CHAPTER 13: CONFIDENCE BORN OF IGNORANCE

"…what if we're wrong? What if there's no way to stop them? What if these are our last days and we spend them screwing around trying to solve a problem we can't fix?"

- Dr. Liara T'Soni

The Rayya

April 7, 2186

After the initial chaos, the CIC was eerily quiet. "Admiral Zorah, the Reapers have stopped firing," the ship's captain said. "But as far as we can tell the bulk of the Alliance and Council fleets have been completely disabled: weapons, shields, everything. We can't even raise communications with them."

"What happened?" Garrus asked.

"We don't know," the captain replied. "Our allies were raining all kinds of hell down on the Reapers, took a good deal of them out too, but all at once they just stopped. It's like the Reapers delivered some kind of shutdown code. We haven't seen the Reapers engage in cyberwarfare before but those things are so advanced…could they really take over all those ships' systems like that?"

"If they could, they'd have done it already," Garrus said. "They must have found a backdoor. Something we missed-"

"Keelah, we just made one for them." Tali said, concern in her voice. "Remember what happened with the Normandy's Reaper IFF? It's the same thing, only this time all those other ships were part of the Normandy's network…Dammit! I told Shepard not to trust Cerberus!"

"Our allies are sitting ducks right now and so are we," Garrus said. "We need to salvage the situation as best we can and retreat. We'll figure out our next move later." He put his hand on Tali's shoulder.

Tali pushed it away. "Salvage the situation?" she said angrily. "We risked everything for this plan. We killed the survivors on Feros to protect it. Thousands sacrificed their lives to make sure Shepard got what he needed…and it was just another trap. This was supposed to be our last shot. What can we salvage from it?"

"I don't know," Garrus said. "But I'm not going down without a fight and neither are you. Shepard's plan may have failed, but we still have enough resources to wage a conventional war against those bastards, at least for a while. And the Migrant Fleet has its own food and water sources, enough to sustain your people for a long time…it might be a life on the run, but it's better than nothing."

"What was the point of it all then?" Tali asked. "Stopping Saren and Sovereign? The Collectors? Destroying a Batarian colony just to slow their advance? Everything we've done these last three years has been to prepare for the Reapers, and now you're telling me our best option is to just run?"

"We've beaten the odds so many times, but that doesn't mean we always would," Garrus said. "It doesn't matter now. If we are going to fight them, we can't do it here. We're outnumbered and in an exposed position. Our best tactical option is to retreat and regroup so we can coordinate our forces for a counterattack."

"You're right," Tali said "But we're not leaving just yet. Captain, open a comm channel to our allies. They may be able to receive transmissions even if they can't transmit them. Tell them if they can get to their shuttles to head for the Migrant Fleet. We'll take as many of them as we can." She started coughing as she finished giving her orders.

"Tali, are you all right?" Garrus asked.

"I'm fine," Tali said. "Now let's go. We're not leaving our friends behind."

Surface of Thessia

James and Jacob fired at an incoming group of Cannibals and Marauders from cover. "These fuckers are just pouring through," James said. "Did the Reapers break through our lines up there?"

"Don't know," Jacob said as he fired his shotgun. "But losing communications with the fleet's not a good sign. Kasumi, can you reach anyone?"

"All the main channels are dark," she replied. "But then again the problem could be on our end. If the Reapers are jamming outbound communications from the planet…"

"Just keep trying," Jacob said. "Keep up the fire, Vega."

"Yes, Sir," James said. "Shit, we've got Reapers incoming. Somebody hit them with the Hades Canon."

Jacob checked his omni-tool. "It's been locked on and broadcasting for the past five minutes," he said. "It must not be affecting them…but that means…everyone back to the LZ, now!"

"Sir, more Reapers," James said as more of them barreled through the atmosphere towards the planet.

"Dammit," Jacob said. "Something's not right. Even if the canons aren't working, there's no way that many should be getting through."

"Look, reinforcements," Kasumi said. "About time." Cerberus Nephilim-class ships were closing in on the Reapers.

"Why aren't they firing?" Jacob asked. The Cerberus ships continued past the Reapers…and opened fire on Asari forces on the ground. "What the hell…?" he started.

"MOVE!" James yelled.

In the distance they could see drop pods deploying human ground troops from the Cerberus ships and joining the Reaper attack.

"Sure, everybody trust Cerberus. Take my word for it. It's our only hope." James said mockingly. "Godammit, Shepard…"

Orbital Platform Above Thessia

Jack still had her gun aimed directly at Shepard. "So this was your big fucking plan, huh?" She said. "We all tried to reason with you, but you wouldn't listen. We trusted you because you were our commander, we had faith you. But you didn't have any faith in us. You put your trust in the Illusive Man and got drunk on the power he was offering you. We told you not to trust him, and not to give him the Collector Base."

"I didn't make that call lightly, Jack," Shepard replied. "I knew it was a risk, but so was doing nothing. I fought in the Battle of the Citadel. I saw how outmatched our forces were against just one Reaper. There was no way we could have come up with an answer to the Reapers on our own, and I couldn't afford to destroy our best source of intel against them just because it didn't feel right. Sending good soldiers to their deaths doesn't feel right either, but in war it must be done."

"That excuse worked before your technology let the Reapers disable our fleets and your Cerberus friends turned on us," Jack said. "I know you had to make a choice Commander, but you chose wrong! We're worse off than now we would have been without that help from you and the Illusive Man. You say we need every resource we can get, well we just lost most of ours thanks to you, and a lot of good people are dead because of it!"

"You think I don't know that?" Shepard said. "My bad decisions may have just cost us this war…and the lives of everyone in the galaxy…Maybe things would have been better if I'd had stayed dead a year ago…"

"Yeah, maybe," Jack replied.

"That's enough, both of you" Kaiden said. "Right now all that matters is saving who we can. Tali and Garrus are organizing a retreat and taking as many refugees as they can into the Migrant Fleet. We need to establish contact with any of our ships that are still combat effective and get them where they need to be. This can wait."

"But Shepard betrayed us!" Jack said. "And he'll run the first chance he gets. You heard our orders. We're taking him in. Now."

"I'm belaying that order," Kaiden said. "I outrank Captain Orlova."

"You're just going to let him get away with this?" Jack asked.

"Thousands of people up there need our help," Kaiden replied. "Bringing Shepard in won't save them. It was a mistake to trust him, but now we need to focus on what we can do to make things right. We'll do far more good by saving our people and salvaging our ships then we will by giving them someone to blame…And Shepard, run. The whole galaxy wants your head now, and you won't get another chance like this…"

"And the Normandy?" Shepard asked.

"The allied fleets are sitting right at the Relay right now looking for you," Kaiden answered. "The stealth systems can't hide her from them in that close of proximity and Alliance ships are already on their way to board her…She's not yours anymore, Shepard. You'll have to find another ride out of here."

"Not really letting me go then, are you?" Shepard said. "What about my crew? This was my mistake, not theirs."

"I'll do what I can to protect them," Kaiden said. "Shouldn't be too hard since everyone seems to blame you personally…I can't protect Ms. Lawson though. She's the Illusive Man's right-hand, and people were suspicious of her influence on you even before this happened."

"Take me in then," Shepard said. "I won't let Miranda take the fall for what I did. My choices were my own and I'll deal with the consequences."

"You don't get it do you?" Kaiden replied. "Despite everything that's happened, I still believe in you, Shepard. I know you. I know you don't do things for the wrong reasons. You've always been the galaxy's best weapon against the Reapers, you know more about them then anyone and you've always found the connections the rest of us missed: Saren, Sovereign, the Collectors. You made a mistake, so go and make it right."

"They're going to want to know how I got away," Shepard said. "You shouldn't have to take the heat for that."

"Shepard, you single-handedly held the line on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, hunted down Saren and destroyed his army of Geth, defeated a Reaper, and then came back from the dead for more," Kaiden replied. "I think they'll understand if you were able to overpower us and escape."

"You sure about this, Major?" Jack asked.

"We need to be fighting the Reapers right now, not each other" Kaiden replied. "And we need anyone who is able. Shepard is the most capable soldier I know. The galaxy needs him fighting the war, not dead or in a prison cell even if he does deserve it."

Normandy Bridge

"Miranda, the Alliance is hailing us," Joker said. "Their comms must be back up."

"Patch them through," Miranda replied.

A message played over the intercom: "SSV Normandy crew, your Commander has been removed from command and stripped off his SPECTRE status. Shepard and the Cerberus Officer Miranda Lawson are both charged with treason. You are ordered to lower shields and allow your ship to be boarded by Alliance personnel to take these criminals into custody. Failure to comply will be considered an act of hostility and we will respond in kind."

Traynor approached Miranda. "Ms. Lawson, I've…been ordered to take you into custody," she started.

Miranda drew her pistol with one hand and readied the other for a biotic attack. "Don't try it," she said. "Joker, get me a shuttle. I'm going to get Shepard."

"And then what?" Joker asked. "You can't exactly bring him back here."

"I'll think of something," she answered. "Whatever happens, we'll keep fighting."

"Do what you can," Joker said. "I'll tell the Alliance the shuttle is an evac for our ground team."

"I'll make sure it is," Miranda replied. "I'll grab Shepard from the platform than we'll go to surface to get the others out. After that we'll be on our own."

"See you on the other side," Joker said.

Normandy Kodiak Shuttle

30 minutes later

"How bad?" Shepard asked.

"Bad," Miranda replied. "As far as we can tell, every ship that was linked into Cerberus' broadcast network was completely disabled…the Alliance is evacuating as many as they can…but there's not enough time or space for them all. They'll be easy pickings for the Collectors."

"What about our other allies?" Shepard said. "Not everyone was using Cerberus tech."

"The Krogan and the Rachni are mainly ground support and infantry. They were not a part of this attack and are still at full strength. Same for the Quarians; They didn't arm any of their ships with Hades tech," Miranda answered. "There's been no word from the Geth but it looks like they are in decent shape as well, given the small number of Geth ships using the tech and the anti-Reaper algorithms we uploaded to them. But the Alliance and the Council lost a lot of ships and people today. And with Thessia about to fall, we just lost the last Council homeworld. Logistics and supply lines will take a major hit…not to mention morale."

"Damn…" Shepard started.

"There is one more thing, Commander," Miranda said. "Cerberus is apparently working with the Reapers now."

"Indoctrinated?" Shepard asked.

"We don't know," Miranda answered. "Nothing like that happened to our other allies though…"

"But since you and I are with Cerberus, they're counting us as enemies now too," Shepard said. "Any ideas how the Reapers did it?"

"Ideas, but nothing solid," Miranda replied. "From what we've seen before, most of their plans tend to have fail-safes and contingencies. This could have been one of them. We also can't rule out the possibility that the Illusive Man had something to do with it. Whatever happened didn't appear to affect anyone outside of Cerberus."

"We'll deal with him later," Shepard said. "You said there was some sort of signal that triggered the kill-code? Maybe we can shut it down. If the same signal is affecting Cerberus, it could neutralize them. It'd be one less enemy to fight."

"Even so, Cerberus is a minor nuisance compared to the Reapers. You know that," Miranda replied.

"They're tied to the Reapers somehow," Shepard said. "That's why only their troops were affected. It's the only lead we have at this point."

"I'm with you, Shepard. Always," Miranda said. "And thank you…for still trusting me. I know everyone blames me for your connection to Cerberus…rightfully so."

"Don't blame yourself for trying to do something," Shepard told her. "No one else did. Maybe if they had taken the Reapers as seriously as Cerberus did three years ago we wouldn't be in this mess."

"But all we did was make things worse," Miranda said.

"We were looking at galaxy-wide extinction whether we did anything or not," Shepard said. "How much worse could it be?"

Surface of Thessia

10 minutes later

Asari gunships were engaging Reapers in the sky overhead, trying to buy time for evacuees from the planet, but to little effect.

James emptied a thermal clip from his assault rifle into an approaching Cerberus squad. "Dammit," he said as he ejected the clip. "We're almost out of ammo. Where's that evac?"

"Shepard and Miranda are on their way," Jacob replied. "ETA five minutes."

"You sure they're not….like the rest of these Cerberus guys?" James asked.

"They're fine, Lieutenant," Jacob answered. "Right now we just need to stay alive until they get here."

James opened fire on an approaching Phantom but it dodged his bullets with lightning-quick reflexes and continued towards him. "Shit, that thing's fast," he said. "I need some help here!"

Jacob prepared to hit it with a biotic Lift but the Phantom broke his shields with a few shots from its hand-canon, forcing him to get back to cover to recharge. Suddenly an omni-blade emerged through the Phantom's chest. Kasumi materialized behind it and pulled her blade back out.

"Jacob, behind you!" she yelled. Another Phantom lunged its blade towards Jacob's back before he could turn around…and then suddenly froze in place, blade outstretched.

Justicar Samara shot the Phantom in her Stasis bubble in the head several times then turned to the others. "It is good to see you again, Mr. Taylor," she said. "I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Nice to see you too, Samara," Jacob replied. "I would have been dead if you hadn't been here."

"I saved your life just now, but I may be forced to kill you later" Samara said. "As a friend, you should heed this warning."

"Why kill us?" Jacob asked "What did we do?"

"I'm not here to kill you," Samara replied. "I am here to kill your Commander for his crimes. I will only harm the rest of you if you attempt to interfere."

"This isn't the time to be fighting amongst ourselves," Jacob said.

"Maybe it is!" James added. "Everyone listened to Shepard and look where it got us. If we hadn't bought into his bullshit about how Cerberus is trustworthy now, and they're our only hope, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"We'd still be in a mess, Lieutenant," Jacob replied. "We're not even close to being able to match the Reapers. It's a no-win scenario. Shepard's just the one who had to make the call."

"The code is uncompromising, Mr. Taylor," Samara said. "However noble his intentions were, the Commander betrayed us all to the Reapers…And by helping him capture the Collector Base I personally played a direct role in this. I must fix my mistake."

Normandy Shuttle

Shepard and Miranda listened in on Samara's conversation with the others through a communications link Kasumi had discreetly opened to them.

"What do we do now, Shepard?" Miranda asked. "We can't just leave our friends down there, but if Samara is a hostile then she's a threat to all of us."

"Let me talk to her," Shepard said.

"Are you insane?" Miranda replied. "You heard what she said. Justicars only think in terms of black and white. You can't talk her down."

"Maybe not," Shepard replied. "But I might be able to convince her to take care of a little unfinished business first. Take us in."

"Shepard, I know you don't want to hear this but there is another option," Miranda said. "I know how good a marksman you are. If we hold this Shuttle steady for a few moments, you'll have a clear shot-"

"I've killed enough of our allies for one day," Shepard replied grimly.

"She's not our ally anymore!" Miranda argued.

"Is this how we do things now?" Shepard asked angrily. "We just made what could have been the biggest fuck up the galaxy has ever seen, and now we kill anyone who disagrees with us for that?"

"They'll kill you first if you don't," Miranda replied.

"Great," Shepard said mockingly. "Now we're all doing the Reapers' job for them…Miranda, please. Just take us in."

Surface of Thessia

"I see them," James said.

The Shuttle began its descent and hovered just above the ground. Shepard and Miranda faced the others as the door opened.

"Samara, please," Jacob said. "You don't want to do this."

"What I want is inconsequential," Samara replied. "I must follow the code. Do you think I wanted to kill my own daughter?-"

"Yes," Shepard interrupted. "It's why you became a Justicar in the first place. You thought that it was your responsibility, that it was unfinished business you had to take care of. Well we both have unfinished business with Cerberus now. You told me that, as a friend, you promised to aid me against the Reapers when the time came. Well now it's time."

"I am sorry, Commander," Samara replied. "I am no longer sworn to your service, meaning that I cannot ignore your crimes."

"We're doing the job you swore to do," Shepard replied. "We're going to take out the Collector Base…for good this time."

"What?" Jacob started.

"Whatever's happening with Cerberus, that place is ground zero," Shepard continued. "If we destroy it, we destroy them. That's an entire army the Reapers have that we can cut off from them."

"It doesn't make any sense that they'd have an army," Miranda started. "They've never had the numbers for that. Where are they getting….?"

"Enough," Samara said. "You gave Cerberus, and through them the Reapers, the means to do this. You convinced our leaders to follow a plan that destroyed what fleets we had left and doomed Thessia."

"We'll make this right, Samara," Shepard said.

"The code will not allow it," Samara replied. "This one good act will not undo the evil you have done. Your crimes are too severe for that. May you find peace in the embrace of the goddess." She immobilized Shepard with her biotics and charged up an crushing attack to snap his neck.

"No!" Miranda cried. She hit Samara with a biotic Warp, breaking her concentration and releasing Shepard. Samara retaliated with a Reave attack that broke through Miranda's shields and Miranda drew her pistol and fired to force Samara into cover, giving her shields time to re-charge. She took aim for another shot but Samara ripped the gun from her hands with her biotics. Miranda hit her with another Warp in return. Samara shrugged it off and continued towards her, using her pistol to keep her now unarmed opponent suppressed. Miranda Overloaded Samara's Shields and tried to retreat but the Justicar kept coming, forcing her back into cover every time she tried to move.

"You have fought well," Samara said as she reached Miranda's position. "But you are also sentenced to die."

She grabbed Miranda with her biotics, Lifted her up, and prepared a killing blow…but suddenly felt a piercing pain in the arm where her power was focused. An Omni-blade emerged through it and Shepard de-cloaked behind her, pulling the blade out of her arm and moving it over her throat.

"Last warning," he said. "Don't make me do this. We're not your enemies, Samara."

"I do not have a choice," Samara replied. "I must live and die by the code. I have lived by it longer than all of your lives put together. If it is my time, so be it."

"Dammit, Samara," Shepard said. He motioned towards all the devastation in the distance. "Look around us. Look at your homeworld. Isn't this what you're fighting for? Don't you want to a make a difference in the real fight?"

"I am sworn to my duty," Samara answered. "I cannot make exceptions. I do not negotiate with my targets."

"Samara, I know that you are honorable and true to your code, but this is bigger than honor," Shepard said. "Do you think honor will matter if the Reapers win and we all die?"

"Your lack of honor is what put us in this position, Shepard," Samara told him. "When we met I told you it might come to this someday."

"And we did a lot of good together," Shepard replied. "We still can. There are a lot of enemies much more dangerous than me out there. We can fight them together. You know it's the right thing to do."

"I serve my code, Commander," Samara said. "I do not make deals with criminals in order to catch more important targets like your courts do. My duty is to punish the wicked-"

"-And to protect the innocent!" Shepard interrupted. "A lot of innocent people out there still need your help. Join me and we can save them."

"Whatever you two are going to do, just do it!" James yelled. "We're about to be overrun here!"

"Very well," Samara said. "You may go…for now."

"What about you?" Shepard asked, as the crew boarded the Shuttle.

"I will remain here to protect Thessia and its people as best I can," she replied. "See to your war, save who you can. But if we meet again, I will show you no mercy."

Several gunshots rang out and Samara collapsed, dead. "Not a problem," Miranda said. She holstered her pistol and signaled the Shuttle for take-off.

"You...you killed her," Shepard said.

"She would have done the same to us the next chance she got," Miranda replied. "A Justicar is a dangerous enemy to have. Now let's move."

Normandy Bridge

The CIC elevator opened and Kaiden and Jack stepped out. "What's our status, Joker?" Kaiden asked.

"Geth reinforcements responded to our distress calls. They're covering our retreat and picking up survivors from the disabled ships for evac," Joker replied. "So far our lines are holding but the Reapers are getting more aggressive. Now that we have more defenses in place they've stopped sending Collector boarding parties and are engaging the fleet directly again…Uh, Major. It looks like the Council is hailing us…They're requesting to talk to you specifically."

"Open a channel," Kaiden said. "I'll take it in the comm room." He walked there and activated the QEC.

"Major Alenko, we have an important matter to discuss with you," the Asari Councilor said. "We understand that you let Commander Shepard escape on Thessia."

"I didn't let him escape, he-" Kaiden started.

"Save it," the Turian Councilor interrupted. "We know what really happened down there."

"I chose to disengage and help coordinate the fleets' retreat," Kaiden replied. "That was the best way to save as many lives as possible."

"And you did an admirable job," The Asari Councilor said. "But Commander Shepard and Miranda Lawson are also our best leads to Cerberus and the Illusive Man. Had you followed your orders and captured them we could have interrogated them, found out how Cerberus accomplished this and what they're planning."

"What about the rest of the war?" Kaiden asked. "The Reapers are still our biggest threat."

"The entire military might of the galaxy is worrying about that right now, Major," the Turian Councilor said. "We're here to talk about your mission."

"With Shepard disavowed, the Normandy needs a new captain and you're the best candidate for the job," Councilor Udina said. "In addition, the Council has agreed to grant you SPECTRE status. Congratulations, Major."

"I'm…a SPECTRE now?" Kaiden asked.

"Yes," the Salarian Councilor replied. "You have proven yourself very capable and unlike Shepard's other allies, you did not join Cerberus with him after his unexpected return. Now you must prove your loyalty once more."

"Your orders are to neutralize Commander Shepard…by any means necessary," the Asari Councilor said. "If you refuse, you will be branded as a traitor as well."

Normandy Shuttle

"We need to find a safe destination to hide out temporarily," Miranda said. "The Alliance and Council will still be guarding the Relay, so we can't leave the system yet."

"What do you mean they're guarding the Relay?" James asked.

"As I'm sure you gathered from our encounter with the Justicar, Shepard is being blamed for the failure of this attack and the sabotage of our allies' ships-"

"Sabotage?" Jacob asked.

"It was a mistake to use the Hades Tech," Miranda answered. "The Reapers were able to hack the signal somehow and they turned it back against us, disabling every ship in our network. Since this was our plan, the rest of the galaxy wants our heads. The Normandy has already been boarded by Alliance personnel looking for us and I barely got out of there before they did. We can't go back there."

"So if we can't leave the system and we can't go back to the Normandy, where do we go?" James asked.

"I know someone who could probably smuggle us out," Kasumi said. "The Shadow Broker is generally good at that kind of thing."

"Make the call," Miranda replied.

Commander Shepard watched in silence, shaken by what had happened back on Thessia. A few hours ago he had been so sure that his plan would work because it had to. He had ignored all the warnings from his friends and pushed forward, going all in on a half-baked plan that had ended in disaster. This was supposed to be their secret weapon, the Reapers' hidden weakness no one had seen before…but the Reapers had seen coming from a mile away, just like every other tactic the galaxy had tried against them it seemed. Confidence born of ignorance, he thought, reflecting back to his first conversation with Sovereign. If only he had known just how true that statement was regarding his plan.

Shepard knew he wasn't a particularly great strategist. His plans often worked due to the sheer abilities and drive of his squad and he was known for this uncanny ability to win battles against superior odds through his tremendous willpower. But the Reapers were too big of threat for this. It might have worked for small scale ground battles or the assault on the Collector Base, but he couldn't just will the galactic war with the Reapers to turn in their favor. They were too powerful and too intelligent. Every move he made, they had either seen coming or were able to adjust to. A few hours ago, he had hope in a plan: a last-ditch effort to end things once and for all. Now he had to cope with the fact that everything he had done before was for false hope, and as far as he knew there was no new plan to stop the Reapers. We fight or we die, he thought, I guess that's all we have left.