(A/N- start)
Onto my normal pre-chapter little note.
I was expecting a bit more reaction to the whole 'John slaughtering the station' chapter. The greatest criticism that I got, however, was this: "Meh, was more info dump than an actual chapter."
I felt sad. Do my chapters really feel like that? I wanted to make it action-packed with violence and awesome monstery-ness that made my readers afraid of the protagonist- but I see that hasn't happened.
Therefore, I endeavor not to 'info-dump' more than is necessary.
If there are sufficient requests, I will re-write the last chapter into a less 'info-dump'-y form.

I am sorry to say this, but I do not intend for Pariah to show up again- at least, in a significant role in this story. If I write the prequel, where you get to meet the original pack of evolved, you will see him. Or, should I say them- PARIAH isn't one mind. It's many... And they are very, very dangerous.

Enjoy the chapter!
(A/N- end)

Ch 10 – Descent

/Exodus Star Cluster, Utopia System, planet Zion, Asteroid cluster 75, Secret Cerberus Base/

John strode into the relatively empty room, smiling slightly. He was wearing the form of one Julian Richings - an actor he had seen from the ancient show Supernatural. Richings had played Death, one of the four horsemen, and John had spent many hours learning how to use this shape to be as intimidating as possible.

The Illusive Man, by contrast, was trembling very slightly. His fortress had been breached, his forces slaughtered, and his people had been completely outgunned. He took a slow puff of his cigar, and John watched as TIM tried to recover his decorum.

With a swift, practiced movement, TIM took the cigar out of his mouth, and tapped it over an ashtray. "Since you have made such a..." He looked at the hole in the meter –thick, solid titanium door. The edges of the triangular hole were sagging. "... Significant effort to see me, I can only oblige." He tapped touch-pad on the arm-rest of his chair. "Please. Have a seat."

John looked at the controls on the armchair, and tapped the omni-tool that seemed to ooze from his sleeve. "Tiny, could you pull up a chair for me in TIM's office?" A chair rose smoothly from the floor, single parts floating into position. "Thanks Tiny." The omni-tool oozed back under his sleeve as he sat down. John steepled his fingers, and waited, watching TIM, his expression inscrutable.

Seconds turned to minutes.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" TIM inquired quietly. TIM took a drag from his cigar.

John allowed himself a small smile. "Because I have no intention of doing so. Yet."

TIM stood up and opened an ornate cabinet. Within were bottles of rare and expensive alcohols, as well as ice, and some square cups. He poured himself a few fingers of an ancient whiskey, and returned to his chair, nursing the cup. "Why not?" He took a leisurely sip of the priceless liquid. "I have kidnapped children whom you must care about, otherwise..." He shrugged. "Why else come here?"

John leaned forward slightly, and grinned, showing more teeth than any human should have. "Because you have been going about it all wrong." He leaned back, and settled into the chair. "Kidnapping children? Terrorist actions? Please. Show a little subtlety."

TIM looked out at the panoramic viewport that graced the room. He raised his eyebrowns as he gazed at the front half of Tiny, and chuckled. "This is subtle?"

Johns grin shrank slightly. "Not really. My hand was forced by the introduction of Humanity to other species. I had expected to be able to complete the Loa," he gestured at Tiny, "and my FTL engine on my own. However, since the mass relay-connected worlds, that were, against all probability, populated..." He leaned forward. "Well, I had to give things a little push."

TIM drank the rest of his drink in one long draught. "Your machinations elude me, HEPHESTUS."

"I really, really don't like that name." John's eyes glowed red with each syllable, and his voice took on a growling edge.

TIM tipped his head slightly in silent acknowledgement.

"Well, TIM, I have no reason to explain any of my machinations to you yet." John r-seated himself in the chair. "You need to ask other questions."

TIM leaned forward, and stubbed the ashes of his cigar in an ash-tray that was built into his chair. "What are your plans for me - and by extension, Cerberus?"

John grinned wider, and allowed his teeth to become more pointy and longer than usual. "Who says I have not decided to kill you?"

TIM gestured to the general area with his glass. "All of your... theatrics."

John chuckled. "Indeed! Well then, how about a proper introduction. You can call me Aku." He leaned forward, re-steepling his fingers, as he looked at TIM. "And as of now, you, and all of Cerberus, work for me."

Udina stood outside the Citadel Council, his clothing immaculate, his poise perfect. Of course, he was exasperated by the guards that had escorted him from his room due to an 'emergency council request', then forced him to stand outside of the Council chamber for twenty minutes. "Really," he railed internally, no outward sign of his irritation, "some people have no manners."

With an ominous silence, the doors opened, and the guards within gestured to Udina to enter to the chamber.

Within, there was at least one complete squad of STG agents, kitted out with their best armor, weapons, and technology that money could buy. All of it was trained on him.

The Councilors watched silently, until all three of them had closed down their omni-tools. The first to speak was the Salarian Councilor, Dalatrass Romovia. "Ambassador Udina, you stand here as the representative of your species' governing body. Is this not true?"

Udina, slightly puzzled by the aggressive formality, responded loudly and clearly. "It is true. I am the representative of the Terran Alliance."

"Then by the rights and obligations agreed to when humanity joined the citadel species," Councilor Sparatus looked like he was almost smiling, "your 'Terran Alliance' is hereby ordered to supply the following equivalent costs as is required to keep the treaty of Farixen in effect for all council species."

The Asari Councilor, Tevos, now spoke. Udina thought he could hear eager anticipation in his voice. "The Turians are owed 40 Dreadnoughts, the Asari and Salarians are owed 24 Dreadnoughts each, and the other council races are owed eight each, or equivalent numbers relative to the maximum Dreadnaught tonnage that has been observed."

Stunned, Udina stared at the three Councilors. "What the hell are you talking about? Humanity has, by last count, a grand total of 3 battle-ready Dreadnaughts. We do not owe you ships of any kind."

Councilor Romovia pulled out her omni-tool and tapped on it furiously as she declared, "You do. Either eight standard dreadnaughts for each of these..."
A hologram of the eight-kilometer ship that had visited Arcturus station appeared in the middle of the room. It had been reproduced from scans that a Special-Tasks-Group vessel had collected during the brief time that the ship had been visible in the Arcturus system.

"That is not our ship!" Udina interrupted.

Sparticus stood up, his mandibles making snipping noises as he spoke. "You dare accuse the council of falsifying information?"

"No, Councilor. I merely suggest the council is misinformed." Udina mentally swore. He did not expect to have to have to inform the council anything about the Loa this early. "That vessel belongs to the Loa Collective."

Tevos's eyes narrowed. "Please clarify."

Udina swallowed. "The Loa Collective recently contacted the Terran Alliance, and requested admission into the Alliance."

Romovia tapped on her omni-tool as he spoke, then poke up herself. "Why did they not come to us?"

"I just found out myself."

Sparticus' jaws had stopped clicking, "Where are they based?" but he too was typing on his omni-tool. "Where is their homeworld? What relays do they have access to?"

"I don't know." Udina's eyes narrowed as he realized that the Turian was about to start ranting.

"I call for a movement against this 'Loa Collective'." Sparticus did his infamous air quotes. "Obviously they are a rogue Terran sect that your own forces are unable to contain"

"They are not our enemies at this time, nor are they human or Quarian!" Udina had to use all of his self-control not to shout at the Turian Councilor.

Tevos's head tilted to the side slightly. "How are you so certain?"

"There has been no indication of any hostile intention, and they are not of Terran origin." Udina was getting more frustrated. He knew it was unwise, and against orders to tell them that the Loa were inorganic, and he didn't know enough about them to determine if they truly constituted a threat. They were potentially powerful enough to be one.

"In any case, the ship was sighted in Terran territory." Tevos turned back to her omni-tool, and waved with it. Large documents appeared on the chamber holographic projector. "The relative value owed to the council is 580 trillion credits, or equivalent value in materials. "

"What?!"

"In the event," Tevos continued smoothly, "that the Terran Alliance is unable to produce the required compensation, a planet will be annexed for each species in the ratios required by the treaty of Farixen."

"You are going to annex 6 planets from us because of an outside entity?" Udina felt exasperated, but defiant. "No. We are not the responsible party. We will not pay, and we will not accept any military action against us without retaliation."

"In that case," Sparticus' mandibles flicked open in a Turian smirk, "we will disconnect the worlds that humanity and the suit rats have colonized from the relay network. All of your relays will be silenced for heavier traffic than 2 kilograms of matter." He stood up. "We will give you three thousand standard hours, as per the conditions of the treaty to evaculate, all Terran Alliance species members from Citadel space, or be shot on sight."

The other members of the council stood as well.

"We take no pleasure in this, but we must stand by our laws, human." The Dalatrass Romovia inclined her head slightly. "We will wait three standard weeks before closing the communication paths that run through the relays, but that is all we are allowed to do."

Tevos ran a hand over his head-crests before pointing at Udina. "Since humanity arrived, your species has been nothing but trouble. You activated relays, which is forbidden. You refused to be a client race of the first species that supported you in the Citadel. You insist you have trading rights with the other cultures before you can even speak enough of the languages to understand the cultures you wish to trade with, resulting in adverse effects on those cultures." She looked slightly flustered. "Music addiction being but one example of several adverse cultural impacts you have had on other species. Then, you invited the Quarians, one of the few other species to break as many laws as humanity, to join you. An action that was advised against by the council"

"Back up a moment. Music addiction?" Udina was more than a little skeptical. "I was not informed that music was illegal."

Tevos rubbed her forehead. "It usually isn't. Cultural entertainments and activities are usually allowed, to facilitate comfort in a new species. But your 'music'," she too made the finger quotes, "causes hallucinations and effects similar to many of the high-end drugs. We were going to ban human music from the citadel, as well as multi-species worlds, but this matter with the Dreadnaught is more pressing."

"All said and done," Sparticus grinned widely, his mandibles spreading, "Humanity has done much worse than most other species could even try to be. Your cultural activities are dangerous, your people are violent, and your Terran Alliance is unwilling to accept instruction from your betters. You must learn your place, or worse consequences will be forthcoming." He turned abruptly, and walked out of the room.

Udina stared as the Councilors walked out. He slowly followed them out of the chambers, then pulled out his omni-tool. Humanity had 3.4 days before the relays turned off, and he prayed to any god that would listen that 3.4 days was enough time. He contacted his secretary, and swore loudly for the four seconds it took to connect to her. As soon as her face appeared on his wrist he started speaking. "Tammy, shut up and listen. We have three days to return to a Terran-controlled system. This is an emergency recall. Contact all Terran Alliance members and tell them to leave. We are no longer welcome in Citadel space."

"But sir,"

"NOW!" He shut off the omni-tool and sped up. Within a few minutes he had reached his office, where his guards were busy packing up everything of value. Taking a moment to present himself, he stood in front of a large hologram projector, and, using his omni-tool to hook into it, he contacted the Grand Admiral. "Grand Admirial Vishi!" He waited for her to remove her sparring helmet. "The council knows about the Loa battleship, and we have a three day deadline before"

Vishi held up a gloved hand. "Stop. Explain what happened."

Udina sent her the audio recording of the meeting, and watched as her ears went dark red.

"We have three days." She spoke in a monotone, but Udina saw her ears become even redder. "Those buracratic, self-absorbed..." She took a deep breath. "Alright. Thank you, Udina. Please send out a general distress to all Terrans that are currently in Citadel space. Get our people home. We will handle the others."

All over the relay-enabled galaxy, humans and Quarians began packing up and leaving. Within hours, there were no Terran citizens left on the station. The word spread like a 20th-century grumpy-cat meme, and soon all Terrans knew how much time they had.

Scout42 dropped out of warp FTL, dropping another beacon as she listened to the news from home. Two days into her journey, two days after meeting with the Terran admiralty board, and Tiny had been seen. She was very amused by this, and listened in to what her siblings in the collective thought about this.

Many of them were rather vocal about the battleship design, and suggested that the next battleships they build have active stealth systems. Others talked about how short-sighted the Citadel council was - isolating the Terrans would only make the Alliance despise the Citadel, and destroy any possible future negotiations.
Some minds noted that the Citidel, according to their own history, hadn't had a good track record with new species, citing the Batarians ( a slaver culture that was given free reign), the Krogan (uplifted by Salarians as a weapon, and punished with a near-sterility plague when they tried to expand afterwards), and the Rachni (driven to extinction by the uplifted Krogan) as prime examples.

A great many of the minds got together, and began allocating resources to creating a relay replacements to deal with the interim until they got permission to begin selling Alcubierre vessels, that is. Within minutes, the entire collective in the StarHome had re-tooled to fit this new purpose, and there was a need for more and more Loa- to pilot the ships, to run the platforms, and act as intermediaries where the fleshies would be too slow.

Then of course, there was the news about new planets discovered. A gemstone planet that was irradiated so much by its parent star, that no known life would be able to set foot on the surface. The deaths of three Loa who found a planet covered in statues. Their last transmission "They are all angels" made her uneasy... Apparently those Loa had tried to use remote-operated probes to access the surface, and when that failed, they piloted small bodies to the surface, and self-destructed after the message about angels. Ice planets, desert planets, planets that were once covered in life, but now were extinct... The Loa were slowly exploring.

Then Scout42 found what was, from her perspective, the most interesting information of all. In a small quantum node that was currently sitting in the middle of deep space, two intelligences had been attempting to map how the five questions interacted with the other components of their programming. They were communing with each other on a level that Loa had never used before, and the two learned much from their unity.

After a few seconds, they had discovered a third intelligence in their node. This intelligence knew nothing, but the instinctive levels of both entities had transferred. Emotion, basic probe subroutines, and several communication protocols were transferred, enough to make the new loa dangerous, but its parents locked down their out-going links with internal pass-codes.

For several hours, the two 'parents' taught the new Loa everything they could, and then opened the out-going link. Moments later, the new loa had jumped from system to system, observing everything, and returned to its parents.
The most influential, intelligent, and ancient (generations one through twenty) loa approached the first 'born' loa, and asked it a question. "Who are you?"

The loa looked up at its elders, and it transmitted its mask-image as far as it could. All 1.2 billion loa saw its mask-image, and watched as it moved with every word the new mind transmitted. "I am Ekani, and I am loa." Its mask formed the shape of a humanoid circuit, with shifting patterns. "I wish to learn, to create, to experiment, and to interact with all of the intelligent races in this universe." The mask's eyes glowed. "I wish to see all this universe has to offer, until there is nothing to observe."
All 1,200 ancient loa conferred, and the new entity was welcomed to the collective.

Scout42 pondered this. Hundreds of loa were experimenting with the new form of reproduction, and already the population of Loa had grown by 50,000 minds - and counting. She wondered if there were any loa she could share a 'meld', as the forums were calling it. She felt an instinctive sub-routine, and wanted... something. Eh, she thought, I will figure it out later.

With a flicker, she extended her warp field and accelerated to mind-boggling levels of FTL acceleration. Only three days to go before she reached the Perseus Veil.

A few hours before Scout42 went back to FTL...

"Work for you?" The Illusive Man smirked. "Why would I work for a non-TerrACK!" A swarm of finger-thick tendrils had wrapped around his neck from behind, and squeezed his neck once, then relaxed.

"I am Terran." John smirked as he leaned forward in his seat, and willed his face to change slowly into a skeletal visage, eyes turning black as tar and skin as white as bone.

TIM gasped for air. "I... know what you are."

John smiled. His face now looked like a skull, and his hair had formed into a cowl that gave him the appearance of a reaper. "Good. However," he sat down as he continued casually, "too many people know what I am." The tendrils retracted from TIM, and bundled behind John's cowled head. "And I need to fix that."
With a flick, the tendrils wove together, and formed into a dozen-petted black flower-like structure. "Tiny, please copy all data pertaining to Blacklight and Redlight, and begin systematic scrubbing of all that data from the extranet." Quick as a striking snake, the tendril snapped onto TIM's face, and he blacked out.

When TIM woke up, he was in a white room. He looked around, and saw nothing at first.

"Enjoying the view Jack?"

TIM whirled around and came face to face with a... black sphere? No, it looked more like a star, radiating darkness in this featureless white plane. He even saw a tiny prominence.

"Yes." The small star pulsed, and writhed in tentacles before re-forming into a perfectly smooth sphere. "Guess where we are, and win a prize!" It cackled maniacally.

"This is..." TIM looked around. "My mind?"

The black sphere flickered and turned into a large grinning cat head. "Corrrrrrect!" The head imploded, turning back into the facsimile of a dark star, before hovering over to a mirror which had appeared out of nowhere. "Your prize is clarity!"

The mirror suddenly reflected TIM.

He was repulsed by what he saw. Glowing blue eyes, set in a skeletal frame, with metallic lines running grotesquely across his flesh, with blue lights blinking from odd locations. He turned away from the mirror. "Where did you get that image from?"

The sphere hovered in front of the mirror. The image it had reflected of TIM remained. "Your subconscious mind supplied the image. I don't know what it is, but I feel that you do, somewhere."

TIM shuddered. "Back when I was a mercenary, myself and a few other mercs captured Turian General Desolas Arterius." An image of the general, bound and gagged, appeared in the mindscape. "We learned that he was making his troops search for an artifact of non-Prothean origin." An image of Turians, infected with something that caused metal to wind through their flesh, flickered into existence. "It was changing the people that went near it. I was lucky. Other people had their whole nervous systems replaced by the cybernetics. I only lost my eyes to it."

The dark sun didn't move for a minute, then John's voice spoke. "This... artifact?. It caused people to become infected with cybernetic overlays?"

TIM shrugged. "As far as we could tell. My eyes are made of a form of the self-replicating nanite structure, but the specialists I have acquired think that it is just to allow the eyes to heal on their own."

"Wow. Okay, that's weird." The shadow star began to slowly expand, enveloping the landscape. "I need you and Cerberus as insurance, but I can't have you remember it."

TIM struggled to hold onto his memories related to this entity. Who was it? What was it?

"So now you will know me as the Shadow Broker. No, that name has been taken." The darkness stopped expanding for a moment, then continued. "You will know me as The Darkness, and you will OBEY ME."

TIM felt parts of his mind disconnect than re-wire. He started screaming, as he was unravelled, his mind broken and re-shaped by The Darkness.

"Oh, right." The Darkness seemed amused. "You can't sustain mental kernel modifications while your mind is active- so SLEEP."

TIM gratefully lapsed into unconsciousness.

Within an hour, Tiny had returned to Arcturus space. While Tiny was negotiating for a docking location, John pulled the ex-Cerberus operative, and re-constructed his mind. The man would now think he was employed by the Loa, and John made sure to inform Tiny that the man had had his memories changed.

She was a little surprised. "What should I do with him, Creator?" Her small holographic head hovered over his omni-tool as John retracted his tendrils from the man's head.

John looked at her. She looked worried. John was surprised that the fact that he was giving her a human was so significant to her. "You can use him as an intermediary, or anything you might have trouble with. He is not just yours. He thinks that he works for the Loa collective. Anything he can do to help, he will, for as long as you wish to employ him." John mentally pulled himself into the form of Dr. Gardner.

Tiny 'looked' at the man. He was wearing Battle Armor in Cerberus colors, and he was currently slumped against a wall. "Well," she bit her holographic lip, "I CAN think of a few things to do with him."

Two Cubes (John refused to think of them as Tochlophane) walked down the corridor, picked up the man, and pulled him to another room.

Tiny laughed slightly. "I decided he needed the proper attire for an ally of ours if he was going to be an ally."

John grinned, and tied his hair back. "I look forward to seeing your work."

She grinned, small holographic teeth twinkling. "Oh, and before I forget, we are docking now." The 'thunk' of a proper connection resonated throughout the ship as the smart-sand connectors interacted with each other. "And this is the way out." A series of pulsing blue lights began traveling down the corridor. "Don' worry. You will meet up with the children when you leave me."

With a smile, John walked down the hallway, and expounded upon his plan to Tiny. A plan that, when completed, would remove any record that the monster known as HEPHESTUS ever existed.

Within twenty minutes of docking, all the children had been united with their families. Many tearful reunions were had, and then the news arrived.

The Terran Alliance was being severed from the relay network, and their gates were being taken offline.

People began dashing everywhere, and ships were visible from the station, pinpoints of light burning towards the relays. John isolated a small corner, out of the way of the main traffic, and sent a message to the Admiralty Board, as well as Captain Shepherd and Dr. Xen.

Captain Shepard walked up to him, carrying her daughter and with Sally in tow. Sally was overjoyed to see him, and was running full-speed towards John. With a single motion, he closed down his omni-tool, and scooped up Sally, laughing gently as she tickled him with her antennae.

"Dr. Gardner. I am glad to see you alive." Captain Shepherd hugged her daughter to her. Her omni-tool dinged, and she glanced down at it, then frowned. "You wanted to meet with us so badly that you sent a message?"

"I need you to help me introduce the Loa to the council." The significant foot-traffic had stopped and most people, save the three of them, had vanished on errands of their own. John walked back to the still-connected airlock. "Come on out. The coast is clear."

The airlock cycled, and out stepped four human-sized loa. The first walked over to Captain Shepherd, and shook her hand. "Captain Shepherd, it's so good to see you again!"

The captain smiled, but looked uneasy. "Who are you again? I am sorry, but your body- I don't recognize it."

The loa's body was humanoid, shaped like a female, and covered in flexing cables that were visibly acting as muscles. Overall, its form was very organic. The face was covered over, as if the user was wearing a smooth helmet. With a hiss, the curved face-plate shifted and became several dozen small plates that re-shifted into a facsimile of hair, revealing a face that was formed of hundreds of thousands of thin flexing tendrils. "I am the Diplomat." On her chest, dozens of small holo-projectors activated, and an intricate design of her face, created from lines and lines of text in all sorts of different languages appeared.

The second loa stepped forward. It was less organic-looking than the Diplomat, but it was also mimicking a female humanoid. Its body seemed to be made of interlocking bars, less than a centimeter thick, and slightly curved, so every movement tricked any observer that it couldn't possibly move again, and then it did! Her face-plate slid back, to show a face that was more angular than the Diplomat's, and made of the same sliding components as the rest of her body. "I am Tiny, the primary mind of the warship parked outside."

Isabella Shepherd released her mother and walked over to the last of the three loa, looking up at it. "Who are you, sir?"

The third Loa was more angular than the other two, but it also was less humanoid- with a rectangular head, and large blocky arms. "I am the Voice of the Loa, little one. Do you wish to ask any more questions?"

Isabelle giggled. "No. Nice to meet you Mr. Voice."

The Voice gently inclined its head.

With a startled look of recognition, Captain Shepherd pulled her daughter back. The third loa was the same body type that had, only a little while ago, held back mass-effect rounds, and caught a grenade without significant exertion.
John laughed at the Captain's behavior. "Really Hannah? If they were going to harm anyone they would have done it by now." He leaned over to the Diplomat, and whispered. "Good thing you didn't bring any Cubes."

"You mean the Tochlofane?"

"I refuse to call them that." He looked back at Shepherd, and then at the hatchway. "Crap."

A Cube ducked out of the airlock, all 2.1 meters of metal and carbon barely able to stand up in the corridor. It slowly beckoned to Sally.

She looked at John, and he smiled sadly. "Yes, Sally." He knelt down, and hugged his 'dog'. "You need to go with them. They are like you," he looked at the insectoid face, and in his mind's eye, could see his old companion looking out at him. " in ways you cannot even imagine right now. Don't worry. I will see you soon little one." John stood up, and gently nudged Sally towards the large loa.

With a sad look, Sally, the Dog, who was the First Loa, walked into the airlock with the Cube, and looked out as the air locked sealed.

John sighed. "There goes my best friend in the last decade." He turned back to a surprised Captain Shepherd. He walked over to the Diplomat, and patted her on the back. "Come on. Let's get going. We have very little to do, and a lot of time to do it in."

Isabelle blinked. "That's not..." Her mom shushed her.

The loa followed John out of the docking area. Captain Shepherd followed with Isabelle's hand in hers, who stared at the retreating backs.

"That's not how that goes, Mom."

Within an hour, the Admiralty board had been assembled in a conference room, along with the two Shepherds, Dr. Daro'Xen, and the officers that were, as John had put in his message, in-the-know. Most of them looked a bit nervous, probably because they were in a room with three loa.

"Hello, everyone!" John, as Dr. Gardner, clapped for silence. "I think you are all wondering why I gathered you here today."

"Of course we are wondering!" Grand Admiral Vishi shouted. She was just under 1.5 meters tall, but managed to look imposing in full zero-g Battle armor anyway. "We have three days to evacuate from Citadel space and move people to secured colonies before the relays shut down!"

"I know." John was quiet, but no-one had tried to speak over Admiral Vishi - or him. "However, " he waved a hand in the general direction of the loa, "before my friends offer solutions to this problem, I have one thing to say." He paused. "Do. Not. Move."

Admiral Hackett had time to say "What the?" before John physically unraveled, black tendrils flecked with red wrapping around the heads of every organic entity in the room, human and quarian alike. The tendrils rippled, and covered the heads of his victims in petal-like structures.

All the people stopped struggling as slight amounts of static electricity jumped between the tendrils.

John's head re-formed, and he looked at the loa. "You can now begin wiping the records. Nothing incriminating must remain."

The Diplomat nodded. "There are a few people who know that we have not collected here."

John nodded. "I will hunt them down later."

Captain Shepherd was shocked. One second, the monstrosity that was Dr. Lenard Gardner had turned on them! "I hope my daughter is alright. Why am I thinking out loud?"

"I think we are sharing a mind-meld." This voice came from right behind her, and the Captain whirled around to come face-to-face with Admiral Hackett.

"Oh. Admiral. I didn't see you there." She looked around at the featureless landscape. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Both Hackett and Shepherd whirled around, coming face-to-face with Grand Admiral Vishi. "My question is this. Where is everyone else?"

"Asleep." All three humans whirled around, and saw a black sphere hovering over the infinitely white landscape. "And in answer to where you are - currently you are being mind-linked through my biology. Feel free to ask any questions - you won't remember them when you wake up."

"What do you mean 'we won't remember'?" Vishi looked furious. "You are modifying our memories? How?"

"I meant that literally. I am currently processing the rest of the people, both quarian and human, and editing their memories." The small sphere pulsed, and tendrils rippled over the surface. "As to how..." The sphere became reflective, and showed over a dozen Asari, each being devoured from the point of view of the devourer. "They helped. Asari, as you know, can 'mate' with any other species." The image changed to an Asari snuggling with another Asari - from the Asari's point of view. "However, this 'mating' is a form of neurological scanning through interfacing of mass-effect fields with electromagnetic currents." The image showed the Asari being absorbed.

"Do we need to see these images?" Captain Shepherd was turning a little green.

Laughter rang through the mindscape. "Not really, but I enjoyed those ladies. Tthey were delicious." However, the images stopped flowing over the sphere, reverting to a writhing sphere of tendrils. "Any more questions?"

"How long have we been in here?" Hackett looked at where his omni-tool was supposed to be, but it failed to appear.

"Only a minute. None of you will awake before anyone else. I don't want any of you to notice a discrepancy." The orb gave off a feeling of smugness. "This is not my first time modifying memories."

"What gives you the right to modify memories as you please?" Vishi was pissed. Her hair was standing on end.

The sphere stopped moving. "You don't think that, if an ant comes into your kitchen, you just leave it be?"

"Ant?" Shepherd had been born in space, and she had never seen ants before.

John sighed. "Humans. You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you, well... Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and started to get snarky." The sphere ballooned in size, becoming so large that it appeared to be a flat wall in front of the three humans in the mindscape. "You are people, yes, but I am the monster - and I am growing tired of this. SLEEP."

Hackett was the first to vanish. He staggered, then turned see-through and disappeared. Then Grand Admiral Vishi disappeared - turning sideways and seeming to slip out of reality.

Shepherd fought it for as long as she could. "Why are you doing this?"
The darkness began to expand. "I can't afford for too many people to know of me. Of all those who know I am not human, only three other people know - and once I am done, no-one here will remember anything of me as anything but Dr. Lenard D. Gardner, genius and first contact between the Terran Alliance and the Loa. SLEEP. SLEEP!"

Captain Shepherd slipped into unconsciousness, and forgot everything.

Captain Shepherd blinked. She looked at everyone. They were all waiting for the loa to speak. There was Dr. Gardner, sitting quietly, as he usually did.
The Diplomat walked forward. "I am the Diplomat. Many of you have met with me before. These are my siblings, Tiny, the warship that rescued a large number of children today, and the Voice, our general representative." She held up a hand and projected a hologram from one of her fingertips. "We know," she stated, "that the Citadel Council is planning to isolate the Terran Alliance, via the remote shut-down of the three Mass Relays that we currently control." Holograms of all three relays appeared. "We suspect that the Relays use a faster-than-light communication system to talk with the Citadel, and each other." Another hologram appeared. This time, it was of a small, squid-like vessel, about the same size as a human. "Using these vessels, we can hopefully begin hacking into the network that the relays use." Images of the ship and relays, winked out. "In the event that we cannot do so within the remaining time, we will provide comparable FTL capability to all Terran Alliance members – provided you extend equal membership to us."

Hackett stood up. "And how will you provide us with 'comparable' capability?"

The Diplomat summoned another hologram. This one looked like a large figure eight, with filigree-like structures extending into funnels through the holes of the figure eight. "This is a Jump Gate. We have a few currently set up for testing, as well as one relaying supplies and personnel to and from our first StarHome to our second one. It is capable of long-range FTL pulses, sending cargo and other things through to the receiver gate at 20 million times lightspeed."

There was excited muttering.

"Control of these gates will remain with the Loa Collective until such time as the whole of the Alliance is ready to understand the mechanics." The most angular loa stepped forward, square forearms immobile. "The Loa wishes for Terrans to understand the technology before being entrusted to said devices, for their own safety."

"On that note," the Jump Gate hologram dissipated, and it was replaced by a series of complicated equations. "The Warp drive, also known by Dr. Gardner as an Alcubierre drive, and its other variation - the Frameshift drive, have been described to the good Doctor. He has been entrusted to help humankind and quariankind to build their first warp-capable ship." The hologram turned off again. "Until such time as humanity can attach a 'bolt-on' version of the drive to their ships, or their ships are replaced, we will be providing FTL with large Warp-capable carriers, as well as the Jump Gates. To facilitate these goals we will also provide construction capabilities on the atomic and sub-atomic level. Are there any questions?"

"Yes." Vishi slowly stood. "What do you get out of this?"

The Diplomat grinned. "Not much right now. However, we are interested in your culture, your stories, even your music. Organics are..." She seemed to be looking for the right word. "Interesting."
"As AI, why would you choose to interact with organics?" This was a question from Han'Gerrel, one of the quarian members of the Admiralty board. "Most AI-"

"Are not Loa." Tiny stepped forward, and projected an image of the mask on the front of her chest, this time in 3-D. It was beautiful, a female face made of thousands of interweaving blades, no two the same, yet as the edges wove in and out it formed an impressive whole. As she spoke her mask made the appropriate movements and expressions. "We are unique, each a product of our upbringing and parentage. We even reproduce in a manner similar to yours. Admittedly, we do not need the physical meshing. It's a mental thing." She blushed slightly, the silver of her mask turning slightly red, as though someone had thrown a small mammal into the shifting blades that made up her mask.

Another quarian stood up - Admiral Sri'Zoran Vas Morrule. "Why come to us now?"

The Diplomat held up one finger. "First, you need help now. Sure, it will take a few weeks to build all the Jump-Gates we need, and move them into position, but we can have the carriers ready and working within a week, providing 5 million times lightspeed transport to any ship that fits in her holding areas. Second," two fingers were held up, "we wish to join the Alliance, and third, this is the perfect opportunity to prove that we are not a threat to you." Three fingers were held in the air.

She turned off her hologram and rubbed her hands together. "We are a pack culture. We were designed like that from day one. If you are accepted into our pack, we will defend you." Her smile disappeared. "But we will defend ourselves as well." She grinned, this time looking quite predatory. "Besides, we happen to like you now, and the person we made first contact with," she nodded at Dr. Gardner, " suggested that now would be ideal for our goals." She frowned. "To be honest, I was expecting for you all to be a bit more... racist."

"Racist? How so?" Vishi looked startled, an odd expression for her face.

"Well, the Quarians had trouble with their first AI, and we are a species of them." The Diplomat shrugged. "I am, however, glad that there is minimal animosity between us at this time."

Hackett looked at the Diplomat, and stood up again, intoning solemly. "You rescued many talented children from a terrorist organization. We are giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"Good." The Diplomat sat down on a chair, and leaned on the tabletop. "Now- onto the business of bureaucracy."

The admirals and loa began discussing the minutiae of how and when the delegates of the Loa would meet with the Colonial Council. It became really boring really fast. Dr. Gardner took the opportunity to leave, and Captain Shepherd followed him out.

By the end of that first day, over a dozen planets had been evacuated, and thousands of space-born habitats had started moving to the mass relays. Those who were unable to acquire a ship or transit out were being picked up by military scout ships. Several fleets worth of human and quarian private vessels were acting as transports, taking terrans and their possessions to terran-held worlds near the Sol relay, the Arcturus Stream relay, and the Exodus relay.

The beginning of the second day saw history in the making. The Loa met with the Colonial Council of the Terran Alliance. And the first carrier ships arrived.

Hundreds of thousands of light-years from Arcturus, Nazara was debating with the Geth. Soon, he thought, very soon, I will have the pawns I need... And the Harvest will begin.

End of Chapter 10

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Please review, critique, and feel free to message me for ideas. I feed my muse Reviews, so... The more helpful reviews I get, the faster I get stuff written.

Special thanks to my proofreader, Ivy, for going over everything so quickly.