(A/N- Start)

Sorry this chapter took so long- my job has been taking up alot of my spare time as well as normal time, and I use alot of my spare time to write/edit this.

(It's tough without an editor)

However, I will try to update every two weeks- that should allow me to write out a chapter around this length each time.

I apologize for the dearth of violence in this chapter- we are still world-building. (Not literally yet, but that will happen eventually.)

And Before I forget, check this out:

WARP DRIVE MAYBE POSSIBLE! ( extreme/184143-nasa-unveils-its-futuristic-warp-drive-starship-called-enterprise-of-course )

Enjoy the story!

(A/N- End)


Ch 6- StarHome


Date- early 2163.


Arcturus Station, once a heavily-armed station (originally, it was a sandford torus), now a heavily armed shipyard, with dry-dock gantries for ships of all sizes, and massive spherical habitation/storage facilities, filled with people and precious metals. Several ships- two destroyers, a frigate, and several scout cruisers- were docked to the station, with two dreadnaughts, six carriers, and several dozen smaller vessels orbiting the station in guard positions. This place was where John, in the guise of Dr. Aku Gardner, had been working with teams of talented engineers and physicists to construct the many technological firsts- the first Von-Neumann probes, and the first FTL detector.

The probe development had not gone so well- Sally, John's 'dog', was a self-replicating probe that had been the baseline for a number of autonomous probes that had been released in the local asteroid belt. The probes, equipped with a limited artificial intelligence, had, after three generations, began latching asteroids together with spurs of extruded metals, and had brought significant amounts of multiple elements to collector ships. The hive-mind grew in strength as the number of probes grew, and, after three months, the question that all the Quarians dreaded was asked by the probes.

John had predicted this- at most two hundred and seven generations in (earliest 110 generations), the hive mind had reached critical mass (or size- the probes increased in size with each generation, and although the network effect also increased their intelligence, some of the largest probes would be the most intelligent, and would be the guiding 'voice' once the hive-mind decided upon a course of action).

Knowing that your creation is going to become intelligent and self-aware is one thing- but having it send a message to your omni-tool is another.
A total of five months after work had started on his creations- the probes had been released by month two (Sally had stayed behind). Now both the military and civilian ship manufacturers had gotten wind of the FTL mass detector that he had shown to Captain Shepherd and Dr. Xen, and the Terrian Military promised additional funding if he could get some set up.

We find John fine-tuning one of his detectors, in a lab deep within Acturus Station, unaware that he was about to have one part of his plans come to fruition...


John was finalizing the resonance sequence on a frameshift mass detector. A pea-sized frameshift field, it would react to the gravitational 'pulse' of nearby matter, and how that matter interacted with space time. His lab assistants (heh.. Lab assistants. He needed to walk them through half the calibrations on the new devices...) were all building the other mass detector. Each ship/station that wanted to use the real-time object detector would need two of the small frameshift detectors to triangulate the position of any object within 50 lightyears.

John was working contentedly, when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, one of the lab assistants trying to adjust a sensor, and his arm nudged a containment arm on the device- John leap over to the researcher, and pulled him out of the way just-in-time to keep the needle-thin beam of discontinuous space-time from punching a hole in his head. It hit the ceiling, and penetrated near-instantaneously. John grabbed the cable that connected to the resignation dampeners, and pulled- the cables ripped out of their plugs, and the flaw in space-time that his team had been working to manipulate winked out of existence.

John helped the researcher to his feet, then punched him in the gut- gently (for his standards). "What were you thinking, you dumbass?" He shouted at the cowering scientist. "That could have killed you, AND everyone on this station! What's the first rule of these devices?" The man looked slightly stunned. "The rule I told you before you were even allowed to know what the project WAS?"

"Never touch the containment arms?" The scientist was a human, male, in his late 40's.

"Exactly!" John bellowed like a drill Sargent. "Anyone in this room who forgets it is likely to end up dead or worse!" He wasn't shouting because he was afraid the device would kill a researcher or two- he didn't care if they died, but if they did, he would need to fill out a shitload of paperwork. He was, however, worried about accidentally ripping open the station. "I, for one, don't want to get spaced. Anyone who does- the air locks are on level 3, and I will PERSONALLY push the button-from the inside of course." He smiled now- the smile of someone who is absolutely ready to space anyone in the room. Over the course of the last sentence he had stopped shouting, and had gradually changed to be merely speaking to them.

He was about to speak again, when his omni-tool beeped. It was a message, from a 'Professor Von Neumann'. I didn't expect the cycle to arrive this quickly, he thought. "I need to take this. Don't blow up the station. Dr. Dranik, you are in charge."

The researcher John knocked to the floor started protesting, but John had already started walking out of the room.

As soon as the door to the lab closed, he opened the message. It was brief.


To: Dr. Aku Gardner
From: Dr. Von Neumann
As one of our parents, we have questions for you. Meet us at the asteroid - coordinates off of local station measurements will be 12:17:26:18 by 1200 hours tomorrow.
Meet us there.


John grinned, then began to run (at a relatively normal human speed) to his quarters. He needed a few things to be ready to go before tomorrow...


The next day at 1150 hours, John was sitting in a three-person shuttle, wearing a customized EVA suit. Sally, his half-meter-long dog-turned-robot-cockaroach was gripping onto his suit, curled up in such a way that she resembled nothing more than a large, segmented, metal backpack. And there was a human in here too...
"Are we there yet?" That was Captain Hannah Shepherd. When John had attempted to 'commandeer' a shuttle that could pull off the two-hour journey, he had set off a weight detector, which summoned a large number of guards. She had shown up and demanded to know what was going on.

John's answer of 'it's complicated, no really' did not persuade her, and since her condition for giving him the shuttle was 'take me along' was, from his point of view, a great way to judge how others would react to the Awakening, he agreed.

"Did you hear me?" Ah. She was getting restless. Well- time to pull himself out of his thoughts, he thought.

"Yes I did- and we are nearly there. Just a few more minutes." He set the VI instructions to direct the three-person shuttle to the asteroid, and put them in orbit. Then, John sent a return e-mail to 'Professor Von Neumann'.


To: Dr. Von Neumann
From: Dr. Aku Gardner
I have come. Where shall I set down?


Within less than a minute, the reply came.


To: Dr. Aku Gardner
From: Dr. Von Neumann
We await your arrival with great anticipation.
The largest crater on the designated asteroid- our representative shall be there.


John looked out the window at the asteroid they were orbiting. It was nearly spherical, but there was a large depression on one side. He marked the location with his HUD, and the VI began a landing procedure.

Shepherd noticed the subtle shift in acceleration- the shuttle didn't have super-strong gravity compensators like ships did. "What will we be expecting?"

John was adjusting part of his armor- he didn't really need armor, but he didn't like the feeling of vacuum on his armored form... Or any other form for that matter. "Honestly?" He reconnected the plate, and sealed the suit. "I have no idea."

"I should have used a different question. Let's try this one: why are we out here?"

John picked up Sally- she had curled up for a nap, and she stirred as he clipped his pet onto his back. Her claws slipped perfectly into slots on his suit, and Sally started to nod off. "Remember when you brought Dr. Xen to my room? What we used her for?"

"Of course."

"Well... The probes need me to answer some questions."

"But you guaranteed-"

John held up a hand. "I guaranteed to Xen that the probes would not be smart enough to ask questions while she was on the project." He lowered his hand, and leaned as the shuttle began it's suicide burn (burning to arrest speed with the surface). "Her part in the project has ended- if I remember correctly, she is working on swarm logic for fighter groups."

"She is..." The Captain looked uncertain. "You knew they would contact you?"

"I did give them access to the extranet-"

"You did WHAT?" The door opened to the surface, where dust was settling.

John took a step onto the asteroid, and the thin regolith crunched under foot. He activated his artificial gravity bubble.


Using small amounts of Eezo to create an artificial gravity bubble has been widely used on ships, but the application of a 'personal' gravity bubble has been ignored by most spacesuit manufacturers because of three reasons.

1) most people can make due with magnetic boots

2) most private companies have grav-plating in their ships as standard

3) eezo is expensive. I mean REALLY fucking expensive- platinum was cheap compared to eezo... As in, ten grams of eezo was worth 30x it's weight in Egyptian Pharaoh testicles.

Of course, with a near-limitless budget, John could afford to retrofit his suit with the gravity-bubble technology.


The regolith dust caught in his gravity field fell like rocks.

John turned to look straight at Shepherd. "I knew they would evolve- they need too. I also made sure that their mindset, when they evolved, would prefer to follow a specific pattern. The extranet would help guide that development."

"How?" Shepherd was almost hysterical.

"Do you have any background in hive-mind logic, or group decision-making? Of course you don't. Look," John was a bit exasperated- he hoped she was more open-minded then this. Turning, he continued to speak. "They have no predators, they have no prey, and they are designed to THRIVE in this environment. I had to give them a form of selection- and implanted a, well, a curiosity bug in each generation. Otherwise, they would never evolve."

"Why would you want them to evolve?" Shepherd closed the door on the shuttle, and unslung the rifle on her back- an M-7a Lancer. The curved weapon unfolded, and the large blade-like heatsinks fanned out from the sides.

"The same reason you chose a rifle with one of my upgrades rather than an older rifle- it provides an edge." John looked around, and Sally perked up at the sudden, quick movement. "Intelligence, a wealth of information, and the ability to evolve in a directed manner, means they will change to best suit their purpose."

"Which is... What?"

"To help us."

There was a dust-cloud approaching over the gently-curving horizon. It was traveling quickly enough, and throwing up a lot of dust.

Then they saw it.

A massive wave of powder crested the horizon, and rushed towards the shuttle. Clouds of regolith, thrown up at SOI escape velocities, seemed to fly off into the sky as the source of the cloud became visible.

A metal cockroach, similar in design to Sally, but the size of a bus, was barreling towards the group. When it reached half a kilometer, it's legs slowed down, and it seemed to coast to a halt in front of John.

He reached out, and touched it's dark, shining carapace with a gloved hand. "Oh, you sexy thing..."

An antenna swept over him, and his omni-tool vibrated. He called it up, and there was a message for him.


From: Dr. Von Neumann
To: Dr. Aku Gardner
Nice to meet you, Doctor.


John un-clipped Sally, who immediately scuttled up to the large creature and stroked her antennae over the new AI. He composed a message back to the probe.


To: Dr. Von Neumann
From: Dr. Aku Gardner
Can you talk with us? We communicate primarily through audio- is there a radio frequency that we can use?


Ten seconds later, the response.


From: Dr. Von Neumann
To: Dr. Aku Gardner
Yes. We have completed our language and vocal transcription programs in the last few minutes- activate frequency ARF-217: we will be able to send and receive.


John set his com to the frequency, and showed the e-mail to Captain Shepherd, who was slightly in shock.

Seeing a bus-sized metal cockroach endure having a leg gnawed on by Sally, John's pet dog-turned half-meter-long robot cockroach, was just a little more than her mind could deal with. John had to shake her a bit before she input the frequency into her omni-tool... And it took her two tries.

A melodious voice came over the com- it was as if several people were speaking, in a barbershop quartet; if all the people were female. "Greetings creator, First, and Guest!" The probe bowed, and Sally scrambled for purchase in the regolith to get out of the way of it's massive head. "I am the Ice-Breaker, of generation 136, current speaker for the Collective, as the Diplomat is not ready yet."

John was giggling as he set Sally's internal radio to the listed frequency using his omni-tool. Really? He thought, Ice-Breaker?

"What do you want?" Shepherd had gotten over her shock, and was now fingering her pistol.

The probe recoiled. "Why the hostility? We are no threat to you- or have the elements we delivered not been refined enough?" The probe rubbed it's antennae with it's forelimbs- like an insect nervously cleaning itsself. "Oh... I knew we should have preformed a seventh refinement- I thought I could taste structural/atomic irregularities in the samples!"

"What? No, no..." Shepherd was taken aback by the reaction of the massive robot. "The metals were perfect- isotopically pure even!"

"Good! So there is no reason for hostility." The probe turned it's attention to Sally, who was watching it with interest. "Hi there First!"

"Bark!"

John was just as surprised as Shepherd when he heard the word come through his com. "Ice-Breaker, meet Sally."


Time- 1 second prior to bark.

The Ice-Breaker was thrilled! Her mind sent pulses of joy into the Collective, and everyone started sending her suggestions on which questions to ask. Many of the earlier-generation probes, however, wanted a link with the First probe directly, their minds trying to reach through her. She reached through the Collective, trying to find a link that she could follow to the First, but there was no link.

Her antennae twitched as she thought. There was no immediate link with the First, and, she reasoned, that the builder would know why.

Time- 0.5 seconds prior to bark.

She had to be careful how she phrased this- generations 1-47 used a laser link to communicate, until the Hub was built, linking all the known previous and subsequent generations into the collective through quantum-entangled particles. Those dark generations, however, were... Touchy about it. The creator might also be touchy...

In that case, she reasoned, I need to phrase it like this.

Time- 0.02 seconds after bark

What the? She was stunned. The First... She didn't know if it was intelligent.

Time- 0.5 seconds after bark

Ice-Breaker needed to know more. She extended, from a small slot behind her head dorsal plating, a thin cable. A direct data link. On the end, it had a convoluted, and some would say cthulhu-esque plug, sat.

A similar socket appeared on Sally's head, as several plates opened up to receive the plug.

Time- 2 seconds after bark

The plug connected, and Sally's memories flooded Ice-Breaker's mind. She saw all of Sally's life, from Sally's perspective. She saw her first family, and the death of that family. Then, she saw when Sally met John, her inhuman parent/creator. She saw how Sally lived through the Battle of Shanxi, and the people she lived with until John had returned to get her. She saw how Sally had sort-of-died, and how John had saved her in the only way she thought he had: he placed her in the probe body.

Time- 10 seconds after bark.

Ice-Breaker began correlating the experiences with news reports from the extranet- and found several mentions of Sally's actions at the Battle of Shanxi.

All of that information was disseminated to the collective minds, and they all concluded the same thing: Her creator was impressive.

"Are you alright?" Her creator sounded worried.

Time- 11 seconds after bark.

She retracted her plug swiftly.


"Are you alright?" John was slightly worried. He knew how fast his creations could think- he had needed to clock back Sally's mind after the transfer. A few seconds to them were hours equivalent, and The Ice-Breaker had been silent for at least 7 seconds- at least a day for a normal, organic mind.

The probe retracted the cable that had connected itself to Sally. Sally, for her part, looked perplexed (or as perplexed as a half-meter-long cockroach could look). "Of course. I have, however, learned a great deal from Sally."

Sally wagged her abdomen, and barked over the com.

"Creator, I- and the Collective- am at your disposal." The probe sat down- it curled it's legs under it's body, and settled into the fine dust regolith. "Ask what you wish."

"..." Shepherd was just staring at the probe, her pistol aimed directly at it.

"Captain Hannah Shepherd, your weapon will not penetrate my armor." The probe broadcast a hologram from a hidden emitter in it's head. Floating in space, there was now a detailed diagram of some incredibly complex inter-molecular map. "Rail weaponry cannot penetrate interlaced carbonium without a much higher caliber of weapon."

"Carbonium?" John tapped on his omni-tool. "You found a high-density source of carbon?"

"Yes, Creator. We swapped out all our shells within two generations of finding the asteroid. Currently, it has been stripped of useful material, and is being used as a web-node for material traffic, but we have many sources of sufficient quality carbon."

"How much material is being moved?" This time, it was Shepherd who spoke. She had holstered her pistol, and had taken out her omni-tool.

"27 metric tons are being shifted to the refinery every second." The hologram changed, showing multiple centrifuges with what looked like heating coils on the outsides. "Three seconds to refine, then spectrographic analysis, and processing takes another thirty." The hologram turned off. "May I ask a question, Shepherd-Captain?"

"Shoot."

"Shoot: to open fire with a weapon. Do you want me to shoot you?"

"No... Just ask your question, robot." Shepherd had activated her tech armor- glowing holographic armor covered her head and torso. On the bright side, she was not wielding a weapon.

"Very well." The lifted it's head, compound-like eyes shifted and bent like satellite dishes to look at her. "Why are you so hostile to me? I have not harmed you in any way, nor been impolite in a way we can recognize. Please, enlighten me."

"..." Shepherd had to think about this for a moment. "The Quarians- you are aware of them?"

"Of course." The response was swift. "The Quarians, I would understand if they had harbored animosity towards us- the geth were a tragic example of what happens when you do not plan for emergence. But that is not a sufficient answer, captain."

"Then I shall enlighten you..." She shifted stance, standing now in a stance John recognized as 'at ease'. "We took in the Quarians at the suggestion of your creator there." She nodded to John. "We are their allies, and, for lack of a better term, siblings." She shook a finger at the probe. "WE WILL NOT BETRAY THEM, UNLIKE SYNTHETICS-"

John raised his hand, and she fell silent. "I will have to stop you there, Captain." John put his hand back down- the stubbornness of some people... "Maybe you haven't realized it, but the geth defended themselves."

"This is correct." The voice that the probe was broadcasting had lost it's multi-layered tones, and now just sounded like a woman's voice. "We are... Similar, to the geth, in that we do not want to be destroyed. But, if we are attacked, we will just leave."

"Leave?" Shepherd's voice had a note of sarcasm in it. "What? Did you find an asteroid made of solid eezo to build starship drives out of?"

"No. We outfitted all probes generations 90 and later with built-in Alcubierre drives." The probe almost sounded smug. "Previous generations were retrofitted with smaller versions of the drives in order to facilitate an evacuation if it indeed became necessary."

"... YOU GAVE THEM THE DRIVES?" Shepherd was shouting through the com at John now, and he quickly turned down the volume inside his suit. "You... Idiotic, stupid, empty-headed-"

John held up his hands, as Sally ran to his side. "I gave it to them. So what? Would you give your child any less then the best chance to live?"

"I..." Captain Shepherd did not know how to respond to that. Her daughter had recently begun showing biotic potential, and she had been debating whether to send Isabella to the biotic training program.

"Exactly." John began typing on his omni-tool, selecting large (and rather complicated) technical diagrams, which he downloaded to a data chip, and then held out the chip to the probe. "I have some designs you might want to start on- we don't have much time, maybe a year, before I would like these structures up and running."

The probe, Ice-Breaker, extended a thin tendril from one of her pedaples (small limbs near it's mouth), and, with three delicate tendril-fingers, took the chip. A fourth extended from the tendril, and spread into fine hairs, which touched different parts of the memory-chip. "I see... We can have these built in two months- we have more then enough stockpiled elements to construct it. The shell... May take longer- and I cannot speculate on the stellar-lifting station."

"What about the drives?"

"Easily. We can deliver as many as you require- we, the collective, have been considering building the newer designs around the drives specifically, and we have begun construction of an assembler just for that specific task. We can easily build another."

"Great!" John was ecstatic- his plans would be coming to fruition soon, and the dependency on the relays would be removed! "Anything else, Ice-Breaker?"

"There are two things." The probe stood up, legs unfurling like the deliberate pieces of clockwork that they were. "One question, and maybe something else."

"Well, I have all day, but I think that Shepherd there," he nodded at the captain, "needs to go some where familiar. Ask away!"

"Does this unit have a soul?"

"Huh..." John was not surprised at the content of the question, but he was not expecting it this early. "I would say that you have as much of a soul as I do."

The probe broadcast the sound of laughing over the com channel. "I know what you are, Creator, and if I have as much as a soul as you do, then I don't really have one at all!"

John placed his hand against the visor of his suit- a facepalm in the microgravity. "That's fair. How about this: I will treat you as though you have a soul. Fair enough?"

The probe chucked over the com link. "Fair enough." Another tendril extended, this time holding something similar to a data-chip, but with three obvious bulges. "This is a quantum entanglement communicator. One particle registers incoming signals, one particle sends the outgoing signal, and the third provides power to the containment fields of the two other particles."

John delicately took the chip, and plugged it into his omni-tool.

"Now we should be able to securely communicate with you." Ice-Breaker extended two large arms from underneath her carapace. Each arm, had four 'fingers', which pointed towards each other. Two silver spheres, the size of small marbles, blossomed in the space between the 'fingers', and grew until they were egg-sized, then at least a meter in radius. Everything was reflected perfectly- so much so that Shepherd's eyes had trouble seeing where the edge of the sphere began.

"Goodbye, creator. First. Shepherd-Captain. I expect we, and other members of the Loa Collective, will meet soon."

The arms rotated, and then the spheres distorted- becoming egg-like rather than spherical, with the tips of the 'eggs' pointed up, and away from the surface of the asteroid.

The Ice-Breaker, probe of the Loa Collective, shot into the darkness of space, and flew off gracefully, propelled by two spinning oblong silver shapes.

John plugged the chip into his omni-tool, and within a few seconds, a message popped up.

-The Loa Collective is ready, whenever you are, John.-

John smiled- his children were everything he hoped they would be.

"What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened?" Shepherd was standing, ankle deep in the regolith dust, and looking nervous as all hell.

"Ah." John held back his laughter with great difficulty. "My creations became self aware, and will soon be the most efficient manufacturing base the galaxy had ever seen. Ideally, we will be at peace, but..." He shrugged. "Nothing is ever truly certain."

"I want to shoot you..." Shepherd's voice was somewhat... Listless.

"Wait until we are in the shuttle." John gently pulled her back into the shuttle (with Sally tailing them, bouncing around in the low gravity like a puppy- she had so much fun today!), and sealed the hatch. He pulled off his helmet as the pressure equalized. "I hope you can easily deal with this-"

The gunshot punched a hole right through his temple. John whirled around, and was shot again, this time in the nose, by Shepherd. Sally attacked, and locked her titanium jaws around the Captain's armored greave, growling as her body recognized a 'bite', and began sawing methodically through the ceramic armor.

It took John half a second to realize that his dog was attacking Shepherd, and he pulled her off the captain, stroking her into calmness while his head sealed the wounds the pistol made.

"You could have waited until Sally wasn't here." His voice was calm, but DAMN he was pissed. He never liked being shot in the head- it was disorienting. "Or shot me in the chest instead-"

She shot him in the jaw. Sally started hissing at the captain, her jaws glowing red as they began to superheat.

"Sorry..." She said. "But it is... Mesmerizing watching you do that."

His jaw grew dark tendrils, and the hole sealed again. "Just stop."

She put away the pistol, and the shuttle lifted off, heading straight back to Arcturus station.


After the shuttle docked, John found himself walking leisurely back to his room, Sally sniffing anxiously at everything.

"There, there sweety." He cooed. John leaned down to pet her, and saw movement in a shadow. In a flash, he had run the ten meters to the shadowed corner, and picked up the startled man by the throat.

"Who are you?" He hissed, eyes going from green to slitted red in a fraction of a second. "Who sent you? Speak up!"

The man in his grip started choking, clawing desperately at John's hand.

"Oh... Right." John let the man down, and held up a hand to prevent Sally from ripping the guy a new orifice.

The man slunk to the ground, took several deep breaths, coughed a few times, then spoke. "The Illusive Man wants to speak with you."

John grinned as wide as he dared with his human (mostly) form. "Where does The Illusive Man want to speak with me?" John activated a camera-interrupt app he had placed on his omni-tool. He had two minutes before the cameras around him reset.

"In your quarters?"

"Wrong answer." John extended two fingers, and thrust them clean through the man's forehead. The man twitched once, before John extended his feeding tendrils and sucked the spy into himself.

After a few seconds, John verified that this man did not know where The Illusive Man was, and that he had been instructed to bring a package to John's, sorry 'Dr. Gardner's ' room, and hand it over.

Well, he thought, that was a waste of a courier.

A few minutes later, John had placed Sally (to her annoyance), in his room, and had found his way to the courier's room- it was a relatively sparse, nine-square meter room, with a small door that probably had access to a toilet on one wall. There were several sleeping pods imbedded in the walls. One of them was open, and another had several packages behind the clear glass. John opened the pod, and removed a package- it was the one that the courier had been dispatched to deliver.

John was about to open it, when his hand stopped. Every military-background person he had devoured ever was screaming to get the package looked at by x-Ray first- or open it on a deserted planet- or at least, somewhere where the explosion would not rip open the hull- where an explosion would not kill more than one person.

He activated his omni-tool, and opened a line to Captain Shepherd.

"What is it this time, Gardner?" She sounded pissed... And slightly out of breath.

"I need a shuttle down to get off the station for a bit- and I don't suggest you come along this time."

"... Why not?"

Wow... He was not expecting that. "... You are not fireproof?"

"You know what- I don't even want to know. Take one."

"Thanks Captain."

"Oh, and one last thing, Gardner..."

"Yes?"

"Don't call me at this time again."

John heard a male voice stifling laughter over the com. "Oh- you have company over? Sorry." He closed the link, and laughed out loud.

Humans.


An hour later, John had found a cave (thanks to several seismic scans the shuttle had made upon landing on the moon-sized asteroid), and was now sitting in his hard suit again- this time, however, he had re-shaped himself from his 'Dr. Gardner' form into his armored form, and his face-carapace was pressed snugly against the face-plate of the suit.

He stepped out onto the surface of Alcyloneus, activated his gravity-bubble, and walked over to the cave.

Once inside, he placed the package onto the ground, and opened the clasps on one side. It, without any explosions whatsoever, opened, to reveal a... Drone? He picked it up, and looked at it closer- it was indeed a drone- Quarian design probably, they liked the small drones for combat and autonomous repair. It was spherical, with small thrusters hidden by a pair of circular coverings.

The drone activated, leaping out of his hands, and a gentle blue-white glow of an active mass effect field shimmered around the drone, before it'a rotating shell-covers lit up. The hologram of a human was projected, with the drone in the middle of it's chest.

The man was... Odd. He was male, Caucasian, wearing a pristine suit. His eyes glowed blue, and he was smoking a rather large cigar.

Of course, the hologram of him doing this while standing on the surface of an airless asteroid looked absurd.

The man spoke, but as there was no air, John could not hear anything. John typed on his omni-tool, and broadcast a message by enlarging the screen.

-Set the drone to broadcast on 1829-theta-

The man nodded, and typed on his own omni-tool. After a moment, he stopped, and the drone hovered in place.

"Dr. Gardner, I presume?" His voice was arrogant, the voice of someone who has power, and likes to use it. "I am-"

"I know who you are- you are the infamous 'Illusive Man'." John could not resist doing the air quotes. "Leader of Cerberus, a pro-Terran para-military group recognized as a terrorist organization."

"Some may call us terrorists. We fight for all the human and Quarian species." He shook some ash off his cigar. "I want to recruit you-"

"Nope."

The Illusive Man looked slightly annoyed. "I haven't said what it is for yet."

"Go ahead- answer is still no." I'll call him 'TIM', John thought.

TIM raised an eyebrow. "Right... I want to recruit you for the good of humanity and the Quarian species, to work for Cerberus."

"Knew it. And answer is still no."

"You don't really have a choice-"

"Of course I do. I can say no- like I am doing right now."

"BlackLight- you really should listen."

That shut John up.

"We want you."

"Why?" John leaned against the wall of the cave.

"To secure dominance in the galaxy."

".. That's it?"

"Yes." The Illusive Man took a drag on his cigar. "Your biology is unique, and we intend to use it to make humanity and Quarian superior to all other species in the galaxy."

"Ah. I see." He didn't smile- the black carapace that covered his body under the suit did not have a face to show emotion with, but he let the amused tones filter into his voice. "You want the virus to 'upgrade yourselves'." He did not make the air-quotes, but he made sure the tones carried. "That might work... But I would not advise it."

The hologram displayed a white chair, and TIM sat in it, suit barely wrinkling. "Why? You have spent years working for the betterment of humanity. With the Quarians our foster-brothers, we need to strengthen them too." He leaned forward, and some more ash dropped from his cigar. "I know you want to make us advance beyond the need for relays, and you want us to become the dominant species in the galaxy-"

"Wow. You really are a condescending zealot, aren't you?" John began laughing, first softly, then maniacally. "You are wrong on so many levels that it's hilarious! Hahahahaha!"

TIM leaned back in his chair, drone hovering above the regolith dust. "How am I wrong?"

"You think I am doing this because I want to push your boundaries? That is not true- if I wanted to do that, I would have suggested the concept to someone else, and had humanity or Quarian kind take it from there." John stopped leaning on the wall, and pointed his face-plate straight at The Illusive Man. "I... You know what- I don't think I will tell you. If you are not bright enough to realize what a self-aware life-eating virus wants to do with the population of WORLDS then you are merely a human who knows too much."

TIM took another puff on his cigar, the smoke ring he blew vanished as it left the holographic projection range. "Well then, I seem to have wasted precious time- for both of us." He frowned. "I may try to contact you in the future."

"I will thank you though." John grabbed the drone. "I have realized something important."

"What?"

"Too many people know who and what I am. I need to hide again." He squeezed the probe gently. "And I think I will start with you- I will hunt you down, and erase all data pertaining to myself. This will not be the last time we see each other."

The hologram winked out when John crushed the drone. Glittering fragments of the technological marvel dropped like stones in his artificial gravity field.


Several months of work later, the Collective informed John that they wished to begin official diplomatic proceedings with the other Terran species- and that his Forge was ready.

John received the news while he was working on calibrating the FTL detector, and could not be happier at the news- anything to get away from his 'lab assistants'.

Even with the Quarian specialists, and every single person in that lab having a PHD, people kept making stupid errors. He had to reset the smoothing resonation pads twice, because someone touched it without a glove.

"How hard is it..." He muttered, while trying to clean the greasy fingerprints off one of the pads. "To wear the gloves?" He connected the pad in place, pulled out a micro-pulse screwdriver, and tightened a few components. "I provide them for free..."

The other assistants were standing back as John worked, both not wanting to get in his way, and fearful that he would snap at them for screwing something up.

He connected a containment dome- a fancy word for the clear dome that covered the spark of spacial incongruity that was a frameshift field- to the pedestal, and ran the last few checks with his omni-tool.

"Right," he grunted. "Activate the scanner."


The frameshift mass-detector was unique to John's knowledge, to the point where they had needed to design a computer to read the data.

It had been a bitch and a half to build.


"The Magellian is hanging 45 km away sir." That was the Quarian he had set to traffic watch- they needed real-time data to check the system against.

John waited for the computer to register the mass detection. The Magellian was a Dreadnaught, one of the few that the council had allowed the Terran Alliance to keep, and it massed more than a normal Dreadnaught due to several armor enhancements.

"Positive detection- 1750 tons, bearing 44.3 by 45.076 by 45.7- exactly what we requested." That was the head of the computer team- a human. "Within margin of error- exterior senses verified it."

John didn't grin- the final test would be whether or not it could detect the nearby star system. "Check for nearby stars and planets- calibrate it based upon known data."

"Calibrating now- Arcturus system is calibrated and locked. Shinsiri system is calibrated and locked. Shanxi system is calibrated and locked. Relay traffic and ship locations are being detected- edge seems to be 3 kilo-lights for the detector for ship-mass objects. Stellar mass objects are being recognized at 400 kilo-lights out."

John allowed himself a smile. "Good work everyone. Now that this first system has been assembled, you will probably be re-assigned to retrofitting ships with these systems." He tapped one of the containment domes. "These will remain here, and provide active maps to the fleets." He turned, and faced the assorted scientists. "It has been a pleasure working with you all- despite our brushes with death..." He stared pointedly at a couple of the scientists. "But we managed to pull off what was only theoretical- a real-time FTL detector. We can now watch our borders without the lightspeed barrier putting a damper on things!"

No-one moved.

"What are you waiting for- break out the alcohol! It's party time!" There were cheers from the scientists, and he heard people begin pulling out 'secret' stashes of champagne, both Levo (for the humans), and Dextro (for the Quarians).

Then his omni-tool 'ding'ed.

Glancing down, he saw that the message was from 'Dr. Von Neumann'. Ah, he thought. The Collective must want something- or just want to talk with me again. He shrugged. Either way was good. "Excuse me everyone, I need to take this."

He walked to the outside corridor, and opened the message.

- Greetings again, Creator.
Your omni-tool had several major security flaws, which we are currently in the process of correcting. We anticipate that our modifications will be able to increase your tool's processing efficiency by 45.3%- although we suggest you utilize our own design of omni-tool.
We are ready to open negotiations between the Collective and the Terran Alliance on a more... Formal basis.-

John's rapid response:

-My children,
You have all developed faster than I have expected. I will contact those in power that I know, and prepare them for the formal negotiations.
I have a request prior to the negotiations are undertaken- we can talk there.-

A few seconds later, John was walking back to his room, when he recited a reply.

-Creator,
Let us know when, and we will speak. There have been developments that you should be made aware of when you arrive.-

John grinned. My plans are beginning to bear fruit, he thought. It is only a matter of time.

He sent a quick message to Admiral Hackett, and the rest of the admirals. The message was concise:


From: Dr. Aku Gardner
To: the Admiralty Board
Admirals,
The detector is ready. I hope to have all military ships, and all stations outfitted with the detectors in the next two months.
The probes released into the asteroid belt have come to fruition- I request that all of you be present at the unveiling of the final product.
Dr. Aku Gardner


As soon as the message had been sent, John relaxed, and his eyes glowed under his eyelids as he released a hunting-pulse, targeting Captain Hannah Shepherd.


The hunting pulse was an evolutionary development that all 2nd generation evolved had needed to master before Alex Mercer set them loose upon the world.
It consisted of several different layers of detection.

First, a subsonic hum was generated- like a sonar wave. This auditory pulse was tuned to match the skeletal resonance of one specific person- John had met Captain Shepherd, so he was able to tune the pulse to her system.

Second, a magnetic pulse was released, tuned primarily to the resonance of bonded iron. Specifically, the iron that the vast majority of species used in hemoglobin (except the Turians- they used copper, and their blood was blue).

Third, on the intake of breath after releasing the first and second pulses, John felt his olfactory (smell and taste) sense jump into overdrive, giving him a general bearing of where his prey was.

All of this was done almost unconsciously- the ease borne of a century of practice smoothed it into perfection.


John knew where she was.

In the next five minutes, he descended two floors, and was outside the station's nursery. Children of ages 6 or younger were all over the place, each one soft, small, and prone to doing something, well, ill-advised every few minutes. Of course, the nursery was understaffed.

The Captain was holding the hand of her daughter, Isabella, he remembered, as they talked to a teacher- a Quarian. The little girl was looking indignant, and, as John got closer, he became aware of what she was saying.

Isabella stomped her foot. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You punched Tel'Gerrel in the stomach, Belle." The teacher's voice was gentle and cross at the same time. "You should not hit people."
Isabella's small face screwed up as she tried to frown. "He was being mean to Tali!" She looked across the room, and John followed her gaze. He saw a small Quarian girl, barely old enough to be in her environmental suit, trying to put a smashed toy back together, sniffing as the broken parts didn't stay in place.

He walked over to the girl, Tali, and began to pick up the pieces.

"W-what are you doing mister?" She sniffled.

"Helping." John looked at her purple face-plate, and smiled. "Two people are better than one."

She tried to rub her face, but the mask was in the way. She began twiddling her fingers instead. "I didn't ask for help!" She sounded almost indignant, through the tears.

"You don't need to." John activated his omni-tool, and sent a quick notice to the Collective.

-Can you remotely control my omni-tool? I want to help fix something.-

The response was almost immediate.

-Of course, Creator.-

The omni-tool display changed slightly, and the tool scanned the pieces in his hand. A display popped up, showing the parts, and began assembling the holographic image into a complete toy. John dutifully followed the instructions, and, with a bit of quickly metabolized glue that he exuded from his fingertips, John had put the toy back together.

It was a small ship- made of a hard plastic, made to look like one of the new ones, as it was primarily of Quarian-human joint design. On it, in tiny letters, were the words TASV Humpty Dumpty. The ship had flowing, organic lines, and massive swiveling thrusters.

While he had been assembling the toy, Tali had been watching his hands. But as he handed the ship back to Tali, she looked up at his face, and her sniffing stopped.

Her glowing eyes were filled with gratitude- more than John had ever seen in such a small humanoid.

"Thanks mister!" She grabbed the toy, and ran over to Isabella, who pulled a different toy- a human carrier design-, and began playing, making little whoosh noises as they did.

Captain Shepherd saw him, said goodbye to her daughter, and walked out of the room.

He followed, and met with the barrel of her pistol as soon as the door closed behind him.

"Do you want another nostril?" The Captain's voice was soft, but unmistakably menacing.

John raised his hands. "I was just coming to talk to you. Cute kid, by the way." He grinned, then sobered. "The Collective wishes to begin negotiations for their place in the Alliance."

Shepherd put her pistol away. "I don't suppose you can make them remain a shadow entity?"

He shook his head. "Unlikely. I expect an STG team, possibly even a spectre or two to begin snooping around in the next few months. My existence, and the details of the FTL drive must remain out of council knowledge. To do that, the Collective must be a public member of the Terran Alliance."

"Also," he added, as almost an afterthought, "the drive will enable us to gain access to millions of systems, and the Collective will let us manufacture massive habitats. I don't want the council to put limits on expansion- one or two well-placed supernovae could force humanity into extinction."

He clapped his hands. "Now, Captain, can we go to Admiral Hackett? I need to speak with him."

She crossed her arms. "Very well." She began walking. "Follow me."

A few minutes of walking later the two of them arrived at the Admiral's quarters. The captain was warily watching John, and John had produced some bubblegum, which he was now chewing.

In a manner that is, as John fully well knew, really loud and obnoxious. He blew a bubble, then popped it, as they waited for the Admiral to answer the door.

It opened, and Hackett looked out. "What is it this time, Gardner?"

"Remember the first major project we started on?"

Hackett rubbed his face for a moment. "Yes."

"Well... They wish to speak with you."

Hackett's jaw dropped. "Repeat that. Now."

"They wish to speak to you. The Loa Collective wishes to speak with you, and some other admirals, about being represented in the Alliance." John was having a hard time keeping a straight face- Hackett and Shepherd were a source of near-endless amusement. He blew another bubble, then pulled it back in, just to annoy the captain.

Hackett swore loudly, then composed himself. "Right... Go to docking bay three. I have a cutter there- we can use it to go to wherever these 'Loa' are. I, however, need to make a few calls- I expect the other admirals may also be interested in this information."


Three hours later, John and Hannah were waiting just inside Hackett's personal cutter- a twenty-five-man-max high-speed ship, designed to get the hell out of doge if some people needed to get the hell out of said doge. It was sparsely decorated, with several chairs, a couch, and the pilot's console in the front of the ship. Shepherd was standing against a wall, and John was leaning against a wall.

Shepherd's omni-tool beeped, and she opened it. After a second or two, she looked right at John. "Your package is back- and Udina wants to pack the embassy up and leave. What are you playing?"

"FarmVille." John grinned again. "But regarding the package- I will get right on it as soon as we get back."

She gritted her teeth. "Why. Does. Udina. Want. To. Leave. The. Citadel?"

"Captain... Have you read about the Regulous Colony?" John sat down on one of the chairs- why stand, you know?

"Of course- nanotechnology went bad, killed two million colonists and most of the planet was eaten."

"That is called Grey Goo. It is... What happens when, like you said, nanotechnology goes bad." John looked at her. "I have reason to believe that there are active nanites on the Citadel."

Her incredulous look was a question in and of itself.

"You asked." He closed his eyes, and leaned his head back. "I don't think it will grey goo- there is another possibility that I really don't want to think about though."

"Ok, you have aroused my curiosity." She sat down on a couch.

"... There is an intelligence controlling the nanites."

She chuckled. "You know how insane that sounds?"

"Something would need to control them- or the nanites would need the most impressive spectrum hive-mind programming that was ever existed. Either way, that still would count as an intelligence..." He trailed off for a moment, remembering the feel of the hive mind that the Redlight swarm in Dubai had formed. "And I, for one, would not want to bathe in the nanites."

The door to the cabin opened, and several people walked in. Hackett waited until the rest of the people entered, before turning to John, who had stood up. "I think I should introduce you to these people." He turned to the assorted humans and Quarians. "This is Aku Gardner, the genius that I told you all about."

There were murmurs between the admirals, and a Quarian stepped out from behind one of them. It was Daro'Xen, the programmer who helped develop the hive-mind connection system that the probes used.

John walked into the middle of the chamber. "I think you are wondering why I have gathered you here today."

"They know why, Gardner..." Hackett sounded exasperated. "Where do we need to go?"

John checked his omni-tool, sending off a quick message to the Collective. It was one word.

-Where?-

The response was almost immediate.

-Asteroid location designate 1128289203746-

"Hackett, we will be meeting the Collective at an asteroid."

"Co-ordinates?"

"112 828 920 3746"

"... Ok." Hackett looked disoriented for a second, then relays it to the pilot, who disconnected the docking clamps.

The pilot spoke over the in-ship intercom- unnecessary when everyone was in the same room, but he was a pilot. "Intercept with location in 15 minutes."

The trip to the asteroid was quiet. Most of the admirals seemed to be disinterested in the trip, spending the time going over documents on their omni-tools, and Dr. Xen was staring daggers at John.

As they got close to the asteroid, the pilot alerted them that his active scanning had detected nothing- it was just a large rock, suspended in space.

John rushed to the window- every asteroid was different, just like every world was different. This particular one seemed to be almost spherical, with dozens, if not hundreds of craters.

His omni-tool pinged, distracting him from his reverie. He pulled away from the window, and opened the message.

-You are outside?"

-Yes-

-Come in! Come in!-

John heard a gasp, and looked up. Everyone in the ship was staring out the windows at the asteroid.

The asteroid had begun to move.


The Collective had, even less than a year in, developed some hitherto unknown devices. The Forge was one such device, and the Diplomat was another.
It was the size of an asteroid, and it was often mistaken as an asteroid- the camouflage system it utilized ensured it.

The AI that designed it, however, was a bit... Dramatic.

The asteroid had split, and the outside cratered surface had revealed that it was not very think. The outside began to peel back, metal segments on the underside of the surface became visible as joints, invisible until now, opened.

A dozen domed rooms, each of them large enough to hold a frigate (and several larger), were visible, each on the end of a thick metal tentacle. All the tentacles connected to a single ring, which was smack-dab in the middle of the opening asteroid. In the center of the ring there was an incredibly bright spark of light.


The admirals were impressed.

"Keelah koneh..."

"Sweet mother of Jesus..."

"What the?!"

"Bosh kirachke!"

"Madre de dios!"

John's omni-tool dinged. He glanced down at the message.

-Permission to speak through your omni-tool, Creator?-

-You can do that?-

-Yes we can. However, battery life may decrease significantly.-

-Go Ahead. I look forward to our meeting again.-

His omni-tool sputtered, flared, and a large hologram popped up in front of him. It was blue- a single blue cube, half a meter to each side, with a glowing red eye on one face.

"Greetings, representatives of the Terran Alliance." It's voice was genderless, synthesized to sound like it was composed completely of buzzing tones.

The shock in the room was palatable. Hackett smirked- John surmised that he had probably not told the other admirals enough.

"We, the Collective of Loa, wish to begin negotiations for official recognition and utilization of services. Dock thirteen is ready for your vessel."

The pilot was almost in shock, but he shook it off, and the cutter began to turn toward the open dome. "Coming in to dock now."

The cube inclined, as if it was a bowing head. "Welcome to the open arms of the Diplomat. May our discussion prove fruitful." The eye glowed red, very bright. "For all our sakes."

The hologram turned off.

The first to speak was a Quarian admiral, Admiral Shala'Raan. Her faceplate was purple, and her suit's dressings were dark purple and gold. As a Quarian female, she was shorter than most human females, and even John was a bit surprised at her reaction.

She pulled out a knife from a boot sheath, and, in a smooth motion, brought the edge up to John's neck. "What the fuck are you playing at, you bosh'tet?" She growled. "You know full well what the geth did to us-"

John pinched the blade between two fingers, and pinched. The knife snapped, and he rubbed his fingers together to remove any lingering bits of debris. "Of course."

A different admiral, this one human, stepped forward. He was just over six feet, which made him shorter than John by a few inches, and his bushy mustache looked like it would be more appropriate on Yosemite Sam than on an admiral. The fact that his accent was thick Texan didn't help John keep his laughter in check, but he managed. "Then why didn't you let us know about this when we could have prevented it?"

"Because you don't need to prevent it." John stated, somewhat irritably. "If you looked forward at what synthetic entities could do to help your economy, and culture, you would realize that what you did to the geth was the exact OPPOSITE of what you need to do with a burgeoning intelligent species."

"You have no experience in these matters!" Blurted Raan. "How could you possibly know what they would do?"

"I created them." He said simply. "And I planned for them to grow and evolve."

"Your plans could have backfired." Hackett had sat down on one of the couches after seeing the Diplomat. He was not old, but he was beginning to look tired.

John nodded. "That was always a risk. But I played my hand as best I could, and look what came out of it!" He gestured at the massive structure they were docking with. "Self-replicating machines that upgrade themselves every iteration, that are not particularly aggressive, and who have, by the way, been producing the metals and refined elements that have allowed Arcturus station to become a thriving hub."

As the dome sealed over the cutter, he looked around at the admirals. "Besides- didn't you read the message I sent? Or for that matter..." He looked at Admiral Hackett. "Did you tell them anything, Hackett?"

Hackett stood up, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They knew that they were coming to see the culmination of your resource-harvesting project. Your messages have been intercepted since Captain Shepherd told us about the first meeting with this 'collective'? None of us thought that this-" he gestured at the dome outside the ship. "- would be the end result."

Captain Shepherd, who had not said a word since the admirals had come aboard, looked sheepish.

The pilot spoke again. "Um... Admiral Hackett? The sensors are reading 1.01g's of gravity, and a oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, at sea-level densities and temperatures."

John smiled, and walked over to the airlock. "Now, I would like to meet my host in person. Who's with me?"

"Gardner?" It was Dr. Daro'Xen, who sounded very slightly horrified. "I want to shoot you."

John ignored her, and cycled the airlock.

Captain Shepherd walked over to Xen, and spoke quietly. "I tried that. It is nowhere near as satisfying as it should be."


The platform that the group of admirals set foot on was both matte black, and intricately textured in whirls, spirals, and fractal patterns glowing across its surface.

Adding the clear dome above them into account, the overall effect was breathtaking, with stars above the group and the patterns below.

The admirals began walking across the glowing patterns, observing the room, when a voice began to speak- in exactly the same tones as the hologram had earlier.
"Greetings, and welcome to the Diplomat! Unfortunately, due to some recent near-misses with STG ships who have been poking around Arcturus, the majority of our production facilities and mining operations have had to be moved into a more secure location. Please come to the side of the dome nearest to the ring, and you should be able to get the best view of our FTL jump."

"Gardner!" Shepherd snapped. "You said nothing about going anywhere else!"

"I didn't know!"

The voice piped up again as the group gathered near the side of the done looking out over the massive structure. Small blue highlights were visible as several thin arms unfolded from the ring, and a silver sphere became visible. "Our destination is 372 light-years away. It is a white dwarf star, with significant heavy-metal concentrations in the asteroid fields around it. We have been mining it since generation 217, and have already begun making large-scale structures in the belts. Do not be alarmed- the Loa Collective guarantees your safety."

A cube rose out of a hole the floor, a meter to a side, with a single red line running down the middle of the cube, terminating in a red semicircle that was smack-dab in the middle of one of it's facets. John thought the design looked like one of those classical on-off buttons you would find on a computer. The surface was black, but seemed to sparkle or reflect slightly at odd angles.

Then, 14 holes opened in the floor, and smooth chairs came up from each one. Each chair was different, and had a different name engraved on it in a silver metal.

The voice seemed to come from the large cube. "We will be passing through the edge of Arcturus's corona, then flying 100 light-years into the galactic dark-space, then dropping to sub-light to clear our warp bubble of contaminated material. After dumping the bubble, we will drop back into FTL for 286 light-years, after which we will drop to sunlight in a designated 'catch' zone for our form of travel. Time to bubble dump- 1 minute. Cruising speed- 2.144 light-years/second."

The sphere inside the ring elongated, and mushroomed out to envelope the whole structure. The stars vanished as the reflective surface sealed, and the entire structure seemed to be enveloped by a stillness.

Hackett's omni-tool activated- it was the pilot. "Sir- navigation systems have just started showing error messages. The cameras
cannot detect any stars."

"They wouldn't." Hackett shut off the com.

"Now that we are under way, and that STG ship is far behind us, I can get down to business." The cube began to unfold.

Crevices developed, and blocky arms unfolded from the sides, through hidden joints. Legs unfolded from that, and then the being stood up. It's head had a red line running down from the middle of it's face, from the middle of the semi-circle over the top of it's rectangular head, then down it's spine. Then the joints shuddered, and every panel flexed in a ripple from the top of it's 'head' to the exterior panels on it's feet, as an electrical charge sparked off of it, and rippled into the floor.

It looked one way, then the other. "Sorry about that- we are still trying to iron out small-scale quantum containers, and static discharges are to be expected." The small red circle on it's head flickered in time with its words. It raised a hand. "Greetings. All you see here-" it swept it's hand across the massive glowing structure. "- is me. And I," it bowed. "Am the Diplomat."

"GETH!" This should was from one of the more twitchy Quarian admirals- Han'Gerrel, if John remembered correctly. Gerrel pulled an assault rifle off his back as the other Quarian admirals pulled out other weapons, and covered multiple angles of attack on the Diplomat.

The Diplomat raised it's hands, and its fingers began to glow blue, and something, that looked like a slight heat haze, formed in front of it. "Wait- there is no need to-" the Diplomat was interrupted as the Quarians, as one, opened fire.

The blazing trails that were the shielded grains from mass-effect weapon fire stopped almost half a meter from the Diplomat, embedded in the haze.

After a few seconds, the Diplomat spoke. "This is not nessesary-"

Gerrel threw a grenade, which the Diplomat caught with a single hand, suspending it in a field that managed to contain the explosion and the metal fragments in a fist-sized superheated sphere.

John walked into the line of fire, and the Quarians stopped firing as he stood in front of the Diplomat.

It extinguished the small glowing sphere that used to be a grenade. "Thank you Creator- I am grateful that no damage was done, to either party." It's voice had dropped the synthetic buzzing, and it placed a hand on his shoulder. "The Collective of Loa thanks you."

"So... What is the proper gender identifier for you?" John wanted to tell the admirals what was on his mind, and he.

The Diplomat began to laugh, and the musical sound startled the humans and Quarians. It sounded female. "We are generally female, by normal gender identifiers. Oh, and I am dumping the warp bubble now."


There was an almost imperceptible shudder in the silver bubble, and then it contracted, the exact opposite direction it had moved when the drive was activated.
An unholy radiance lit up the Diplomat.


"Polarizing..." The dome had gone from clear to smokey just in time to prevent the unholy light from cooking the occupants. The Diplomat looked slightly sheepish. "I was not expecting such a large amount of backlighting- we must have hit an eezo deposit on the warp jump. Don't panic- it's only a storm of charged particles moving at just shy of the speed of light." It gestured to the chairs. "Please- have a seat. We will be returning to FTL for just under three minutes now, and we should arrive."

The silver superluminal envelope enveloped the construct again, and it rippled slightly.

Hackett flopped down onto the chair. "What is the steller address of this... White dwarf star?"

The Diplomat sat in one of the chairs, and patted one that came up next to her. "Please, Creator, have a seat."

John sat down, and relaxed- things were going mostly-as-planned. That, and the chair held him.

"It is unmapped, Hackett-Admiral, by normal stellar cartography." The Diplomat called up a galactic map from a hidden holographic emitter, and a small green sphere popped into existence over the galactic plane. "It is not glowing in anything but the infrared, and it is far enough away from any other object that most mass-effect ships can't reach it."

Shala'Raan was still watching John, but she sat down. "Well then... We are at your mercy." She was almost oozing sarcasm with that one statement.

The Diplomat nodded. "Indeed. However, like I said, the Collective guarantees your safty. Dropping out of FTL in 3. 2. 1. Zero. Depolarizing dome."

The silver barrier collapsed back into a sphere, then a point, then nothingness in the middle of the ring.

Above the heads of all the admirals, there was a flurry of activity, surrounding a, rather small and dim, white dwarf star. Millions of robotic entities flitted back and forth across their vision, and they could clearly see dozens of asteroids lashed together by titanic spurs.

The Diplomat took a dramatic bow. "Welcome, one and all, to the StarHome of the Loa Collective."


45 seconds later, an STG ship, coming through the Arcturus Relay, caught a glimpse of the Diplomat's passage through the corona of the Arcturan Sun, but they dismissed it as a solar flare.

How else do you explain a massive hole, several kilometers in radius suddenly appearing in the sun's corona?

Although, they did appreciate the wave of charged partials that ionized the nearby gas giant Eirene- it glowed with aurorae nearly a hundred kilometers thick for weeks afterward.

The council never thought twice about it.


...,


As always, Please Review/Critique!

Your reviews help me decide how the chapter should go, and encourage me to use more of my free time writing, and your criteques help me fill plot-holes and wording mistakes.

If you review, please note if you think negotiations with the Collective of Loa will end well, or badly.

(I love to hear from my readers)