A Quick Introduction

Hi. Like many people I felt that the end of Mass Effect 3 was unsatisfying from both an emotional and narrative perspective. In the month and a half since completing the game I have had time to really think about what I wanted out of the series and, more specifically, the ending. During this time I read a lot of pieces of fiction on this site and they really inspired me to put my own thoughts down on (figurative) paper. That being said I hope you will find some level of entertainment from this story that I have been (loosely) crafting in my mind.

However, before I begin, I would like to establish some things. The first is who my Shepard is. My Shepard is male, Paragon (unless it comes to dealing with Kai Leng or Quarian Admirals firing on me like a goddamn idiot), romanced Liara throughout all three games, saved anyone who could be saved, chose to save Kaiden on Virmire, cured the Genophage and brokered peace between the Quarians and Geth. I believe those are all the major plot points and if I forgot anything significant I will mention it in the preface of the chapter it relates to.

The second is what this story will entail content-wise. This will not be an action story. I want to make this perfectly clear from the get-go. There will be a few scenes involving a "mission-like" scenario, but this story will essentially consist of two parts: the ending I have concocted and the "What happens next?" The ending will be rather quick in terms of the overall content and the remaining chapters will mainly feature Shepard, Liara and Garrus (as well as many supporting characters for various intervals) visiting the places and people that made this series what it is. During this journey I will do my best to provide a satisfying conclusion to myself and, hopefully, you. I will also note that because this is intended to be an "epilogue" of sorts it will not follow the narrative path of a full story. It will basically provide the resolution to the larger story that was Mass Effect as whole.

Finally, I would like to indicate where this story begins and what I am eliminating from the original ending. This story begins just as Anderson dies while sitting next to Shepard on the Citadel. Nothing involving the mystical elevator or Star Child will be included in this story.

PS, I don't own any of Mass Effect, all credit for the universe and characters goes to Bioware.

Chapter One

His eyes were closed. It felt years since he had last just sat still like this. As he slouched against the body of his friend and mentor he couldn't help but take the smallest bit of joy from this moment of just... rest. That was all he wanted now. Rest. Was it too much to ask for? He didn't want to start getting selfish now of all times, but what else could he do? Saren, Sovereign, the Collectors, wars and conflicts centuries old... what else did he have to end before he could earn some peace? He managed to force his eyelids open and glance to his right to look at Anderson's face one more time. It wasn't fair to see him this bruised and burned. Not after everything he had done for the galaxy. Not after everything he had done for Shepard. Shepard wished he still had the energy to cry. Or at least to shed a tear.

"I'm sorry, sir."

Shepard's voice was so weak he could barely hear it himself speak. His body had already passed from the point of pain to that of numbness. He had lost a lot of blood. Was he dying? Surely he had to be getting close. His gaze shifted back to the breathtaking vista before him: the green hills of earth entwined with the white clouds and vast, blue oceans... as well as the black and red burning cities that peppered them. Every so often a projectile fired from one of the thousands of ships battling in Earth's orbit would silently fly by. The wreckage of an Alliance cruiser was slowly disintegrating on the edge of his field of view, the sturdy and seemingly unbreakable silver hull having been melted nearly in two by one of the Reaper combatants. The rear thrusters were still active, still glowing blue and standing ready to receive thrust commands from the bridge that would never come. It was more than likely one of the vessels that had been assigned to protect the Crucible at any cost. A price crew had paid in full. His eyes closed once again. He felt that sensation wash over him. Rest.

"Shepard? Commander? The Crucible hasn't activated. Shepard.. can you hear me?"

Shepard's hand rose up to his ear instinctively to respond to the Admiral. Hackett sounded desperate. That was a bad sign.

"I.." The bloodied, bruised Commander paused mid-sentence and drew a deep breath. The pain came back. "I'm here, Admiral. What do you need me to do?"

"Shepard, did you make it to the control room?"

Shepard's eyes fell to the body of the Illusive Man and the self-inflicted gunshot wound on the side of his head. That son of a bitch. He could have done so much. He could have stood next to the highest ranking officials in the galaxy during their finest hour. Shepard looked into his still glowing, inhuman eyes. He couldn't be angry. Indoctrination was a cruel mistress. Saren and Matriarch Benezia had learned that lesson the hard way. The tragic way.

"Yes, sir. I.. I think so." God. It hurt to speak.

"There must be an activation sequence there somewhere, Commander. We need the Crucible active now!"

The urgency in his voice was frightening. Shepard had known Admiral Hackett for years and he had never heard him lose his calm, cool and collected attitude. Shepard let his hand fall from his ear and looked around the platform he and the two bodies were situated on. The only thing he could see worth trying was the panel Anderson had stood at as he first entered the room. Shepard braced himself with his hands on the floor. He gritted his teeth and with all the energy left in his being pushed himself to his feet. The loss of blood left him light-headed and imbalanced, causing him to stumble forward for his first few steps. His legs felt like they were being pierced by a thousand needles, making each step that much more painful. He slowly made his way to the console and reached forward with his hands as he approached, grabbing the panel to support himself. Shepard fought to control his blurred vision and looked down to the various buttons before him. Only one button was green. It blinked softly every second or second and a half, gently fading in and out of illumination. The man stared at the button for a few seconds, just watching it pulsate softly. All the other buttons were inactive. If there was an activation control in this room... this was it. Was it going to be this easy? Were the Protheans, Inusannon and the thousands of cycles before them really this close to ending the Reapers? He activated his comm once again.

"Stand by, Admiral."

His hand lowered to the holographic panel before him. His bloodied, bruised finger hovered above that gently pulsing button.

"Here goes nothing."

"Did anyone make it to the beam?"

"Negative... Our entire force was decimated... It's too much! We need to regroup! Fall back to the buildings!"

"Our attack force was wiped out! All forces: retreat!"

Garrus could hear the voices though his headset as he lay on his back, staring into the smoke-filled night sky, waiting for his mind to catch up to reality. The turian grunted, his mandibles twitching in anger as he rolled himself to the side, the mud giving way to his armored torso. His eyes came into focus and he scanned his immediate surroundings to update himself on the status of the attack force. He counted at least five dead or wounded soldiers within twenty meters. He noted that Liara was about fifteen meters away on her side, unconscious or possibly dead. He would have checked her vital signs had his visor not been shattered.

"Damn it!"

He cursed himself for not thinking of the mission sooner. He turned to get a view of the beam they had so desperately been charging towards. He could see a figure nearly at the beam now. He could recognize the body size of the limping figure and judged that there was a high probability it was Shepard. A couple meters away from the first figure was another man (human) who appeared to be gathering his strength while leaning against an overturned vehicle. Garrus raised his hand to his ear, attempting to contact someone, anyone, on the comm system.

"Negative! Negative! This is Garrus Vakarian! There are surviving members of the attack force! We have people at the beam! Repeat: we have reached the beam!"

Garrus waited approximately five seconds before realizing his outbound communications were nonfunctional. The turian damned his headset furiously and pulled himself to his feet. As he rose from his knees and put his full weight on his leg he growled in pain and looked down; his left leg was definitely broken. He raised his gaze back to the beam, still blazing a good thirty or forty meters before him. The first figure was gone, presumably having been transported by the beam. The second was just limping into it now. The turian looked around himself again; he had to check on Liara, at least to confirm if she was dead or alive before heading to the beam himself. Before he could start moving the radiant glow of white dimmed before completely disappearing. The Reapers had realized what was happening and what their goal was. Garrus shook his head and set on, limping toward the asari. He passed a human as he did. She was dead. At least half of her torso was gone and her face was stuck in a fusion of terror and hopeless desperation. He tore his eyes from the body and fixed them on that of his friend as he grew closer. His leg felt like it was ready to snap in half. He collapsed onto the knee of his good leg as he reached Liara and placed his hand on her side, rolling the asari onto her back and immediately leaning down to listen for breathing. She was alive. Garrus sat up and began tapping on his omni-tool to prep two applications of medi-gel.

"Liara! Can you hear me?"

He swiped the orange, glowing hologram across his leg and sighed in relief as some of the pain rapidly began to dissipate, looking back to the asari as he worked. Liara let out a deep groan as her consciousness returned. Garrus examined Liara's body and immediately applied the second dose of medi-gel to a deep gash across her right arm.

"Wh-... What's... What happened?" Liara had opened her eyes and was squinting up at the turian.

"Harbinger happened. Can you feel you anything? Can you move?"

"What happened to the rest of the strike team? Did.. did anyone make it to the-"

"Yes, yes people made it to the beam. Liara, can you move?"

"Yes! I'm fine, Garrus." She sought to prove this to him by sitting up and looking around the field they sat in, littered with dozens of bodies, destroyed military vehicles and scattered debris from a nearby collapsed building. "Where is Shepard?"

"I think he made it to the Citadel. My outbound networking is down though... otherwise I'd check for his location."

The asari shook her head in an attempt to bring herself together. She raised her arm to activate her own omni-tool, noting the heavy bleeding just above it on her arm. With two taps of her lithe fingers she activated her squad status program. She turned to Garrus who was now trying to identify how badly his leg was broken.

"His omni-tool is still transmitting on the emergency frequency. With the given distance to target he must be.." She looked up.

"Good. Contact the Alliance and tell them someone reached the Citadel."

Liara got to her knees while tapping away at her omni-tool, sighing with satisfaction as the "Connection Established" message skimmed across the visual interface. The asari raised her omni-tool to her face as she stood.

"This is Liara T'Soni. I do not know who is receiving this message but we reached he beam. We have people on the Citadel. I repeat: we have people on the Citadel."

Garrus nodded up to her in an unspoken request for assistance as he began pulling himself to his feet. As she leaned down to pull his arm over her shoulder a voice crackled through her omni-tool.

"Roger! We saw the beam deactivate and have units inbound to your position. How many made it through?"

Liara looked to Garrus as they rose to a hunched standing position, the weight that would be resting on his broken leg now falling to her shoulders for support.

"Two, I think."

"Only two.. I'm afraid. However we believe Commander Shepard was one of them."

"Affirmative, relaying the info to Admiral Hackett."

"Can you raise Shepard on the omni-tool?"

Liara glanced down to the screen and shook her head. "No. Out of range. Admiral Hackett's transmission should be strong enough to reach him."

The two began to limp back toward the crest of the hill they had charged over just a few minutes prior and were greeting by a wave of Makos and infantrymen. A pair of medics approached the asari and turian but couldn't pull out their scanners before Garrus waved his hand dismissively and pointed to the field behind them.

"I'm fine. You have wounded out there."

Liara and Garrus turned and leaned against the side of one of the idling Makos. Garrus pulled his arm from Liara's shoulder and glanced over to her. They could see the worry and concern in each other's faces. Garrus cleared his throat of a little blood and looked up into the night sky.

"That son of a bitch as pulled more miracles out of his ass than I can count. Let's hope he's got one or two left."

"SHIT! Now THAT was close! Damn I am good!"

Joker's hands danced across the helm console as he laughed the words out. He had never been one to downplay his skills as a pilot. EDI noted that in less than a second and a half he had identified that the trajectory of a Reaper's main beam had at least a fifty percent chance of intersecting with the Normandy's starboard thrusters and engaged in evasive maneuvers that gave a good five hundred meters of clearance. She, of course, had identified this as well and was prepared to override controls temporarily had he waited another point zero seven seconds. EDI made a note of this impressive evasion.

"Alright I'm turning her around in five seconds. EDI, give me a firing solution!"

"HUD updated. I have calculated five additional follow up shots on nearby targets that allow for a safe exit."

The Normandy began a tight banking turn as EDI spoke. Joker listened intently, deftly dividing his attention between the helm display and his "co-pilot". His eyes flicked from point to point on the screen and swiftly eased the Normandy into the simulated trajectory projected by EDI. He immediately saw the target, a Reaper capital ship, and tapped an icon to arm the Thanix Cannon.

"Got it. First target in ten."

EDI estimated that the Normandy could afford six targets before the Thanix Cannon would need to recharge. She set a subroutine to recheck and update the firing trajectories for each stage of the pass every point zero five seconds. It was a little disconcerting how... clumsily the battle was unfolding. Each ship or flotilla was seemingly picking their own targets and firing. She lamented the fact that the Alliance commanders were not designating targets and focusing the attack to eliminate all Reaper capital ships before attending to the far less formidable destroyers. EDI reminded herself that conducting the movements and actions of thousands of ships would be difficult, even for her, and returned to scanning for collision prevention.

"Firing!"

The Normandy was accelerating towards it's target from the Reaper's starboard side. Joker had lined up a perfect shot at the two-kilometer long behemoth that penetrated directly into ocular firing mechanism of the Reaper's main weapon. A Reaper could normally take four or five direct hits from a standard sized Thanix Cannon the Normandy was equipped with but as the round impacted the weak spot Joker had aimed for a massive gash opened across the shell. Joker immediately readjusted the Normandy to aim the Thanix Cannon into the ever-growing divide in the Reaper's armor and fired again. He threw the ship into evasive maneuvers as soon as the round was clear of the hull, not even getting a chance to make sure his shot had hit.

"EDI! Give me a visual!"

EDI instantly updated the HUD with view from a nearby Alliance vessel showing the Thanix round impacting and nearly splitting the Reaper in two as the Normandy rounded out behind the colossal explosion of plasma and radiation.

"Excellent shot, Jeff."

"Damn right it was!"

Joker was grinning more than he had in years. So much so that he had completely missed the second firing trajectory lined up by EDI. Fortunately, she was aware of this and had already updated his HUD with a new set of four shots.

"I have updated the display with fo-" EDI stopped her current vocalization as an urgent message from Admiral Hackett began transmitting from his command vessel. It was being addressed to all vessels and on every available channel. She began broadcasting the message.

"-is Admiral Hackett. Commander Shepard is activating the Crucible. Stand by."

The joy dispersed from Joker's face quickly as he heard the transmission. His fingers swiped the firing solutions from the HUD and replaced it with a route to the Citadel, dodging an exploding turian frigate as he did so.

"Jeff?"

"He's gonna need an exit strategy."

Shepard stared out at Earth with a smile. At this point he didn't care nearly as much about Earth itself as he did about the galactic civilization the force to retake it represented. Humans, turians, asari, salarians, quarians, krogan, geth, batarians, volus, elcor, probably some hanar, drell and vorcha in there somewhere... and at least one prothean. And somewhere, either down on Earth or in the skies above it, his friends. His loved ones. If this worked they would have a future. Shepard looked down and pressed his finger to the pulsing green button. A familiar, affirming tone sounded from the panel as somewhere above him the Crucible initiated and began to relay it's signal.

Author's Note

Well that's chapter one. I haven't written a narrative story in years so please leave a review telling me what you thought!