Alliance Chapter 16 - Decimation

Shepard took a moment to take the story in, understanding why Ben surrendered himself to the Collective. He didn't understand why Cerberus would do something like this, though. The group could hear the honking of trains in the distance, and Shepard knew that the Resistance is now pulling out of the city.

"It's my fault." Scorch says in a disappointed tone. "It's my fault that I didn't stop him."
Shepard places his hand on Scorch's shoulder. "It's not your fault." Shepard assures him. "Ben was simply acting on his instincts. It's what makes us human..." He quickly realised that Tali and Garrus were watching. He quickly adds "...or humanoids."

"Are you sure?" Scorch asks. Shepard's words seem to have cheered him up.

"Positive." Sheaprd replies. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We'll try and rescue him."

"I hate to break it to you...." says Garrus. "But we REALLY need to move."

"I called a shuttle to my position." Shepard says. "It'll be here any minute." Soon enough the shuttle does arrive. The group piles in one by one, starting with Tali, and ending with Shepard. As Shepard takes his seat next to Sam the door closes.

"Get us out of here, pilot." Shepard orders. "As quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir." the pilot replies. The shuttle lifts into the air and heads for the Normandy.

"Keelah..." exclaimed Tali, who was sitting next to Scorch. "Look!" She pointed at the Citadel. It had suddenly began to emit a beam of light, with the beam passing through the orange portal above. The shuttle had reached a safe enough distance from the city as a large blue light suddenly appears at the base of the Citadel. Shepard realised what it was; the core had exploded.

Small pods were also seen being ejected from the Citadel and heading out in various directions. Everyone in the shuttle saw as one-by-one, every block in City 17 was quickly reduced to rubble. The Citadel eventually collapsed in on itself as well. When all the chaos was over, all that remained was ruins. However, another portal started to emerge over the remains of the Citadel.

"My God." Shepard exclaims silently. Nobody said anything for the remainder of the trip.



Meanwhile, Kai Leng and Ben both watched the same event unfold. Ben was horrified by the outcome. He had no idea if the Resistance had made it. He then saw the train and let out a sigh of relief.

"This is what I mean't when I said that you made a smart decision." says Kai Leng. "If you had refused. The trains would've been destroyed and nobody would've made it out alive."

"What do you want from me?" Ben asks in a pissed off tone. Kai Leng then gets out a small device which hovers to the middle of the shuttle.

"It's not what I want." he says. Suddenly, the device shows a projection of a man. He was was wearing what looked like an expensive suit and was smoking a cigarette. "It's what he wants." says Kai Leng.

"You must be Mr. Walker." says the man being projected.

"And you must be the Illusive Man, head of Cerberus." Ben replies.

"You are correct." the Illusive Man replies back. "It's nice to meet your acquaintance."

"What do you want?" Ben asks.

The Illusive Man takes another smoke from his cigarette. "You see, the Collective is about bringing order and peace to this galaxy. You want peace, correct?"

"I do." Ben answers. "I also want freedom from the Combine."

"That is out of my jurisdiction, I'm afraid." says the Illusive Man. "However, this is where you come in. You tell us where your rebel base is, and we'll make sure that the Combine never bother your world again."

"No." Ben quickly hashes out. "I don't trust you."

The Illusive Man then looks around and sees no sign of Scorch. He looks to Kai Leng "Where's the other one?" he asks.

"He escaped, sir." Kai Leng responds.

"What a shame." The Illusive Man replies with a little hint of disappointment. He then looks to Ben "I hope you cooperate, you might not find Cerberus interrogations to be... merciful."

"I guess I'll find out for myself." says Ben. He's not afraid at what Cerberus might throw at him. With that, the Illusive Man's projection vanishes and the shuttle continues on it's course.



The Alliance shuttle lands in the Normandy shuttle bay. As soon as the doors open, the group get off. Shepard looks ahead to see that the bay was more busier than usual. Everyone had been taken off guard after what happened with City 17.

Shepard sees Boss, Fixer and Sev walking towards them. He turns to Scorch. "Your squad's coming." he says.

"Thanks, Shep." Scorch replies and he jogs over to join them.

"What happened?" Boss asks. "Where's Ben?" Scorch wasted no time in explaining what happened.

"We've got to get him out, somehow." says Fixer,

"And we will." Shepard quickly replies. "Only problem is that we don't know where Cerberus has taken him. And I can't organize a rescue mission without authorization from Hackett."
Samus walks over to join them. "Then we'll need to convince him, then." Shepard took this into consideration.

"OK, Samus." he says. "You, me and the Chief will try to convince Hackett to let us put a rescue mission together. As for everyone else, return to your duties." He saw Trishka and Grayson talking with Lightning. Lightning never set foot in City 17, so they're filling her in what happened. Shepard couldn't see Mike, though. "Where's Mike?" he asked.

"He went with rebels on the train." Samus answered. "He said that he was going to head towards White Forest."

"Very well." Shepard replies. "Look, we're wasting time here, so let's go and talk to Hackett."



"Sir, we're approaching the planet." says the shuttle pilot.

"Take us in, then." Kai Leng replies. Ben watches as the shuttle makes it's descent onto another planet. He was taken away from Earth and through a mass relay to what Kai Leng could describe as "a secluded destination". Once through the planet's atmosphere, he was taken in awe by the surface. It looked battered and the weather didn't help either, it was raining and there was lighting everywhere.

"We're coming into view of the outpost, sir." the shuttle pilot says again from the cockpit.

"Find us a place to land." Kai Leng replies again. The outpost looked ruined and abandoned. It was like a fierce hurricane smashed into it or something. The shuttle manages to land just outside the outpost.

"Just need to do something, quickly." says Kai Leng. As Ben was looking out the window, he felt a needle being injected into his shoulder. Ben started to feel dizzy and began to close his eyes. Before he blacked out completely, he managed to discover the name of their location; Hadley's Hope.

"You're saying that Ben surrendered himself to the Collective?" Hackett asks.

Shepard, the Chief and Samus are all standing in the vid comm room, discussing their plans to rescue Ben.

"That's right, sir." Shepard says. "I believe that he acted on his instincts and was trying to protect the rebels, instead of being selfish. We could use a guy like that on our side."

"If that's what you think, commander, then I'll authorize a rescue mission." says Hackett. "But, there's one issue. Where have Cerberus taken him?" Suddenly a woman appeared behind him, the woman was saying something, but the trio couldn't hear what she was saying. Hackett then turned back towards them as the woman walked away.

"Recent air traffic reports are saying that a shuttle was recently seen heading towards LV-426." he said.

"Your point?" Samus asks.

"LV-426 was supposed to be abandoned, after a Xenomorph infestation resulted in the destruction of the Hadley's Hope colony." Hackett continued. "Maybe Cerberus are holding him there."
"We'll try that, then." says Shepard. "I'll send the Chief, Lightning, and Delta Squad down there to rescue him."

"Sounds good, commander." Hackett replies. "Let me know when he's safe and sound on the Normandy."

"Yes, sir." Shepard replies with a salute.

"Hackett out." Hackett's projection vanishes from the vid comm.

"Joker, set a course for LV-426." Shepard orders.

"Roger that, commander." Joker replies over the comm. Shepard then looks to the Chief.

"Get Delta Squad and Lightning ready. You'll be going in one hour."