[Book Three] Chapter 43: What’s in the box?

[Book Three] Chapter 43: What’s in the box?Chapter 43: What’s in the box?

Failure.



That’s what Jane had to Report to Admiral Hackett when he and the other leaders of the coalition species boarded the Normandy. She and her team had destroyed Cerberus. They infiltrated their base, reached TIM’s own office, destroying most of the base in their way, while the diverse species fleet tore down the one belonging to Cerberus and yet they failed. Because TIM erased the totality of the Protheans’ archives once he got the information he needed on the Catalyst. Just so no one else would know. The silver lining was that they had a copy of the whole archives themselves but so far they didn’t find anything about it, the archives being too massive data-wise.

She couldn’t help herself but feel like she had failed. Tim was at large, probably already securing the Catalyst despite the end of his organization. He had a considerable advantage and the trap that Rick had sprung at the cost of his own being had not been as successful as they had hoped. Taking a big breath, she welcomed everyone in the conference room.

“Commander, what news do you have for me?” the grizzled Fleet Admiral inquired.

“Cerberus is defunct although the Illusive Man was not on the station.”

“What about the catalyst?” primarch Victus asked.

“The Protheans archives were completely erased when we got to his office.”

“So we got nothing.” he replied in a slightly defeated tone.

“We have our own copy, primarch.”

“We do?!”

“Wald?” asked Wrex to which Jane nodded in agreement.

“Can you explain for those who are not in the know, Commander?” questioned Koris.

“Back on Thessia, Rick used the Illusive Man’s love for dramatics and hearing himself talk to subtly make a total copy of the Protheans archives, minus the VI. He didn’t have enough time for that. The plan he had come up on the fly was to make Cerberus believe that they got everything and we got nothing. For fear of indoctrinated or sleeper agents we kept quiet about it. That, and the only people able to read prothean and so the archives are in my crew. So not all is lost, we can still find out what the catalyst is.”

“The problem is that the Illusive Man now knows and has the advantage.” Hackett said what she refused to say.

“Unfortunately, sir.” she replied with a sigh.

“What do we do in the meantime then? The more time passes, the more the Reapers...” Dalatrass Kurosa spoke up but was interrupted by EDI.

“Commander, urgent communication for you from Ilos.”

“Ilos? Who would...”

“Dorothea, commander.” EDI answered and Jane’s eyes grew as big as saucers.

“Dorothea? What is she doing on Ilos? Two weeks ago she was on the Citadel, there is no way she can be there! EDI patch her up.”

“Commander, we have more...” the Dalatrass began but was ignored.

EDI did so and a small hologram of the ebony goddess appeared in the middle of the table.

“Commander, I have urgent news! Rick found out what the Catalyst is!”

Everyone in the room was suddenly on alert and very interested at what Dorothea had to say.

“What is it?”

“It’s the Citadel.”

“The Citadel?! Is he sure?!”

“Certain, Commander. I’ll send a report to myself for you to read later on how he found out but there is more present news. The Reapers know. They arrived en masse less than an hour ago to take it. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Shit!” Jane exclaimed.

“Wait a moment, Dorothea. If you were on the Citadel less than an hour ago, how come you are on Ilos?” inquired Steven.

“Rick, found out two weeks ago what the catalyst was but...”

“And he didn’t say anything?!”

“Commander, he didn’t say anything for the same reasons we didn’t share the knowledge about the copy of the archives. Councilor Quintius left with the defense fleet and the knowledge of the Catalyst so he could tell Fleet Admiral Hackett in person and reinforce the fleets. Rick didn’t trust any other way to share the information than face to face. As for how I’m on Ilos... the moment he knew that the Citadel was the catalyst, he warned the council and advised them to evacuate the station but without enough ships available he thought of using the conduit to help the process. He never voiced it but I’m sure he knew that the Reapers would come for the Catalyst after being warned by TIM. I was amongst the last that could use the conduit. In two weeks, 70% of the population was moved to Ilos. 3% are making the journey by ships.”

“By the spirits, that’s almost 8 million people, if not a bit more.”

“Why didn’t the council simply close the Citadel? And why tell us now that it is the catalyst?” the Dalatrass wondered out loud.

“They would have destroyed it.” answered Wrex.

“And since the Reapers are already aware, there is no point in waiting for Quintius.” Vicust added.

“Yes.”

“So we go to the Serpent Nebula, hook the crucible on the Citadel and the Reapers are done.”

“It’s not that simple, Commander.”

“How so?”

“Rick believed that the Reapers would relocate the station somewhere else.”

“To where? And where is he?”

“He’s still on the station with councilor Shepard.” Dorothea revealed and Jane’s heart sank. “Just as I was leaving, the Reapers had already infiltrated the station and closed the arms. They stayed behind so they could open it at the right moment to connect the crucible to it with the Reapers none the wiser. As for where the Reapers would take the Catalyst, he didn’t say, he was too afraid to share the information too. However, he gave me a digital black box with the information in it and said that only the crew would be able to open it safely. I just sent it to me.”

“Thank you Dorothea, we’re on it. Take care of yourself.”

“Commander...” Hackett began but stopped when he saw the ground team of the Normandy arriving.

“Dorothea warned me in advance. Being the same person allows us to communicate faster.” EDI said leading the march.

“Same person?” Koris asked

“Something tells me it’s better if we let go of that.” answered Wrex, and left the conference room for the center of command. He was followed by every leader.

The whole field team was gathered around the center with the addition of Traynor and Steve.

“Everyone is there. Go ahead, EDI.”

“Yes, commander.” the Ai replied, and accessed the black box. “It seems to have two locks. Each needs an answer and we only have one try to get it right.”

“Hmm. He wasn’t kidding when he said that only your crew could open it safely, commander.” commented Hackett.

“Can you not hack it?” asked the Dalatrass.

“I’m afraid not. At least not in the time frame we have, Rick is too good in encryption for even me to get it fast.”

“Anything else to know, EDI?”

“No, commander. Except we can’t get access to the second lock if we don’t open the first.”

“It’s fine, go ahead.”

“The first lock is completing a sentence or an idiom but I don’t know it. It’s. ‘You can pay a soldier to fire a gun. You can pay him to charge the enemy and take a hill. But you can’t pay him to...’”

“Believe.” was the instant response Jane gave while sharing a look with Hackett who simply nodded. “He must have been listening in on our conversation, sir.” she said as an apology but the man dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

“The lock is opened. The second lock... needs a vocal password.”

“And we only have one try? Boy, I hope it’s not the voice of one of us.” wondered Kaidan.

“It would probably be Jane’s.” Garrus added.

“No, it’s too easy to replicate a voice, it must be someone else’s.” the voice of Joker was heard through the coms.

“There is an audio file.” EDI announced.



At Jane’s nod, the AI played the file. It lasted five seconds and had only a high pitch rhythmic sound to offer.

“What the hell was that?” asked a confused Ashley.

“It’s familiar...” James said pensive and everyone turned to him.

“I agree with James. The rhythm is really familiar. Really catchy but I can’t place it.”

“EDI could you... replay it again but lower the pitch an octave by octave?” wondered James and got a nod.

The sound played again and again, each time at a lowered pitch. It was at the fifth loop that James and Joker had a revelation.

“That's Lola's song.” / “That’s the commander’s song.”

“Now that you said it...” Ashley started to say and Liara finished.

“It kind of is.”

“What song? I have a song?” a very confused Jane looked around. It seems like she was the only one not in the know. It was Hackett that clued her in.

“Months ago, during your mission on Utukku to recruit the rachnis, Wald and I had a conversation about the propaganda for the war. We agreed that we needed the Normandy, its crew and most importantly you, commander, put forward. He worked tirelessly on it and sent me a song he composed that quickly became very popular.”

“Were you not aware, commander?” Victus asked.

“I had no idea. This is the first time I’m hearing of this.”

“Wald did everything in his power to hide everything from you about it. He believed, and I agreed with him, that you had enough on your plate to add the burden of being an icon to the galaxy.”

“Just like he did for the elevator of the SSV Normandy, he hacked your omni-tool to make sure that every time you were fifty feet away from something airing the song, A tv or a radio, it would be hacked and changed to something else.” EDI explained.

“How the hell did he do that?” inquired Wrex, completely awed.

“He also sent us all a message to not speak about it to or with you.” Liara confessed.

“I... Nevermind, what has it got to do with the lock?” questioned Jane.

“Knowing him, we probably have to sing it.” Ashley answered with a grimace.

“Who sings well?”

“Does it really matter?” Javik asked, already done with this.

“I... I’m not too bad.”

Everyone turned to Traynor who was already sporting a blush on her face. At Jane’s signal, she began to sing, EDI providing an instrumental version to accompany her.

“From Omega to Mars

From the Council to the seediest bars

From the reaches of space

To the pillars of Asari grace.



There are battle worn Batarians lacking in humility

Turians a' braggin' 'bout their reach and flexibility

The clutter of the cities spreads to the loneliest stars

But no matter what scars you bear

Whatever uniform you wear

You can fight like a Krogan, run like a leopard

But you'll never be better than Commander Shepard!





Oh!

...”



On and on, Traynor sang, without stopping. Jane listened and was completely baffled at what she was hearing. She was also embarrassed to death at the knowledge that her own brother had written a song about her for propaganda purposes. A song that was quite good and catchy too.

“It worked, the lock is open. Beautiful performance, Traynor.”

“Thank you, EDI.”

After a few moments of silence, everyone waited for EDI to reveal the location that Rick believed the Reapers had moved the Citadel too.

“I don’t understand. There is nothing.”

“What do you mean there is nothing?” Asked a panicked Tali, conveying outloud what everyone was feeling and thinking.

“There is absolutely nothing beyond the second lock. Not one bit of data.”

“But... But...”

“Did he forget to put the information?” asked the Dalatrasse.

“... No.” said Jane and everyone turned to her. “He wouldn’t have forgotten that kind of thing. Not when it was his sole focus. That’s not his style.”

“Yet, there is nothing.” contradicted Korris.

“There is not nothing. There is something but we just don’t see what.” insisted the redhead.

“The locks were not that difficult to open.” voiced Kaidan. “I mean, anyone with a bit of sense, smart and who’ve been in the military would have been able to answer the first lock. Not many but enough I believe. As for the second lock. James and Joker got on it immediately. It’s a far cry from us only being able to open them.”

“Let’s take a moment to think. We have two locks and...” started Jane but was interrupted by Wrex.

“And that’s it.”

“That’s not true. We also have two answers. Believe and the song whose title is Commander Shepard.” Laira corrected her krogan friend.

“Believe in Commander Shepard? It sounds more encouragement than anything else.” thought aloud Steve.

“Believe, believe..” muttered Kaidan, trying to find the solution.

“Okay, let’s do a recap of what we know about Rick. That might help. After all, he always said when you want to find a solution, start from the basics. He was the one who came up with this... puzzle and he made it for us. So what do we know about him?”

“He’s fiercely loyal.” was the first answer that came up from Tali.

“He’s good at music. He plays piano and drums.” James was the second to speak up.

“He’s a genius.” commented Liara.

“One who can outsmart the Reapers.” Javik added.

“He has an uncanny ability to take in more information than most people which allows him to predict events and act accordingly to get the best outcome by thinking outside of the...”

“Earth.” EDI suddenly said in realization with a chuckle, cutting off Jane. “The Citadel was brought to Earth.”

Everyone turned to her, to be sure of what she had said.



“Isn’t that convenient.” The dalatrass commented.

“EDI, could you explain to us how you came to this conclusion?”

“Certainly Fleet Admiral. Rick is a trickster, he likes to outsmart people and show them how much their intellect is inferior by playing mind games with them. He hides in plain sight what everyone is looking for but never pays attention to actually see what’s obvious. Jane was about to say that he thinks outside of the box. Conveniently he gave Dorothea, then us, a black box which I believe is not a coincidence. Meaning the answer, the information we want, was never in it to begin with.”

“What’s outside the black box then?” asked James, not quite understanding everything.

“The answer. What’s hidden in plain sight are the clues. ‘Believe in Commander Shepard’. The question we must ask ourselves is why? Why her?”

“Because she’s the one who led us this far?” Steve replied.

“Yes but more precisely because she's the one who fought the Reapers more than anyone. The Reapers know you by name, Commander. They used the collectors to kill you. When the invasion began through Batarian space, instead of going for the Salarian who were right next to it, they immediately went for Humanity’s space. Earth. Perhaps hoping to kill you unprepared and unaware.”

“They are afraid of her.” Javik commented, seeing where she was going.

“Yes. They acknowledge that she is a serious threat to them despite being from an inferior species from their point of view. Commander, you defied all odds, time and time again against them. They learned. No matter how small an anomaly you are to them, you’re highly dangerous and since they couldn’t break your body...”

“They’ll try to break my spirit. By bringing the Citadel to Earth, they hope that I will falter at the sight that awaits me. That I would believe that everything is already lost and stop fighting. And if I give up...” realized Jane.

“The morale of everyone will plummet to the ground and we would have no chance of victory.” finished Hackett.

“I don’t know about you all but that’s a good explanation for me.” primarch Victus confessed.

“That the kind of fucked up thing Wald would come up with and he has never let me down so far.” Wrex commented, indicating that it was enough for him too.

“I agree. It’s not like we have another location to choose from, anyway.” Korris said.

“Wouldn’t the human troops on Earth warn of the presence of the citadel?” wondered the Dalatrasse. It was a good question she came up with.

“Not if they move the station along Earth’s rotation positioning it in the night part of the day cycle. Or more simply hide it behind the moon.” answered EDI.

“They could also selectively disrupt transmission.” added Joker. “I mean they are very advanced AI with very advanced technology.”

The Dalatrasse sighed in resignation. “I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end if everyone goes. I’ll send the Salarian fleets to Earth.”

“Let’s coordinate for a massive assault and wait for everyone’s fleet. The journey to Earth is a bit less than a week from here.” Hackett suggested and every leader agreed.



Except the Fleet Admiral, each went back to their own ship to convey orders. Steven simply had a few words with Jane.

“I’ll be honest, I’m running on faith, commander. But not a baseless one.”

“Me too, sir. But... It makes sense or so my guts are telling me and we should always follow...”

“Our guts. Wald was right, only your crew would have been able to solve the problem.”

“That is if we got the right answer and if he wasn’t wrong in the first place though somehow, I don’t believe that’s the case, sir.”

“You’ll have to open the march with the Normandy, Commander.”

“I would have been very unhappy if that wasn’t the case, sir.” she replied with a grin.

Hackett saluted her and left for his own ship to make the preparations needed for the incoming last stand.

___________________________________________________________________

The terminus fleet, being the farthest from the Horse Nebula, was the last to arrive. During the waiting time, Jane had communicated with Dorothea who revealed that Tevos and Valern were with her and manning a tight ship on Ilos. She also shared that Ashley’s family was with her but also Doctor Michel and Liara’s parents. That tidbit of information brought immense relief to Ashley, Garrus and Liara.

Jane was currently in her cabin, laying down on her bed and looking up the extranet for the propaganda that Rick had worked on. She had asked EDI to remove what he did on her omni-tool to block any access to it. She wanted to see for herself what her brother had done and hidden from her.



She saw plenty of things, flyers, banners, posters... The ones that touched her the most were the street arts. She loved one in particular. She was in her black N7 armor, a standard M-8 Avenger in hands facing forward. On her back were white wings and she had a yellow halo floating above her head like an angel. Right behind her was Rick showing her his back. Both hands raised with a shotgun in one and his lightsaber in the other. A red horn on each side of his helmet and with a red devil’s tail that could be seen waving in the air. The difference in her height and her brother was a bit comical but brought an air of protection from Rick towards her. He had her back no matter what and no matter their differences. The words ‘The angel and her devil’ were written on a beautiful white banner above them both.

Her musing was interrupted when she heard the door to her quarters open. She looked up from her terminal’s screen and saw EDI coming in with a big black case in her hands. Putting her terminal to the side, she moved to sit at the edge of the bed.

“What is it?” she asked her synthetic friend.

“Some gifts from Rick. He couldn’t finish them because of his injuries so he asked me to do it and to give them to you when the moment was right.” replied EDI as she stood in front of Jane.

Prompting her to open it with a nod of her head, Jane slowly opened the box to see Rick’s lightsaber encased in foam. She picked it up and looked at it closely for the first time.





___________________________________________________________________



“Because we're fighting for the only fight that matters. We're fighting for our freedom.

Not against tyranny, not against oppression or persecution no, but from annihilation.

We're fighting for our right, our freedom to live! Our freedom to exist!”





Back on Ilos Dorothea was transmitting Jane’s speech to every Radio present in the multiple camps that had been hastily built on the planet. With so much to do and so many people to manage there was no time for a break, yet, from the management, to security to refugees, everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to the one they have been looking up to ever since the war started. Their greatest hope.

___________________________________________________________________

“And I say to all Reapers out there listening and that want to deny us that freedom:

We will not go quietly into the night!

We will not vanish without a fight!”



Of course at that moment the krogans, wherever they were, began to growl in anticipation of said fight. Their rage was being fanned and their blood boiled in answer. They were going to kick some old machine ass and it would be glorious.

In his own quarter, Wrex was polishing his shotgun. A vicious grin on his lips.

“You and your speeches Shepard.”

___________________________________________________________________

“We're going to hold the line!

We're going to bring hell to you!”





On one of the Sheep of the third Salarian fleet a Major, was remembering a particular mission on Virmire with a hint of a smile.

___________________________________________________________________

“And we're going to live on!

We're going to survive!

And we'll make you! A footnote in History!”





Leading his own fleet, Primarch Victus, was focused on what he was hearing. He admitted mentally that the words he ahd for his men and women were now useless. There was no way he could top Jane. An admittance he found himself not really bothered with.





___________________________________________________________________





The Reapers’ time is done and over! Ours is only beginning!

Everyone, THIS. IS. IT!

There is no fate but what we make ourselves!”



On Earth, Admiral David Anderson had been in a meeting with a room full of resistants when a com specialist came in in a hurry and, without even asking permission, turned on the radio. When he heard his protege’s voice, the reprimand he had on his lips died.

The more he listened, the more his fist thightened. There is only one thing he wanted to do and that was to pick up a gun, get out and kill as many Reapers he could. Looking at the people around him, he knew he wasn’t the only one.

They had noticed almost a month earlier that no one was answering any of their transmissions. Many, if not all, had feered for the worst. That they were the only ones left. The morale had been shot down and landed at its lowest and Anderson had struggled to raise it.

Hearing Jane speaking, that she was alive but all other species as well and more importantly that they were all on their way... The morale of the people went through the roof. Be they soldiers or prisonners in one of those concentration camps, their heart was alight with a burning desire to win. Stronger than it has ever been since the start of the war. They had hope back again and they will not lose it until they die.

__________________________________________________________________





“Stand strong! Stand Together! And let's send those Reapers back to the dark abyss they came from!

Shepard out.”





The broadcast ended and silence reigned all across the deck. It wasn’t an uncomfortable one however. No, it wasn’t. As Steven Hackett looked attentively at each of his subordinates present with him, he saw the determination in their eyes. Their morale was at an all time high thanks to Jane lighting an inferno in their hearts. Had he been a betting man he would have bet that anyone who had heard her speech was in the same state. Ready to kick Reaper ass even with a simple rock in hand for a weapon.



For the first time since the beginning of the war, Steven Hackett smiled.