrounded on three sides, but that was enough. They started shooting at us with everything they had. We began to respond. I shot at one heretic. His car began to smoke since he had no shields, and then it started to zigzag like a snake, back and forth, until it finally crashed into his partner, merging them into one in every sense. Then another shot, and the geth car exploded, after which the flames and smoke cut through another geth who still managed to shoot at me. Luckily, he hit the shield, which sagged by 10%. I immediately returned fire to his car. However, instead of exploding, it soared into the sky at a right angle, then performed a barrel roll and slammed its comrade's car into the ground, and then another geth "tripped" over them, rolling head over heels in the sand.

In the air, there was a different atmosphere, as a swarm of drones followed me, immediately engaging in a battle with the heretic drones. It seemed that for these little robots, the concept of gravity didn't exist at all. They performed such somersaults, dead loops, and generally unknown to my memory high-class aerobatic figures that I would have said "Wow" if I weren't faced with COLOSSAL ENEMIES!

The Colossi were lined up, but there was a distance of about 10 meters between them, depending on each one. As soon as we entered their firing range, they opened fire. Luckily, dodging their shots was still easy. Their shots were slow, so I ordered everyone to ram them. Yes, I could now issue orders to the geth at their speed and understand them. However, I had already realized that listening to geth conversations was more trouble than it was worth. In one second, they could calculate an enemy's mass, the distance to it, the type of weapon, all the characteristics of that weapon, then the vector of the projectile's flight, its speed, and then about 10 variants of what, how, and why to do, and then send it all to their friends. And each of them did this. Anyway, I pressed a couple of buttons, my car rose a few meters, and I rammed the Colossus in the head. The head didn't fly off, but it seemed I had broken its spinal cord analogue. One way or another, it fell and didn't get up again.

"How much longer until your ship arrives?" I asked the prime over the radio, who was in the next car.

"Halfway there, but there's a problem.

"What is it? - That was the last thing I needed.

"If we continue on this path, Nazara will find out about our ship and destroy it before it even takes off. We need a diversionary maneuver.

I understood. And he was right. Well, I would have to surrender to someone so they could escape from Rannoch. And then they would save me.

"Understood. Go without me and take off. I'll distract them and surrender to Shepard or the Creators. Just try not to lose me and save me when you can. Got it?

"Yes. Understood, - after that, I turned and drove away as fast as I could.

And after a minute, I saw that my geth were already heading west. A real pursuit of several hundred aircars and drones followed me. However, they couldn't shoot at me as I was out of range. But my rifle could shoot at them.

So, with the autopilot and maximum speed engaged, I turned and began to shoot. Fortunately, I had a slightly different car. Rather, it wasn't even a car, but a wheel-less motorcycle that flew thanks to the mass effect. So I could shoot in all 360 degrees.

After the first shot, I sent the first car flying. It soared into the sky, but then fell from a height of 10 meters onto another car, causing a powerful explosion that hit two more cars. One of them just fell and plowed the ground, while the other started spinning around its axis and crashing into anyone who got in the way, knocking them down, but eventually exploded. In general, it was chaos that lasted for a minute. Then I had to shoot again. A shot from my rifle, and the geth car exploded. Another shot, another car. Shot. Car. Shot. Car."

"I could have been doing this forever, but suddenly there was a powerful explosion. And then another, and another. I looked up and saw a Quarian frigate flying towards the mob and shooting at everyone but me. Thank you! This meant they needed me alive. That was good. After five minutes, it was all over. They destroyed all the heretics and then landed on the ground a hundred meters from me. And after another five minutes, the airlock opened and ten Quarians came out. Well, nine Quarians and one Quarian woman. The main one was in a black and gray suit and looked like a cabinet. I mean, he was wide and smelled of arrogance. And in his hands, he held an Azari shotgun. Well, this was already bad. Something was not right here... I had a feeling that something was wrong here. While the Quarians were approaching, I secured my rifle on my back and held an EMP grenade in my hand, which I found on the frigate "Moreh". Just in case.

As soon as the Quarians came close enough, the Quarian woman started talking.

"As I understand it, you are the one we need, - I wonder how old she was? 23-24? No, really, she had such a cute voice.

"It looks like it. Although I love to talk when my interlocutors don't have a shotgun in their hands, - heh, I'd love to see their faces after my words. Too bad all these masks are tinted.

"Well, then... Are you okay with going with us? - And I already like her. She's so naive... Trying to be polite. Looks like an order from Daro herself, no doubt.

"If you don't shoot me, then yes, - I agreed to this, as I didn't really want to fall into the hands of the Overlord. Although there was no hurry. The Overlord, who had been flying after me, left the planet, as a rather large fleet of geth had already arrived to his soul. And the planetary defense was already starting to unfold. It seemed that before that, the Overlord had jammed all the radars and planetary defense systems, but the geth probably just saw him and decided to act without any fuss. So the Overlord decided that if he had to fight, he would fight in space, as long as he was on the planet, all, or almost all, of the mass effect energy was going to prevent this machine from falling like a sack of potatoes.

"Not so fast, - suddenly began the "cabinet". - He won't go anywhere. Alive."

"WHAT?!" - even the quarian was stunned by such a statement. - "Ramal, Daro`Zen ordered to deliver this geth alive!"

"She ordered that to you. But we have an order from Han`Gerrel."

"What... Han`Gerrel? How?"

"Yes. He knows about Daro`Zen's betrayal. And he will deal with it. But for now..." - with these words, Ramal turned his gaze from Ila to me. Like the shotgun.

"No!" - and here I was stunned. This quarian stood between me and Ramal. And he didn't lower his shotgun. - "How do you not understand?! This is our chance to resolve everything peacefully! To come back here, to our home, without shedding a drop of blood! This can all end!"

"Yes. It can," Ramal replied. "It will all end... As soon as they all die!"

"Kila... Ramal. We don't need this war! We never needed it!"

"Eeeeehrg... Ila... Han warned about you too."

After that, everything was like in a haze. Only after it all ended did I quickly review in my memory what had happened.

Ramal's shotgun blast, straight into Ilu. Then I throw an EMP grenade. Everyone's weapons and shields fail, but so do mine. I run up to them, hit Ramal in the stomach, then in the back of the head. I block the quarian's fist with one hand and strike with the other in the kidney. Then I kick the third one in the stomach. The fourth one, I punch in the stomach. Then I hit the quarian who tried to get around me with a spinning strike. I then clasp my hands together into a single fist, bend down and hit the quarian in the legs with a spin. He falls, and I kick him in the stomach. I take a punch to the head but then punch the quarian in the kidneys and speed him up with my leg. I bend down, accelerate, collide with the quarian, grab him by the pelvis, and flip him over myself. I run up to the last one, grab him by the throat, lift him up, and throw him to the ground with all my strength. They're all alive, just injured, but nothing fatal.

After that, I walk up to Ramal, who is writhing in pain and trying to get up but can't. I stand over him, look into his eyes, then kick him in the chest with all my strength, breaking his ribcage, tearing his esophagus and trachea. After that, all that can be heard from him are sobs and the sounds of this scum choking on blood and trying to take at least a breath of air. And now I sit near the quarian, whose entire stomach is torn apart from the shotgun blast. There's no help here, and it's not even about infection. The entire intestine is torn to such an extent that not even Chakwas and a barrel of panacea will help.

"Khh-kh-kh-khh-khh... Ehkh-kh... You... eh..." the quarian began as soon as she saw me in front of her. How could this happen, she's... Sigh, she's not to blame. She wanted peace! She wanted the best! And they... Bastards! They are just like the batarian! They enslave everyone and violate everything that moves, and these... They kill their own by the order of some admiral... Bastards! No, there's only one bastard here! Han! Gerrel! Remember, you scum! You will die! Your crew is bleeding out right now, and you... I can't even imagine what should happen for me not to skin you alive!

"Quiet. Don't talk. You can't talk. Everything will be fine...

"No... It won't be... You know that..." I didn't know what to say to her. I just lowered my head even more. I couldn't show emotions any other way." You... You're special... kh-kh-kh-kh... You didn't kill them...

"Why? Why kill those who are just following orders? — She didn't know what to answer either. After a few seconds, she coughed again, and I decided to ask her." So, Daro`Zen sent you.

"Yes... I thought so... ehkh-kh-kh-kh... But it seems, just me... kh-kh-kh-kh... She ordered you to be delivered... eh-eh... Alive... She... believed that... eh... it's a chance... kh-kh-kh...

"For peace," it was not a question. A statement of fact.

"Yes. Eh... So strange... Came to the Homeworld... And died on it... It's so beautiful here... Eh-eh-eh... Listen... I... Can I... Can you...

"What?" She barely had the strength to speak, but I had to find out what she wanted. I had to fulfill her last wish.

"Take off the mask... eh... Please,"" I didn't have to ask twice. I reached out and tried to find the clasps of the mask. Luckily, I had that in my memory too, so within three seconds, I clicked the clasps on the mask. A hissing sound was heard, and I removed the mask. Tali immediately took a deep breath, and I saw the quite lovely face of a girl, which was somewhat similar to the one at the batarian base. Glowing eyes, black lines. I even had a feeling of déjà vu. Why am I so unlucky? There was a quarian there, and here's another quarian. What did I do to deserve all this? "Eeeeh... Thank you..." Tali distracted me. "For everything...

"You're welcome.

"Go... You need to run... Goodbye.

"Goodbye," I didn't know what else to say. I just got up and went to the frigate. Shepard would surely save these people. And the geth were unlikely to kill them. There was no need.

As soon as the frigate took off, I turned it in the direction where my geth friends had gone.

"Hey, are you guys already airborne?" I asked through the communication channel.

"Not entirely. The ship is 105 kilometers above sea level.

"What? You still haven't taken ooooffff..." And that's when I saw the ship. It was high up, but with some zooming, I could make it out. Huge, 5 km in length and 2 km in width. Quite an odd shape. In short, it looked like a fork with two teeth. Very thick teeth, and between them was a space 100 meters wide and a kilometer long. The teeth were also a kilometer long. "What on earth is this?

"Light of Kila. Creators' Dreadnought. Built by geth in one year. Experiment. Commissioned a week before the Morning War. Did not participate in the Morning War.

"Holy moly. How did you even lift it? It's 300 years old and weighs a ton!

"There are three mass cores on the ship. All shields, weapons, and secondary systems are disabled. All energy is redirected to the engines.

"I see..." I was still in complete shock. Such a massive machine, capable of lifting off a planet where gravity is slightly lower than Earth's. And then the ship shook violently. All shields went down, and the system reported engine damage. "What the... Damn! I'm falling!

"We have no means to assist. There are no auxiliary means of transportation on the ship.

"Alright, fine. I'll surrender, and you try to rescue me in space if possible! And don't you dare kill anyone! At worst, rescue me when the ship is in the next cluster from the Serpent Nebula. Understood?

"Yes.

"Good," I said, but still kept the communication channel open. Just in case. There was almost nothing left until I reached the ground, and within a couple of seconds, I landed hard. It shook even harder than last time. After plowing through the ground for about three kilometers, the frigate finally came to a stop. Just as I was about to get up, a metal sheet fell on me, and then I got electrocuted. Thousands of volts ran through me, rendering me unable to move. All I could see were interferences.

"WARNING: CRITICAL OVERLOAD! EMERGENCY PLATFORM SHUTDOWN!