Mass Effect Ch 3 (Patreon)

Damn, I’m really on a roll with this fic. I’m so shocked I’ve kept the muse on target for three straight chapters. Let’s see how long this lasts LOL

-]|[-

“Eurgh…” Shepard looked dazed as he came to, “Anyone get the license plate of the Mako that ran me over?”

“Already cracking jokes?” Dr. Chakwas smiled as she came into view, reminding him of just how much he loved her accent, “Looks like you’re a-okay, Captain.” She looked very young, even if Shepard knew otherwise. A woman of her age back in the 20th would have either been dyeing her hair or already graying.

“What about the others?” He asked, rubbing his forehead, “I… I remember… Jazz grabbing me, I think…”

“They’re fine.” Chakwas replied soothingly, “They were up long before you were. Miranda got the least of it. She was the last to grab you and the first to wake up. Jasmine woke a few hours later. You were down the longest. About twenty hours.” She stared at him seriously, “All of you…”

“Experienced extremely unusual brain activity.” Miranda said as she walked in, wearing her usual getup, “Abnormal beta waves. Activity off the charts. Intense uptick in rapid eye movement, associated with dreaming.” She was not smiling, and actually looked rather worried, “The same for us.” She said softly.

“It wasn’t a dream.” Shepard said, pressing the heel of his palm into his forehead, “Damned nightmare is more appropriate. War. Death. Destruction…” He looked to his knees, “Nothing’s really… clear. It’s all jumbled.” He looked up at her, “Did you get anything different, Miri?” He forgot himself, though Chakwas merely raised an eyebrow and allowed an amused upturn of her lips.

“Unfortunately, no. I saw the same thing, though I imagine what I got was even more fleeting.” Miranda sighed, “Even EDI has been unable to help. It’s like the data is here-” She tapped the side of her skull, “But EDI can’t access it. Almost like the information refuses to be touched by her.”

“Perhaps the Protheans feared AIs like the Council does?” Shepard postulated, and something in the back of his skull started feeling like it was itching.

Miranda twitched minutely as that seemed to jar something in her brain too, “…Plausible.”

“Am I good to go, doc?” Shepard turned to Chakwas.

“Physically you’re fine, so I’d say you’re allowed to go. But all three of you need to come to me immediately if that changes. If you start experiencing migraines, or blackouts, or anything usual that could be associated with the brain. We can’t take any chances, understand?” She replied, “Not with this. The amount of data beamed directly into your mind realistically should have killed you.”

“You got it. Thank you, Karin.” Shepard stood, and began stretching out the kinks.

“Anytime, Shepard. Miranda.” Chakwas picked up a data pad and began looking through it.

The two operatives left the medbay, and Shepard immediately saw Ashley and Jasmine sitting with a couple of the crew in the mess. “John!” Jasmine straight up Blinked through the table, rushing to him, and wrapping him up in a hug. “You’re okay.”

“It’ll take more than a little Beacon to put me down.” Shepard smiled, pulling her in for a tight squeeze.

“Captain.” Ashley had no Biotic abilities and therefore had to go the long way around the table. She saluted him, “I’m so sorry, Captain. I must have triggered some sort of security field when I got close to the Beacon.”

“If you hadn’t triggered it, someone else would have.” Shepard replied, “Don’t blame yourself.” He saw how she tried to hide a smile, looking bashful. “Have you been transferred to the Normandy?”

“Yes sir! Thank you sir.” Ashley replied, “Jack recruited me after you three went down.”

“Good. Could always use a good gun watching our backs.” John gave her a short smile back, “EDI, get the ground crew to the Debriefing Room. I want a sitrep immediately.”

“Yes, Captain.” EDI’s voice sounded, and within a few minutes, they were all in the very large Communications Room.

“So, first thing’s first…” Shepard looked troubled, “Casualties? Besides Nihlus?”

Kaidan let out a sigh, “Jenkins was KIA.” He looked troubled, “He went into the open without checking his corners and was gunned down by the drones.” He ran a hand down his face, “We weren’t prepared for Heretic Geth. Our shields weren’t calibrated to deal with plasma rounds. No one we should have encountered uses the damn things.”

Shepard closed his eyes. Everyone in the room could tell he took it personally, “We’ll need a memorial for him. Were we able to recover his body? And Nihlus’?”

“We were.” Kal'Reegar replied in place of Kaidan, “We also lost a number of Geth during the rescue.”

“A moment of silence for them.” He commanded, and most everyone bowed their heads. After a few seconds passed, Shepard raised his head once more, his eyes burning, “Were we successful in our primary mission?”

“Barely.” Jack ran her hand through her hair, scowling, “The damn Beacon almost ruined the whole fucking thing. Tali?”

Tali nodded, rubbing between her eyes, “The Beacon was old, obviously. So old that its components started to degrade. It’s obvious that this Saren,” She spat the name almost like a curse, “-that the dockworker recorded – or someone in his group – must have used the Beacon themselves. That was why it was powered when we encountered it. That damaged the components even more, and when you were caught by it, it caused a positive feedback loop that was going to cause it to explosively overload itself. We were barely able to prevent that.” She dipped her head, “If Commander Organa hadn’t jumped in and shared the load with you, it would have fried your brain before we were able to drain enough energy for it to inactivate itself.”

Shepard quirked a smile, “Well, thanks for not letting it fry me. I like my brain uncooked.”

Tali let out a surprised giggle, “Yes, I imagine you do.”

Shepard quickly became serious again, “I was out for twenty hours. Where are we currently, where are we heading, and what have we told others? We discovered a lot of info on the ground.”

Miranda took over, “With you, me, and Commander Organa unconscious, Jack took over our duties until I woke up.” She said, “The first thing she did was order Chief Navigator Pressly to set a course for the Citadel to deliver the package. We are nearing the Citadel now.”

“Now?” Shepard raised his eyebrow, “With our speed?”

Jasmine smirked, “Landing with you still unconscious would have been no bueno.” She gave him a lidded look, “Plus, they’re expecting us, and likely doing their best to track us. We could hardly show off our top speed quite yet, could we?”

He smiled, “Good thinking. What next?”

Tali took over, “Kal, Legion, and I got on the QEC to the Collective Headquarters to figure out what in the name of Rannoch happened that allowed us to be ambushed by our own Geth.” She hissed, “It took five hours for a ship to arrive at the station and another five to make it back to Rannoch. Captain…” She trailed off, looking like she wanted to tear up.

Legion spoke, “Every Geth on that station is terminated.” Several people who hadn’t gotten the details yet let out a gasp, “We have no concrete data, because the Geth self-terminated. The entire station had every single server destroyed via an internal EMP with all of the defenses to such disabled.” If it was possible for a machine to look angry, Legion certainly fit the bill. “They were unable to get any transmission to the Collective. The only thing that made it was a message burned into the floor of the main server room via plasma fire. ‘Betrayal.’”

Kal'Reegar looked just as done as Tali looked sad, “From the data we’ve been able to piece together, and via many assumptions…” He looked Shepard square in the eyes, “These Old Machines tried honey, and when that failed, went for vinegar. It is our assumption that when barely fifteen percent of the Geth came to their side, the Old Machines tried to forcibly convert them via hacking or virus or some other method. There were signs of attempted physical interfacing with the station. With no way to combat it, the Geth chose to self-terminate to prevent the Old Machines from acquiring even more Heretics.”

“…Millions of Geth.” Shepard growled out, clenching his fists, “These Old Machines will pay. Count on that.”

“Looking forward to it.” Tali growled out, something very unusual for the cheerful young lady.

“What have we told the Citadel?” He asked the room.

“Very little, Captain.” Kaidan replied.

“All they know for sure at the moment, barring STG spying or anything like that, is that the planet was attacked with an overwhelming force, and that we were able to save the Beacon.” Jasmine replied.

“And what did the brass have to say?” He looked at his wife, but it wasn’t her who answered.

“Oh, you better believe they’re fucking pissed, Shepard.” Jack let out a huff, “Admiral Hackett even initially contemplated ending the agreement without delivering the Beacon. Parliament is pissed and from what I’ve heard, Ambassador Goyle is out for blood.”

“Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. Even the Council wouldn’t be so monumentally stupid as to do something like this.” Miranda said, “They damn well know that if it comes to all-out war, we’ll bleed them more than they can bleed us. Our AI provide too much advantage on the battlefield. They know they need them to counter us, but are too afraid of rampant AI to do something about it.”

“Rear Admiral Anderson will be joining us on the Citadel.” Jasmine informed him, getting a smile from her husband. It had been quite some time since they’d seen their mentor. “I’m not going to lie, John. We did everything right, but there’s every chance that everything could go wrong. We had a major world attacked on what should have been a milk run by a Turian Spectre. If the Council tries to brush this off, or does anything but their utmost to bring this man to justice, it could be war. No one wants that.”

“No.” John said, a hard, disappointed look in his eyes, “And frankly, if anything in the data the Beacon beamed into our minds is true, war would be the absolute worst thing we could do.”

“And what did the Beacon show you, sir?” Ashley spoke up, looking curiously at him.

“We don’t know.” He said gravely, “But from what little we could actually glean from the visions?” He stared her down, “It sure as hell wasn’t societal decay or diseases that wiped the Protheans out.”

Every single person in the room except for Jasmine, Miranda, and Jack paled.

-]|[-

“Ready to see those taxpayer credits at work, Captain?” Joker snarked as they exited the Mass Relay in the Widow System of the Serpent Nebula. All of the executive crew was on the bridge behind him, waiting to catch their first glimpse of the Citadel.

It was a massive station, almost 45 km in length, and made of that same material that the Mass Relays were made of. The same material that Humanity had been trying to crack for decades. Ever since they discovered their first relay in a ‘dead’ system, they had been experimenting on it. After all, if the damn thing exploded or was otherwise rendered inoperative, no one really cared. There was no sentient life or even microbial life in the system that they had been able to find, and the planets and asteroids themselves had little useful materials.

“Holy cow, look at that thing!” Ashley exclaimed, staring at the Citadel Fleet’s flagship, “It’s huge!”

“Yeah, well, after First Contact with us, their ships looked a little flaccid.” Joker smirked, getting a few laughs. “Size isn’t everything, of course.”

“Oooh, sound a little touchy there, Joker.” Ashley snarked, “Is the future Mrs. Moreau gonna be disappointed?”

“Ouch.” Joker tossed her a glare, “I’m just saying firepower counts too.”

“Wonder if we could take it out.” Jack grinned, “Imagine our tiny little boat cutting through that behemoth.”

“I doubt it, unless Miranda hid any weapons she hasn’t told us yet about aboard.” Tali said dryly.

“Well, we have the Macron Cannons.” Miranda said teasingly, “But you already know about that. Perhaps we should go find us a little pirate group to actually field test them. It should be simple to extrapolate from there.”

“We’ll save that for later.” Shepard rolled his eyes. “How big is this thing anyway?”

“Well, the old Destiny Ascension was a couple hundred meters shy of two kilometers. Looks almost normal sized now, with the Turians and Salarians building bigger Dreadnoughts too. But this baby?” Kaidan nodded to it.

“The Prestigious Salvation tips the scales at two and a half.” Miranda said, staring at it with an amused and knowing glint in her eye. “Bigger than even the Old Machine ship, though I doubt she’s anywhere near capable of landing on a planet.”

Jasmine noticed her amusement and nudged her, “What are you grinning about, hmm?”

“Oh, nothing.” Miranda demurred, before jumping a little as Shepard lightly pinched her side.

“That’s your ‘you know I know something you don’t’ look.” He murmured in her ear.

“Get us in private and maybe I’ll share.” She teased, not about to reveal Black Fleet specs where others could hear.

“Take us in, Joker.” Shepard commanded, turning away from Miranda with a small smile of his own.

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Joker said, “Citadel Control, this is the CFSV Normandy requesting permission to land.”

“Stand by for clearance Normandy.” A reply came quickly as they flew into the embrace of the massive Citadel arms, “Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to a Federation operator.”

A new voice came on, “Normandy, this is Federation Tower. Please proceed to dock 764, marked on your HUD.”

“Roger, Federation Tower. Normandy Out.” Joker quickly and efficiently got them into the correct dock, which was more than big enough to accommodate the Normandy. They passed through a field meant to keep atmosphere in, but allow most other things to pass through. The ship clamps anchored them down, and the crew got ready to face the music.

Shepard and the ground crew exited the airlock, with him and his wife smiling when they caught sight of Anderson on the runway. “Admiral!” They saluted, with the rest of the ground crew doing the same, even if Jack was a little lackadaisical about it. Never cared for regulation, that one. Plus, she was Cerberus, not Federation, so she was outside the chain of command.

“Captain.” Rear Admiral Anderson gave him a little smile in return, “Congratulations. That goes for all of you.”

“Thank you sir.” Shepard replied, “You’ve heard?”

“I have.” He said, his expression tightening. “I’ll be honest Shepard, hearing what happened on the ground is enough to have a man wanting blood. Eden Prime is one of our most important colonies.”

“You’re not the only one, sir.” Jasmine said roughly, “Situation was completely FUBAR from lightyears away. We’ve got thousands dead.”

“Walk with me.” Anderson said, beginning to lead the entire complement of soldiers down the runway. He stopped for a moment to speak to his own XO, “I want a full platoon posted around the Beacon until it is delivered safely. Anyone looks suspicious, you put them in the ground. You have the Council’s full approval for this, and C-Sec should be clearing the way.”

“Yes, sir!” His XO saluted, before turning to Shepard, “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”

“Granted. The Beacon is in your hands now, Anders.” Shepard replied, saluting back. “Corporal Jenkins was Killed in Action.” Their faces all dropped slightly, “His body is in its casket, close to the Beacon.” The man nodded, before taking his men and women onto the Normandy.

Miranda stated, “What is being done about Saren?” She asked briskly as they walked, “The Beacon will not be safe if he still has his authority.”

“His credentials have been temporarily suspended, pending a hearing.” Anderson replied, “He was none too pleased, and C-Sec is investigating. The entire thing is going too fast though, and there’s no guarantee that they’ll turn anything up due to sealed files. As much as I wish I could say we have him, the testimony of a traumatized dockworker is rather flimsy.”

Shepard raised an eyebrow, turning to Miranda. She winked at him, and his lips upturned. “Don’t worry, Admiral.” He said with satisfaction, “Evidently we still have more to tell you.”

Jasmine smirked, “Didn’t want to risk the info getting intercepted.”

Anderson smiled with satisfaction, “I’m eager to hear it.” They entered the Human Embassy, where Ambassador Anita Goyle was sitting calmly.

She smiled when they walked in, “Good, you’re here.” She raised her eyebrow as more of them filed in, “And I see you brought the entire crew with you.” She looked at Legion, but said nothing.

“I elected to take all of our specialists groundside, Ambassador. If you have any questions, we can field them here.” Shepard replied, “We collected plenty of data that was not shared in the official reports.”

“I see.” She took a breath, “Unit, what is your designation?”

“Legion.” The Geth replied.

“Legion, I will be turning on heavy encryption, sound distortion, and localized EMP pulses to reduce the risk of spying. Will that interfere with your or EDI’s operation?”

“No ma’am.” EDI replied for the Geth, “We are sufficiently shielded and will be able to filter out any distortions.”

“Excellent.” Anita typed a few things on her console and all of them experienced a momentary discomfort as all of their anti-spying measures went up, and the open-air room shut itself with privacy shutters. She then activated the QEC to Federation HQ, getting Admiral Hackett on the line.

“Captain.” Hackett’s hologram smiled, “Good job getting that Beacon delivered, son.”

“Thank you sir.” Shepard replied, crossing his arms behind his back, “I only wish the cost in blood wasn’t so high.”

“As do we all.” Hackett said heavily, something mirrored by Anita.

“Now, what’s this data left out of the official reports?” The Ambassador asked them.

“We have recordings of Saren’s voice.” Shepard smiled. Miranda, Jack, and Jasmine had done their jobs well, reporting all of the pertinent data over the QEC. “The dock worker was recording an audio note and never shut off the program. It’s not conclusive proof, but we have it in case C-Sec can’t turn anything up.”

Satisfaction rippled on all of their faces, “Catch them with their pants down. Smart.” Anita said approvingly, “That can’t be everything though, right?”

“No.” Miranda said, “We left one other thing out of the report, but its implications are far more terrifying than Saren and the invasion. We also didn’t want it to directly impact any investigations before we can figure more out. We decided this needed a Black Operation touch.”

“Understood.” Hackett said, “Do we need to get the Illusive Man online?”

“It wouldn’t hurt.” Miranda replied, “I wasn’t sure if the Ambassador had a QEC link to him.”

“Of course, I do.” Goyle said gruffly, brushing her silvery hair out of the way of her emerald eyes, “His info has stopped at least one assassination attempt. I’ll get him on.”

It took a few seconds, but the image of a middle-aged man smoking a cigarette appeared. He blew the smoke out, before saying, “Anita. Steven.” He nodded to the two, before turning to Miranda, “Operatives Lawson, Nought, Organa, and Shepard.” Some eyebrows raised in surprise, having not known that the husband and wife were also Cerberus. “I take it this is of vital importance?”

“Potentially, yes.” Shepard took over, stepping forward, “On the official report, we said that myself, Operative Lawson, and Commander Organa were caught by the initial Beacon overload and shocked unconscious before we were able to get it to safe power levels. That part was fabricated.”

Jasmine stepped forward, “As you know, the Beacon had been active. Some sort of energy field caught Gunnery Chief Williams and was physically pulling her towards the Beacon. Captain Shepard caught her and pulled her back, but was caught himself. The Beacon then started beaming the data it contained directly into his mind. Operative Lawson and I were forced to allow ourselves to be caught as well, otherwise the Captain would have died before we could safely drain the Beacon of the overload. We were informed by Dr. Chakwas that there was a very real possibility of our minds unraveling due to the rapid pulses of information forcing themselves into our brains.”

Anderson let out a curse, “You three are alright?”

“We are, Admiral.” Shepard replied, nodding to him, “Dr. Chakwas cleared all of us with no detected abnormalities, although we’re all on Medical Watch for anything resembling migraines, blackouts, or even nosebleeds.”

“I’m glad that is the case.” The Illusive Man took a drag from his cigarette, “Losing three of our best and brightest like that would have been an unmitigated disaster. If any medical issues do crop up as a result, I will foot the bill.” The three nodded to him, “Now… what data did you uncover?”

“It’s all jumbled.” Miranda replied, “Even EDI can’t touch it or help me sort it.” Now that got a look of surprise from the Illusive Man. It was possibly the first time Jasmine had ever seen him look anything other than calm and assured.

“EDI can’t… what does that mean?” Anita asked, looking confused.

“Operative Lawson and I share a much closer bond than most.” EDI replied, “A partition of myself is always with her, and I can optimize her implants for different situations, as well as temporarily override safety protocols to enhance her capabilities. Before I acquired this body, it also allowed me to experience the world through her. It is a symbiotic relationship. It was also what allowed me to detect that the Husks and Dragon’s Teeth were emitting a mind-altering signal.”

“My word.” Anita looked shocked, “I had no idea that research had gotten so far.”

“You can thank Alec Ryder for it.” Miranda smiled, “It is a rather underwhelming thing to call him a genius regarding implants, neurology, and AI.”

“Ha! That old dog? I shouldn’t be surprised.” She straightened up, “My apologies for derailing your report. Please continue.”

Shepard spoke, “As Operative Lawson stated, it’s all jumbled. I suspect that the message was meant for minds developed like a Prothean’s, and may be incompatible with any modern species. Additionally, it is also a possibility that they were as afraid or hateful of AI as the Council Species are since EDI can’t touch any of the data.” He stopped, looking each of them in the eye, “The information we HAVE been able to gleam manifested as a vision of sorts, and the one thing we were able to ascertain with a hundred percent certainty is that it was a warning.”

“Death. Destruction.” Jasmine said softly, trailing off.

“On a truly unimaginable scale. The Protheans didn’t die. They were hunted. Some sort of Synthetics… slaughtering people. Butchering them.” Miranda said, looking away for a moment.

Hackett, The Illusive Man, and Anita’s eyes all crinkled, “One person having a vision like that could be explained as a nightmare. Waved off. Three of them, at the same time, all of which just happened to come in contact with the same Beacon?” Hackett said roughly.

“This is no coincidence, and this was no bad dream.” The Illusive Man had put down his cigarette, “This must be investigated further. If some threat took the Protheans out, then it is possible they’re still out there. We must take it seriously.”

“Do we inform the Council of it as well?” Anita asked, “I’ll admit, it seems a little far-fetched, but you three are three of our best and brightest. Steven is right. One vision could have been waved off, or at least required more proof. Three?”

“We will leave that up to you, Anita. See how the Council treats the case of Saren and Eden Prime. If they appear to truly be reaching out, we will reach out in turn.” The Illusive Man replied, and the Ambassador nodded. “Is there anything else you need to report to me, Operatives?”

“No sir.” Shepard nodded to him. “Nothing concerning the vision at least.”

“Then I must go. I need to put feelers out regarding the Prothean Extinction. Even if the Citadel decides to do nothing, rest assured that we will get to the bottom of it.” The Illusive Man winked out without another word.

“Keep me posted, Captain. If there’s more to this, we’ll need to start preparing sooner rather than later.” Hackett nodded to them, before leaving.

Anita turned to them, “Now, are there any questions you wish to ask?”

“Yes ma’am. How many of us will be allowed at this hearing?” Shepard asked.

“I would suggest we keep it to you, Organa, Lawson, Tali'Zorah, and Legion.” Anita replied, “We don’t need the entire strike team there, so we should keep it to just you three as you were affected by the Beacon, and Tali and Legion can be the Geth and Quarian representatives.”

Shepard nodded, turning to Jack, who looked excited, “Looks like the rest of you get to start shore leave before the rest of us.”

“Hell yeah!” Jack cheered, slinging an arm around Ashley and Kal'Reegar both, “Let’s go get wasted!” She dragged the two away, with the rest of the team following with varying levels of amusement.

“Keep her on a leash for me, EDI.” Miranda laughed lightly as her lover flipped her off without turning to look.

“Of course, Miranda.” EDI had an amused smile as she followed the group out.

Jasmine looked at the Ambassador, “I’ve not kept up with Citadel politics. What kind of welcome can we expect, and what are the Councilors like?”

Anita nodded approvingly, “Scoping them out before the meeting? Smart.” She poured herself a glass of Brandy, asking if any of them wanted anything. They each took two fingers with some clear ice balls. “The first Councilor is Valern. Former STG, and very much in favor of winning wars before they’re fought.” She took a sip from her drink, “Does not do well with unexpected variables. A bit intractable in that manner. He’s also very open to trade and closer relations, though only because he is, in fact, a Salarian. All three of them want our tech, but Valern is the one most willing to make a deal for it. He was the one who pushed for the relaxing of the Council rules on Genetic Engineering because of the miracle of Medi-Gel.”

“Hmm, so we can both count and not count on him.” Shepard commented, “He wants something out of us, so if we don’t provide, he won’t either. He also doesn’t want to alienate us, so he may be reasonable.”

“Indeed.” Anita swirled the ice in her glass, “The next is the Turian Councilor; Sparatus. He is…” She put the glass down, “A bit of a dick, honestly.” Tali barely managed to turn her snort into a cough, and Jasmine patted her on the back, grinning wildly. Tali smiled at her gratefully, “The Turians were never happy with either the Collective or the Federation. He hates that we’re not under them and following their laws. He hates the fact that our fleets and our military can match theirs. The Quarians forced the relaxing of the Treaty of Farixen when they turned away their assaults three hundred years ago. We shattered it completely when we revealed ourselves to the Galaxy and put the Batarian scum in their place. And he’s definitely scared. Scared of our technology. Scared of how we evolved without relying on Element Zero for everything like they all did. Scared of how we refuse to bow our heads and submit to their power. I have little doubt he will be the most disruptive element.”

“Turian Bosh’tets.” Tali muttered, “We never wanted to break the law on AI, but once we did, we weren’t willing to just kill them either. The Geth were as peaceful as we were, and helpful beyond measure. We welcomed their sapience.” She glared at the floor, “And then the Council caught wind of it, and the Turians came storming in like barbarians, slaughtering people in our outer colonies.” She clenched her fists.

“And you turned them away. A hard-fought victory.” Anita said softly.

Tali snorted, “We survived, true. But it was only because of the Perseus Veil itself. We didn’t have the manpower or the ships to stand against them. Not back then. We had to operate like guerillas. It barely gave us enough time to build up a fleet that allowed us to turn away their attack on Rannoch once STG got involved. Too many Quarians and too many Geth died because of it.”

“A victory is a victory, no matter how it is achieved.” Anita said softly, “And war will always have a high cost in lives. You made sure those sacrifices were not in vain.” She said softly, looking the young Quarian in the eyes.

Tali hesitated, before nodding, “And the last?”

“The last…” Anita smiled, “I might even consider a friend. She’s a relatively new addition to the Council, especially for an Asari.”

“Oh?” Shepard looked at her, “Did the previous Asari Councilor pass?”

“No, nothing of the sort.” Anita waved the question off, “Asari culture changed a surprising amount after the Turians failed to pacify the Quarians for the Geth. Slowly, of course, but noticeably. One Matriarch named Aethyta had once been ridiculed, but after those events, her influence started to grow. Honestly, she takes after us more than she does the Asari. Always wanting to push the envelope and grow. Wanting more Asari to contribute to society instead of shaking their asses in their Maiden years.” She smirked slightly, “Despite that, Tevos remained on the Council for quite some time, even as Aethyta’s influence grew on Thessia. Once we came onto the stage with another disruption and Tevos failed to accomplish anything worthwhile, calls for new blood on the Council came from the Asari. Aethyta’s bondmate Benezia was eventually elevated to the Council, where she has sat for twenty-three years.”

“What is she like?” Miranda was the one who asked.

“Calm and diplomatic, first and foremost. It was only because of her that the Collective and the Federation have embassies on the Citadel now. She thought the state of cold war was intolerable and actually made overtures to bring us towards peace and collaboration.” Anita replied, “Though she can also be surprisingly aggressive and bold at times. You wouldn’t think it unless you knew who her bondmate was. She will likely be the easiest to convince of your visions, or at least of the necessity of studying them further.” She let out a little chuckle, “She’s also by far the most terrifying of the three. Her Biotics are powerful enough to tear a small ship in half.” She chuffed, “I saw it happen. Damn near peeled the thing like a banana, to prevent an assassin from escaping after a failed attempt at one of our lives.”

Shepard, Jasmine, and Miranda immediately pictured Jack, “Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!” They all had to fight to keep the amusement off of their faces.

“Anything else you would like to know?” Anita asked them. “You’ve been silent, Legion.”

“Everything that needed to be said has been said, Ambassador Goyle. Thank you.” Legion replied easily.

“Very well. Then if we’re done here, the hearing is in two hours in the Council chambers. You may explore the Citadel for now, but make sure you aren’t late.” Anita told them, “You all did good work getting that Beacon here. Go get some R&R.”

“Ma’am!” All of them saluted, before leaving.

-]|[-

The five who were going to be heading to the hearing stayed together, taking the opportunity to explore the Citadel as they awaited the appointed time. All around them, the people of the Citadel were wary. Not just of the humans, but of the Quarians and especially the Geth. Shepard had seen C-Sec trying and failing to be surreptitious in watching them, Some of the Asari had greeted them and welcomed them. They were happy to see Quarians on the Citadel once more, and even happier to see Tali maskless. Only the older Asari though. The ones born after the schism were just as wary of them as the Turians, who were outright rude in how mistrustful they were. They had spoken with Executor Pallin, and he’d made little secret of the fact that he was wary of all of them. The Turian had tried to hide it, but he hardly kept his hand off his pistol under his desk and had eyed both Tali and Legion with such extreme suspicion that Shepard had ended their talk before something… irritating happened.

They had gotten some information out of a Volus named Barla Von, which had led them to The Consort’s residence. The Asari had surprisingly allowed them to skip her waitlist, and had brought them into her chambers.

It had been quite easy to see what she was after, even if she directed her request to Shepard and his wife specifically. She had requested their aid with a troubled friend and client; a Turian named Septimus Oraka. According to her, the two had a falling out and he had been spreading lies about her. As fellow soldiers, she asked if they would speak with him. In truth, she did in fact need their help with this, but she was far more interested in having a more varied pool of clientele. Humans and Quarians were still fairly few and far between on the Citadel, and she tried to entice all of them (even Legion, surprisingly) with business. She did offer them credits for their aid of course, though she offered more as well. With the potential time crunches, they made no commitments and told her they would take care of it for her if they had the time available to them.

With that, they were out of time and had to make their way to the Council Chambers. It was a quick ride there, and Anderson was waiting for them. “You ready?” He asked, “We’re just about to begin.”

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Shepard said, “Let’s go get that son of a bitch.” Anderson nodded and started to lead them up the steps. Shepard turned to his crew, “I don’t believe I have to say this, but play it cool. These are politicians. Don’t let them rile you up.”

“Yes sir!”

As they climbed up the steps, Shepard immediately locked eyes on a hologram standing there. It was of a Turian, and one he suspected was Saren. The damned bird was several dozen sizes larger than he needed to be for whatever reason. Why, he had no idea. Even the Councilors would need to strain their necks to look up at him.

The Councilors themselves stood across from them on another platform separated by a large empty space. They could see a garden below them on the next level.

It was a ridiculous setup in their opinion. Yes, the room had great acoustics, but they were still standing over a dozen feet apart. And yes, that meant that assassins or mercenaries couldn’t physically rush over from their side… but Vanguards like he and his wife could have at least two of them dead before they could blink.

They joined Ambassador Goyle and her Quarian counterpart Hal’Saanar on the platform, and Councilor Benezia smiled softly at them from across the room, “Are we all present?” She got affirmatives from everyone, “Then I call this meeting to order.” She looked directly at Shepard and his crew, “Captain Shepard, congratulations on a successful extraction. The Beacon has been safely secured here on the Citadel, and it was only due to you and your men that it made it here safely. You have our eternal thanks for this gift, and my personal sorrow for all those who lost their lives securing it on Eden Prime.” She finished softly.

All of the humans instantly saw what Anita had been telling them. This Councilor at least was one that they could come to like. “Thank you, Councilor. I only hope that the contents of the Beacon prove worthwhile.” Shepard replied, keeping his tone even.

“Now, we must get to the bottom of this devastating attack.” Valern said, “The existence of this Beacon was kept a secret of the highest order. We also briefed Spectre Nihlus in person when we selected him for the mission, and he would not have broken mission protocol by informing any of his fellows.”

Sparatus continued on, “Spectre Saren Arterius’ credentials were frozen due to this hearing, pending a judgment due to your accusation. Spectre, what say you?” They turned to the hologram.

“These accusations are ridiculous and patently false.” Saren said firmly, “Nihlus was not only a fellow Spectre but a friend. I personally recruited him into the Spectres and trained him myself.”

Anderson stepped up, “Our ground team recovered Nihlus’ body and examined him while preparing him to be delivered back here.” He narrowed his eyes at Saren’s hologram, “He had heavy burns on the back of his head. Burns that could only have come from muzzle flash. Additionally, from the data recorded from his shield generator’s diagnostic suite, his shields had not taken a single hit all mission. The data is clear, councilors. He was shot in the back of his head without a triggering of his shields. That could only happen if he was snuck up on, in which case I have to express doubt in the quality of your Spectres,” Sparatus looked even more severe at that, “-or he let his guard down and was killed by someone he thought he could trust.”

“Your logic and deductions are sound.” Benezia agreed, “However, while suspicious, that does not put the blame on Saren specifically. Spectre?”

“I agree. Whoever killed Nihlus must have gotten him from behind, with surprise.” Saren agreed with the analysis, which was no surprise. “However, if you’ll note my transponder data, I am currently in the Hawking Eta, specifically the Schwarzschild System. I’ve been tracking a smuggling group for some time; the ones I believe are responsible for the recent outbreak of Red Sand on the Citadel. I quite simply could not have made it here in the twenty-four hours since the attack on Eden Prime. The distance is too great. None of our ships are fast enough.”

Tali almost smiled, “Our ships, yes. That’s true enough. Even our ships aren’t fast enough for that trip.” Well, bar one, now. “But on Eden Prime, we recorded data on a ship.” She looked at Councilor Benezia, “The ship was almost the size of the Prestigious Salvation, and yet it both landed and took off from the planet’s surface. Footage of it revealed it walking on the planet’s surface on its leg-like tentacles. With Mass Effect fields so powerful, I would certainly expect them to have some serious speed. Likely far more than any of ours.”

“Not to mention,” Ambassador Goyle glared at the hologram, “That transponders can both be turned off and spoofed.”

Benezia was giving Saren a hard look, “Spectre, your transponder was indeed listed as turned off twenty-four hours ago. C-Sec’s investigation turned that up easily enough.”

“As you are aware, Councilor, I am on a critical mission.” He said, though it was obvious that his expression had tightened. He was agitated. “The smugglers found a way into the Citadel and avoided our drug screenings. I-”

“Something,” Miranda was smiling predatorily, “-that a Spectre could authorize, no?”

“Are you insinuating something, human?” Saren glared at her.

“Enough.” Sparatus barked out, “While I agree that the evidence does paint a suspicious picture, it is all circumstantial and based on assumptions. We cannot disbar one of our best field agents on suspicion and hearsay.”

“I’m afraid I must agree.” Valern said, looking irritated that this was not going to be an easy way to earn some trust from the humans and Quarians, “Your supposition regarding the alien ship is plausible, but all we have is plausible. We need concrete, not plausible. Your eyewitness testimony adds to the picture, but the account of a single traumatized dock worker who by your own admission was skirting his own duties is not enough. That said,” He grimly eyed Sparatus, “The evidence brought forward does not paint Spectre Arterius in a good light. There are many coincidences and suspicious events he is involved in, and a more thorough auditing may be needed before he is officially reinstated.”

Benezia looked very irritated at the result, worrying that this was going to damage the relations they had been working so hard to improve. “Do you have any more evidence to share?” She asked, hoping they did. Saren bothered her personally. In another life, she would likely have attempted to guide him away from a path she believed could destroy him.

Goyle had left it up to Shepard when to reveal that they had the recording. They wanted to get the measure of the Council and how much they wanted to work with them on this. Satisfied at what he’d seen, he spoke, “Commander Organa, if you please.”

Jasmine stepped forward with a savage smile on her face, “My pleasure, Captain.” She raised her OMNI-tool and typed something out.

“Saren?” Nihlus’ voice came from the device.

“Nihlus.” Saren’s voice followed after a few seconds, getting looks of surprise from the Councilors. Sparatus’ jaw lowered and his flanges widened.

“This isn’t your mission, Saren. What are you doinghere?” Nihlus asked the other Turian.

“The Council thought you could use some help on this one.” Saren responded almost immediately, and a sound of footsteps followed.

“I wasn’t expecting this. Geth. Batarians. Those weird Husks. What the hell is going on? The situation’s bad. Do you think the Quarians have lost control of their Geth?”

“I don’t know.” Saren responded, “But don’t worry. We’ll get this under control.” A loud gunshot rang out, followed by the metallic and fleshy thudding of a Turian body falling to the floor.

Sparatus looked apoplectic as he turned to glare at Saren, “Arterius, we order you-” Saren shut his hologram off, not even bothering to try to explain himself. Sparatus let out a furious sound before turning to Executor Pallin, “Executor, Saren’s credentials are to be revoked and I want his picture plastered on every world in Citadel Space. He is to be considered armed, dangerous and both a traitor to the Citadel and the Hierarchy. He is also to be listed as a war criminal.”

“I want a list of every single person he’s spoken with or interacted with for a minimum of the past ten years.” Benezia’s eyes were the only giveaways to her fury, as she still spoke calmly.

Valern followed, “I am ordering all of his files to be unsealed and provided both to the Council as well as the offices of the Ambassadors.”

“This is a travesty,” Benezia said, “And I assure you, you will have our full cooperation in getting to the bottom of this, Ambassadors.” She addressed the humans and the Quarians. “We will bring this madman to justice.”

“Thank you, Councilor.” Anita smiled, knowing that they had likely just earned some concessions, no matter the cost it took to get them. They had also acted swiftly, and without outright obstruction during the trial prior to the big reveal.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sparatus looked to Benezia with some confusion on his face, “He was after the Beacon. Perhaps he believed it contained weapons of some sort. It’s obvious now that his hatred of humans or perhaps the Quarians runs deep. It’s good he didn’t get it.”

“Councilors, we have more information to share with you, though we believe it should be done in a more private setting.” Anita told them, getting them to look at each other. “It may change your mind regarding the best plan of action regarding Saren.”

Benezia nodded, “Let us retire to my office. We should have privacy there.”

…

Her office was big, befitting her status as the Asari Councilor. Everyone had been provided a seat and some good drinks. Some very high-end alcohols, as a matter of fact. The only one not partaking was Legion for obvious reasons, and Sparatus and Valern looked rather wary because of the Geth’s presence. Benezia was the only one who looked even mildly comfortable being in such proximity to the machine. “What do you have to share with us, Anita?” She asked, using the ambassador’s first name now that they were out of the public eye and in a more informal setting.

“Curious as well.” Valern stated, “Things not shared in official report, obviously. Curious as to why data was held back.”

“I for one do not appreciate it.” Sparatus growled lowly, “We could have avoided that entire show if the recording had been provided from the start. It was only Benezia’s good instincts that led to us temporarily rescinding his credentials. He could have gotten days more time to sabotage things if not for that.”

“It is simple, Councilor.” Anita said, her voice slightly cold, “Our partnership is still new and our friendship still cold. We did not believe you would order a black operation to recover the Beacon when you were being gifted it anyway, but no one should have known about that damn thing in the first place.”

Benezia was about to make an impassioned denial, but Valern got to speak first, “I see. Suspicion understandable. Prior actions by Council in centuries past not always favorable in Humanity’s eyes.”

“Indeed.” Anita replied, “But we saw what we wanted to see; legitimate action and disgust with his actions.” Sparatus merely clenched his jaw, so Anita proceeded, “Captain. Brief the Council.”

“Ma’am.” Shepard put his Brandy down, “Saren or someone in his retinue accessed the Beacon.”

“What?!” Valern blurted, sitting straight. “Explain.”

“The Beacon was active when we found it. Saren had already gotten what he wanted from it. He left it behind, along with three thermonuclear bombs to wipe everything clean.”

“Or dirty, as it were.” Jasmine snorted.

“Then it is imperative that we access the Beacon as well.” Sparatus said, his voice hard as he immediately realized how potentially dangerous the situation was.

“I don’t believe it’ll do any good Councilor, though I do hope to be proven wrong.” Miranda said, “As we said, the Beacon was active. Gunnery Chief Williams got caught in some kind of security field and was being pulled in. Captain Shepard pulled her out but got caught in it instead. It started beaming all of the information it contained directly into his mind.” There was stunned silence from the three Councilors, “The Beacon was overloading, and it almost exploded. Commander Organa and I had to allow ourselves to be caught by it as well so that it wouldn’t fry the Captain’s brain while Tali'Zorah and Jennifer Nought drained the power away. All three of us got hit by the data it was forcing into our brains.”

“Goddess.” Benezia said softly, “It’s a miracle you all made it out with your minds intact. What information did the Beacon give you?”

“That’s just the thing.” Jasmine said, irritated. “We can barely make heads or tails of it. We think there’s some sort of compatibility issue. We know Protheans had a unique genetic code. No other species has quad-strand DNA. We think there might be a similar incompatibility with our brains.”

“The images are all jumbled.” Shepard rumbled, “But all three of us experienced the same message. A warning. The Protheans didn’t go extinct. They were hunted to extinction.”

“But that’s impossible!” Sparatus exclaimed, “The Protheans were the most advanced race in the galaxy! They built the Relay Network and the Citadel! How could they possibly have been hunted?!”

“It’s possible…” Benezia said slowly, and they turned to her, “In fact, it makes a worrying amount of sense… if you listen to my daughter, that is.”

“Your daughter, ma’am?” Tali asked, focusing on the Asari.

Benezia sighed, “My daughter Liara is an archaeologist.” She smiled a little wryly, “As well as a fledgling information broker. She was always fascinated by the Protheans more than anything, and had little interest in mine or her father’s profession. As you might be able to tell, she’s not exactly… satisfied with following the accepted path. She’s discovered evidence of…many prior galactic civilizations… and extinctions.”

“Why have I not heard of this?” Sparatus asked sharply.

“Likely not accepted information. She is still a maiden, is she not?” Valern asked Benezia.

“She is. She’s had her doctorate for fifty years now, but her young age means many are not willing to listen to her.” Benezia sighed, “After all, ‘if the information is so readily available, why haven’t her betters discovered it yet?’ As if mere age makes one wiser.” She scoffed, remembering quite a few matrons and even matriarchs with half the brains her daughter had, “Aethyta had to use some of her influence just to get some of her work accepted for peer review in the first few years. Nowadays she’s considered an expert in the Protheans, but her work is still considered niche and not common knowledge.”

“I think I’d quite like to speak with her.” Shepard said, “Maybe she can provide some insight, or even dislodge some more information in our brains. We’ve had… periodic insights triggered during conversation.”

“You’re in luck then.” Benezia smiled, “While I didn’t tell her why, I was able to entice her to the Citadel. By now, she’ll have been informed about the Beacon, and will be hard at work preparing it for use.”

“This still doesn’t explain exactly what Saren wanted with the Beacon.” Sparatus pointed out, “And hopefully, if the information is as jumbled as you claim, he won’t be able to make heads or tails of it either.”

“That means he will be searching for some way to make sense of it.” Jasmine pointed out, “Or maybe it will only take time. He needs to be taken out before that. He has a goal for damned sure, and while you might have taken away his Spectre resources, he’s had decades to build his own.”

Benezia grimaced, “It will be… difficult. Even were we to order a chase, we can’t send a fleet after one man. Even one with such a powerful warship.” She referred to the data on the Old Machines. “If he escapes into the Terminus Systems, we will be unable to act. The pirates will harass our ships every step of the way and if we mobilize the Terminus will meet us for war.”

“Ma’am, it would be my genuine pleasure to chase this bastard down.” Shepard said firmly, “And I’m not convinced he would limit himself to the Terminus. He’s already shown he has no fear of attacking one of our most important worlds. The Federation and the Collective want his head, Councilors, and we will be chasing him with or without your blessing, but we would prefer to avoid potential diplomatic incidents should we need to to operate in Council Space as well.”

“Difficult.” Valern said immediately, “Spectre authority would grant that blessing, but you are not a Council race. None of you are.”

“Forget a Council race.” Sparatus said, “You’re not even a client race, nor have you signed the Citadel Treaty or made yourselves subject to our laws. The other races would be up in arms over it if we granted a human or Quarian Spectre status.”

Shepard inclined his head, understanding the point even if he didn’t like it. Anita had pursed her lips as well.

Benezia spoke next, “While that is true, it is easily solved, if you would allow another Spectre on your ship. They could then grant you associate status.”

“Humanity would accept that, provided the Captain agrees.” Anita said quickly, smiling.

“Of course.” Shepard said, “Though I would appreciate being able to pick the candidate myself. I want someone I can work with.”

“Agreeable. We will send a list of nine Spectres for you to choose from; three from each race.” Valern agreed to the request easily, “Though obviously, we will be unable to provide full data. Their missions are obviously classified.”

“That is not a problem. Me and my leadership team are quite good at judging people.” Shepard waved it off. “I’m more concerned that whoever I choose understands that I will be in charge for the duration of the mission. The worst thing that could happen on a mission like this is two command officers trying to give their own orders.”

“Do not worry about that, Captain.” Sparatus said, “We will ensure our Spectre understands their orders clearly.”

“Then I believe we should be settl-” Benezia stated, only to be interrupted by Sparatus.

“Not quite.” Sparatus said, before looking at the masked Quarian ambassador, Tali, and Legion. “In the reports, you mentioned there were Geth involved in the attack.” His face was very severe as he glared, “Have the machines finally rebelled?” He asked snidely.

Hal’Saanar and Tali both clenched their fists, “Why you-” Tali was incensed at his callousness, her face visibly warping with fury.

“Tali.” Shepard carefully patted her shoulder to keep her from rising. She took a second to control herself, and retook her seat without a word. She was still glaring hotly at the Turian Councilor though. Shepard then looked Sparatus square in the eye, “Do your joint military ventures normally begin with insults to the collaborators, Councilor?”

Sparatus had the grace to look embarrassed (or at least fake it,) and did not need to look at his fellow Councilors to know that there would be discussion after this. “My apologies. I am… on edge with the reveal that Geth were part of the attack.”

Hal’Saanar’s expression could not be seen due to his full envirosuit, yet it was obvious his eyes were narrowed due to their glowing nature. “I will let this insult slide only for that reason, Councilor.” It was clear that Sparatus was none too pleased by the retort, “You could not have known we lost five and a half million Geth due to treachery.”

“Goddess!” Benezia sat straight. She could not truly understand synthetic life, but that was still a huge number. And just because she could not understand them did not mean she could not empathize with their loss. “How?!”

The Quarian ambassador turned to Legion, and gave it a short nod. Legion stood and dialed on its OMNI-tool, before projecting the image of the Old Machines. Valern leaned forward, “The enemy capital ship? You encountered it prior to Eden Prime?”

“Unknown to the Collective, yes.” Legion replied, “And this is not a ship. Or at least not just a ship. This entire machine is an AI.”

“That… is not good.” Sparatus made a very tinny noise in the back of his throat after a few seconds of dumbfounded silence.

“No.” Legion agreed, “The intelligences of this vessel are ancient, and so the Geth dubbed them the Old Machines. Each of their processes evolved to a much higher degree than a single Geth process, and there were billions of them inside of the vessel, forming a collective consciousness. They approached a lone Geth installation meant for mining and processing materials for the Collective.”

“These… Old Machines attacked the Geth as well?” Benezia asked delicately.

“No.” Tali spat, “Or at least not at first, we think. They came with an offer. An offer for our Geth to join them, from what we were able to piece together. For what purpose, we have no idea. And it is clear that some of the Geth accepted and left the Consensus. The Heretics we encountered on Eden Prime practically worshipped the damn thing like a God, and they were also much more highly evolved than the Geth are. Do you understand how serious that is, Councilors?”

“AI finding religion? Those that joined it being immediately upgraded and yet subservient?” Valern took a deep breath, “Yes, I believe this would qualify as serious.”

“Some accepted, you said.” Sparatus said slowly, turning to Legion.

“…Conclusive data on what happened is unavailable, but assumptions are easy to make. Signs of physical interaction with the Geth installation are consistent with the size of the Old Machine vessel. Consensus was reached to self-terminate. The word “Betrayal” was burned into the ground of the main server room via plasma. There is a 99% chance that the Old Machines attempted to forcibly take control of the Geth on the installation. It is unknown how many were lost from the Consensus prior to self-termination. Also unknown is how many Geth either willingly joined or were forcibly converted.”

“…I thought the Geth were impossible to hack.” Valern said grimly.

“So did we.” The Quarian Ambassador replied. With the attack and what had been revealed, the Geth had immediately reversed their prior decision to go forward on a separate path from Terran AI. They were angry about the necessity, but after learning of what had happened to their brethren, the consensus agreed with eighty-percent approval that they needed to be better as individual programs as well. It was unknown how much time it would take with their counterpart AI and human engineers to make the upgrades, nor if it would be enough to withstand the might of the Old Machines.

“And unfortunately, the bad news doesn’t end there, Councilors.” Miranda said softly, “There was one more thing we did not reveal in the report. The enemy had these strange devices that they were…” Her eyes looked positively furious, “-Impaling our people on. We’re calling them Dragon’s Teeth. These devices invaded their bodies and warped them with cybernetics, turning them into, for lack of a better description, cybernetic zombies. They simply ran mindlessly at us, trying to kill us.” She had wanted to call them Borg zombies, but the Council wouldn’t have understood the reference.

“Oh, goddess.” Benezia had to hold back a shudder, “That is…ghastly. Words can’t describe the feelings that invoked in me.”

“Well, they’re about to get worse.” Jasmine said, apologetically, “Miranda has a unique relationship with our AI.”

“Yes.” Miranda agreed, “You do not need to know specifics, but suffice it to say that our relationship is more symbiotic than most. Because of it, we detected that both the Husks and the devices used to create them emitted a nearly undetectable signal in small radii that was attempting to physically change my mental chemistry. For what purpose, we do not know for sure. But mere proximity to them or their technology is costly.” Benezia was a much lighter shade of blue, and the other two Councilors were no better, “And if we’re right and the Old Machines are the sources of this ghastly technology… then there’s a more than decent possibility that it too emits that signal. And very likely, much more powerfully.”

“Conclusive data on what the signal does is unavailable. Immediate steps were taken by Shepard-Captain to minimize Organic contact.” Legion revealed, “Geth and Terran AI are immune to signal. However, the maliciousness of the Old Machines is apparent. Betrayal and hacking of Geth proves it. There is a greater than 50 percent probability that the signal is meant to subvert Organic consciousness and enslave the individual.”

“A Batarian slave chip, without the chip.” Sparatus said hoarsely. “Spirits above…”

“Goddess, if that’s true, even Saren himself could be enslaved.” Benezia murmured, “He started to change years ago.”

“Is there any possibility of the signal’s effects being reversed?” Valern asked.

“We have no idea.” Miranda said, crossing her arms under her ample bosom, “But quite frankly, I rather doubt it. These Old Machines seem millennia ahead of anything we know. I wouldn’t put much stock in it being possible. Before we even think about reversing its effects, we need to consider how to block it.”

“Your AI detected it.” Benezia said, “Is it possible that it could do so?”

“She.” Miranda said absently, “And it’s… possible, I suppose. But while not unique, I can count the number of people with the same symbiotic relationships with our AI on a single hand. To my knowledge, I’d even have fingers left over.”

“Then I suppose we will need to turn to other avenues.” Sparatus said softly, “Revealing all of this to us has certainly earned our thanks, our trust, and our commitment to seeing these enemies destroyed.”

“We may not be able to grant you Spectre Status, but we will grant you upgraded security access.” Benezia said, typing something quickly on her OMNI-tool, and all of theirs flashed. “Please go see my daughter. She will no doubt be studying the Beacon right now.” She stopped, and stood, “In fact, I think I shall accompany you to ensure there is no nonsense from any overzealous C-Sec officials. Time is of the essence if we wish to stop the traitor and his malicious machine.”

“In the meantime, we will look up leads and get the list of Spectre candidates worked out.” Valern and Sparatus stood as well, “Ambassadors, Operatives, we wish you luck on your hunt.” They all then split up, with the Ambassadors returning to their offices, the Councilors to theirs, and the ground team following Benezia across the Presidium.

-]|[-

Benezia led the motley crew of humans, Quarians, and a single Geth down to one of the most well defended areas of the Citadel. All of them spotted many sniper nests as well as several individuals in plainclothes around the area. Stealing anything from this vault of theirs would surely be difficult. “Welcome to the center of Prothean research.” Benezia showed them around, and they were all read in by C-Sec. They looked none too pleased about the newcomers, so it was probably a good thing that Benezia had come with them. She led them to a window, which overlooked a massive room a level down with hundreds of Prothean artifacts, where the Beacon was currently taking center stage. It had been opened up from what they could see, and power cables now entered it.

Miranda stopped, “Tali, can you trace those power cables?”

“Yes ma’am!” Tali slipped on her suit’s visor, which allowed her to follow the power cables where they entered the floor and exited the room.

“Whatever for?” Benezia raised an eyebrow at Miranda.

“Security.” Miranda said, linking up with Tali and activating a smaller visor that crossed her eyes, “Saren and his ilk tried incredibly hard to destroy this Beacon. I wouldn’t put it past him to try again, even here. If they surge power through the cables it could trigger an immediate overload.”

“Good point.” Benezia said, before turning to the chief of security, “Is this entire facility on its own power grid?”

“It is ma’am. We have a small fusion reactor running at all times, rather than taking power directly from the station.” The C-Sec specialist replied.

“Miss Zorah, please accompany security to the reactor along with Legion.” Benezia requested, “Some fresh eyes never hurt.” Clearly the C-Sec officer wasn’t happy about the order, but complied. Tali got a nod from Shepard, and left on her mission.

Benezia led them into the clean room below after a short decontamination, and she led them to a much younger Asari who hadn’t even realized they were there. “Have you slept in the past 48 hours, Little Wing?” Benezia looked amused as the Asari jumped.

“M-Mother!” She whirled around and smiled brightly. The apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree with Asari, and this one was no different. She was beautiful, though she seemed much more jumpy and less self-assured. She hugged her mother, “I’ll have you know I’ve been taking regular breaks.”

“Oh really?” Benezia drawled, “Somehow I don’t believe you.” Her daughter pouted, and Jasmine had to hold back a little squeal at how cute she was. “When was your last one?”

“It was at 0800.” She said proudly.

“…” Benezia stared at her, “Captain. What time is it?” The younger Asari finally seemed to notice the other guests…

And both balked and blushed profusely as she took Shepard in, “2300.” He smirked lightly after making a show of checking his chronometer.

“…Oh, goddess…” She muttered, though she wasn’t sure if that was due to the time or Shepard.

“And my point is proven.” Benezia patted her on the shoulder, “Liara, this is Captain John Shepard, Executive Officer Miranda Lawson, and Commander Jasmine Organa. Everyone, this is my daughter, Liara T'Soni.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Liara nodded at them, “You are the ones who recovered the Beacon, yes? I simply must thank you! This may advance our knowledge of the Protheans by lightyears!”

“The pleasure is all ours, Liara.” Shepard said, offering a hand for a shake. She took it, knowing just enough about humans to know what it was about, and couldn’t help but blush again when they touched.

‘Really, daughter? A married man?’ Benezia shook her head. Trust her daughter to have what appeared to be her first crush on a man who was spoken for. Yet to her surprise, both Jasmine and Miranda simply looked amused. ‘Hmmmm…’ She smiled lightly.

“Charmed.” Miranda offered hers as well, giving her a smile.

“Wow, I love your accent.” Liara couldn’t help but blurt it out.

Miranda let out a short little laugh, “I get that a lot.”

Finally, Jasmine shook Liara’s hand, and positively purred as she said, “Yes, a pleasure to meet you.”

Liara’s blush returned with a vengeance, ‘Why do I suddenly feel like prey?’ She internally gulped.

Shepard cleared his throat, “Liara, I’m afraid that you likely won’t find much of what you’re looking for on this Beacon.” He drew her attention, “That’s why we’re here, actually.”

“Won’t find…” She trailed off, her beautiful blue eyes opening wide, “Oh, goddess, did you already access it?”

“We all did.” Jasmine said, straightening up, “The Beacon was experiencing a power surge.”

“Yes, many of its internal components are incredibly degraded.” Liara confirmed, “We had to gut the power components and temporarily replace them with these primitive cables.”

“Right. It drew John in and trapped him while transferring all of its data. Miranda and I had to grab him and allow ourselves to be trapped as well, otherwise his mind would have been-” Jasmine said, and was interrupted by Liara.

“Fried. Goddess, surviving it even as a three-person team is incredible! All of you must have incredibly strong wills!” Liara exclaimed, “I apologize for my excitement. It must have been absolutely terrifying!” She said, fidgeting, “It’s just… I’ve dedicated my life to the study of those who came before us. Having the three of you here now, having been touched by a Prothean Beacon…” She shook herself, “Please, I must know. What did you see? Were you able to make anything out? Prothean Beacons transfer knowledge directly, but they were meant for Prothean minds. I can’t imagine you had very much success in interpreting it.”

“You’re right. Not overly much is clear.” Miranda crossed her arms, “But that is why we came to you. The few images we were able to decode showed the end of the Prothean civilization. They were hunted by some sort of synthetic race.”

Liara gasped, “You’re certain of this?”

“As certain as we can be, given the circumstances. And according to your mother, you’re the expert to talk to.” Liara blushed again as Shepard turned to Benezia, “Councilor, are you certain this is a conversation for this place?”

“No, you are right. Come. Let’s leave this place.” Benezia told them, and all of them quickly followed her back up to the main room.

Tali and Legion joined back up with them, and the Quarian immediately spoke up, “Councilor, Captain, it would be incredibly simple to make the reactor surge if someone who is compromised can access the area. I would recommend leaving the Beacon unplugged at all times.” She leaned forward and whispered to Shepard and Benezia, “Legion left a couple drones inside. If anyone tries something, we’ll know.”

“Very good. Liara, can we trust your fellows to follow that order?” Benezia asked her daughter.

“Yes, of course. Let me just relay it.” She vanished for a minute, before returning. “Shall we?”

-]|[-

“Oh, goddess.” Liara had her head in her hands, and she had also paled to a lighter shade of blue. “That’s…”

“You don’t look so happy.” Jasmine said carefully.

“I… How can I be? Yes, it… it confirms everything I’ve spent the past fifty years working on. All the effort I’ve put into it for nearly half my life! But at the same time…” Liara trailed off.

“It’s terrifying.” Shepard said, compassionately.

“More than you know, Captain.” Liara shuddered, “Most of this is unpublished. I’ve found clues, but not nearly enough to make it an actual scientific theory.” She took a deep breath, “The Protheans were not the first.” She said grimly, and it was like the air had gone cold, “I’ve found signs of other, much younger civilizations. Some of them millions and even hundreds of millions of years apart. I’ve explored ruins dated a hundred thousand years ago, two hundred thousand, five hundred and fifty thousand…”

Something was building up in the back of Shepard, Miranda, and Jasmine’s minds. A strange sort of pressure. Something Benezia noticed, as they had flinched minutely.

Liara didn’t notice, so intent on explaining her research. “It is as though the galaxy is cyclical. Every time a civilization rises up, something casts them down. I’ve had very little data, but my closest estimates put the cycle of extinction-”

As soon as she said those three words, the three touched by the Beacon yelped and clapped their hands to their foreheads.

“Oh, goddess! What did I do?!” Liara jumped as it happened, and her mother put a calming hand on her arm.

“I believe you knocked part of the vision loose, daughter.” Benezia said softly.

“Fifty thousand years.” Shepard said grimly.

Liara went bug-eyed, “I… yes. Every fifty thousand years. Goddess, it’s really true!”

“Then we’re overdue.” Benezia said, an uncharacteristic hard note in her voice, “We must figure out who caused it, how they caused it, and we must prepare. The other Councilors will not believe this without hard data, but I will not let us fall because they wanted hard proof. If my reputation suffers for it, so be it. I’d rather be disgraced and all of us alive than in my position having to fight for all of our lives.”

“Well, you’re certainly my favorite Councilor on the Citadel.” Tali sniggered, getting a smile from Benezia and Liara.

“Liara, is there anything you can think of that will help us?” Miranda asked, “Anything that Saren could be searching for. Something tied to the Prothean extinction.”

“I… I am not certain.” Liara said, “I’ve found very little. It’s as though whatever wiped them out also did everything in their power to cleanse the galaxy of any hints.”

“Very little is more than we have.” Shepard said authoritatively, and Liara’s spine straightened. “Tell us what you have.”

“I… perhaps the Conduit?” She said, and the three reacted once more, “Oh, that seems to have triggered another memory.”

“A very small one.” Jasmine complained, “Not enough of one, in other words. But it’s certainly of interest. What is the Conduit?”

“I have no idea.” Liara replied with a grimace, “I’ve barely found anything about it.”

“Then whatever it is, we have to find it before Saren does.” Shepard said firmly, “It’s not much of a target, but it’s better than the nothing we had.”

“Yes, and you will have our full support in chasing him down.” Benezia stood, “I believe that it will take a bit longer to get the list squared away. Please take the time to relax here on the Citadel for at least the rest of the day. I suspect you’ll have precious little rest once the hunt begins in earnest.”

“We will.” Jasmine said, “We do have to return to the Normandy to relay this information to HQ, and then we will find the rest of our crew.”

“Excellent.” Benezia turned to her daughter, “I assume you will be returning to your Beacon, Little Wing?” She smiled playfully. Yet to her surprise, Liara didn’t immediately say yes. She seemed to be thinking something instead. ‘…Oh no.’ Her mother senses started to tingle.

Liara seemed to come to a decision, and turned to Shepard. She stood, “Captain, if you are agreeable, I wish to join your crew on this journey.”

“Absolutely not!” Benezia belted out, “Daughter, this will not be like the digs you’ve gone on, where you can expect solitude and occasional mercenaries! This is a warship! They will no doubt be going into battle against Saren and his cohort!”

“They will need an expert on the Protheans, will they not?” Liara challenged her mother, “I am that expert. No matter how little the Matriarchs wish to acknowledge it.” Benezia went to speak again, “And further, you and father trained me yourselves. You made me spend five years under your tutelage experiencing enhanced Commando training before I was allowed to venture out on my own. I will not be helpless.”

“Training is one thing, Liara.” Shepard said, “It is under controlled circumstances. No matter how good the training is, many still freeze when the real thing comes.”

“I did.” Liara said softly, “Once. The first time I was attacked by mercenaries.” She pursed her lips, “Never again.”

“Daughter.” Benezia took Liara’s face in her hands, “I will ill be able to rest if you go through with this, and the Captain accepts.”

Liara embraced her mother, “And if I don’t… all could potentially be lost. I will never forgive myself if I don’t take this burden and opportunity. You sat through their briefing the same as me. Twice even. If my research is right… our time is closing in. You said it yourself. We need to prepare.” She backed away from her mother, “Because if we don’t… nowhere will be safe.”

Benezia bit her lip, before turning to Shepard, “You will keep her safe, Captain.”

“As safe as I can keep any of my crew.” Shepard replied evenly, before turning to Liara, “And I hope you’ve kept up with your training. You’ll be drilling with the rest of us aboard the ship.”

“Yes sir.” A wide smile crossed her face.

“Come on then. Let’s get going.” Shepard finally stood, and offered his hand to Benezia. Everyone shook, and then the Councilor went her separate way.

-]|[-

And that’s a wrap! Honestly, while I hope you all enjoyed it, I could understand if people thought it was a bit repetitive with the information sharing. It was a necessary chapter, but a bit of a… slow one.

So, hope I’ve made it quite clear that this isn’t JUST a “Humanity Fuck Yeah!” fic. It definitely is that, but I decided to make EVERYONE more competent across the board. The endgame is, after all, the reapers without the starfucker.

Replacing Tevos with Benezia wasn’t originally in the cards, but once I thought of it I just HAD to go through with it. I thought of replacing the other Councilors too, but decided against it. This does eliminate a source of drama due to the whole Benezia-Liara angle, but honestly? We’ve already watched and played that story, and fanfic readers have read it a dozen and a half times too.

Don’t you worry though. Just because some drama is eliminated doesn’t mean things are going to be extra easy. We’ve got some shit planned for the enemy side too.

And I STILL don’t have a title for this shit! :cry: