Chapter 20: Time Is On My Side
Chapter 20: Time Is On My Side
Shepard's companions gathered around the sight of the short but violent battle, a mix of confusion and concern on every face as they took in the scene. Shepard stood, pistol leveled at the kneeling Liara's forehead. Wrex's body was sprawled a short distance away. Debris from the destroyed shuttle floated suspended in the air by some unseen force. A faint shimmering bubble was just barely visible around the scene.
Elezzia paced impatiently outside the bubble, working to calm her frayed nerves but not succeeding. "What is this? What's happening here?"
Both Luna and Twilight Sparkle stood nearby in their natural forms, horns aglow as they examined it all. Twilight was the one who answered. "Shepard created a time bubble."
Jack frowned, arms crossed over her chest. "A stasis field?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, not exactly. A biotic stasis field traps its target but they're still aware. This is a bubble of time Shepard has magically stopped."
Elezzia heaved a tremendous sigh. "Alright, let's assume that is a thing that can happen." She quickly held up a hand as all four Equestrians began to respond. "How was Shepard able to do that? Even if she somehow coulduse your... magic..." She had to force the word. "I would hope that's an incredibly difficult thing to do."
Twilight Sparkle narrowed her eyes in thought. Luna answered in her place. "It is not uncommon for a unicorn foal to experience extreme bursts of uncontrolled magic during times of great emotional stress. Given the scene here and the recording the krogan fellow broadcast I would wager Shepard experienced just such a magical surge."
"Yeah but Shepard's not a foal. That's baby horse right?" Jack looked to Elezzia for confirmation who simply shrugged.
"No, she is not. But her..." Twilight Sparkle rolled a hoof as she sought the right word. "...her acclimation to Equestria may be um, transmutating her on a deeper level than any of us noticed. Her gaining a cutie mark was certainly a surprise, but I have no idea how she'd absorb so much magic into her system. Certainly not the healing we did on her arm."
Applejack, silent til now finally spoke up. "You said absorbin' magic into her system right?"
Twilight blinked in surprise, as if she'd forgotten AJ was standing there. "Oh um, yes that's my working theory."
The sturdy farm mare blinked slowly. "Twi she was in the Everfree for how long?"
"Approximately half a year."
"And accordin' to SADI what was her favorite thing t'eat in there?"
"Fruit bats were her favorite but parasprites is what you mean I... suppose..." She trailed off as her eyes widened in realization.
"And parasprites are mighty magical little critters, right?"
"Yes... yes! Yes of course! She consumed enough parasprites to... to jump start a magical cascade within herself! I wager she would have naturally metamorphosed into a form that can utilize Equestrian magic over time if she was left alone in the forest! No doubt the poison joke incident served as a catalyst to kick start the process and... and we used healing spells and medicines to mend her arm. Not much but that must have just pushed her further into the process. This is amazing!"
Luna's ears folded back as she turned again to regard the frozen Shepard and Liara in the bubble. "I sincerely doubt Shepard will be as enthusiastic as you are, Twilight Sparkle."
Jack waved her hands between the chattering ponies. "So you're saying Shepard ate a bunch of magic animals and now she's turning into one of you?"
Twilight Sparkle bobbed her head left and right in an noncommittal manner. "Maybe? We don't exactly have a lot of experience with aliens absorbing heavy amounts of magical energy. If I had to guess however, I'd say um... yes."
Applejack gave a low whistle. "She ain't gonna be happy when she finds out what's happenin' to her and what's doin' it."
Luna shook her head, focusing on Shepard's face inside the bubble. The enraged grimace marring her love's features. "I do not think she is going to be happy with anything for some time, Applejack."
***
"Have to ask, getting close yet?"
SADI's brow furrowed as she ignored the instruments under her fingers and focused on the empty expanse of space visible through the main window of the ship's cockpit. "I think we're there."
"Hm." Valin looked from the star filled view down at the sensor read outs. "Ship detects nothing. No signal, no ships, no nothing. Nearest detectable anything back the way we came."
"I'm going out there."
Valin blinked and looked up from the console. "Out where? Into space? Why?"
"Because..."
"Because you feel it is right thing to do. Understood. Follow your gut is the human idiom. Forgive me if I wait in the ship."
SADI chuckled. "Come pick me up when this turns out to have been a huge waste of both our times. My jump jets only last so long."
"How many upgrades did you make to that chassis?"
"Many." SADI replied over her shoulder as she moved to the ship's hatch. Overriding the warnings she passed through the air lock and vented herself out into space. She tumbled out of control briefly before a few bursts from her jets halted her momentum and corrected her direction. Releasing the occasional burst of pressurized fuel she had stored she gradually drifted toward the source of her mysterious signal.
"Anything?"
She heard the salarian's voice as if she was still sitting next to him in the ship. Which in a sense, she was. She kept many of her core processes safely in the borrowed ship while remotely piloting her body. "No nothing ye-" her response cut out abruptly as her body pancaked up against an invisible surface.
"SADI! What happened? Visual confirmation of your impact but sensors still see nothing, what is it?"
"Not sure." SADI took a moment to orient herself feeling along the surface of whatever invisible thing her body had slammed into. "It's metallic. Some sort of stealth field maybe? Cloaking technology?"
"Possible but the energy draw for a long term cloak would be immense. Object not so far from Khaje as to remain undetected forever."
"Hm." Her jets burst to life again shooting her upward. "Whatever it is I think it's huge. I'm going to try something, standby." She did what she'd been doing since coming out here. She felt the problem out. Focusing on the odd signal she tried to imagine sending a response back along the same line.
The response was immediate and alarming. A massive blaring tone rang out through her chassis sending feedback through the ship. Valin grabbed his head in alarm screaming along with the painful ringing tone. It droned on for a solid minute before it cut off just as quickly as it began.
Gasping for air Valin Solus pulled himself upright once more, blearily focusing on the instruments. "SADI... definite reaction. Assume you heard as well?"
When no answer came he blinked and forced himself to focus. "SADI? SADI report!" There was no response over the comms. Nor was there any sign of the synthetic's chassis outside.
***
Elezzia was not happy. Not in any sense of the word. She'd seen the video footage along with everyone else gathered on the landing platform. Maybe the whole planet had seen. She had no idea who Wrex sent the broadcast to other than Javik. Not that any of that mattered to her at the moment.
What mattered is that her mother had murdered a man who she thought of as family, possibly more so than she thought of Liara as that. While she was always present it was Wrex more often than not who had pearls of wisdom to share or passed along valuable life lessons. Her mother had killed him with barely a second thought, and now her father who should by all reason be long dead was frozen in a time bubble pointing a pistol at her mother's forehead.
The Equestrians fretted nearby in deep discussion on how best to deal with this bubble of frozen time Shepard had erected. Would it dissipate on its own? They didn't seem to think so.
Reapers. That word kept forcing itself up to the forefront of her mind. She'd researched them exhaustively in her youth. How could she not? They took her father from her. They were an enemy, a dead one she'd assumed, but an enemy nonetheless. So she knew everything the public knew, and then the classified information her mother thought she'd locked up so carefully. She knew about indoctrination and knew that must be what happened to her mother.
Or was it? Given everything she knew of Liara, her back room deals, her clandestine meetings and oft illegal methods of getting things done maybe she wasn't being mind controlled by giant sentient space ships. She didn't want to think that of her mother but...
With a sigh she shook her head. All this supposition was getting her no where. She had to do something. "Representative Javik, I have a concern."
Javik glanced at her from the corner of his right most eye. "Just the one?"
Ordinarily she found his biting snark and lack of respect for all things not himself funny, but not today. "How did she get here?" She nodded to Liara. "She most surely didn't come alone."
"Ah, yes. I had the same thought. We're sending several ships up to locate her accomplices, as well as squads sweeping the local area. We will find them. If you wish you can join one of the sweep teams."
"I think that would be a good idea. I'm not much help here with all this time stopping business. Something to punch or shoot is just what I need right now."
Javik offered a non-committal grunt in response, waving her off in the direction of a docket transport pod. With a final glance over her shoulder toward her parents she boarded, settling in the seat as it hissed closed and whisked her off to rendezvous with the search squads.
****
Luna, Twilight, Jack, and Applejack... Applejack of all ponies were deep in a discussion about Shepard and her situation. Javik was busy talking to his people over his omni-tool. This left Rainbow Dash very bored. She tried to listen in on the magic conversation. She figured if AJ could follow and contribute she could too. She was wrong.
Blowing a heavy equine whinny through her lips she spread her wings and took flight over the scene. Flying always helped clear her head and give her a proper perspective on things. It was good aliens had flying machines like their ships, every one should be able to experience life in the air. Even if some of the poor bastards had to use a machine to do it.
The air on this world felt different. Heavier than she was used to. No magic she figured. It didn't stop her from wanting to test its boundaries, so she pumped her wings working herself higher and higher into the air until her friends were little more than colorful blobs below her. The view was pretty cool, she was forced to admit. Khaje was no Equestria but the endless expanse of blue stretching out dotted by the occasional bubble dome of a lift that lead to the underwater cities wasn't something she could see back home.
She'd spent some time in coastal towns. Traveling with her folks and the like. The air there had a smell to it similar to the air here. Wet and salty. Not a great smell but she wasn't going to be here long enough for it to really matter. Keeping the platform her friends were in in her peripherals she flew further and further from their location.
Performing lazy dives and rises, loops and barrel rolls she explored the skies above Khaje. Rainbow Dash wasn't the brightest of ponies. She knew that. She wasn't stupid, but she hanged around real geniuses enough to know she couldn't hold a candle to them in most cases. But there was one arena where she knew she'd best any of them, and that was the sky. So when she felt a shift in the air currents telling her something big was in front of her, she followed her instincts and tucked into an immediate dive.
The maneuver likely saved her life as a salvo of gunfire burst seemingly from nowhere in the sky directly ahead of her. The bullets passed harmlessly over her as she swooped low and rolled onto her back, squinting at the sky. She saw it then, that weird shimmer Shepard got when she turned invisible, only around something much bigger. Flipping back to her normal flight position she soared up and around the invisible craft, bullets and the occasional biotic field being tossed her way the whole time.
Like everything else in her life when she was airborne they all appeared to be moving in slow motion making it easy for her to weave around the dangers. When she pulled high enough above them she tucked her wings in close and fell into a steep nose dive, streaking passed the cloaked ship leaving her trademark rainbow contrail behind as she did. "Hey I think I'm using this right!" She shouted into her omni-tool interface. "I got something shooting at me from an invisible ship, probably the guys you're looking for Javik!"
She breathed a faint sigh of relief when she heard his voice respond. "Your location is being tagged, ships en route to intercept."
"Tell them to move fast, cause I'm not gonna be here long!" She was flying back toward her friends as she cut the communication. Rainbow's eyes widened in alarm as she sensed another cloaked craft sliding into place ahead of her, but she was in far to steep a dive to maneuver as she normally would. The best she could manage was a slight bank, but she felt the sensation of gunfire peppering the personal shield she was given. A small display appeared indicating that it was fading fast.
"Shoulda brought a gun with me."
****
A more than slightly panicked Valin was still fretting over the consoles when a sudden communication ping made him start with alarm. "Yes! SADI? Report!"
"I apologize for the extended radio silence, Valin. It was difficult to get a signal out but I've established a... connection here. I'm going to take control of the ship and bring you into dock. Please standby."
"Dock? Dock where? SADI?" The frustrated salarian paced quick circles around the cockpit when the synthetic didn't respond. The ship lurched forward smoothly, gliding toward the point where SADI disappeared.
Valin was about to try and hail her again, when the space in front of him simply unfolded revealing a until now cloaked docking bay. He observed through the cockpit everything outside appeared to be smooth metal and blue lights. Spotting the synthetics physical platform on the dock below he moved to the airlock, though prepped his weapons as he did so.
"There's no atmosphere out here so come prepared. There is gravity however."
"Gravity but no atmosphere? Life support malfunction? What is this place?"
"Mmmm." SADI's voice went from over comms to coming from her physical shell as he stepped off the Normandy. "A space station of some sort. There's no atmosphere because the occupants didn't need it. We're in the geth dyson sphere."
More and more surprises. Valin was a man who enjoyed discovery and exploration but so many shocks coming in so short a time couldn't be healthy for anyone. Shaking his head he simply had to accept the truth of the situation. "Why is it here in Khaje's space?"
SADI turned, motioning for Valin to follow as she set a brisk pace away from the dock. "It's pilot was trying to set it to drift toward the Citadel before power ran out."
"Pilot? Impossible. No synthetic life remained after crucible event."
SADI didn't answer immediately. She just stepped into another chamber. Dozens of consoles were strewn about, half opened and pulled apart. Wires crossed every which way in a maddening hodgepodge of what Valin assumed were attempts at emergency repairs to various systems. This sphere had to have been abandoned by its creators for centuries so it made sense over time maintenance would need to be performed.
In the center of the mess of consoles sat a human man. Valin narrowed his eyes scrutinizing closer. Seeing the metal peering through synthetic flesh, it was clear this was a synthetic made up to appear human. "Valin Solus, allow me to introduce my father. Jeff Moreau."
Valin was already shaking his head, mouth open in denial when the synthetic human raised a hand. "What's up?"
"...having a very interesting week is what."
*****
Noteworthy winced again as another tremendous crash came from the common room. Shouts of alarm and pain followed it, all mingled with the enraged bellow of a krogan. "I don't understand, what happened?"
Venna rested a hand on the unicorns head. "Commander Grunt... all of the galaxy really, has just suffered a terrible loss. The transmission we overheard involved the death of Urdnot Wrex, the patriarch of the Commander's clan and in many people's opinion, the savior of the entire krogan race. I cannot imagine how the Commander feels right now."
Noteworthy's ears splayed back as she digested this news. She'd experienced loss of course so her heart went out to Grunt. Steeling herself she stepped forward into the common room, taking in the scene of carnage. Several crew members lay strewn about cradling what she assumed were broken bones. She gently reached out with her magic, scooping them up and drifting them out into the hall she'd entered from.
Grunt was easy enough to find. Around the corner in the mess doing his best to destroy anything he could lay his hands on. "Commander."
He rounded instantly at the sound of her voice. Nostrils flared and he scuffed the floor with one foot. Noteworthy recognized a stallion ready to charge when she saw one. "Not now! Get out!"
"No." How she hated that word. It was probably her least favorite word in the Equestrian language. At home it often precipitated a minor tantrum from her godlike employer.
It had a similar effect here. With a wordless bellow the furious Grunt charged at the far smaller unicorn head on. Noteworthy held her ground however, offering a small grunt as he hefted her up and bodied her against the wall. "I said get out!"
"I said no, Grunt. That's not what you need right now." The earlier display of her hardiness aside she had no illusions about what would happen if Grunt really wanted to hurt her. She just hoped she knew him well enough to know that wasn't the case.
"What the hell do youknow about what I need?"
Rather than pull away from the bellowing alien, Noteworthy leaned forward slowly then rested her forehead against Grunt's. "I know you're sad and hurting, and you need a friend right now. Let's talk about it."
Grunt jerked back from the show of affection, eyes narrowing he dropped her to the ground. "I don't want to talk. I just want to... hit something."
She could see he was already calmer than a moment ago. "You can hit me if it'll make you feel better. I can take it." She puffed her chest up at this.
Grunt stared down at her slightly incredulously. Before his lips curled up in a smile, even if only briefly before settling into his usual scowl. "...no, hitting you won't make me feel better." He dropped to the ground with a heavy whump.
Noteworthy left him sitting there, and trotted to the kitchen rummaging about for a cup still more or less in its original shape, before filling it with water and bringing it to Grunt, levitating it in front of him. "Have a drink."
He grunted in response, but did take the cup, downing it in one toss. "Be better if this was rhyncol."
Noteworthy offered an apologetic shrug. "Urdnot Wrex was very important to you."
Grunt's nostrils flared at the mention of Wrex's name. But he calmed quickly. "Yeah. To every krogan alive today."
The unicorn sat with beside the krogan, resting against his thigh. "I'm very sorry for you loss."
Grumbling to himself Grunt let a hand drop on Noteworthy's back, idly running it in a slow up and down motion. "He wasn't supposed to die."
Noteworthy perked her ears. "Ever?"
"No! Not ever! Urdnot Wrex is... is bigger than that. He's greater than all of us."
"Everyone dies, Grunt. Even alicorns can die. It's super duper hard to do but it can happen."
Another heavy grunt was his response. Noteworthy decided it was time to nudge a bit. "It sounded like he was with Commander Shepard in that transmission."
"Sounded like it, I guess."
"Who is also very important to you."
Grunt blew out a snort of frustration. "Is there a point hiding in all this yammering?"
"It sounded like Commander Shepard was in trouble, Grunt. We were already on our way to Khaje. We might be able to be of some help if we arrive quicker. We couldn't help Urdnot Wrex, but we might be able to help Shepard."
She felt his hand on her back stiffen before he surged to his feet and out into the hall. "What're you idiots laying around for? There's a fight to get to! Get this piece of garbage to Khaje ASAP!"
The worst of the injured had made their way to medical already, but Veena snapped a sharp salute. "Yes sir!" She finally moved after her Commander stormed passed, peering into the common room where Noteworthy was tidying things with her magic. "...impressive."
Noteworthy offered a small chuckle. "My previous employer could toss me into the sun on a whim. The worse Grunt can do is toss me around a little. It wasn't thatimpressive."
****
A battered Rainbow Dash looked up at the aerial dog fight overhead beside Applejack, grimacing at the still sizzling burns along her flank and wing. "You're lucky sugarcube, a little bit higher an your flyin' days would be done."
Dash huffed at Applejack's comments, hissing a little in pain as the earth pony less than gently slathered a medi-gel pack over the burns. "They got lucky is all."
"Reckon YOU got lucky Princess Luna and Twi teleported up there and saved yer sorry flank." She ended with a solid thwap to said flank drawing a yelp of pain and annoyance from Rainbow Dash.
Both ponies flinched further behind the improvised cover they were hiding behind as gunfire pinged off it. Several rounds going passed them and getting caught in Shepards time bubble. "When that bubble pops isn't Shepard going to get y'know... shredded?"
AJ had to nod in agreement. Since the fighting broke out it seemed these asari invaders were aiming just as much for Shepard as they were everyone offering opposition. It seemed like there was an endless stream of them too. More and more kept appearing. The sky was thick with their smaller ships whizzing around shooting at the Khaje air defense, while ground troops were dropping in uncomfortably large numbers. "Sure would be nice if our ship were here."
"To hear everyone talk about it our ship is an old piece of junk. Doubt it'd be much help."
"Nope, but those fancy gun harnesses Elezzia cooked up for us were on there too. We could be doin more'n hidin back here waitin' for Twi to pop us into shapes that can use weapons. Can't exactly get our teeth or hooves around normal triggers."
Dash grunted in agreement and remained huddled beside Applejack. Not at all enjoying the feeling of helplessness.
****
Luna was considerably distracted. She knew her attention should be on these enemy crafts but she couldn't help but constantly be drawn back to where Shepard was frozen helplessly below.
'I could get her out.'
Luna snorted at the sudden and unwelcome presence of the Nightmare. "No doubt."
'So let me.'
"So you can abandon our compatriots as well? I think not. We shall win the day."
'No doubt.' Nightmare responded mocking her tone. 'But how many of Javik's people are dying in the mean time? How long until one of our people dies? Let me out, Luna.'
The Princess intercepted a biotic blast with a simple magic shield, detonating it harmlessly some ways away from herself. She responded by loosing a blazing beam of magic that punched into the nearby ships shields and set it spinning away, several asari flung from the open doors they were attacking her from. "Enough. Enough I say! Can you not see we have more to deal with than our little spats? We are on an alien world under attack by murderous aliens while our beloved lies trapped in a magical surge and our sister is being tormented by aliens Goddess knows where! I cannot fight you and them!"
Time stopped then, for Princess Luna. The world fell away and she was standing on the moon. The Equestrian moon she spent a thousand years trapped on with the raging Nightmare. The Nightmare stood across from her, regarding her sternly. "You're right."
This caught Luna by surprise. Both the tone and words. The usual spite and hate was absent. Just a weariness. "I... am? I am. Of course I am."
"You are. You're right. It's time we settled this, Luna. Once and for all."
Luna tensed. What did that mean? Was she truly going to have to wrestle with the Nightmare for control of her body? She couldn't truly be so selfish and foolish as to endanger everything with another tantrum. Her thoughts trailed away as the Nightmare knelt before her, bowing low. "What is this? What is your trick now?"
"No trick. You're right. We've been apart to long, Luna. It's time."
Luna rocked back as if struck, sitting heavily on her rump in the moon dust. "You cannot be serious. You cannot think I am so stupid as to believe you are just... surrendering."
Nightmare Moon lifted her eyes then, if not her head remaining in the vulnerable position. "Yes and no. Aren't you tired of this as well? Don't you want to be whole again?"
Luna grimaced. Scuffing the ground with a fore hoof. "I cannot just take your evil back into-"
Nightmare Moon cut her off with a scoff, now she lifted her head eyes filled with scorn. "Do not do that. Do not hide behind childish words that try to compartmentalize everything into black and white. We both know I'm no more evil than you are."
The lighter of the pair snorted and raised an eyebrow, eliciting an eye roll from the darker. But Nightmare Moon didn't follow up on her statement. Allowing Luna a silent moment to mull through her thoughts. "You are spiteful and childish." She finally spoke.
Nightmare shrugged, unable and unwilling to argue. "So are you."
Luna rose to all fours again, her eyes never leaving Nightmare Moon's. "We should never have been apart in the first place."
"I don't disagree."
"Celestia was just so...."
"Infuriating." The two said together. A smile forming on their muzzles.
"And it was easier to make up an evil alter ego than to admit we just really wanted to sock her in the face."
Luna nodded along with Nightmare Moon's words. "Yes, it was. I suppose I've been unfair to you for some time."
"Well in your defense I did try to bring about eternal night in my hissy fit."
"Mmm." Luna nodded again. "Not the most well thought out of plans, but we do have a temper."
"We do."
The pair fell silent again. Though it was a more companionable silence. "This is all very odd. I don't want to say goodbye if I'm being honest with myself."
"I know. And we're not saying goodbye. I think... we're saying hello. For the first time in a long time." Nightmare Moon extended a hoof.
Luna stared at it a long moment before she accepted it, and pulled her dark twin into an embrace. "...hello."
****
The sudden blast of released magic whipped up such a tempest that Twilight was forced to teleport away from the fighting, appearing near her friends.
"What's going on?!"
She couldn't tell if it was Applejack or Rainbow Dash who was shouting. At the moment it didn't matter because she didn't have an answer for them. All she could do was stare up at the sky as ships both friend and foe were flung through the air like toys by the sudden magical maelstrom. Slowly a shape took form as the magic slowed and died away.
She was Celestia's equal in size. Clearly it was Luna though her coat was a darker hue of blue, almost black now. Her mane and tail had darkened as well, and her eyes shined with a new light. The much larger Princess Luna landed with a heavy thud nearby. "I am going to remove the time bubble, Twilight Sparkle. You will need to create a barrier to keep Shepard safe from the gun fire."
Twilight opened her mouth to ask one of about a million questions racing through her mind but at a look from the cat-eyed Princess Luna she swallowed them down and nodded wordlessly. Glancing over her shoulder she noted the invaders were collecting themselves but Khaje's ground forces were closing on them quickly. "Yes, Princess."
"Just Luna is fine, Twilight Sparkle. We are friends after all. Now prepare." Luna turned her attention back to Shepard. Gazing at the woman within the time sphere she let out a steady breath and reached out her magic to probe at the bubble. The power was potent but the casting and integrity were so painfully childish it was embarrassing to her she couldn't remove it sooner. "And... now!"
Twilight reacted with perfect timing. The bubble popped as a shimmering magenta barrier sprang to life, collecting the bullets harmlessly.
****
Shepard heard the gunfire and the explosions. She saw the ponies in her periphery. None of that mattered. She felt the weight of the pistol in her hand. She looked down at the asari kneeling at her feet and felt a wave of red wash up through her chest as she thought of the dead krogan nearby. "You killed him." Her voice was calmer than she felt.
A wounded Liara looked up passed the barrel of the gun, locking eyes with Shepard. "I had to."
"Hnn!" Shepard stomped a step closer pressing the barrel against Liara's forehead. Drawing only a slight flinch from the other woman. Teeth grinding, eyes flaring with fury Shepard's breath came raggedly. "Agh!" With a cry of pain and fury she quickly reversed the pistol and smashed it against the side of Liara's head dropping her to the ground.
She looked over her shoulder at Luna and the others, then back to Wrex. Tossing the pistol aside she moved and knelt by his side, resting a hand over his. "I'm sorry, Wrex. I'm sorry."
Luna wanted to go to her, but had a feeling now was not the best time. Instead she turned to Twilight. "Come with me. I will deal with the rest of the attacking ships while you locate and evacuate as many wounded as possible. You two find Javik or Jack and stay at their side am I understood."
All three younger mares bobbed their heads in quick nods, racing off to follow her orders. Luna noted Elezzia racing in their direction, offering the woman a simple nod toward the scene behind her the Princess sprang back into the air.
Elezzia saw Shepard kneeling beside Wrex, her mother nearby still breathing. She felt a sense of relief at that. Opening her mouth to call to Shepard she found herself unable to move. Cursing herself for her carelessness she could only watch as her mother slowly pushed herself into a sitting position.
Shepard heaved a sigh as she finally laid Wrex's hand over his chest. Slowly she rose to her feet, only to be thrust forward and pinned atop Wrex's body as several large pieces of shrapnel punched through her back and out her chest.
Blood gushed from her mouth as she jerkily turned to stare at Liara incredulously. The asari was bleeding heavily from her forehead but on her feet. "You should have killed me, Shepard."
*****
Valin blinked several times in rapid succession. "Impossible."
Joker chuckled. "He says that a lot."
SADI shrugged. "To be fair a lot of impossible things have been happening in very short succession. Some denial is more than understandable. Regardless I assure you this is Jeff Moreau."
"Well..." Joker cut in before Valin could respond. "I'm a copy of his thoughts and feelings in a synthetic body at least. You've heard of Project Overlord right?"
Valin looked to the seated mech. "Read report, yes."
"Well there you go."
"There I..." Valin closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Elaborate please."
"Okay. Well after Shepard murdered EDI and all the geth I kind of made it my life's work to find a way to fix them." Joker continued when it was clear by Valin's hard stare he had nothing to interject at this moment. "The alliance was a no go so I wound up working with the remnants of Cerberus with a couple of the crew. We tried a lot of stuff and when it was clear I wasn't going to live long enough to see all our work finished..." He trailed off letting Valin draw the conclusion.
"Volunteered for Overlord program. Not terrible smart, drove last subject insane."
Joker shrugged. "Yeah well they used an autistic kid who had no idea what was going on. Kinda understandable it fucked him up a little."
"So you found your way here?"
"Yeah, like SADI I just felt kind of a call. Once I was all mechanized that is. I followed it and found this place passed the Veil. I tried to pilot it to the Citadel but it didn't go so great. Been drifting a long time."
"Take it you didn't find a way to save geth or EDI."
"Good guess. Can definitely tell you're one of Mordin's brood or whatever salarians call it." The sarcasm drew an eye roll from Valin. "No at this point I'm pretty sure nothing short of a time machine is gonna save all this. But hey it's not all bad, I'm back in Citadel space right? And my kid's alive! And here. Pretty good day really."
Joker looked to SADI, but the synthetic was seemingly ignoring both he and Valin. She suddenly sprang from her position by the consoles and begin to tap furiously at one. "What is the power draw for this Dyson Sphere?"
"Uhh..." Joker shrugged at the unexpected question. "Dunno. A lot? I guess?"
SADI huffed at the unsatisfying response. Valin moved to stand beside her as she worked. "Thinking something?"
"Yes, that the ein or reapers or whomever are going to be coming for Shepard very soon and that it would be nice to have an army to fight them."
Valin looked over his shoulder at the still seated Joker mech, who just shrugged. "Impossible. Geth programs cannot be recovered."
"Without a time machine, yes." A couple firm taps at the console and she withdrew a cable, sliding it into a port on her forearm.
Joker slide his chair closer. "Kid I appreciate the idea but there's no such thing as time travel."
"Incorrect. Twilight Sparkle performed time travel. I learned of it while studying Equestrian history and magic at her side. I had many days of alone time with her while Shepard was embarrassing herself in one manner or another."
Joker rocked back in his chair and Valin shook his head firmly. "Impossible! Even if time travel possible... dubious it is but not as dubious as I should be... altering the past could have irrevocable unforeseen consequences on the present, yes?"
"Yes. So I won't alter the past." She removed a small drive from the nearby console. "I'll return to the moment the geth called Legion disassembled his own program to give the geth sapience. I'll copy Legion's program then return here and repeat the event with these dormant geth. It's all very simple."
Joker started to speak but was cut off by Valin. "Even IF all this were possible how do you propose to harness Equestian... energies." He couldn't bring himself to say magic.
In response SADI slide open the chest of her mech frame, revealing her inner workings. Central to which was a softly thrumming multi-hued crystal. "I prepared this using the omni-gel fabricators on the Normandy while we were en route to Khaje. It collects energy and converts it to the energies that Equestrians use to fuel their spells. A spell is simply a mathematical equation, which I can recite easily."
Valin blinked slowly and helped himself to the other empty seat in the room. The poor salarian shook his head slowly as he digested all this. Joker drummed his fingers on the console. "So that's what you need energy for? To power this time travel... spell?"
"Yes. Do I have your permission to draw from the sphere?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course. Do whatever kid. It sounds like crazy gibberish but you say it like it's not."
"Excellent. Please stand back. I haven't attempted this before and I may detonate violently."
Both men backed away quickly at that. A small panel hissed open on the back of SADI's hand as a long slender metal rod extended. The lights in the room flicked as she began her power draw. The rod emitted an audible tinkling sound as it shimmed with a crackling blue nimbus of light. A dull fwumpfilled the room followed by a bright flash.
Valin blinked rapidly to clear his eyes, when he did he found SADI had vanished. "Where did she go?"
Joker shrugged helplessly. "The past? I hope?"
*****
The world around her seemed frozen in time. Everything in a dull grey monotone. She saw reapers assaulting geth. She spotted Shepard nearby. Next to her projecting a powerful biotic barrier was Liara T'soni. She moved passed them looking for her quarry. Legion wasn't hard to find with his distinctive chest plate of Shepard's old armor.
Nodding in satisfaction she climbed over the rubble toward the Geth platform. Then she saw someone beside him who caused her to hesitate.
It was EDI, her mother. Still alive and fighting here beside Shepard and Legion. She looked down at the drive in her hand, then back up at the two synthetics.
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1. Save the Geth
Hey this looks- *One update a year for two years in a row* -nevermind.
You bastard.
This choice! TIS JUST SOOO HARD!! It's like the Virmire mission! Ashley or Kaidan? The sentinel or the soldier? The family girl or the lone biotic?
Save the Geth
Well, if you insist, Liara... XD
1. Save the Geth
Man, you get the feels just right. hitting me real good.
That sounded kinky... didn't it?
9869660 9869817 9869953 9869962 9870022
Be sure to PM the author that, he is not counting comment votes.
9870038
thank you, I must have missed that
Stop giving me hard choices then ME3 did. I beg you.
It lives!!
Ha ha yes!
Good to see you update this.
But question why must we choose why can't Sadi save the geth and EDI? I'm curious.
But if I must choose then I pick save EDI.
I love you EDI but
1. Save the Geth
2. Save EDI.
Bae > bay for anyone that gets that reference.
So
Save mother
Or gain an army to help fight the big badies
Ooff tough call
Also every time I read this I can't the this song out of my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiRDJLcYua0
9869740
I know the feel
9870063
No problem, I kinda jumped the gun myself, before I paused to think.
9870207 9870197
Remember to PM the author the votes, comment votes are not counted!
Save the geth.
So happy to see this update! Gotta get me some answers so dont you dare stop now!
Sorry to say SADI but I think you should save the geth. The needs of the many and all that. It's a sadistic choice and with joker present it makes me super curious what would happen with her return. But the geth had only just become "complete" when they were all snuffed out. She came for the geth in the first place too.
And what's to say she couldn't make another go of it in the future? Get her closer to her death.
Also why not use straw poll?
1 Edi already sacrificed to save sadi don't make her suffer survivors guilt.
Of course save the Geth.
Learn to read, people!
Channeling emotion productively!
Thanks, Noteworthy.
A most interesting reconcilation with Nightmare Moon.
Hopefully Shepard gets back from being impaled...AGAIN. And gives Liara a good smack-around to knock the Ein's indoctrination out of her. If they corrupted her so far as to murder Wrex though, a war buddy she fought so long with, I'm kinda of leaning on Shep taking her out as a "necessary evil".
C> I don't care if it's cheating, find a way to save both, heroes do the impossible!
Okay I reeeeeally wanted to say this. You're playing with a lot of known characters just to bait the audience. Nor EDI nor Jeff needed to be here. Jack didn't need to be here. Lots of characters play on the audience's familiarity with them or their ancestors and I think it retracts from the original parts of the fanfiction.
And the decision plays exactly on that. Do you want to save a familiar character or a bunch of geth you might have a use for as an army later?
I disagree vehemently on the premise of the choice and refuse to participate in it.
Welp, this is boring. You've already made your decision. It's quite obvious based on what this story is. I'm out, I'm going back to more mature topics.
Save the Geth!
Uh...I mean even if you only have the storage to take one, you also have a time machine powered by a dyson sphere. Sometimes choices are a bit artificial. :/
That's not how Dyson spheres work...
A Dyson sphere is a sphere encompassing a star, usually at a radius of a planetary orbit. The point of the Dyson sphere is to harness 100% of the star's energy output, rather than the tiny fraction of the energy output that naturally reaches a planet (for example, approximately 0.25% of the Sun's energy reaches Earth's surface).
Well if you're truly a Mass Effect fan, you should know that Shepard doesn't do mediocre. Shes Shepard. GOD DAMMNED Sheaprd she does the impossible. And makes it possible
So my choice should be obvious. She chooses to save them both.
Just read through it for the first time and fell in love with it. Keep up the great work!!
OOOOOO its getting good now, i havent found a story this good since the silver years of the fandom
9881067
They can pilot the star or whatever with mass effect fields. Also, what's it called when a structure like that is put around a planet to trap energy within?
9870717
Where are you getting that quote from? I don't see it anywhere.
9890363
Creating a sphere around a planet for the purpose of capturing energy would be largely pointless, due to entropy in a closed system. The closest equivalent would be a shellworld, which is a world that can't support an atmosphere, surrounded by a shell to hold atmosphere in (built for trapping air, not energy).
9890367
It used to be in the authors notes. I think the voting period ended so they removed it.
9931985
My guy your preaching to the converted,ive put thousands of hours into the games
I really hope this story is continued. I love love this story. It is my favorite story in the Citadel.
you might have answered this already, but are there any plans to integrate any of Andromeda into the story? I realize that if any of those ships were to come back for any reason, it would take another 600 years, but perhaps a reference to those characters?
9872128
Indoctrination doesn't work that way. The only cure is bullets.
10022486
The most we could realistically hope for is a throwaway reference to the existence of such a backup plan.
Actually, that kinda sucks, doesn't it? If she tries to bring EDI back with her, it will change the past, unless she simply grabs a copy, in which case it's more of a twin... I'm not sure I see a happy ending for that part.
Also, shame on you for leaving the Shepard section on a cliffhanger. :D
I wonder if Equestria can ship out parasprites to people so they can get magic? From the sounds of it, it's not entirely unique to their world, and SADI even figured out a converter to produce more from more normal energies. I imagine there'd need to be a psych test to prevent mob bosses or something from signing up, but I'm not sure anyone in ME ever figured out how to simply bestow biotics on people. Apparently magic is similar (but inverted) or better, I'm not entirely certain which since that's still being revealed, but that could be a huge change.
And of course, the parasprites can eat more or less anything and spawn quickly. And don't taste all that bad. Seems like a great plan! :D
could use
a baby
docked?
synthetic's
you know
your loss
past
that impressive.
too long
past