So, I keep having these random thoughts pop into my head involving ME3: I'll think of words or phrases that have caused a lot of contention among players, and think of an alternate meaning. One day I thought of the Cerberus coup on the Citadel, and how some people complained that it made very little sense, and I immediately had this vivid mental image of Shepard, Garrus, and Javik dropping from the Kodiak at the edges of a huge firefight, with Cerberus troops fighting each other (Presumably indoctrinated versus non-indoctrinated), and I imagined Garrus' voice: "Looks like Cerberus is tearing itself apart. They always enjoyed playing with fire." And this strange mental image got me thinking: What if instead of an assault on the Citadel, Cerberus' use of indoctrinated shock troops had backfired, and we had to fight through waves of the same bulky-armored, shoot-em-up enemies with the help of those elite commandos we used to hear so much about?
With this initial idea in mind, I quickly copied my thoughts down on paper in case I forgot something. During this firefight, I thought, we could have occasional communication with TIM, and/or Miranda, and/or Jacob, all of whom were trying to help the commandos regain control of, say, Cronos Station. (No, it wouldn't later show up as the point of no return. That would probably just be the Reaper-controlled Citadel; read on to find out why.) While we were talking, we would find out that the implants Cerberus used on civilian prisoners and refugees did indeed work normally, and the troops had thus far proven effective in beating back large assaults by Reaper ground forces. (And yes, this means no more outright betrayal of humanity and the Alliance, no indoctrination for TIM himself; I just can't see him being that careless, and as they explicitly say, in their minds, Cerberus is humanity.)
However, after extended periods time in the presence of actual Reapers, not just the various husks, the Reapers have taken notice, and have released what is essentially a custom-built computer virus to override Cerberus' modifications to the implants and take control. Just the fact that the implants were based on Reaper tech was enough for them to undermine it. Nobody knew anything was wrong for quite some time, because the Reapers ordered them to act normally until they had enough troops under their control, and then had them all attack at once, assaulting Cronos Station in boarding shuttles with the simple goal of crippling, and eventually, destroying Cerberus wholesale.
After a long, tough fight against buttloads of indoctrinated shock troops, Shepard and co. finally find TIM in his office, as he pistol-executes an indoctrinated Phantom (with a substantial number of other bodies around the room), and Shepard can confront him over the whole mess. He'll explain that the troops were a way to get more humans fighting per capita; most of the human refugees are scared and tired, but many could fight if they could overcome their psychological stresses; the implants are used much like Shepard's own, improving strength, endurance, reflexes, and combat effectiveness, while reducing physical needs. And of course, they essentially override the subjects' free will, forcing them to fight and die for Cerberus.
Paragon Shepard could accuse him of stabbing the refugees in the back, Renegade Shepard could agree with the necessity of getting more able-bodied people fighting, and Neutral Shepard could ask whether TIM thought it was worth it. TIM would respond to all of these by stressing the need for anyone to fight if able, and say that they were working well until the Reapers uploaded their virus. Miranda and/or Jacob would then burst in with a squad of Commandos. If Shepard destroyed the Collector base, they would hold TIM at gunpoint along with the commandos, and ask him dryly "Why does everything always backfire when you're in charge?" If Shepard kept the base, they would burst in, but lower their guns after seeing the room is secure, and simply say, "Cronos Station is secure, boss."
At this point, Shepard has a Big Decision! Allow TIM to continue to run Cerberus as he has been, now that the indoctrinated forces are dead, send him to the Alliance as prisoner, leave it to the Miranda/ Jacob and co. to decide his fate, or kill him. If left in his position, he and what's left of Cerberus become War Assets. If he's removed from Cerberus in any way, Miranda takes over, or Jacob, if she's not alive. If both are dead, Adam Solheim, a commando, will step in to fill the leader role. If both Jacob and Miranda are alive, they each become War Assets as well, with an increase to their value if they are the new Cerberus leader. The remaining Cerberus forces become a significant War Asset, with their description noting that they are most effective in rapid assault and behind-the-lines strikes on critical targets.
Wow, this is getting long. If you're still here, on to the second of my ideas for a drastic change to something of the same name...
The Crucible. It was weird. It was never explained properly. It was never mentioned in the previous games. It looked like a giant microphone. It would still be discovered on Mars, where a vanguard of Reaper forces would already be laying siege to the Archives, and Liara would still be there to actually explain how they found the plans. They were found as a relatively small entry in a scientific archive dating well before the Protheans' extinction, which is why they were overlooked underneath the mountains of information on eezo, FTL travel, and other technology. They were not found by "process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation," whatever that's supposed to mean; they were found when Liara herself did an exhaustive search for anything pertaining to the Reapers, the Inusannon, or the Keepers.
She eventually found a small entry on the Crucible, which she'll mention is much older than the Protheans, or even the Inusannon. It is still a device that requires the Catalyst, but it doesn't look like a giant microphone, and it's purpose is much clearer; it is a delivery system for something to greatly weaken the Reapers, not destroy them outright, at least not all at once. Shepard and Liara know from the start that it relies on the Citadel and Mass Relays, and seems to be some kind of program or intelligence that attacks the Reapers' base code.
As War Assets build up and the story progresses, it becomes clearer that the Crucible needs a transmission system that can reliably reach every Reaper in the Milky Way, and probably a good distance outside of it as well. Enter the Citadel, and the Relay network. Once the Crucible is activated, it should transmit this program through the network, in a similar fashion to that final cutscene of the Relay network pulsing with the beams of Space Magic, to create a metaphorical crucible in which to "cook" the Reapers and make them much easier to kill. However, rather than just having everything spread in a spherical pulse around the Relays, Liara would note that it needs precise, direct targeting.
Come the endgame, the Crucible's purpose is clearer: The program will disable the Reapers' kinetic barriers and overheat their weapons; it is essentially the galaxy's most advanced version of the Overload/ Sabotage power! However, it fires in tightbeam patterns, and requires the Relays to hit the Reapers directly with the signal. The secondary Relays become giant turrets, which make the Reapers easy kills for the galaxy's forces as they try to flee through them. The Crucible also locks off the Relay network from the Reapers when activated, trapping them within the FTL range of most conventional starships.
So, this probably seems like one hell of a technological hurdle, to overcome the programming and artificial intelligence of fully sentient, millenia-old starships, which are stated to literally have a virtual world that houses entire species inside them. However, the key is slow progress and attrition by previous cycles. This cycle has gotten lucky; all of the previous improvements made by those that came before have culminated to the point that once they've figured out how to use and rebuild the very large computing structure required to house it, and written all of the code that is called for in the plans, it is ready to use. The reason that the Protheans couldn't use it is that their distrust of synthetics stalled the project until it was too late, and they could no longer secure the Catalyst from the Reapers (Keeping in mind Javik's story of how the Citadel was attacked first). Meanwhile, the Inusannon were the first to finish it, but failed and died in a desperate final assault on the Citadel.
The Catalyst, as we find out, is indeed the Citadel itself, not some weird-ass AI housed within it, just the massive space station and all of its mysterious inner workings. The reason the Citadel is the Catalyst is that it is indeed a Mass Relay itself, with all the programming and machinery required to serve as a portal from Dark Space, and transport every Reaper in existence all that distance. It is also the only known device in the galaxy that can provide sufficient to power the Crucible. Yep, the Crucible isn't a power source for the Citadel; the Citadel is a power source for the Crucible. A side consequence of the Citadel being the "transmitter" for the Crucible is that the Reapers can no longer retreat to Dark Space either.
And so, the near-endgame becomes this: The Crucible's construction is finally finished, in a secret location and under heavy guard by allied fleets, but the Reapers find out. This is the big failure of Thessia, which would remain a crushing defeat for Shepard and co.; they are searching the Beacon for information about the Catalyst as before. However, rather than Cerberus and Kai Leng stealing it with an invincible gunship and plot armor, an indoctrinated Asari commando unit is waiting inside. They greet Shepard's team as if nothing is wrong, and when Shepard notes the absence of any of the science team, the commando unit launches an ambush from all sides. After a very tough fight, Shepard and co. find out that the Beacon has been moved to an unknown location; the commandos were simply there to kill Shepard and their team if possible, and the Reapers pour down from orbit.
Sanctuary is the penultimate mission rather than Cronos Station; there is still a large group of implanted, indoctrinated Cerberus troops there, running it much like in the original game. However, unlike the original's plot of Cerberus using the refugees to study indoctrination, it was a Reaper front all along; they used indoctrinated refugees to lure others in, and serve as the "face" of the place. Once there, refugees were simply converted into husks and/or indoctrinated sleeper agents for the Reapers. The Reapers have brought Thessia's beacon to Sanctuary and begun to experiment with the Crucible's program to determine how it affects their pawns, and search for a countermeasure, since they now realize that Shepard and their allies are building it.
Finally, the last mission wouldn't take place on Earth; it would be a two-part, as the finished Crucible is assaulted by a large Reaper fleet, and it is then moved to the Citadel for activation. Shepard's team wouldn't really have critical a role in the first part; they would be sent to help secure the Crucible itself from boarders, along with a large force of allied soldiers. More tough fighting ensues, and War Assets will have a great effect on how effectively it is defended, and therefore how much damage it sustains. As the fight worsens, and Reapers continue to jump out of FTL to join the fight, Hackett orders a retreat to the nearest Relay, in an attempt to reach the Citadel.
This whole section would be a way to shamelessly display all of Shepard's space-based War Assets at work: the Council fleets, the Migrant Fleet, the Geth, the Rachni, Cortez's friends, Miranda and the Cerberus fighters, the Destiny Ascension, the Void Devils, the Leviathans, hell, even the Hanar fleet and that one Volus dreadnought. The fleet fluctuates in strength as reinforcements arrive to help the allies, and the Reapers summon more of their own to make up for their losses. There would certainly be widespread use of the Turian tactic that used the Reapers' size against them and allowed Palaven's fleet to take out several dreadnoughts earlier, not to mention precision FTL-ing within range of Javelin and disruptor torpedo range; fighters and frigates could jump within range and launch huge swarms of torpedoes, and GARDIAN lasers have been said to bypass kinetic barriers, so a few Reapers would probably go down from that as well. The Crucible will get to the relay and through to the Citadel, it's just a question of how badly damaged it will be, and how many forces were lost defending it.
And on to the other half of the final mission: The Citadel itself! One thing that bugged me (Heh. "Bugged me." Get it, because there's a lot of bugs and...Uhh...Anyway...) was that the player never knows what happened to everyone on the Citadel when it was moved to Earth. Was it moved without much of a fight? Did the Reapers suffer any losses while doing so? Did they just roll over the defenders like the previous cycles? Did anyone survive? Well, we find out in this meandering set of ideas I had the other day. The final section is a ground war, and not a curb-stomp, since Reapers can't really land on the Wards, and the defenders managed to close the arms once the Reapers started through the relay.
When did the Reapers pour through the Relay, you ask? As the allied fleets moved to defend the Crucible, off in its secret location, the Reapers gathered a large portion of their fleet and punched a hole through the concentric defensive fleets grouped around the Citadel. Having heard of the Protheans' fate, the allied forces have tried their utmost to keep it defended. It was kept separate from the Crucible, however, to avoid an "eggs in one basket" scenario in case one of them was assaulted and taken. The Reapers are just powerful enough to take on the defending fleets for both targets at once.
Anyway, the ground war starts with the Ward arms opening briefly, allowing the Crucible, a few allied ships, and a few Reapers, including Harbinger, to slip inside. What happens next would depend, unfortunately, on having the Leviathan DLC installed. (Is it considered widely acceptable to include DLCs as a canon from which to base a fan rewrite?) Anyway, one of the Leviathans would be among the gatecrashers, and it would take control of several Reapers inside the Citadel, as well as contribute some substantial firepower of its own. (I'm picturing one of them encased in a giant suit of armor with a Reaper-type Thanix beam mounted on its armor.) The Leviathan would use its thralls to take harass Harbinger as it starts toward the Citadel Tower, and the Destiny Ascension (or a Turian dreadnought if it was destroyed) would start wearing it down while the other ships escort the Crucible.
With these Reapers, however, came a huge ground force of husks, which are swarming over the Wards and attempting to reach the Tower. Shepard and their team (Their whole team; those not in the active squad will follow and lay down one hell of a wall of support for them) will drop near the far end of Zakera Ward along with reinforcements from the allied ships that got through the arms, and help take the heat off the defenders by hitting the husks with a pincer attack. At some point, in a central plaza of some kind, there would be a major fight not unlike that in the original Priority: Earth, where Shepard may very well find themselves surrounded by five or six Banshees at one point. However, they would be backed by a huge force of background fighters, including former and current squadmates not in the current squad, basically every character they've ever fought alongside, and all those they helped in the past that can fight. Elcor living tanks, Rachni swarms, that one Alliance Special Forces unit known for outstanding mission performance and really loud parties, ME1 and ME2 squadmates who got sidelined, Bailey and C-Sec, Aria and most of Omega, Kirrahe and the STG, Shiala and the Feros Colonists, the remaining Cerberus forces, the Krogan under Urdnot, Kal'Reegar and his marines (No, he wouldn't die in a damn email), you name it, it's there at some point.
All throughout this epic final push, sacrifices are made, good friends are lost, and the husks wither (Heh. Get it...Because they're husks...And they wither, like corn husks, when it gets hot, and they...Ahem. Anyway...) under the sheer volume and expectional variety of sustained attacks. Shepard and their team, being the equivalent of a good-sized cruiser in terms of destructive capability, punch through. Like the Crucible defense, Shepard will make it through. The question, again, is how much you will lose along the way. War Assets are important in gameplay as well; the more they gather, the more your allies can take the heat off and kick ass next to Shepard's team. There will be a lot of heat, and the amount of enemies would not change depending on how ill-prepared the player is. (I always thought War Assets should have an actual effect on gameplay mechanics, not just narrative; make friends now, get some extra guns later, to help in the fight of your life.)
After punching through the husks to help secure the station, Shepard and co. find out that the defenders on one of the other Wards are not faring as well, and the Reaper forces are about to reach the Citadel Tower. Remembering the arm controls and what happened with Saren, Shepard and co. rush up the Tower in pursuit of the invading husks. And thus we finally get a boss fight: An extremely large Yagh husk that serves as Harbinger's avatar like Saren did for Sovereign. Without going into details on the mechanics, it would fast, immensely tough, and hard to predict, and its attacks would hit like a dreadnought's main gun. The main thing it has is insane shield strength, provided by Harbinger's possession. During the fight, Shepard finds out that Harbinger is attempting to use the Yagh husk to manually disable the Crucible's programming while focusing on Leviathan and its thralls.
If the Yagh sees an opportunity to reach the control arms (Such as when Shepard is trying to revive a squadmate, or is waiting for their shields to recharge), it will flit over to the master control panel in the Council chamber and start uploading a virus to disable the program. (This appears as a progress bar on-screen, like Garrus' vital signs in ME2 or Eve's pod integrity in ME3.) Note that this fight takes place between only Shepard and their two squadmates; they take the first elevator up, and it is disabled by Harbinger after they make it to the Council chambers. So, although they are coming, reinforcements are at least several minutes away, with an army of husks in between them.
So, the Yagh lays dead, and Harbinger's attempt to upload its virus has failed. (A full progress bar is simply a Critical Mission failure). Time to burn some mofos to the ground! Shepard opens the arms, just as the Crucible finishes docking, and executes the program. Harbinger, caught in the initial blast, is caught helpless, and the Destiny Ascension puts one clean through its eye-cluster thing and out the other end. The degree of weakening for the other Reapers depends on War Assets, and the allied forces will suffer appropriate losses. Esentially, the Crucible transforms the Relay network into a bunch of giant turrets that cripple the Reapers as they flee, and Shepard's forces go through a long mop-up, and we get a proper epilogue, maybe even a mission or two to wrap things up before Shepard can call it a day.
Holy ****, that was way longer than I thought it would be. I figured I'd just extrapolate on the original points that I wrote down, and...Well, if you somehow got here, you can see what happened. If you did make it this far, thanks for the patience. I hope it was an interesting read, at least, and please, let me know your thoughts. Think the Crucible is fine as-is? Does an anti-Reaper computer virus seem out of place or strange? Do you like the idea I had? Should Cerberus have been an ally? Like the idea of the implanted troops turning on TIM? Did you notice my shout-out in the Cerberus section? Any other thoughts, criticisms, or ideas? I hope you enjoyed my alternative ideas/ insanely long ramblings!
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