1325 years, 71 chapters, 248,000 words, over 500 faves and follows. Wow, it's been a long road hasn't it? Well this is it, the final chapter of my most popular story. I hope you enjoyed this ride, I know I did. I will be working on other stories, but for now I won't be working on a new mass effect story, need a break from that fandom, and I hope you all enjoy the final chapter.
Final preparations for the fleet was made and they were already underway towards earth. It was going to take a little while due to the size of the fleet and the need to protect the Crucible. The fleet was separated into two different sections. The vanguard, the first ones in to clear a line to the Citadel and drop soldiers on earth. Then defensive which was made up of some of the larger ships to defend the Crucible. While this was all well and good, there was one problem: what if they fail?
For the past few months Liara had a plan ready to be put into action for which she needed to let one person know. Kira walked into Liara's office and her eyes fell into a box on the Shadow broker's bed.
"What's that?" she asked walking up to the asari.
"The final plan," Liara said looking to Kira. "A contingency in case we fail. This box will be shot at Mars where it will remain until a new species finds it. It's an archive of everything. Technology, culture, the races, Advent and more. I've handed these to my agents who have been placing them on hundreds of worlds with the potential for intelligent life. If we fail they will have the knowledge to beat the Reapers,"
"How long have you been planning this?" Kira asked.
"A few months, but with the Prothean VI this one will be the only one holding it. All the others have been updated with the location of Mars. Hopefully whoever finds it will beat the Reapers and cycle once and for all,"
"Agreed, let's hope," Kira said before the lights across the Normandy turned red. "Battle stations,"
OOOOO
Earth hung in space like a blue and green marble on a great black canvas. The homeworld of humans had seen many things in its long life, but now it was invaded by large squid like ships the size of skyscrapers. The Reapers hovered over the world and on it harvesting all life on the world. Fighters across the planet tried to hold the tide of cybernetic zombies. But they were being pushed back, numbers trumped quality and skill. Soon it was either death, or worse.
At the end of the solar system the mass relay activated The Normandy was the first to exit the relay and was followed by hundreds of ships of all classes and sizes from human to batarian. The fleet advanced through the Sol system weapons at the ready, soldiers at the ready and fighters at the ready. Communication between the ships was heavy as they detected the Reapers and Citadel around earth.
Admiral Hackett looked out of his dreadnaught with narrowed eyes at earth. He knew what he needed to be done.
"Weapon status," he ordered.
"Weapons green," the weapons officer said.
"Shields?"
"Shields green," the defence officer said.
"Fighter crews?"
"Fuelled up and ready to go," the fight deck officer said.
Hackett nodded and his eyes narrowed. "Range,"
"100K and closing," the weapons officer called out.
The best effective range of mass effect weapons without line of sight was around 50k. While the weapons themselves were particle weapons with an unlimited rage, so the range was more alone the lines of what one could hit within reason with the equipment used. It was tricky, but it could be done if the person had training.
"Once we are in range, fire at will," Hackett ordered.
"Fire at will, aye sir," the weapons officer confirmed. "Range check, charge check,"
"Targeting closest targets and locking on," the secondary weapons officer said. "Targets locked,"
"Confirmed, fire for effect,"
"FFE confirmed,"
"Firing,"
The dreadnaughts weapons fired and the rounds flew though space at a velocity faster then the fighters that had been launched. Several rounds hit their mark, but others missed. But those that hit, the weapons officer noted.
"Fire for effect effective," the officer said. "Locking on and firing,"
"Sharing targeting data to the fleet," the comms officer said.
The space battle began to rage as fleet ships began to move into a better position in order to fire their weapons. Beams and missiles flew though the vacuum of space and hitting their marks. The Reapers turned towards their attackers and began to fire their own weapons. The particle weapons open fired with frightening accuracy but the fleet was ready for that and moved out of the way. They had faced the Reapers enough times to know what was effective and what wasn't.
With the fleet unleashing their attack the Reapers began their own but unlike the fleet they just attacked with no plan involved. The fleet however focused on a section against the Reaper fleet creating a corridor for the drop ships to head to earth. The Normandy focused on creating this corridor as well. It didn't take long for the corridor to be created allowing the drop ships to deploy to the planet. Inside one of the Kodiaks Kira Shepard, Miranda Lawson and Garrus Vakarian readied themselves for the final fight.
The other members of the Normandy were on Advent transports. The main objective of the landing was to create large landing zones so that more troops and tanks could be dropped off and deployed. But this was easier said then done.
Kira loaded a heat sync into her assault rifle before the Kodiak shook. Looking out of the window she saw explosions around her ship and the others. Anti-air weapon opened fired at the transport ships as they flew into London. Kira cursed as she saw one of the ships getting shot down. Her teeth gritted in annoyance as she saw this.
"Too much fire coming from anti air!" Cortez yelled.
"Tell the others to break off the attack and get to safe distance!" Kira yelled as she slid a helmet on. "We'll clear a corridor!"
"Understood! I see a good landing spot, I'll set you down!" he said.
"As soon as we are off, get to a safe spot,"
"Will do," the pilot said as he flew to a nearby roof.
"Ready for this?" Miranda asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be. You?"
"Born ready," the XO said with a smile.
"Time to kick the Reapers in the ass," Garrus declared as she ship landed.
The door opened and the three jumped out with weapons up. Cortez took off and took off. But he didn't get far as a rocket hit the Kodiak in the rear and set the ship spinning in the air. It came down crashing into a building.
"CORTEZ!" Kira yelled.
She took a deep breath as EDI came on. "Not reading any life signs in the crash commander,"
Kira just nodded. "Understood, let's take that AA down," she said with determination.
Three then made their way down the street keeping a tight but lose formation as they moved towards and anti-orbital gun. The gun could fire up into orbit with no problems. They also had a grid of anti-air weapons around them as they could not target anything smaller then a frigate. So, a defence grid of anti-air was needed, the thing was that this grid would be connected to the ani-orbit weapons so that they drew power from one power source and that they could be kept in a good defence area. The main problem was that if you took out the anti-orbit gun you took out the anti-air grid.
It was a major flaw so the grid would be protected by a small force, this was what Kira was planning on. If she could get close enough then one of the dreadnaughts could target the gun and destroy it. This would open up a corridor and a good landing zone and maybe a good base of operations allowing them to move up towards the Citadel. All of these were the back up plans, and Kira knew that she would need them.
They moved up fast and for a warzone it was remarkably quiet. When a warzone was quiet it meant one of two things. The first was that the battle was over, which was unlikely. The second was and ambush, this was more likely. Seeing something up ahead Kira moved behind a car with the other two following her.
"Reaper patrol," Garrus said looking through his sniper rifle.
"Husks in the buildings," Miranda noted.
"Ok, Garrus get up onto the second floor on that building over there," she pointing to a former book shop and the turrian nodded. "Miranda stay here and provide biotic support," the XO nodded and the three split up to get into position.
Kira came out from cover and walked up "Oi asshats over here!" she yelled before firing at them.
The rounds hit near them getting their attention. The lead then began to glow yellow as harbinger took over the husks' body. Cracks then began to appear across the body of the husk and it grew in size until it was little more then a black body with yellow cracks. The husks advanced on her but were shot down one by one by Garrus.
"Shepard!" Harbinger called. "You have been a thorn in our side for too long. Your death will herald the ascension of this galaxy!"
"We'll see about that!" she yelled and threw a fireball at the avatar before taking cover.
Miranda moved up quickly ignoring Kira's orders and fired at the oncoming husks with her. The rounds hit the husks as they advanced taking out a few or weakening them while Garrus took them out with his sniper rife. Once the main group was down Kira drew her sword climbed up onto the car she was taking cover behind before jump running across the cars making more husks emerge from their hiding spots.
They tried to get a swipe at him but they missed but provided more kills for Garrus. Kira then jumped at the avatar who just tried to shoot her, but this was useless as she had upgraded her shields. The avatar then tried to move out of the way but didn't make it in time as Kira tripped him up by grabbing his leg and pulling him down. She then finished him off by removing its head and turning him into ashes.
The other two then joined up with Kira before moving up. Explosions and gunfire started to echo in the team's ears as they moved. Seeing a bombed out building, the three moved over to it and climbed up onto the roof of the building to get a better look at the explosions and gunfire in the distance. Using his eyepiece Garrus looked where the battles were happening and could see alliance forces engaged with Reaper forces. From the look of things, they weren't trying to move up but keep them busy.
Look to the other battles only seemed to confirm this suspicion. Before he could say anything, someone then came on over the radio.
"Shepard come in," Anderson's voice was a welcome surprise for the rest of the team.
"Shepard here," Kira answered with a smile. "Good to hear your voice sir,"
"Same here, we're keeping the Reapers occupied while other forces are opening up new landing zones. But those guns are making it hard for us to open them up," he said before as he got shot, "Damn that hurts, Shepard we are counting on you. Get those guns down,"
"Understood," she answered before the radio went silent. "Let's move to that gun,"
The other two nodded.
OOOOO
The gun was heavily defended with husks. Reaper forces were taking no chances in allowing any non-indoctrination forces to take advantage of the situation. Most of the forces consisted of cannibals and marauders who were armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. They have no wills of their own so all they had to do was follow their orders. To them there was no question but to follow orders as they moved around the perimeter keeping their eyes open for an attack. Their bodies maybe weak but they had numbers, and that is what matters.
Garrus loaded a new heat sync into his rifle and took aim. Adjusting the sights, he looked from one husk to the other. Kira and Miranda set themselves up behind a few destroyed cars ready for the attack. It took them a while to get here, but now they needed to move and fast. The ships in orbit were getting targeted by Reaper fighters and that needed to stop. If they could get control or destroy the gun then the tide will turn in their favour.
But that was the problem. How can they get to it? Garrus wasn't a recon specialist, he was a sniper and a damn good one at that if not the best. But over the years he realised that recon and sniping are one and the same. His eyes tracked the Reapers movement and made taps on his radio. Morse code was a fantastic little technique that he wished he knew about during his time in C-Sec. It would have made his career and operations easier.
The tapping, while annoying helped Miranda and Kira to plan out what to do next. Patrol routs, numbers, armament and locations. There was plenty of cover, but that didn't mean it wasn't going to be challenging. Numbers, this was a matter of numbers and smarts. Their eyes darted as well looking at each of them carefully. Making plans in their head was easy doing it was hard. But they soon came up with something.
"Grarrus when ready shoot the drums," Kira said.
Garrus tapped in response acknowledging what to do. He aimed his weapon to a pile of barrels and waited for a group of husks to pass before taking the shot. The resulting explosion took the husks out and the team moved up. A cannibal saw them and began to move up fast but Garrus quickly took care of him. Kira slid behind a barrier and fired several rounds at the nearest marauder who went down quickly. Miranda followed and threw shockwaves in all directions. That blew some husks in different directions.
She joined Kira and the two of them whittled them down before Garrus finished them off. Soon the area was filled with the bodies of husks in no time. But they just kept coming and coming. Seeing her only shot Miranda jumped over the barrier and ran to the orbital gun. Kira looked on worried but just covered her lover before getting shot which sent her down. Miranda didn't look but kept on running to the gun. Getting under one of the legs she pulled out her belt of grenades and placed them on the leg. Setting them for demolition and the timer she ran but didn't get far before it blew sending her flying a few feet into the air and landing with a thud.
Turning quickly, she looked up at the gun which didn't do anything. Cursing, she had failed to shut the gun down. That thought stopped as a loud creak sounded and she looked again. The explosion didn't destroy the leg but it did weaken it enough that it was collapsing in on itself. But the worst part it was going to fall on her. Panicking she tried to get up but slipped falling onto the floor. She fell quickly and landed face first into the mud but she didn't have time to get up.
Covering herself the gun fell she waited her fate. But that didn't last long as she felt herself be lifted off the ground by strong hands and carried as the gun fell with a loud thud. Whoever held her then stopped allowing the XO to look up and see herself if Kira's arms being carried like a bride. The left side of her face had several cuts from machine gun rounds. It wasn't bad as she was already healing and it made her look more imposing.
The orbital gun then landed on the ground throwing mud into the air as it landed. As soon as it did Garrus fired a flare into the air signalling the others to come.
"Thanks," Miranda said with a smile looking up at Kira. "But can you let me down please,"
"Why?" Kira asked with a smile. "You look good like this, minus the white dress,"
Miranda went redder and redder with that and the thought of her being a blushing bride.
OOOOO
A large transport truck rolled up to the makeshift based and stopped. Admiral Anderson jumped out along with a few others. He wasn't dressed in his admiral uniform but in digital blue camouflage with a cap on. After jumping out of the truck he walked up to a prefab base that was set up next to and inside an old shop. Talking though the plastic strips he smiled as he looked around. At least two commanders were looking at a holomap making plans for the final push. One of them was alliance while the other was Advent.
He walked up to them who saluted him. "Sir," they said at the same time.
"What do we have?" he asked.
"We're coordinating a four-pronged attack at the base of the Citadel with the other cells out there," the Alliance soldier said.
"And the other cells?"
"All have reinforcements and ready for the attack," the Advent commander said. "We're just waiting for the final call,"
Anderson nodded. "Where's the commander?" he asked.
"On the roof," one of the commanders said making the Admiral nod before leaving.
Following the building up to the roof he then saw Kira looking over the city of London to a beam that was shot up into the air. It connected to the Citadel for some reason, but no one was sure what it was. Some kind of doomsday weapon? A signal? Or just a transport beam? No one was sure, all the had was guesses. Anderson quickly joined her looking out at the beam.
"Commander, lovely view isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said absent mindedly. "What is that beam?" she asked shaking her head.
"I've heard that it's some kind of transport," Anderson said. "You doing ok Shepard?"
She looked to him with a slight smile. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just after all this time… it's finally ready. No more Citadel, terminus or alliance. Just one rule across the galaxy. Mine, and it's in my grasp I can almost taste it,"
He gave her a sideways glance. "I can understand how that might feel. On the edge of greatness,"
"Like you?"
Anderson just laughed. "Almost like me,"
OOOOO
Tanks, transports and soldiers moved not in unison but in a broken-up formation and advancing on the Citadel. They moved towards the beam with speed, that was the target and this was the final push. No one waited around as they just pushed forward with little to no care what the plan was outside of 'get to the Citadel'. Kira, Garrus and Miranda where some of the front runners. Much like the rest they had little care for a formation. The goal was in sight and after all they have been though they were not going to let that goal slip from them.
"CHARGE!" Kira yelled.
A roar of people followed her and the speed picked up. This was do or die. The area around the Citadel was just a crater with no cover protecting anyone. They didn't stop, the didn't wait, they just charged. A Reaper landed nearby and began to fire at them all. A beam cut past Shepard before exploding. Dazed and disoriented she stood and looked to Miranda who was now cut up and bloody. She moved over to her lover quickly and held her in her hands. Garrus, also battered and beaten joined her.
"Miri," Kira said in a soft voice. "Don't leave me please,"
"'chough' I'm not going anywhere," the biotic declared defiantly making Kira smile as she helped up her lover up with Garrus as the Normandy came in close.
Grunting she and Garrus carried Miranda over to the Normandy as the ramp lowered and people began to flock to the ship to escape. Liara came up to meet the three and got Miranda.
"Get to a safe distance, keep her safe," she ordered.
"Kira," Miranda moaned but any objections were silenced as the commander kissed her.
"I'll be back," she said before breaking into a run towards the beam.
The Normandy's ramp closed and the ship took off, leaving the fate of Commander Shepard to herself. All she did now was run, this was her last chance to stop the Reapers and she was going to make damn sure about it. Her shields went down making the shots she takes hurt more, but she ignored them. She was not going to let a bullet wound stop her, she then jumped into the beam and shot up into the sky.
Moaning and groaning Kira forced her eyes to open only for her to see a section of the Citadel she had never seen before. Pushing herself her up she slipped up and grunted before looking at her hand. Blood, the blood of multiple races was on her hand with that she looked down to see herself laying down on a mass of bodies. She wasn't always freaked out by the sight of them, but given how many there was made her jump. Taking a deep breath and calming her nerves she looked around to see more bodies around her.
All of them dead, all of them of different races. All of them civilians. Shaking her head, she turned to see herself in a corridor of some kind. With her strength coming back to her she walked down the corridor slowly. The smell was overwhelming but she knew how to tune it out. Years of combat didn't tell her nothing. She walked a bit further until she found an opening and walked through it. at the other end she saw the Illusive man and the orange skin crested alien. Her instincts kicked in as she grabbed her pistol raising it at them.
But before she could pull the trigger the alien turned to her and smiled. At that point it was too late, she couldn't pull the trigger.
"What the hell?" she muttered.
"Your exposure to the Reapers has not left you immune to indoctrination, no matter how minor it maybe. You are in my control now," he smiled as TIM turned to face him.
"Shepard, it seems like you are too late after all you have done," he said with a smile.
She tried to fire but whatever field is preventing her from moving was coming from the alien. She gritted her teeth and eyed him with her eyes. Something was off, he never had this before. If he did why wait to use it till now?
"Now you see the failure of your ideology Shepard," Tim said taking a puff on his cigarette. "Once again you fail to see the true power at hand,"
"What true power?" Kira asked. "All I see is how your ideology has failed. "Use the Reapers to make humanity stronger, what a joke. How do you intend to turn the Reapers to your cause? By now you must realise that we are only food for them. We are little more then pigs to them. Chattel ready for the slaughter, even then what makes you think people haven't tried before? Why do you think the Reapers are still around? They tried that same tactic and it didn't work,"
She knew arguing was in vein but something told her she needed to buy time. Her eyes darted around looking for something to shoot.
"Well it's too late now," the alien said. "We have won,"
At that moment, as if the universe saw per predicament a ship close to the Citadel shake. It broke the alien's suppression effect on Kira and she reacted with the superhuman speed she had. Not aiming, she shot at TIM. The rounds hit home and went though his head and heart. He died before he fell down. But the alien reacted with machine speed and efficacy and knocked the pistol out of her hand. She backed up and extended her armblade with him doing the same. Two blue electrified blades extended from his arms. Whatever control he had over was gone and she suspected it wasn't his.
The two began to circle slowly not taking their eyes off each other, waiting for the first move, the first counter. Time slowed and their breaths took longer to take in. The air was still with the two warriors not taking their eyes off each other. Then alien was the first to attack binging his blade over his head but Kira blocked it and kicked him in the gut with one swift move. He stumbled but blocked the commander's next attack and kicked her in the rips. She grunted but still held her ground.
In desperation he headbutted her, that made her back up. Taking this opportunity, he slashed at her but it only took part of her chest armour off. It fell to the ground with a thud, but this turned to be an advantage to both as Kira kicked the armour into his gut making him curl up. She then kicked him in the face. Reacting quickly, he flipped kicking her as well. Her head shot back making her fall down with a grunt.
He then jumped on top of her and placed his blades on both sides of her neck in a cross style.
"Time to die," he said but before he could do anything Kira let out a jet of fire from her mouth.
He caught fire making him yell out in pain. Backing away Kira saw her chance and grabbed her pistol before firing at the alien killing him. Despite her own injuries she stood and walked over to the console at the end of the platform. A holographic screen appeared in front of her. The options on it were clear, activate the Crucible or not, but there was also some information as well. The computers of the Citadel had done some calculations. If she activated it, then the resulting blast would destroy the Citadel and damage the relays.
There was a risk she would die. But she was willing to take that risk as she hit the command to activate the Crucible. The Citadel arms opened up and blue electric arcs bounced from building to building all along the arms of the megastructure. A large blue ball began to grow at the tip of the council tower and it grew by the millisecond. As it grew the Reapers started to take shots at the Citadel, most of them missed but a few hits on the arms but it was too late as the ball shrank then expanded into a beam of light hitting the sol relay.
The beam then began to hit the other relays in rapid succession each one of them releasing a field of blue light. When this field hit the Reapers, it caused some to shut down, others to disintegrate. People began to cheer in celebration as the war was not over. The Citadel slowly fell apart due to the damage of the Reapers and the effect off the blue beam. People watched as it broke apart and some prices fell down to earth.
As it did a message passed though the Advent comm network, it said 'Alpha 1 Omega, advent rises.'. With that code the guns of the Advent forces turned on their allies. The takeover had begun.
OOOOO
Kira opened her eyes to see herself in the medbay of the Normandy. Her body hurt like hell as Chakwas walked up to her.
"Hello commander, have a good sleep?" she asked.
"Why does my body feel like hell?" Kira asked.
"You were found in the debris of what was left of the Citadel," the doctor answer as she took her readings. "You were badly injured. Thankfully the team got to you in time,"
"How long have I been out?"
"1 month, your highness," the doctor smiled making the commander's eyes widen.
"Highness? Does that mean…"
"Yes, Advent took over what was left of the remaining governments and established your rule. You are the empress of the galaxy now,"
"It doesn't seem real…" Kira muttered.
"That's because you are in bed resting with the best care in the galaxy. Now I suggest you sleep, you have a long road ahead,"
Kira nodded and rested with a smile on her face.
OOOOO 5 years later.
After years of reconstruction and rebuilding earth and the other planets in the Advent Empire had been restored to their former glory if not close to it. In the years since the Reaper war, the other governments had been crushed under Advent, leaving only a galaxy spanning empire to rule what was left. While it wasn't sunshine and roses, it was better when it was a single ruler rather than a group of people arguing. No race was singled out as being better, all got equal treatment, no exceptions. It did however annoy a lot of people with the fact that their governments where no longer considered to be legit. Some of them even started to set up rules on back world planets, but they wouldn't last long.
Kira was not the Queen, she was the Empress of the galaxy and rarely took part in the politics of rule. She let more qualified people to do that. But she did step in when needed, this gave her, not a good look but a look that made it seem like she didn't care too much. The fact was she did care, but realised that leading a galactic nation was not the same as leading a team. She even went on a interview to explain as much, but that didn't change things as much as she would like, but she didn't care. She got what she wanted and was happy about that.
Shortly after she recovered and found out she was pregnant, she and Miranda got married in a friends and family only wedding, but all said it was interesting to see a heavily pregnant woman in a tuxedo. She and Miranda then moved to an out of the way world to spend their time, along with the other girls from the Normandy who had become Kira's bondage slaves. It was all one big happy family.
But today was a little different. 5 years ago, to the day the Reaper war ended and a celebration was in order. A yearly celebration to mark the end of a war that took millions of lives and united the galaxy. Kira was not happy about it, she hated going up on stage like some actor. Currently she was being fitted for her royal dress.
"Bloody hell," she grunted as her corset was tightened. "Why do I have to suffer like this?"
Miranda couldn't help but smile. "You look good, like an Empress,"
It was something Kira had a hard time to deny. The Dress she wore was a combination of silks from the different home worlds. The skirt part of her outside was separated into different layers which overlapped each other and split at the front. Her trousers were made out of turrian cloth, which was stronger than normal cloth and her armoured boots where made out of the hardest metal. The armoured corset was also made out of the same hard metal, as were gauntlets. Her top was styled like an Alliance admiral but she had a red and black sash that ran across her chest from her left shoulder to her right hip.
A cloak flowed on her back followed by her tied up hair. On her head sat a gold and silver ornate crown with diamonds from the home worlds of each race. She was the Empress, and she wasn't afraid to show it off.
"I prefer latex," Kira grunted.
"And you'll ware that tonight," Miranda said walking up to her 'husband' and locking lips with her. "But right now, you need to show the galaxy who you are,"
"All done," the asari handmaiden said.
"Ok then, let's do this," said as she walked out of the room and onto the stage in front of thousands of people where the final battle took place in London.
People cheered for her as she walked up to the podium and looked out at the crowd. This is what she lived for, this is what it led to. Project advent was complete, her domination of the galaxy succeeded, and this was her story. Kira's story of domination.
The End.
