Thraak made his way up to the medbay, leaving the others to clean up the mess in the cargo hold.

Laying the unconscious Salarian on a cot, he tightened restraints around the frail body. "That should hold you" he muttered. "Eva, start a full body scan"

"At once, Doctor" Eva responded as the robotic medical scanner came to life and hovered over the patient.

As the scanner worked, he prepared bandages for any wounds the Salarian suffered from the gun shots. He walked over to inspect the injuries, lifting up the Salarian's leg gently.

"What the..."

"Scan complete" Eva informed him as the scanner returned to its bay. He dropped the bandages on the bed and sat down at his terminal to read the results of the scan. He quickly scanned the results, then reread them, not believing his eyes.

"Matt, you need to see this. Now" He called over the intercom..

"What do we have?" Matt asked as he entered the med bay, Jack and Dahlie following him in.

"You ready for this?" Thraak asked? "He made it through the containment field because He's not organic, exactly."

"What do you mean? An AI? Cyborg?" Matt glanced at the Salarian.

"No, I mean every cell in his body is organic, except... not. I can't explain it. These aren't like any cells I've ever seen. " The krogan sighed an rubbed his face. "I mean, all his organs are there, and appear to be functioning as you'd expect a Salarian organ to function, but the cells.. appear to be enhanced. like parts of a organic computer.. His blood appears to be mostly nanobots, performing the functions associated with normal blood, except they appear to be able to communicate."

"Captain, his brain appears to be controlling every cell in his body separately, like they are client subprocessors to the brain's mainframe processor." Eva said, attempting to analyze the findings.

"Are you saying that thing is a husk?" Dahlie asked, an edge to her voice.

"No, no, the husks we found were cybernetic abominations, not able to function at anything but a base feral level. Metal cybernetics grafted onto them to replace living parts. Controlled from outside, presumably by the Reapers. This. This is something else entirely. His body can heal at an amazing rate too, he's almost healed where you shot his leg."

"It's called The Gift." The salarian replied, weakly, attempting to raise his head. "The Shepards gift to all Organics and Synthetics." He coughed. "I'd really like to know how you don't know this though. Even those from the Core know this."

Matt looked up at the Salarian, walking over to stand near the cot. "What's your name? We want to help you."

"Ked'hasser, merchant trader. Ship attacked by your kind. " he replied accusingly. "I barely made it to an escape pod. Where am I?"

"On our ship. We are explorers. " Matt hesitated. "From Andromeda. Our people left this galaxy a thousand years ago, to escape the Reapers. We have come back to find out what happened, if the reapers were defeated. We know nothing about a 'gift', nor have we attacked anyone. "

The Salarian made to laugh, but ended up coughing. "How gullible do you think I am? Andromeda? That would take centuries to travel to, even if we had the technology. Who are you really? You are plainly Human, Asari, Krogan, but you don't appear to have the Gift. The only possibility is you are raiders from the Core. "

"Eva, play some historical records from the ArkCon project ."

A holographic display appeared at the foot of the bed. Clips appeared showing the building of the Ark fleet, organized in secret by wealthy investors who took Shepards warnings seriously. Thousands of Humans, Asari, Turians, Krogans and Salarians were shown put in stasis pods and placed on Ark ships. The fleet was shown entering an wormhole, then scenes of each race founding colonies in the new galaxy.

Ked'hasser took it all in, silently, letting it sink in. "Well.." he started, after the clips ended. "That was either quite an elaborate ruse, or you are telling the truth. We had no idea. Welcome.. back? I guess?"

Matt smiled. "Thanks, now can you tell us what you are exactly, and what's going on here?"

"What I am," The Salarian frowned at Matt, "is a Salarian. As the good Doctor observed, I am, as well as every organic and synthetic lifeform in the galaxy, Gifted. Some call it Synth. What you are, are 'Giftless". At least that's what the Galaxy at large will consider you. No offense."

"Why would we take offense?" Dalie asked.

The Salarian looked Dahlie up and down. " An Asari commando. Remarkable. It's like you stepped out of the history books. You should take offense, my dear, because, at least in this galaxy, your kind are known as criminal scum, raiders and degenerates.. " Dahlie's eyes narrowed at that.

"OK," Matt interrupted. "Can you start form the beginning? What happened in the Reaper War, and what turned you into these 'Gifted'?"

"I'm no historian, but I'll tell you what I was taught." The Salarian began. "But how about first you undo these restraints and let me sit up. I'm no danger to you. I'm sure the Commando here would be able to take me down without too much trouble."

"After years of rumour, and dismissal, the Reapers arrived. They quickly destroyed the Baterian Hegemony and made for Earth. They were everything The Shepard had warned us about and more, They soon advanced on Earth," he nodded at Matt and Jack, "and other worlds in the galaxy after that. Thessia fell, Palaven nearly destroyed, Tuchanka and Sur'kesh threatened."

"As the tales go, The Shepard gathered a mighty fleet and advanced on Earth, where the Reapers ere mostly concentrated. The citadel had been moved to Earth orbit for reasons unknown at the time. Details are unclear, however, our saviour was said to have entered the citadel and used a powerful weapon to halt the Reaper advance once and for all."

The crew listened intently. "What did this weapon do?" Matt asked

"It's not known exactly what happened, but a wave of green energy blasted out of the citadel to envelop Earths system, and then spread via mass relay to every other system. Reaper forces collapsed, stopped all hostility, Sentient Organics, and the synthetic Geth throughout the galaxy were changed. It took years for the people of the galaxy to understand or appreciate their Gift. Disease was no more, our bodies became stronger, genetic weakness corrected. Not a single war either, since that day. Peace has reigned for a thousand years. Reapers are now our protectors, guarding every planet with sentient life."

"Wait, Reapers are still around? They weren't defeated?" Jack asked, stunned.

"Yes, they were changed too, you see. As were the geth."

"Quarians created the Geth, correct?" Thraak asked, "Then were almost wiped out?"

"Yes, but they live in peace now."

"Even Krogans?" Thraak asked, dubiously.

"Indeed, as I said, the Galaxy is at peace, thanks to The Shepard's Gift"

"OK, I have to ask, why call her 'The Shepard'" Matt asked. "You are talking about Jane Shepard right, the saviour of the Citadel?"

"Yes, quite, although now she is the saviour off All" Ked bowed his head as if praying.

"You know," Jack replied, smirking, Matt's name is Shepard.

The Salarian opened his eyes wide, and made to bow towards Matt.

Matt sighed and rubbed his eyes, then glared at Jack. "No relation"

"Oh, of course." The Salarian appeared flustered.

"So wait, you said everything was changed? Even plant life, mold? bacteria?"

"Yes, quite so."

"Can we eat the food then?" Matt asked, looking at Thraak.

"I'll look into it, but it should be fine" the krogan replied.

"Now, what's this about the core, and the hostile people there?" Dahlie asked

"Ah yes, you wouldn't know about that. " Ked nodded. It seems as the Gift spread, there were some systems it could not reach, the galaxy core being one. Outside the Core, the Giftless were rounded up and converted. Some.. rebelled. Sinful, evil beings, ungrateful of the Gift being offered."

"Right, I'm sure that was the reason" Jack rolled his eyes.

Ked coughed and continued. "In any case the rebels retreated to the Core systems. It was deemed not worth chasing them down. These days they are tolerated as long as large numbers of them do not leave their home systems."

Ked slumped, looking to doze off. "OK, that's enough for now, he needs rest." Thraak ushered them out of the medbay.

You have no idea how hard it was to describe synthesis. heh.