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A/N This would be my third rewrite of the same fanfic.

The usual disclaimer, I don't own Mass Effect, except for my OC's. And in this fic, there's a lot of those...

Please enjoy :)

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Fingers of the brightest blue danced across the console, bringing the machine to life and setting it to purpose. "Mission Log; Day 139."

The asari commander sank back in her chair, more out of disappointment than actual exhaustion compared to her crew. "Captain Lunala presiding, another boring and uneventful day in this godsforsaken cluster. We've come across several barren worlds traversing the expanse, most of which have been stripped clean of resources. Researchers onboard my ship think its an interesting find, a possible mark of a highly advanced civilization. Of course, I think the opposite." Lunala swiveled her chair around and let her feet fly, allowing the seat to swirl her about. "It's a graveyard, and they're all the tombstones."

"We've regrouped early this morning with the mothership to refuel, and then repeated the search. My superiors are optimistic, so I'm stuck here. I'm starting to wonder why I ever thought about taking their offer. The money's good, I guess, but that's about all that's keeping me here." Lunala groaned, "Goddess, I'm making this sound like a damned diary. Computer, erase log. Start over."

"Mission Log; Day 139." The asari commander closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh of frustration, "We've explored and mapped out nearly one third of the Uncharted Traverse and opened our 14th Mass Relay, per the Council's orders of course. We've come across a total of 88 barren worlds crossing from one threshold to another, all bearing the marks of a highly advanced civilization capable of stripping whole planets of their resources- where they all went, I've yet to find out. The research team onboard my ship are as optimistic as my superiors, they're confident they'll find something out there, but I don't share their outlook. Then again, it isn't my job to voice my opinion where it isn't needed, so I'll generally keep my thoughts to myself. Computer, save progress. Log off."

Lunala rolled her eyes, "There, that's done. I guess I can finally turn in for the night." Inwardly, she hoped the call she had waited for so long would come, and that her aforementioned superiors would instruct her to turn back home that they'd replace her with a less burnt out captain. Today won't be that day, apparently, but still she'd keep an ear to her comm channel. The asari laid down on her side and stared at the stars streaking by her window. The habit was part of her new routine, and she found she could not sleep without it. Something about the view made her feel unplugged, detached from reality as if she could just jump out and float into space.

The Barghest sped across the expanse, shot like a cannonball from the Relay into the unknown. The connection was established upon activation, giving the asari the chance to lay claim to an untouched sector beyond Council space. While situated so dangerously close to the lawless Terminus systems, the promise of valuable resource and potential discoveries of civilizations was too tempting to pass up. Lunala was just one of a hundred expeditionary forces sent here, and alas, they all reported the same thing.

Nothing but barren worlds and empty asteroids, worthless husks that held false promises of eezo.

Then, just as Lunala felt herself drift away into a dreamless sleep, the annoying chirp of her notification popped and yanked her out of bed. "For fuck's sake!" The asari growled as she sat up. Her hand slapped on the screen, "What?"

"Captain, we've exited the Relay and have begun approach vector to the nearest planet's orbit-per your orders." The Barghest's pilot announced, "You'd better come down here. I know you've been feeling a little down about our findings lately, so I think this should make it all worth the effort. It's quite a view."

Lunala rubbed her eyes, "On my way." The asari captain slipped her boots on and walked out of her cabin, heading through the narrow corridor leading to the elevator that she may join the rest of her crew on the bridge. Already, the crew had begun scanning the planet's atmosphere, its terrain and potential capacity for sustaining sentient life. The latter, as always, was never found. But terrain scans yielded surprising results.

"Captain." A specialist by the name of Ysolda reported her findings, "There's a heavy blanket of isotope radiation that's throwing off preliminary scans, but I'm detecting structural readings."

Radiation? Like Tuchanka? "Possible evidence of intelligent life?"

"At this distance, it's hard to tell for sure." Ysolda replied, "I recommend a more hands-on approach, should the captain be eager to investigate."

Lunala smirked knowingly, that was just an excuse for the specialist to stretch her legs. "Recommendation noted. Can we handle the radiation?"

"Yes ma'am, our enviro-suits should be able to shield the ground team."

The captain's brow twitched, "I assume you want to volunteer for the mission?"

"Oh absolutely." Ysolda answered. There was excitement to be had for the find, after hurtling across the void for so long and coming back empty handed. The Barghest crew would become the first to discover another civilization, or even a trace of their existence. That, in itself, was a good score and something they'd be able to brag about for a long while upon returning to Council Space. "Do I have permission to lead?"

"Granted." The captain sighed, falling back on her chair. She wasn't getting her hopes up just yet, in fact she'd be happier once they've taken the samples and reported back to her superiors. "Have fun down there."

Ysolda went down to the airlock and got herself, and her team of three other specialists, suited up for the trip down to the alien world. The asari took a shuttle and separated from the Barghest to enter the cloudy skies thick with radioactive pockets that would easily kill any living thing exposed to its ill winds. The shuttle rattled, shuddered as the mild storm struck them from all around, adding to the tension of the moment. The specialists busied themselves with checking and rechecking their equipment for the mission, doing their best to ignore the warm welcome of the dead planet.

The shuttle, after breaking through the radioactive skies, made a smooth glide across the wasteland below. All the while, Ysolda's team scanned and took pictures from their Omni-tools to record every detail in their surroundings. From above, the view was vastly different, and being down here gave the asari a better clue as to what killed the world. The ruins dotting the sand dunes told of an ancient and technologically advanced civilization, from the toppled skyscrapers to the lowest rusty bungalow, Ysolda's mind filled itself with many questions, too many to answer all at once.

Then, she saw the gun batteries and military complexes. Half buried war machines sticking out of the sands like gravestones littered the streets and outskirts, lying just beside bleached skeletons of the planet's previous occupants.

"Set us down. I want to take a closer look." Ysolda told the pilot.

"Ground Team, report." Captain Lunala said on the comms, "What do you see?"

"Remains, captain, just remains." Ysolda replied, "We're heading down for a closer inspection. This won't take long." The shuttle went down gently, and the pilots secured their own hardsuits to allow the team to exit the shuttle without endangering them to exposure. The ground team exited, then set up shop while Ysolda went off to dig up a few of the skeletons sticking out of the dirt. Her fingers brushed at the sand obscuring the features of the skeleton, and revealed the remains to be that of a soldier of the bygone era. The specialist activated her helmet cam for the bridge to see, "Barghest, how's the view from upstairs?"

"We're receiving you, Ground Team." The captain said, "What are we looking at?"

"Humanoid remains, a combatant by the looks of it." Ysolda kept brushing until she recovered the dead soldier's weapon. Though the thing was heavily caked in dust, Ysolda realized that the thing hadn't collected rust, despite having components that registered as metal in her scanner! "Goddess! This thing's well preserved!" It was a remarkable little thing indeed, and the specialist rose up with the weapon in hand, turning it over to inspect it closely.

"Radiation should've done something to that by now, I agree with your amazement."

"I've studied geth weaponry." Ysolda thought out loud, noticing the similarity of the weapon's design with the rogue synthetic race of quarian androids. "But this looks way too sophisticated for categorizing it on their level!" There were curious little notches on the barrel, and the sleek craft of the rifle reminded Ysolda a little about the turian longrifle designs back home. She opened the chamber and found what resembled a thermal clip, only smaller and came in an ammunition belt.

"It's not just the gun, Specialist Ysolda!" One of her teammates called as she inspected a war machine that looked like a battle mech, one that looked like it took a massive artillery shot to the cockpit. "The material made to construct these things seems to be composed of something beyond anything we've discovered in Council Space, assuming that this species died out hundreds of years ago."

"No." Ysolda shook her head, "Judging from the rate of decomposition, I'd estimate it's been little more than half a century. Most materials should've degraded by then, but again, this is on a whole other level."

"Are they Protheans?"

Ysolda pursed her lips, removed the helm of the dead soldier and stared at the emblem etched on its face. She then glanced down at the grinning skull that stared back at her. "Negative, Barghest. I'd have seen their signature obelisks erected all around us by now. It's just another advanced civilization graveyard, just something for us to pick on for the scraps." Ysolda turned to her team, "Let's wrap this up. We've got a lot of ground to cover."

"Ground Team, we're detecting a fast moving object closing in on your location. Probably debris from the storm, but we can't know for sure. Do you have visual?"

Ysolda turned around and spotted a dot in the horizon. She zoomed in on her enhancers and recognized a military aircraft, a heavy bomber by the looks of it. "Affirmative, Barghest. It's a heavy bomber, please advise." The specialist was both alarmed and intrigued by the evidence of life, as opposed to what her scans of the planet said at first.

"Get clear, and attempt to establish radio contact. If this is First Contact for an unknown species, we're not to assume hostilities."

"Understood." Ysolda acknowledged, turning back to the shuttle with her team and the goods. "Let's get out of here."

Captain Lunala paced around the deck with her eyes glued to the screen of Ysolda's helmet cam. The Ground Team had moved out of the bomber's killzone, and began tailing it as they attempted again and again to provoke a favorable response. So far, there was nothing on the comm channel set up by the Specialist. Lunala studied the make of the bomber closely, noting that its design was to carry a heavier payload of ordnance rather than house a full complement of crew. "What's wrong, Ground Team?"

"We're getting nothing, I'm trying again." Ysolda replied, again calling on the attention of the bomber's pilots. "This is the Barghest crew of the Asari Dominion. We-

"Captain! Another unidentified craft has entered the hotzone!"

"Did you get that, Ground Team?" Captain Lunala asked, "Get clear, I think things are about to get interesting."

"Solid copy, Barghest. Breaking off pursuit and maintaining distance. Incoming aircraft in sight."

The bridge leaned forward as the helmet cam took in a smaller fighter craft, seemingly ignoring the shuttle as it made a beeline for the bomber.

"Detecting energy build up within the bomber!"

The larger aircraft's defense cannons atop the bomber's body swiveled into position and fired twice, tearing the fighter out of the skies to leave it to its errands. Then, the bomber unleashed its payload on the city below. The asari shuttle maintained an even greater distance as the bombs detonated on impact, sending a streak of sixteen little mushroom clouds that soon blanketed the whole city within minutes!

"What's it even trying to kill?" Lunala wondered out loud, "Ground Team, have you made certain that the city is uninhabited?"

"Negative, Barghest, we never got the chance. If there was anyone alive down there, they're not anymore." Ysolda's helmet cam zoomed in on the aftermath of the bombing run, and then to the bomber responsible for the act. "Thing just ignored us like we were a breeze. I'm thinking it's an unmanned aircraft."

"Then if it's unmanned..." Captain Lunala looked around the bridge for the communications specialist, "Could you trace the signal that could lead us to its ground base?"

"Way ahead of you, captain." The asari responded as her fingers tapped and danced across the screen of her console, "There, transmitting coordinates to the Ground Team."

"We're receiving you loud and clear, Barghest." Ysolda acknowledged, "We're heading out." The Ground Team Shuttle followed the coordinates relayed by the mothership to an isolated airbase hundreds of miles away from the bombed out city. Like the citadel, this airbase bore the scars of a hundred failed campaigns to wipe it out. Huge facilities shaped like cornstalks told of long dead shield emitters, and hangar bays torn apart spoke of bays capable of launching hundreds of attack drones to intercept unwelcome guests in the event of an invasion.

Now, just like everything else, they were all dead. Which begged the question; who was manning the bomber?

The asari armed themselves as they prepared to delve deeper into the military complex to investigate the origins of the contenders of this devastating war that ultimately killed their world. Ysolda's curiosity needed sating, she wasn't about to stop now. The asari specialist beckoned for her sisters to follow, and they exited the shuttle to enter the hangar grounds.

"Goddess, look at the size of those things!" One asari exclaimed, gaping at the derelict battlecruiser that had crashlanded onto the tarmac. Assault vehicles had swarmed the fallen ship, and like an old grainy photograph come to life, the final actions of the contenders were permanently frozen in time. Watching their corpses locked in the epic struggle for survival, a deep feeling of unease settled over the minds of the witnesses, and Ysolda imagined their ghosts damned to fight that war in the afterlife without end.

"Poor bastards." Ysolda sighed.

"Specialist Ysolda, look! The bomber's coming back!"

She turned around and watched the aircraft descend from the clouds like a bird of prey come to roost, "Get clear, it's about to land!" The asari dispersed, allowing the bomber to touch down and turn in to be refueled. The war machine drove itself into the base, which doors opened upon sensing its bomber returning from a successful run. The asari moved in before the doors could shut them out, opting to find a way out later once they've attained their answers. The Ground Team walked up just as the mechanical tendrils snaked up into open sockets to deliver precious fuel into its tanks, and gears shifted and spun to load the warheads and ammunition cartridges into their respected compartments.

Ysolda lit up her flashlight and examined the outer decal of the bomber. A titillating half-faded image of a naked woman riding a bomb came into view, and Ysolda marveled at the victory marks painted alongside it. There were fifty marks, probably signifying successful kills or missions. The bomber was piloted by a veteran, that much was certain.

Ysolda's eyes studied the painting even closer, stopping to hear her superior joke at her actions.

"Quite a view, huh?"

"To be clear, I'm merely studying the physiology of the alien species of this planet, seeing as how the only other evidence would be some dusty skeletons." Ysolda snapped. She turned back to the painting, "Humanoid basic skeletal structure, five-digit fingers and relatively straight lower extremities." The Specialist squinted at what seemed to be horns growing out of the woman's head, curling back to compliment her long flowing hair. She also noted that on prominent areas of her shoulders, chest and thighs, there were visible patches of scales- easily mistaken for smeared paint to the naked eye. "Scales? Evidence of evolving from reptiles or amphibians?"

"Or it's just the artist's expression."

"In any case, I'm going to attempt to enter the bomber for a quick look. Someone cover me." Ysolda looked around for an opening hatch, and soon found one. Just one, nowhere else, and it was located under the bomber's carriage. The Specialist yanked at the handle until the hatch blew open, allowing her entry into the bomber's cockpit.

What she found terrified her as the blinking lights suddenly flared up once they've detected the presence of the asari, revealing another corpse sitting on the pilot's chair! "Gah! Oh my goddess!" Ysolda shook her head upon realizing that she'd embarrassed herself in front of the camera, "Excuse me, captain." The asari climbed onto the chair and looked the pilot over. Its suit was still in remarkably good condition, but the corpse within it had decomposed completely, leaving an ashen skeleton to glare at the intruder.

Ysolda studied the less prominent horns poking out of the skull's temples, and concluded her search- this species had evolved from reptiles, much like the krogan and a little like the humans. She looked around the cockpit, saw the flickering lights on the consoles and sighed, "Captain, there's definitely nobody alive down here. The VI of this bomber's just carrying out the echoes of the orders of its long dead masters. We're wrapping up our search and returning home, there's nothing more to see here."

"Copy that, Ground Team. See you soon."

"Sad way to go, huh?" Her fellow researcher said as the Ground Team prepared to leave the base, "To reach the pinnacle of your era's development in a thousand years, only to have it all fade away by a few hundred years of war."

"A pity they died out before they met the Council." Ysolda agreed, "We could've enlightened them to become so much more."

"Like the salarians with the krogan?" Captain Lunala joined in, giving voice to her disagreement. "Nah, not a chance. For a violent species as this, I'm happy they killed each other off. We don't need that kind of trouble back home."

The light of the shuttle tearing its way out of the dead world's skies blinked in the darkness of space as it sped away to meet up with the Barghest. They were only half right, for the world they visited was only one of hundreds dotting the Uncharted Traverse. And those other worlds held more life than they could comprehend.

The scanners on the asari vessel picked up traces of the unknown vessels moving through the void of space, then like vapor, vanished from all sensors. Unseen, but there, the alien vessels surrounded the asari expedition ship...

And without warning, fired upon the hapless Barghest.

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