The Collector's achieved their mission and harvested Shepard. The cycle continued as it was always meant to. Now as the ascended fleet settles into hibernation in dark space, Harbinger tells a story to the species who made it all possible, and explains to them why it was always going to be this way.

This is sort of a thank you fic to everyone because Mass Effect Synthesis got to 500,000 hits :D Thank you everyone.

Thank you to Pax Humana for betaing.

This story came about from the thought of why wasn't the galaxy better prepared to fight the Reapers. There was ample evidence that they were coming but nothing seemed to get done about it. If a military empire spanning the entire galaxy couldn't beat them, how was the human cycle really meant to do it?

Harbinger's Vendetta
Jade Tatsu

Harbinger looked over at the ascended fleet. Except for the newest, the fleet were in hibernation but he always sent the newest ascended to sleep last. It gave him time to assess them. This time, there was a full fleet, which was an almost perfect outcome, given the species that had developed. They would be strong.

The cycle had been far shorter than the previous one, which even for one lacking organic feelings was a relief. Centuries of fighting were counter productive, especially when the only gain was a mediocre group of organics who could act as his agents.

Although, those agents had done well. They had captured the lynchpin and from there, everything had fallen into place, as it was always meant to. It had allowed several prime ascended forms to be made, although they deferred to the first human ascended and even now were waiting patiently in formation with him. Harbinger hadn't needed to break the humans. He wouldn't need to, either. They had not broken either, and would not break, they had simply applied their impressive malleability to the reality of the cycle. When coupled with their aggression and emotional drives, which were now harnessed to the cycle, Harbinger was expecting them to become truly great ascended. He sent the command for them to enter hibernation, and was pleased when their running lights promptly dimmed as they obeyed.

The other, lesser ascended were gathered around the primes, as was only right. Organics may call it lucky but Harbinger didn't believe in luck, it was good planning which allowed them to capture almost the entirety of the Quarians in one manoeuvre. The operation had been led by the first human, and while the dextro-amino species was already embracing ascension with their use of cybernetic augmentation, their weakened immune systems was too debilitating for them to ever truly embrace the true grandeur of ascension. He had considered using their creation, the Geth to replace the Prothean slaves but in the end, like most AIs, they were merely an annoyance with strictly limited utility. He had adopted the more efficient option and destroyed them but the former organics would serve well as destroyers and quickly followed the human primes into hibernation.

The Hanar with their weak, luminescent bodies were completely unsuited for ascension and had been destroyed, although the sentients they harboured, while few in number, had been rounded up and processed. The jellies would be remembered through the single destroyer of their client race. It would be interesting to watch how such a destroyer operated when made from so few samples, even if many of those samples were strong. Harbinger sent it into hibernation without another thought.

The Salarians had been moulded into several destroyers. With their inability to see the larger picture, and fragile genetic structure, caused by their reliance on an archaic clan system for reproduction, it was the best outcome they could expect. Even now, they fancied themselves the elite of the small fleet and Harbinger would take pleasure in watching the human primes break them of that belief.

It was inevitable. Just as inevitable as the extinction of the Yagh.

It was too early for them to receive his attentions but Salarian interference had ensured that they could not be left for another cycle. Harbinger was not going to have a repeat of the Protheans! Unlike the humans, Yagh aggression was too instinctive and could not be harnessed usefully, so their end was inescapable unlike the other species the Salarians had uplifted.

The Krogan had been sterilised long before and much of their potential wasted by that act. It was seldom that two prime species existed in one cycle, and while it had been a possibility, the Salarians' invention, unleashed by the Turians, had ensured it did not eventuate for this cycle. Yet those Krogan who remained were more advanced than the Yagh and had been harnessed into several destroyer forms that the human primes allowed the closest. They would be the elite, the ones the humans turned to to ensure that the job was done in the future and with a swift command, the Salarians and Krogan followed the Yagh into hibernation.

The so-called Citadel Council had much to answer for but Harbinger could admit, privately at least, that they could not have done much with the Elcor and Volus. One, for all their organic strength, were simply too slow to fully harness that strength and the other were too specialised. Their inability to tolerate other environments was a weakness that would have translated into an ascended form. Neither had been ascended for neither were suitable, much like the primitive Vorcha. They had been almost wild and their presence among the sentients of the galaxy was a mistake Harbinger would not perpetuate with ascension. Their aggression combined with their short lives meant that they had no higher abilities, nothing more than dross, not worthy of the glory of ascension.

Harbinger looked at the remaining forms. The Turians, the Batarians and the Asari. Each were arrogant and all would be broken. The Turians for all their structure, and continued genetic diversity were just too primitive. They all thought the same, and presented limited variability. Compared to the human technical potential, it was a tragedy for a species to be that circumscribed. Their ascended forms were gathered in a neat fleet, a little separate from the others but that only served to highlight how narrow their view still was. Their arrogance would fade as the cycles turned, and they learned how bound they had been. He was not concerned and the command to hibernate left him with two species.

The Batarians were attempting to glare. Their arrogance was infantile, as expected by a species of their youth and the inclusion of those they considered lesser, slaves had already bled some of the vanity from their ascended beings. It was those supposed lesser forms which allowed them to be ascended in the first place. Without them, the genetic variability of the Batarians was so limited as to be useless. The humans would enjoy breaking the Batarians and with a swift command they slept, still futilely trying to fight the bonds of ascension.

That left the Asari. Another species the humans would enjoy breaking and while he would no doubt enjoy watching, they were glaring with such impotent anger that it deserved his attention. They did not understand the weakness which permeated their entire society. Their fear of their own monsters left them no longer viable as a species and they relied on aliens for reproduction. It did nothing to enhance their diversity, merely gave them the illusion that they would continue and aside from that, their biotics were merely average. Evolving as they had on a planet with such a wealth of element zero, they should have been more advanced but the humans, with a mere twenty of their organic years to develop biotics, were almost their equal. Further centuries would have shown the Asari to be what they were, a species not willing to lead the way, who sought normality for the comfort of certainty.

Even now, Harbinger could sense that they did not believe that it was their hubris which had caused their organic fall. It would have been amusing to let the humans break them but he was the best to truly break them.

"Asari," he spoke to all their ascended forms. They didn't yet recognise how unusual it was for him to speak to mere destroyers but, in time, those that survived would.

"Harbinger." The underlying note of resentment in their tone was merely infantile. Far more worthy species had spoken to him with passion. They could not affect him.

"You blame the humans for your failures." It was not a question.

"He weakened us all."

Harbinger was amused. To blame a single organic was illustrative of their arrogant weakness. "Ascended may not harm ascended," he reminded the small asari fleet. "But I will stretch the limits for you," he said. "He is in hibernation. He cannot fight and you may kill the one responsible after you learn the truth."

"There is no further truth to learn," one asari replied, and Harbinger sensed it had been chosen to speak for them all. "The humans were your servants after you gained their Spectre."

It was true that he had targeted the single organic because the man knew the truth. He would have been a thorn in the ascended's side, so it was far more efficient to use human malleability to make him useful and for such a young ascended, he had performed admirably.

"Then you do not desire his death?" The question was a challenge and Harbinger knew the asari would not back away.

"He must die!" The speaker snarled, and he watched as the destroyer fleet surrounded the hibernating prime form, their weapons charging.

Harbinger reinforced the hibernation command to the human. Weapons lock was one of the triggers for immediate awakening, and the human prime was in no danger.

"After," he stressed his requirement. Any attempt to bypass the limiter without his permission would be fatal.

"After," the speaker agreed, her tone sure that it was only a matter of time.

While Harbinger did not possess a head to shake, he was disbelieving of the sheer blindness displayed. Truly, such ascended were only good for distracting organic forces, and if they were lost in such maneuvers, the ascended fleet would not be lessened. "Once upon a time," Harbinger began, deliberately using human tradition for storytelling. He was not disappointed with the reaction, as a shiver passed through the asari destroyers yet they were wise enough, barely, to say nothing.

"Once upon a time, there was a species who named themselves Prothean," Harbinger repeated, and again while the asari thought they were expressionless, he could see their reactions. They were interested because they still honoured the organic species. "They were a military species, one who conquered the galaxy, forcing all who opposed them to bow before their blade."

He knew that wasn't how the Asari people viewed the Protheans, but while Harbinger understood a large range of organic logic, their reasoning on this was beyond him. He could feel their surprise, but the asari destroyers knew that ascended did not lie to ascended. Not even him.

"For many millennia, they maintained their dominance, unchallenged, and their Empire flourished. They uplifted lesser sentients to do their bidding. They studied others, and cultivated some as delicacies. They advanced their biotics, and ensured the primacy of their species." Accompanying his words were images and files taken from the Protheans, a record of their history as they recorded it.

"They maintained their military, for they did not believe themselves unassailable, and any impertinence was crushed. For thousands of years, they ruled the galaxy, disdaining the other lesser species while maintaining an iron grip. The centre of their government was the Citadel and they used its location to control the galaxy as they saw fit.

"And then it was time for the Harvest and the ascended came." He sent the asari images of the Battle of the Citadel, as the Protheans had come to call it. For him, it was merely the beginning of the cycle, for them it was the destruction of their central government. "The prime of their society was slaughtered, their ships destroyed and driven from the station." Further images followed, displaying how the survivors had been rounded up for processing.

"But they endured and they fought. For centuries, they fought against ascension," Harbinger continued, giving the asari a sense of the battles fought. "Every system, every station, every planet fought against ascension but there were those who learned the truth, those who served us against their fellows." The memories of more battles followed, this time showing the adjusted Protheans, those who now served him to make the initial preparations for the cycle. They had fought for the cycle then, while others, were sent as infiltrators because it was more efficient not to fight unnecessary battles.

He could feel the asari's curiosity. They were interested in the story and the history, even if it was not aligning to their organic beliefs, but there was an undertone of confusion with their interest. They did not understand how it connected to the human. They would, in time.

"Thousands of years of dominance had not weakened their abilities, rather strengthened them as they tested themselves against those they conquered. But they were victims of their own success. Their strength was such that they need not adapt, they need not change. Centuries of combat against us honed and refined their abilities, forcing them to cast aside the weak, but it was in vain, for while organics fight the cycle, they cannot win.

"Their subject races fell to us and their forces turned against them, realising we are the truth of the galaxy. They discovered the Crucible, but it fell before us. They became avatars of their emotions and desires. Wrath, Revenge, Retribution.

"Petty organic emotions that meant nothing in the face of the cycle.

"Vigil for the ones who thought research would save them. Victory watched over Vengeance in the hope that one would triumph. Our forces found them all, for the cycle is inevitable. They hoped that they could hide. They hoped those who were studying the primitive species might have been hidden from us. They hoped those lesser species might be united by their survivors to rise against us. And to that effect, they lay in wait. They were destroyed, but their ruins provided the primitives with the means to advance. Your primitive species."

Harbinger watched the asari. Some of them were beginning to catch on. Others were still focused on the human. "They had so many plans, and so many failures but I did not destroy all their plans, so that they did not realise how badly they were compromised. Hope is a weakness of organics but when it leads to complacency, I am capable of allowing it.

"In their final days, they sent out probes containing the minds of those who had led the battle. More avatars." Harbinger sent several more files to his audience, showing them probes travelling through the galaxy, launched from one of the last strongholds of the Protheans. "Some were destroyed because that was to be expected and to fail to do that would be to undo the work already done. Others were diverted, a subtle modification to their trajectory and they missed their intended targets. Of course, the Protheans weren't around to verify that, for they were lost." He showed the asari the final fall of the Protheans and the ascended destruction of their civilisation. There were ruins left, which the species of this cycle had found, allowing their advancement, but the Asari knew they were beyond that.

"Several of their probes made landfall. The Krogan destroyed their probe, not knowing what it was for. The Fremd destroyed it and themselves. For others, the species never achieved what the Protheans hoped for. Of course, one species did embrace the probe that was left to them." Harbinger could feel the Asari almost preening with pride. It was misplaced but necessary for their education.

"They honored the probe, they venerated it and they obeyed. They advanced their species and they raced into space, to bring unity to the galaxy, thus believing that the mistakes that the Protheans had made would not be repeated. They obeyed their probe to the exclusion of all else." Harbinger allowed his regard to sharpen as he focused on the Asari.

"They united the galaxy by segregation, by ensuring that the species either agreed with them or were outcast. They united the galaxy by suppression. Lesser species were to rely on those who came before them. A copy of the Prothean way they venerated." Harbinger paused for effect. "A copy of the path already conquered."

That shocked several of the asari but he wasn't finished. "Yet it was a weak semblance of the Prothean Empire, a shallow copy, for they abhorred violence and limited the military of the species they did not have the courage to conquer. Economics and treaties were their means of dominance. Organic norms that have no impact on the ascended. Military strength, ship and troop numbers, weapon research, biotic capabilities, manufacturing strength, those were neglected, and deliberately suppressed. Farixen was for the good of all species, a treaty to legitimise their economic focus.

"Such manipulation from a Vanguard would be lauded as a triumph of the perfection of ascension.

"Their probe said nothing as they repeated the mistakes of the past. It could say nothing for it was merely an expression of organic desire that had bowed to the glory of ascension. A few minor adjustments were all it took to ensure that its will was my will." The first ascended sent a few coding examples. It was not possible to indoctrinate a VI or AI, not the way an organic could be converted, but it was a simple matter to revise their coding for them to be more amenable to the reality of ascension.

Harbinger waited for the asari to react but they were slow to understand. They did not want to see the truth and so would require an extra push. This was why they were never considered as the Prime of this cycle. "Did you think I did not know? Did you truly believe you were following the Prothean's will, a species who had been completely subjugated to my will?"

Harbinger savoured the moment. Pride was an organic failing that had no place in ascension and he did so enjoy breaking it, just like he enjoyed it when a plan came to fruition.

"You Asari are to be commended for your devotion to Vendetta."

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