A/N: Okay, and now we've got our krogan princess. And with that, crazy things will happen. So yeah, the crew manages to escape the STG again.

So yeah, crazy times are had with that. And now, we have a chapter of people just chillin', talking about stuff, and preparing for the next piece of stuff.

So without further ado, let's get this thing going!

Chapter 12: Talking Points

When I get down to Zaeed's old quarters, I knock softly. Well... I don't want to get on Isaac's bad side before I have to drop a bombshell on him, so... Here goes.

"It's open," I hear from the other side of the door. Isaac's saying it almost... like he doesn't really want to say it.

Hm... Yeah, I can tell this is going to be so overly friendly it's not even funny. Yay.

I open the door soon after, looking at Isaac Clarke as he sits at the table. Hm... The decor of this room changed a lot. Isaac's RIG apparatus is off to the side, meaning he's only in a white undersuit that he must've picked up from somewhere not so viable. He's busy looking over a small piece of tech, his plasma cutter laid off to the side. He lets out a displeased huff as I approach, and places the thing he was looking at off to the side.

"Hey Isaac," I say. "I needed to talk to you."

Isaac shakes his head. "There's not that much to discuss," he says. "I'm here, willing to help you until we find Ellie."

I raise my eyebrows at this. "You realize that won't be for a while, right?" I ask.

"It's my fault I got her into this mess," says Isaac, turning away so his back is turned towards me. "You wouldn't understand."

I shake my head. Well, since I don't know who Ellie is... "I guess not," I say. "You act like you've seen a lot of really bad shit go down."

Isaac shakes his head. "You wouldn't understand," he says. "Nobody on this ship would." He then walks to the window. "If I told you everything that happened to me, then you wouldn't believe a word of it."

... Hm, I think I just got my angle. Thanks, Isaac!

"Really?" I ask, crossing my arms. "It just so happens that I fall under the same predicament."

This gets Isaac's attention, and he turns to look right back at me. "What do you mean?" he asks, clearly confused. "You're not... No, you're not..." He turns completely around, shaking his head. "No, there's no way you're with the Church."

I shrug. "I'm not with the Church, but I am aware of what Unitology is," I say, crossing my arms. "It's that little cult thing that thought that those little zombie things you fought on the Ishimura were supposed to be the next stage of human evolution. Am I right about that?"

Isaac's expression takes on one of shock as he takes a step back. He blinks, looking at me as if I've just gone crazy. And for all I know, I think I probably am. He looks at me briefly, then back at the plasma cutter on the table, and then back at me.

And then, he lunges forward, grabbing the plasma cutter from the table. He aims the thing at me, his expression shifting from one of shock to one of unbriddled anger.

"How the fuck do you know about the Ishimura?" he asked. "I can't find anything about the Ishimura anywhere I've checked on your extranet, nor can I find anything about Unitology! And they covered up everything that happened on the Ishimura! How the fuck do you know about those things?"

I hold my hands up as he approaches. "Relax, Isaac," I say. "I can't turn you in to the government!"

"Yeah, I'll bet it helps that you're as much of a fugitive as I am." With this, he approaches, and then his hand roughly encircles my neck. I'm suddenly pushed back to the wall close to the door, Isaac pressing his plasma cutter around where my neck is.

... Oh shit... Oh, shit shit shit shit shit! I knew he would probably flip out, but this? Shit shit shit shit shit!

"I'll give you a minute to tell me how you know any of that," he said. "If this is some massive cover-up by EarthGov..."

I shake my head. "Isaac, you don't understand, EarthGov doesn't actually exist in this place," I say frantically. "And the Marker? Totally gone!"

"You're not answering my question," says Isaac threateningly. "How do you know about any of that?"

Shit... Well...

I breathe in nervously, looking right at Isaac. "Let's just say... that that's one of the perks of being a fellow inter-dimensional traveler."

Isaac frowns. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

I breathe in... Well, here goes...

"Because just like you, I'm... I'm not from this universe either," I say. "I... I was pulled here by who the fuck knows what for some reason that I still have trouble grasping. The rest... is probably too insane, even for guys who see visions of their dead girlfriend as influenced by strange metaphysical objects."

Isaac frowns. "I was alone every time Nicole appeared," he said. "That's something I never even told Ellie, and that someone else had to figure out through inference! How the fuck do you know I was seeing her?"

Okay, here we go. "Well... That whole adventure you had on the Ishimura?" I ask. "That was a video game in the universe I came from."

And almost instantly, I'm released, with Isaac cackling maniacally. "That's not true," he says. "That's impossible! You are even more insane than I could hope to be!"

I shake my head. "Isaac, you don't understand," I say. "It's not just you. It's this galaxy that's a video game too. I've seen more shit than I care to tell you about, trust me. But I know that I'm not from this galaxy either, and that events in your galaxy as well as this one are events I've seen in a video game back home."

But the man simply shakes his head. "You really are insane," he says. "I didn't think you'd be the type, but here we are. Somehow, I found someone even more insane than me! Admit it, this is a set-up for EarthGov!"

I shake my head. "Do you think we'd be able to suddenly make up about seven completely different alien species for that?" I ask. "'Cause that would be one hell of a conspiracy if they could."

"But there's no other explanation for you knowing that, other than you being insane!" Isaac replies.

I shake my head, stepping forward. Okay, that does it.

"I'm not part of EarthGov, I'm not insane, and I can prove it!" When I say this, I take out Orange's little paperweight thing.

"What, with that little thing?" asks Isaac.

I nod. "Yes, with this little thing," I say. "Just hold it in your hand. You'll see why."

Keeper, I am not certain this is a good idea.

...

Oh, hello Orange. I forgot you were there for a second.

This is not a usual situation. Are you certain you have this under control?

Orange, just trust me here. I think you know by now that I haven't done wrong by you since I've showed you to some very trustworthy people.

Before she can reply back, though, Isaac steps forward. "I hope you're right," he says. "Because if you're not, I'm going to say you're an EarthGov agent, because that's the only explanation that makes any sense."

And with this, he takes Orange out of my hand fairly roughly. "Hey, watch it!" I say. "That thing is fragile!"

"Not as fragile as a plasma cartridge," he says. "I can handle it."

He then frowns, looking right at the orange paperweight he's holding in his hand. He blinks, looking right at the thing and then at me.

"What... what is this?" he asks. "This thing... it's speaking to me!"

"A female voice, right?" I ask.

Isaac blinks. "Uh... yes..." he says. "I... This is insane!"

He pauses, looking right at what must be Orange speaking. Hm, well, we're getting the appropriate reaction out of him, all right. He blinks, looking at me briefly before crossing his arms.

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it," he says. He's silent for a little longer. "But this could be just another hallucination of the Marker. I think."

I shake my head. "Except that this galaxy doesn't have a Marker," I say. "The Marker as you know it? It's gone, man. It doesn't exist right now."

"Then how does that explain...?" He pauses, no doubt because Orange is probably saying something. "What the hell is the Fade?" He's silent for a little longer as I cross my arms. He glances at the orange device, as if he's going mad even more quickly because of what we're both saying here. "So you just expect me to believe I got pulled into something because I died back home?"

I nod. "It's how I got here," I say. "I don't know, Isaac, but what have you got to lose by trusting us?"

"A lot," he says. "Now we're both probably certified lunatics."

I step forward, shaking my head. "Not really," I say. "People I've given this thing to hold in this galaxy have told me they can hear Orange too. So we're not the only ones."

"And how do I know that?" asks Isaac. "How do I know any of this is as you say it is, and that you haven't been following me, waiting to bring me in to EarthGov once you have Ellie?"

"Because I have no idea who the hell Ellie Langford is," I say. "And since Ellie was a fellow survivor as you say, then there's a huge piece of the puzzle that I'm missing. If I was an EarthGov agent, I'd probably know who she is and how she fits into events, right?"

Isaac blinks, looking at the paperweight and then back to me. He takes a few seconds, before nodding.

"I guess you would," he says. "Tiedemann would've sent out a distress signal since he knew I was coming for the Marker located on the Sprawl."

I frown. "Tiedemann? Sprawl?" I ask. "What the hell are those?"

Isaac nods. "I guess you really are missing some of the puzzle," he says, walking towards me and holding Orange out. I nod, taking the paperweight from him and storing it in my pocket before Orange can get a word in edgewise. "I... don't think I have any reason to believe your coming from another universe, but I have reason to believe you're not an EarthGov agent."

Well, it's progress. "Trust me, I'm not the only one who has secrets on this ship," I say. "And you do need to fill me in on stuff." I frown. "But not here."

Isaac frowns. "Why not here?" he asks.

"Well..." I lean forward. "There might be a group of people on this ship who know about my darkest secret that I host meetings with every so often. I... I mentioned I knew more about you than anyone else, so..." I stand back, nodding to him. "If you want to clarify where you stand on stuff, you should come to Port Observation in about... oh, I'd say two hours or so. I promise you that everything you say there will be confidential. Not a word escapes those walls. It's been like that since the cycle before us."

I nod, turning to the door. "I'd also probably speak to Madison about it," I finish. "I think you two would find a lot in common in that regard of being inter-dimensional travellers."

And with this, I open the door to Isaac's quarters, intending to head out. "When you've made up your mind that I can be trusted, I've got something I need to ask you to make for us," I comment. "You can bring your reply up to this meeting if you want. I'll see you around."

I exit the room shortly after, leaving Isaac to ponder a bit on what I just mentioned.

After calling the meeting, we all meet up at Port Observation as usual. Man, the room feels kind of empty here... Oh, that's just Shepard missing. Okay, so... we of course have Tali sitting right next to where I'm standing... we have Garrus and Madison standing in the back somewhere... we have Miranda sitting off to the side... we have Kasumi sitting close to where Miranda is... Sturge and Chakwas are both sitting at the couch close to where Tali is... and Thane is standing back as well. I notice he doesn't look all that well, though...

Oh, well. The gang's all here.

"So, here we are," I say. "Now that we've narrowly escaped the clutches of the Council."

"Yeah, they're probably going to be angry about that," Sturge points out. "I'm just letting you know about that now."

I shrug. "I was well aware of that," I say. "And now, Jarel is on his way to curing the genophage."

"I have to admit, I'm a little uncertain about that," says Dr. Chakwas. "Do you think it'll truly give the krogan hope?"

I nod. "I hope so, anyway," I say. "I'm sure Jarel will handle it, though. He's got good judgement from what I've seen."

"And the krogan will be a valuable asset against the Reapers," Miranda says. "It's probably better this way if we can earn their trust."

I nod. "Yeah, it would," I mention. "I just hope-"

The door opens soon after.

And when it does, we're all surprised to see Isaac standing there, looking at us. He's stepped into his armor by this point, and I see the little thing that juts out of his chest as it lights his face. Isaac glances around, looking at the bewildered faces all around him.

I look over to Isaac as he turns his attention to me. "I guess you didn't tell them to expect me," he says.

I purse my lips together in thought before nodding. "Yeah, that kinda slipped my mind," I say.

Isaac nods. "I'll bet it did," he says. "Did you forget to tell them what you knew about me?"

At this, Kasumi shifts in her seat. "No, actually," she said. "You were on the Ishimura, right?" We both turn our attention to the thief. "I have to admit, that's a pretty badass name for a ship. Art never told me what the ship was named after."

"It was named after the inventor of the ShockPoint Drive," says Isaac. "His name was Hideki Ishimura, and his name was assigned to the first planet-cracker ever constructed." He nodded. "So you know."

"Yes," says Miranda, walking over to Isaac. "Art told us you might have said we were all in that Unitology cult."

Isaac nodded. "For a second, I thought so too," he said. "But then, I don't think the aliens would appreciate it."

I frown, looking right to Tali and Garrus. "Hey, hey, we prefer to be called by other things, you know," says the turian as he holds his hands up.

Isaac glances to the side. "You probably wouldn't prefer to be called the next stage of human evolution, either," he comments. "And there you have it." He looks to the rest of us. "So Art told me he knew about me."

"If you're here, I don't doubt he did," says Dr. Chakwas.

"Yeah, people tend to come here pretty quickly once they find out," Sturge adds. "Trust me, you're not the only one on this ship who has secrets they'd like to keep secret."

I nod. "And within this circle, things don't tend to stay secret for long," I mention.

"They only become communal secrets," says Isaac. "That's what I was thinking when I saw this." He nods in my direction. "You mentioned that you didn't know who Ellie Langford was when we talked."

I nod. "Yeah, I don't know who she is," I say. "And you also mentioned a Tiedemann and a Sprawl."

"I did," says Isaac, sitting down. "Like you said earlier, what do I have to lose with trusting you?" He frowns. "I can think of a lot of things, but these are not usual circumstances. Even then, though… I'm still not sure about this."

"Then you have our guarantee that anything you say in this room will not leave its walls," says Thane reassuringly. "Barring an unforeseen issue of some kind, we shall keep your secret guarded."

"And there's no EarthGov for us to turn you in to," I add. "These are unusual circumstances indeed, Isaac, and I think you'll find that trust is the only thing that'll get you by here."

Isaac nodded. "Very well," he says. "But know that this changes nothing about how I look at you."

Well, it's the best we can do for now... "Whatever rocks your boat," I say. "So... you can start by explaining what Tiedemann and the Sprawl are."

Isaac nods. "You know what planet crackers do, right?"

Miranda leans back. "From what I understand, the planet crackers allowed a ship to remove a huge chunk of a planet so it could be strip-mined separately," she says.

Isaac nods. "Yeah," he confirms. "That's basically it." He stands there, beginning to pace around the room. "Well, the Sprawl has everything to do with that. See, in my galaxy, Titan was the first space body to be planet cracked."

Sturge frowns. "Titan?" he asked. "You mean the moon of Saturn?"

"Yes," says Isaac. "Titan was planet cracked completely, and nothing remained. In its place, EarthGov set up a space station that served as a living place for many, many people. It was formally called Titan Station, but the fact that it was huge led people to call it The Sprawl."

"So it's essentially a city in space," says Tali. "Interesting. I wonder how they powered it."

"Solar power," says Isaac. "That's not important." He leans over the couch, just by where Dr. Chakwas is sitting. "Tiedemann... He was the director of the asylum on The Sprawl."

Madison frowns. "Wait, they had mental hospitals in the twenty-sixth century?" she asks.

"Unfortunately," says Isaac. "Anyway, that's relevant, because that asylum on the Sprawl was where I was taken to when they found that I was the only known survivor of everything that happened on the Ishimura."

"Art mentioned you had been seeing visions of Nicole," adds Miranda. "I guess that didn't help your case, even if you knew major government secrets."

"It did not," says Isaac. "These... visions... they only got more intense on the Sprawl. There... He explained about the Marker, right?"

"Yeah," I say, nodding.

"Good, that saves me a lot of explaining, then," he comments. "There was a government-made Marker on the Sprawl. It... it caused an outbreak there."

I glance over to Sturge, finding that one of my eyes is twitching. The old man shrugs. "See?" he asks. "I told you to expect something like that."

"I wish you weren't always right about things. That would make my life easier." I gesture with my arm. "So it caused a second outbreak."

"Given that it was a civilian station, I guess it was a lot worse the second time around," Madison says.

"It was," says Isaac. "It was so much worse..." He looked to the side. "Basically... that's the gist of what happened on the Sprawl. I tried to find a way to destroy the Marker while evading Tiedemann, who was stopping me at every available juncture." He looks down at the floor. "I did eventually destroy that Marker, though. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without Ellie..."

I nod, looking to the engineer. "And that's who she is," I say. "She's a survivor from the outbreak on the Sprawl."

"Yes," says Isaac. "I... It's strange. There I was, with nobody to trust... and Ellie didn't betray me at all. We were two people lost on the Sprawl... and we helped each other survive in various ways."

I nod, looking to the others. "I guess you felt you owed something to her," says Miranda.

"She's the only person in the past three years who's ever come back to really help me," he says. "When I destroyed the Marker... Titan station was destroyed. But Ellie came back and told me to get onto a transport." He snorts, turning his gaze to the window of the room. "From where we're at right now, I guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway."

"But the fact remains that she helped you, and you helped her," says Kasumi.

"Yes," says Isaac. "The fact remains..." He turns to us. "And that's why I need to go to this Khar'shan. She..." Isaac shakes his head. "I don't think she'd be able to go through that alone..."

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait until later to take care of that," I mention. "But I promise you we'll take care of it eventually." I nod, crossing my arms. "Actually, Isaac..."

The engineer nods. "You guys wanted to ask me to make something, right?" asks Isaac.

Miranda nods, walking close to Isaac. "Yes," says Miranda. "I assume that you have looked up the properties of mass effect on the extranet?"

"I have," says Isaac. "It's... a strange science. I'm not sure I understand everything about it yet."

The former Cerberus operative nods. "I assume you understand that with our current FTL technology, we cannot travel beyond a certain distance without a mass relay," she says.

"I do," says Isaac with a nod. "Why?"

Miranda looks at the engineer. "We may need to go to a point on the galaxy map where there is no known system," says Miranda. "We know that, miraculously, there are no mass relays that go to the coordinates in question, and there are no nearby systems we can jump to these coordinates from. Logically, the only way to go there would be to develop a new FTL technology entirely."

Isaac frowns. "So you want me to design a shockpoint drive for your use," he says.

Miranda nods. "Yes," she says.

Isaac shakes his head. "I... I don't think you know what you're asking," says Isaac. "I... The ships have to be built to very specific parameters, otherwise something could go very wrong with the shockpoint warp. And I don't even know where we're going to find a vessel that we can gut to-"

"Then construct the vessel," I mention. "That'll get us somewhere."

Isaac shakes his head. "But... but the vessel could take years to construct!" he says. "Do you know how long it took to build the USG Ishimura? I... I can't build you a vessel anywhere near that fast."

I smirk, leaning closer. "Leave that to us," I say. "We've got our ways, Isaac. If you make the schematic, we'll get it built, trust me."

Isaac frowns, looking at me. "How?" he asks. "You're all fugitives, from what I know. You can't access any ship-yards."

I shrug. "Hasn't stopped people before," I say, glancing over to Miranda. "Look, I don't know what's going to be at that point. But I know that we need to go there for a very important reason. We're dealing with something more dangerous than the Marker itself, and something so much more dangerous..."

... You know... I just realized something... If Orange says we can look at the future from the field of visions... why don't we just use that? I mean, we can see what's waiting for us there! And that would make our lives a whole lot easier!

...

I'm asking Orange when I'm in the Fade next.

"What could be more dangerous than the Marker?" asks Isaac. "You're talking about an object that warps people into these... these things."

I shrug. "Try battling a race of sentient warships that kill all organic life every 50,000 years for some reason that we don't understand," I say. "Oh, and then to reproduce, these warships take an entire species, grind them into genetic paste, and make them part of their latest babies."

Isaac blinkes, then glances to the side. "Point taken," he says uncertainly. "I..." He nods. "I'll get started on the schematics soon."

I smile. "Good," I say. "So..." I nod to the others. "Since we're here... I think we better introduce ourselves to the new guy, right?"

"I think so," says Kasumi as she stands up. "Kasumi Goto. Thief and master hacker extraordinaire."

Isaac looks over at Kasumi, blinking in uncertainty at this. He doesn't smile at all, but we can tell that he means what he says afterwards.

"It's... it's good to meet you, Kasumi."

And with this, we make our rounds of introductions.

Isaac nods after we brief him on the Reapers. He nods, looking to the rest of us.

"And you're certain these 'Reapers' pose such a huge threat," he says.

Tali nods. "Yes," says Tali. "We had incredible difficulty killing one."

"Yeah," I say, glancing to the side. "How we're gonna kill a whole army of these things is anyone's guess, really." I shrug. "But, we're gonna fight anyway."

Isaac nods. "It's the only thing you can do," he says. "Fine. I'll help you when we've built the shockpoint drive. I just hope this isn't an EarthGov front."

Miranda frowns, but by now she's given up on pointing out that EarthGov doesn't exist in this galaxy. So She simply sits there, crossing her arms as Isaac stands up. "I... I guess I'm going to be involved in meetings with this... Brotherhood from now on?"

"Yep," says Kasumi. "So... you're gonna send the passcode to our omni-tools this time?"

"Yeah," I say. "And possibly to Isaac's RIG, if I can contact that."

"Yeah, that would be more convenient," says Isaac. "I still can't figure out how to operate an omni-tool..."

"You'll get the gist of it quickly," I say. "Trust me, I had to deal with the learning curve of suddenly having to use holographic interfaces too. Anyway... I think this meeting's adjourned."

With this, the various people stand up. I nod to them. "All right then," says Madison with a nod. "Garrus... I think-"

Isaac shook his head. "I'm... I'm going to need to think," he says. "Is... is there any paper here? I don't think we'll have the equipment I need to plan out the shockpoint drive digitally."

Kasumi blinks. "Well... Lemme see what I can scrounge up..."

With this, the engineer follows the thief as the rest of us sort of chat our way out of Port Observation. I look over to Tali, the two of us linking hands right as we exit.

"Okay, and with that, we-"

"Ah, Art, Tali. I was hoping to find you here."

I flinch suddenly, turning to see that Rael'Zorah is standing right in front of us. Whoah... holy shit, man...

"Oh..." I say, chuckling nervously as I rub the back of my neck with my hand. "Uh... Hi Rael! Fancy running into you here!"

Tali is rather silent at this. Uh... Wait, she doesn't seem so happy. I turn to her, right as her hand comes away from mine.

"Hello father," she says. "Where have you been all this time?"

Rael nods. "I... I'm sorry I couldn't tell you," he says. "But... I have been working on something rather large as of late, and it has required my full attention."

I frown. "Uh... what could possibly be the thing that requires your full attention?" I ask.

Rael nods, looking to me. "Do you remember what we spoke about soon after Shepard was arrested?" he says. "Where I asked you about what I was doing...?"

Wait... Hold... Oh yeah, I know what he's talking about! "That conversation?" I ask. "What the hell are you hoping to achieve with that?"

"I... I believe it may finally be the right time to show you what I meant," he says. "I have stayed in the tech lab for much of my time recently."

"And is that why you couldn't come down?" asks Tali. "Why you didn't tell us to come see you?"

"I needed to be sure my method worked first," he says. "But now... I believe I am ready to show you. Come. We need to go to the tech lab within the next few minutes."

I frown, looking over to Tali. I then look up at Rael. "If this is some kind of geth super-virus that's going t ochange the geth as we-"

"It has nothing to do with the geth, I assure you," says Rael. "Trust me."

Tali crosses her arms, looking at her father. "I guess now you explain it."

"It is better if I explain it in the tech lab." He then turns towards the elevators. "Please, come with me."

He then walks away, leaving Tali and I to glance at each other. "Well..." I say, shrugging. "I guess we've got nothing to lose. And he's telling us, which is better than nothing."

"I hope you're right," she says. "Come on..."

And with this, we follow Rael, even as I spare a glance back to see Isaac stepping out with what looks like a bunch of rolls of paper.

"Okay, I don't really think I'm liking where this is going," I say. "Why did it have to be the-"

"Oh. Art. Pleasant surprise. Didn't expect to see you here."

... Oh God.

I look over to Mordin, who nods to Rael. "Uh... hi?" I say. "Mordin, what has Rael been doing here in the tech lab?"

The salarian shakes his head as Tali enters behind me. "Best I not tell you," he says. "Perhaps it's better if he shows you."

I frown. "If he shows us?" I ask. "Look, if he disables Legion while we're here, then-"

"It is not about the geth," Rael reasserts us.

Uh-huh. And I'd think that a Taylor Lautner action movie would actually be decent. "You better be right about that," I say.

Tali says nothing as she comes around. "So... so what are you talking about?" she asks as the door closes behind us.

I then hear Rael's omni-tool go off with some kind of beeping noise. We're already looking at him, though, so... I cross my arms, even as he turns his back to us. Mordin steps out from around the table we're both standing at, and I look to Rael as he stops the beeping on his omni-tool. Hm... He seems pensive about stuff... I... I'm not sure I like where this is going, I'm really not. I mean... What's going on there?

And what's that...? That...

...that hissing sound. The one that was made when I removed Tali's mask any time I wanted to get...

Holy shit!

I rush forward, but before I can do anything else, Mordin holds his arm out. This doesn't deter me as Tali comes rushing right up to us too. "Father, what are you doing?" asks Tali. "We-"

But Rael holds his free hand up, setting his face mask to the side. He then opens his omni-tool, looking out at the drive core as he speaks. "Day Six of the Solus-Zorah Immunization testing period." ... Wait... Is this...? "The queasiness has passed according to Dr. Solus' projections. After an exposure lasting eight hours, I am still alive, exactly as Dr. Solus said would occur. I'm beginning to think that we have real hope for the quarian people now..."

I turn to look at Tali, my eyes widening before I turn my attention back to Rael. "The immunization seems to have worked," he adds. "After a full-body exposure lasting two hours and a face-only exposure lasting eight hours, I can conclude that it is only a manner of time before the quarian people can be free of their suits. With that, and some things I will attempt to perform when I return to the Fleet, I hope to return the quarian people to Rannoch, without shedding another tear at a lost life and without the burden of wearing a suit all our lives."

He nods. "Dr. Solus' projections say it will take at least another week until I am able to leave my suit forever," he finishes. "I look forward to that day." He nods. "I have my daughter and her hesh'alan with me now... I will speak to them now."

With this, he stops recording on his omni-tool. By this time, my jaw is on the floor. I mean... holy shit!

"F... Father...?" asks Tali.

It's then that Rael turns to us, and we see his face for the first time. Hm... He actually doesn't look too bad. His face is... considerably more kind-looking than I would have taken for a quarian admiral, with a few lines and wrinkles all over his face. I can't see any hair or feathers from where I'm standing, but... He's got green eyes. Hm...

I'll bet Tali inherited her mother's eyes.

Rael simply walks towards Tali, leaning closer to his daughter. "You said you wanted me to take sick leave so you could see my face," Rael says. "I... maybe I won't need the sick leave anymore..."

"Father, I..." Tali sniffles, even as I move to stand next to her. "I..."

I look over to Rael. "So this is your contribution to the future," I say quietly. "Making sure people can experience life outside a suit again..."

"We have suffered under the burden of a suit long enough," says Rael. "I..."

It's then that Mordin comes forward. "Spoke with Rael'Zorah about possibility of immune system therapy soon after he came to the ship," he says. "Agreed to it. Have resources, excellent tech lab, no restrictions..." He trails off there, sniffing heavily. "And guilt. Much guilt about modified genophage."

I blink before turning to Rael. "I..." I swallow, looking over at Rael. "I... I don't know what to say..."

"Perhaps-"

But before I can say anything else, Tali rushes in, pulling her father into one of the fiercest hugs I've ever seen her give anyone in my life. It's so severe that for a second I can see Rael having slight difficulty breathing. But eventually, he just encircles his arms around her, pulling her closer as Tali holds her father against him. I look at Rael, and I can see a small smile creep onto his face as he closes his eyes.

The hug is held for about a minute before Tali walks back. "Father, you..." Tali sniffs as I approach. "You... You don't have any idea what this means to me..."

Rael can only offer a gentle look at his daughter. "I won't pretend I do," he says. "But... I think now that we may be ever closer to building your house on the homeworld... you should be able to appreciate it more..."

Tali nods. "Father... I don't..." She sniffles, forced to look away for a second as I place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "This is... thank you..."

I nod, looking over at Rael. "When do you plan on telling the rest of your people?" I ask.

"When we return to the Fleet," says Rael. "Mordin has the data necessary. If we can get that to my people's scientists, we may be able to mass-produce this genetic treatment."

I nod. "Well, looks like things are finally looking up for your people, hm?" I ask.

Rael nods, and for the first time I see him genuinely smile.

"I believe they are, Art."

When I settle into bed that night, I look over at Tali with a smile. "So... you'll finally be able to smell some flowers, hm?" I say.

"I... I can barely believe it," says Tali. "My father... I can't believe he tested something like that on this ship..." She shakes her head. "And now, the day where our people will be free of suits on our homeworld is even closer than I hoped..."

I smile at her. "Makes you think, doesn't it?" I ask. "After more than three hundred years, you get to see your homeworld without any suit to keep you in your way..."

"It's... It's so wonderful to know that now I can return to our home," she says. "It's been a dream I've always had. What would Rannoch be like?"

I smile, shrugging. "I guess we'll find out soon enough, am I right?" I ask. "But we're not there yet. We've got Legion agreeing to peace, and Rael curing your immune system. But we need to worry about the admirals."

Tali shrugs. "I think that will be easy," she says. "Shala'Raan is part of the neutral party, and she's likely to take our position on this." Of course. "And Zaal'Koris, while he... is a bit... well..."

"A bit of a douche," I finish.

Tali frowns. "I wouldn't say that," she says. "But he's firmly for peace. So when we add my father to the mix, that's a majority there." She crosses her arms. "But what Miranda mentioned was correct, you know. We will need to sway the people of the Fleet."

"That we will," I say. "I trust your father will handle that, though." I smile, settling into bed next to Tali. "Well, things are looking wonderful for you, querida."

"That they are, my hesh'alan," Tali replies. "I think they'll be wonderful indeed."

I smile, holding her closer as I find myself slowly falling asleep.

Hey, speaking of that... Hm, I need to go talk to Orange down in the Fade about that whole 'prophetic visions in the Fade' thing, and why we can't just read the future and adjust accordingly. I mean, hell, there has to be some way to do that, am I right? Or am I right? Well... I'll get there when I get there.

For now, I'm just happy that Rael seems to have finally found a cure for the quarian race's immune system issues. This... Wow, this is gonna change a lot. I don't even know where I'm going to begin thinking about this. This is just sheer insanity right here...

And we're gonna be right at the heart of it. I hope.

I smile, pulling myself closer to Tali as I drift off to sleep.

When I get to the Fade, I notice that it seems a little more... colorful than usual. It's not so brown right now, which is honestly kind of odd... Hm, I wonder what's up with that...

I follow Lady Benezia without any words, crossing my arms as I glance over at the fallen asari matriarch. The walk over to the main hub where Orange and the others are chilling has been very quiet. Benezia just told me how Orange wanted to see me, and how it's important, and how I should prepare myself mentally for what I'm about to see.

Yeah, as if I haven't done enough of that. I dunno, this doesn't seem like it's going to get too crazy, but we'll see. I just wish...

Nah. I actually kinda like the silence down here. There's something... invigorating about it. I don't know what, but it's kinda nice to be sitting in the Fade with no other sound there. There's something eerily calming about it. I'm not sure why, but... there we have it.

After a few more minutes, though, we come on over. I look, seeing Orange looking at me with a calm expression on her face. She looks to me, stepping out of her little throne thing as Loghain bows from where he stands next to her.

"Ah, Keeper," she says. "We meet again."

I nod. "Indeed," I say. "I guess you need to talk to me?"

"Yes," replies Orange.

"Good, 'cause I've got a question I need to ask too," I say. "But we'll get to you first. What's up?"

Orange nods, walking. "Come," she says. "There is some business we must take care of in the field of visions."

...

You know, Orange, you couldn't be setting up my question better if you tried. But hey, there's something interesting going on?

Well... I guess I have to see this.

I fall into step behind the oracle, nodding to the others there. I notice Saren just stare off into space before I turn my attention back to Orange.

"Okay, so now that we're here..." I say, rubbing my chin as we enter the field of visions.

"Yes," says Orange, coming over as I follow her. "I trust you will be able to follow without holding my hand?"

"I think so," I say, following the prothean. "So... what's up?"

"I have been presented with a vision," she says. "A vision of things to come."

I nod, looking over at her. "That's... actually what I wanted to talk to you about," I say. "We-"

Orange cuts me off right as we get to this huge-ass sphere. Whoah... What the hell? I didn't think I'd ever see a sphere of visions that was so flippin' tall... And large.

Wha...?

"What the hell is that thing?"

Orange nods, looking at it. "This is a phenomenon that rarely occurs," she says. "You are looking at an arch-vision."

I frown. "Arch-vision?" I say. "Sounds important."

"Indeed, Keeper," says Orange. "Many visions are of specific things over a short period of time. But every so often, a vision will occur that will give a broader sense to a longer period of time. They are vague, but one can interpret them quite well."

I nod, looking up at the large vision. "So it's kind of like the prophecies of the Greek oracles where nobody ever got any specific information, but it was for a prophecy that would happen no matter what they did," I say.

"Indeed," says Orange. Her hand reaches for mind, and I let it be taken as I look up at the huge-ass vision. "Come. I wished to show you this arc-vision."

"Uh... okay..."

Yeah, my question is going to have to wait until later.

When I am inside the vision, I blink, looking around to see Orange and I standing in a strange kind of void. I frown as I watch several things take form.

"Orange, what-?"

I then watch as a Reaper appears in the vision, circling around the area in front of me rather quickly.

Right, I'll shut up now.

I watch as suddenly, the images of three fairly large mass relays appear. They stand in three points around what looks like the galaxy, with the Reaper circling outside. The relays aren't equidistant from each other, though: there are two below the center of the galaxy map, while another appears just above where the one on the left is. I blink, looking up at the Reaper as it splits into three different Reapers.

Hm... Those things correspond to something on the galaxy map. So...

One of them comes in through a relay on the lower-left hand side, and lingers there for a while. Another then comes over to the relay on the lower right hand corner, and then I see it split off as it infects much of the rest of the galaxy from there. Hm... I then watch as the third Reaper comes in from the only remaining relay, where it then proliferates out.

And then, all the Reapers begin to merge over the galaxy map, until they're all one giant Reaper. I breathe in sharply, looking up as suddenly it seems to melt away from existence. Well, melt isn't the right word.

It's more like it explodes out of existence. That right there is actually pretty crazy, so...

I glance over at Orange, looking at the image of the galaxy again, watching as one of the relays explodes. It's the one on the right, I think. The other two look just fine, so...

What... This is all... Where is-?

Before I can gather my thoughts, Orange and I are both pulled out of the arch-vision. I blink, looking back at the prothean as she hums.

"Uh..." I say. "What the hell was that all about?" I shrug. "I mean... the weird symbolism and shit... That was just... That was like nothing I have ever seen..."

"Perhaps not," says Orange. "This is a vision of what will come to pass."

I frown. "I take it arch-visions are always absolute," I say. "And that it means that... That the Reapers are going to attack the galaxy from three different points on the galaxy map, right?"

"Yes," says Orange.

I blink. "Wow, talk about the pincer maneuver from hell," I say, crossing my arms. "And that disintegration..."

"It states that there is a condition for winning," she states. "One that I assume you must carry out."

"I guess," I say, nodding. "Okay, so... it's a pincer tactic that can be broken if we do something to help out there. And then, we can regroup. And all that is supposed to happen, right?"

"Yes," says Orange. "That is what I wished to show you."

"Indeed," I say, crossing my arms. "So now, we have to figure out what the hell that winning condition is. From the way it looked... it looked like we needed to destroy a mass relay." I frown. "But how the fuck are we supposed to do that, and what happens if there are people living there?"

"That shall unveil itself with time," states Orange. "Now, you did mention you had something you wished to ask me."

I nod. "Yeah, I do," I say. "About the other visions that show the future."

I cross my arms, frowning slightly as I move closer to Orange. "Why can't we just look at those and figure out what's going to happen next?"

Orange looks at me with a rather odd eye. "That... that is what you wished to ask?" she says. "Keeper, I believe we have discussed this."

"Yeah, and I'm not sure it's valid anymore," I say. "I mean, we have all this information at our fingertips. Visions of things to come, right?"

Orange shakes her head. "It is far more complicated than you would believe, Keeper," she says. "It is a vision of what is to come, yes, but in the Fade the visions of what is to come is confined only to possibilities."

I frown. "So if we find a possibility, then that can allow us to change the future!" I say. "Orange, we're missing a huge opportunity there!"

"Perhaps, but it is not so certain," says Orange. "As these visions of the future only deal in possibilities, then it is as likely to happen as it is to not happen. One may never know how things have changed."

"Right..." I say, making it clear that I'm not completely convinced. "But what if we know something closer to the future? Why can't we just look at it?"

"You would not understand, Keeper," she says. "The field of visions is something that cannot be exploited in the manner you suggest."

... What? "Exploited?" I ask. "Jeez, you're making it sound like I want to auction off the future!" I take a step forward. "We're going into this thing blind, Orange. And we-"

"Perhaps it is best if you leave it, Keeper," says Orange.

I shake my head. "You're telling me we need to leave this behind?" I ask. "I mean... yeah, I wanted to go in blind, but what if there's one event-?"

Orange takes a step forward. "Silence!"

...

Holy shit. I think I pissed her off.

She shakes her head. "You know not of what you speak," she says. "There was a time when I conscripted myself to your thinking. But my vision came true despite what happened. And despite all of my efforts, it came to pass exactly as I saw it."

I frown. "But that doesn't guarantee-"

"You would never understand," she says. "I did everything. And in the end, it was not enough. Perhaps I did not prepare well, but..." She shakes her head. "It may make no difference. It was only a theory that the visions of things to come are only possibilities. But everything I see... Everything I have seen over the many millenia that I have been trapped here has come to pass exactly as was foretold."

I shake my head. "But it's only-"

"Leave it, Keeper," she says. "I cannot stress enough how important it is that you adapt to the situation." She shakes her head grimly. "I will... I will return from whence I came. You must think on this."

I frown. "You mean you're leaving me here?" I ask.

"You know the way back," she says. "You will find that it is much easier to travel in your own subconscious than I would have you believe. I... I wish not to speak of this further."

And with this, she walks away. I notice something grim in her step as she walks away from me. Eventually, she vanishes among the visions that surround me, and I find myself standing there right by the arch-vision blinking.

...

Oh, come on Orange. Come on!

I shake my head, throwing my arms up in a rather angry gesture. I mean, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, I can't believe she got all defensive about that. You'd think that being an Oracle, she'd be more sensitive to that. It's just... Jesus Christ...

I shake my head. Well, she says that I'd never understand it. But honestly, I don't think she gets it. Maybe there's the one vision there that'll prove her wrong. Or something. As much as I'd like to say that she's got the wrong idea completely... She might have a point.

But for Christ's sake, at least let me see for myself. That...

You know what? Screw destiny. I'm going to take a peek at one vision of the future. One. Not even that much to make a difference with. And I am going to take steps to see what happens with it first, and how we get there. And I will do what I need to about that... If it's good, I just let it run its course.

But on the off chance that it leads to something awful happening...?

I begin to move through the field. Okay, whe-

...

Wait a minute...

I don't even know where to start! And that... that doesn't help me at all, because if I don't know where to start...

I frown, looking at this ball a couple paces away from where Orange and I were let out of the archvision. Hm... I guess I better just look for a random vision, and hope it can do stuff.

I walk forward towards the vision... And...

...

Wait a second.

No, hold on... If I didn't know where to start, then how did I get Liara and myself into those visions in the Fade when she went down? That's... Hey, so anyone can activate the visions! I just need to know how to tell if it's a past vision or a future vision...

Hm... I better get going on that.

Damn it, no... that vision was a vision of the past too.

Jeez, I've already been through something like five visions by now, and none of them have been of the future. Well... we don't have any warning about them, but thankfully I don't think Orange has noticed that I've entered visions looking for one of the future. Yet. I've just gotten out of each vision as I've seen they're not of the past. Though... it was a little odd, seeing that one vision of Captain Anderson talking to Shepard in Flux. That was kinda weird, seeing it when I know I was confined to the ship.

Well, what can I do? It was weirder watching a whole lot of other things. Seriously, visions know no bounds when it comes to being weird.

Well... Okay, there's a vision there. And you know what? Since I'm getting tired of all the hopping around in the dream world, I think that I'm going to call it quits after this vision. If it's not a vision of the future...

I settle on the orb, approaching it. Okay, vision, you better be a vision of the future. And if you're not... well, we'll figure that shit out eventually.

I bring my hand forward, reaching out to touch the vision.

And as soon as my hand makes contact with the vision, I feel the space in front of me form into a strange interstellar laboratory. I glance around. Okay... looks kind of like a lab in Noveria, except with a metric ton more windows and stuff. But it's not really that fa-

...

What the hell is that?

I turn my attention to a huge blue monolith-like object in the center of the room. Wha...? That's definitely new. What the hell is that thing? I mean... well, it looks like a piece of... of...

...

Shit, that's Reaper technology!

Where the hell is this, and when? Because I certainly don't remember seeing that kind of monolith. In fact, the only reason I feel certain that it's a piece of Reaper tech is... well... I just feel this really bad vibe from it.

I... What the hell is this?

I hear a door open from the other side, and...

...

Holy shit, that's me! I turn to face myself, watching as some woman with white hair comes walking in. I'm following her, looking up at the object in the center of the room.

...

Well, I don't remember ever experiencing this or anything like that... And I've never seen that object before...

Which can leave only one option.

I've finally hit success in this.

The doctor approaches the little object.

"Serviceman *********, I give you Object Rho."

Object Rho... Object Rho...

Wait.

Why's it out in the open like that?

Apparently, my future self has the same idea. "So you're just letting a potential Reaper artifact sit there in the open?" my future self asks.

"When we found it, it showed me a vision of the Reapers' arrival," says this lady. Who is she...? And why do I feel like I should know her?

"Uh, Dr. Kenson, I hate to tell you this, but I think you screwed yourself over already," he says. I say. I dunno, it's so complicated seeing myself doing stuff!

"Give it a moment, Serviceman," replies this strange woman. "It'll give you the proof you need."

I see my future self nod, and I stand back, looking as I take several steps forward. Oh, dear, this isn't gonna be good...

I then jolt in shock as my future self gets electrocuted by... something, I don't know. But all I see emanating from me are these little blue sparkly things that look exactly like what you'd see glowing from a husk's body. I am brought to my knees with this, and I take a step back.

I then see the woman draw a gun to my head, holding it there.

"I can't let you start the Project, Serviceman," she says. "I can't let you stop the arrival."

The arrival... The arrival of...

The Reapers...?

...

Holy shit. This... This relates to one of the things in the vision. Stop the arrival... by destroying a mass relay... So this is part of that. But this looks like...

But... But this Dr. Kenson lady...

I'm pulled out of the vision before I can think of anything else. The Fade forms all around me, and I blink as I look back at that sphere.

...

Okay. Well... I know I have to avoid trusting that Dr. Kenson lady, because... if anything is true about what this vision is telling me, it's that she's indoctrinated by the Reapers because they were stupid enough to leave it lying around like that. Fucking indoctrination.

But there's a lot more that's confusing about this. What the hell is the Project? What does it do? I already know it's to stop the Reapers, and I think it has something to do with the archvision Orange and I saw, but how the hell will it do either of those things? And how did I get there?

Most importantly, where is there?

I shake my head. Jesus, too many questions, and nowhere to start to think about how I'm going to change this up. Hm...

Well, I guess those answers will reveal themselves in time. I'm not going to look for the rest of that vision. I mean, if I tried doing that, I'd be stuck here forever. I mean, it took me a while to find a vision of the future in this field. How the hell am I going to find the continuation in any sense of timeliness?

Ah, well. At least I've got something, and that something is certainly better than nothing.

Well, I better make my way back to Orange and the gang. They're probably wondering what's keeping me here so long, so I better head on back.

Okay... so I went this way, past this vision, and... Okay, I think I remember where I need to go now.

When I wake up, I look out into the drive core. Well... There's that thing to worry about. What the hell was the Project, what the hell is Object Rho, and who the hell is Dr. Kenson?

...

Well, the first two are most likely classified information, but the last one is a different story entirely. Dr. Kenson... that sounds like a name that would get you results if you plugged it into an extranet search engine. I think... Yeah, I think that'll be the way to find her. But...

I look down to Tali where she's sleeping. I can only imagine how wide the smile on her face is as she's dreaming about her homeworld. I glance to the side... Damn it, I miss being able to dream about things like that. Having the same recurring dream for years isn't going to help us in any way with that, I don't think. I just... I wish I could have dreams about other things. Ever since I first met Orange...

Well... hopefully I'll be able to have a normal, non-recurring dream one of these days. I just have to work for it, I guess.

I glance out the drive core one last time, and I nod to myself, holding my legs closer to my body as I ponder on this Dr. Kenson lady. Well... soon enough we're gonna be at Tuchanka, and then we're playing a completely different ball game.

I'll think about that when we get there. I...

I just hope that this horrible feeling I've got about this Project is just a horrible feeling...