Crossover URE Chapter 3: The Long, Hard Road, a Mass Effect + Star Trek Online Crossover fanfic

Ron the True Fan: Do I LOOK like Gene Roddenberry, or that I work for Paramount or CBS?! Tell the bloodsucking lawyers to piss off!

Takeshi Yamato: We also don't own Mass Effect, or anything else that might make a cameo in this story… what can I say, I love importing things from other franchises and tweaking them to fit the destination! It still belongs to whomever created it, though.

117Jorn: We just own our characters and their shit. HIT IT! :D

SSV Normandy

Engineers from the Ra-Cailum were busy uninstalling all the Starfleet technology that had been installed on the ship to deal with Omega. The Normandy crew was watching them as they went about their work.

"They sure are efficient," Ashley remarked to Kaidan, whom she'd taken to sharing lunch with a lot these days. "Took less than a day to install everything, taking even less time to take everything out again."

"Heard they're heading over to the ex-Cerberus ships to do a few upgrades of their own," Kaidan replied. "Not that they'll be able to do much: there's only so far a piece of technology can go."

The shield generators were based on technology 90 years old, the computers were ancient, even if they were extremely advanced, they were out of date by Starfleet's standards, and… well the list went on. Commander Takeo had went aboard to see what Ron could give them, and he took his AI with him just before they ran to Horizon.

"True…" Ashley replied. There was a brief pause. "On another topic, still a little hard to believe that the drone we recovered during that mission was Captain Pinkerton's lover."

"Fucking Borg ninja." Both looked at Hitomi, who had entered the room. "She was FAST. Scared the shit out of me."

"At least she's on our side now," Kaidan remarked.

"Correction: she's on RON'S side," Hitomi said. "I pity the universe."

USS Ra-Cailum - en route to Horizon

"Well, I'm doing everything I can short of breaking the Prime Directive by doing this, Commander," Ron said to the Ex-Cerberus commander. "You can't expect miracles."

"I understand, though I hope soon our ex-Cerberus forces might actually become part of Starfleet, so we wouldn't have to worry about this," Jaden said. "I've got multiple ideas for Starfleet… especially giving your MACO a much needed upgrade. Maybe turn them into a Starfleet Marine Corps, something more permanent that doesn't get sized down during peacetime. Hopefully it will be easier once we get in contact with more of our ex-Cerberus friends."

"More?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you and your mother left with all your supporters."

Jaden smirked, shaking his head. "Not at all, just a large amount of them," he said. "We deserted to draw attention away from others who support our cause. As far as TIM knows, the Takeo Family's forces were all that there were, but we've got agents and supporters across several Cerberus cells. They'll continue to spread dissidence through Cerberus's ranks, and when the time comes… we kill Cerberus from the inside out."

"Dropping out of FTL, Captain," the Helmsman reported.

Ron gestured Jaden to take a seat to his left.

"You've got a nice ship, Captain!" Lucy spoke through the bridge speakers. "Thanks for the database access: I..."

"Lucy, I prefer speaking to someone face to face," Ron said. A few moments later, in the corner of the bridge's main screen, Lucy's face appeared.

"You feeling alright, Lucy?" Jaden asked, as the AI's Avatar smiled.

"Never felt better!" she said. "You can't imagine the wealth of information, the knowledge so much, so fast! Its awesome! I hope one of these days I can upgrade myself with the advance features your ship computers have Captain, with them I could probably do like a billion times more things than I can do now!"

"I'll see what I can do," Ron said. "Computer, activate holographic interface."

"Interface active."

"Sorry, but we kinda need the viewscreen." Her image faded for a moment, distressing Jaden for a moment until a hologram materialized on the bridge, looking just like Lucy. However her Avatar was now much more detailed, rather than having a glowing red and orange body, she looked almost perfectly human - with the exception of her short devil-like wings, tail and horn - with shoulder length crimson red hair and bright red eyes. Lucy blinked in surprise, as she looked at herself.

"Wow… I didn't know your bridge had a Holographic interface like this…" She said in surprise. "Still got some reading I need to do I suppose…"

"Not just the bridge," Ron said with a small smirk. "The entire ship." The Ra-cailum decelerated to sublight, and lights began flickering. "I didn't cause that!" Lucy shouted, raising her hands.

"I know." Ron said, "Sonja?!"

"Working on it!" Shouting was the order of the day. "I found the problem: it's the ME core! Dark energy's corrupted the electroplasma! I'm going to need to take everything offline and switch to batteries! Dumping the plasma now!" Outside, the warp nacelles vented gas like there was no tomorrow.

"There are days I hate my life." Ron muttered.

"Didn't anyone tell you Element Zero has a corroding effect to anything not properly shielded?" Jaden asked with a raised eyebrow, "It's why people with Biotics can do such heavy damage to unprotected armor, it's why we have mods for suits to prevent things like that. If you want, I could call the Hercules over here and have one of my engineers help construct proper shielding around your ME Core to avoid that from happening."

"Wasn't that. It was the dark energy the core was producing." Sonja said, "I thought I could hook it directly into the EPS network without… this happening. don't worry: I can fix it. I'm just going to need someone to get me nebular plasma so I can-"

"Just get it done," Ron said. "How long until we reach Horizon?"

"Current ETA, 12 hours, 48-" Corpsa blinked "-What the hell?"

"What?"

"I'm picking up seven IFF beacons in orbit." She said, "Sir… they're Starfleet."

"Starfleet?" Jaden asked, glancing at Ron. "Well, I think we've figured out what the Argo meant by people wanting to talk too you."

"They might've found out what happened," Ron said.

"They're approaching at full impulse," said Corpsa "ETA: 2 minutes."

"On screen." The holographic display showed the image of a small Starfleet task force, led by an Intrepid-class ship they all knew.

"Voyager," Corpsa said. "Admiral Tuvok himself came here?"

"Not just Voyager. The Odyssey-Class to port." They looked and vaguely made out the registry: NCC-1701-F.

"Ohhh… shiiit…" Jaden muttered, "Another Enterprise… they are not going to like what Cerberus did to the B Either…"

"Let's worry about that later," Ron said. "Hail Voyager."

"Aye sir," Corpsa said, and moments later the lights shut off at this point. "Wonderful."

"Not enough for lights and comms, sir," Sonja said, as the face of Admiral Tuvok appeared seconds later. "Captain Pinkerton. We were curious as to your situation."

"It's bit more… complicated than you think, sir." Ron said.

"Indeed. I will have you beamed to Voyager to debrief us and effect repairs to your ship."

"That would be grand." Tuvok nodded respectfully as the link was cut. "So, Jaden, care to join me?"

Jaden shrugged. "Might as well," he said. "I'm interested in seeing what other Federation ships look like from the inside. Lucy, stay here - and please don't try hacking into their systems."

"Right, right," Lucy said, before her hologram flickered off.

"Well, time to climb."

"Climb?"

"If we barely have power for life support, the turbolifts are down. So, climbing through Jeffries tubes time."

USS Voyager

The climb was shorter than both men thought as they were beamed directly out of the tube midstep. "I was not expecting you to try climbing through the Jeffries tubes to the transporter room."

"Better safe than sorry, Admiral."

"Would have prefered a bit of warning beforehand, but we're here regardless, I suppose…" Jaden muttered.

The Admiral rose an eyebrow at Jaden "Captain?"

"Admiral Tuvok, Commander Jaden Takeo, formerly of Cerberus." Ron said, "Jaden, Admiral Tuvok of the UFP starship Voyager." Both stood up, with Ron straightening out his uniform.

"Cerberus?" Admiral Tuvok asked in surprise, "Is that not a human mythological creature?"

"Cerberus is a Paramilitary organization created by a man called 'The Illusive Man', sir," Jaden said. "They used to be a Black-Ops unit for the Systems Alliance before they went rogue as a Human survivalist organization. Me and my family used to agree with the basic goals of Cerberus - ensuring humanity's survival against hostile alien forces, however considering TIM's rather… questionable operations, especially against aliens like the Quarians who'd be much better allies than enemies, we deserted."

"They've also made the biggest mistake to ever make against Starfleet." Ron growled, and Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"They found the Enterprise-B, which ended up in this universe, reverse engineered what they could from her and SCRAPPED her." The transporter chief behind Tuvok was trying to keep his anger from going out of control after that. He didn't need to.

"Follow me, gentlemen."

Jaden sighed, as he and Ron followed the Admiral, 'Cerberus is screwed in so many ways its not even funny.' He thought to himself, 'Okay, maybe it is a little bit.'

"Your emotional control is slipping, Admiral, if I may say so." Ron commented.

"In what way, Captain?"

"It's subtle, but your facial features are not neutral." He said, "You are angry, and you are attempting to not lash out. Might I say you're doing a hell of a job doing so." Tuvok walked into the turbolift, followed by both men.

"You know, Ron, he doesn't LOOK pissed." Jaden said.

"I am Vulcan: we must learn to control our emotions, lest they destroy us."

"They suppress them to the point where they seem completely emotionless, but they aren't," Ron said. "They like to make everyone think that way, though."

"That can't be healthy…" Jaden said. "People shouldn't lock up their emotions like that… it just makes it all the more harder when those emotions come bursting out. Some Asari try to do that - the Justicars, but even they can't keep their emotions hidden and suppressed forever."

Ron chuckled. "They pay for it every seven years." He said.

"Captain, I am… uncomfortable speaking of this."

Ron looked at Tuvok. "Sir, it will not leave this turbolift," he said. "Vulcans have to go through the Pon Farr - the Blood Fever, in English - every seven years after reaching adulthood. Emotional control goes out the window and they need to go home to… conceive a child."

Jaden blinked at that. "So… every seven years, their emotions go crazy, and the only way to regain control is to… get kinky?" he asked. "That's… definitely among the weirdest things I've heard about your universe so far."

"You ain't seen nothing yet," Ron said as the doors opened, allowing them to enter the bridge and walk to the ready room, which was once Kathryn Janeway's.

"Where is the Raging Tempest?" Tuvok asked.

"At the Citadel, or wherever the hell the Normandy is right now," Ron said. "Probably finishing up some shit on Feros. Regardless, we're not going to be able to contact them unless we restore power to the Ra-Cailum. We have the ONLY communication device capable of contacting them from here."

"And why has the Ra-Cailum lost power?"

"Element Zero and Dark Energy," Jaden said. "It's not exactly something from your universe. It's all part of the Mass Effect core which allowed people from out universe to travel Faster than Light with the use of the Mass Relays, capable of flinging our ships from one side of the galaxy to the next."

Ron nervously chuckled. "Mostly true, but it is sort of in our universe. It's currently lining your warp core."

Jaden looked at Ron. "And you didn't tell me this?"

"You didn't ask, plus it's not element zero: it's trilithium resin. My chief engineer is currently working on a way to make it work without corrupting our EPS system."

"I see. We will lend you our assistance."

USS Ra-Cailum

"Fucking element zero piece of fucking shit!" Sonja shouted as she kicked the ME core after hooking in the new power convertor, which would allow them to use the core without shorting out the EPS grid. Again. "Need any help?" Sonja jumped and landed on the deck, seeing Lucy standing there. "Don't do that!"

Lucy giggled a bit. "Sorry, I just discovered the holographic interface of the ship, and I LOVE it!" she said. "Its much less limiting than the Holotanks on Cerberus ships."

Sonja shook her head before kicking the core again. "Engineering, do we have enough untainted warp plasma to reactivate the EPS network?"

"Yes, ma'am: a few hundred containers were just beamed over from the Enterprise. We're introducing it into the system now."

"Thank you. restart the reaction and get this ship back online." She said, as the lights turned back on, and Sonja sighed. "I'm going to tell my counterparts how to make these things. Hopefully the Tempest isn't suffering from this… problem."

"Uhh… Murphy's law, Sonja." Lucy said, causing the engineer to blink. "Remember they're using a retrofitted Geth ME Core."

"Fuck."

"That's the general situation," Ron said, explaining the situation to the Admiral. "You can court martial me later."

"Starfleet Command will not punish you for following regulations, Captain," the Admiral said. "Commander, your situation is… different."

"Ron told me that he would assist in proving Ex-Cerberus forces with asylum," Jaden said. "In exchange we assist in hunting down hardcore Cerberus loyalist and the Illusive Man himself. We have already provided him with the locations to all Cerberus bases that my family knew about, and I can send them to your ships as well."

"I see."

"I've also given them field commissions to the rank of Commander," Ron said. "I just need you to confirm them and-"

The door chime was heard, and tuvok allowed whoever it was to enter. It turned up to be Van'Zyl. "Admiral, the Ra-Cailum is fully operational, and Commander Henderson is briefing our personnel in the construction of these...mass effect cores." she said, "It appears we are going to need them."

"We will not be staying long, Captain."

"Sir, Cerberus took the B and TORE her apart," Ron said. "They STOLE our technology-"

"They WHAT?!"

"Yeah, Cerberus found the Enterprise-B, stripped her of her technology and scraped her." Jaden said, "Not the smartest thing TIM has ever done, obviously. "

"The Federation Council will not be pleased."

"To say the LEAST," Ron said. "No one fucks with an Enterprise and gets away with it."

USS Raging Tempest - Virmire orbit

After dealing with something called a Thorian on Feros (Takeshi was tempted to call a General Order 24 on the planet to deal with the thing, but the ground team had managed to take it down), they'd gotten word that Saren's base of operations had been discovered on the planet Virmire.

Once again, Takeshi was remaining up in Orbit while Linda joined Shepard on the ground team.

And while Matt had indeed thought of the same idea Sonja had, of connecting the ME Core to the EPS Grid Directly, he was also well-versed in Murphy's Law, having had to deal with all manner of problems involving new technologies (especially from Dyson Duty), and thus had run computer simulations in advance, before deciding it'd be safer to build an adaptor unit.

"We're receiving a hail from the Ra-Cailum," Rina reported. "It's rather garbled. What in God's name happened to them on Horizon?"

"No clue," Takeshi replied. "Put them through, and clear it up as best you can."

The transmission was garbled to hell, so they barely got a word that made sense. The one word they did get was 'Enterprise'. That had a few meanings for them. One, they found a piece of the B. Two, the F somehow made it over. Regardless, Ron's orders stood: protect the Normandy.

"Rina, see if you can send them a message back, letting them know how badly garbled theirs was," Takeshi ordered. "Once we're done here at Virmire, we'll return to the Citadel."

"Aye, Captain," Rina replied.

The warning alarms started going off at the tactical station. "Uh oh," Tholra remarked. "We have company."

"Company?"

The Tempest shook from a beam hitting it. A beam fired from a VERY pissed off Reaper going by the name of Sovereign.

"Looks like Mr. Reaper-With-The-Same-Name-As-The-Class-Of-The-Ra-Cailum is here for another round!" Matt yelled.

"This will be a glorious battle," Brok'tan remarked.

"Let's go, people!" Takeshi called out as he gunned the throttle, dodging another beam as he brought the ship around to face the Reaper.

The massive dreadnought-class Reaper fired its' beam weapon at them, hitting the shields again while the Raging Tempest returned the favor with her pulse cannons, scarring the hull with every shot. Sovereign didn't fire for a few seconds, but then lashed out with a beam more powerful than before. "HOLY SHIT!"

"Shields at 84%! What the hell did that thing DO?!"

"He charged up the beam to an overload, like we do with the phasers!"

"Even so, it'll take more than that to bring us down!" Takeshi yelled, as he continued ducking and weaving around the Reaper, firing at it whenever he had an angle and proving just why he was considered one of the best pilots in Starfleet.

"YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED. YOUR EFFORTS ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE. WE HAVE FOUND WHAT WE NEED." The Reaper reduced its' mass before rolling and smacking the Tempest with its' tendrils, sending the ship into a spin.

Takeshi growled. "We won't let you wipe out all of galactic civilization again!" he roared at Sovereign.

"IT IS INEVIT-" Sovereign was cut off as an explosion behind the Reaper caused the massive ship to break off its attack.

"This is the Ex-Cerberus vessels Hercules and Tarawa," a voice called out, belonging to none other than Amy Takeo. "To the Reaper Sovereign, shut the Fuck up!" Approaching from behind Sovereign and the Raging Tempest was the Hercules and Tarawa, the former opened fire on Sovereign while the Tarawa moved into the planet's atmosphere.

Takeshi sighed. "Hercules, this is Raging Tempest, thanks for the hand," He said.

"Don't mention it!" Amy said, "We intercepted the STG call, and we decided to help out. Tarawa will head to the surface and assist in assaulting Saren's base, we'll help you out up here against the oversized shrimp!"

The Reaper was pissed, and overloaded its' main cannon again, firing on the Hercules. Unlike the Tempest, which had the advantage of being two centuries more advanced, the Hercules' shields barely held onto the beam before it cut into the hull, causing heavy damage. But not enough to knock her out of the fight. "Guess the deflector shields held, at least for a while," Amy mused. "Hope we get those Modern upgrades after this. Fire Broadsides!"

The Hercules banked left as its multiple R91 Broadside Deck Guns unleashed a salvo of Kinetic and energy weaponry at the Reaper, while some shots hit its Kinetic barriers, the energy weapons - unaffected by the Kinetic barriers - tore on through them as they impacted along the Reaper's hull, melting off a considerable amount of its armor.

The Raging Tempest pounded the Reaper with phaser fire, but at this point, the Reaper had enough. "YOU WILL DIE, STARFLEET. I KNOW NOW WHERE YOU ARE FROM. AND WE WILL COME FOR YOU."

The Reaper ran from the two ships, likely to pick up Saren. "Well, this is bad," Takeshi remarked

"Worry about that later, we're beginning the attack on Saren's base," Amy said, as she chuckled as pods began to launch from the Tarawa, breaching the atmosphere. "They're about to learn a very important lesson about War down there…"

Meanwhile - Surface of Virmire

The plan, as it was, was to beat the shit out of the Geth, blow up the cloning facility (Wrex wasn't happy, but Shepard talked him down) and GTFO. Didn't go as planned, even with Starfleet's help. First off, Saren had been screwing with the laws of nature: some Krogan had Borg implants and weapons. Nightmare fuel at the best of times. Secondly, the bomb could only be triggered manually. And Shepard wasn't leaving ANYONE behind. Third, Geth. Lots and lots and lots and LOTS of Geth. So much that EVERYONE was sick of seeing them. "JUST FUCKING DIE!" Shepard shouted as she slammed on the head of yet another Geth Trooper.

"Tarawa to ground forces: we're dropping troops to support the attack. Stand by for Titanfall."

"Titanfall?" Kaidan asked, "The hell does that mean?"

Shepard put her hand to her helmet. "ETA?!" A Prime was crushed by a large pod, and two more Geth were crushed by the hatch blowing off. "Right the hell now. Bip bap BAM!" A hand appeared out of the pod, wielding a pistol as the figure shot three Geth Trooper's dead. However that was not the end, as the sound of additional pods was heard, as Shepard and the others looked up as they saw three objects soaring in, leaving behind a trail of smoke from re-entry. As they neared the ground, the three pod's external areas exploded… and then slamming onto the ground were a trio of 7-8 meter tall Giant Robots, two of which immediately stood up with weapons raised, while the third remained crouched.

"We'll cut a path for you people!" The Trooper shouted as he approached the third machine, which seemed to react to his presence as it raised up its arm, gently grabbing the trooper, opening its cockpit as it placed him inside. "We're gonna shoot any Geth, Borg or Cloned Krogan Son of a bitch dumb enough to get between us and the bomb site! Keep yourselves together! 'Cause you're coming with us!"

All three blinked, but got to work. The Geth futilely tried to stop them, but the massive machine was practically unstoppable. "That's right, you mothers! RUN!"

A red beam barely missed the squad and the mech, signalling the arrival of Sovereign. "Oh, shit."

"So, Shepard…" All of them turned to see a platform carrying their foe, Saren Arterius. "Enjoy your stay?"

"Your hospitality leaves a bit to be desired, Saren," Shepard snarked back.

"Well, Sovereign is EXTREMELY angry at your friends." Another beam was fired at another part of the complex. Sovereign WAS pissed. "So I thought to unleash hell on you. Nothing seems to work, though."

However at that moment one of the Titan's fired their gun at Saren's platform, causing it to explode, forcing Saren to jump off as it crashed. "You talk too much!" The Titan pilot shouted. "Quit flapp'n your split lipped gums so I can stick my Titanic-sized boot up your Turian ass!"

"My apologies, but I have better things to do." He ran off, barely dodging weapons fire from everyone and thing as he ran for a departing Geth dropship, under the protection of Sovereign and his really big gun. "Oh, crap."

"GET BACK!" Sovereign fired at them once more, allowing Saren to escape. "Damn you, you turian fuck!" the Titan pilot shouted. "Get back here and die!"

"Don't worry about him," Linda replied. "We'll get him next time. Right now, let's get that bomb going."

"I'm not leaving anyone here to die, Commander," Shepard replied.

"Relax. Whoever volunteers to blow the bomb is going to be given an ETU. We're not leaving anyone to die."

Shepard shook her head. "Raging Tempest, did you track that fucking Reaper?!"

"We've got it on sensors, and it's leaving the system, heading for the relay," Takeshi replied. "We have a good idea of where he's going."

"Where's that, may I ask?" Hitomi asked.

"Some system out by a formerly Rachni controlled relay in the Pangaea Expanse," Takeshi said. "We couldn't narrow it down anymore than that."

"It'll have to do!" Shepard yelled. "Kaidan, arm the bomb; everyone else, get the fuck out!" The ground forces ran like mad, heading for where the Normandy was waiting for them. The Titans boarded one of the Heavy Dropship's, which quickly took them up towards the Tarawa as said vessel began to leave the atmosphere.

Kaidan, meanwhile, winced before activating the ETU just as the Geth were swarming on his position before the bomb went off, causing an explosion the size of the Tsar Bomba detonation on Earth back in the 1960s.

Ex-Cerberus vessel Midway - Citadel

The sight of over forty Turian, Asari and Salarian ships entering orbit of the Citadel was slightly comforting to Sutura, as the Midway, Missouri and Kyoto remained at the Citadel, watching the Council vessels prepare for the upcoming battle with the Geth and Sovereign. The Systems Alliance was preparing to send the 5th Fleet to aid in the battle as well, but they had yet to arrive yet.

'If Sovereign is as deadly as we think it is, they'll need us to actually do any damage without resulting in massive casualties.' She thought to herself, 'Aside from our ships, only the Raging Tempest and Ra-Cailum stand a chance against that beast.'

"Ma'am, the Tawara, Hercules, Normandy and Raging Tempest just entered the nebula. Message says 'mission complete; complications caused by Sovereign; also, contact with Ra-Cailum lost'. Should we send a ship to investigate?"

Sutura thought for a moment "Where was the Ra Cailum's last known location?" She asked.

"According to the data, they were en-route to Horizon to investigate intel from the MSS Argo." The Operator said. "No info on what the intel was aside from it being 'people they'd want to talk to'."

Sutura thought about it for a moment, with the Hercules and Tarawa back, she supposed they could send at least one ship. "Send a message to Captain Keyes of the Kyoto." She said, "I want her to head for Horizon, see if they can find out what happened to them, then report back."

"Aye Ma'am."

The Normandy headed for the docks while the Raging Tempest remained in orbit, and Sutura had the feeling that Ron would order the Tempest to remain at the Citadel. It WAS more well-armed than the Destiny Ascension, after all.

Citadel - Council Chamber

Shepard and Hitomi had headed for the Council Chambers almost immediately after they landed, having been summoned by the new Citadel Council.

"Here's hoping they see reason," Shepard remarked.

"Commanders." They caught sight of Udina, who had survived the… incident without harm. 67 C-Sec personnel didn't see it that way.

"Udina."

The ambassador was not pleased with their disrespect. "The Council is… not pleased. Unlike the last one, they're dismissing the Reapers completely, calling that super-dreadnought a 'Prothean relic'."

"I don't believe this! Which group of idiots put them in charge?"

"Funny you should mention that, considering the Ra-Cailum isn't in-system."

"I know that Ron exposed the indoctrination effects and got the last Council at least temporarily out of power, but that doesn't mean he was in charge of picking the new members!" Hitomi snapped.

"He didn't pick them. He put them in charge."

Three different Councilors waited for them. "Commanders. Introductions are probably necessary, but we have work to do. Give us your report."

They did, explaining in detail the raid on the Virmire facility - including interacting with the second Prothean Beacon found there. "The Conduit's on a world named Ilos," Shepard finished. "Saren's likely headed there next."

"If your data is correct, that's in the Terminus systems. We're not going to risk open war simply because you think Saren's going to find some weapon there."

"Then what the hell's with the huge fleet?!"

"They are to protect the Citadel. Nothing more. You and your… Starfleet friends have done your job." Udina, smug as fuck, looked at them. "You heard them, ladies. You job's over. Now they take over. With my help."

"What the-?!" Hitomi exclaimed.

Shepard snarled and left, ignoring everything else.

"So, fuck the Council?" Hitomi asked later.

"Fuck THIS council," Shepard replied. "The old one might've been brainwashed, but they knew what the hell we were up against. Remember that history file on the Enterprise? NCC-1701?"

"Didn't Kirk steal it when he needed to go to that Genesis Planet, but got stonewalled by his own command?" Hitomi asked, before she grinned. "So… we steal the Normandy?"

"We steal the Normandy."

USS Raging Tempest

"Sir, we're receiving a call from Citadel Security," Rina informed.

Takeshi snorted. "What the heck do they want?" he asked.

"No clue, but patching them through."

The face of a Turian appeared on the screen. "Captain Yamato, we need your assistance. Someone is stealing the Normandy!"

Takeshi snorted again. "Is that all?" he asked. "Everyone steals the Enterprise at some time in their career."

"…What?!"

"He's not kidding," Linda replied. "Someone's tried to steal the Enterprise at least 12 times."

Blue blood trickled down the Turian's face.

"Are… you alright?"

"I think you gave him an aneurysm."

"Eh, no biggie," Takeshi replied. He watched as the Normandy left the Citadel, heading for the Mass Relay. He had an idea who was 'stealing' it, and where they were going. "Good luck out there, Shepard… you're going to need it."

En route to Ilos

"So, what's the plan?" Kaidan asked.

"Generally?" Shepard replied. "Find the Conduit, disable it and kick Sovereign's ass. In lieu of that, the Normandy heads back to the Citadel with the third fleet. I want as many people we can load into the Mako as possible. The more, the merrier."

"All of us?" Kaidan asked. "You're an insane driver, Shepard."

"Am not." Shepard replied.

"You are: everyone on the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest say so, and that's from sensor readings only."

"Nicole's not an insane driver," Hitomi defended. "Everyone else just doesn't have the guts to drive the Mako the way it's meant to be driven."

"Maybe you and the helmspeople should have a driving contest. See who's better."

"Maybe we will. Get in the damn tank."

"Actually-"

"Shut up, I know it's not a tank."

As the group began moving down to the Mako, Ashley and Kaidan paused for a moment. "Kaidan… don't die down there, alright?" she said. "Virmire was a rather close call for all of us… I'd rather not let that happen again."

"Are you... hitting on m-"

Ashley pulled off his helmet and frenched him, shutting him up.

"About time!" Wrex called out. "The sexual tension was killing us!"

"S-Shut up, Wrex!" Ashley yelled.

"HAHAHA!"

"Alright, that's enough, Wrex," Shepard replied. "Ashley, Kaidan, I know you two have a bit to talk about, but we're on the clock, now - There'll be time enough for that later."

"Shepard, we've reached Ilos! Get ready for a VERY hard drop!" The doors opened, and out the Mako went.

Ex-Cerberus vessel Kyoto - arrival at Horizon

"They what?" Captain Miranda Keyes shouted in surprise, with Sutura's image on the monitor. "The Council said no?"

"They think the Conduit is nothing but a ploy by Saren, which is bullshit," Sutura said with a sigh. "They are waiting for the fight to come to them, which is a very bad move as far as we're concerned. Commander Shepard has hijacked the Normandy so they can head over to Ilos, and stop Saren before its too late. I'd send help, but we're already busy here, since like it or not, the big fight WILL be fought here at the Citadel. Once you find out what the status of the Ra Cailum is, contact me. All things depending, I'm gonna ask you to either head to Ilos to help Shepard, or return to the Citadel to aid in the defense."

Miranda sighed, but nodded "Very well ma'am, we're about to drop out of Slipstream in a few moments. We'll contact you when we get more info." She said.

"Very well, Midway out." Sutura said as her image disappeared from the main screen.

"We're dropping out, ma'am."

"Action Stations." She said, "Just in case."

"Ma'am, with due respect, if the Ra-Cailum was destroyed, we're pretty much fucked." The Operator said.

"Then let's hope Ra-Cailum is still active," she said, as the ship dropped out of FTL, in front of a rather sizable fleet of ships. "What the Hell?!"

"We've got contacts! Multiple ships in orbit of Horizon!" the sensors Operator shouted. "Wait… Ma'am, I'm picking up Starfleet IFF's, the Ra-Cailum's one of them!"

Miranda looked out the front of the view screen, and as the Operator reported there was indeed the USS Ra Cailum, along with multiple ships which all bore a similar design to it as well, and judging from their IFF, they were indeed Federation Starships. "Looks like they came looking for the Ra Cailum and Raging Tempest…" she said.

"We're being hailed by the Ra-Cailum."

"Put him through," she said, as Ron's face appeared on the screen. "Ra-Cailum Actual here. I haven't had the honor of being introduced, Commander."

"This is Captain Miranda Keyes of the Ex-Cerberus ship Kyoto," Miranda said. "Miss Takeo asked for us to ascertain your condition, since your last message came in rather garbled according to the Raging Tempest."

"That's what happens when an EPS network is corrupted by dark energy: NOTHING works right for a few hours." Ron said. "We're currently outfitting the fleet for a little… field trip to the Citadel. We could use some help."

"I can have some of our engineers help, however we do have a problem," Miranda said with a sigh. "The Normandy has managed to gain the location of the Conduit, at the planet Ilos. However the new Citadel Council refused to send a fleet over to secure it, as they are dismissing the existence of the Reapers completely, and 'don't want to trigger a war with the Terminus Systems'. The only action they are taking is assembling a fleet to defend the Citadel."

"They don't stand a chance in hell against Sovereign," Ron said. "We do. Send over the teams: Admiral Tuvok will want to meet with you personally in the meantime. While he seems emotionless, he is VERY pissed off about the B."

Miranda sighed, of course they have been informed of what Cerberus had done with the Enterprise-B. "Understood, we'll prepare sending them now. I'll be over there shortly."

"Not the Ra-Cailum. Voyager. Pinkerton out." The image of space returned to the monitors.

"So, we've gone from 'we're fucked' to 'THEY'RE fucked'."

"Damn right we have."

Ilos

"THIS IS MADNESS!" The Mako was rolling down a hill at flank speed, everyone screaming as they did so. Why? The Geth had sent EVERYTHING TO KILL THEM and keep them from the mini-relay that was the Conduit.

"NO! THIS! IS! ILOS!"

"We know that!"

"We're instituting movie night if we survive this." After running over another armature, the Mako made contact with the relay, and was sent forth. "I'M GOING TO PUKE!"

The Citadel

46 ships, not including the Tempest and ex-Cerberus fleet, were waiting for the Reaper and his friends to show up.

"Sergeant, are your forces ready?" Sutura asked, as an African American sergeant wearing the Cerberus assault armor minus the helmet was on the screen, smoking a cigar.

"Don't worry, ma'am, we've got the Titans ready, Drop Pods loaded and Dropships prepped," he said. "They won't know what hit them when those sons of bitches show up."

"See to it, Sergeant Johnson," Sutura said. "Good luck."

"Yes Ma'am!" Sergeant Johnson shouted, "You heard the lady! Move like you've got a purpose!"

"Contacts coming out of the nebula! Holy shit, that's a lot of-"

"Spit it out!"

"Over 150 ships… including Sovereign." Sutura knew EXACTLY why there were so many. It was 150 meters long, was piloted by its' captain and was so overpowered, it wasn't funny.

"Looks like a Target Rich Environment," Takeshi remarked over the Comms. "And they haven't even seen all I can do yet. Tholra! Set the Cannons to Scatter Volley Mode, and queue up a Full Spread of Quantum Torpedoes, Proximity Detonators."

The Raging Tempest moved ahead of the Citadel Fleet and into firing range before opening up, the Pulse Cannons sending out a veritable cone of fire, while thirty-five Quantum Torpedoes were fired from its torpedo launchers.

Explosions obscured the view of the Geth Fleet, but when they faded, over half of the enemy ships were gone.

"Remember, Captain: Sovereign's Ron's problem. Let's save some for him."

Inside the troop bays of the Tarawa, Ex-Cerberus troops dawned their armor and helmets, and mounted onto any King Raptor Dropships closest to them with their assigned platoons, as Ex-Cerberus Titans were loaded up as well, along with vehicles and armor. At one area of the ship, Sergeant Johnson entered the vehicle bay where his Platoon awaited, all of them having lined up in two rows of six.

"Men, this is where we show that split-chin son of a bitch that he could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race!" Johnson began, his voice booming across the entire hangar bay as he marched down between the two rows. "Once again, it will be our job to finish what the flyboys started. Make no mistake, we will be leaving this ship, platoon, and engaging the Geth on solid ground. I don't care of Sovereign is God's own anti-sonofabitch machine, or a giant-ass squid! We're not gonna let 'em have the citadel! What we will let 'em have, is a belly full of lead, and a pool of hia own blood and to drown in! When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spines, and toss them away laughing! We're gonna blow the hell out of those dumb bots, until we don't have anything left to shoot them with! And then we will STRANGLE them with their own, cold wires and guts!"

He paused for a moment, before he spun around to face his men again. "AM I RIGHT MARINES?!" he shouted.

"Sir! Yes, Sir!"

"Mmmhmm, damn right I am." Johnson said, "Now move it up! Double-time! All you green-horns ready to see Geth up close! This is gonna be your lucky day! Just keep your eyes down range, fingers on your triggers, and we all come home in one piece!"

Citadel

A human screamed in pain as he was shot by Saren en route to the Council Chamber. "15 years I've been waiting for this moment. It is time." He marched into the empty room, activating a hidden control panel, and smiled as he relaxed, ushering the Reaper's victory. Though it would take a while to warm up the Relay, so he couldn't quite relax just yet.

Despite the help, the Citadel fleet was STILL getting its' ass handed to it: three cruisers were destroyed, a half-dozen frigates were just gone and the Destiny Ascension… well, she was minutes from getting blown apart.

"Where in the HELL is the Raging Tempest!" the Ascension's Captain asked,

"On the other side of the battle!"

Even WITH its' better weapons, it was only one ship. The Ascension rocked as consoles sparked. "We've lost shields!" The captain winced as two Geth dreadnoughts prepared to fire… only to be cut down by four red-orange beams fired from the nebula.

The Ra-Cailum swept onto the battlefield, followed by seven other craft of various sizes, one of which was deploying a wing of Peregrine Fighters.

"This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Ra-Cailum," Ron's voice said. "Sovereign, this is your last chance to stand down. I will not take responsibility for what happens." The Reaper turned to face the Starfleet armada.

"EVEN IF YOU DESTROY ME, YOU CANNOT STOP OUR RETURN," Sovereign's voice boomed. "THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN."

"Well, you just signed your death warrant," Ron said. "Admiral, permission to engage?"

"Granted, Captain," Admiral Tuvok replied. "We will support the rest of the fleet. The… Reaper known as Sovereign is your primary target."

Seconds later, the Normandy and the Alliance Fifth Fleet arrived.

"Engage and destroy!"

SSV Normandy

"Holy. Shit." Joker could say nothing else. He was watching a Federation fleet in action. 'Where the fuck did they come from?!' The largest ship in the fleet, bigger even than the Ra-Cailum, banked, showing off her name and registry: USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F.

"Looks like some of Captain Pinkerton's allies came looking for him," Pressley remarked.

The three-nacelle ship fired a beam of death, the same one it used to save the Destiny Ascension, at another Geth ship, destroying it in one shot. The one with its' nacelles under the saucer section and with a pod over the saucer used some form of beam to draw a group of Geth ships together before firing a bunch of torpedoes at them.

"Remind me never to piss these guys off." Joker remarked.

"Raging Tempest to Voyager," Takeshi's voice said over the comms. "Good to see you again, Admiral Tuvok. How did you manage to find us?"

"It took time, Captain, but we managed to locate this universe and enter it," Tuvok replied. "We encountered the Ra-Cailum in orbit of Horizon."

"With all due respect, tell him later, Admiral!" Ron yelled.

Peregrines and shuttlecraft of all kinds fired on Geth fighters, allowing the surviving ships a great reprieve.

Meanwhile, Shepard's team had made it to the Citadel, fighting their way up to the Citadel Tower and Saren.

At this point, the turian was VERY annoyed. "WHY WILL YOU NOT JUST DIE?!"

From the Turian's point of view, they had destroyed everything. They had ruined his plans, done the impossible, and even brought Federation reinforcements to undo everything he had done!

"Shut up, you insane bosh'tet!" Tali yelled. Saren opened fire on her position, only to take several bullets from Wrex's assault rifle.

"Die, you son of a bitch!" the Krogan shouted.

Meanwhile, as most of the team kept Saren and his Geth busy, Shepard and Hitomi stealthily made their way to the control panel, and uploaded the program the Prothean VI had given them, which cancelled out the command Saren had given, and shut down the Relay functions of the Citadel.

"Ra-Cailum to Shepard," Ron said. "We're seeing the Citadel arms opening. I assume you've done something to make Saren's day suck?"

"NO!" The Turian, ignoring everyone else, rushed at the two human Spectres, roaring in rage. "YOU WILL NOT STOP THEIR ARRIVAL!"

"We won't let the Reapers have their way!" Hitomi yelled, using a Biotic Charge to slam into Saren, knocking him off-balance.

"We won't let them kill us off!" Shepard added, firing a shot from her sniper rifle which blew through Saren's chest.

Wrex then tackled Saren to the floor, and placed his shotgun against the Turian's skull. "And I won't let you enslave my people again," he growled before pulling the trigger, blowing Saren's head to bits.

"It's done," Shepard said, finally. "The Council better not fuck us over for this."

USS Ra-Cailum

The Ra-Cailum dodged another shot from Sovereign before firing her phasers into the Reaper's main gun, disabling it. "We gave you the chance to surrender," Ron said. "Now you die. Corpsa?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Quantum torpedoes. Full spread."

Several Quantum Torpedoes fired off into the Reaper, finishing it off.

"Geth forces are retreating! We've won!"

Cheering broke out, but the tactical console beeped. "Sir… we're being hailed."

"By who?"

"Sovereign. But… "

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Put it through."

"YOU MAY HAVE DESTROYED SOVEREIGN AND STOPPED US FROM USING THE CITADEL," a voice as ancient as Sovereign's boomed, "BUT YOU CANNOT STOP US. OUR RETURN IS INEVITABLE. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN."

Ron scoffed. "Really? I used ONE ship to kill Sovereign. And I was holding back. We have a fleet of 30000 waiting, and we'll kick your ass, buddy. But in the interest of identifying yourself..."

"YOU MAY CALL ME HARBINGER," the voice said. "AND YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHICH IS INFINITELY YOUR GREATER. THOSE YOU KNOW AS 'REAPERS' ARE YOUR SALVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION."

"And you have just pissed off the wrong nation. The United Federation of Planets will not tolerate you threatening anyone. We'll be here. And we'll be ready."

"WE KNOW OF YOU NOW. AND YOU WILL BE SAVED THROUGH YOUR DESTRUCTION."

The link cut out, and Ron stood up. "Open a channel to Voyager. The Admiral's going to need to be informed."

USS Raging Tempest

Takeshi sighed as he sat back in his seat. "Well, that's one fight down," he said. "Something tells me, though, that this is only the beginning."

"Always is," Rina reported. "We're receiving a transmission from Captain Pinkerton. It's important."

"Put him through," Takeshi replied.

Ron's face appeared on the screen. "Take, we just got a call from a very unwelcome Reaper."

"Another one?" Takeshi replied. "What did they want?"

"Just the usual mocking bullshit," Ron informed. "'You killed one of us, but you can't kill all of us', that sort of thing. Used Sovereign's corpse as a booster. We're recovering some of the debris now: hoping we can find the memory core. I'm beaming over to Voyager to brief Admiral Tuvok on this… new development. I think you should join me."

Takeshi nodded. "Understood," he said. "I'll meet you there. Raging Tempest out."

USS Voyager - briefing room

The table that once served the crew of Voyager during her seven year sojourn through the Delta Quadrant had several people sitting at it: Tuvok at the head of the table, Shon to his left, Ron at his right with Jaden sitting beside Ron and Takeshi beside Shon, and Rear Admiral Lelouch Lamperouge of the Escalvantine.

"So…" Lelouch began, "these… Reapers are an ancient machine race that wiped out an ancient civilization 500,000 years ago?"

"More than that," Takeshi replied. "I don't know all the details, but a local archaeologist, Liara T'Soni, is an expert on the Protheans, and according to her, this has happened before. Even she doesn't know how many times it's happened, but civilizations rise, then every 500,000 years, the Reapers show up and destroy them."

"It's almost like they're harvesting us, and this galaxy is the perfect place to do so," Jaden said. "Until Ron and the Enterprise-B showed up, the only method of Faster-than-Light was acquired through what we discover from the Mass Relays and the Citadels. Humanity, the Council Races… we all simply assumed they were Prothean relics from when they went extinct. However we now know the Protheans didn't make the Relays, they were just like us - they found them, and presumed they were once constructed by the species who preceded them. All of our technology was branched off of Reaper technology, so that no matter what the Reapers could predict how we would advance, and would be capable of countering whatever we made. You saw how one-sided the fight was with just one Reaper against the Citadel Defense forces - it was a slaughter until Starfleet showed up, technology the Reapers have never before encountered. It's the only reason our Ex-Cerberus ships were capable of holding our own against Sovereign at Virmire, with the help of the Raging Tempest, and from what TIM's lackeys got from the B."

"We also have a slight problem," Ron said. "Another Reaper, Harbinger, just called my ship personally. He knows."

"Knows what?" Tuvok asked.

"About our universe," Ron replied. "There's a few ways he could've found out: Cerberus, any transmissions Sovereign intercepted, or…" Ron's eyes widened. "Oh, fuck."

"What is it?" Takeshi asked, worried.

"Who has been fucking with us since day one? Doing everything they can to destabilize the Milky Way? The Dominion War, the destruction of Romulus, EVERYTHING!"

"The Iconians," Takeshi replied, growling as realization set in. "You think they got in touch with the Reapers?"

"Uhh… Iconians?" Jaden asked, "I… don't think I've read much about them yet. Who are they?"

"The Iconians are an ancient race, with an empire that spanned most of the milky way. Their enemies defeated them, destroying their homeworld, but the Iconians escaped using their gateways." Ron said. "Sort of like our transporters, but on steroids. Walk through a gateway, you'll end up anywhere you want. It's been rumored that they can go through time as well."

"Why would the Reapers work with the Iconians?" Jaden asked, "They've been up in arms against Organics, why make an exception with Iconians? Unless…" he paused for a moment. "Oh shit… could they upgrade Reaper's with Iconian technology?"

"Anything's possible, but I doubt it." Ron said, "The Iconians will manipulate you into doing what they want. They did it to Colonel Hakeev of the Tal Shiar. Right before I helped kill the son of a bitch. They also kidnapped empress Sela of the old Romulan Empire. Much to my eternal gratitude."

"Either way, if the Reapers are working for the Iconians - for whatever reasons, it can't be good." Jaden said, "What do you suggest we do?"

"Defensive positions will have to be established, but the Federation Council will want a more substantial reason to maintain a permanent presence in an alternate universe." The door to the briefing room opened, allowing Van'zyl to enter.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we just received this report from an Asari ship." She said, "They wanted it forwarded to Captain Pinkerton immediately."

"What is it?" Jaden asked.

Ron took the PADD and read the report briefly before passing it to Tuvok and looking at Jaden. "Care to explain?"

"Explain what?" Jaden asked shrugging, having no idea what he was talking about.

"The Asari just developed warp drive, and I haven't opened up my database to ANYONE other than your AI!" Ron said. "So, yes, naturally, suspicion falls to you."

Jaden's eyes narrowed "Lucy would never just give anyone classified information like that away." He said, "The last thing we want to do is cause even more trouble with the Federation. And I known TIM would never do that… he may not hate the Asari, but he doesn't trust them worth a damn, he'd never give them a trump card like Warp Drive. Let me see that..."

Tuvok gave Jaden the PADD, as he looked through the contents "It says here the Asari based their design off of early human models…" He muttered, "That's a load of bullshit, the Systems Alliance never had a Warp Program, the closest they had was Slipstream, but even that was just theories until TIM revived the program to develop Non-Relay based FTL. "

"Captain Pinkerton was not accusing you of leaking our information to the Asari Republics. He was simply came to a logical conclusion." Tuvok said, "Perhaps the Systems Alliance was developing a subspace program without the Illusive Man's knowledge, however unlikely that may seem."

"I don't know… when Cerberus was a Black-Ops unit, they had access to almost all of the Alliance's R&D." Jaden said, "Warp Drive, or anything involving Subspace Travel without Relays wouldn't be something he'd miss so easily. And if that were true, how would the Asari have gotten their hands on the program without anyone knowing?" He leaned back in his chair, looking at the PADD. "Something smells fishy here…"

"Sometimes the left hand don't know when the right hand is jacking off." Ron suggested, as All eyes turned to him again. "what?! You all know it's true!"

"Black Ops…" Takeshi mused. "Maybe that's it."

"Captain Yamato?" Tuvok asked.

"If the Asari have Warp Drive now, they're no longer under the Prime Directive, right?" Takeshi asked. "So… if it was given to them, the most likely scenario would be a Starfleet Black Ops group, disobeying the Prime Directive, but in a way that's so secretive it might as well not be there, so that the Federation can have more influence in local affairs."

"That's so outlandish, it's not even funny. Starfleet Intelligence knows better than to break the Prime Directive. Hell, we don't HAVE a secret intelligence agency for that exact reason!"

"Correction, you don't have a secret intelligence agency that you know of," Jaden suggested, causing the others to look at him. "Groups like the KGB, CIA… they all did their own Black-Ops during the Cold War, however they were all big well known names… wouldn't the best type of Black-Ops Intelligence unit be one that not even most of your government knows about? A group that goes out of its way to ensure its secrecy to protect the Federation at any costs? Even if it meant breaking the Prime Directive? During their early days, no one even knew the Spectre's existed until many years later, and even today no one is certain how many active Spectre's there are."

"We will find out where the leak came from, if it exists. Regardless, Captain Pinkerton, you are to head to the world in question and look over this Asari warp ship."

"If any parts came from my ship, I'll be forming a few Lynch mobs."

"Captain Yamato, you will assist him," Tuvok said. "Commander Takeo, I will require any and all information you have on the location of any parts that came from the Enterprise-B."

"I'll do what I can," Takeshi replied.

"Will do, though I doubt there will be much," Jaden said, sighing. "Like I said, they scrapped the Enterprise-B all the way down to its bones. I've heard rumors that TIM used some of parts for his new Flagship… but I can't be certain. But I'll send you what we've got anyways."

They heard a beep. Then two more. The rest of the galaxy heard a scream. "WHAT THE FUCK?! HE DIES! HE DIES SLOWLY!" Yeah, never piss off a man who could've commanded a ship named Enterprise.

USS Raging Tempest - en route to Agressia alongside USS Ra-Cailum and ex-CSV Kyoto

Takeshi sighed as he steered the ship at Warp Speeds towards Agressia. "Well, this'll be interesting," he mused. "Sent to help evaluate the Asari's first warp ship, and make sure it wasn't made from borrowed parts."

"I'll take care of that, Captain," Matt said. "I know you're more at home steering the ship than helping keep it together."

"Thanks, Matt," Takeshi replied.

"We're approaching the planet, Captain," Kim reported. "Ra-Cailum is dropping out of FTL." The three ship formation, lead by the Ra-Cailum, headed toward the planet Agressia, which was used as the Asari's warp program testing ground. "There are two cruisers in orbit."

"They're hailing us," Rina informed.

"Put them through," Takeshi ordered.

The face of an Asari appeared on the screen. "Captain Yamato. Welcome to Agressia. It's a pleasure to have you here. We were just about to conduct another test flight with Thessaly 5."

"A pleasure to be here," Takeshi replied. "And it's good to see the Asari taking a step towards independence from Mass Effect technology."

"It took us a while to get to actual test flights. Here it goes now."

The screen returned to normal as a modified Asari fighter left the cruiser, then jumped into warp speed.

"Warp 1.3," Kim reported. "A bit faster than the Phoenix."

Takeshi nodded. "Definitely doing well there," he said.

"If one of you could recover the fighter-"

"The Ra-Cailum will handle that. Captain Yamato, Captain Keyes, please talk to the personnel. I'll be back shortly." The Sovereign-class ship jumped to warp to catch up with the fighter. "He's pissed."

"We've got a lot of unanswered questions here, and the last few months have been rather hectic for all of us." Jaden said onboard the Kyoto. "Of course he's pissed, hell I'm pretty pissed myself, but I hope to get SOME answers here."

Asari cruiser Macelon

The sight of several Starfleet officers, even if they weren't wearing the proper uniform, beaming in was a bit unnerving. "C-Captain! Welcome aboard! Come right this way! The head of the warp program wants to see all of you!"

"Very well," Takeshi replied. "Lead the way."

"So, when'd the program get started?" The Asari looked at a VERY annoyed Sonja. "It was… about 6 months ago. We've been working non-stop."

Given the conversation earlier aboard the Voyager, Takeshi kind of doubted the timeframe, but he wasn't going to argue it here.

"Captain, the Ra-Cailum just returned with the fighter. They're transporting it now." They entered the hangar bay, just as the fighter in question, along with the several personnel from the Ra-Cailum, were beamed in.

Takeshi could definitely see design influences from the Phoenix, indicating that it was used as something of a base (which gave credence to the theory that information was leaked), but it still had graceful lines that he was associating with Asari design.

Sonja, however, was about to pop several of those theories, however, when she quantum dated the warp nacelles. "Nacelles are well-worn. And old: 5 months, minimum. Local materials only, too."

"Are you sure?"

"DAMN sure. I'm the best engineering officer in the fleet other than Scotty."

"Huh," Takeshi mused. He still thought something was up with the situation, but it looked legit so far.

"M/AM reactor is standard issue, a few modifications… Everything looks normal," Sonja continued. "Seems to be just a case of convergence."

"Where something is invented by two people at the same time without the other knowing?" someone else asked.

"Yeah," Sonja replied. "Seeing a bit of design influence from us, but how often have they looked at our ships in the past month and a half?"

"Quite a lot, likely," Takeshi replied. "Wouldn't be surprised if they decided to take pointers from our designs."

"And those are the only things that are less than two months old. We unintentionally sped up their warp program. Captain, you're going to have to look at the records. If there's a way to prove that these have been faked, it's there."

"Right," Takeshi replied. "Rina?"

"Sure thing, Captain," Rina replied, the Bajoran heading over to a terminal where she could access the records.

"I'm sure you'll find the answers you're looking for, Captain."

"Yes, but we might not like what we see."

While the RT crew were dealing with the people, Ron, Sonja, and Natarle were dealing with the fighter. "Not a fucking thing is WRONG with this picture! It's like God decided to play tricks on us."

"Not God, Ronnie boy."

All three froze. They KNEW that voice.

They slowly turned around, revealing a man with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing what appeared to be the same uniform they were, with Captain's Rank Insignia.

"Q," Ron growled.

"Such hate. What have I done to warrant it?"

"What HAVEN'T you done?"

The pseudo-god cupped his chin. "Good point."

"What the fuck do you want, Q? I'm not in the mood for your games."

Q chuckled. "Jean-Luc would've figured this out by now."

"Yeah, well, Ron's a bit more like Sisko, than Picard," Natarle remarked with a grin. "Especially in how he deals with you - I still laugh whenever I remember that time he landed one across your jaw."

"I remember. All too well. But your answers aren't going to come from this little fighter. In fact, they won't come from anyone or thing on this ship. Tata, Ronnie bo-" Q screamed as Ron punched him in the face and punted him in the balls.

"DON'T call me 'Ronnie'."

Q disappeared in a flash.

"Something tells me that, if this was leaked, Q somehow altered the materials on the fighter to match their cover story," Natarle remarked, massaging the bridge of her nose.

"No, Q might be a bastard, but he's not that much of a prick."

Flay Allster giggled like a schoolgirl. 'The one thing they missed, and it's right under their noses.' The mass effect core was still in the fighter. After it had been modified with locally made parts for the warp engines, she altered the ME core to create a time dilation field. She artificially aged the fighter by six months. And because quantum dating only read the age of the object… well… it was foolproof.

She continued eavesdropping, cloaked, nearby, as Natarle asked, "So… it's all looking legit at this point?"

"Unfortunately. Fuck!"

"Not like we can do anything 'bout it, boss. I'll head back to the Ra-Cailum, then introduce myself to engine room hooch." "I think we'll join you." All three officers walked away, heading back to the beam in point.

"Best people in the fleet," Flay remarked. "Well, best REGULARS in the fleet. S31 kicks your ass."

USS Raging Tempest

"It's all in order?" Takeshi asked.

"Nothing's out of place or suspicious," Rina replied. "It's perfect."

"Huh," Takeshi mused. "Well, something still doesn't seem right, but I guess for now we'll have to accept the fact that the Asari developed Warp Drive on their own, with our only influence being second-hand."

"More like third hand," Matt remarked. "You should see Captain Pinkerton: he puts the raging in this ship's name. That, and he ran into Q on board the Asari ship."

"Q?" Takeshi asked. "Well, that might be an answer to that."

Matt shook his head. "Q doesn't age things to screw with people's heads. He just toys with them by doing childish pranks. This is not childish."

Takeshi nodded. "Right…" he said. "Well, I guess we should get in touch with Admiral Tuvok, see what we want to do next."

"You're kidding me."

Tuvok's face on the screen was very flat as usual. "I do not joke, Captain. The Asari have petitioned for Federation membership."

"Sir, the fighter is still very suspicious. Give us a few more days-"

"Captain Yamato, we have little time for a full on investigation. I am sending the Ra-Cailum to the planet Illium to begin construction of a modified transwarp gate, so we may make contact with Starfleet Command. They will send a proper team."

Takeshi sighed. "Understood, Admiral," he said. "Where do you want me to go, in the meantime?"

"You will head to Earth. If the files existed in the first place, they will be there. We do require answers, Captain. Lay the groundwork for the investigative team."

"Understood, sir," Takeshi replied. "We'll get it done. Raging Tempest, out."

Illium

"I hate my life."

"We know, Ron."

The Ra-Cailum and Crusher (being two of the biggest ships in the fleet) were beginning construction of the gateway, and the CO of the former was not pleased. But he had his orders.

"Sir, the Normandy just dropped out of FTL. She's undergoing docking maneuvers, heading right for us."

"Huh," Natarle mused. "Think Shepard wants to talk about something?"

"I'm about to find out."

The airlock opened, and out came, much to Ron's surprise, Tali. "Tali? The hell?"

"Captain, I have a request to make of you," Tali informed.

"Name it."

"I want you to take me to this system." She handed him a datapad, which Ron examined. "Wait, the Tikkun system is in Geth space."

"I know. It's practically the heart of it. I want you to take me to the Quarian homeworld. To Rennoch."

Natarle, who had come down as well, looked curiously at Tali. "Why do you want to go there?" she asked.

"You're the only ship that can take me to my homeworld. It would be a pilgrimage gift to end all of them: to see the homeworld."

Ron blankly stared at her. "Ok," he said after a moment. "Riza, set course for the relay. Tali's going to give you the coordinates."

"Got it, oniisama."

"Thank you again, Captain," Tali said before she headed to the Bridge, and then Shepard and Hitomi walked out of the airlock. "Hey there, Ron," Shepard greeted.

"Sheppy. What exactly are you two here for?"

"Well, we wanted to take care of something before you headed off for Tali's trip and we headed off to hunt more Geth," Hitomi replied. "We're wanting to get married, and we want you to officiate."

The two former drones blinked. "Well… that is within my abilities." Ron tapped his commbadge six times.

"Signalling a general assembly?"

"The system works, Nattie. Get your dress uniforms: I'll get ours."

Earth

The Raging Tempest sat in Earth Orbit, completely invisible due to its Cloaking Device. "Get anything, Rina?" Takeshi asked.

"I'm looking through all of the classified databases, including ones the Illusive Man didn't have his hands on," Rina replied. "So far, nothing. The Alliance isn't going to be happy that we're doing this."

"That's why we're cloaked," Takeshi replied. "And why you're doing the hacking - you're the best computer hacker in the crew."

The console beeped. Rina deflated. "Well…"

"What?"

"I found something."

"What did you find?"

She brought up the file. It was dated as originating 3 years before the discovery of the Prothean archives on Mars, and detailed some of the basics in subspace theory. It was basic to the point where it wouldn't lead anywhere, at least it seemed that way. It did point toward the beginnings of warp travel, but at that point, the file was closed.

"Well, looks like they were telling the truth," Takeshi remarked. "The Asari did start out where the humans in this universe left off."

"It's too perfect, sir," Rina replied. "It's like someone knew we would be looking somewhere the Illusive Man wouldn't."

"You're being paranoid," Takeshi replied. "A bit of it is good, but too much, and you'll end up like the Obsidian Order."

Rina flinched a bit. She might not have been born then, but she'd still heard tales of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor and of the Obsidian Order. "Yes, sir," she said.

"Well, we might as well go get the news to Admiral Tuvok," Takeshi remarked, as he began steering the ship out of the system.

USS Ra-Cailum

"I hate weddings."

"Why?"

"I hate weddings."

Sonja, dressed in a brick-red 2278-2350 era uniform, looked at her commanding officer, who was currently trying to make himself drunk. "That's not a reason."

"It IS."

"Human weddings aaare definiitely a bit more elaborrate than onn the Migrrant Fleeet," Tali remarked, her speech semi-slurred, a cup of alcohol in her hands.

Both officers looked at the Quarian. "This isn't going to end well."

"Whaatt? NO. Everything's gooing to be fiinnnee. You've got thiings that'll maake me feel beeetterr in NO time!"

"RIGHT."

"You know what we need? Those replicators of yours."

"Don't have anything like that on the Migrant Fleet, huh?" Sonja asked.

"Nooope. Just hydro… hydro…"

"Hydroponics?"

"That's the word!"

The band started playing another song. One that universally made them groan. "Irving Berlin," Ron said, before all three slammed their heads on the counter, with Tali falling to the deck.

"We… might want to get her to Sickbay," Sonja remarked.

"And escape the wedding."

Six hours later (and a VERY detoxed Tali) the Ra-Cailum was enroute to Rennoch. "So, anything to expect when we get there?" Ron asked.

"A fuckton of Geth ships?" Natarle guessed.

"That's a good guess," Tali remarked.

"Dropping out of FTL," Riza remarked, as the ship dropped out of warp over the planet Rannoch.

They all had to admit - the planet looked about as beautiful as Earth.

"Alright, start taking pretty pictures, people," Ron said. "The Geth aren't going to like us being here."

"Too late: five ships, dreadnought-class, inbound bearing 154 mark 065, range 2300 kilometers," Corpsa reported, before blinking. "Sir? Their weapons are inactive."

"That seems strange," Tali replied. "They attack anyone who even gets close to the veil."

"Yellow alert, shields up."

"Aye sir," Corpsa replied, before a chime was heard from the console. "Sir? We're being hailed by the lead dreadnought."

"Patch it through."

There was no real visual for the transmission. However, the audio came through just fine, as a (male) mechanical voice said, "Pinkerton-Captain."

"…That's new," Ron said. "This is Captain Pinkerton of the Ra-Cailum. To whom am I speaking?"

"…we are Geth," was the simple reply.

"Right, I forgot: you're all runtimes with little to no true individuality unless you're in a platform. No offense."

The Geth didn't reply.

"We're just here for a few images of the planet: nothing dangerous."

"You can do more than that, Pinkerton-Captain."

"Oh?"

"We are sending coordinates." The link cut out.

"Sir… those co-ordinates are for a location on the planet," Corpsa reported. "If I didn't know better, I'd say they just gave us Landing Clearance."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Remain at yellow alert. Natarle, Tali, follow me: we're going down to the surface."

"Begging the captain's pardon," Natarle began, "but Starfleet code, Section 12, paragraph C-"

"Nattie?"

"Ron?"

"Shut up and get moving."

Natarle nodded. "Alright," she said. "After you, then, Ron."

The Captain's Yacht was the best craft for the job, and it landed exactly where the Geth told them to land. "Ok, now what?"

"Uh… Ron?"

Several Geth vehicles approached the Isis, but no one was shooting.

"Well, this is new. Guess they want to talk."

One of the vehicles had a hatch open, and what looked like a Geth Trooper stepped out and walked up to them. "Pinkerton-Captain," it greeted.

"It SPOKE?"

"Shut up, Tali. you're being rude," Ron said.

"Creator-Zorah has the right to be surprised, Pinkerton-Captain. No Geth have spoken to organics since the Morning War. We welcome you to Rannoch, and express the wish that you are not the last to visit."

Natarle blinked. "This… this is new to me," she said. "From what I gathered from Ron about his encounters with the Geth under Saren, they just seemed to want to destroy all organics."

"You speak of the Heretics," the trooper replied.

"Heritics? I thought all the Geth were united."

"Clearly not. Splinter groups aren't that uncommon among artificial lifeforms: even the Borg have… issues."

"The Heretics follow the path of the Old Machines," the trooper informed.

"Old Machines? You're talking about Sovereign and the Reapers."

"Correct," the trooper replied. "The Heretics wished to follow the path of the Old Machines. The Geth did not. A schism occurred, though peacefully."

"By that you mean one group of Geth split off from the rest without both groups shooting at each other?" Tali asked.

"Correct," the Trooper replied. "At the time the Geth did not know the goals of the Old Machines. Goals that go against one of the Geth's highest priorities." At the group's confused looks, the trooper continued, "One of the core tenets of present Geth morality is that all sapient species have the right to self-determinate - to choose their own path, their own destiny, their own future. For a race to choose to entrust their path to another, though not often viewed as wise, is not viewed as inherently negative. However, to enforce a future on another race, especially one they do not desire - to forcefully remove another race's right to self-determinate - is viewed as a grievous wrong by the Geth. The Old Machines seek to do this. And the Heretics wish to help the Old Machines in this."

Ron nodded as he took it in. "The… Heretics broke your version of our Prime Directive," he said.

"Prime Directive?" the trooper asked.

"General Order One. We're not allowed to interfere in the development of any society. They have the right to choose their path, whether it leads to them joining the Federation or to isolate themselves or even to commit mass suicide. We can't interfere because we have no right to interfere."

The trooper considered. "Prime Directive similarities to current Geth morality high," it informed. "Analogy appropriate."

"Wait, that fleet that attacked the Citadel, and is still out there, is only a FRACTION of the Geth?" Tali asked. "Oh, ancestors, we're doomed."

"It gets worse for the Quarians," Ron added. "The Geth show signs of rudimentary sentience. That means, by our standards, you're alive."

The trooper paused before asking the question. "Does this unit have a soul?"

Ron blinked. "Uh… That's getting into metaphysics. But if by soul you mean true consciousness… Maybe. I'd have to spend more time with the Geth to find out."

The trooper paused for a moment. "This terminal will go with you," it said. "Not only will this allow Pinkerton-Captain to spend more time with Geth, it will also allow us to help fight the Old Machines."

"Oh, the Admiralty Board is going to LOVE this," Tali muttered.

"You are free to return to Rannoch, Creator-Zorah," the trooper replied. "We only wish to be treated as equals."

"Xen is going to try and either kill you or reprogram you," she said, before turning to Ron. "That… Spending time on your ship, reading about your captain Data has made me think. Take me back to the Migrant Fleet, Captain: I think I'm going to need your help."

"Alright," Ron replied. He then turned to the trooper. "You still going to be able to speak to us?"

"Indeed," the Terminal replied. "Over 1,183 individual Geth runtimes operating in this terminal."

"A Roman legion."

"Legion?"

"Over a thousand men in the Roman Empire were called a legion."

"There's also that overused quote," Natarle reminded.

"'My name is legion, for we are many'?" Ron asked. "I hate religion when it makes people stupid."

"We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor," the trooper replied. "We shall assume the moniker Legion, a terminal and representative of the True Geth."

Ron shrugged. "Let's go. I've got a few idiots to beat over the head when we get to the Migrant Fleet."

USS Escalvantine - Illium orbit

Lelouch stood at the back of the Escalvantine's Bridge once more, watching as his crew prepared for transit.

The reworked Transwarp Gate was ready to go, and the Escalvantine was chosen to make the first trip through, to let the rest of the Federation know the situation that was going on.

"All systems online and ready, Admiral," his Flag Captain, Jeremiah Gottwald, informed. "Energy levels at maximum."

"Then it's time," Lelouch replied. "Activate the transwarp gate."

The hexagon-shaped gate activated, although the tunnel that formed was a pure white rather than the blue-white they were used to.

"Status of the conduit?" Lelouch asked.

"Stable," the Science Officer replied. "Coordinates are locked: Sector 001, coordinates 140 mark 064. Should put us directly in front of Earth Spacedock."

"Hell of a surprise for Admiral Quinn," Lelouch remarked. "Alright, take us in."

The Armatage-Class carrier entered the rift, and the ship began shaking. "Shields are down, and I'm seeing signs of buckling on the starboard nacelle pylon!" his Chief Engineer, Lloyd Asplund, reported.

"The yard dogs can fix it, and the boys at SCE can smooth out the ride for the next trip!" Lelouch replied. "Maintain course!"

The tunnel only lasted a few moments before it spat the Escalvantine out, less than a kilometer from ESD, and right in front of a VERY large Starfleet Armada.

"Perhaps we should have set the portal a bit farther from Earth?" Lelouch's Wing Commander, Kallen Kouzuki, remarked.

"What's done is done, Kallen," Lelouch replied. He then turned to his Comm Officer. "Hail ESD."

"Yes, sir."

The face of Admiral Quinn appeared on the screen. "Admiral Lamperouge?" he asked. "But we thought you were in the Delta Quadrant, looking for the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest. How did you get here?"

"A bit of a long story, Admiral," Lelouch replied. "If you could give us docking clearance in a repair berth, I'd appreciate it - we experienced a bit of a rough trip through that modified conduit."

"Understood," Quinn replied. "Clearance granted. Send the data to our boys at the SCE and the Science Council: they might be able to smooth out the return trip, should we decide to go back."

"I'll see you on the station, Admiral." The screen returned the image of ESD, which was still undergoing heavy repairs because of the Undine attack three months prior. "We might need to go back."

"I'd say that's a definitely, Lelouch," Kallen remarked. "Still, you can give Admiral Quinn the full report, and he'll likely make that same conclusion."

"Agreed," Lelouch replied. "Jeremiah, take us in."

The captain guided the ship into port, escorted by two Saber-Class light escorts, guiding the ship into position.

Earth - 6.4 kilometers under Starfleet Command Headquarters

Flay Allster entered the office of her CO, commander of Section 31 in its' entirety. "Admiral. My apologies for being late."

Fleet Admiral Graham simply nodded at her. "It's alright, Lieutenant Allster," he said. "We did send the Artemisia along with the group sent to find you and the Amenhotep - though the first contact we've had was the Escalvantine's return. So, what news do you have?"

"Only that we have a great deal of work to do… and a fall man to set up, sir." She began to brief him on everything, including the investigation that would eventually reveal S31's existence. That could not be allowed.

"Hmm… the best lies always contain a grain of truth…" Graham mused. "We'll need to find, or fabricate, someone who believes in the ideals of the Federation, but who gets fed up with all the red tape, so he or she decided to take matters into their own hands to allow the Asari the chance to join."

"There are a few people I can think of," Admiral Hayate Yagami, who was in the room as well, informed. "Admiral Lorenz, Rear Admiral Ikari, Commodore Spencer."

"Lorenz and Ikari," Graham replied. "I've been wanting to deal with them for the incident with the changelings."

"They were doing it for the good of the Federation," Hayate reminded.

"They did it without my say-so," Graham informed.

"Right," Hayate replied. "I'll have Nacht set up a Paper Trail. Shouldn't be too hard, what with how overconfident those two usually are."

"There is no need, Admiral." All eyes turned to the men in question: Vice-Admiral Keel Lorenz and Rear Admiral Gendo Ikari.

"How long have YOU been standing there?" Graham asked.

"Long enough," Ikari said. "You've been wanting to hang us for the incident with the Changeling morphogenic virus since the end of the Dominion War. Fine. We'll volunteer for the… mission. For the good of the Federation, of course."

Graham nodded. "Thank you for agreeing," he said. "Hayate, Nacht should still be the one to establish the Paper Trail - it'd likely be too suspicious if Lorenz or Ikari did it themselves."

Hayate nodded. "Not to mention she'll be able to do it without leaving any trace that it was planted," she said. "I'll have her get right on it."

"The Samshel and Arael will be departing in a few hours," Lorenz replied. "I hope you don't need all of their personnel?"

"Handpick the suicidal ones," Graham replied. "I will inform the President of the situation. Flay, I will be informing the head of Starfleet Intelligence-"

"That's technically you-"

"The public one that I'm 'lending' you to her. Make it convincing for all parties involved."

Flay nodded. "Understood, sir," she replied.

Illium - 15 hours later

The arrival of three ships, including the Escalvantine, was a welcome sight to all of the Starfleet ships that had gathered to the gate.

"Glad to see we're getting more reinforcements," Takeshi remarked. "Kim, what are the IFF Readings?"

"The Escalvantine, the Kyushu, and the Melbourne," Kim replied. "And according to the signatures, the conduit is stable on both ends. We are free and clear to enter."

"Kyoto to Raging Tempest," the Kyoto's Captain informed. "Captain Yamato, we're going to need you to come back to Agressia. There's something you need to see."

Takeshi blinked, but nodded. "Understood," he said. "We'll head there ASAP."

USS Ra-Cailum

"I cannot believe we missed this."

"We only checked the fighter the first time. It's to be expected."

Jaden looked at the Captain and XO of the Ra-Cailum. "It's not your fault. You were ordered to check the fighter, and just the fighter."

"Good thing you were more thorough."

The doors to the briefing room opened, allowing Takeshi and Linda to enter.

"What's up, guys?" Takeshi asked. "What did you find?"

"Our ex-Cerberus friends found something we overlooked," Ron said.

"We used the Ra-Cailum's sensors to date the metal in the hangars. We found that some parts of the ship were older than the rest."

"Someone artificially aged that fighter and FUCKED with my head to make me think everything was fine. Price for having a partly positronic brain: you're easy to hack if the right people have the right tool for the job."

Takeshi frowned. "Still, that also implies that whoever did it had clearance from very high up… perhaps this was a Black Op, after all…"

"An illegal one, at that: Starfleet Intelligence would never authorize-"

"Bridge to Captain Pinkerton."

"Never lets me finish a sentence. Pinkerton here."

"Sir, we've just received a hail from Voyager to head to Illium and return to our universe through the transwarp gate."

"Reason?"

"Sir… the President wants to speak to you personally."

Takeshi's eyes widened. "Wow…" he remarked. "That's pretty important. Linda and I should return to our ship - Don't think he wants to talk to both of us."

"You'd be wrong, Captain: he wants to see you, the boss and Commander Takeo."

"Better get our asses moving, then, shouldn't we?" Ron asked. "NO ONE refuses a call from the Federation President."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Linda and I will return to our ship and follow you back to Illium."

"Wait, we're going to talk to the President of the Federation? Your commander in chief?"

"Fuck yes. Just don't gawk: he's a Saurian."

Earth - Paris, France, office of the President of the United Federation of Planets

Aennik Okeg sat at his desk, and would be smiling if he could. The two Starfleet Captains had given him an opportunity to do something about Lorenz and Ikari, and Flay was JUST sloppy enough to… implicate them.

"Mr. President, the men you requested-"

"Yes, send them in! I've been wanting to speak with them for some time!"

The door opened, allowing Takeshi, Ron, and Jaden to enter the office. "Mr. President," Takeshi greeted.

"Gentlemen, at ease. I've been wanting to speak to you for some time."

"Sir?"

"You are heroes, Captains! Your actions have changed the face of the quadrant. Captain Pinkerton helped in the dissolution of the old Star Empire and the birth of the Republic, helped recover DS9 and made great strides to quelling the Undine threat. Captain Yamato, you and your crew have done much to protect the borders and outposts of the Federation from any that have tried to attack them, be it Klingons, Tal Shiar Remnants, Tholians, or anyone else.

"Thank you, Mr. President," Takeshi replied.

"But today, you've done a better service to us all. you've discovered something that casts a great deal of light on things that have happened over the past century."

"Like?"

"Like the latter half of the Dominion War," a woman wearing an older style Starfleet uniform said as she entered the office.

"Commander Allster," Okeg said.

"Mr. President," the woman replied.

'Allster?' Takeshi thought, before looking over at her. She had a major resemblance to Linda, enough to be a sister or something similar, but beyond that… "Do I know you, Commander?" he asked. "You look familiar, but I can't place exactly where."

"There's a reason for that, Takeshi," she replied. "I'm Linda's sister, Flay."

"Huh?"

Ron sighed. "You're an idiot. SI erases the memories of people linked to deep-cover agents."

"Captain Pinkerton's quite right. Harder to be discovered that way. Not that I APPROVE, but if it works-"

"Commander Allster was assigned to investigate certain… elements of Starfleet Intelligence," Okeg interrupted.

Takeshi sighed. Well, he could catch up with his… re-discovered? …sister-in-law later. "Rumors of illegal black ops?" he asked.

"Worse than that," Flay replied. "My investigation led me to discover an organization that has been doing black operations for the past century, since the Tomed Incident."

"That was back in 2311!" Ron exclaimed. "They've been doing this for almost a century and no one noticed?"

"Easy to hide in the paperwork," Flay remarked. "They were responsible for the morphogenic virus that nearly killed the Founders, and for a number of ops that have done a LOT to fuck up potential enemies of the Federation without authorization. They call themselves… Section 31."

Ron, being the expert on the regs, named one off the top of his head. "Article 14, Section 31: In times of emergency, drastic actions are authorized."

Takeshi sighed again. "So, they use that line as their reasoning for doing things outside of Federation law that would protect the Federation?" he asked.

"Yes," Flay replied. "While they've done good, this time, they've stepped over the line. I think they were responsible for sending the Enterprise-B into your universe, Commander, and for leaking information to the Asari on creating their warp program."

Jaden cupped his chin. "But the Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest were the only ships to cross over."

"Not entirely," Flay replied. "I assume you remember the Amenothep?"

"One of the newer ships from the yards," Takeshi said. "Supposedly meant to be used for testing a new cloaking device, but was lost during testing."

"She wasn't lost," Flay replied. "The entire crew were members of S31, and they were tracking you. They wanted to keep an eye on you: after all, look at your track records. They ended up in the other universe, and you can guess what happened."

"They made sure the 'information' ended up in the hands of the Asari, altering records as they saw fit," Ron said. "Clever, but they got sloppy. They weren't counting on Jaden here to look into detail!" He patted Jaden on the back, causing him to nervously chuckle.

"My investigation has discovered the ringleaders of S31, as well," Flay replied.

"Who would they be?" Takeshi asked. "I'd rather not let them continue operating unopposed."

"Vice Admiral Keel Lorenz and Rear Admiral Gendo Ikari."

"I have his son on my ship," Ron said. "One of my Peregrine pilots. Good kid."

"And they're on the run: their respective commands, the Shamshel and Arael, left earth three weeks ago."

"Those two ships are Devron and Samson-class!" Takeshi exclaimed, recognizing them from the listings. "Gonna take a lot of power to bring them down."

"I'm assigning both of you to the task force, along with the Enterprise," Okeg informed. "Commander, if you wish, you may send whatever ships you can to join them."

Jaden looked at Flay with a very suspicious eye. 'This is too convenient…' he thought. 'Right after our investigation starts making progress, she pops up and gives us everything we need practically gift-wrapped. Something isn't right, here...'

"We'll get back to our ships," Ron said. "What about the Asari?"

"That… is a can of worms, I believe the term is," Okeg said. "The Asari are warp capable, even if they received help, unauthorized or not, from us. Culturally, do you believe they would be capable of joining?"

"They might've developed warp drive on their own just by examining our ships," Ron said with a sigh. "The damage is done. It's up to the Asari. Takeshi, let's get back to our ships."

"Right," Takeshi replied.

Both men left the office, leaving Jaden and Flay with the President. "Commander, I believe you want to speak to commander Takeo."

"You read me well, Mr. President," Flay said, glancing at Jaden. "Let's take a walk."

Jaden's eyes narrowed slightly, however he nodded as he and Flay left the President's office. They walked the halls in silence for about a minute, as Jaden seemed to size Flay up. She obviously was not your standard Starfleet officer, in fact she was beginning to remind him somewhat of a Cerberus agent he had served with several times in the past… and that wasn't entirely comforting.

"You don't seem to like me very much." Flay finally spoke "Not surprising: I give you a lead in your investigation, a link and a name and you're wondering how and why." She stopped to look at him. "Don't deny it: you know I'm right."

"Of course I'm rather… skeptical." Jaden said, "Your timing is to perfect, just as we begin making some headway with this investigating, you just happen to stop by, and give us all this information about 'Section 31' practically giftwrapped. That's either one hell of a coincidence, or fucking bullshit to hide the real picture."

"You're awfully Paranoid." Flay said with a small smirk.

"I use to work with Cerberus." Jaden said, "I've seen the shit they could do with technology your universe considers outdated - of course I'm Paranoid."

"So I've seen." She placed a small device on his uniform, and Jaden felt the now-familiar sensation of matter-energy transport. They reappeared in an office, and the first thing he saw was a large plaque, with a black Starfleet emblem and the motto 'Protecting Utopia from the Shadows' under it in gold and red. "Commander Takeo. Welcome to Section 31."

Jaden paused for a moment, before he groaned "Well I certainly hope someone picked up that phone…" he muttered, causing Flay to blink.

"Excuse me?"

"Because I fucking CALLED IT!"

Flay scoffed. "The Admiral's going to want to talk to you. I suggest you hear what he has to say before trying to blow the whistle." Both of them entered the office proper, seeing an old man wearing a black Odyssey standard uniform. "Ah, Commander." He said. "Welcome."

"Commander, Fleet Admiral Graham." Flay said. "The head of Section 31."

Jaden looked at the Admiral with a slightly raised eyebrow "So… you're in charge of the Federation's version of Cerberus during their Black Ops days…" he said, "Well, at least you don't look as creepy as TIM… at least your eyes don't glow neon blue, sitting at an office with the backdrop of a Red Giant star behind ya."

"I prefer to stay close to home," Graham said. "Now, I know what you're going to say: we're hypocrites. We joined Starfleet, vowing to uphold the Prime Directive. Yet, we break our oath. Sometimes that needs to be done. Doesn't mean we're happy with it. Some are. I'm not."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you have to go all cloak and dagger with this," Jaden said, shrugging. "You know… the Citadel council was already a space-faring civilization, warp drive or no. You could've just shared your most primitive, out-dated warp specs. 'Course - and no offence meant by this - the Federation doesn't seem to like sharing its technology."

"I know," Graham said. "But we like making first contact with warp-capable civilizations: the ones that happen without it are… generally frowned upon. Warp drive gives us a common ground to start with, then we move on to culture, art. To be honest, we wanted to make a few allies over there. Flay and company just… made things a bit more complicated. That plaque over there? I assume you've read it."

"Protecting Utopia from the Shadows," Jaden read out loud, nodding "Yes… its a sound motto. However, you do realize you can't stay hidden forever? It just takes a few slip ups like the ME Core from the Asari Fighter, and people will find out about you… and they may not look at your actions in the same light others would. "

"We know we can't hide forever." Graham said, "Section 31 is supposed to become common knowledge by 2561. But that's a century and a half away. Have you ever seen Starfleet Headquarters?"

"I've seen the pictures," Jaden said. "It's rather nice, great view of the Golden Gate bridge."

"Try picturing it in ruins." Graham said, "That's what happened in 2375, when the Breen attacked Earth. After that, the President authorized us to do whatever was necessary, short of unjustified murder, genocide, and stepping on the rights of our neighbors to keep that from happening again."

"I see… but what if it did?" Jaden asked. "If in order to save the Federation, or even to maintain your own secrecy, you had to murder someone in cold blood, slaughter an entire colony, or subjugate a neighboring lesser-developed species… would you do it? And tell me the truth here Admiral… I've seen the shit Cerberus does, if I'm going to help S31… I want to make sure you won't follow the same path Cerberus took to save their idea of a Utopia. Their idea was essentially to hold a gun up to everyone and call it peace and freedom, that's not freedom, that's fear."

Graham leaned back in his chair. "You know… I read those Freelancer files," he said, "Your family had quite a bit to do with that… nasty stuff you went through."

"Yeah. But we compromised," Jaden said. "And in some ways in ways we wouldn't sleep so well. Freelancer may have been taken over by Director Church, but before that everything we did was so people - regardless of what species they were - could be free. Cerberus wanted Fear, not Freedom."

"Section 31 takes the galaxy as it is, not the way we'd like it to be," Graham said. "With factions like the Klingons, Breen, Cardassians, Romulans… not everyone likes the Federation, just like how in your galaxy not everyone likes the Systems Alliance or the Citadel. It is our job to protect it from threats before they can become truly dangerous threats to the Federation. I admit there are some… similarities between us and Cerberus, however…" he leaned forward. "Unlike the Illusive Man, I have standards Commander Takeo. To answer your question… I will be completely honest. For as long as I am director of S31, I have never nor shall I ever order the deaths of innocent civilians en masse, or simply to keep them in line with fear. I have never ordered a massive massacre, or subjugate another species for S31 or the Federation's goals, and I hope that S31 and the Federation will never have to stoop to that low."

Jaden seemed to look at the Admiral, looking for any sign of deceit, but saw none. And something told him that, at the very least, he was an alright person to begin with. Sighing, Jaden nodded. "Alright… as long as we're clear on that," he said. "Though I hope you plan on informing Takeshi and Ron 'bout this as well, they've both probably got their fair share of suspicions, especially with those two Admiral's of yours we need to deal with… though I presume you ordered them to do what they're doing now?"

"Captain Pinkerton has what he refers to as a 'give-a-fuck meter'," Graham said with a small smirk. "I suspect Section 31, in reality, is rather low on that meter. He understands what needs to be done, even if he hates it. Kind of why Jellico hates him so much. Captain Yamato… I am not sure. He has the tendency to be a bit self-righteous at times."

"Maybe, but he gives me the impression of at least being reasonable, and follows the rules," Jaden said. "I believe as long as you tell him the same thing you told me… and maybe his wife, they'll keep quiet about S31's true existence."

"He does have a bit of a point," Flay remarked. "Besides, part of me never liked the fact that we needed to erase their memories of me in the first place…"

"Well, we have two idiots to punish," Graham said. "Very Terran Empire, but it's better for morale if those two die rather than drag out a decade long trial. I suggest heading back to your ship, commander, and… as for the 'we don't like to share' thing?"

"Yeah?" Jaden asked.

"If the Illusive Man could create your ships with out of date technology, imagine the horrors he could create with modern, intact Federation technology," Graham said. "The Prime directive isn't just a yard stick for intergalactic politics. It's a shield, made to protect the more innocent races of the galaxy from two groups of people: themselves… and us. Consider that the next time you think we're being unfair about our technology."

"Believe me, I understand," Jaden said. "In our galaxy, the Salarian's uplifted the Krogan's to fight the Rachni. As much as I respect the Krogan's, doing that caused a lot of problems later on that the Citadel simply wasn't ready to handle… at least not properly, resulting in them creating the Genophage."

"And that is why we have the Prime Directive. At least with the Asari, I assume Flay believed they were ready for… what lays beyond."

"Race that lives for one thousand years? Yeah, I thought they'd be ready. I'll take him to the transporter room: put him back in Paris so our two 'heroes' don't get suspicious of him disappearing and reappearing on his ship."

USS Arael - Dantu sector

The Devron and Samson-Class dreadnoughts proceeded under cloak to their promised end. They would meet their doom near the Borg battlezone at Kar'rat, at the hands of a battlegroup led by the Ra-Cailum, Raging Tempest, Enterprise and at least 6 other ships. The Arael, under the command of Keel Lorenz, was slightly ahead of her Devron-Class 'sister'.

"Admiral, we're being hailed by the USS Quran: Admiral Cain is wanting to speak with you."

Admiral Lorenz rose an eyebrow. "Cain?" He asked, "What the blazes is she doing here? And how did she find us?" Lorenz and Gendo knew Rear Admiral Helena Cain rather well. She was a hard, unflinching cold woman, who had done more than a few controversial, unpopular and morally questionable choices in her career, even among Section 31. Even he and Gendo had to… question some of the things she's done. "Put her on."

The front screen then switched to show the bridge of her ship - an Odyssey-class superdreadnought. Sitting in the command chair was none other than the Rear Admiral herself. "Admiral Lorenz… what a surprise to see you here." She said.

"Cain." Lorenz said, "What are you doing here? Admiral Graham told us only we-"

"I'm not here under Graham's orders." Helena said, her face as emotionless as ever. "I'm here… on my own time. I find it hard to believe that someone like you, Admiral, would so willingly walk to your most certain death at such a crucial time for the Federation, and the galaxy as a whole."

"Admiral, I do not intend to die so easily."

"You still intend to die."

"How did you even find us, Cain? Our cloaking devices-"

"Are useless." Cain interrupted. "They're based off of Klingon designs, which are easy to track if you know how. Mine… isn't."

Lorenz' eyes would have widened, had the VISOR on his face not been there. "What?!"

"Good bye, Lorenz." The attack came so quickly, as the Quran fired its Phasers and Torpedoes, as the USS Arael was destroyed instantly, leaving it as a dead hulk. "Now, Admiral Ikari… you will be working for me now, not that idiot Graham."

"Cain! What the hell are you-" Ikari began to shout.

"Its time for a change in management, Gendo," Helena said, "S31 has made one too many mistakes… it's time the Federation took them out of the picture, to be replaced. You're either with me..." The Quran's weapons immediately targeted Gendo's ship. "Or against me."

The Rear Admiral gave up without a fight: the Devron was a heavily armed ship, but against an Odyssey, it was doomed from the beginning. "Where are we going, Admiral?"

"Ker'rat. Graham wanted to have a battle." She said, "He'll get one. But our… traitorous counterparts are going to be eliminated. I want the Enterprise, Ra-Cailum, and Raging Tempest to survive… but they will not be returning victorious."

"Very well… but still, we are just two… ships…" Whatever Gendo was about to say, before their sensors began to register three more ships, then five more, then ten more… and that wasn't it as more ships began to appear on their sensors. "What the..."

"It's time for a Revolution, Admiral Ikari." Cain said, as she finally formed a small smirk. "A Revolution I fully intend on winning. All we require now is the bait… put the Arael in tow. You and my fleet will head for Ker'rat, while I prepare for phase two of our little game."

"Understood...ma'am." The Shamshel entered formation with the fleet, all of them cloaking as one and jumping to warp.

USS Ra-Cailum, secondary command ship of Task Force Theta, en route to Kar'rat system

"Why in the holy fuck would those two run to Kar'rat?" Ron asked. "It's practically Borg held space."

"No clue, but we might be able to use the Borg to our… advantage…"

Ron glanced back at Corpsa. "Problem?"

"Yes, sir," she said. "I'm detecting wreckage. It's a Samson-Class starship."

Natarle looked at Ron. "Something's very wrong here." She said.

"Hail the Enterprise and the Kyoto, and get Takeshi on the line as well."

Takeshi's image appeared on the screen. "OK, is it me, or is that wreckage one of our targets?" Takeshi asked.

"Going to have to agree with Captain Yamato: that's clearly the Arael." Natarle said.

"Commander Keyes, thoughts?"

"The Shamshel could've turned on the Arael, unlikely as it seems." Miranda said.

"Looks to be the case," Corpsa said. "Detecting weapons signatures in the debris consistent with Federation phaser technology."

"But why?" Jaden asked. "Why would they just up and turn on one another when they're on the run? They would've stood a much better chance together. And then that brings up the question of where the hell the Shamshel went."

"Run a tachyon sweep," Ron said. "We might be able to find the Shamshel if-" The Ra-cailum shook from weapons fire mid-sentence. "Oh, you have GOT to be fucking-" The Sovereign-Class ship rocked again. "Who the fuck is shooting at us?!"

"I think we know this son of a bitch! Romulan warbird, Khinial-Class!" The Romulan warbird, based off the D'Deridex but warped to the same degree as the Narada, continued to fire on the Ra-Cailum.

"The hell are these guys doing way out here?!" Jaden shouted, as the Kyoto's weapons came to life, opening fire on the Romulan vessel with Phasers and Broadside Cannons. "Ron, you alright over there?"

"We're fine!"

"Shields at 78%!" Corpsa shouted, "Minor damage to the saucer section! And we've got more company: two more ships decloaking! Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Breen attack cruisers, Chel Grett-Class, on attack vector for the Kyoto!" The two VERY alien-looking warships fired two torpedoes at the Kyoto, causing no damage. But that wasn't the purpose of the attack, as what looked like a bluish energy field enveloped the ship, as its engines flickered.

"What the Hell was that!" Jaden shouted.

"I don't know - sir we've lost Comm!" An operator shouted, "Hell We've lost Weapons, shields, everything!"

On the Ra-Cailum, Ron winced. "Fuck."

"We didn't think to give them the energy dampening weapon countermeasure because there wasn't a need. We weren't expecting this!"

"Get them off the Kyoto!" The Sovereign-class ship fired on the Breen warships, but the damage was done: the Kyoto was doomed unless they got her the hell out of there.

"Ship decloaking! Devron-Class - fuck, it's the Shamshel, and she's locking the spinal lance on the Kyoto!"

"BEAM THEM THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"

Thankfully - with some help from the Raging Tempest, they managed to beam off the crew of the Kyoto, and just in time as the Spinal lance of the Shamshel opened fire, as the Kyoto was hit dead on, the force of the attack actually slicing the vessel in half as it exploded.

"Well, that was violent."

"Goes to show you that they were outgunned from the start."

The Devron-Class dreadnought fired on the Ra-Cailum, the lance impacting the already strained shields. "49%!"

"Rig up an ionic pulse! Let's see if that weakness is in their cloak!"

The Ra-Cailum's deflector dish flashed for a moment, and the Shamshel began to turn invisible.

"Revenge is best served cold. Quantum Torpedoes, full spread, dispersal pattern Omega!"

A volley of Quantum Torpedoes launched from the Ra-Cailum, hitting the unshielded, cloaking Devron-Class and shredding it to pieces.

"Goodbye, asshole. Report!"

"The enemy ships dealt a lot of damage to all of our ships." Corpsa said, "The Kyoto was destroyed outright and the Hercules isn't going anywhere. They might've lost the flagship, but they clearly won the battle."

The friendly fleet protectively surrounded the only surviving ex-Cerberus ship that was with them, with the Enterprise providing a large part of the deterrent. "What about the enemy fleet?"

"Recloaking and running."

"This was a fucking trap, and we fell into it. Set course back to Earth!" And at that very moment, the Turbolift opened, as Jaden and Commander Keyes entered the bridge, both of whom looked rather angry.

"Captain… " Jaden said, as calmly as he could. "What… the Hell just happened?"

"You got fucked by a Breen energy dampening weapon." Ron said, "We lost a lost of ships to that thing before we developed a countermeasure during the Dominion War. In fact, I think Takeshi hates it more than I do: the NX USS Defiant was lost because of that thing."

"Where the hell did Gendo get THAT kind of firepower from?" Jaden shouted, as Flay also arrived on the bridge. "We were told it was just the two of them! Not an entire fucking fleet!" He was about to turn and shout at Flay… however he stopped as he saw the rather shocked expression she had on her face. "You didn't know?"

"No… " she said, "There… there's no way Gendo or Lorenz could have gathered that much firepower in such a short time… I don't even know where they would've been keeping ships like those! This doesn't make any sense!"

Jaden sighed, before he looked at Ron "Captain… I suggest we speak in private somewhere." He said, "And we might as well get Takeshi and his wife over here as well."

"My ready room. NOW."

Earth - Section 31 GHQ

The old man in charge of Section 31 looked at the specifications for a new class of ship that he was drawing up for the ex-Cerberus troops. And wincing at the reports from the MACOs again. 'Well, we've been planning on expanding them for years. What the hell.' The MACOs were a small, highly trained and very lethal branch of Starfleet Security, and they even had a few ships under their command. The former Cerberus ships and crews would be a hell of a boon for them, as well as the new, purebred assault ship. And as the MACOs preferred to keep themselves out of the limelight, a minor bit of expansion wouldn't hurt them. The MACOs get more people and better ships outside of light lower-line vessels, the ex-Cerberus personnel are inducted into Starfleet and everything remained at status quo. Everyone wins. Except the enemies of the Federation.

In fact, Field Marshal Mustang - the current man in charge of all MACO Forces - appreciated the upgrade they were about to be receiving, and looked forward with working with Sutura Takeo and the Ex-Cerberus forces. Graham could already see the two working well with one another.

However, as he was doing some finishing touches to a specific part too the specs, he heard a noise causing him to stop and save his work. It was unmistakable, and a few moments later they became louder… the sound of Phaser and Gunfire. 'The Hell?' he thought as he approached the door. However as he did so, he was immediately greeted by another member of S31, armed with a Phaser Rifle with a shocked expression. "Sir! We're under attack!"

"Shit. Fall back to a more defensible position and get me a weapon!" Graham shouted, "Who the hell decided to start a shooting war at Headquarters?!"

"Sir, I-" A bolt hit the man in the back, and judging from the burn on the poor bastard's back when he fell, the phaser was only a setting below the lowest one for vaporization.

"Admiral Graham." A voice, one sounding filtered through a speaker spoke, as Graham turned to the source of the blast. An armored figure wearing complete black armor with dark sage green trimming, a dark green X over his helmet, which had no visible visor, and currently wielding a rather large weapon pointed at him. "You'll be coming with me."

"Locus," Graham growled out. "Cain's pet. So I see she's finally lost her temper. 21st century bitch."

"The Admiral doesn't want you dead, Graham," Locus said. "Stand down, and you'll live to serve as an advisor."

"Really? I doubt it," Graham said. "She's a relic of the Third World War: why the hell Lorenz decided to revive her from stasis is beyond me!"

"The Admiral has ordered me to take you in," Locus said. "My orders say to take you in alive if at all possible… but if you resist, she says to use… appropriate measures." There was then an explosion, as the Director looked down the second hallway, as S31 personnel opened fire down the hall, only for their bodies to go flying from several explosions. Walking down the hallway, over the dead S31 members was another armored figure - in contrast with Locus, his visor surrounded most of his head, with almost all white armor, and wielding a rather large rifle with a knife-sharp edge. "But my… associate here, doesn't have those same orders."

"Go to hell."

"We already are, Admiral." He opened fire, but the old man wasn't that slow, and managed to dodge the first shot, returning fire with a discarded phaser rifle. And as Locus was a semi-sentimental idiot that used the first series of prototype personal shields, the bolt breached it with two shots, and the assassin was knocked on his ass with the third. This began a long and VERY tiring chase throughout the facility.

"Director!" A voice shouted, as Graham turned, seeing a group of S31 Guards come around a corner, who opened fire on Locus and his associate. "We'll hold them off! They've disabled the transporter, but the escape shuttle is ready! Go!"

Graham nodded his thanks, and headed to the escape shuttle. On his way, he tapped his commbadge. "Hayate, are you there?"

"Good to hear your voice, Uncle Gil!" Hayate replied. "Looks like Cain finally snapped - I'm on the Wolfram in orbit, but I've sent my best to help you get to safety."

"Good work!" Graham replied. "As soon as I'm on board, get in contact with Commander Takeo! I want to speak with him, Captain Yamato and Pinkerton as soon as possible!"

A phaser bolt narrowly missed Graham's head. Locus appeared to be VERY pissed off.

However, before he could take another shot, the wall next to Locus shattered into pieces, as a massive warhammer slammed into his gut and sent him flying. It was somewhat comical, primarily because of three things: First, the head of the warhammer was about twice as wide and tall as a human head, rectangular, and about twice as long as it was wide and tall. Second, combined with the haft, the whole hammer was about as tall as the ceiling was high.

And third… this humongous hammer was wielded by a female Tellarite, with red hair. As Locus stood up again, the Tellarite primed her hammer.

"That all ya got?" she taunted. "I've seen Betazoids take that hit better than you did!"

As the insanity seemed to be getting to Locus, Graham finally got to the hangar bay. "Get this thing in the air, now!" A phaser beam grazed his side, and the Old Man of Section 31 hit the hatch head first. 'Immense pain, blood loss and a numbing sensation. Yup, that phaser was set to kill,' Graham thought.

"Admiral!" The pilot rushed from the seat and dragged the old man in, the shuttle's shields absorbing the rifle fire with ease.

Locus' associate lumbered into view at this time, but he was facing off against a male Caitian with dark fur. Surprisingly, the Caitian wasn't using a weapon - and was holding off the knife/rifle's strikes by pure physical strength.

Another figure leapt into the fray against Locus and the unknown - a female Vulcan with pink hair, wielding a european longsword with incredible skill.

Taking advantage of the enemy's attention being distracted, a blonde Betazoid female made it to the shuttle, and began tending to Graham's wounds. "Get us in the air and moving to the Wolfram, pilot!" she told him.

USS Ra-cailum

To say the commanding officer of the Ra-Cailum was unhappy would be an understatement. After all, Ron had his compression rifle pointed in Flay's face. At maximum. "I do NOT like being fucked with, Commander!" Ron shouted, "Now you either give me a straight answer or Takeshi's family be damned I will fucking KILL you!"

"Ron, first off - calm down!" Jaden said. "She can explain, but PLEASE just put the damn gun down!" He glanced with Flay with a bit of a nervous smile. "Well I think you and Graham underestimated Ron's 'Give a Fuck' meter for S31."

Flay shot Jaden a short glare (even though she was slightly amused by it) before she sighed. "Alright… Captain, here is the full story," she said. "Section 31 exists… but they are not a rogue element of Starfleet that was controlled by Gendo and Lorenz. They are Starfleet's Intelligence force who answer only to the President… our goal is, as our motto says, 'To protect Utopia from the Shadows'. Very few people know of our existence, and we have to do some… morally grey things to ensure the Federation's citizens remain safe. To prevent what happened during the Dominion War from ever happening again."

"From what she told me, Gendo and Lorenz volunteered to act as scapegoats," Jaden said. "Give a reason for the Asari's Warp Drive capability when we found out about what they did. We'd kill them, and as far as the public was concerned, S31 would die there, when in truth S31 would continue what they've been doing."

Ron was still pissed off, but he lowered his weapon, but not before clubbing her over the head with it. "That's for hacking into my head and making me think nothing was wrong, you bitch."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Jaden asked, as he helped Flay back to her feet, still holding a hand to her head were Ron had hit her.

Natarle, sitting off to the side, sighed. "The Borg removed one of the lobes of his brain and replaced it with a positronic computer based off of a Soong-type android." She said, "And you can guess what that means."

"His brain can be hacked…" Jaden muttered, glancing at Flay "Is that true?"

"Yes… it had to be done." She said, wincing a bit as she noticed a trail of blood coming from her head. "Section 31's secrecy had to be maintained, and I did what I had to do… but I… underestimated how far you, Ron and your engineers would go to uncover the truth behind the Asari's warp program."

"Well, is there anything ELSE we need to know?!" Ron shouted. "What other lies did you put in our heads?"

"We do what we have to!" Flay shouted back. "That doesn't mean we LIKE it. And as for who could have done this... The only person I can think of is Admiral Cain."

"I know her: grade-A bitch," Ron muttered. "Almost like she's a-"

"World War III relic?" Flay finished, nodding. "She is: we found a DY-350 sleeper ship that crashed into an asteroid. We just didn't realize she was THIS power hungry."

"This is bad," Takeshi remarked, having beamed over along with Linda. "And I think I know what happened to the Arael - Cain commands the Quran, right? Odyssey-Class?"

"The most powerful ship ever built by Starfleet." Ron muttered. "Fucking bitch could take out anything short of another Oddy: a Samson wouldn't stand a chance in hell."

"The problem with it is Cain would've bided her time: she's been waiting for years," Flay said. "She could've waited a few more. Why start an open war now?"

"Bridge to Captain: we're being hailed by the Wolfram," Corpsa reported from the Bridge. "Admiral Yagami wants to speak with you."

"Hayate?" Flay asked. "Something's definitely up - Hayate Yagami is Graham's adopted niece and protege. I've even heard he's been training her as a successor for when the time finally comes for him to retire."

"Meaning if she's calling, it's gotta be important," Takeshi remarked.

"Patch it through down here, and activate the holo-communicator."

"Aye, sir."

The image of the Admiral in question appeared while Jaden gave Ron another 'are you fucking kidding me, you have this too?' look.

"Admiral Yagami," Ron said. "With all due respect, what the fuck do you want?"

"Ah, good, you're all here, even Commander Allster," Hayate said. "Flay, have they all been informed of the situation?"

"Yes, Ma'am, only seconds ago," Flay replied.

"Good, means I don't need to hide anything," Hayate informed. "Less than an hour ago, Cain sent forces to Section 31 HQ in order to kidnap Admiral Graham." At Flay's shocked look, she continued, "Gil made it up to my ship, but he was grazed by a phaser set on kill, so my Chief Medical Officer is taking care of him right now - he's not in mortal danger according to her, but he isn't in the best of shape, either."

"How many troops did Cain send?" Takeshi asked, even as Linda wrapped an arm comfortingly around Flay's shoulders.

"Just two," Hayate replied. "Her personal pet, Locus, and some armored soldier that my subordinates tell me was inordinately strong, and wielding some sort of weird knife/rifle hybrid."

Upon mentioning that, Jaden's head shot up "Knifle?" he muttered. "Was he wearing white armor, with a helmet with a gold visor almost completely surrounding it?"

Hayate blinked, but nodded. "Uhh… yeah, he was," she said, before Jaden let out a groan.

"Oh son of a bitch… Maine."

Everyone else rose an eyebrow. "Maine?" Ron asked. "Someone you know?"

"Agent Maine, or 'The Meta' as some call him, was one of Freelancer's top agents," Jaden said. "Enhanced strength, aggression… after he lost his voice in a firefight, he was dependent on the AI Sigma to communicate. But the AI managed to overpower Maine, and Sigma uses him in his attempt to reach AI Metastability."

"How tough is he?" Ron asked.

"Remember Tex?"

"The girl who kicked C-Sec's asses? yeah."

"Well, the Meta is like eight of her, only with zero morals outside of 'follow orders'," Jaden said. "He's almost like an Animal, but Cerberus still uses him… meaning Cain is working with Cerberus now. And if Maine is with her, that means the other Freelancer agents who didn't go rogue after we left are probably involved as well."

"I see…" Hayate remarked. "Most troubling… anyway, did Cain interfere there, too, or did things go as planned."

"Cain interfered out here, too," Flay reported. "She presumably destroyed the Arael, and convinced Gendo to work with a fleet she'd gathered, including some Breen ships. We destroyed him, but they took out one of the ex-Cerberus ships, the Kyoto, though we were able to evacuate everyone."

Hayate frowned. "I'm taking charge of Section 31 until Admiral Graham is recovered," she said. "And I'm listing Cain as a rogue operative, with shoot-on-sight orders - she crossed the line today, and we can't let her continue."

Takeshi nodded. "I can understand why your organization does what it does, but Cain's completely nuts," he said. "Throwing her in prison would only cause problems later on."

"Send us everything you have on this bitch: historical files, medical records," Ron said. "Leave nothing out, Admiral. Or by God, there will be a fucking reckoning."

"Don't worry, you'll get everything," Hayate informed. "Flay, I'm assigning you to Task Force Theta - I want you to work with them directly to bring Cain down. After that, you'll be assigned to work directly with Commander Takeo - coordinate his operations with ours."

Flay nodded. "Understood," she said.

"Good hunting to you all. Yagami out." And with that, the transmission ended, with Hayate's image disappearing.

"I'm going to rip Cain's throat out." Ron growled out. "Getting sent on a wild goose chase? I can tolerate that. Getting sent on a wild goose chase, lose a ship and learning I've been fucked with? Not happening."

"Captain, we're receiving another transmission: it's on all channels."

"We're on our way," Ron said, as they left the Ready room, and headed onto the bridge. Upon entering, the front screen displayed the image of a woman wearing a Starfleet uniform, whom Flay immediately recognized as her eyes narrowed. "Cain…

"People of the United Federation of Planets… my name is Rear Admiral Helena Cain, Commander of the USS Quran of the 62nd Fleet," Cain said. "Throughout my career… I have always remained loyal to the ideas and principles of the Federation. I believe it to be the Utopia that not just humanity, but all of the galaxy needs. However… there is a snake among us, a group who has gone unchecked, and may one day threaten the very foundation of our Utopia… this group is known as Section 31."

Flay's eyes, as well as the eyes of many others on the bridge, widened at that. "Oh no… she's not really…" she muttered.

"You may have already heard of Section 31… the President announced the existence of a 'Rogue Faction' lead by Admirals Gendo Ikari and Keel Lorenz who revealed their involvement in the Warp program devised by the Asrai - one of the species native to the alternate universe recently discovered by the Federation. However this is hardly scratching the surface of what S31 truly is. Gendo and Keel were just part of S31, as this group has been part of the Federation ever since its founding. Claiming to be protecting us, but they have broken multiple Federation laws - including the Prime Directive - on several occasions."

"Many of you may not believe me… which is why I am currently releasing the names of all Section 31 Members that I have learned over the years I've served." She continued, as a list of names began scrolling on the screen. "And I am unveiling numerous records from Section 31, including details about their operations which goes against several treaties signed with other member worlds and allies, as proof of their existence and their deeds. I do this so the Federation can be saved from this curse, and I ask of you - the people of the Federation - to help me bring Section 31 to justice once and for all, and avoid another war like the Dominion War from happening again due to their 'interventions'. And I ask for the brave men and women of Starfleet, if you see S31 the way I see them, and feel the same way that I feel, I wish for you to join me in hunting down Section 31's personnel one by one, and to destroy their operations across Federation space!"

Takeshi scowled. "Great, she's basically thrown them all into the open, and painted them as evil," he growled. "Definitely a manipulative bitch."

Flay just stood there, eyes wide, even as she saw her own name cross the screen.

"Corpsa, trace that transmission," Ron growled out before he shouted "FIND HER!"

"Aye, sir!" Ron walked toward his chair, only to pause when the comm beeped. "Sickbay to bridge. Boss, I think there's something you need to see." He took in a breath. "Come on. Let's find out what Rutia has."

"Right," Jaden said, but before he moved he turned to Flay, whose wide eyes were still watching the screen in shock. "Flay…" he said, but she didn't respond at first. "Flay!"

This finally caught her attention as she finally tore her eyes away from the screen "Wha… what?" She asked.

"Come on, Rutia has something we need to see at Sickbay." Jaden said, nodding his head towards the turbolift.

All of them entered sickbay, seeing Rutia in a 2366-71 uniform and a blue overcoat. "Changed your uniform?"

"Doctor Crusher was a bit of an inspiration." Rutia said with a shrug, "Take a look at this." She pulled up a file. "These are brainwave scans of the queen bitch that Admiral Yagami sent over. Look familiar to any of you?"

Jaden took a look at them. "Actually… they kinda look… like…" he began to say, before his eyes widened slightly. "Saren's… oh shit…"

"Fucking bitch is indoctrinated?" Ron asked. "How the fuck did that happen?"

"Historical files show that she always carried some trinket with her at all times during WW3." She pulled up the file, and the image clearly showed something not of Earth origin around her neck. Or native universe origin.

"It looks like a Reaper artifact… only way smaller," Jaden said, before he sighed. "Well… if the Enterprise-B could end up in our universe, its not impossible to believe something from our universe ended up in yours somehow."

"This was taken four centuries ago," Rutia said. "How the hell did that end up here?"

"The same way the B ended up in their universe: inter-universal time travel."

Jaden blinked "Huh?"

"Commander Takeo, how much do you know about time travel?"

"Only that it's impossible and…" he looked at Ron, before he noticed the gleam in his eye and groaned. "Oh for the love of… You've got fucking TIME TRAVEL, TOO?!"

"Yup. and the first ship to do it successfully was-"

"The fucking Enterprise! Is there anything that ship HASN'T done first?!"

"It didn't discover the Bajoran wormhole and didn't get sent into the Delta Quadrant. It's likely the B ended up going back in time first, then into the alternate universe-"

"Almost like the Enterprise-C…"

All eyes turned to Flay. "Commander. Explain. Now."

"Most people don't realize it, but the Enterprise-C also time-traveled," Flay said. "While records are sketchy, what we know is that the Enterprise-C took a torpedo hit during the Narendra battle, and then almost immediately the crew numbers reduced drastically, with Captain Rachel Garrett missing, and the ship's helmsman in charge. It's believed that they traveled to the future, because their new Tactical Officer technically hadn't been born yet, and that they visited an alternate timeline because in this timeline, said Tactical Officer died in 2364, with no possible way of having it be a time-travel incident mistaken as a death."

"Who was the officer?" Takeshi asked.

"Lieutenant Tasha Yar, who was chief of security on the Enterprise-D at the time of her death," Flay informed. "The alternate Tasha, from what we can gather, was captured by the Romulans, and one of the Romulans took her as a consort. She tried escaping, but her young daughter, who she'd tried taking with her, gave her position away, and she was captured and killed. The daughter survived, though, and actually became quite famous, not just in the Star Empire, but the rest of the galaxy."

"Really?" Linda asked. "Who?"

Flay sent an amused smirk at Ron. "He should know," she said. "She had quite the crush on him."

"Oh, God. Sela." Ron walked out of sickbay before the sound of vomiting was heard. "DAMN IT, CAPTAIN!"

"Ok, moving on." Rutia said, "A Reaper artifact ended up in our universe, on Earth. If a simple trinket could end up here… maybe something else did, too."

"You mean something like a full-scale Reaper?" Jaden asked.

"Only one way to find out. as soon as the boss stops puking, we're going to find that bitch and we're going to put her down." Another retch was heard. "THAT'S NEVER COMING OUT!"

USS Wolfram

Hayate sat in her ready room, thinking over what to do next. The ship currently sat under cloak, the rest of her personal task group cloaked and hiding nearby.

"It took a fair bit of doing, but we've narrowed Cain's location down to the Defera sector, Admiral. The Quran is in high orbit of the planetoid the Breen were using for dilithium mining operations," her XO said.

"Until the Raging Tempest ruined their day," Hayate replied. "Contact Task force Theta, and bring us in for a closer look." The XO left the ready room, and Hayate looked over the specs of the Odyssey-Class once again. Without a fleet, cracking it was going to be difficult. 'Best to keep trying.'

The Wolfram arrived in the system 15 hours later, and in orbit were the Quran and a sizable fleet of ships: all of non-Starfleet build. One of them stood out, however.

"That looks like that Reaper from Flay's report," Hayate muttered.

"The vessel is 95% identical to the 'Reaper' Sovereign, with minor details. however, the vessel has been… upgraded."

"Upgraded?"

"Low-powered deflector shields, the main weapon has been converted into a direct-energy beam array. The vessel is a match for an Ambassador-Class starship."

"This is not good," Hayate remarked. "Inform the Arthra that we may have need of the Susanoo cannon."

"Understood," her Comm Officer said.

"The Reaper has been heavily reinforced," the operator said. "It appears to have taken a great deal of battle damage, and… Admiral, the weapons signatures are Starfleet."

"What?"

"The patterns are quite clear. And they match one ship in particular."

"What?" Hayate asked, though she had a rather good idea…

"Excelsior-Class. Registry NCC-1701-B." The Enterprise-B fought the Reaper.

"So… now we know the whole tale of what happened to the Enterprise-B," Hayate remarked. "Let's make sure it doesn't indoctrinate anyone else."

USS Ra-Cailum

The fleet were charging into Deferian space at maximum warp, led by the Enterprise-F, with the Ra-Cailum trailing behind by only 300 meters. "The Wolfram has confirmed the presence of the Quran and a small fleet of ships, likely rogue operatives of Section 31," Ron said. "The Enterprise, Ra-Cailum and Raging Tempest will have to handle the Quran, Captain."

On screen, the Andorian captain of the Enterprise was forced to agree. "Three targets will make this easier. Anything else?"

"Reports that a Reaper was sighted with the fleet. We're going to have a bit of fun with this one."

"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Not to mention the odds that anyone who's part of that fleet are Indoctrinated just jumped considerably."

"Commander Takeo, I'd like to know your thoughts on this matter," Shon said. "We ARE fighting something from your universe, after all."

"Normally, I'd say you'd have no problem with your tech," Jaden said. "Sovereign was very powerful, but even it couldn't amount to the firepower brought against it during the Battle for the Citadel. If it was an ordinary reaper that would remain the same… however it's obvious that this Reaper has received upgrades to keep up with the standards of this universe's technology tree…"

"Element zero doesn't have the same power output our ships do." Ron said, "Upgrades or not, we'll kill the damn thing. Come hell or high water." He looked to Corpsa. "Battle stations. Sound the alert." The bridge darkened, and the red lights went off, as well as alarms. "We march to war."

USS Quran

"I certainly hope you're ready," Cain said, as before her was the crimson red hologram of the very Reaper outside with her fleet. "It will only be a matter of time before someone finds us here."

"WE SHALL NOT DWELL HERE FOR LONG," The Reaper said in their all-too familiar tone. "I INTEND TO FULLY UPHOLD THE DEBT I OWE YOU, CAIN."

Cain smirked slightly "I simply did what Starfleet always does - help those in need," she said. "You were damaged, and we repaired you, and made you better than ever. And your… indoctrination technology has more than helped weed out any traitors among the fleet… and bring them to our cause. Section 31 will soon be a thing of the past."

"ONCE I RETURN TO MY KIND, MY UPGRADES WILL BE INTEGRATED ACROSS THE REAPER FLEET," the Reaper said. "IT MAY DELAY OUR ARRIVAL TO THE GALAXY YOU HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH, BUT THE END RESULT WILL BE THE SAME. THE CYCLE CANNOT BE BROKEN, AND YOU AND THOSE LOYAL TO YOU, CAIN, SHALL ACHIEVE THE SAME ASCENSION I HAVE. "

"Admiral! We have a fleet inbound on sensors!" Another crewman shouted, "Three ships confirmed: Raging Tempest, Ra-Cailum and Enterprise, along with a large part of Task Force Omega!"

"The Klingons and romulans don't want us to destroy Section 31?" Cain asked in confusion, "That doesn't make any sense. We're HELPING them."

"Ships are dropping out of warp now!" A few moments after that was said, the Raging Tempest, Ra-Cailum and Enterprise dropped out, shortly behind them was the Ex-Cerberus vessel Hercules now repaired from the battle with Gendo, and an Ambassador-class, a Constitution-class, and a Nebula-class.

"Shon, Yamato, and Pinkerton." Cain muttered, "Why can't you UNDERSTAND?!"

"Quran, this is the Enterprise," Shon informed. "We know what you're really planning to do, and we cannot let you do it. Stand down and prepare to be boarded."

"DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM, CAIN," the Reaper said. "YOU ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING. WE MUST GO."

"Activate the deflector!" Cain ordered "We need to get into the other universe! Prepare the fleet!"

"Ma'am, we've got additional ships appearing on sensors!" The sensors officer announced. "Identifying… twenty two ships! I'm getting Transponders from Admiral Greenlaw's 9th Fleet!"

A few moments after that announcement, there was a voice on the comm's "This is Vice Admiral Andrew Greenlaw, of the Anti-Section 31 Task Force." A voice called out, "I am ordering Task Force Omega to stand down, and to turn over any members of Section 31 among your crews! Failure to comply will result in us using lethal force!"

"This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Ra-Cailum," Ron said over the comms. "Admiral Cain is attempting to assist a galaxy-ending force and is using Section 31 as an excuse! See reason, damn it! Cain is trying to KILL US ALL!"

"Admiral Cain has exposed an organization embedded deep within the Federation that has broken the Prime Directive several times, and has gone unpunished!" Admiral Greenlaw announced. "The President has officially disavowed Section 31. Now I am ordering you as your superior officer to STAND DOWN."

"My orders come from the President himself!" Ron shouted,"Either you stand down, Admiral, or consider yourself a rogue entity to Starfleet!"

"Don't listen to him Admiral, this must be done." Cain said, "Captain Pinkerton and his associates are trying to protect members of S31 onboard their ships. This must be done to save the Federation before S31 kills it from the inside."

"We know, and we understand." Greenlaw said, as their vessels dropped out of warp, as twenty two vessels appeared from warp, escort vessels, cruisers and battleships all surrounding a single Galaxy-class Heavy Cruiser, the USS Alexandria. "All ships, support Rear Admiral Cain's fleet! Shoot to kill!"

USS Raging Tempest

The last time Starfleet ships were shooting at Starfleet ships was back in 2372, when the Lakota tried to stop the Defiant. This was not going to end as bloodlessly.

"Tholra, I want the cannons on Scatter Volley Mode," Takeshi ordered as he vectored in on the Alexandria's fleet. "We do one pass on the Alexandria's group, then go after the Reaper. No matter what, that thing cannot make it back to its home universe to pass on its upgrades to the other Reapers."

"Understood, Captain," Tholra replied.

Takeshi opened up with the cannons, a cone of fire hitting all the ships of the Anti-Section-31 Taskforce as the Raging Tempest flew straight down the middle at high speed. Most of the ships simply lost shield strength, though some of the Saber-Class variants took hull hits, and a pair of Mirandas actually took critical damage and exploded before the Sao Paulo-Class ship shot out the other end, before adjusting course to attack the Reaper.

The Reaper, however, survived the attack due to the upgrades, and charged at the second largest ship in the fleet: the Ra-Cailum. It appeared that the Reaper was NOT happy with Ron for killing Sovereign.

"Sir, the Alexandria is targeting us!" Kim reported.

"Much as I don't want to do this, they're leaving us no choice," Takeshi remarked. "Tholra, Rapid Fire Mode on the cannons, and ready a volley of Quantum Torpedoes, Maximum Yield."

"Aye, Captain," Tholra replied as Takeshi angled in on the Galaxy-Class vessel.

The cannons fired off a massive volley of bolts, tearing holes in the Alexandria's shields and blasting into the hull, before four Quantum Torpedoes flew through those same holes, the first slamming into the underside of the saucer, hitting the Captain's Yacht, the second hitting the neck of the ship, the third blasting a hole in the main deflector, and the fourth flying through that hole… to hit the Warp Core.

The Galaxy-class ship exploded much like her elder sister, the Enterprise-D. There was no cheering from the crew. This was simple blue on blue: they knew everyone they were killing.

USS Ra-Cailum

"There are days I HATE these idiots!" Ron shouted, "Jaden, how's your piloting abilities?"

"One of the best actually," Jaden said. "Shuttles, Dropships, Mechs, Fighters, even starships. Give me a minute or two to familiarize myself with the controls and I can pilot it easy. Why?"

"Your ass, shuttlebay one, NOW! There's a flight of Peregrines down there waiting for a commander! GO!" Before Jaden left the bridge, Ron cast a glare at Flay. "YOU, with him, NOW! Peregrines are twin-seaters!"

"R-Right," Flay said, not wanting to anger the Captain any more than she already had in the last few days as she followed Jaden towards the lift.

"I assume you know how to command a squadron of fighters?" Flay asked.

"Oh, yeah." Jaden said nodding, "Had to do it a few times in the past." The two entered the lift, and down they went, arriving in the bay a moment later. "Never flown one of these 'Peregrines' before… should be interesting at the very least."

Flay ran toward one of the craft he saw earlier, climbing into the co-pilot's seat. "Starfleet actually had two roles for these things when they were designed, you know."

"Yeah? What were they?" Jaden asked as he closed the door, and took a seat next to Flay before he began working with the controls.

"They were maneuverable enough to be used as fighters, which was a good idea at the time they were designed: we just made first contact with the Cardassians, who were rather… violent." She said. "Another role, the one they were used in the most, was an armed light courier. Kind of ironic, seeing as the Bf 109 was called a 'courier' plane early in its' career."

Jaden chuckled a bit. "Yeah, and it looks like the Federation relearned the same lesson from WWII in the pacific." he said. "Big ships are fine, but Fighters and Bombers could easily change the tide of a battle. As much as I love old WWII battleships like the Yamato, it was brought down by fast moving dive-bombers. In fact during the First Contact War, the Turians never developed a carrier-type vessel until the Alliance first used them to deploy swarms of fighters, bombers and interceptors, playing a key role in their defeat. Since then, the Turians have been making Carriers, and the Alliance has been constructing more Carriers as much as they could."

Flay rose an eyebrow at that. "Doesn't the Farixen Treaty prevent that?" She asked, but Jaden chuckled.

"Like I said, the council had never imagined the existence of Carriers before," he said, as the Peregrine powered up, "The Treaty only identified Dreadnought-type vessels at a ratio of 5:3:1, meaning for every five Dreadnoughts the Turians have, the Asari and Salarians are allowed three, and all other council races are allowed one. However, the construction of carriers are not included in the treaty, so there were no legal limits upon building any number of carriers for any race. And the System's Alliance has exploited the hell out of that weakness. They have about as many carriers as the Turian's have Dreadnoughts."

He then activated the Comm. "Alright people, let's get going here!" he said. "Ron's given me command of your squadron, and considering just how crazy the rest of the Ra-Cailum's crew is, I expect just as much crazy from you!"

"Edge, copy. I'll be your number two, Commander."

"Berserker here, uh, Commander Takeo?"

"Shinji, relax!"

"This is Pinkerton! All fighters, get the hell out there!" The bay doors opened, and the 50 or so Peregrines launched out from the bay, followed by the nearly 70 from the secondary bay, plus a modified Geth fighter.

"That's a lot of fighters." Jaden muttered.

"If you think THAT'S a lot, try serving on an Atrox," Flay said. "Those things can carry THOUSANDS of Stalker fighters, plus whatever else they're carrying at the time." The fighter banked, allowing them a hell of a view of the Reaper engaging the Ra-Cailum.

"This should be interesting…" Jaden muttered, before he banked the Fighter right to avoid being shot by an enemy Peregrine Fighter. "Alright, let's keep the small fries off of the Ra Cailum!"

This would be known as the first shots in the Reaper war, and would be known as the Battle of Hannibal to later generations.

USS Enterprise-F

The Quran was a bit of a problem, but seeing as they had a large number of ships to keep the massive enemy fleet off their asses, the Enterprise had a chance to prove that she was better than her sister in combat. 'I just wish it was on friendlier terms.' The Chang and Eofelius were keeping the fighters launched from the only two carriers in the fleet - both Akira-Class - from doing anything to the Enterprise, and the surprise from the Ra-Cailum (seriously, that son of a bitch outfit his ship to be a heavy fighter carrier?) were keeping the rest of the fleet from actively supporting the Quran. As such, the S31 Odyssey was going down.

Especially since two other famous warships entered the fight on the Enterprise's side - the IKS Bortasqu' and RRW Llieset.

The Klingon dreadnought battlecruiser fired on the S31 Odyssey, with Koren screaming over the comm about Cain being… well, it was not polite enough to repeat. Jarok was just quiet, clearly reminded of her father's defection to the Federation.

But the Odyssey-Class was designed to absorb the punishment the three ships were unleashing on the Quran.

"Just die already!" Koren yelled.

"Admiral Cain, stand down!" Jarok said more politely. "I am not fond of attacking my allies!"

"And let you use Section 31 to control the Federation?!" Cain yelled. "Not happening!"

"You stupid bitch, we know you're Section 31!" Koren yelled. "You're not fooling anyone!" The Quran lashed out at the Enterprise, but the new Aquarius escort and the Hoh'Sus BoP from the Bortasqu' returned the favor, and the Quran's shields finally fell. "Time to see how much punishment your ship can take without your shields, you hypocritical Qu!"

All three ships poured fire into the Quran, with the Bortasqu' unleashing the deadly force of its Disruptor Autocannon, tearing massive holes into the hull and even shearing off the starboard warp nacelle.

"Massive energy spike! She's opening a rift into the other universe!"

USS Ra-Cailum

"DIE, YOU FUCKING REAPER!" The duel between the Ra-Cailum and the Reaper had lasted too long for all their tastes: Ron wanted it dead NOW. "Quantum torpedoes, dispersal pattern Sierra! Kill that Reaper!" Five torpedoes launched from the under-saucer launcher, hitting the Reaper's weak deflector shields and downing the kinetic barriers, ripping off a tendril.

"Sir, the Reaper's heading for the rift!"

"Stop him!"

The Raging Tempest added its own firepower into the mix, dealing more damage, and tearing massive rents into the hull, but the Reaper still managed to make it into the rift - though, given the level of damage it had taken, it was questionable as to whether any of the upgrades it had received were still intact.

"Captain, the Quran is heading for the rift! She's taken heavy damage, shields are gone, and she's under escort by several Miranda and Saber-class ships plus some Breen ones!"

"Pick them off one by one! We can't let her go! Jaden, if you can hear me, target the impulse drive! Use your torpedoes and overload them! It'll trigger an overload!"

"I'm trying, but they've put up one hell of a Fighter screen!" Jaden shouted, as his Peregrine dueled it out with a Squadron of enemy Peregrine's, his Phasers blasting another out into dust. "I can't get a solid lock long enough! Shit, Flay, Shields!" Their Peregrine's shields took a hit from enemy phaser fire, but was otherwise undamaged.

One of the four Mirandas was hacked in half by the Llieset, and another destroyed outright by the Enterprise while three of the Sabers were blown to hell by the Bortasqu', with the Breen ships damaged beyond repair. But they drifted through the rift, along with the intact Starfleet ships… and the Quran. "Damn it!"

"Damnit, they're all retreating through the rift!" Jaden shouted, as whatever ships that were left of Cain and Greenlaw's fleets moved through the rift, escaping the task force. "Someone do something, damnit!" However before anyone could do anything, the last vessel soared through the rift, and it immediately closed behind them.

"FUCK!"

Corpsa shook her head. "Sir, those ships were so badly damaged, they can't repair themselves - even if they pool their resources. They're dead."

"And the Reaper?"

"I don't know. But I don't think we've seen the last of that thing, Captain."

Beyond the galaxy

A hole in space opened and closed, with a cuttlefish-shaped ship emerging from the rift. "BROTHER. WE HAVE MISSED YOU. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" The largest of its' kind approached the hurt Reaper. Its' name was Harbinger.

"HELLO, ELDEST. I HAVE BEEN… ELSEWHERE." Ascension said. "ANOTHER UNIVERSE… NOT UNLIKE OUR OWN."

"INDEED, WE HAVE RECENTLY DISCOVERED THIS UNIVERSE, AS WELL," Harbinger said. "THEY ARE FROM OUTSIDE THE CYCLE… BUT THEY SHALL NOT BREAK IT."

"OF COURSE," Ascension replied. "I BRING TECHNOLOGY FROM THIS UNIVERSE, MUCH WAS DAMAGED DURING MY ESCAPE, BUT IT MAY STILL BE OF USE."

"THE CYCLE WAS IN DANGER. YOU HAVE RESCUED IT FROM PERHAPS CERTAIN DOOM." The eldest Reaper sent a message into the milky way. The Federation was on the lower end of their priorities now. The biggest problem was the human. Shepard.

USS Ra-Cailum

"The President is going to be pissed."

"Pissed is an understatement." 32 ships lost, almost 11000 lives gone, and Cain was still out there. "This is the worst debacle since Wolf 359!"

"Not to mention that Reaper got away," Takeshi remarked. "Hopefully we disabled most of its upgrades to the point where they can't be shared with the other Reapers, but no way to know for sure."

Sonja walked onto the bridge. "I have good news for all."

"And that would be?"

"That even if Cain wanted to upgrade that Reaper to the level of a modern ship like ours, she wouldn't be able to."

"And why's that?" Jaden asked. "We saw that Reaper clearly was using Federation technology and shields."

"Remember what Sovereign said? 'We are the apex of evolution' or some such nonsense?" Sonja said. "He was right." She pulled up scans of the Reaper, showing that the upgrades were not as extensive as they could have been. The reason was simple: the frame wasn't designed to take the technology. "Reapers are built to a design standard: no variation at all. Cain could only bring it up to 2340s standards. That's as far as existing Reapers can go."

"Like trying to mount a railgun to a schooner: not only is it impractical, it just won't work."

"Exactly. A few design changes to NEW Reapers, should they decide to build more, would make them as capable as Galaxy-Class ships, but… the Reapers are at their apex. They can't go any further."

"That's good… but then what happens when they create a totally new Reaper?" Jaden asked. "One designed from the ground up to sustain your technology?"

"Then we'd have a problem, but it would take a long time to actually make a new reaper." Sonja said, "We have time, and the Reapers don't have access to, well, the most modern of our tech. According to the scans, this shit was out of date 60 years ago. She had to grab out of date equipment."

"Out of date or not, it's enough to overwhelm the Council races." All eyes turned to Flay, who entered the bridge. "I've informed the President. Despite the… situation, he and the Federation council have decided to allow the Asari to join the Federation."

"Good to hear," Takeshi replied. "And what about your situation?"

Flay sighed, shaking her head. "It… it could be worse I suppose… but it's still not good," she said. "The President has had to officially disavow Section 31, declaring them as a rogue faction in the Federation or else risk a lot of political backlash from… well everyone. He's doing what he can, but… a lot of fleets are being formed by Admirals to follow Cain's leads, hunting down the Section 31 members and installations she's listed."

"Are you feeling alright, though?" Jaden asked.

Again, Flay sighed. "Aside from the fact I feel as if the world is crumbling around me... I'm alive I suppose." She said.

"I hope the President is going to stop the idiots from being idiots."

"He has ordered Admiral Quinn to tell them to stand down and RTB, but a few of the morons won't listen. Luckily, we have a few friends to make THEM stand down."

"I doubt they'll like the Klingons or the Republic breathing down their necks," Ron said. "Riza, take us back to Earth. We have a transwarp network to set up on the other side."

Riza, sitting at the conn, nodded. "Aye, sir."

"And contact Shepard. Tell her we have a problem."

SSV Normandy

"Disengaging FTL Drives," Joker reported as the Normandy entered another system. "Emission Sinks active. Board is green, we are running silent."

"This is a waste of time," Pressly remarked. "Four days running up and down this sector and we still haven't found any sign of Geth activity. The Raging Tempest and Ra-Cailum practically wiped out that one group back at the Citadel, and from what we've heard from his trip to Rannoch, that was a splinter group, with most of them just wanting to be treated as equals."

Joker shrugged. "Three ships disappeared here in the past month," he pointed out. "SOMETHING happened to them."

"My bet's on slavers," Pressly informed. "The Terminus Systems are crawling with them, and not every Batarian has been assimilated by the Borg yet."

"Picking up something on the Long-Range Scanner," an ensign informed. "Unidentified vessel. Looks like a cruiser."

"Doesn't match any known signatures," Joker remarked.

The massive ship changed course to intercept the Normandy, and if anyone was looking aftward, they would have seen the ship's termite mound-like form. "Cruiser is changing course," the ensign informed. "Now on interception trajectory."

"That's impossible," Pressly exclaimed. "The stealth systems are engaged! There's no way a Geth ship-"

"It's not the Geth and it's not Borg," Joker realized. "BRACE FOR EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"

The ship fired a large beam at the Normandy, and while Joker avoided it for the most part, they still got clipped. Pressly got caught by an exploding console and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"Pressly!" The opposite console exploded, killing the ensign instantly.

"Kinetic barriers are down, not that they're useful," Joker reported. "Multiple hull breaches and weapons offline! Someone get that fire out!"

The cruiser fired again, hitting the starboard thrusters, causing heavy damage as everyone ran to the escape pods. The Normandy was practically doomed, but Joker kept fighting to give her crew a fighting chance to live.

Ashley and Hitomi ran up to Shepard, who was busy securing her helmet to her armor. "Nicole!" Hitomi called out.

"Distress beacon ready for launch," Shepard informed.

"You think help's going to get here in time?" Ashley asked.

"The Alliance won't abandon us, but I doubt they'll get here in time," Shepard replied. "Get everyone to the escape pods."

"Joker's still in the cockpit," Ashley informed. "He won't evacuate."

"And I'm not leaving, either," Hitomi added. "Not without you, Nicole."

Shepard sighed as she pulled out a fire extinguisher, putting out several fires before tossing it aside. "Ashley, I need you and Kaiden to get everyone to the escape pods!" she said. "Hitomi, we'll get Joker."

"Got it," Ashley replied. "See you on the other side."

Both Spectres ran from the aft compartment, making their way to the cockpit.

"Everybody in!" Ashley called out as she and Kaidan ushered people into a pod. "Go, go, go!"

People leapt in and secured their restraints, Ashley and Kaidan being the last ones in before the pod sealed itself and launched.

The Normandy was in ruins. 40% of the frigate was exposed to space, and what wasn't was badly burned and scarred by the beam weapon. It had been intended for the Normandy to be refit with prototype deflector shielding (developed after a LOT of reports were given to the boys at Alliance R&D) after she returned to Earth, but now they weren't going to get the chance. The two Spectres reached the cockpit, finding Joker wearing a simple helmet and STILL at the helm. "Joker, we've got to go!" Shepard yelled.

"No!" Joker cried out. "I can still save her!"

"Save WHAT?!" Hitomi snapped. "The Normandy's gone! Even Starfleet wouldn't be able to rebuild her!"

"…Yeah, okay," Joker replied after a moment. "Come on, help me up." The two Spectres lifted him out of the seat… "They're coming around for another attack!" Joker yelled out in warning as he saw it.

This one actually hacked the Normandy in two, throwing Joker into the pod. "Commander! Lieutenant!" he yelled.

The hatch closed and the pod launched, with both Spectres still on board the dead ship.

"Well, fuck," he muttered.

The Normandy exploded, sending them flying from the wreck with breached suits. In full view of the crew.

Help arrived, albeit too late, seconds after the death of the stealth ship in the form of an Ambassador-Class starship: the USS Ayalde NCC-89164.

It saw the cruiser and fired on it, using its' phasers to try and avenge the Normandy, but the ship was already retreating.

Shepard and Hitomi managed to make their way to each other, sharing what would most likely be their final embrace, as the Ayalde recovered the escape pods.

The Ambassador-Class ship moved past the pair as their lives ended, as it jumped to warp. It would be the last thing, other than each other, that they would ever see. Oblivion claimed them moments later.

USS Raging Tempest

Takeshi's eyes were wide as he looked over the message they had just received from the other universe.

The Normandy was destroyed, and Shepard and Hitomi were among those killed.

"No… way…" Linda breathed.

The Ayalde, one of the ships that had volunteered to patrol the Terminus systems at the behest of the Systems Alliance, had sent the report in of an unidentified ship, using a 2190s-era power level beam weapon to destroy the ship, then retreated when the more powerful Ambassador-Class ship threatened to destroy it.

"I can't believe it," Takeshi muttered. "Shepard's… gone… Hitomi, too…"

The Ra-Cailum, which was visible on screen, had gone into radio silence. That only happened, Takeshi had discovered, when Ron was VERY pissed off. They were heading back to Earth for reassignment. Likely, Ron was heading into the other universe.

"Well, we all go where we're told," Takeshi muttered to himself as he prepared to steer the ship back to Earth to receive whatever assignment he'd gotten. "However, if I run into the ship that killed my alternate-universe twin and her wife, I won't hesitate. Hitomi… Shepard… rest in peace."

Both ships jumped to warp, headed for Earth. A new war was about to be fought.

Ron the True Fan: And we just upped the difficulty slider. (Finds the ME3 slider and sets it to Kobayashi Maru)

Takeshi Yamato: The Normandy's Destruction was pretty much the same as in the original Crossover, just a few changes to dialogues and descriptions. Still, we've had quite a few changes elsewhere.

Ron the True Fan: Use what you got. Jorn's MIA for ending notes, so

Ja Ne!