MASS EFFECT 2: LEGACIES UNEARTHED

Prologue: Voices in the Dark

Emperor Xi Kedzuel Draconis leaned over the balcony railing, looking out at the artificial sun. A black square was slowly floating towards the sun, indicating that night was slowly coming to his hemisphere. This was Kethoi, a once natural planet, now hollowed out and transformed into a megastructure known as a Dyson Sphere. It was the only way to sustain the population due to the ecological damage the Precursors had done to it. Transforming their homeworld into a massive colony ship caused the weather on the surface to become arid, the land to turn into an endless, nearly-uninhabitable desert. Their technology could correct the damage easily once they found a system to stay in, but right now they were not in a star system; they were out in the middle of nowhere.

The interior was luscious with thick forests, deserts, oceans, tundras, lakes, and rivers. So, for now, it did not matter if they were near a star system; living under the surface of their planet was fine. That said, there was a good reason why they could not get to another star system; the propulsion system had broken down again. The Precursors were the most advanced species of the universe, having the access to the Great Array; however, they were having difficulties in repairing their own technology. Their resources were thinning, caused by wars they fought over the course of 25 thousand years. These wars were caused by Kedzuel's predecessor, Emperor Cerenath Khan Draconis. Khan had become so drunk with power after he successfully banished King Ghidorah nearly 80 thousand years ago, that he went on a planetary conquering binge in the Andromeda Galaxy. Every planet was taken over by Khan, sentient beings were enslaved, and the species of Precursors, who were once noble guardians, became evil dictators, particularly his own race the Blitzardi. Kedzuel, along with a few other rebels, struck out against Khan and took him down, with Kedzuel killing his evil uncle in the process. Khan managed to get the last laugh in the end, taking with him the knowledge the Precursors needed to do their job of banishing Abominations back to the Far Realm. His death caused much damage to the Precursors as a whole and it left them crippled. Kedzuel, however, was strong enough to keep vengeful aliens from taking over his people after Khan's death, but it cost them even more resources. And so, they were stuck. They still had their godly ships, they had much of their technology, but they lacked their resources. Khan's wars had mined out many planets and Andromeda was an enormous galaxy. Kedzuel only hoped to get the drives fixed enough to make a jump to another neighbouring galaxy just to begin mining since he was informed of possible mining areas.

"Your Majesty," began a voice from behind him.

Kedzuel turned around.

"Sire, Drive 3's conductor has burnt out," began a Lengodo technician. "We're not even getting a firing from it. Just sparks."

"Well, this is wonderful news," said Kedzuel. "So, again, we're stuck out here. Makes me wonder if we should just abandon Kethoi all together, get in our ships and leave."

"Good luck with that, sire," said the technician. "Even your mighty Shi'Lithra still needs an overhaul. The auxiliary control regulator in the FTL drive needs to be upgraded, and the psionic relay interface still needs to be recalibrated. You are not going anywhere. Similar issues can be said for the other fleet ships, cargo ships, and civilian passenger ships."

"Lovely," said Kedzuel. "Just lovely. At least we can still grow our own food even if we can't move an inch."

"There is good news, the rotation balancer is still operating within Kethoi," said the technician.

"Can't move the planet, but we can still spin it," said Kedzuel. "Good enough. If we get one working ship going, send that ship to the nearest mining planet."

"Yes, sir," she bowed and backed away, returning to her work.

He sighed and leaned over the railing again, lowering his head.

"Khan's punishing me for doing the right thing," he whispered. His pointed ear roved around when he heard another pair of footsteps coming towards him.

"Your ship still broken?"

"Nercine," said Kedzuel. He leaned up to find Grand Duke Nercine Draconis, his sister, leaning up against a pillar. Though she was female, she held a masculine title. Titles among the Precursors did not mean the same as they did for species like humans. Nercine was the head of the household, and second in command to Emperor Kedzuel. Because of her ruling position, she was called Grand Duke. If she were to marry, her husband would take on the title of Duchess, which was a spouse title that held little to no power among the Blitzardi. Her status of second-in-command allowed her to take on the temporary title of Emperor when Kedzuel was away and because Blitzardi were perfect shape-shifters, she could even make herself look exactly like him and even sound exactly like him to fool others.

"Yes, my ship is still broken," said Kedzuel. "How's your little contact back on Erde-Tyrene?"

"Malcho?" she asked. "Confused. But he is happy he's able to get his memory back. They faced a Reaper, Kedzuel."

"Who?"

"Someone called Sovereign," she said. "A Vanguard. They managed to stop him from activating the Citadel and they destroyed him. But I suspect that this will not keep the Reapers from returning to their galaxy. It may take them a while, but they will get there. They're already moving." She came close to him. "We shouldn't have abandoned them."

"That was our uncle's fault!" Kedzuel shouted. "He wanted to leave. He felt that they could handle it."

"Just because we showed them how to use our technology does not mean they know everything," said Nercine. "In fact we don't know everything. Khan was the last Emperor to have the power to banish the Reapers and their Demon Progenitor. With his death, we've lost that."

Kedzuel let loose a snort, crossing his arms. He began to recall just what Khan had said before Kedzuel delivered the fatal strike. Khan mocked him because the power that he had, he would never show Kedzuel. Khan did not want to show that power to anyone; he wanted to keep it to himself so that the whole universe would be dependant upon him. Kedzuel knew that was not how the Array wanted it. The Array was designed to be shared knowledge. No one being was supposed to covet such abilities, especially when it pertained to King Ghidorah's demise.

"He never wanted to show me anyway," said Kedzuel. "That ability was supposed to be passed down, but he prevented it. He corrupted the Array and prevented that access. Now, because of his corruption, we can barely fix our technology. We have to rely on ancient relics from 2 billion years ago just to repair what we have now."

"The Array must be repaired," said Nercine. "Then we can help them."

"We have to help ourselves first," said Kedzuel. "They'll be fine without us for now."

"There is some hope," said Nercine. "The Array is being repaired. Malcho is doing it."

"You taught him well," said Kedzuel, smiling. He glanced back up at the artificial sun, watching that black square slowly move over it, finally obscuring it. The lights of the cities on the opposite surface gave the artificial night a star-lit sky. "At least we have the knowledge to keep the sun going. That much we can do."

"You want to go back to our home galaxy as much as I do," said Nercine.

"It's the right thing to do," said Kedzuel. "But not to interfere with their lives. If we do, we would be doing more damage than King Ghidorah would."

Nercine lowered her head and took in a deep breath.

"You want to return to Malcho," said Kedzuel. "I want to do the job that I was supposed to do when I took up the throne. When we get enough resources, we can return."

"And when will that be?"

"Within the next three years," said Kedzuel. "Luckily we have planets with materials that can be refined, just that what we can refine isn't in vast quantities."

"Kedzuel," she began. "The sooner we can get back there, the better. They need us. And we need them. If we save them, then they can help us in return."

Kedzuel walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder: "Glad I've got you at my side, Nercine. You're right. We'll scratch their backs, and they'll scratch ours. After all, nothing is for free."

The two leaned out over the railing to stare up at the artificial night sky.

0

Miranda Lawson stood, admiring the enormous display in front of her. This imager could be programmed to display almost anything imaginable, and the display reached up to an extremely high ceiling, wrapping all around the room. Currently it was set to display a dying star, the centre of it still glowing with a brilliant fiery red while the rest of it took a cold blue appearance. The stars stretched all around the room, as if the chamber was floating serenely in the void.

She had always liked this room, and didn't get many opportunities to step into it; in spite of being the Illusive Man's most trusted lieutenant, she knew very little about him. No-one alive today did. His title was very appropriate; as far as so many were concerned, he was nothing more than an illusion, a mirage that didn't exist. An extraordinarily small number of people ever got to speak to him face-to-face, and Miranda felt proud to be one of the privileged few. She brushed her long black hair out of her eyes, standing in her skin-tight black-and-white Cerberus uniform, thinking over the events of the past month. One name was on her mind right now, as it was in the mind of her employer.

"Shepard did everything right," she said, her accent betraying her Australian roots. "More than we could have hoped for. Saving the Citadel, even saving the Council... Humanity has the trust of the entire galaxy..." She half-turned to look back at her employer, her expression grim. "And still it's not enough."

The Illusive Man reclined in his large chair, dressed in an immaculate dark suit and his greying hair neatly styled. He tapped his cigarette on the end of an ashtray on the arm of his chair, shaking off the excess ash. His chair was surrounded by holographic displays, feeding reams of information to him. Information was his weapon, and he knew he needed constant access to it to remain ahead in the proverbial chess game he was playing with so many adversaries.

"Our sacrifices have earned the Council's gratitude," he said, his voice carrying hints of a Southern-State drawl, "but Shepard remains our best hope."

"But they're sending her to fight Geth," Miranda scoffed, walking through one of the displays towards the Illusive Man's chair. "Geth! We both know they're not the real threat. The Reapers are still out there."

"And it's up to us to stop them," the Illusive Man purred, as he took a long drag from his cigarette. His father had always said to him to savour the things he loved now, as life was too short, and the cigarette smoke had always had a calming effect on him, allowing him to always focus.

"The Council will never trust Cerberus," Miranda said bitterly. "Nor will the UNSC. They'll never accept our help, even after everything humanity has accomplished and especially not after what happened to Lord Hood."

"An unfortunate incident, to be sure," said the Illusive Man. "Terrance Hood was one of the finest examples of humanity who had ever lived or probably will ever live. I have no greater regrets than the moment I had to make that call."

"But Shepard..." Miranda mused. "They'll follow her. She's a hero, a bloody icon. But she's just one woman. If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow."

"Then see to it that we don't lose her," said the Illusive Man, calmly but firmly, as he stubbed out his cigarette. His glowing blue eyes shone in the semi-darkness of the cavernous office. Miranda had often wondered why the cybernetic implants that gave his eyes that unnatural glow had been necessary, but had learned long ago that it was not wise to pry into her employer's past.

Both continued to watch the displays before them, gathering as much intelligence as they could. They knew the stakes. They had memorised the names of every ship, every human that had sacrificed themselves to save the Council from Sovereign one month ago, and they knew that they owed it to those valiant humans to find a way to crush the greatest threat the galaxy had ever known. This threat was known only as the Reapers; enormous sentient machines, spawned by an intelligence from beyond the boundaries of reality, which had destroyed countless galactic civilisations, perhaps since the universe was first formed. Their last invasion, taking place roughly 40,000 years ago, had destroyed the Forerunners, the advanced civilisation who had stolen the knowledge of Technomancy away from the human race.

Their tremendous sacrifice earned humanity entry into the Council, yet the aliens had made no public acknowledgement of the Reapers' existence, presumably to avoid creating wide-spread panic. Even among aliens, the cover-ups always remained the same. Perhaps they were more human than either Miranda or the Illusive Man gave them credit for. In order to silence the rumours, the Council had dispatched Commander Kaelyn Shepard, the first human Spectre and their saviour, to dispose of the last remaining pockets of resistance by the Geth, the advanced AI civilisation that had assisted the rogue Spectre, Saren Arterius, in almost bringing the Reapers back from the void beyond the galaxy and resuming their Cycle of Extinction. Cerberus themselves had made efforts to create expendable shock troopers to fight the coming threat, efforts which had made them many enemies. Chief among those enemies was Kiryuu Knight, who even now was doggedly pursuing any leads he could find that would lead him to the heart of Cerberus.

The Illusive Man smiled at this. Cerberus had covered its tracks well; after all, they were created by the United Nations Space Command, so they knew what to expect from the most powerful AI ever created. It would be far too risky to try to take him down directly, but even if it was easy the Illusive Man wanted to keep this game going for as long as he could. His battle of wits with Kiryuu Knight was most enjoyable.

The biggest irony of it all, however, was that both he and Miranda knew that they were all essentially on the same side at the end of the day. For all of them, friends and enemies alike, who knew the truth of the Reapers, their search for answers was only just beginning.