There you go, muse. Will you stop nagging me now?

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Cycle

The primitives of this cycle – several humans and an overly enthusiastic asari he remembered seeing shortly after waking up – stood near Javik as he knelt on the floor. Their weapons looked hopelessly outdated. A proud warrior like him could never allow himself to be seen holding such a flimsy contraption. Still, the weapons did look capable of producing mass effect powered rounds, and were pointed at his head and chest so he kept perfectly still, avoiding eye contact.

Death would not be a good start to his path of vengeance.

The leader of the humans… The Commander, did her subordinates call her? She looked like a person worthy of following while he carved his path. Images of her many deeds flashed through his mind while they were connected mentally. Some of them looked impossible for a former cave dweller to achieve, but the commander's biological marker could not lie. Truly, her fight against the Reapers matched the efforts of Akros, one of the last living avatars of Defiance during his cycle.

His cycle.

Javik had to fight a mournful sigh that threatened to escape his mouth. Fifty thousand years had passed in a moment. The glory of his people was lost forever. The cave dwellers, lizard people (or were they frog people?), bird people, puppets—No, he stopped himself. Humans. Salarians. Turians. Asari. He would have to remember to use the real names of their species. They ruled the galaxy now.

The asari had filled him in on this while they were waiting for the commander to arrive. Apparently, the Citadel, the heart of the galaxy was still untouched despite the arrival of the Reapers. The primitives were still using it as the seat of their power. It was puzzling. Weren't the Reapers supposed to conquer the Citadel first and then spread through the network of relays, reaching the fringes of the galaxy? This war was different. From what he could gather, the Enemy arrived to the remote system known as Bahak and tried to reach the Citadel from there. It made absolutely no sense. Their magnificent Empire was thrown to its knees in a moment and left with centuries of futile struggle, while the primitives were allowed to strike back and actually fight? How could this happen?

He glanced at the asari at his side, struggling with the temptation to ask her. Following his inner voice of reason, he decided against it. The blue-skinned female (or was she really a female?) tended to prattle on and on whenever her mouth opened. It was obvious she fancied herself to be an expert on his people. Javik felt the urge to chuckle when he thought about it, despite his current position.

She knew nothing. Absolutely nothing. She was dense. All primitives were dense. How could have his people ever thought they were suitable to be subservient races to their Empire? Standing—well, kneeling on the floor of the wreck they called a spaceship - Javik honestly couldn't say.

"Are you comfortable?" the asari asked.

He was on his knees, with weapons trained on him, stuck on a ship full of unfamiliar scents and DNA traces threatening to drive him crazy and he was supposed to be comfortable? Javik didn't bother to answer.

"I tried to accommodate the room to what Protheans like," she continued. Why couldn't she keep quiet? Wasn't it obvious he hated this room and everyone in it?

Javik allowed himself a deep breath. The previous occupant of this room was a krogan, and quite an angry one. In his current weakened state, the traces left by the krogan were starting to affect him. It took all of his willpower to regain control.

The asari opened her mouth again, and Javik braced himself for another remark or a question. She really didn't know when to quit. Luckily, the door to the room hissed and slid open in the next moment, revealing the human commander he had met earlier.

"Shepard!" the asari called. So that was the commander's name. Not that he cared. "I tried to send the guards away, but they wouldn't budge."

"Damn old first contact protocols," one of the guards shrugged. "'Assume hostility.' Couldn't do anything until you arrived, ma'am."

The commander shook her head, as if she was in disbelief. With a waving motion of her hand she sent the guards away. "I don't think our guest will be a problem."

The guards obeyed and exited the room immediately. Javik slowly rose to his feet. The commander stood directly in front of him. She had red hair and green eyes, he noted.

The last time he saw humans, Javik realized suddenly, they had hair all over their body. Now it was limited to the top of their heads. Evolution worked in strange ways.

"I'm sorry about that," the commander said. Her voice sounded sincere. "The first time we've met another species things didn't end well. Ever since we've been careful when meeting new friends." She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing. "Are you a friend?"

He was pleased to hear her ask that. She wasn't easy to trust a stranger. The memories of fighting the Reapers he had seen earlier had already made him respect her somewhat. It was possible he could even like her.

This didn't answer her question, however. Carefully, Javik began to speak. "I am here to help you fight the Reapers. That should be your main concern, Commander, not making friends."

One of the commander's eyebrows arched, and she cast a discreet but unmistakable glance in the asari's direction. He did the same with the upper pair of his eyes while keeping the lower one fixed on the commander, and noticed that the asari's cheeks were tinted darker blue.

The primitives had such a confusing body language.

"Well, I believe you won't start shooting at us, or tossing us around with your biotics. Am I right?" The commander sounded… amused. Javik couldn't possibly understand what was amusing her. Hadn't the Reapers arrived? Shouldn't she focus on survival only?

"We cannot fight among ourselves if we hope to defeat the Reapers," Javik replied seriously. "It brought our Empire to its knees. This cycle cannot repeat the same mistake."

"It's already happening," the asari muttered under her breath, but Javik's sharp sense of hearing caught it. Even in the presence of her commander, the asari couldn't keep respectfully silent?

It was pathetic, but what she said intrigued him. "This cycle is having trouble with traitors, too?"

"Yes," the commander nodded. "Cerberus. They are an organization supporting human supremacy. They believe they could gain control of Reaper technology and use it to improve humanity."

It was now Javik's turn to shake his head in disbelief. "The Reapers cannot be controlled. The only way to win the war against them is to destroy them. They are foolish to think otherwise. You can count on my help in destroying them, too, commander."

He wanted to add how this cycle was careless to allow traitors to exist, but something stopped him. The same thing happened in his cycle. The power of indoctrination was too strong. And if their glorious Empire could fall prey to it, was it really surprising the primitives did, too?

"Good enough for me." The commander sighed as she spoke. One of her hands moved a little, as if she tried to extend it towards him, but she kept it at her side in the end. Apparently, she remembered what happened when she tried to initiate a handshake last time. "Welcome to the crew, Javik."

He simply nodded in reply. It was unlikely he would ever again feel like part of a ship's crew, but at least he had a place to stay while he carried his mission of vengeance.

"Now that the formalities are settled", the commander spoke again, "I'd like to know more about what you did to me down on Eden Prime. When I saw your memories. You said you had access to mine, too?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "That is how I learned your language so fast."

"But what is it?" the asari interjected. She was really annoying. "How does it work?"

"It is something natural to my race," Javik explained. "We can read your DNA like you breathe the air around you. Everything you do, say or think leaves a mark in your genetic code. We can read it and learn from it."

"We have a similar ability," the asari said with a thoughtful expression on her face. "That is how we breed – we explore the genetic memory of our partners and adapt our DNA to create new life."

Javik chuckled before he could stop himself. "Did your race evolve so little in the past fifty thousand years, asari? I expected more."

The asari took a step back, with shock clearly visible on her face.

"What is the problem, asari?" he continued. "The last time I saw your species, you were using your mental ability to procreate. Nothing new there. Every species should evolve and grow, and you failed to do th—"

"Hey!" the commander yelled. Javik turned his attention to her. "I get it that you're not here to make friends, but you will respect my crew. Understand?"

"Yes, commander," he replied, although he didn't really understand. The force of evolution, and its merciless laws, was the foundation of the Prothean Empire. It wasn't disrespectful to judge a species based on it, but this was the commander's ship, and she got to make the rules. That, he could understand.

It was going to be tough to be under someone else's command again, Javik realized suddenly. Still, he would try his best. Squad cohesion was important in warfare, and if that meant he had to be a subordinate, then so be it.

The asari bowed her head low, and her cheeks were darker again.

"It looks like your species is quite different from what we thought we know," the commander remarked, but Javik wasn't looking at her. His gaze was still fixed on the asari. Was that shame he saw? "Even Liara," she motioned at the asari, "who is the best Prothean expert we have is surprised. Why don't you tell us more about your Empire? It could help us avoid future misunderstandings."

Javik didn't really see the point of doing so, but if it would help him shut this annoying "Liara" asari up, then he would oblige. He answered all their questions, and there were a lot of them, not paying attention to their surprise or shock any longer.

When they finally left his room and he was alone with his thoughts, he felt relief. His body and mind were tired and exhausted from the shock of waking up in another cycle. He sank on the rug that the asari so thoughtfully provided and started to drift away.

Before he lost awareness completely, the image of a bloody knife appeared in his mind. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it belonged to him and that it had caused him pain. He didn't get to remember anything else before sleep overtook him completely.

There was a Prothean in the room below her. A living, breathing (Living! Breathing!) Prothean. Liara could barely hold in her excitement. It didn't matter that he wasn't what she expected. He was a real Prothean.

Ever since she got back in the solitary safety of her office, Liara had a huge, silly grin on her face. There were no mirrors around, but she was sure she had it. Her cheeks hurt.

It was a dream come true.

The voice of her drone assistant snapped her back to reality. "Agent Sentik is on hold for five minutes with his report, Dr. T'Soni."

"Thank you, Glyph," she replied and took the call. She finished the talk with the salarian contact much faster than she would usually. It was hard to focus on information brokering when she had a living, breathing Prothean below her!

Liara sighed and rubbed her face. This was getting ridiculous. Her network could live without her for a few hours. It was late, anyway. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get some sleep.

As she walked to her bed in the back of her quarters, Liara realized that sleep was going to be a futile effort. Not with all information she got in the past hour that just begged to be processed.

"Glyph, transfer my early works on the Protheans to my omni-tool."

"Yes, Doctor."

She could at least do something productive instead of staring at the ceiling while she lay.

As she pored over her old notes and dissertations, and compared them to the information provided by Javik, she felt a slight discomfort. It crept up on her slowly but surely.

How could I be so wrong?

According to her research, ancient asari had a lot in common with Protheans. And yet, nothing Javik had said seemed to fit in that picture. The rule of their empire was harsh and merciless. They didn't have a Council, or any other form of unified government. The Protheans were on top, destroying anyone who dared to oppose them. They valued war as the only instrument of evolution and the only tool of solving problems. The asari were the exact opposite.

It was puzzling.

Was she really that wrong about the Protheans or were the asari—

No. That was impossible. Her species was on top of the current galactic order, but they played nice. Thessia was the heart of the galactic civilization along with the Citadel. The entire asari culture was a shining example of what peace and unity could do. They might have had similarities with the Protheans in the past, but their cultures took different paths. It had happened before, to various species and cultures. As a former archeologist, she should know it best.

Liara shrugged and returned to her notes. The day cycle on the Normandy found her still busy with the data she got from Javik.