Author notes: FUCK DISCLAIMERS!

Prologue Part 1: The Giant Awakens

Surprisingly, not pain.

In fact, the sensation was closer to coziness than anything else. It felt… nice.

When Shepard opened his eyes, and the blurriness faded, he'd honestly expected to find himself in the Normandy's Medbay. Based on the view through the window in his room, and the fact there was a window to begin with, he was somewhere else. He turned his head, and saw something he'd been hoping for. Tali was slumped in a padded chair, her head resting against her chest, and she was breathing softly in her sleep.

Shepard debated about waking her, but decided against it. Instead, he sat up in his bed and tried to dredge up the memories of what had happened on the Citadel.

He remembered Saren, or more specifically, he remembered killing him. Shepard cringed slightly. The memories Saren had sent to him in the last moment of his life came to the forefront of his mind unbidden. But rather than push them away, he analyzed them, turning them over and inspecting them like some sort of unusual gemstone.

'Know thy enemy.' he thought grimly.

What Shepard saw surprised him. As expected, there was anger and hate, both for Humanity in general, and for the Council for capitulating to them during the Contact War and after. But what he wasn't expecting was the why.

'Tristana.' That was her name. That was… her blood. They were friends. Squad mates. They'd gone through boot camp together; they'd even been assigned to the same Cabal. 'Sure, it's under my brother, but Aurum isn't such a bad guy.' That was Saren's voice. 'Spirits, he's a biotic, just like us. He needs to be the best to advance through the Cabals. He's got the skills, and more than enough determination. You'll see.'

Then, Shepard saw it. The moment. The suit. That domed, metallic, silver-red suit. The cackling laugh from the occupant, the cackling from his voice matching the crackling from his weapon. Cackling, cackling, cackling! From that… monster!

'Lightning?! Spirits cursed lightning?! How is that possible?' This-this… thing was hurling around bolts of brilliant obliteration like toys. Walls, armor, shields, biotic barriers: nothing could stop them. When they first saw the lone soldier in its' odd armor, they'd laughed and taken bets on how many shots they would need to bring it down.

They weren't laughing anymore. The other two squads were gone. Some were charred husks, their bodies burnt beyond recognition in an instant. The lucky ones were simply limp and still, their eyes unseeing. One poor bastard was even burning, his armor having been turned to molten slag around his body. His screams hadn't lasted long, but they'd been horrendous, like the wails of a dying world. And the damn thing frying the Turian soldiers, frying his friends… it laughed! It heard the screams, tasted the fear, smelled the burning flesh and boiling blood, and it laughed! Every death, every murder, brought new cries of pleasure and ecstasy to its voice. It was enjoying this-this… slaughter! 'What kind of unholy fiend is this?!'

'Saren?' called Tristana weakly, taking cover behind a broken wall. 'Spirits, I-I'm… I'm so sc-c-cared, Saren.' She was panting, almost hyperventilating, and her entire body was trembling. 'I don't wanna d-die! Spirits, I j-just wanna go ho-'

Then it hit. Another bolt of destruction and death arced around the corner where Tristana was sheltered, and it slammed into her body. It passed through her barrier, and for a moment, she jerked. She jolted and convulsed, but suddenly stopped, and for a single instant, there was hope. Maybe she'd be different than the rest. 'Please. Spirits please: let her be different.'

She was. Before he could blink, Saren was coated, from head to toe, in what used to be one of his closest friends. They'd never been romantic: even without the regulations against it, they weren't meant for each other, not like that. But she still had her charms. Her laugh when she managed to win another foot-race against her taller, male squad mates, despite her height disadvantage. Her anger whenever she needed to practice for her marksmanship exams. She never did like using a gun. She always preferred her biotics, even though most Turians distrusted the Cabals. Her curiosity with how her biotics worked. She was almost like a Salarian in that regard, always looking for more information, more knowledge. And now…

Saren felt his last meal rise in his throat, before it came spewing out. It covered his boots and lower legs, and soon after, another spasm ripped through his body and he heaved again. Through blurry eyes and cold, numb shock, Saren heard the thing cackle again, and was distantly aware of one of his squad mates, Ignavia, fleeing for all she was worth, her friends forgotten in her haste to escape. Saren couldn't blame her. Though he couldn't see its' eyes, he was certain that the thing was looking at him, deciding how best to kill him. Saren's legs wouldn't move; it was like he was riveted to the spot. Just as the thing was about to finish its' work, an armored blur came rushing out of the rubble, and slammed into it with biotically charged fury.

'SAREN! RUN!' screamed Aurum. Aurum was his older brother, but more than that, he was his military superior, his commanding officer. As Aurum rammed his fist into the thing's armor once more, Saren found himself obeying the order instinctually, and he scrambled over the debris towards safety. But a scream of pain from his older brother brought him up short, and he wheeled around. The silver-red monster was on its' feet, and it closed on Aurum's limp from with malicious intent. It hauled the crippled Turian biotic to his knees, and the action elicited another scream of pain.

Then, the thing did something Saren hadn't observed it doing before. It spoke, but this time, its' voice held no mirth. It was murderous, and icy, and even though Saren couldn't understand what it said, it made his blood run cold.

'Pray to whatever god you believe in, you metal freak, because you're about to meet 'im.'

Then the screaming started. Saren realized that Aurum hadn't been screaming before. Those had been surprised yelps, or grunts, or groans. The noise Aurum was making now was a scream, and it made Saren's heart and soul wail in sympathy. It got louder, and more frantic, and in that instant, Saren began moving again. He couldn't stay. He couldn't watch. He couldn't listen. He could only run.

'I'm so sorry, brother.' he muttered repeatedly, his mind wracked by sorrow and despair and grief. 'Spirits forgive me, I'm so sorry.'

As the memory ended, Shepard felt bile rise in his throat, and he struggled to choke it back down. 'Christ almighty. His entire squad, then his own damn brother. No wonder he hated Humans; a seventeen year old kid seeing something like that. No one deserves that.' Shepard swallowed bile again, then glance back over at Tali. She was still asleep.

Shepard tried to dredge up the memories of what happened after Saren. When he did, the reality of what had happened came crashing down like a burning building.

'There's no fucking way that happened!' he mused with a vigorous shake of his head. 'Using MC on a Reaper?! That's fucking impossible! …isn't it?' He considered the question for a moment, and then came to a conclusion. 'I couldn't beat it; I couldn't control it. It took everything I had, and I was like a child fighting a Krogan. I barely managed to injure the fucking thing, and if things had gone on any longer, my mind would've imploded. Let's never do that again.'

Then, a second question occurred to him. 'How the hell did I manage even that much? There were millions of minds in that thing. A whole damn city's worth. I can't control that many at…'

Yuri's voice seemed to ring in his mind. 'If your powers continue to grow as they have been, you may eventually be capable of seizing control of an entire city by yourself.'

"A whole damn city's worth." he muttered. Tali stirred slightly in her sleep, but settled down after a moment. 'But how did I gain that much power, that quickly. I didn't train with Yuri between Virmire and Ilos. Hell, I hardly said a word to him after I used the bea…' "THE BEACON!" blurted Shepard. Tali awoke with a start, and half leapt out of her chair before tumbling to the ground with a groan.

"I see you've still got the grace and flexibility of a lioness, Tali." quipped Shepard, reaching a hand down from his bed to help her up. "Keep it up, and you may qualify for the Olympics."

She swatted his hand away and rose with a grumble, but she only got half-way to her feet before reality hit her. When it did, she lunged at him and wrapped him in a fierce hug, before breaking into tears.

"You're awake." she sobbed, stroking his hair. "You're awake, you're awake, you're awake…" She chanted it like a mantra, rocking back and forth against him, still stroking his hair.

"Tali… I'm sorry for worrying you." he replied, returning the embrace awkwardly from where he sat. "I didn't look before I leapt."

"Bosh'tet." she replied, pulling back and kissing him. "I thought we talked about that."

"Well… you know how stubborn I can be." he replied, kissing her again. "Maybe I need a… reminder…" He trailed off, and winked at her.

She snorted lightly, and pulled back. "Awake for five minutes, and you're already horny. I'll tell you what, Commander: until you brush your teeth and take a shower, I won't be getting much closer than this."

Shepard opened his mouth to protest, but then remembered the bile. "Tali… what happened?"

Her face fell, and her tone became somber. "Liara and I went down to check on Saren's body." she replied. "He had some sort of cybernetic enhancements, and I think the Reaper took control of his corpse. We had to blow it to pieces to stop it. Afterwards, the Alliance fleet destroyed Sovereign, but… a piece of the debris hit the Tower." Her voice filled with guilt as she continued. "It almost crushed us. I tried to get you away from it, but you were unconscious, and I was injured, and-"

Shepard cut her off with a finger to her lips. "Tali, it wasn't your fault. I was unconscious… well, let's just say I did something really stupid, and it bit me in the ass. And did you say you were injured?"

"It was a flesh wound I got from Saren… what was left of him, anyways." she protested. "I healed up after four days. You've been out for two weeks. What happened to you?"

Shepard let out a sigh. "Poor bastard." he muttered. When he saw the look of confusion on Tali's face, he explained. "Tali… I want to share something with you. Just before Saren died… before I killed him… he showed me something. He gave me… memories. Lots of them. I'm still sorting through them, but… just watch, OK?"

She nodded. "Alright. Show me."

Shepard focused his mind, and transferred the memory of Saren over to Tali. It took less than an instant, but she gasped after it was finished. "I had no idea…" she murmured, clearly disturbed. "Seeing your bother die like that… I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even him."

"Tali… Saren wasn't always evil. He was just as much a victim of the Reapers as anyone else. Despite everything he did… despite what he did to Kaidan… I can't bring myself to hate him."

She nodded after a moment. "I guess. If they were controlling him, then it wasn't entirely his fault."

"Now… to answer your second question. I… fought Sovereign. With my mind."

"But-"

"Let me finish." Shepard sighed heavily, and then lay back down on his bed. "Sovereign… the Reapers aren't just machines. Part of them is organic. They… harvest organic beings and use them to make more Reapers."

Tali gasped. "Why?"

"I don't know." he replied with a shake of his head. "Maybe it's how they reproduce. Regardless, the minds of the people they… absorb are still in there. They're trapped, and there's nothing they can do. They…" he trailed off, and began crying softly. "They begged to die. They didn't want to exist like that."

Tali hugged him again until he stopped crying. "So… you can control Reapers?"

"No." he replied quietly. "I'm lucky I managed what I did. I was like a child wrestling a varren. It was a miracle I didn't get mauled, or worse. The only reason I managed that much is because of the beacon on Virmire. I think it boosted my powers." Shepard let out a grim chuckle. "Yuri said I might be able to control a city one day. Guess he was right."

Tali was about to continue, but just then, the door to the room opened, and a short, Asiatic man in a lab coat walked in, his eyes fixed on a data pad in his hand.

"Miss Zorah, I know you're concerned for- Oh!" he exclaimed, looking up. "You're awake, Commander. That's rather… sudden."

"Hey doc." he replied. "Where am I?"

"Huerta Memorial Hospital, on the Citadel. You've been asleep for quite some time. How are you feeling?"

Shepard's stomach chose that particular moment to growl noisily. "Like I could eat a horse." he replied with a small grin.

The doctor laughed briefly. "I can imagine. Intravenous nutrients aren't the same as real food. I'll have a nurse bring something up for you shortly. First, though, I need to runs some tests."

"Sure thing, Doctor…"

"Hu." he answered with a small bow.

Shepard cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Uh… you. What's your name?"

"Hu." replied the doctor with a bemused grin.

"You." snapped Shepard. "Who are you?"

"Yes." he said with a chuckle and an amused shake of his head. Oddly, Tali was fighting back a smile as well. "I am Hu."

"I'm asking the questions here." replied Shepard with a growl. "Now for the last time, who are you?"

"Of course I am. Who are you?" he replied, before devolving into a fit of chuckles. Tali joined him. "Hehe…. that never gets old."

"Think Abbot and Costello, John." said Tali, still giggling while trying to calm the irate commander down. "His name is Hu, as in H-U. He and I had this same conversation a week ago."

Shepard blinked in surprise, and then groaned when he realized what had happened. "And you just let me walk into it?" asked Shepard, sounding offended. "That's mean."

"And funny." she countered, still grinning. "I've heard Humans say that laughter is the best medicine."

"Only you two jokers were laughing." grumped Shepard.

"I'm sure he'll get a kick out of this as well." she replied. "And I don't think my sanity could withstand having two of him around."

Shepard frowned in annoyance, but Hu cut them off. "Miss Zorah… those tests…?"

"Oh. Right. I'll just be going. Take care, John. I'll let everyone know you're awake."

"You can't be serious." said Valern with a frown. "He still has the Genophage cure. We can't just let him walk away."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree with you." replied Sparatus. "But he did save our lives, not to mention the lives of everyone on the Citadel; possibly more, if what we were told about the Reapers is true. I can't in good conscience send a C-Sec or STG team into his hospital room to arrest him." He sounded scandalized at the end.

"He's also prominent in the public eye at the moment." added Tevos. "If we move against him now, they would be riots. Goddess, we could start a war."

"It won't get that far." said David Anderson, the newly appointed Human Citadel Councilor. "But I can guarantee that you'll have quite a few problems if you go after him, officially or otherwise. Most of the Alliance general public still doesn't understand why the Council canned him in the first place, and considering what happened two weeks ago, trying to explain it might not help. The High Command might not share the sentiment, but they didn't get to where they are today by ignoring the public."

"So you're saying he has your support, then?" asked Valern.

"Officially, yes." replied Anderson calmly. "Our hands are tied just as much as yours."

"Unofficially…?" asked Raan.

Anderson sighed and rubbed his temples. "Shepard's put us in a difficult position. If he behaved the same way to his superiors in the Alliance as he did to you, we'd court martial him in a heartbeat. However, he didn't, and considering his record is spotless when acting under Alliance orders, there's not too much we can do… not directly. Even so, he's made us look bad in public by getting fired from the Spectres. At this point, we need him to help us find a way to detect indoctrination. Afterwards… we're thinking of sidelining him."

"Explain." said Valern. It was not quite an order.

"We've gotten reports about increased activity from pirates and slaving parties in the Terminus Systems near our borders. The brass wants to send Shepard and his crew to, ah, investigate." He said the word while making bunny ears with his fingers.

"I've seen that gesture before." said Raan. "What does it mean?"

Anderson quirked his eyebrow, then laughed. "It means the word or words in question are BS… or at the very least, half-truths or sarcasm. When I said investigate," he made the bunny ears again, "I meant 'get him out of the way.' They want him somewhere he won't be seen or heard for a while. To put it the way he might, they want him on bitch duty."

"That… makes no sense." said Sparatus with a frown. "If the matter needs to be investigated, why would that constitute a punishment?"

"I suppose you might not understand." replied Anderson diplomatically. "In the Turian military, a posting or assignment like that would be accepted without a fuss, right?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"That's the difference between Humans and Turians." responded Anderson, adopting an almost lecturing tone. "To some members of our military, serving on a secluded, backwater post like that would be relaxing, possibly even preferable. To someone like Shepard, who's used to being on the front lines… it'd drive him nuts. I suppose you might say he'd find it dishonorable."

"Well… I suppose I could live with that." replied the Turian with a shrug. "If it gets him… what's the Human expression? 'Out of our hair?' If it gets him out of our hair for a while, I'll take it. Any other objections?" Valern frowned, but said nothing. "On to new business, then. You said you wanted to discuss the Reapers, Anderson?"

"Yes." He pulled out a data pad from his uniform and began scrolling through it. "From what we know, the Reapers are almost certainly still coming. Stopping them from using the Citadel Relay won't have halted them completely, and the reason it took so long for me to arrive here after Hannah Shepard's resignation is that I was in a series of high level strategy meetings with the High Command and the Prime Minister. In fact, as soon as we're done here, I need to return to Arcturus Station, ASAP. In short, the Alliance has decided to make the information we have on the Reapers public. All of it."

"What?" asked Tevos loudly. "You can't be serious, Anderson! You could cause a panic! There would be mass hysteria and riots in the streets!"

"Better people panic and fight now than when the Reapers do arrive." countered Anderson. "And Humans have long suspected that whatever destroyed the Protheans was still out there somewhere. For many, this will just be confirmation of that suspicion."

"And what of the rest of us?" asked Valern coldly. "How are we to respond to this… disclosure?"

"My advice is that you do the same, but then again, it's not my problem. " replied the Human. "However, if it makes you feel any better, you're getting something out of it."

"And what would that be?" asked Sparatus. Strangely, he didn't sound angry, just interested.

"Despite what our people might think – despite what Commander Shepard might think – the High Command knows we can't stop the Reapers on our own." answered Anderson, sending a data file from his pad to three OSDs. "The force that destroyed Sovereign might not have been the most powerful or coordinated in the Alliance, but we lost seventeen vessels to just one Reaper. From our best estimates, if there are more than twenty thousand of them, and we think there are… we'll lose. Badly. Quite frankly, the situation has our top people scared stiff."

"So what do you intend to do?" asked Tevos warily. Anything that made the Alliance afraid didn't bear thinking about.

Anderson sighed again. "As soon as the information about the Reapers goes public, we're going to hold a vote. Normally, each planet in the Alliance has representatives in Parliament that handle things like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We intend to have a species-wide vote on whether to enforce martial law on the entire Alliance, and militarize our entire economy."

The entire Council gaped in shock. Sparatus recovered first. "The entire Alliance?! Do you intend to mobilize your whole species?!"

"Yes." he replied bluntly. Somehow, the Council got even more shocked. "We need to prepare, Councilors. If this measure passes, we intend to devote every ship, every computer, every resource, every credit, every man, woman and child… to preparing for the Reapers, from now until they arrive, be it tomorrow or next century. Even as we speak, our best minds are working overtime to figure out a way to stop them, and our ship and weapons plants are spinning up to maximum capacity and beyond. We have a unique chance, one which no other species before us had: we have a chance to prepare for the arrival of the Reapers, and we don't intend to waste it."

"You. Can't. Be. Serious!" screeched Tevos in stunned disbelief. "If the Alliance builds their military that far that fast, you'd be able to overrun the entire galaxy! Are you trying to rip the galactic community apart?!"

"Anderson... David." began Sparatus, eerily calm. "I know you believe the Reapers are coming. Maybe they are. Even so, you can't possibly agree with such an extreme measure. This is a damn risky decision, not just for your species, but for all species."

"I disagree." he replied calmly, shaking his head. "In fact, we intend to go even further than you think." He set the three OSDs on the table in front of him. "On these devices are the plans, blueprints, and technical specifications for eighty percent of our currently classified military technology: PRISM and Tesla weapons, from firearms to satellites to dreadnaughts; ablative ship armor, Mirage camouflage fields, psychic radar, nuclear ordinance, gap generators, cryogenic arms, AI code, heavy land and sea armor, robotic combat drones; the list goes on. The only things not on them are specifications for chrono technology and Iron Curtains. We're willing to give you some of the most advanced technology we've ever developed, the technology that made us the dominant military species in the galaxy the moment we stepped on stage… if… you give us something in return."

"And… what would that be?" asked Tevos slowly.

"Shepard." answered Valern bluntly. "You want him back in the Spectres."

Anderson let out a noncommittal grunt. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I need to have a chat with him sometime, assuming Hannah hasn't already. Regardless, we're more interested in a different matter. The Rachni."

The rest of the Council stiffened at the word. "What of them?" demanded Sparatus. His anger was returning, but he held it in check.

"This technology we're offering you: it comes with a price. We've managed to communicate with the Rachni Queen Shepard recovered from Noveria. He trusts her, and for now, that's good enough for the High Command, particularly for Hackett. Since his promotion to Supreme Commander of the Alliance Armed Forces, he's begun allocating resources to helping them rebuild their society. It's slow going, but it is going. Basically… we want them as a client race."

For the third time in the day, the Council gaped in shock. "I'd call you crazy, but I think that's a given, at this point." murmured Sparatus. "Still, considering what you're offering… is there anything else you wanted?"

"Yes. We want you to… ah… forget that Shepard has the Genophage cure. There's not a whole lot you can do about it anyway, and if you push him, he may very well hand it over to Urdnot Wrex just to spite you. Additionally, we'd like you to stop sending STG teams into our space, looking for the Rachni." Valern opened his mouth to protest, but Anderson cut him off. "Don't bother denying it, Valern. We captured more than one team, and they talked. Eventually." Valern's mouth narrowed, but Raan forestalled the confrontation.

"I'm sure the Alliance had no official hand in their treatment." she said, making bunny ears with her fingers. The awkwardness of seeing a Quarian try to replicate the Human gesture made Anderson chuckle slightly. "Just as I'm sure the Salarian Union had no official part in them being in Alliance territory in the first place. After all, such actions could be construed as a prelude to war." After she finished, Valern said nothing, but his eyes were cold.

"Do we have a deal?" asked Anderson.

The other three Councilors exchanged glances. "I agree." said Tevos with a nod.

"As do I." replied Sparatus immediately after.

Valern took longer to respond. "Very well."

Anderson nodded, and then slid an OSD over to each Councilor. "The Alliance is trusting you with this technology, Councilors. We're trusting you to use it to prepare for the Reapers, and not to try and stab us in the back. We're trusting you… because we don't have a choice."

He stood and walked to the door. "We just put our heads on the chopping block, and handed you the axe. Don't screw us. If you do, we all die."

Author notes: It begins! I've a few things to announce before I get any further:

After having thought it over some more, I've changed my mind (again. Last time, I promise). I'm officially announcing the rewrite of "Red Alert: The Dawn of Man." I'll release the Prologue quite soon, since there isn't too much in it I need to change. Once I get to the main storyline, things will get interesting. If you read the original, then you might like what I have in store for you. Either way, I feel this is something that needs to happen. It wasn't a matter of if: it was a matter of when.

Second announcement: My faithful "sidekick," aDarkOne, is now officially my beta reader. I'm looking for second (if two heads are better than one, then three are better than two), and I'd prefer if hornet07 took the job. He gets first dibs if he's interested, but if not, then the position is open (hornet07, if/when you read this, send me a PM with a yea or nay). However, when I say "beta reader," I don't mean glorified spell checker. I want someone who can look at my story and (figuratively) rip it to pieces and point out the flaws. Not quite a co-author, but close. I need an analytical mind; one that isn't afraid to call me on my bullshit. If you think you can do it, and hornet07 doesn't want the job, let me know, either by review or PM. Having previous work may help, more if I like it personally, but it's not a guarantee (unless you're Full-Paragon. In that case, SQUEE! XD)

Last thing: As you may imagine, writing/reduxing two stories side by side, and having beta readers to boot, is gonna slow things down. I knew my hunt for a job would do so as well, and this only compounds the problem. The rewrite should go faster (since most of the work is already done), but I don't know how quickly things are gonna progress in the meantime. We'll see. With that said, I hope you enjoyed the first installment of "Red Alert: A New Day Dawns." Feedback is always appreciated, and helps me develop as an author. See ya!