Paying the Price

Thanks for the review Ryouseiken :D While i haven't decided fully who's going to make it out alive and who isn't...Garrus is probably the only one set in stone as going to live. he might make it, he might not, but he's got the best chance of survival out of everyone.

Paying the Price

Chapter Five
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Shepard no longer cared what the team thought of her as another wave of tears ran down her face. She had little idea as to how long she'd been sitting there, back pressed to the wall next to the unconscious Zaeed, crying her eyes out.

Most of the squad was silent, or had the common sense to move a safe distance away so they could whisper quietly about the situation. No one was taking the losses well, but Melina was taking it the hardest.

She had no idea when her helmet had come off, or even why. Somewhere between now and finding out Thane hadn't survived the trip back to the ship. Shepard didn't care; it would have just gotten in the way if she kept it on.

Both hands had found their way to her face, half to stifle her sobbing, and half to try and wipe the tears from her face, which proved futile as they were swiftly replaced a second after.

"Quit beating yourself up Shepard…" Miranda spoke quietly, her normally arrogant attitude replaced by a surprisingly comforting demeanour that, had Melina not been distracted, would have been surprised by. "We all signed up for this, we knew there was likely no chance of coming back…"

The commander didn't respond, instead she simply shifted her knees up to her chest and rested her newly folded arms on them, her head soon placing itself on top of them. The tears had slowed somewhat as she was simply running out of tears to shed at this point.

"We wouldn't have signed up if we weren't prepared for the risks." Samara spoke up as well. "You can't blame yourself for their deaths."

Shepard was mildly surprised as the others nodded slightly. If anything, she'd expected at least Grunt to put her down for crying, accusing her of being weak or the like. Surprisingly though, even he bore a grim expression and agreed with the others.

After a few moments pause, and noting Melina still hadn't stood, Garrus stepped forward and offered a hand to help her up. "If it weren't for you commander. None of us would be here. And they would have already won."

"All I've done so far is get people killed…Maybe I'm not fit to lead." She responded bitterly, images of Tali, Mordin, and the last times she'd seen Ashley, Jacob and Thane flashed through her mind. All dead because of her poor leadership. She'd only continued doing so because everyone kept putting her on the spot, or no one else would believe in the threat enough to do anything about it.

Shepard hesitated, before accepting the hand and being pulled back to her feet. "We followed you this far commander. Why would we stop now?" Kasumi half asked, half answered for the rest of the squad. "A few people died yes…Good people, but that doesn't mean you're a bad leader. No one could have gotten us all into this mess and out again without some risk, or likely losing more then we have…"

The commander sighed heavily. Though she could feel reason starting to win through. Considering what they'd faced so far, it was a miracle she was still alive, let alone everyone else. "Name one person that could have done this any better." Garrus asked , his hand still firmly gripping hers. "That could have brought all of us together and made it this far."

A full minute ticked by as Shepard considered the question, and eventually she forced a smile. "Hell, I'm sure you could have done better." The turian chuckled, though both knew he wouldn't take the role of leadership again so easily. Considering what had happened the last time…

"Come on, quit you're crying, we've got a job to do, and I'm not about to trust the cheerleader with seeing us through it." Jack suddenly pitched in, earning a glare from Miranda, Shepard only smiled, a genuine one this time.

"Thanks…" She offered a slight nod to Garrus, before releasing his hand. "We can't give up now…The others would have died for nothing if we do." As much as she blamed herself, there was a time and a place for mourning and blame. This wasn't it.

Melina was briefly caught off guard when Garrus lightly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and offered a gentle squeeze. "Indeed. We still have a job to do." He said quietly, and Shepard found herself briefly, at ease, something about the half embrace just drained away the sorrow and instead gave her a brief flutter of hope. Maybe they could make it out of this after all.

"Best we not delay. It won't be long before the collectors attack again." Grunt growled, his hands tightening their grip on the shotgun he carried. "The others wouldn't want us giving in to grief at a time like this." Shepard quirked an eyebrow at the krogan for a moment funny how he said almost exactly what she was thinking. Any other time that would have worried her, but now it just made sense, they were all thinking the same thing. She paused for a moment, before nodding and breaking away from the sniper to grab her discarded rifle and, where was her helmet?

As if he knew, Garrus offered her the missing piece of armour. She nodded again, before slipping it on. "What's our next step?" Melina asked once the helmet was secure.

"There should be some platforms nearby that will take you to the main control room. From there you should be able to overload the systems and destroy the base." Shepard winced slightly as she pulled herself up onto the ledge and surveyed the area ahead of them. She could see a few of the strange floating platforms the collectors used on their ship, and beyond that a massive space that she couldn't see the end of. That wasn't her concern though. "We need to hurry."

She spared a glance over one shoulder as a loud beep drew everyone's attention, the controls for the door were blinking red as a warning. "There's more coming." Damn it that was the last thing they needed.

"Take a squad with you! The rest of us will hold here and buy you some time!" Miranda pitched in, causing Melina to wince again.

"No, we lost enough people already that would be suicide!" She responded, if anyone would be holding the line and dying to buy time, she would.

"We don't have time to discuss this! You can't get to the control room alone, but we can't leave an army of collectors at our back either." The Cerberus agent pressed the issue.

Finally, Shepard relented, they couldn't spend all their time arguing. "Alright…Garrus, Legion, you're with me, the rest of you hold the door." Zaeed was the only one that wasn't on his feet, but she had a feeling the mercenary was to damn stubborn to die, or miss out on the fight.

"Anything to say before we do this?" Miranda asked, and all eyes snapped around to focus on Melina. And she quietly gulped before sparing a glance over her shoulder to Garrus, whom was watching closely as well.

She really wasn't one for speeches, but she had to say something, after her breakdown, again, she really needed to prove she hadn't lost her will fight, or lead. Taking a deep breath, she simply spoke whatever came to mind, and hoped for the best. "The collectors…The reapers, their not a threat to us. Their a threat to everything, everyone. Those are the lives were fighting for, that's the scale. If we fail today…The galaxy is doomed."

The words sounded almost hypocritical to her mind. Here she was not five minutes ago sobbing and wishing it was over. And now she was standing here saying they had to fight, that giving up wasn't an option…Jeeze she really wished she listened to her own advice sometimes.

"It's been a long journey, and none of us are coming out without scars…" She hesitated for a moment, once again picturing the lives lost. She wouldn't be escaping this unscarred, that was for sure. "We win, or lose it all in the next few minutes…Make me proud, make yourselves proud." She finished, a smile forming as she examined the determined faces staring back at her. For all the grief and loss. She knew they'd get the job done, and somehow make it out of here alive.

"We won't let you down." Miranda abruptly saluted, something she'd only ever seen Jacob do, maybe it was a gesture of respect, or she was mocking the now dead soldier, either way it was appreciated.

"Don't worry about us. We've got the easy job." Grunt cocked his shotgun and spun to face the door.

The squad paused long enough to exchange ammo and ensure everyone was ready to go. Luckily a few members of the team had been smart enough to pack extra, and weren't stingy when it came to sharing.

"Couldn't have asked for a better squad." Melina mumbled as she turned around and set off for the platform that would take them to the control room.

Their was only one button on the control panel, so she assumed it was the right one. Upon pressing it however, nothing happened. "Great…Powers out?" She started tapping away at her Omni-tool. Maybe she could hack it or something.

"Warning: Reinforcements approaching!" Legion abruptly shouted, or, however it was he raised his voice. And fell into a crouch behind the low wall like raised section of the platform, his hands already snatching his assault rifle off his back and bringing it to bare on another platform that had floated in and docked with theirs. A dozen collectors and husks aboard.

"Next time. You're pushing the button." Shepard snapped, her eyes briefly flicking to Garrus before she ducked as well and slammed a thermal clip into her pistol. It being the first gun that came to hand.

The turian's laugh was cut short as he lifted his rifle and expertly removed a collector's head, whatever the stuff was that counted as their blood splattering those nearest to it.

Standing for a brief moment, Shepard fired another grenade, the rounds were supposed to disorient and stun whoever was caught in the blast. But Melina had modified her rifle to fire more, lethal rounds. Four husks were turned to ash and blood stains as a result of the weapon.

Without pause, she emptied a clip into a collector and ducked to eject the clip. Garrus was still firing away with his rifle, everywhere he shot, something died. Legion was still blindly firing as well, though thanks to his computerized brain, he never missed a shot.

Within moments the wave of attackers were annilihated and the squad was stepping onto the platform. "Ready?" She spared each soldier a glance, once they both nodded; she pressed the button on this platform, and stumbled when it suddenly lurched into motion.

As the platform carried them deeper into the station, Melina was able to pick out the chatter of rifle fire behind them, and turned to face the rapidly shrinking bastion they'd just left.

"They'll be fine commander." Garrus knew what she was thinking, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know…But that doesn't mean I can't worry about them." The hand on her shoulder retreated, and Shepard found herself missing the contact, though she didn't say anything, instead she turned to face the direction they were heading once again. They had bigger things to worry about now.

Before they reached their goal however, the platform abruptly lurched and caused her to stumble forwards and sink to one knee, Legion seemed unaffected, and Garrus ended up hitting the ground, hard, before picking himself up once again. "What happened?" He demanded, eyes scanning the area for signs of attack.

Before anyone could answer, a loud clang sounded, as another platform slammed into their own and locked in place. Closely followed by a second on the other side. The loud wailing of husks and the chattering whispers of collectors greeted the brief silence that followed.

"Get to cover NOW!" Shepard barked, before dashing forwards and sliding into place behind the same raised section they'd used before.

"Direct intervention is necessary." She tensed slightly as that cold voice entered her mind again. The same ache returning. Gripping her rifle, she swung around the edge of the wall and fired a quick burst into the now glowing collector, and gulped when the bullets pinged off a biotic barrier, much stronger then the previous one.

"This hurts you." The voice growled again, and Shepard winced as the pain in her head suddenly intensified to the point of stars bursting in front of her eyes. Shaking her head, she managed to regain her vision just in time to get struck in the chest by another of the glowing projectiles, this one instantly fried her shield, and her armour began to crackle as flames coiled up her arms.

Panic set in as she madly tried to pat the flames down and stop it from spreading, her concentration lapse costing her as she stumbled out of cover and was hit hard by another collector, the rounds easily pierced her armour, though she managed to duck behind cover before any hit a vital area.

Glancing across the wall, she spotted Garrus, still firing away and appearing unscathed, lucky bastard, and Legion, whom was firing one handed, the other arm appeared bent out of shape and broken, though naturally the geth didn't seem bothered at all by the damages.

Once the familiar blue flicker danced across her vision, the indication that her shields had snapped back on, she resumed firing, this time taking care to watch out for Harbinger and the strange weapon he used.

Husks charged forwards and were swiftly mowed down under the trio's fire, but the collectors were smarter, sticking to cover and only moving while others suppressed and kept the teams head down. Though it only lasted for a few moments, as Shepard and her companions began returning the favour, one firing until they drew the attention of the enemy, then the others would open fire and cut down the distracted collectors.

Numerous times Shepard's shields would flare and die and she'd be forced back into cover, though that didn't stop her for long.

Just as things were shifting in the teams favour, a third platform clanged into place. And another wave of husks rushed into their line of fire. Several of which carried the tell tail glow of the suicide bomber-like ones.

"Shoot those ones first!" Shepard called out, knowing what they could do, after all it was them that killed Mordin.

"Give in Shepard…You cannot win this fight." Melina stumbled, her aiming shifting away from the husks for a moment as she clutched at her head, the voice was getting stronger, or maybe it was simply closer now.

Before she could duck, a loud howl tore at her ears. And a second later she was hit square in the chest by something solid and knocked back another pace. As her vision clared from the flare of pain, she spotted a pale blue fluid was now splattered across her armour.

"Scion!" Garrus shouted, his aim shifting as two of the lumbering beasts stepped into view and fired randomly with their own weapons. Shepard was quick to duck behind cover once again, her aim still solely focused on taking out the exploding ones, the last thing they needed was one of them getting close.

Luckily they were few and far between, and had a nasty habit of taking whole squads of husks with them upon exploding.

Within moments, the majority were dead, but they still had the scions to deal with. Rapidly tapping keys on the side of her gun, the red glow gave way to a deep blow, and Melina resumed firing. Her rounds now easily ripping through the barriers, though doing little damage to the armour beneath.

Luckily she didn't need to worry about doing the damage. As soon as the barriers failed, Legion and Garrus easily finished the job.

After a few moments, the platform abruptly started moving again, and again, both Shepard and Garrus hid the floor hard, and were left grumbling quietly as it finally arrived at the next platform.

"This is it…All the tubes lead to this spot." Melina mused quietly as she studied the area ahead of them, a low tunnel obstructed her vision. A icy dread settled in the pit of her stomach, and she shivered. Her eyes hastily averting to ensure she wasn't bleeding to badly from the earlier shots. Nothing major and nothing a dose of medi-gel wouldn't fix.

"All the tubes are feeding into some kind of super structure. It is emitting both organic and non-organic signatures." That didn't sound good. "Whatever it is. It must be massive." Shepard shivered again, her hands clenching to the point that her rifle creaked under the strain as the structure came into view.

"If my readings are correct…The super structure…Is a reaper!" Shepard cringed as the platform slowly came to a halt, and all three of the soldiers tilted their heads back to examine the massive shape hanging suspended above them.

"Not just any reaper…A human reaper." Shepard gasped, her jaw falling open as she stumbled back a step.

Staring eerily back at her, was a humanoid shape. Obviously incomplete as it was only a skeleton at best, hell it looked like a giant husk in a way. The skull's mouth hung open, displaying cruel looking teeth that were easily double the size of her, it's eyes lacked any form of life, or she assumed if it was powered up they'd glow, but luckily the sockets appeared empty and lifeless.

Clawed fingers swayed slightly in the minute air that swept through the station. And as she examined it further, the commander breathed a sigh of relief to see it wasn't finished. Everything below the torso was missing, aside from it's spine that extended away into nothing, and strange metallic ribs that encased what was likely the main components of the beast. Thankfully the main armour and *skin* hadn't been attached yet, meaning it would be easy, or so she hoped, to bring it down.

"The collectors must have processed tens of thousands of humans...Significantly more will be required to complete the reaper."

"That thing is an abomination…How do we destroy it?" She demanded, EDI instantly responded, likely suspecting the question long before.

"The tubes injecting the fluid into the reaper are a structural weak point…Destroying them would cause the supports to collapse, and the reaper to fall." Shepard slowly advanced to the edge of the platform, and peered down into the gloom below. It had to be a few hundred feet or more. It would probably shatter on impact.

"Shepard, we got company!" Garrus warned, his rifle already discharging as another platform, presumably full of collectors slammed into place next to their own.

"Got it. We got some old friends to take out first though…" Melina nodded slightly as she spared the glowing red tubes either side of the reapers head a glance. What would it take to break them? Perhaps her rifle would work, or maybe they'd need something bigger…

A bullet struck the wall next to her, and forced her behind cover. The reaper would have to wait a minute…

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This chapter didn't quite turn out how i wanted. I originally planned for Shepard to take longer to be talked around by her squad. And have more things being said as she fought with her emotions...But sadly i revised it due to it getting longer and longer and more pointless by the minute, so i decided to scrap a lot of it. Not sure i revised it right though sadly...