July 5th, 2192

Scott, Terra Nova, Asgard System, Exodus Cluster, Earth Systems Alliance Space

On the garden world known as Terra Nova, in its capital of Scott, was a rather tall building with a vantage point of the entire city and the horizon itself. It was tall, probably 120 meters tall and on the roof sat a man, smoking on a blunt very calmly and a Quarian woman, her face mask off and her hood down, allowing herself to soak in the true beauty of the view and the warmth of the sun on her alien skin, her silver eyes softly reflecting it off. She turned to the man as he watched the horizon, taking in the sheer beauty of it all. "Humphrey, you seriously can't be considering-" She silenced herself as he raised a finger, a simple motion telling her to hush. He took in another smoke of his blunt and then looked at the Quarian calmly.

"Loni, we don't really have any other choice. From the reports I'm getting from the edges of Citadel Space and the Terminus Systems, it seems like something big is going to happen. Something worse than the reapers. Something that won't be as easily defeated." Humphrey shook his head, took in one last smoke, and then threw his blunt away. "He is simply the best choice we got."

"But he's been retired for six years. And he made a promise with his wife, both agreeing to never fight in the military ever again." Her german accent was showing signs of irritation as Loni sighed in exasperation. "How are we going to convince him to join us? We can't exactly force him."

"You're right, dear. We can't." The man looked at Loni, his green eyes taking in the quarian lovingly. "All we can do is simply talk to him and see if he would do it. After all, he is the hero we need. The hero the Galaxy needs. We can give him just enough info to make him think. The rest is up to him." Humphrey stood up from his chair and took Loni's hands in his and staring deeply into her eyes. "If it makes the Galaxy safe for you, then it'll be worth doing everything I can."

"I know, but-"

"Also he owes us." He paused as his wife stared at him in confusion.

"What?" She raised a brow.

"Remember when his wife had cancer?"

"Yeah, it was news all over the extranet for days and you couldn't go anywhere without people praying for her wellness." She stared deeply into her husband's face, trying to read his expression. "Why?"

"We were the ones who not only paid for her surgery and recovery. We were the ones who did the surgery, found the tumor very early and warned her only a few days after she got it." Humphrey smirked as his wife's mouth formed an 'O' in surprise. "Once her finds that out, he'll have an incentive as he'll want to repay his and his wife's debt to us."

"Always the brilliant bosh'tet, aren't you?" She gave him a peck on the lips. She tasted of cherry, relatively normal for quarians, he heard. Humphrey smirked and shrugged his shoulders

"I try. Now c'mon, let's go inside. I'll try to contact him soon."


July 9th, 2192

Pamyat System, Hades Nexus, Attican Traverse

Admiral Tertius Florilin, captain of the dreadnaught THS Indomitable and leader of a rather large turian fleet, sighed in exasperation. His fleet had been sent here to investigate the recent disappearances of trade vessels in the Traverse. The council had determined that something was up and ordered him here. He clicked his mandibles. It's probably nothing but pirates, a normal danger in the traverse, considering it bordered the dangerous Terminus System. It didn't need this big of a retaliation. He turned to his lieutenant, a young female by the name of Allia Elvonis, expecting some news. "Anything on the scanners, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing except the planets and any rogue asteroids, sir." She watched the window suspiciously. "It's quiet sir...too quiet. Something's up."

"It's probably pirates, Allia. Not really much else." He growled a little. "We could be home, continuing to rebuild in the aftermath of the spirits damned Reaper War." All opened her mouth but Florilin cut her off. "Yes, I know that everything is practically rebuilt by now but there are still some places that are in need of help. Every person is needed in those. Sadly, it seems Councillors Korris and Oracle are too stubborn to see the big picture." He was, of course, speaking of the Quarian and Geth Councillors. Zaal'Koris had been a hero for the Quarian Civilians in their reclamation of Rannoch, convincing them that making a run for it was far, far too risky and keeping them as safe as he could. He had also proven himself to be one of the best soldiers and councillors in Galactic history. Same could be said for Oracle, who was the first Geth to officially welcome the Quarians home to Rannoch. They also had the support of the Human Councillor Steven Hackett, who was truly the most influential figure in the council right now. Spirits, since when did Humanity decide what was best for the galaxy?

"To be fair to the two of them," Allia began, "This system is close to the veil. Better safe than sorry, right?" That caused the admiral to sigh somberly.

"Yes, All. I know. It's just-" A sudden alarm cut him off and he stared off to his pilots. "What's going on?!"

"Something is coming into signal range, sir!" One of the pilots said. "It's large!"

"Well, get every possible gun trained on it."

"Right away!" Just when things seemed to be getting boring. A few minutes wait yielded what the 'something' that was coming into range was. It was indeed massive. Much larger than any ship the council, the terminus systems, and hell, even the reapers had. It was likely 8 kilometers in length and it was triangular with two pairs of wings going forward and backward. It was quite menacing to say the least. The admiral steeled his nerves and began to speak.

"Unidentified ship, you are in citadel space! Disable your engines and allow us to board you. We promise you that no harm will come to your crew if you surrender peacefully." Silence followed his order and for a brief few seconds, Florilin believed that a battle wouldn't happen. That was dashed as, seconds later, several orange beams trailed out from the unidentified ship and hit several ships in his fleet. All of the ships exploded upon being hit by the beam, causing the Indomitable to shake from the shockwaves. 'Spirits, what have I gotten us into?' he thought was somber. He had a slight feeling that no one was getting out of this alive.

"Sir, that was half the fleet! Orders?!"

"Blast them to hell! I want that ship destroyed! For anyone on communications, see if you can't send out a distress signal! We need all available aid now!" The admiral barked and the turian fleet, or rather what remained of it, opened fire, hitting the vessel in front of them with everything they got. All their shots hit the ship and exploded on impact and for a few brief seconds, Florilin thought that the hostile vessel had been dealt with. That was, until, the ship floated into view, not even a single scratch on its shields.

"Primus!" He heard Allia gasp beside him. "That was a full barrage from the fleet! Nothing in this galaxy could've survived something like that."

That was the understatement. Not even a reaper could survive such damage and considering that the galaxy was upgrading using reaper technology, it would've been even more impossible. However, the ship was right there, without even a dent. "Sire, its cannons are starting up." An engineer warned and Florilin only had one thing on his mind now : Run!

"Order all crew members into escape pods for every ship! Now!" As the ship fired, he could only hope the message was sent out. He knew that the fleet would be destroyed now. He could only one of his own could make it out to tell the tale and warn the galaxy as the dreadnought was hit full blast on the bridge by the unidentified craft's cannon.


In the year 2186, the Galaxy fought the largest war it had even seen against the Reapers, an ancient synthetic race bent on the destruction of all organic life. It had been won, but a high cost, with billions dead and sextillions of credits in damage.

It has been six years since then and the galaxy faces a threat no one has ever known and no one could even imagine and the man who saved the Galaxy thrice before, Commander John Shepard of the Systems Alliance, has been missing from public life.

He is the Galaxy's only hope and he doesn't know it.