Mass Effect 3 Re-Imagined Chapter Six Part Two: Story Time With Tim

Hello again, faithful followers of this blog! I’m Timothy Scott Purvis and this is the next installment of my fan story Mass Effect 3 Re-Imagined written for my wife Christmas 2013. Mostly because of how disappointed we both were with those final fifteen minutes of the game. Of course, it was difficult to rewrite without changing the entire story. Which might be why the developers went with the asinine ending they went with. Even so, I think I came up with something amusing and special. So I’m sharing it here.

No, I didn’t edit it any. Mostly because it IS a fan story and I have other things to do. So, you’ll just have to be content with the unedited insanity that is my rewrite of the game. There are grammatical errors. There are inconsistencies with plot. There are moments that will make you go, ‘What?’ But, in my defense, it’s no worse than what Bioware gave us back in 2012. So take that Triple A developers!

Anyhow, here is chapter six part two of ME3RI.

(PS: Yes, I am copy pasting a lot of these lead ins. Pretty much because there are a lot of chapters to post and I’m doing this waaaayyy ahead of time when they will pop up through scheduling. If you’d like to skip ahead to where the chapter begins, by all means, knock yourself out.)

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#

The turian warship Keliko leaves its moorings and turns towards the relay far beyond the nebula that the Citadel lies within. On its CIC, councilor Sparatus stands near the captain of the ship and they view the monitors showing the ship’s progress towards the relay.

     “Can Shepard really turn off the relay?” captain Meritus asks.

     Sparatus shakes his head, “From what I understand we’re notshutting it down, by decoding its IFF where it will identify us as friend and them as foe disabling reaper capacity to utilize the relays against us.”

     “So, we’re sure then that these are reapers, sir?”

     Sparatus glares at Meritus, “Whatever the invaders happen to be, they won’t go lightly against you. Fight back hard.”

     With the conversation effectively cut off, Meritus can only respond one way, “Of course, councilor.”

     “Looks like the Normandy is leaving her docks, councilor,” the XO yells up at them.

     “Very good, Telvic. Signal the Normandy to take the lead,” Meritus replies.

     Sparatus scowls quietly, “Takes them long enough.”

     Meritus says nothing as the ship picks up speed and the Normandy zooms by beside them. There are no windows on the CIC but the monitor displays clearly show the Normandy’s progress. Meritus smiles watching the smaller ship take the lead.

     Impressive little ship. Truly remarkable what we can accomplish when we work together.

     Sparatus looks over at Meritus and frowns, “Wipe that smile off your face, Meritus. We’re not on a cruise.”

     “Sorry, sir.”

     Dick, Meritus tries not to smile at the thought.

     “Captain Meritus!” the XO screams outloud. “We’ve got incoming!”

     “Elaborate!” Meritus yells back alarmed.

     “Sending signal to display comms!”

     Sparatus and Meritus stare at the displays showing massive creatures pouring out of the relay.

     “Those are big mother fuckers…” Meritus says lowly where only Sparatus can barely hear him.

     “Reapers…” Sparatus mumbles in response.

     Meritus casts a look in Sparatus’s direction, “So what do we do about the myth that just came blazing through the front door?”

     Sparatus growls at him, “You stow that shit and contact the Citadel fleet and tell them to get their lazy asses out of bed so that they can get out here to blast these assholes back to where they came from!”

     “That, I can do.”

#

Onboard the Normandy, Genevieve stares out the forward bridge windows as they leave the central nebula and approach the relay near the outer nebula. Large shapes are visible against the white and blue tones of the nebula.

     “How many do we have?” Genevieve asks Joker.

     “A fuck load,” Joker quips as he quickly pulls up several data displays. “Three capital ships, six destroyers, and fourteen transports. Looks like they mean business. They’re taking the Citadel, commander.”

     “Don’t give up yet, Joker. Besides, you said a fuck load and I only see a shit load. There’s still a chance.”

     Genevieve gives a quick smile and claps him on his back.

     “Uh, need I remind you that it took the combined attacks of the Alliance AND the Citadel fleets to take out just Sovereign and a bunch of geth!?”

     “We’ll figure it out. For now, the Citadel fleet is just going to have to figure out how to take ‘em out. As for us, we have got to shut down the jump on the relay. Take us in, Joker.”

     “Aye aye, commander. Good luck,” Joker says and sighs as Genevieve leaves the bridge. “Don’t get dead down there. Yeah…we’re up shit creek without a paddle here.”

     “I don’t believe so, Jeff,” EDI says. “I’ve been analyzing the data we retrieved from the Sol relay and there may be a way to force jump the reapers from their locations and out of the Widow system. If they stay in range that is.”

     “You can do that? But, I thought you had to be within twelve kilometers of it to perform a jump?”

     “I think we can extend the range. But first I need Shepard to be on the relay and interface with the main controls.”

     “I’ll let her know, then. If you believe in miracles…”

#

The UT 47 Kodiak drop shuttle flies out of the Normandy hanger as the Citadel fleet arrives to encounter the reaper force. No time is wasted as the reapers attack any and all ships that come within range. Several reaper transports attempt to bypass the Citadel fleet but are quickly destroyed. This prompts the destroyers to come forward and directly engage the fleet as the capitol ships unload on the Citadel forces destroying several turian vessels in the first few assaults. The Normandy navigates the field and evades several attacks and then darts off back towards the Citadel fleet as the Kodiak goes unnoticed by the reapers.

     A sigh of relief echoes through the shuttle interior. Steve Cortez, the pilot, works the controls quickly and maneuvers towards the underside of the massive relay they quickly approach.

     “Triggering transmission codes to open relay interior. You folks ready for this?”

     Genevieve affixes her helmet and gives a thumbs up, “The quicker we get this done the better. Hopefully no more reapers show up while we’re here.”

     Ashley sits in seat and glares up at Genevieve from behind the visor of her own helmet, “Didn’t we just do this shit?”

     “Perks of being at war.  You and Vickers will protect my flank, I’ll take point. If we’re lucky, we won’t meet resistance. Afterall, the reapers only just arrived.”

     “We’ve got your back, Shepard,” Vickers nods and readies his rifle making sure that it is locked and loaded.

     The shuttle shimmies into position and they hear the click of the cockpit door sliding shut and locking. The interior depressurizes and the side door slides open. The shuttle hovers just above the extended rampway leading towards the relay entrance. The group jumps down and makes their way inward. Genevieve motions for them to follow her as she triggers the entrance to the interior relay and they hurry inside.  They are greeted with a similar layout to the Sol relay.

     “Alright, it all looks clear. Let’s head up to the master control.”

     “Right behind you, Shepard,” Vickers declares and the group heads up the level ramp to the next floor.

     “It’s quiet in here,” Ashley says looking intently all around.

     “Be good if it stays that way,” Genevieve says as they approach the master control panel and she puts her rifle away.

     Genevieve opens up the controls and starts inputting commands and triggers her comm link, “EDI, we’re at the master control. Can you perform the application you were mentioning?”

     “Stand by as I access the controls. Reprogramming jump sequence,” EDI states as codes and images display on the holographic monitor before Genevieve. “Shepard, a reaper transport just pulled away from the conflict and is heading in your direction.”

     “Just focus on the task at hand, EDI.”

     “I’ve finished uploading the encoding. All that remains is for you to trigger the jump sequence. I am not sure if it will be effective on the transport as it is now under influence of the mass effect well.”

     An explosion echoes through the walls of the relay, “EDI, what was that?”

     “Shepard, one of the turian warships, the Aphos, pulled away from the conflict to try and intercept the transport. It was destroyed by a capital ship and collided with the relay. The Citadel fleet is falling, Shepard, we need to activate the relay jump.”

     Genevieve’s hands are a blur across the access panel, “Triggering jump…now.”

#

Beyond the relay interior, the battle rages relentless. Half a dozen more turian craft are destroyed as several asari battle cruisers close in on the capital ships. The reaper destroyers continue laying waste to the citadel fleet as their numbers are still the same and the fleet as suffered nearly forty destroyed vessels and a dozen more critically damaged.

     A pulse wave emanates from the relay and washes over the field of battle. The Reaper ships remain but quickly go dark as the relay glows brightly and fires a beam off into the dark void of deep space. The battle ends and the reaper forces float quietly in space showing no signs of life.

#

Onboard the Keliko, Meritus looks on in amazement. He is stunned by the sudden turn of events and is unable to form any logical thought.

     “What the hell just happened?” Sparatus asks breaking the complete silence of the ship.

     XO Telvac is the first to reply, “The reaper forces…have just stopped fighting. The relay is signaling that it has changed IFF frequencies and we are firmly in control of it. But…the wave, sir, I don’t know what it did to the reapers.”

     A tentative rolling roar of approval engulfs the CIC deck though Sparatus is less than pleased.

     “Stymy that. We don’t know if the reapers are out of commission for good or not. Diagnostics!”

     Meritus looks at incoming feeds on the monitors floating near his position, “There are no signs of life coming from any of the reaper vessels themselves. The organisms on the transports are in a frenzy though. Life readings indicate they are tearing each other apart.”

     Sparatus stares at him with an incredulous expression, “Why?”

     “The gods only know, councilor. Looks like councilor Tevos is requesting your presence aboard the Ascension, sir. The Destiny Ascension will be within close proximity in two minutes,” Meritus looks over to Sparatus who himself casts his glance at the galaxy map and down to the floor as if uncertain what anything meant anymore. “Sir?”

     “She didn’t waste any time, did she? Nevermind. Inform Tevos I’ll be joining her shortly. Contact commander Shepard and have her meet us there as well.”

     Sparatus turns to leave the CIC and Meritus sharply salutes.

#

The doors to the bridge of the Destiny Ascension open and Genevieve exits. She sees Sparatus and Tevos speaking quietly near a console display and heads over to them.

     “You wanted to see me? Does this mean that you will help us out now?”

     “Commander, I don’t know what Sparatus hopes to gain from this meeting, but I’m afraid the answer-“

     Sparatus raises a hand to silence her and looks to Genevieve, “What did you do onboard the relay?”

     Genevieve sighs and looks around the bridge before answering, “I honestly don’t know. EDI came up with a solution to jump the whole reaper force out of this system and to an isolated waypoint. However, an energy wave was the end result instead. We’re still trying to figure out what happened ourselves.”

     “Do you think you can replicate it?” Sparatus cocks his head as he speaks to her, his hand hovering in the air like he can’t decide what to do with it.

     “I’m not sure. This may have been a fluke, or a backlash, or a programming defense mechanism we’re unaware of. Any number of reasons could explain what happened here or leave it a mystery.”

     Sparatus looks to Tevos, “I think we should help. With this capacity at our disposal, we can turn the threat against the reaper invasion.”

     “Are we honestly calling them ‘Reapers’ now?” Tevos huffs and shakes her head adamantly. “If you want to commit turian forces to defending Earth and leaving Palaven open to attack, you go right ahead. Until Thessia is secured and asari space not threatened, we will continue to fortify our defenses. We need every asari available.”

     “Tevos, listen,” Sparatus soothes. “We can utilize Shepard’s plan and shut down reaper access to the relays. We will then be in a position to take the fight to them. If we can cordon the bastards off, isolate them to the systems they’re in now, we stand a chance of driving them back.”

     “It’s a good plan,” Genevieve says looking back and forth between the two of them. “We take control of the relays and stop the reapers from using them against us. EDI can send the schematics to your engineers in how to change the IFF encoding on the relays. The same for your engineers, councilor Sparatus.”

     “Yes, you could. But for the time being, I have another mission for you, if you’re willing to take it,” Sparatus says placing a hand on Genevieve’s shoulder and looking at Tevos. “First, though, what do you say, Tevos? This doesn’t have to be a war against each other. We’re not enemies. We’re the damned Citadel Council after all.”

     “I…” Tevos displays a frustrated deep in thought expression and frowns. “Send us the schematics. Once we’re sure asari space is secure, we’ll consider joining your cause.”

     Tevos walks away and leaves the bridge. Sparatus motions for Genevieve to accompany him down to the shuttle bay.

     “You want me to go to Palaven?” Genevieve asks as they exit the lift to the bay. She sees the Kodiak awaiting not far away as well as Sparatus’s own private shuttle.

     “Yes. I had a request from the Primarch mentioning a former acquaintance of yours.”

     “Who?”

     “I think that will answer itself once you arrive on Palaven. Go there and convince the Primarch to allow you to shut down access to the relay and assist in the matter that has been brought before us,” Sparatus sighs and looks her straight in the eyes. “This isn’t something I’m comfortable discussing here. Just do this, and I can promise you the turian fleet will be at your disposal.”

     “Ok. I think I can manage that. I wasn’t really sure what our next move was going to be anyway,” Genevieve says and nods at him. “Thank you for your help, councilor.”

     “Good journey to you, Shepard. May the gods of war be ever in your favor.”

     Sparatus turns and heads to his shuttle leaving Genevieve to consider what he asked her in detail.

     Feels like I’m always running around the galaxy doing other people’s tasks… She twists her lips to the side of her face in a go-for-it pucker and heads for her own shuttle.

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SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION STARTS!

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I mean, if you like my work, of course. No pressure. Just trying to find my way in this world without working menial tasks and suffering physical and mental issues as a result. If only I could merely stay home and write. That would be my most epic fantasy brought to life. Well, if you don’t want to do that, you could also donate to my cause down below after all is said and done. It would help. You know, if you liked what you saw and all. Up to you. I don’t have a lot of reviews on my materials because of low sales. I mean, very, very low sales. In the single digits. Right now, I have to rely on Pubby for reviews and those people only read your synopsis and recap it for a five star review. I want honest opinions. Not mean ones, but honest. So, if you ever find yourself buying some of my work, I’d certainly appreciate some feedback. Again, up to you.

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So brings to an end another week of Story Time With Tim! Hope you’re enjoying the work so far and hope you’ll be back for more next week. Until then, read to you soon.

~Timothy S Purvis