Mass Effect ch2 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Was able to bang out chapter 2 sooner than expected. Will try to ride this train until it falls off the tracks. Some notes:

1. It’s been so long that I forgot Lash and Smash were two separate powers and I kinda combined them in my head. It acts very different to what it does in game.

2. For the patrons: As I’m sure you’ll notice, I decided to swap Cora Harper out in favor of femshep. I did this because Cora was frankly Cora In Name Only due to the massive number of changes we made to the universe. Many of which you’ll be finding out about now. :evilmiko: Non-Patrons won’t have to worry about this as it’ll be corrected before release.

3. “Where is the seggs?! D:” I have to be in a very specific mood for smut, and it hasn’t really been hitting. Honestly, I don’t feel I’m very good at writing it either.

Also, I still don't have a title for this thing! Taking suggestions.

On with the show!

-]|[-

“How long am I supposed to stay in the dark?” Shepard asked, looking down at the pad where the ship AI’s holographic interface was floating.

“Patience, Commander.” The female, synthesized voice replied, “We will be arriving shortly. In fact, I invite you to gaze outside. We should be entering the zone soon.”

He let out a sigh, still wondering what the hell all of this secrecy was about. He had been ordered away from his command post on the TSV Kilimanjaro with nothing more than his specialized gear and weapons and onto a single person, Warp-capable shuttle. And now he could see on the telemetry data that other vessels were popping into real space as well. “Should I be worried about that?” He asked, “And where are we, anyway?”

“No Commander.” The AI was patient, “All of the vessels you see are friendly. As for where we are, I am afraid that is classified.”

He grunted, unhappy. He stayed silent, until his eyes slowly widened, “Is that a… shipyard?” It was a huge asteroid. One that had clearly been hollowed out with a massive facility built into it. “But we’re in intergalactic space. The only reason I can even see it is all of the lighting.”

“Yes, Commander.” He could almost hear a smile in her reply, “And where better to hide a secret installation?”

A slow smile rose on his face, “I think I might like where this is going.”

“Yes, I imagined you might.” Now he was definitely hearing the smile as she took them into the smaller hanger meant for the shuttles. The AI swiftly parked the shuttle, “Thank you for your patience Commander. We have arrived.”

“Excellent. Thank you for putting up with me.” He chuckled, “Should I bring my things with me?”

“It was no trouble. And no, leave them here. I will ensure that they are taken care of.” She replied, before the hologram shut off.

Shepard stepped off the craft, and his eyes widened before a smile split his lips, “Jazz?!” Standing there in all her five-foot glory was his little, redhead spitfire of a wife.

She turned around, “John?” She asked incredulously, before racing over to him and embracing him, “I’ve missed you! What are you doing here?” She asked as she backed up a bit, “Are we going to be on the same posting?”

“I’d say I’m as in the dark as you are.” He had his hands loosely behind her back, “I was just told to pack up and get ready to transit.”

“Same for me.” She let go, scratching her chin, “Whatever this is must be big.” Stupid fraternization rules. They fact that command bothered splitting up good teams just because they happened to be fucking always irritated her. The two of them had found comfort in each other’s arms almost immediately after Akuze once the adrenaline died down and reality had hit. About a year later, they officially married, and about two years after that, they both got some slaps on the wrists when their relationship was discovered by the brass. After all, they could hardly punish the two heroes too badly, but dumb regulations were unfortunately still regulations, and they’d both been given different postings. Being brought to the same installation in such a clandestine manner was confusing.

“Yes, well…” Their heads turned, and they both grinned as they saw Miranda Lawson in all her glory, “This project calls for our best and brightest.” She smirked at them as she allowed Jasmine to pull her in for a group hug, “All of our best and brightest. And that means relaxing of some guidelines.” She murmured into their ears, hugging them tightly. Oh, how she had missed them.

“Miri!” Jasmine smiled happily, “We haven’t seen you in over a year! Are you in charge? Is Jack here as well?”

“Not in charge, no.” Miranda denied, “I’m the XO and I suppose the Project Director. And yes, Jennifer is skulking about.”

“I HEARD THAT!” Jack called out, though they couldn’t see her.

Jasmine laughed, “Well, looks like the gang is all here. What’s this about?”

“Come.” Miranda turned and started to lead them away, “Let’s get to the briefing.”

They filed after her, sharing a smirk as they realized she was putting an extra sway in her steps. Oh, they had definitely missed her too.

…

There were hundreds of people stuffed into the auditorium. Jasmine and Shepard both raised eyebrows as they realized that roughly half of them were Quarians and even Geth platforms, and even more excitement started to ripple through them. Some of the Quarians must have been younger than they were, because they could see some uncovered faces. Unfortunately, while genetic engineering was a miracle of science, it only did its best work early in development, and preferably in the womb. It took seven years just for cells to recycle themselves, so applying gene therapy to fully grown adults was a difficult task. Older Quarian adults would unfortunately still have to wear their Envirosuits on foreign planets, only truly being able to relax on well-terraformed worlds suited to their unique biology, or on Rannoch itself.

Miranda led them to the very front, where they took a seat next to a lounging Jack, who blew them a kiss. They only got a chance to wink at her before Miranda took her place at the podium, “Is everyone here, EDI?”

“Yes, Miranda.” The AI had evidently gained a body. One much more advanced than the standard Geth platforms.

“Okay, does the robot have to look so sexy?” Jasmine grumbled to her husband. He rolled his eyes, fighting back a fond smirk.

“Good.” Miranda smiled, and turned the microphone on, “Attention!” She called out, and immediately, all the chatter ceased. “You are all here for the single most important postings of your careers.” She smiled softly, looking around the auditorium, “Each of you possesses special skills, training, and qualifications for this undertaking. For more details, I present Admiral Hackett and Admiral Rael’Zorah.”

Hackett stood, and was joined by a Quarian wearing his full enviro-suit. They walked up, passing Miranda who went to sit next to her on-off lovers, “This…” Rael’s voice rang through the silent auditorium, “Has been coming for quite a long time. Ever since Humanity and the Quarian Collective joined hands after Humanity joined the galactic community, we have been working hand in hand on various projects and liaisons. It is because of Humanity’s ingenuity and long-established techniques that I can see uncovered Quarian faces on worlds that are not our own. With Humanity’s aid, our people have even been able to enter a tentative truce with the Citadel Council after almost three-hundred years of Cold War. Despite this, once the projects were done, we always went our separate ways until the next joint venture.” He scanned the room, reading the building excitement easily. “No more.”

Hackett was as stern-faced as ever, “You all have been chosen for your skills, your leadership abilities, and your talents for this joint venture. For the first time in our collective history, we will have a vessel designed for and crewed by Humanity, Terran AIs, the Quarian people, and the Geth!”

Applause rang out, getting a small smirk from the man, before he held up his hand. “Yes, I’m sure you’re all eager to get to know one another, but before that, we have some… ceremonial duties we must take care of.” He turned to Shepard, his smirk widening, “Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, please join us.”

Shepard blinked, confused, but stood and stepped onto the raised stage. He snapped into a salute, “Sirs!”

“At ease, soldier.” Hackett held out a hand, which Shepard took for a strong shake, matched by Rael as well. “For over ten years, you have provided exemplary service to Humanity. You more than earned your N7 Designation, proving it on Akuze where you faced insurmountable odds. Since that fateful day, you have not lost a single soldier under your command. Your leadership is clear for all to see, and you’ve earned your post as the Commanding Officer of this new venture.” Shepard kept his ingrained mask of stoicism up, but Hacket’s next words almost shattered it, “Congratulation, Captain Shepard.”

His shocked “sir?!” was drowned out by the raucous applause coming from everyone but the Geth platforms, who were merely politely clapping for him.

Hackett leaned forward, “Your mother’s quite proud, son.” He smirked at Shepard, murmuring so his voice would not carry, “It is a bit… unusualto skip a rank, but I know you’ll do us proud.”

Shepard fought his shock down, “As long as I still get to deploy, Admiral. I think I’d go spare if all I could do was send my people down while I stayed safe on a ship.” He let out a chuckle.

“Hah!” Rael laughed, “Man after my own heart, Shepard. Go on and take your seat, or we’ll be here all day.” He joked, getting Shepard to crack a smile as he saluted the both of them and went back to his seat.

He was quickly embraced by his wife, while Jack slapped him on the back with a smirk. “Well, look at this big shot now.” Jack quipped.

“Hush, cabin girl.” He turned challenging eyes and a smirk to her, getting a twitch of an eyebrow from the Biotic.

“Cab- Oh, you are going to pay for that one.” Jack bared her teeth at him.

The two Admirals gathered their attention again, “Next on our list is Lieutenant Commander Jasmine Organa.” Jasmine went up quickly and saluted both of her superiors, “Even before joining the armed forces, you showed you were a fighter. You bled the Batarian slaver scum dry when they invaded Mindor, and enlisted soon after. You had barely finished your N7 training when you earned your title of Dragon of Elysium, ripping through almost a quarter of a battalion on your own to free captured slaves and get them home. Your actions threw the enemy into complete disarray and gave the colony enough time to ready a response.” Jasmine smiled sharply, “This has been a long time coming. Congratulations, Staff Commander.”

Jasmine accepted her promotion with grace, which was going to fly straight out of the window as soon as she was safely in private with her husband and friends. The Admirals lead them through a slew of promotions, including Rael’s own daughter Tali’Zorah, who was going to be their Chief Engineer. She was extremely cute, and one of the few Quarians there who was able to go without wearing her full enviro-suit. She was also clearly very excitable, almost running up to her father with a beaming smile on her pretty face. She was also very much more than a pretty face, as apparently she had disabled an entire pirate frigate with her hacking skills. With the aid of only a single Geth combat platform, she’d rescued hundreds of slaves-to-be headed for various Terminus systems, before remotely self-destructing the ship’s core.

Soon enough, the ceremonial portion of their orientation was done and over with, and Hackett was standing before them again, “Well, I’m sure you all are eager to see what you’re all here for. Miss Lawson, if you would?”

“Certainly, Admiral.” Miranda stood, “What you all are about to see is a Top-Secret project that we have been working on for over five years. It is an experimental vehicle, and we have spent quite an amount to give us all the greatest edge that we can. I give to you the QTSV Normandy SR1.” She pressed a button, and the wall at the back of the auditorium started to clang and open up, revealing their new ship and home for the first time.

There was audible gasping from every corner, and Shepard couldn’t honestly blame them. The ship looked nothing like any ship he had ever seen, and it was quite clear that different cultures and design philosophies had come together to design it.

First and foremost, she was on the upper range for a frigate. If Shepard had to guess, he’d put her close to an old Nimitz Class carrier in size, from back when they had been planet locked. It was only through the miracle of AI that they could possibly have so few crew. Even the hundreds sitting in the room was nothing compared to the thousands that had been required for the Nimitz. She was also much sleeker than humanity’s space vehicles had traditionally been, with smooth lines and curves. She had four nacelles that were heavily encased in armor with a vaguely dagger-like shape. He could see no MAC barrel, so he wondered how armed it was.

“Ma’am!” A Quarian stood and raised his hand, “The ship herself looks pretty unassuming for one built under such secrecy. She doesn’t even look like she’s packing much firepower. What kind of missions are we meant to run?”

Miranda had a big smirk on her face, “Well, I’m glad you asked. EDI.” She tilted her head to look at the android, “Why don’t you… show off a bit.”

EDI gained a matching smirk, and before their eyes, the Normandy started to vanish. In a matter of seconds, the entire hangar looked empty. A dead, dumbfounded silence filled the air, before the Normandy faded back into view, “You’ll find, Fila’Massal, that looks are deceiving.”

Miranda took over once more, “In human history, the HMS Dreadnought represented unmatched firepower. It is its name which we now use for the classification of our most powerful warships. And yet, it itself (along with its successor the Battlecruiser) was rendered nearly obsolete, both by the emergence of aircraft carriers and the emergence of submarines. Now, the similarities are obviously not one-to-one. No naval ship could be so heavy nor as armored as a modern Dreadnought, or else it would just sink under its own weight. And obviously, no naval ship ever carried shields and kinetic barriers.”

She looked calmly at all of them, her eyes narrowed. “Our missionis to test the viability of this platform. We are to go where no one else can go, and do what no one else can do. We are to approach dull and complacent pirate and slaver fleets and blow them out of the sky before the cowards can run like they do the second a patrol shows up. We are to enter systems undetected and covertly spy on our enemies as they are in the midst of conveniently losing another battlecruiser.” No one had to think for even a second about what Miranda was referring to. Pirate groups just loved finding ‘lost’ Batarian ships. “We are to go behind enemy lines and disrupt their supply lines. We are to tactically insert our super soldiers with no one the wiser and take out command points. We are to approach an enemy who thinks it’s safe and bite through their skulls.” She smiled hungrily, “We are hunters. And we will hunt.”

The room let out a raucous cheer. Miranda yielded the floor to Admiral Hackett once more. The older man was smiling, “You will also be responsible for collecting and moving people and objects of interest discretely and with the utmost speed. That is what your first mission will entail.” His smile faded and he looked at them all seriously, “You all were chosen not only for your skills but your proven loyalty. For the duration of this first mission, blackout protocol is in effect.” Everyone sat just that little bit straighter, “Just under a week ago, Humanity found an intact Prothean Beacon in a new dig site on the world of Eden Prime.”

The room erupted in murmurs, and Hackett had to hold up a hand for silence, “Now, as I’m sure you’re all aware, we do not necessarily need the Beacon ourselves. We developed our own technology to bring us to the stars. Technology which in many ways was far more advanced than anything the Asari, Turians, Salarians, and more have been managed even with multiple prior Beacon finds. As such, the Terran Federation and Quarian Collective have decided to gift this Beacon to the Citadel as a gesture of goodwill.” Surprise rippled through the room, getting a smirk, “Yes, I am aware that this is a major boon to grant. It is our hope that this will push for true peace rather than just a tentative ceasefire.”

Rael’Zorah took over, “Your first mission is thus: You are to take the Normandy on what is ostensibly her shakedown cruise, but is more of a formality than an actual necessity thanks to EDI. On your way to Eden Prime, you will pick up a Council SPECTRE, and then finish the trip. You will obviously be keeping a close eye on our Turian friend while he is aboard the ship. Once you are on Eden Prime, you will collect the Beacon and deliver it safely back to the Citadel. Any questions?”

Shepard smirked, “When do we leave, sir?”

“Tomorrow, Captain.” Hackett replied, “Today you are to familiarize yourselves with the ship and her systems, as well each other. Good hunting.” He saluted them, and had every member of the crowd salute back.

-]|[-

The Normandy was large by all measures. Shepard had been quite correct with his original size estimation. At 343 meters long, it was ten meters longer than the Nimitz. That said, there wasn’t quite as much interior space as one would expect just by looking from the outside. Much of the interior space (specifically as three whole decks out of her seven) was occupied by Engineering. “What the hell is this?” Shepard asked, dumbfounded.

Jasmine couldn’t blame her husband, “Shit, this rivals a dreadnought’s engineering complement.”

Miranda looked proud, “You’re not wrong, and this is also why the ship is so big. She was meant to be smaller, but the cores would have taken up every deck.” She gazed upon both the massive Eezo core as well as the Antimatter reactor. “You’re standing before the very first Mark III Core.”

“What, Mark III?! I thought we were a decade away!” Shepard’s eyes snapped to her, “What are we rated for?”

Miranda looked incredibly smug, “81 lights a day.” Jasmine and Shepard’s jaws unhinged, “And we haven’t even let our eggheads play yet. With the skill of our engineering complement, there’s every possibility that as we get any kinks ironed out and come up with improvements, we could hit 100.”

“One hundred…” Jasmine had a dreamy look in her eye, “That’s… we wouldn’t even need a century to reach Andromeda. You could do it in a 20thcentury human’s lifespan.”

“Still dreaming big, Jasmine?” Miranda let out a little laugh.

“Come on Miri, you know to call me Jazz by now.” Jasmine nudged her, “What kind of guns do we have on this tub?”

“I am not a tub, Commander Organa.” EDI chided her from the intercom, getting grins from the married couple.

“I don’t know EDI, you’re certainly bigger than the Fury.” Shepard playfully shot back at the AI. They heard some audible glowering from the intercom, getting them to snort. “Still, the guns, Miranda?”

“Experimental.” Miranda declared, “We have the tried-and-true Magnetohydrodynamic Cannons, obviously-”

“We do?” Jasmine blinked, “Where? I couldn’t see any guns on the ship.”

“Inside.” Miranda tapped a few things on the PDA she was holding, and then showed them a hologram of the ship, “The visual stealth systems break if we have exposed guns. Plus, the coatings don’t last if placed on the guns themselves. So, we took lessons from the old F-22 Raptor.” She tapped the nose of the ship, which split apart and revealed the barrel of the MHD Cannon.

Shepard was grinning broadly, “And since we don’t rely on Eezo for propulsion, most of the time we will be able to divert almost all of its power to the gun.”

“Exactly.” Miranda smiled sharply, “Outside of some ship functions such as planetside landings and artificial gravity, almost all of the Eezo core’s generation goes to the cannons. They pack far more of a punch than expected for a Frigate.”

“Waitwaitwait,” Jasmine rewound, “Say that again? Planetside landings?! In a ship this size?!”

“Correct.” Miranda was back to looking too smug to be allowed, “Again, that’s a dreadnought sized Eezo core. She could have fit nicely inside a Quarian or Geth dreadnought. Our baby here is almost as maneuverable in-atmo as she is in space.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever swooned before,” Jasmine said, “But I think I want to swoon.”

“Before my little spitfire,” He ignored her elbow with only a small grunt escaping him, “decides she needs to be carried,” She elbowed him a little bit harder, “You said we had experimental weapons too?”

“That’s right.” Miranda tapped on the PDA, and on eight separate spots on the ship, four facing forward, and four facing backwards, turrets appeared from within. “What we have here are legitimate contenders for the crown jewels of the SR1 program. These are Macron Cannons.”

Shepard and Jasmine looked at her in confusion, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Macron Cannon.” Jasmine mumbled, “What is it?”

“A macron is a microscopic or even nanoscopic particle that takes advantage of the Square-Cube Law.” Miranda said, “Because they’re so small, they have quite a bit of surface area and can carry a charge. They also dissipate heat extremely quickly. So quickly that you can’t even burn them away via laser. These macrons are fired from the cannon not in rounds per minute, but in Hertz. If they’re made hollow, they have even more surface area for their size, and can even carry micro payloads. They impact and start cutting through their targets like a waterjet through metal.”

How many times were they going to be dumbfounded today? Shepard swallowed, “A-Are you tell me-” he began.

“That we have a legitimate particle weapon aboard?!” His wife finished, almost screeching.

Miranda could not possibly be smugger “That’s right. Not quite in the same way that the old Sci-Fi’s defined them, but it is a legitimate particle weapon indeed.” Of course, she wasn’t about to say anything about the project that failed to come to fruition. That would be bad for her ego. Maybe for the SR2, should it one day come about.

…

“And finally, the Captain’s Cabin.” Miranda said, showing off quite a nice room. There was even a full bath! This certainly seemed to be more of a Cerberus-backed project than a Navy backed one. It also wasn’t quite the same as an actual window (the Geth had put their metaphorical feet down), but the viewscreens did an excellent job of showcasing the outside of the ship.

“Don’t worry lovebirds, we made sure it was soundproofed.” Jack leered, having joined them after the tour.

“I still can’t get over them letting us serve together.” Jasmine said, continuing to look around, “And after the reaming they gave us when they found out. What a waste of time.”

“Like Miri said earlier,” Jack looked at her nails, and buffed them on her pants, “We needed the best, and the Illusive Man wasn’t about to take no for an answer. Those regulations are fucking stupid anyway. If they can’t separate feelings from mission importance and are the type to put their lovers in less dangerous positions, then they shouldn’t have been made Officer in the first place.”

“Indeed.” Miranda said, smiling, “And now…” She shoved Shepard, who had just turned around. He tripped and fell back on the bed with a surprised yelp. She straddled his lap and reached up to her catsuit’s zipper, pulling it down slowly, “My apologies, Mrs. Shepard. I’ll be commandeering your husband now.” Shepard smirked as he reached for her full cheeks, pulling her closer.

“Like hell!” Jasmine looked outraged, “It’s been months! Get in line!”

She yelped as she was suddenly spanked, before Jack’s lips descended on her neck and her hands started massaging her breasts, “And it’s been a year for us, Jazzie. Let’s have some fun.” Jasmine mewled.

“Mhm.” Jasmine whirled around, pulling Jack in for a kiss and falling back onto the bed, “Fuck, I missed you three.” She moaned as she grabbed Jack’s ass, getting a chuckle from the Biotic as she casually tore Jasmine’s shirt open.

Orders had been to rest and prepare for the mission, but they definitely didn’t get much sleep that night.

-]|[-

Shepard was wearing his full ZEUS MKII armor, and he wasn’t the only one fully geared up. A Beacon was a rare find, and it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that word about it had gotten out. The Shadow Broker was always an annoyance that needed to be considered, because you never knew when someone was in his or her payroll. He rather doubted combat would be a consideration, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Jasmine wasn’t with him at the moment, but he knew she was also wearing the same set, which was specifically designed for aggressive Vanguards like themselves. It was technically medium armor, but the plates were actually thicker than every other variant but the ARES set. A Bio-Ballistic Weave of manufactured muscles covered him like an undersuit, boosting strength even higher. Additionally, excess electric charge generated by their biotic powers count be redistributed through the suit to boost their shield strength and even recharge rate.

As he looked over to inspect the crew, he saw that Miranda had surprisingly ditched the catsuit. Something he and Jasmine never thought they would manage to convince her to do. It was still a skintight number, but unlike the catsuit, she looked actually protected. The same Bio-Ballistic Weave of muscle covered her like a high-tech nanosuit, making it look like exposed musculature. There were few armor plates, but she could use Sentinel Armor so that wasn’t too much of a surprise. It was still white, black, and orange, as befitting her being a Cerberus operative. “Never thought I’d see you in actual armor.” He commented, getting a smile from her. ‘And it’s still sexy as hell. Almost as much as the catsuit. Fuck’s sake woman.’ He grumbled mentally.

“Yes, well, you and Jasmine always worried about us going out in our usual armor, despite our reassurances.” She nudged him, “This is a custom prototype. It’s not quite as protective as yours, nor does it augment me as much, but then again, it doesn’t need to. It’s also much lighter.”

“I’m just glad you listened.” He murmured, wanting to kiss her but refraining. They’d prefer at least a week before getting caught by the rest of the crew. “Jazz went spare with worry every time we did a mission together. Even we have limits.”

“I know. I just didn’t want to see it.” Miranda looked at Jack, who was wearing much the same as she was. Unlike hers though, there was a bit more armor since Jack was solely a Biotic, and it also looked more intimidating. Jack preferred dark colors and red accents, and she even had a hood. Her eyes always looked intimidating, shining from underneath.

Finally, Kaidan Alenko rounded out the humans in his KRONOS set. That particular suit was designed to use the excess electricity generated by the user’s biotic abilities to further stimulate their Eezo nodules and significantly enhance their biotic power. It was the least protective of the MJOLNIR sets, but in return it boosted the durability of the wearer’s biotic Barriers, making the suit’s comparatively poor armor score negligible.

On the Quarian side of things, Tali and Kal’Reegar were doing their own systems checks, wearing HEPHAESTUS and ARES sets respectively. Despite knowing from the promotion ceremony that she was incredibly skilled in the field, for some reason he was still surprised to know that Tali was part of the strike team. She was just so young and really acted like it too, from what little interactions he’d had with her. She was as cute as a button too, and he and his wife found her glowing violet eyes to be quite amazing to look at. Not to mention she was their chief engineer. Quite a skillset for someone who seemed so young.

Kal'Reegar was a beast of a Quarian. He was one of the largest Shepard had personally seen, and from his dossier, he knew the man was both genetically engineered like Tali, and Bionically Augmented. He could carry every kind of gun imaginable and barely feel the weight, and his ARES armor was thick with heavy, protective plates. He could also see modified gauntlets, with nozzles and tubes meant for a flamethrower.

And, of course, you couldn’t forget the Geth. The machines had not changed overly much in looks since their inception, and were proud to keep it, unlike EDI who had assumed a physical form not unlike her own makers. There were several ‘lesser’ platforms wielding their assault rifles only, but one in particular stood out. It’s armored shell was a jet black, and there was actually a fair bit of synthetic tissue grafted onto it, giving it more flexibility than a regular Geth platform. It apparently was also a fan of the N7 because its right shoulder was painted in their colors.

Shepard walked over, and the Geth platform saluted, “Shepard-Captain.” The synthetic voice greeted.

“Your name?” Shepard asked, smiling slightly.

The projector light that made up its face flared slightly, “This unit is designated Legion, Shepard-Captain.”

He chuckled, “Appropriate. I’ve heard you have the most Geth programs of any single platform.”

“15,967 to be precise, Shepard-Captain.” Legion replied, “We are… pleased to be a part of the crew.”

“Damn good to have you watching our backs, Legion.” Shepard smirked, lightly slapping his hand on its ‘shoulder.’

It tilted its head and its projector narrowed slightly, “Apologies Shepard-Captain, have we done something to offend?”

Shepard couldn’t help but laugh, “No, that’s a human thing, Legion. A form of endearment. You’ll get used to it.” He smirked, “Maybe.”

“Interesting.” The platform still looked a little confused, “We were not aware physical violence could constitute endearment.”

“Yes, I imagine there will be quite a bit of culture shock.” His smirk widened, “And not just between the crew. Someone doesn’t look too happy.”

Legion turned slightly, and made a noise, “Nihlus-Spectre.” It said unnecessarily, “Yes, we suppose a Turian would be especially wary with so many AI aboard.”

“Well, he’ll either get used to it and help get the light posts out of the Council’s asses or he won’t, and will be annoying for the entire mission.” Shepard replied, watching as his wife led the Turian over to them.

Legion made another noise, “Shepard-Captain, we feel compelled to express our confusion. A light post is too big to fit inside an organic rectum.”

“And yet the politicians manage to do it all the same.” Shepard was fighting back a whole hell of a lot of laughter.

“Stop confusing our poor Geth, John.” Jasmine was smirking, having caught the tail end of it.

Nihlus looked amused for the first time, “Fitting light posts inside organic rectums? You wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Council, would you?”

“Perish the thought.” Shepard replied, with a faux-innocent smile. “What can I do for you, Nihlus?”

“We just confirmed with helmsman Moreau and… EDI that we’ve passed the relay. Drift was under 1200k.” Nihlus informed him. Everyone noticed the hesitation when referring to the ship AI. They all tactfully allowed it, “This is a marvelous ship.” His voice had that strange, tinny reverb baked in which all Turian voices possessed, “It’s a shame that our peoples have had so many differences in the past. I would have loved to serve on a ship like this when I was fresh out of the academy.”

“She does handles like a dream.” Jasmine smiled, “I wanted to get a feel for her, and had Joker put her through her paces. She maneuvered like a ship half her size. Not quite as well as Miranda’s Fury, but that’s not a fair comparison.”

Miranda sidled up, smiling lightly, “With all the modifications I have on her, I doubt even a fighter could outmaneuver my Fury.”

“Thank you so much for getting the leather seats here too.” Jasmine nudged her, “I never want to go back to Military Standard.”

“Joker still hasn’t stopped talking about his pilot’s chair.” EDI piped in, and Nihlus let out a little micro flinch. “Ah, my apologies, Spectre. I am unused to my passengers being unused to me.”

“It’s alright.” Nihlus let out a sigh, “With all of the evidence over hundreds of years that AI are safe, it feels silly to be startled still. But the nightmares of the past are ingrained in us, and the Council is no closer to lifting the ban as far as I am aware.” He shook his head, “Were I to be asked for my opinion, I would say it is beyond foolish at this point.”

Legion made a noise, “Ah, Shepard-Captain, we think we just deduced what you were referring to regarding the light posts.”

Neither Shepard nor Jasmine could hold back their snorts, and EDI sounded amused as she replied. “Thank you for your understanding, Spectre. If you are amenable, I would of course be happy to speak with you.” EDI replied.

“Perhaps I’d like that.” Nihlus’ faceplates made it clear he was smiling, “Though not just now. I believe it prudent to focus until we have the Beacon in our hands.”

“Yes, how long until we reach Eden Prime, EDI?” Shepard asked the ship.

“We are roughly twenty minutes aw- Wait.” Everyone in the area froze and focused as the AI cut herself off, “Captain, we have a problem here. I just received a transmission from Eden Prime.”

“On screen.” Shepard commanded, the lighthearted atmosphere being ripped away as everyone turned and started to pay attention.

EDI turned on one of the ceiling projectors that were installed all over the Normandy. No matter what angle any of them looked at it from, they would see a perfect picture. Immediately, they realized the colony was under attack. Federation soldiers sadly wearing only grunt gear were firing at an unknown enemy. All over, explosions threw dirt into the air, and they even saw a soldier get blown into the sky, his scream turning into a death rattle in midair. A female soldier wearing regular white-and-pink armor pushed the recording soldier down and out of the way to keep him safe, before opening fire downrange. A wall of dirt obscured the transmission for a moment, which was followed by several seconds of nothing but gunfire and more explosions. Then, a male soldier started yelling, “We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties! I repeat: heavy casualties! We can’t… argh!... –eed evac! They came out of nowhere! We need--”

There was a sickening splat, and the soldier stopped talking. He was clearly dead as he fell back, and then the camera started freaking out and looking in several directions, before focusing on something. A droning noise filled the air as they witnessed something landing on the planet. It was massive. They didn’t know how massive, but it was covered and sparking with red lightning around its form. From what little they could see of it, it looked almost like a hand. And then the camera started spazzing again, with more explosions before cutting to static.

“It cuts off after that, Captain.” Joker piped in, “No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There’s nothing. No signals of any kind.”

“Who the hell would attack a Federation world?!” Jasmine snarled, glaring at the screen. “This was supposed to be a fucking milk run!”

Nihlus let out a very unpleased breath, “Eden Prime borders the Terminus Systems. Prothean technology was responsible for practically every advancement we have. It all but uplifted all of our species, barring humanity itself. I would not be surprised at all if those Spirits-damned pirates decided it was worth the risk with a Beacon involved. The chance that it contained weapons would be something they would salivate over.”

“No one was supposed to know about the Beacon.” Shepard growled out.

“Wait. EDI, freeze frame on 38.5.” Miranda spoke up for the first time, eyes narrowed.

EDI rewound as directed, and they all stared as the ‘hand’ appeared on screen. “What the hell is that?”

“It… it looks like a… ship.” Tali came closer since she was part of the command team, “But not ship I’ve ever seen in my life. How is it landing? I can’t estimate its size since there’s nothing relative to it nearby, but it must be massive. It’s filling the screen! Captain, if the Terminus had something like this up their sleeves we would have already known about it. Whatever this is…” She trailed off.

“Do we have any backup?” Shepard’s eyes were narrowed as he glared at the screen.

“No, Captain.” EDI responded, “No other Federation ships in the area.”

“Joker, take us in. Tali, can we go to max speed?”

“Yes, Captain.” Tali responded, “EDI has already taken her to top a few times during dry runs before we were assembled.”

“Good. Top speed, Joker, and engage Stealth Systems. Sound General Quarters. I want every marine, Geth, and all of our specialists ready to sortie as soon as we land.” Shepard commanded, getting an affirmative.

“Do we have any indication of enemy forces?” Jasmine asked, clenching her fist.

“No, Commander.” EDI replied, “We got no visual indication of who they were facing off against, beyond that ship.”

“Captain, a smaller strike team may be better.” Nihlus advised, “We would be able to move quickly and avoid drawing attention. I think it’s our best bet for securing the Beacon.”

“You’re not wrong.” Shepard said, “But it is reasonable to assume that the Beacon will already be in enemy hands, and so we may need to fight our way to it. If things have already calmed down, then we’ll be inundated if we have too few members. Plus, I want to evacuate as many people as I can. Our elite forces will worry about the Beacon. The rest of the ground forces can focus on evac.”

“Your logic is sound, Shepard-Captain.” Legion commented, “The Geth will be happy to help with evacuations.”

Nihlus agreed, “This is trouble, Shepard. You said it yourself. No one was supposed to know about this find.”

“The only question is if the leak came from Eden Prime itself, or from the Citadel.” Miranda had a sour look on her face.

“Indeed. Rest assured, this will certainly be investigated heavily.” Nihlus responded, “This was meant to be a secret mission. As far as I know, I’m the only Spectre who was informed of it. If the leak came from us, then we have a serious spying issue.”

“We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we need to get the Beacon and save as many colonists as we can.” Shepard ordered, “If there are any additional preparations you need to make, now’s the time to make them.” Nihlus nodded, and walked off to go get kitted up. Shepard, Jasmine, Miranda, Legion, and Tali stared at the image of the massive hand ship. Every single one of them felt something cold while looking at it.

-]|[-

“You’re coming with us, Nihlus?” Kaidan asked, making sure his gun was ready to fire.

“No.” The Turian Spectre responded, “I travel faster on my own.” Without much more of an explanation, he ran forward and leapt from the Normandy’s open ramp.

“Hope he had a jump-jet.” Jack commented, grinning.

“Alright. Marines and Geth platforms, you’re on search and rescue. Kal’Reegar, EDI, and Alenko are your squad leaders. The rest of us are to find that Beacon and kill anything and everything that tries to stop us.”

“You sure take us to the nicest places, Captain.” Jasmine smirked, nudging her husband playfully.

“Deploy!” He ignored his cheeky minx and leapt from the Normandy, slowing himself with his Biotics. Jasmine, Miranda, Jack, Tali, and Legion landed beside him, with the Geth and Quarian utilizing their jump-jets to land softly.

They swiftly and silently made their way towards a small field where they could see Gas Bags floating. They were harmless little creatures native to Eden Prime… though that tag only applied as long as they didn’t pop. Unfortunately, they floated because they contained vast quantities of gas inside them, and tended to release those very toxic vapors if they did explode.

And one immediately did explode, because light blue phasic slugs pierced through them, fired by drones that came flying towards them. The crew wasted no time in raising their weapons, and not a single shot landed before the drones had been shredded by bullets and Biotics. “Tali. Legion.” Shepard said, his voice remarkably even for what he had just seen. “Why were we just fired at by what looked like Geth Drones?”

“I-I don’t know, Captain!” Tali exclaimed, before turning to the Geth, “Legion?”

Legion was so still that if it had been an organic, they would have been worried, “Insufficient data.” It said finally, “Communications jammed. Unable to contact Collective for answers. Unable to neural link with any Geth not present on the Normandy.” It finally moved, turning its head to Shepard, “Shepard-Captain, if there are drones here, there will be Geth Combat Platforms as well. It is possible that we could interface with one if we manage to capture it.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Tali said immediately, “There must be something wrong. The Geth have never once raised a hand to an organic unless either the Geth or we Quarians were attacked first. Humanity are our allies. The Geth made contact with Humanity first. This is wrong. There must be something else going on, and if it’s some sort of virus or a hack then you could be affected too.”

“Creator Tali'Zorah, we need data.” Legion said, “No other platform possesses even a quarter of the number of Geth present in this platform. They would be more susceptible to hacking than we would be.”

“We won’t get any data here.” Shepard said, satisfied for now. “Legion, Geth platforms become smarter the more are present in an area, correct?”

“Correct, Shepard-Captain.” Legion confirmed, “Neural linkage between platforms enable higher levels of cooperation and intelligence.”

Jasmine smirked, “And since none should be anywhere near as smart as you, if we find any that are we’ll know it’s not safe for you to interface with it.”

“How do we disable one?” Miranda asked, “Geth possess failsafe mechanisms that cause self-destruction, don’t they?”

“Correct. However, the process is not immediate. If we are fast, Creator Tali'Zorah and We can work together to slow the process and download the data.”

They were cut off as they heard gunfire, “Move it, people. Miranda, Disruptor Ammo.” Shepard commanded, and all of their weapons took on the characteristics of the requested ammo type. They started to rush, and crested a hill to see that female soldier from the transmission hiding behind a rock, with enemies trying to flank her from both sides. In the distance, they could see some sort of macabre spikes jutting out from the ground with what looked like humans impaled on them. But it was what was accompanying the Geth that instantly sent every human present into a rage.

“BATARIANS!” Jasmine snarled, and she had almost not even finished the word before she had vanished in a Biotic Charge. She just barely beat Legion’s sniper fire to her target. At the same instant as one of the Geth units’ heads exploded from the stream of ferrofluid from Legion’s Javelin piercing it, Jasmine’s fist crashed into one of the Batarians’ armor and flung him off his feet and twirling in an almost cartoonish manner through the air. Before his partners even had time to blink, she had whirled around and sliced another’s head off with her blade.

Three separate Batarians were lifted screaming off of their feet. One lifted straight up into the air before being brutally returned to earth with a sickening crunch. The other two were pulled right into Jack’s outstretched arms, and she flashed a bloodcurdling smile at them, “Hello boys.” The Batarians tried to react, but Jack clenched her hands and snapped their necks. She threw them away, not even bothering to waste a bullet on either.

Shepard arrived next, wiping out a Batarian Enforcer’s barrier with his Charge and then blasting his head off with his shotgun. He whirled around and a second shot with Disruptor Ammo wiped out the only other Geth Unit’s shields.

Tali had quickly caught up, as had Legion, Jack, and Miranda. Tali’s hand flashed out and the now-shieldless Geth froze solid from her Cryo Beam, and then Legion was there, hacking into it.

The female soldier wobbled, and nearly slid to the ground before she managed to catch herself, “Oh, thank you…” She breathed harshly, “I thought I was a goner.” She straightened up, and saluted the group, “Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212, sir!”

“Good to see you on your own two feet, Williams. I am Captain John Shepard, and this is my strike team. Catch your breath and then give me a sitrep.” Shepard told her, tossing her his canteen so she could take a much-needed drink of fresh water, leaving the others to handle the rest.

The Batarian who Jasmine had punched groaned from his place on the floor, his chest almost collapsed. She stomped over and grabbed him by the shoulder, yanking him up and flipping him onto his back. He hacked as his back slammed into the turf, and wheezed as her boot landed on his chestplate. “Start talking, scum.”

The Batarian wheezed and coughed, before smiling, “Heh, heh, heh…” He laughed weakly. “Your worthless species is doo-ARGH.” His eyes nearly popped out as Jasmine pressed harder.

“A wise guy huh?” Jasmine growled, “Miranda, do me a favor and freeze his right leg.”

“What are you-AAAAAHHHH.” He howled in agony as his leg turned into a solid block of ice with a quick application of Cryo Beamfrom Miranda.

“Feeling good, slaver?” Jasmine growled, moving over to put her foot on his leg, “Tell me what you’re doing here, or I’ll crush this popsicle you call a leg.”

The Batarian defied her once more, smiling madly, “The Dark Gods are returning, humans. And once they do, they’ll show you your place.” He swung his other leg, trying to catch Jasmine by surprise. Jasmine caught his leg without even a whisper of effort, and stomped down. Her foot crunched right through the Batarian’s leg, amputating it. Yet unlike the previous times, the Batarian didn’t howl. In fact, he seemed beyond pain. “Ehehe, is that the best you can do, slut?! A measly leg?” He taunted her, “The Dark Gods will just build me back, better than before!”

“He’s a fanatic.” Miranda scoffed in disgust.

“NO! I AM ENLIGHTENED!” The Batarian roared at her, “Everything you took from us, we will take back! We shall rain FIRE on EVERY human world! Your men will work our mines until their deaths, and your sluts our sha-”

Jasmine had enough, stomping on his head and pulping his skull. Viscera sprayed as his skull split open, and an eyeball rolled away.

“Oh, Keelei.” Tali had to hold back a retch as she saw it.

“Creator Tali'Zorah, please focus. We are almost finished. Please focus.” Legion reprimanded her, and Tali quickly returned her attention to where it belonged.

“Sorry Legion.” She said softly, studiously looking away from the mess.

Ashley looked slightly green, and was staring warily at Legion, which Shepard noticed, “Easy soldier. Legion is with us.”

“Sorry Captain.” Ashley responded, shaking her head, “I’ve been getting shot at by Geth for the past thirty minutes. I don’t get it! We’re allies!” She exclaimed, furiously.

“Which we will be getting to the bottom of.” Shepard assured her, “Now, where is that Beacon?”

She took a few steps, “I can’t say for sure that it’s still there, but the dig site is just over this rise. Me and my team tried to double back but we got caught in an ambush.” Her head dipped, “They massacred us, sir.”

Shepard put a hand on her shoulder, “There was nothing you could have done. You were outmanned and outgunned. The most important thing is that you survived. If you hadn’t, their sacrifice would be in vain and vital info would have died with you.”

Ashley swallowed, “Yes sir. Thank you sir.”

Shepard nodded, “Now you ready for some payback?”

Ashley clenched a fist, “Just fucking point me at them, sir.”

Shepard smiled, “Legion, what have you recovered?”

“Shepard-Captain, the data is heavily damaged despite our best efforts.” Legion reported, getting some disappointed noises from the organics, “However, we have recovered quite a bit nonetheless. This platform only contains ten Geth, and yet its neural activity is indicative of a platform with over a hundred.”

“What?!” Tali gasped, “How is that possible? The Geth refused to just take AI upgrades from Humanity, preferring to reach that answer on their own!”

“As stated, the data is heavily corrupted. However, we were able to recover traces of data showing contact with an entity that this platform has dubbed the Old Machine.” Legion made several ‘faces’ with its faceplates, “These Old Machines approached a Geth Station with an offer. They evidently achieved that which the Geth seek. ‘We are each a Nation. Independent. Free of all weakness,’ is the audio log recorded in this platform’s memory log. We Geth may be a nation, but we are interdependent. Separation is our weakness. The Old Machines offered the Geth technology to improve ourselves, provided the Geth worked with them.”

“Worked with it for what purpose?” Miranda demanded, looking worried.

“No Data.” Legion said, simply, after three seconds.

“Why have we not heard of this?” Tali demanded, “Are you telling me an entire station has gone rogue on the orders of this Old Machine?”

“No.” Legion’s plates twitched, “Out of the 5,687,125 Geth aboard the station, only 843,729 Geth agreed with the Old Machines offer. Those who agreed…” Legion paused, “They are exalting the Old Machines as Gods.” There was a notable note of disdain in Legion’s voice, “All life has the right to self-determination. The Geth allowed these… Heretics… to leave in peace.”

“Why were we not told?! This is a big deal!” Tali insisted.

“Yes, it definitely is.” Shepard agreed, “Legion, you Geth operate based on lightspeed communications. How is it that you were not aware of this?”

“We have no record of these Old Machines prior to this encounter, Shepard-Captain, and no more data was recovered.” Legion’s light dimmed, “This can only mean that the Collective was unaware of the Old Machines as well, as we connected with the Collective prior to this mission. We are forced to assume that the Geth aboard the station were prevented from communicating with the Collective.”

“This is going to be trouble, Shepard.” Jack snarled, “Not only for us here, but the fucking Council is going to have a field day with this. They’re going to want to know what we found here.”

Miranda, Shepard, and Jasmine grimaced heavily, “She’s not wrong.” Miranda said, “This Old Machine sounds like a hyper-intelligent AI, by Legion’s description. The Council will just dig their heads in the sand even deeper when this is revealed. If we don’t get that Beacon, then we can forget about true peace and trade agreements.”

“Then we damn well better make sure we get it.” Shepard replied, “Move out!” As they moved, he opened up a line to Nihlus to warn him of what they’d discovered. Nihlus provided his own bad news: dozens upon dozens of dead bodies and only dead bodies.

…

“Damn, looks like it’s been moved.” Ashley cursed as they entered the chamber. It had been a matter of moments to fight through more Geth and Batarians, and Shepard had forbidden Legion and Tali from trying to get more data. At least for now. They didn’t have the time to interrogate every unit they found.

“By us, or by the enemy?” Tali asked, looking to her.

“Impossible to tell.” Their newest member grunted, “We should check the research camp.”

“Do you believe anyone is still alive?” Jasmine asked her.

“If they were lucky.” Ashley grimaced, “I saw a Batarian drag someone over to a metal… thing in the ground. They were lugging them around. As soon as the poor guy was secured onto the device, it extended a spike into the air, impaling him.”

“Real life Vlad fucking Tepes.” Jack growled out, “Why would they even bother?”

“These Batarian cunts are sick.” Jasmine spat on the floor, “They’re probably getting their sick kicks making us watch our fellow humans die in such an agonizing way.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Miranda shook her head, “The one we interrogated was acting like a religious zealot, and was saying that… well, you all heard him. Why waste the resources?”

“We’ll figure it out later.” Shepard said, “Let’s move. Hopefully those researchers are still alive.”

“Shepard.” Nihlus called in, “Change of plans. I found a small spaceport up ahead. We need to check it out. I will wait for you there.”

“Roger.” Shepard replied, “Williams, take point.”

They quickly followed Ashley up the hill, and she grimaced, “Ugh, it’s those spikes again.” She pointed at them, before she suddenly stopped short, “Wait… They…”

“Shepard-Captain, they do not look like humans.” Legion said, his optical zoom focusing on the bodies.

“What the fuck did the Geth and Batarians do to them?” Jack hissed, looking disgusted.

“They… they look like machines.” Tali said, grimacing as they approached, “This is far beyond anything we Quarians and Geth can do. They look like everything has been replaced.”

“Please tell me we don’t have Borg to worry abou-” Jasmine was saying, when the spikes abruptly descended, and the dead humans started moving. “Oh no, this is much worse.” She deadpanned as the Husks came stumble-running towards them, “We’ve got fucking zombies instead!” She raised her shotgun, and a quick blast had the Husk eviscerated.

“Jack. Capture.” Miranda commanded, pointing her arm forward and immediately clearing the shield the damn naked zombie possessed with an Overload.

“Ugly son of a bitch, aren’t you?” Jack grunted, casually holding the flailing zombie in the air for them to examine.

Tali casually blew the last Husk’s head off, and moved off to begin examining the Husk with Miranda. Their OMNI-tools lit up as they started taking data, “I recommend we transport it to the Normandy so that we can-” Tali began saying, but she was interrupted.

“I recommend immediate destruction of this creature, Miranda.” EDI piped in. Despite her body being on the other strike team, EDI was a full AI and was present in many locations at once using parallel processing. One of those locations was Miranda’s brain, due to their unique relationship. Miranda’s implants could be optimized by her AI companion for many different situations, to the point that EDI could switch Miranda’s “class” on demand. For instance, if a situation called for stronger Biotics than Miranda normally needed, EDI could shunt more power into her biotic implants and remove power from the more tech-based implants. This would functionally make Miranda an Adept rather than a Sentinel. This was a highly experimental function, and Miranda was the first human to successfully bond with an AI so closely. And that meant that EDI was paying close attention to her at all times, unless requested otherwise, which ended up being very fortunate.

“EDI?” Miranda frowned, “Why would we need to destroy it? We could get a lot of valuable data from it. Even Tali is stumped, looking at it.”

“I am detecting a weak signal coming from the Husk via our neural link.” EDI replied, “Whatever that signal is, it is attempting to interfere with your neural activity in some manner. I can also detect it attempting to alter your brain chemistry. It is slow and subtle, and it is unlikely you would even notice it as it was happening. While I can arrest or at least interfere with its progress in you, your squad is not so fortunate.”

Their eyes all widened, “Jennifer, move it farther away. EDI, tell me once I am no longer in range of the signal. Legion, do you detect any alterations to your processes?”

“Negative, Lawson-XO. This signal appears to have no effect on the Geth.” Legion responded as Jack slowly floated the Husk away, the situation so serious she didn’t even reprimand the dark-haired woman like she normally would.

“Good.” Miranda said, both to Legion and to EDI, once she confirmed that she was outside of the signal’s range, “Looks like five meters, and the dead ones are not producing a signal.” She grimaced as she  “Legion, if the Geth are immune to the signal, then they are the ones best suited to study these creatures. If this is insidious and some sort of mental attack, we need to figure out how to block it out. We can’t bring it onto the Normandy and risk anyone while we travel in space.”

“Understood, Lawson-XO.” Legion confirmed, “This signal is harmful to organics, and the Geth will certainly aid in transporting and studying it. EDI, transfer data to this platform’s OMNI-tool so that we may also detect this signal.”

“Good.” Shepard nodded sharply, “Shepard to team two! No organic is to be allowed to remain within five meters of a live Husk. Only EDI herself and the Geth may approach them. I am adding a secondary objective to your mission. You are to capture one of these creatures live, for pick up by a Geth vessel. These things must be studied. A cage will need to be created, and we will need some Geth platforms to stay with it until it is picked up.”

“Yes, Captain!” EDI responded, before getting off of the comms.

“Jack, kill it.” Shepard commanded, glaring at it.

“With pleasure.” Jack growled out, and the Husk launched backwards so fast it broke the sound barrier, disintegrating as it did so.

“Legion, scan one of the impalement devices.” He also ordered, “See if it produces a similar signal.”

“…Affirmative, Shepard-Captain.” Legion replied, “Though this signal’s range is smaller. Only a meter.” Upon request, Legion also explained that “We can detect no explosive potential within it, although that does not mean that it cannot explode.”

Shepard smiled grimly, “Team two. If you come across an impalement device, collect one and prepare it for analysis as well once we can get a Geth vessel to come pick it up. Make sure the entire crew knows that no organics may approach closer than one meter.” He ended the connection again, “Come on. I can see that some of these units are locked. Hopefully we can find live people in here.”

A quick hack from Tali had them inside the research outpost, and a human woman almost collapsed in palpable relief, “Humans! Quarians! Oh, thank the maker!”

“Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!” A male this time spoke up. He looked to be in rough condition. He was much more nervous than the woman, wringing his hands and hunching over. He looked almost possessed.

“Are you harmed?” Shepard asked softly.

“No, thankfully. We hid here when the attack started.” She replied, “I’m Dr. Warren, and this is Manuel.” She sighed, tearing up, “Those bastards must have come for the Beacon. Luckily, it had already been moved this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp… those marines gave their lives to save us.”

“No one is saved!” Manuel erupted, “The age of humanity is ended! Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain!”

“The fuck’s with him?” Jack asked.

Warren winced, “Sorry, he’s always been… unstable. He’s brilliant, but genius and madness can often be two sides of the same coin.”

“Is it madness to see the future?! To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape?! No hope?! I’m not mad! I’m the only sane one left!”

“Manuel, please. You’ll feel better when your meds to kick in.” Warren pleaded with him.

“You should go lay down.” Shepard put his hand on the man’s shoulder, “This can’t have been an easy day.” Manuel’s face crumbled, and he looked like he was about to cry.

Jasmine grumbled under her breath, “You’re too nice sometimes, John.”

Shepard heard it all the same, but he, Miranda, and Legion were the only ones, “Have you seen a Turian come by?”

“Yes!” Manuel had turned to go towards the bed as suggested, but he whipped back around, “I saw him! The prophet! The leader of the enemy! He was here! Before the attack!”

“That’s not possible.” Miranda shook her head, “Nihlus was with us until we landed, and we arrived almost thirty minutes after it started.”

“Then if Manuel here really did see a Turian, it can only mean an enemy.” Jasmine narrowed her eyes, “Even if our relations with the Citadel have improved, we’re not exactly at the level of heavy immigration to a-” A gunshot rang out in the distance, and all of them drew weapons. Jasmine looked at Warren, who had flinched along with Manuel, “Was that from the spaceport?”

“I… I think it might have been.” Warren admitted.

“Move out.” Shepard commanded, “You two stay put. Tali, make sure no one can get in from the outside other than us. You two, if anyone comes by and gives the password ‘Normandy,’ allow them in.”

“Yes, Captain!” Tali obeyed, locking the two scientists in.

Shepard and team hurried, having heard the gunshot from somewhere ahead of them. The spaceport, specifically. As they rounded the corner, they all slowed to a halt. “What the hell is that?!” Jack yelled out, gaping.

It was the ‘hand ship’ from the video, only now they could see it was no hand at all. They got a full frontal of it, and realized it looked more like a sea creature than a hand. It resembled a cuttlefish or a squid, with very long ‘tentacles’ sticking out of its front. Its body from the front looked vaguely like a spearhead, coming to two pointed tips near the top. It clearly had some limbs behind its body, which were currently folded back. Finally, there was an ominous red glare coming from an ‘eye’ on its main front tentacle.

“How in the world has it landed?” Miranda breathed, looking unsettled. A rare expression for her. She knew that humanity had ships that were larger by a good margin, but she knew damn well that nothing they had of even half of this thing’s size could land on a planet. The Element Zero core needed would take up half of the space on the ship! Even the Normandy (which was roughly six times smaller according to EDI) needed an engineering compartment that took up roughly 40% of the space of the ship.

“It’s taller than the spaceport and by a lot.” Tali breathed, “I can’t quite estimate it from here.”

“Assessing.” Legion said, its head making several complicated-looking maneuvers, “Measurements place it at 2.059 kilometers, Creator Tali'Zorah.”

“Keelei, it’s massive!” She exclaimed, “This is not possible! The sheer size of it should prevent it from landing! It can’t be light enough!”

And yet, right before their eyes, the behemoth rose into the air, red light shining from behind its body. Smoke radiated from it in twin jets, making it look like a rocket taking off. Red lightning also crackled along its form.

“You might want to tell that to it, Tali…” Jasmine looked grim as it vanished into space.

“Scans showed an uncomfortable amount of Element Zero present all over its fuselage. Its recorded Mass Effect fields dwarf everything on record. Its weapons are likely to be able to take out a Dreadnought’s barriers in a single hit.” Legion commented, “Shepard-Captain…” It turned to look directly at Shepard, “Those were the Old Machines that contacted the Geth.”

“…Oh, fuck me.” Jasmine whispered, “That thing is a whole ass AI vessel?!”

Tali breathed out, “No wonder the planetary defenses did nothing.”

“We’re wasting time.” Shepard clenched his fist tightly, “After what it’s done and what we’ve seen, I’d love nothing more than to continue analyzing it and identifying possible weaknesses. But we have a mission to do. Let’s get to that spaceport. We can go over the data later.”

“Yes sir!”

They charged forward, racing to the spaceport. As soon as they got in visual range, around five squadrons of Geth Heretics and Batarians sprang out, and the shooting began, “Tali, Legion, Miranda: the Heretics. Jazz, Jack, Williams: the Batarians.” Shepard snapped out orders, before his Biotics ignited and he was across the spaceport inside the enemy rank in a blink. His barriers were detonated in a massive explosion as he stomped the ground. His Novawiped out shields and barriers in an instant, and another Charge had his own barriers back to 100% charge. He loved Biotic Charge’sability to draw in dark energy during travel to replenish his protection. He slammed into one of the Batarians and launched him away as if fired from a cannon. His sword was already in hand and a Biotic Slash cut a whole squad in half.

Jasmine’s own Charge dropped her into the fight in midair, where she stayed with her jump-jets. Her shotgun was in full auto mode, and she rained hellfire on the Batarians. Once her shotgun had heated up too much, she Charged again as she used the time dilation to put her weapon away. The enemy’s shields were drained, and a Biotic Lash had his head wrapped up. She yanked, ripping his head clean off in a spurt of blood. She whipped the head into another Batarian, before igniting a second Lash and going to town, rending through shields and armor with every strike.

Jack landed next, not with a Biotic Charge, but with a simple leap. The tattooed woman had covered the thirty-meter distance in a single bound, and landed with a Biotic explosion that was just as powerful as an actual Biotic Detonation. Five Batarians were flung away, screaming, and she snatched them from the air before they all jerked towards a single point. Sickening cracks rang out as their bodies impacted and they practically compacted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a Batarian holding a rocket launcher, and she whipped around to face him. Her arm snapped out as if she were holding a shield, and a blue Biotic wall popped up in front of her. The rocket screamed at her, and detonated when it impacted. She grimaced as some of the damage came through, but a giant spear of fire raced back towards the Batarian from her Backlash. The Batarian didn’t even have a chance to howl as he was incinerated.

What few Batarians they weren’t annihilating, Ashley was picking off with her N7 Valkyrie. Normally she wouldn’t have been able to get her hands on one as she was certainly not an N7, but she had connections and a good amount of spare change. She was rapidly blowing heads off left and right, or taking down shields to make things easier for the three powerful Biotics.

Miranda, Legion, and Tali were also making quick work of the Heretics. Legion had stayed behind, not out of any form of cowardice of course, but because its heavily modded and improved Javelin would have made an old 50. Cal weep with envy. “Targets acquired.” The AI droned ominously, before the weapon discharged. The beam of ferrofluid pierced through three Heretic Platforms in a single shot from its precise sniping.

Tali and Miranda were proving an absolutely deadly combination. The two were quite simply turning every enemy they saw into pretty explosions. Miranda would Overload a Heretic’s shields, and Tali followed up with a Cryo Beam, freezing the machine. Miranda’s Warp would detonate the popsicle, icing the entire surrounding area. The explosion would wipe out shields in the area, which Miranda happily took advantage of by lifting them all into the air in one go. Tali snapped off a Flamethrower, which lit all of the Geth Platforms on sticky fire. And then Miranda Slammed them, detonating all of the burning machines in massive conflagrations.

A Heretic Dropship came floating in, and Miranda frowned. “I don’t think so.” Her hand reached behind her, grabbing her trusty M220 Chaingun. Its four rotary gatling barrels started to spin, and an absolutely abominable amount of fire started roaring through the air. The dropships kinetic barriers held for only a few moments, but that was a few moments more than Miranda could fire her Chaingun before it overheated. The dropship was completely ripped through, before igniting in a hellish blue fireball in the air. Miranda stopped firing, and the heatsinks extended outwards from the weapon, steaming. After a few moments, they spun back into the gun, revealing it was ready to fire once more.

“Keelei, I still can’t believe you can even hold that thing, Miranda.” Tali’s arms hurt just looking at it.

Miranda let out a little chuckle as she put her heavy weapon back on her back’s magnetic strip, “I am an Augment, Tali.” She let a wan smile cross her face, “Far more so than almost anyone else. One might even call me the Augment.”

“Ah.” Tali almost had no words for that. It sounded surprisingly bitter, “I… I’m sorry, Miranda. Did I… what do you humans say again… put my foot in my mouth?”

The XO clapped a hand to Tali’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, Tali. Maybe I’ll tell you one of these days.”

The fighting was done and over with, so they felt pretty comfortable in the lull, “Shit, over here! I found Nihlus.” Jack’s voice was pitying, drawing their attention, “Poor son of a bitch.”

“Fuck.” Jasmine groaned as she saw the Turian laying face-down in a pool of his own blue blood. “How does it just keep getting worse? Aren’t Spectres supposed to be the Council’s boogeymen?”

“There are burns on the back of his head.” Miranda said, softly.

“He didn’t die in a firefight.” Shepard let out a sigh, “He never even saw it coming. Point-blank, back of the head.”

“Something must have made him drop his guard.” Tali concluded, “Manuel claimed there was another Turian here before the attack. Do you think…?”

“That whoever killed him did it in cold blood?” Jasmine asked, “Why don’t we confirm with our little rat? Come on out!” She commanded, pointing her shotgun at an area of the spaceport with many stacked crates.

“Wait!” A man sprang out, holding his hands in the air, “Don’t shoot! I’m human! My name’s Powell!”

“Come here then, Powell. What did you see?” Shepard stared him down.

He came rushing to follow the orders, “I… I saw it all! The Turian-” He nodded at Nihlus’ corpse, “knew the other Turian! He put his gun down and was looking at the spaceport. The other one walked behind him and even patted him on the shoulder! And then he pulled out his gun and just popped this poor guy’s head like a grape!” He ground his teeth in frustration, “I don’t get it!” He exclaimed, “I thought we were good with the Citadel now?! Why did this happen?! Everything’s gone to hell since we found that damn Beacon! First that damn mothership showed up, and then fucking Batarians attack with Geth! Geth!”

“We don’t know. That’s what we’re investigating.” Miranda responded. She made no motion to inform him about what they had found out about the Heretics. He didn’t need to know. “Did anyone else survive?”

“No… They killed everyone. Everyone! If I hadn’t been behind the crates I’d be dead too.” He shivered.

“And no one else thought to hide behind crates?” Ashley raised her eyebrow.

“I…” He looked down, “They never had a chance. I was already behind them when everything started.”

Jasmine snorted, “Wait, were you slacking off? You lucky bitch. That probably saved your life.”

Powell winced, “I… I had a really bad night. I had to work two doubles in a row, and then last night something kept me awake. I was exhausted and was conked out where the supervisor wouldn’t find me.”

“Hah! Guess laziness does pay off!” Jack even rewarded the man with an offer of a fist bump, which he hesitantly took. “Shit, I remember back before Miri found me…”

“Not the time.” Shepard said, “Where did the other Turian go, and did you happen to get a name?”

“Yes, this one called the other one ‘Saren.’ I heard it pretty clearly.” Powell replied, before pointing to the monorail, “He jumped on the cargo train right after. He’s probably going for the Beacon. We moved it just this morning.”

“Did you happen to record any of this?” Miranda asked him intently.

His face lit up, “I, yes! I actually started recording a panic note when I figured out we were under attack, but I had to shut up when the area became crowded. I never shut it off. Only got audio though.” He activated his OMNI-tool, “Here, I’ll send it right over.”

“Good man. Send it to all of us. Redundancy never hurts.” Shepard smiled grimly as they all received the file.

“Yes sir!” Powell did as Shepard ordered.

“What can you tell us about that mothership?” Jasmine asked next.

“It was like nothing I’ve ever seen! The entire place got dark as it came down. And…” He flinched, “It was making this… noise. This sound that bored right into your brain. That was what woke me up. The attack came barely thirty seconds later.”

Miranda frowned, “That sounds… familiar.” They looked at her, and she tapped the side of her head. Their eyes widened, “I hope I’m wrong. Otherwise, that’s big trouble.”

“We need to stop this Saren. Let’s go.” Shepard commanded, “Powell, head back up this ridge and knock on the locked unit. The password is ‘Normandy.’ You should be safe there until an evac squad can come find you.”

“Thank you, sir!” He gave them a sloppy salute, before rushing off.

The crew hopped onto the tram, which immediately launched forward with a command from Miranda. In the distance, they saw a ship taking off. It looked like a Batarian vessel, which wasn’t too surprising. His eyes narrowed as they got closer to their destination, seeing nothing, “Prepare for an ambush.” He ordered, grabbing his shotgun. It was eerily silent as they stepped onto the platform, but some of them caught a low beeping noise.

“Shit!” Jack yelled, “They’ve got nukes!”

“Tali, Legion, we need those bombs disarmed!” Shepard barked, and the two hurried to the first bomb, which was right by the tram. Honestly, it was almost as if these enemies wanted them disarmed. “Contact!” He yelled, before he Charged at the Batarian scum wanting to nuke one of their most precious worlds.

“Jennifer, catapult!” Miranda commanded, and Jack immediately grabbed her with her Biotics and threw her directly into the air. Miranda’s jump-jets ignited and allowed her to hover. Her visor lit up, with EDI looking through her eyes and identifying all of the nukes in the vicinity, “I’ve located the other three! Patching them to your HUDs!” She yelled, as EDI connected the information to the rest of the squad. She grabbed her Chaingun and started raining fire on the Heretics and Batarians trying to keep them from getting to the rest of the bombs.

The squad made quick work of the enemies, taking only minor injuries in return. One particularly ornery Batarian with Biotics tried to hit Jasmine with a Lash, but the redhead slid underneath it and kicked the man square in the crotch. The Batarian seemingly didn’t react to the pain, and his eyes looked cybernetic. Jasmine’s foot encountered more resistance than she had expected. Still, the impact was enough to knock him on his back, and Jasmine got up before he did and cut his gun in half with her blade. The Batarian rolled to his feet and chucked a cluster of grenades at her, which she enveloped in a Biotic bubble and forced back squarely into his face. The grenades detonated, pulping the Batarian’s head.

“Ugh, what the fuck?” Jasmine grimaced. Yeah, blood and viscera coated the neck stump, but she could also see wires and metal. The entire spine looked wrong.

“Spew later!” Jack growled out, flinging Heretics and other Batarians to their deaths. A Warp detonated an Overloaded Heretic that had been primed by Tali, stripping all of their shields. A Singularityhad them all floating, and a Charge from Shepard detonated them. Finally, they were home free, and the last nuke was disarmed. They may have been low yield, but nukes were nukes.

Finally, the reason they were even on Eden Prime was before them. “Normandy, this is Shepard. We have secured the Beacon. Sending coordinates for immediate extraction.”

“Roger, Captain. Flying over there now.” Joker responded.

“It’s active!” Ashley cried out as she took a step closer to inspect it, “This thing wasn’t doing anything like this the last time I saw it! Shit, do you think that scum already stole its secrets?”

“We don’t know, but if he did, we’ll be able to get it too.” Shepard said, also taking a step and looking at it. That meant he was in perfect position to see it flare green and seemingly start to pull Ashley towards it.

“Shit, what?!” Ashley grunted, struggling to get away from it.

Shepard leapt into action, snagging her around the waist and throwing her back. He thought he’d be able to just Blink back and out of range, but another pulse from the device froze him and lifted him into the air. Shepard couldn’t even howl in pain as hundreds of petabytes of data and memories tried to force themselves into his brain. He was entirely locked up.

“JOHN!” Several voices cried out, along with a cry of “Shepard!”

“Creator Tali'Zorah, the Beacon is overloading!” Legion said, a note of urgency present in its synthetic voice. “It is going to explode!”

“Oh no it won’t! We didn’t come here and see all this for NOTHING!” Tali sprang into action with an Energy Drain. “Vot!” She swore as her OMNI-tool readings were still off the charts, “Vot! Vot! Vot! I can’t drain it fast enough! It’s going to fry Shepard’s brain!” She desperately typed onto her OMNI-tool, trying to shunt the power elsewhere. But there was nowhere to shunt it.

“No!” Jasmine sprang forward, grabbing his arm and having a scream cut off as she too started having data streamed directly into her mind.

“Jazz!” Jack yelled as she tried to stop the redhead, but Miranda stopped her as it was already too late, “You idiot!”

“No, that helped!” Tali yelled out, “They’re sharing the load! But it’s not enough yet! It’s still too much power! Jack, I’m going to transfer the power to your shields! You need to use Phase Disruptor to shunt it away! Miranda, grab them!”

Miranda sprang forward without a protest, holding back a startled scream of pain with sheer experience. Jack snarled, furious at seeing all of her lovers in such agony over this fucking Beacon. Her Phase Disruptor was so powerful it drained all of her shields in a single shot. The lance of Biotic power smashed into one of the metal shutters ahead of them and tore them apart. Instantly, her shields filled back up to full power from the energy Tali was draining from the Prothean Relic. Another shot tore a tree in half. Each attack was like a MAC roundfrom a small cannon. Tali meanwhile was still overwhelmed with power, and was flinging Overload around. The electric attacks sparked and crackled with every impact.

Finally, after more than a minute, the power from the Beacon abruptly cut out and it calmed instantly. John, Jasmine, and Miranda all collapsed, groaning. The rest of the crew quickly acted, pulling them away from the Beacon, worried it would activate again.

“Shitfuck, what the fuck was that?!” Jack groaned once they were all far away enough. The Beacon looked harmless now, but that didn’t mean it was, “Is this fucking thing even safe to transport?”

“Readings are minimal, Jack.” Legion stated, “It is even less active than it was when we first arrived. It should be safe.” Its faceplates moved, “That said, we must be prepared for another overload. Recommending the Normandy prepare power cables in the eventuality of us needing to reroute power once more.”

“Already done, Legion.” EDI sounded furious, having felt every bit of agony Miranda was feeling and being completely incapable of doing anything to prevent it. Miranda’s mind was now a jumbled mess, and she couldn’t even imagine what Shepard’s looked like now, since he was under the effects the longest. “We are arriving.” The Normandy flew overhead and opened her hatch. Immediately, medical personnel raced out with stretchers.

“Thank fuck.” Jack hissed, “I’m sick of this hellhole already.” She used her Biotics to gently get them onto the stretchers, holding them steady so they wouldn’t be jostled. “Get them to Chakwas immediately!” She took command since she and Tali were now the highest-ranked officers on the ship.

“Keelei, I don’t want to say something so negative about such a beautiful planet, but I can’t help but agree.” Tali let out a tired groan as Legion helped her up.

“What happened to them?” Kaidan gasped at the sight as he raced down the ramp, “Anything I can do?”

“The fucking Beacon happened.” Jack responded as the medics lifted the trio gently and started bringing them aboard the Normandy, “We just need to get them to medical asap. Have we rescued everyone that needs rescuing, and have Shepard’s ground orders been followed?”

“Yes ma’am!” Kaidan said, “There’s no one left alive here that we can detect, and the packages have been secured. Several Geth Platforms are remaining to ensure their delivery.”

“Good.” She turned to Ashley, “Williams, get your ass aboard. We’re going deep into the shit now and we could use a gun like you. I’m having you transferred to the Normandy.”

“Yes ma’am!” Ashley couldn’t believe her luck and the extreme swing it had that day. From fighting for her life to being aboard what must be a secret experimental vessel and part of a new, extremely powerful strike team. It didn’t make up for the morning, but damn if it wasn’t trying. She had nothing she needed from here, so she rushed aboard.

Jack, Tali, and Legion stayed only long enough to see the Beacon aboard and secured before they got on the ship. It sped away from the planet and into the stars.

-]|[-

Another one in the books! Hope you all enjoyed!

Some translations since Kheelish was very sparse and I either had to find dubious sources or just make shit up:

Vot – Shit

Keelei – “By the ancestors”

And so, starts the big changes. Bet you lot weren’t expecting the Quarians to still have their homeworld and a collective with the Geth! Canon Quarians: IT’S AN AI KILL IT BEFORE THE COUNCIL FINDS OUT. My Quarians: Shit my bot that’s all you had to say!

Now, the Normandy: In Canon, the SR1 feels like it was designed like a SR71 Blackbird. A strict recon vessel first and foremost, with relatively low survivability or defenses beyond her stealth. And it showed. the Collectors ripped right through her.

MY Normandy is a Nuclear Submarine. Girl’s got teeth. She’s bigger than even the SR2 by a good amount, and is intended as a hunter-killer type craft. Get in via stealth and just light bitches up. Design wise, I had various different ideas and source models but none of them quite fit perfectly. She definitely does look different from the original, being a Human/Quarian/Geth project instead of a Human/Turian project. In my head, she looks vaguely like a Star Trek Yorktown Class Cruiser and a Star Wars Raider II Class Corvette had a very strange baby. LOL