0415 hours, September 10th, 2186(Alliance Calendar)
Voyager Cluster, the Gateway

Cerberus Forward Operating Base

Mess Sergeant Rupert Gardner was exhausted. It had been nearly forty eight hours sense he last slept, and the work Cerberus was making him do was not in his job description and seemed rather pointless.

Two weeks earlier, a Cerberus long range scouting vessel had discovered this place by pure chance. As he understood it the scout ship had entered the Voyager cluster to track a large Element Zero rich asteroid as a possible mining location. Upon its return course they had come across something that was not there before. Something massive. When they were finally able to report their discovery to Cerberus, the Illusive man wasted no time in deploying forces. Rupert had been sent along as part of the maintenance team. Of course he had not been told a thing about where he was going.

When he first stepped off the shuttle with the rest of the maintenance crew, he thought he had been sent to some paradise world. But in the distance he saw that was not the case. In the distance he could see the arms of the installation. It was massive, larger than the Citadel. Hell, he suspected it was even larger than Jupiter. How the hell did anyone miss this? It was magnificent and went against everything he know about Space Stations and technology. Kneeling down to the Earth he had touched the grass. It seemed real enough.

After that he had gotten to work on the equipment Cerberus had brought. He heard things in the make shift mess hall. Apparently the science teams were getting nowhere face. They had determined the technology of this "world" was species specific. A week after that the break through Cerberus had so desperately searched for had been found. While exploring one of the hundreds of buildings scattered across the installation, one of the engineers with recon group had touched a console to turn on the lights. The only thing different about him was that he did not have any Reaper Upgrades, and neither did anyone in the Maintenance division.

Sense then Rupert had been working his ass off pressing buttons without even knowing what they do. They had even assigned him to a Forward Recon division doing things he was not trained to do, nor paid to do.

Somewhere along the line, someone must have messed with something this facility did not like. From then on Machines began to attack them. They appeared to be grayish-white in color, and have two arm-like appendages with two grapple fixtures at the end of each arm, along with a central "head" and a curved undercarriage containing some sort of an energy weapon. Some of them even had a type of energy shield unlike any Cerberus had ever encountered. Those that are destroyed immediately self-destruct, as all the salvage parts seem to be inoperable save for the occasional beam weapon.

Cerberus had sent significant reinforcements to help hold and take control of the installation. In orbit there was a total of eight vessels, two of which were large troop transports that were currently landed near the Forward Operating Base.

Now Rupert sat in the back of some other shuttle packed with Cerberus troopers. He did not say so, but these guys creped him out. Something about putting Reaper technology under your skin seemed wrong, especially after all that happened with the Collectors. Yet he remained with Cerberus out of some sense of loyalty he supposed. Still, as he looked about the cabin at the troopers around him in their combat armor he wished that he was with the crew of the Normandy. At the very least someone to talk to.

As the shuttled eased down to land, the hatch opened and filled the cabin with intense humidity and the smell of soggy planets. As he filled out with the others he boots were suddenly planted in five inches of swamp water. This place stunk to high heaven. Looking around he could see that there had been trees cleared away to make room for a landing pad outside of this swamp facility. From the wide opening of the base an officer emerged and strode right to him.

The officer spoke matter of factually, no nonsense. "Mess Sergeant Gardner, you will accompany me for your assignment."

With that the officer turned and began to walk. Rupert simply thought "And hello to you to asshole". He would never say that. People have been killed for less. As he approached the facility he had a sudden feeling of dread.

A voice from within screamed for him to get back on the shuttle and to leave this place. It was not for any of them. He looked to the ground for a moment and mumbled "Get ahold of yourself Rupert. This isn't the Collector base, and you are protected." He stepped through the threshold then, into the base. Little did him, or any of them know, that the vast majority of them would be dead. That a threat worse than the Reapers lay waiting, patient, and hungry.

Far below the base, in the bowels of some massive dank and dark room, a mind was stirring for the first time in over a thousand years. It could hear those above, scouring about in ignorance of what they risk. It's great massive writhed, its massive tentacles spread through the narrow passageways in anticipation.

So long in silence, in Death, had it slept until the unnatural creatures had come. Once of his greatest enemy, now they were different. Sour meat and sour minds, but food none the less.

Now new feet have fallen. Sweeter meat, untainted by the sour metal. He was closer to the turning the key of fate, and unleashing hell upon the universe. Soon it and its Progeny shall rise. They will feast upon the minds and flesh of those above. They would spread once more across the stars themselves. A feast beyond that of before. A feast of two universes.

It laughed at the memory of those who had imprisoned it hear, out of fear and curiosity. A warning to those above, but unheeded. Soon the Flood shall spread, and it would be the one that would lead its ilk across the stars. What was it the ones before had called It so long ago?

Yes, that name.

The Great Mind.