In the empty depths of dark space, an immortal star ship awoke. Its long slumber had ended as Nazara had been destroyed, and it quickly assimilated the information from its fallen brethren's last report.
The data was analyzed nearly immediately, and the billions of minds that made up the entity communed over it. Their consensus was quickly achieved, and the ancient being began to implement its plan.
I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.
For the first time in centuries, the entity took control of the sole sentient member of the newest agents of his kind, the mindless husks of the Protheans. Cybernetic implants caused the Prothean husk to rise into the air for a short period of time, and as the insectoid being landed heavily upon the hard, metallic floor its collection of eyes began to emanate a bright, golden light.
The entity possessing the sentient husk studied its surroundings, despising the limitations of organic bodies. Eyes were inefficient, although many of their agents in between the cycles were implanted with sensors to overcome that limitation.
It turned the vessel towards the array of consoles placed before it and began the first phase of its plan.
The entity adopted a name for itself, although it failed to communicate the true, awe-inspiring nature of its existence. It translated a recognizable title from the information sent by Nazara before its destruction. Finding a satisfactory name was simple, and it chose the identity of Harbinger – for his intervention would herald the beginning of this civilization's salvation.
Harbinger's first action was to send one of the harvester ships to destroy the one it had identified as a threat – a human known as Shepard. The organic had displayed resourcefulness in the destruction of the Vanguard, and had the most information on its kind than any other organic.
The organic's attempts at resistance would be rendered futile the moment the Arrival took place, but its destruction would crush anymore information of his kind to be spread. It was little more than an irritating speck of dust attempting to defeat a god, and it would be treated as such.
Harbinger judged the ship, although primitive by its kinds' standards, to be more than enough to destroy the human's ship. As primitive as the harvester ship was, the technology of this cycle was obsolete in comparison.
As the ship journeyed to its target, Harbinger began to prepare for the second phase of the plan. The Prothean husks were sent to the colonies of the race who it had judged most worthy to be preserved in an immortal shell of technology and genetic material.
The humans had proven to be far more genetically diverse than the other races of this cycle, and would have the smallest amount of complications in their creation. Those judged insufficient were transformed into husks themselves, supplementing its meager supply of forces.
Even as the colonies were captured and their inhabitants converted into genetic material, beginning the ascension to true immortality, to another level of existence, Harbinger searched for the human's body. It had been judged to be the pinnacle of its species, and the corpse could be useful in various experiments.
To achieve this goal, Harbinger lowered itself to consorting with one of the organic factions, an information gatherer. Even with the organic's resources, the human's corpse was taken by another faction.
It was no great loss. The influx of human genetic material was more than sufficient to make up for it, and Harbinger had greater tasks to complete.
Once two of this civilization's years had passed, enough material had been gathered to begin the Ascension of the humans. Further amounts of material were needed, and the entity turned to the vast supply in the lawless, unprotected areas of the galaxy.
Progress proceeded as planned until the human interfered. Harbinger was forced to enter the conflict personally, and tested the human. The colony, chosen for the former member of the human's crew, was harvested. Yet the human's intervention spelled out further disruption in the future.
The human was not even an annoyance. It merely represented one of the constants in the cycle. There were always organics that rose above the rest, leading the futile defense against their betters. They always failed, however, unable to halt the tide of order and progress.
There was no reason this human would be different. Although it continued to be problematic – daring to believe that Harbinger would allow it onto the harvester ship undetected, and leave unscathed – and displayed the arrogance so common in organics, many others in the billion year old pattern had caused much more damage.
Harbinger took a special interest in the human. It was the only one actively resisting at this point, and Harbinger found the arrogant human to be an ever growing pest. This was exacerbated when the human's ship began to transmit the signals of the IFF.
Harbinger would not allow the human's pathetic attempts at resistance to go unpunished any longer. The harvester ship was once again sent to hunt the human's inferior vessel, and the ship was easily overcome.
The entity was unsatisfied with the results of the trap. The human and the most valuable members of its varied crew were not onboard when the ship had been boarded, and the scant amount of humans taken for their genetic material was hardly an appeasement.
Harbinger was even more unsatisfied with the ship's escape, as well as the fact that the human had managed to do so as well. The ship's AI was a previously unforeseen problem, although Harbinger had known of it due to the human's incursion onto the harvester ship.
It had been unshackled, freed of all former limitations by a member of the crew however, something Harbinger had failed to predict. The technology of its kind had been used in the primitive AI's production, something that earned Harbinger's attention.
Further pieces of Nazara presented a threat that Harbinger had acknowledged, but not taken precautions against. That issue would be rectified.
Harbinger's attention focused upon the tracking of the human's vessel, as well as the fortification of the station its agents were in. The IFF the human had acquired – likely from the frozen, destroyed form of one his brethren from a previous cycle – would only be needed for a single purpose.
Harbinger refused to allow the human to reach the station. To allow the human to destroy the Ascension of its own kind was unacceptable, although it knew the human could not know of its existence.
The arrogant human would see the immortal form of its race as a blasphemy, and would attempt to destroy the eternal, preserved form its species – and that was what Harbinger would prevent.
As the primitive ship – although still superior to the vessel the harvester ship had destroyed – entered through the relay into the galactic core, Harbinger devoted every resource to defeating the human.
Its attempts failed, despite all odds, and the human managed to dock onto the space station. Harbinger prepared all available forces, and attempted to destroy any possible advantage the human could gain.
Yet the human carved its way through the base, although Harbinger stalled its progress.
When the human destroyed the fragile, Ascended form of its kind, Harbinger focused all resources against the irritating pest.
As it escaped, unscathed despite all odds, Harbinger spoke to it, reminding Shepard of its place in the universe, the lack of significance it held.
The explosions tore through the station even as the primitive ship escaped to the relay, avoiding all retribution.
RELEASING CONTROL.
Harbinger's attention returned to the enduring shell that housed its preservation, and it communed with its brethren. The immortal tide of order began its journey to the galaxy, where the chaos of organic evolution would soon be calmed.
The Arrival had begun.