87 – Priority: Race Against Time (7)

ILLOS

Everyone on the planet saw and felt that explosion. Although they were a few hundred kilometers away, the shockwave hit them hard, causing them to stumble away; some even fell to the ground.

They could only imagine those who were close to the explosion, like Samael and Shepard.

Even then, after the shockwave's effect wore off, the battle continued. Hell, it never stopped, giving the Geth a brief advantage, as they ignored the effects.

As the battle continued, more and more people fell, either Geth or LD personnel, but everyone there had one thing in mind: worry for their friend and leader.

RR, Tali, and Liara were the most affected. They were together before the explosion, but after it, they separated a few meters. Before they could gather again-

BANG

Wrex killed a Geth who was sneaking up on Tali. He then said in a high tone of voice, '' Hey, don't get too distracted! Samael is a tough nut to crack. He's fine, probably.''

Grunt, who was together with Wrex, interjected, '' I doubt he's dead with only that, so continue to focus on the fun.''

The young Krogan was naive in many aspects, but combat wasn't one of them. He was strong, only behind a few, like Wrex, Samael, or Javik.

Liara and RR got close to Tali once more. They heard what Grunt said and knew he was right.

They relaxed a bit, but RR maintained a huge preoccupation, as Samael wasn't responding to her contacts. But, the AI knew that losing focus was bad, so she focused on finishing this war so she could check on him.

Just then, someone on the battlefield screamed at the top of his lungs, '' LOOK!''

To everyone's horror, the Reaper, although very damaged, was still floating in the air. Wrex cursed a lot after seeing that.

'' UNFAIR!''

The Krogan saw the magnitude of the explosion, so seeing something survive the hit was amazing and at the same time, damaging the morale and vigor of the enemies of said survivor.

Everyone on LD's side could feel fear climbing up their spine. To further complicate their situation, Sovereign started to 'open' his body, preparing to shoot its beam at them.

Javik immediately ordered as he watched that, '' COVER NOW!''

It was chaos after that. After all, they were still engaging the Geht on the ground, and now they were the target of a Reaper beam. More and more LD personnel fell, as they fought tooth and nail to give their comrades a chance to hide.

'Luckily' for LD and the army, Illos had a lot of places to hide. Granted, all of them were in ruins and their state wasn't good, but it was better than nothing. It should tank one or two beams.

Everyone rushed to cover, hoping it would be enough, all while the air battle continued at full force. They also felt the shockwave and saw the Reaper, but they could not stop fighting, as the Geth was stronger in the air.

ZZZZZZZZZOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Veronica and Joker watched with trepidation as a Beam hit the place where the army was, missing them by just a few seconds. They sighed in relief and continued to fight.

The Geth were getting bold and reckless, as they calculated now was the best time to attack at full forces, seeing as their enemies were pinned down.

ZOOOOOOMMMMMMMM

Another Beam hit the ground, but by now everyone was hiding in the ruin of the planet. Still, cracks had already formed in the places where they were. Safe to say, those places would not hold for much longer.

Even worse, the Geth didn't care about dying, as they were hit by the beam, dying in the process, only for another Geth to come over and continue going after LD army.

The Geth's only goal was to please their God and they would stop at nothing to accomplish said goal.

Tali, from her cover, hacked a Geth with RR and Liara's help and sent it out to the battlefield.

It managed to kill two units before being shot down. It seemed the Geth were aware of what Tali could do and didn't hesitate to kill a unit they considered suspicious.

Still, it opened a chance for Liara to use her Biotic powers. The Geth they sent out had explosives in them, and she detonated them with her powers.

BOOOM

It killed a few more, but the Geth momentum didn't stop, as they continued to press onto the LD army.

Grunt, who was close to Liara, Tali, and RR, was getting impatient and frustrated. He was basically locked up, while a fun activity was happening in front of him. He knew he could not join the fun, as even with his body plus his armor, he would not be able to tank more than a beam.

Still, he was pissed, but luckily for him, Wrex and Javik were at his side, trying to help him deal with his impatience, all while fighting back the approaching Geth.

'' Kid, calm down.'' Wrex was going to continue talking when an explosion interrupted him.

BOOMMM

An explosion outside made Grunt more excited, but Wrex didn't let him move and continued talking, '' This is just the beginning. Why risk it all now if in the future there will be even more fun for you to join?''

Javik saw a chance for him to speak, '' Also, imagine how our troops and Samael would feel if you died here, without showcasing them your might? Besides, the Geth are still coming to us, so you will have your fun with them.''

With Samael, Wrex, and Javik giving Grunt bits of advice all the time, it was only a matter of time for the Krogan to become a powerhouse capable of facing countless enemies. But, he needs to be alive to do that.

Grunt tried his best to calm down, as he looked around the place where they were hiding/pinned down. He saw Kasumi and Thane in the same area as him.

Both of them were formidable assassins, so they could kill a lot of Geth. But, even they were hiding here, as there was no point in dying a futile death.

They were mortals after all, and unlike Grunt, their body/armor would not even be able to tank a single beam.

BANG BANG

Even then, the duo plus everyone there was helping in their own way.

Grunt then looked at RR, Tali, and Liara. He saw their tactics and was amazed by how well they worked together.

Tali hacked the Geth and sent them to the middle of the rest, and Liara used her powers to detonate the explosives they put on the Geth, while RR was their support in all areas, showing them where to attack and many more things.

Soon, the young Krogan calmed down, '' What do you need me to do?''

Wrex grinned at that, as he knew how difficult was for a Krogan to calm down. He was proud.

Javik had the same expression, '' We just need to wait.''

'' For what?''

'' For an opportuinuty.''

Just in cue, an explosion followed by a big shockwave was felt. Only, everyone noticed the explosion wasn't close by, but from far away.

Immediately, those who knew Samael felt it should be a plan of his coming into action or something along those lines. He had plans for his plans after all.

No more Reaper Beams hit them after that, but many more explosions like the one before were felt.

Then, silence. After a few seconds of that, the Geth continued their attack, but ... Wrex, Javik, and RR received a message on their omni tool.

Wrex immediately got up and said to Grunt, '' It has arrived! The opening, that is!'' He then charged out of his hiding place, with RR and Javik following him, '' CHARGE!''

The army didn't understand what was happening but followed their leader's charge regardless. Grunt was the first one to join the fun.

The reason RR, Wrex, and Javik attacked the Geth was because of the content of the message. It was from Samael, saying 'the Reaper was dead. Feel free to end this fight now.'

--

The fight hit its peak, but for you to understand what happened, we will need to go back a few minutes in time.

FLASHBACK

A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

COUGH COUGH

After an unknown period of time, Samael woke up coughing his lungs out after his desperate 'plan' came to life.

Exploding the Relay was one of the few desperate plans he made to stop the Reaper from using it. One of the other 'plans' was up in space, waiting for his turn to act. Samael hoped he didn't need to use it, but he was prepared just in case.

After a bit, Samael got up in the dark and used the flashlight in his omni tool to illuminate the place and to find Shepard. To his relief, he found her.

Before he got too happy, he used the scanner in his Omni tool to check her injuries. Finally, he relaxed a lot when the results showed he only had a few broken ribs and wasn't in mortal danger.

Honestly, he was afraid. All the plans he made didn't take into account Sobereing showing this soon in the timeline... They weren't ready to face them. Sure, he upgraded the ships and other things, but it wasn't enough.

So, he was afraid that something might have happened to Shepard and his other loved ones thanks to the things he had to do to 'fix' this mistake of his. Now, he was a bit relieved to see she was safe, but various problems still remained.

How long was he out, how much damage Sovereign did in the meantime, and how were his loved ones that were battling the enemy's forces. So many problems and very little to do that can help.

Anyway, now that he confirmed Shepard was ok, it was time to face those problems head-on. He put Shepard in a considerably safe place and got out of the overturned M.A.K.O.

Samael looked at the sky with trepidation. He knew Sovereign was still alive even after taking the Relay explosion head-on, but the Reaper was 100% damaged, what matters was the extent.

The sky was clear, no sign of -- Not.

Sovereign, very damaged, was up there firing his beams at LD and the rest of the force at the distance.

' From the looks of it, I was out for a few minutes at least. But, even in those few minutes, he must have done a lot of damage to our forces.'

With trembling hands from worry about his loved ones, Samael tapped his omni tool and sent a message to his 'plan'. '' Prepare the attack. I'll point at where you need to drop them.''

After that, Samael pointed his omni tool and a laser-like-thing was aimed at Sovereign and started to talk with no one in particular, '' You see, behind all my confidence, all my willpower, all of me, there's a deep fear that comes from my failures in past cycles, that resulted in preventable deaths. Fear that I'm not doing enough to save those I love, fear that I'm wrong in certain things, that I'll fail even knowing everything I do.''

'' Before Thessia, I was confident we would win without even using the Crucible. But, after taking the Serum, finding out about my modified memories and the other me inside my mind, made me think about the whole situation deeply.. I asked myself, what have I really changed regarding our chances in the upcoming war?''

'' Sure, I upgraded our tech to a whole new level, told everyone about the danger a lot earlier, made the ark that will bring us to Andromeda, I had already finished the Genophage cure and the Quarian Pill, Cerberus is no longer a problem. A lot really, but... things about it, what about those things REALLY change the outcome of the war.... the answer is almost nothing.''

'' Now, if I had already built the Crucible or already recruited the Geth and the Rachni, I would still say things were on track. But, I kept pushing those things to the future, saying they didn't have much importance in the grand picture of things... But, that is fundamentally wrong.

''I didn't even bother making the countermeasures against the Collectors, even though I knew about their existence. To top it off, I didn't start making the only thing that would guarantee us victory. That's when I realized something was very very wrong. This isn't at the same level as my scrambled memories, this is the fate of the galaxy we are speaking. And, I'm not ashamed to say that I failed. The Reapers received the message to initiate the cleaning. We have 1-3 years tops to prepare. That's ... far from enough.''

'' After careful analysis, I discovered I could not trust myself, or my thoughts any longer. It's like I'm holding myself back when it comes to the real preparations to deal with the Reapers... No, I am being held back from that. Now, I have a good hunch as to why.''

'' But you know what's funny? Despite all that, I still think we will win this. Even with all that advantage, you guys are still on the losing side.''

'' After this, I'll deal with a few things, then go on a journey to fix my mind. The Leviathans... they are my last hope. Even I don't know if they can help, and even if they do, I don't know what might come from it, but regardless, I'm looking forward to it.''

Samael said all that in one breath. He seemed relieved he could take that out of his chest. '' Sorry for my rant.''

He looked at Sovereign and watched as the Reaper finally noticed him. Only, it was too late.

'' I'll be seeing you out now.''

You might think, if a nuke nor a relay exploding works, what does? Well, have you heard about tungsten rods?

Well, basically is something that has the powers of a nuke but without the nuclear fallout that comes from it. Even in his old world, a lot of people thought of using this as a weapon. Hell, it even has a cool name: Rods of God.

Basically, you make a long ass tungsten rod and drop it on the target. It was a guaranteed kill. The only reason as to why it wasn't widespread was the destruction it caused and the cost.

But, who is Samael? He's the owner of LD, the richest group in the galaxy.

So, up in the sky, there are 15 satellites, filled with tugenst rods with sizes that reach at least 20 feet long. Any bigger than this and the Illos could literally be destroyed just from that.

Samara was controlling them. Samael offered Javik the honor to kill Sovereign, but the Prothean declined saying he wanted to end all of them and only one was far from enough.

Anyway, Samael was using his omni tool to indicate the Asari where to drop tungsten rods. He laughed manically as he watched the Rods dropping out of the atmosphere towards Sovereign, who noticed it too late.

'' ONE MORE TIME, WITH ME: EXPLO-''

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Rod after rod fell into Sovereign. Thanks to the Relay explosion earlier, Samael was at a considerable safe distance, but even then, he was sent flying. When he managed to recover himself, thanks to his back hitting the M.A.K.O., he immediately looked at the scene once more.

BOOOOMMM

Samara wasn't joking around as she continued to shoot Rod after Rod. 1,5,10,20 rods. The shockwave was so strong he used it to help him turn over the M.A.K.O.

There was still a lot more but Samael knew that was enough. He was no longer seeing Sovering, the Reaper having died long ago. '' Samara, you can stop now.''

Only then, the Asari stooped. Samael looked over at the biggest crater in the middle of where Sovereign was. It was so big that even from where he was he could see it.

He spit on the ground and calmed himself down. Now, with that out of the way, only the Geth remained. After that, he still has a lot to do.

Hoping those in the Citadel were safe from the Collectors and that those in Illos were safe, Samael rushed inside the M.A.K.O. and started to go towards his group.

--

IN THE CITADEL

In the Council Chambers, just like the whole space station, was in shambles. A lot of corpses from the C-sec officer were scattered around, just like Geth's carcasses and many other victims, filling the place with death.

And right in the heart of it, stood Ash, Jacob, Vega, Garrus, Tevos, and a few unnamed officers, Asari, and LD personnel. They all stood over what was once Saren.

Now, the turian was something else, something evil. He was already strong before coming to the Citadel, as he won against many Matriarchs. Granted, he surprised-attacked them and used his influence to win, but the point remains. But, after he suffered defeat at the hands of Samael, Sovereign decided to 'modify' the turian.

He was on a whole new level. The only reason he lost this fight on the Citadel was because everyone went all in on him. And they still lost a good chunk of people to his weapons.

It was then that the modified Saren started to laugh manically. He had lost the battle but won the war, '' I sent the message! Soon, the whole Reaper army will come to clean the galaxy! You lost!''

Everyone in the place looked uncomfortable just looking at him, and his work-

BANG

Ash shot Saren's head off. No one said anything, as they knew from his action the Turian was far gone in all regards and no answer would come out of his mind. They were also digesting the bombshell he dropped on them.

The Reapers were coming.

Saren's body started to turn into a puddle, just like the Keepers but no one paid any attention to him. What was once a great Spectre now was the galaxy's biggest traitor.

At that moment, reports started to arrive to Garrus and Tevos, informing them about the Collector's retreat, '' The Collectors were retreating! Should we pursue them?''

The battle at the Citadel was a stalemate from the beginning, but now with the retreat from the enemies, they had the initiative. Only, it had no meaning.

Both Tevos and Garrus knew the Collectors were just the Reaper's paw. Besides the danger that would come from going after them, they needed to assess the damage to the Citadel.

'' No need. I want you all the forces on the Citadel to focus on making sure to save those injured... Send a message to the other species about the Collectors retreat and their location. Tell them to do as they see fit.''

While the Citadel army would not pursue them, the same could not be said about the other species. No one knew if they would attack, but they didn't care either.

'' Sure.''

Ash got close to Tevos and Garrus after she noticed they stopped talking to the officer in their Omni tool. Jacob and Vega went to help in other areas, '' Now what?''

'' Now we will join forces with Samael and the others and then think about what to do next. Only one thing is certain: hard times are ahead of us.''

They were far from ready, but they had something powerful. Hope. They would put all of it in Samael, LD,, and in the union of the galaxy.

Only time would tell if they would win. For now, everyone in the Council Chamber went to help around the Citadel.

--

The second battle ended with the galaxy's victory, seeing as Sovereign was dead, the Collectors were defeated, Saren was killed, and the Citadel was still standing.

But, no one cheered, as their enemies managed to send a message to the rest of the Reapers.

Now, it was a race against time, and the stakes were higher than ever before.