Invictus

I: Janus

A rumble shook the facility down to its foundations, raining dust and ceiling fragments down upon the frantic researchers desperately working at their faltering terminals.

"EVAC ONE PROTOCOLS NOW IN EFFECT. REPEAT: EVAC ONE PROTOCOLS NOW IN EFFECT."

"Shit shit shit, how did they find us?"

Another rumble threw the four scientists to the floor as all electric equipment shut down, drawing a string of expletives from the scientists struggling to their feet. They were bathed in the dim glow of the emergency lights before the equipment hummed back into life. As though the light of the flicker equipment lit a fire underneath them, the four scrambled upright and ran down the debris-littered corridors as fast as the intermittent quaking would allow.

"Ma'am! Invictus Beacon has been activated!"

"Invictus Prime status?"

"Invictus Prime loaded onto shuttle, ma'am! Shuttle ready to deploy!"

There was a rumble and a strangled scream as the corridor collapsed, swallowing up the scientist in the rear of the group. The remaining three got to their feet, with the salarian and the asari looking desperately to the human for something — anything — that could get them out alive. A flicker of emotion crossed her weary face — pity, or perhaps compassion in the face of their impending doom — before she pushed them toward the shuttle bay.

"You two, get on the shuttle! Your job is to get it out of the system at all costs! I'll stay here to help hold them off!"

The salarian opened his mouth to argue, but a look from the asari told him that their mission was far too important to argue now.

"It has been an honor, doctor," he said simply.

The doctor stood, sorrowful eyes watching as the salarian and asari nodded solemnly to her before disappearing into the shuttle bay corridor. She hoped dearly that all the work that had gone into Project Invictus was worth it — that all the secrecy, all the unethical and likely immoral decisions she had made in the past three years — that in the end, it would be all be worth it.

And as she took to the failing controls of the crumbling facility defenses, hoping to buy time for the shuttle to escape —

She hoped that Invictus Prime might someday forgive her.

"Ma'am, a quarian cruiser has notified the docks that they are approaching and are requesting emergency medical support and a small C-Sec escort upon docking."

Zoya Matviyenko looked up from her terminal at her assistant and would have given him a curious — yet severe — look over the rim of her glasses if humans still bothered with such inconveniences. "Not that I'm not concerned that a quarian cruiser may have run into trouble, but why are you telling me this?" she asked, her eyebrows lifting ever so slightly. As current human member of the Citadel Council and quite a busy woman, the troubles of the quarians were generally out of her scope.

Her assistant, unfazed by Matviyenko's less-than-warm reply, continued, "They've requested emergency medical support for a human, it seems."

"That's interesting," said Matviyenko, leaning back into her chair and lacing her fingers together. Interesting indeed; perhaps the request for C-Sec escort indicated the capture of a human criminal? Although that would be quite odd, especially considering that she had not been contacted about any such thing. "Any word on who is in charge of the ship?"

"Evidently Admiral Zorah."

"Admiral Zorah?" Matviyenko said in surprise. "What human could they possibly be escorting to the Citadel that Admiral Zorah has come along?"

"I don't know, ma'am. They refused to elaborate — apparently stating that it was best to defer any judgments until it can be verified conclusively."

"I see. I want eyes and ears out there. Find out who this human is and why the quarians have them."

"Yes, ma'am."

Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Neema stood calmly before the airlock, years of experience allowing her to deftly mask the anxiety within. When a patrol ship had notified the Admiralty Board of the derelict, unmarked frigate drifting through a remote corner of the Perseus Veil and, more importantly, what was being held in that frigate, neither she nor the other admirals could believe what the patrol was saying. It wasn't until she saw for herself that she could even begin to wrap her mind around it, though there had been precious little time to do said wrapping considering the state of the ship and its unbelievable cargo. She still wasn't sure what to make of this find and, should the doctors and scientists at the Citadel verify its identity and safety, the implications of its discovery.

She let out a near-silent sigh of relief at the hurried approach of the emergency medical transport and the drell leading the small contingent of C-Sec officers. "Admiral Zorah," said Commander Kolyat Krios, nodding and standing at respectful attention.

"Commander Krios, thank you for handling this personally. This is a situation that must be handled with discretion, and — well, let me just show you," said Tali, turning her head ever so slightly toward the ship behind her. "Rahsa, open the airlock."

The airlock doors slid open to reveal two armed crewmen standing vigil over a pod covered with a white sheet. They lowered their guns at the sight of their admiral and stepped aside as Tali led Kolyat to the pod, lifting the sheet slightly to allow him a look. He peered down and almost immediately the clench in his jaw and the slight widening of his eyes betrayed his shock, and it took him a moment to find his voice again.

"I — I understand your concerns," he said, once he'd regained his composure. "I will personally escort her to Huerta Memorial and ensure the area is locked down."

"Thank you. I'll forward you details about the pod once I've made a — made a few calls."

Tali watched in silence as the medical transport took the pod away, with Kolyat and his men at the front and rear. Her eyes lingered on the door leading out of the docking bay, mind racing as she went over and over who would be most pertinent to contact. She had been calmly mulling it over while they traveled from the Perseus Veil and had thought that her plan of action had been perfect, but now that she was here in the Citadel with pod en route to Huerta Memorial...she was faltering.

Liara had immediately sprung to mind when Tali had first seen the pod; while the Shadow Broker was certainly going to catch wind of this eventually, Tali liked to think that she had been careful enough with communications and access to the pod that Liara would still be none the wiser. Yes, Liara was a clear choice.

Contacting Garrus seemed obvious — though Tali couldn't help but feel conflicted. She had seen the pain he had been in, and she had seen him grow to accept it and finally move on with his life...But still, it didn't feel right to not tell him.

It didn't feel right at all.

She stood in the Captain's Cabin of the Neema, a finger hovering over the terminal. She still couldn't believe that she was about to relay this message, that she was the one who could…

"Hello, Tali. It's not often that you contact me using this channel."

"Liara. You — you need to come to the Citadel. It's — it's important," said Tali, wringing her hands and feeling slightlty grateful that none of her crew were present to see their Admiral so anxious.

"I've received reports that you were escorting something to the Citadel. Is it related to that?"

"Yes."

"What is it? Is it dangerous?"

"No, we — we found Shepard."

Silence.

"Her — her body?"

"No. Alive."

Another silence. Longer this time.

"Liara?"

"...By the goddess."

A small drone hovered around the small team of doctors and nurses surrounding the damaged pod that Tali had delivered. The operating room and adjacent hospital ward had been locked down as tightly as possible by Kolyat, with absolutely no access to the areas unless specifically authorized by him and the hospital director. Any and all glass panels were rendered completely opaque and all security cameras in the two areas deactivated, which necessitated the use of the drone to make a visual recording of the events about to unfold. Huerta Memorial's director had selected the hospital's best and most trustworthy doctors and nurses at Kolyat's behest, and the opportunity said doctors and nurses had just been given lent an air of giddiness to the room.

"Is the stasis controller damaged?"

"No, no, it's fine. Pod itself shows moderate to severe damage to outer hull and viewport, however the controller is undamaged."

"Good. Preliminary scans show that she sustained no skeletal damage — should be safe to move her. Looks like some unhealed lacerations and blunt trauma to face, likely sustained prior to going into stasis...Go ahead and wake her up. Prepare for transfusion in case the bleeding is severe."

"All right. Deactivating stasis in three...two...one..."

A hiss filled the room.

The doctors sprang into action.

"Quick, get her on the table and cut this armor off her. It's currently unpowered — laser cutter should be fine."

"This armor...it's all old Kassa Fabrication stuff. I haven't seen these models in over twenty years…"

"Full-body dermal augmentations evident — scarring likely from procedure — appears unhealed due to damage sustained by pod —"

"She's stabilizing. Start on the lacerations while I run a scan on her synthetic implants…"

"Medi-gel sufficient for facial lacerations — applying now."

"Scans indicate that location and function of implants more or less matches last known records...Implant signatures have changed, seems the Cerberus ones have been replaced and others added. New implants acting as replacements to left ulna, left wrist, right fifth rib, left first and sixth ribs, and vertebral column from Th11 to L4. Damage likely sustained when the Crucible fired. Currently unclear what purpose the dermal implants serve..."

Brown eyes fluttered open.

"She's regaining consciousness — !"

Dry lips struggled to form words as the eyes struggled to focus.

"We need to calm her down...Administering sedative now."

A croak escaped a parched throat.

"R-Reapers."

For a split second, all eyes flitted toward the face on the table as it desperately looked to them, searching for answers.

For one answer.

"Rea — Reapers, are they — ?"

A doctor gently took the hands that were feebly trying to push its body upright.

"It's all right. The Reapers are gone," said the doctor. He smiled down as comprehension bloomed behind the eyes staring back at him. "You did it.

You did it, Commander Shepard."

The tiniest laugh of relief escaped Commander Shepard's mouth.

"Ah — I — I…"

Commander Shepard drifted off into unconsciousness with a smile.

A/N: The urge to write/draw Mass Effect just kinda hit me over the head after I finished ME3. So yeah. Here's a chapter of something. It's a bit disjointed, but hopefully future chapters won't be so bad. Also I mostly threw it together during small work breaks, so I don't know how fast I can update. Oops.