Mass Effect: Bermuda

by WackoRelyk

The Bermuda Triangle is a fairly mysterious place, and many anomalies occur in that region. No one knows about what happens when someone enters the Bermuda Triangle, but one man decides to answer that question. What he finds will ultimately change his life, forever. Self/OC insert. There are many changes to the plot of Mass Effect, as well as many OCs.

25. Chapter 25: Fear

Chapter 25.

Date: February 2nd, 2095…

Twelve hours after initial contact with the Inusannon Federation.

I walked through the hallways, following behind Kochinan Vez'da. Lyna was at my left, Daro'Xen to my right, and the projection of Sirius right behind me. Sounds of footsteps echoed off of the spacious walls and wide-angled 'windows.' which were actually holo-projections created by cameras located on the hull of the ship. Amazingly, they were crystal clear and I could see the cold darkness of space outside of them. The occasional star was located here and there, but most of what I saw was just dark space. Lyna came a bit closer to me, the space between us shrinking to the point of being just enough for her to whisper into my ear. "Is it just me, or does all of this seem fake? There is no way in hell that these people are this hospitable towards a fleet that just tried to enter their home system…"

"Yeah… I'm getting the same vibe… Be on guard," I breathed back. My only reply was a nod from the Asari.

As we turned into a room, I started to take in the true view of everything inside of it. Silver-hued 'tables' outlined the perimeter, while the rest of the room was relatively empty. The door closed behind Sirius as soon as he entered the room and Kochinan turned around to face us. "In here, you'll get a full visualization of our home system. We'll also discuss anything and everything in here for the time being. Your exploration flotilla is going to be orbiting one of our dyson spheres until we finish our talks. This is non-negotiable. Is that clear?"

I took the liberty of talking first, being the one who guided the URG here in the first place. "I understand completely."

Kochinan chuckled deeply for a few seconds, gesturing for us to venture forth. "For 100,000 years, we have prospered here, creating new worlds to harbor our ever-expanding population. During the time of the Protheans, we had hoped that they would find us, but alas, they failed. However, it's a good sign that at least some of them survived, just as we did. I'm fully aware that you require the Inusannon Federation's aid to defeat the Reapers and we'll gladly help you in your fight. After all, my people are itching for revenge against those beasts."

"Uh… What? I don't have to give a speech about how you should help us, a much less advanced galactic society, against the Reapers?" I asked, a bit flabbergasted by Kochinan's willingness to assist the wider galaxy.

Lyna piped up, "Okay, okay. That's hard to believe! Honestly, I had my doubts before, but now I'm not even sure if I believe you, is there some sort of catch to thi-"

"A catch? If you include giving me a bit of backstory on the galaxy as a whole as a 'catch,' then yes. There is one. I want to know how you found us, how you even acquired the means of coming here and why he is implanted with cybernetics from 100,000 years ago," Kochinan interrupted Lyna. He turned his head towards me following the latter half of his demands. "Not to mention that those implants are clearly labeled under the name of the previous Mertvyykamen Federation."

"To explain, the Mertvyykamen Federation was the ruling body of the galaxy when we were at war with the Reapers," Sirius muttered from behind me.

I raised my arms up in absolute confusion. "Hold on, wait just a fucking second. Mertvyykamen Federation? During the war with the Reapers? And somehow, I'm involved in something that happened hundreds of thousands… Hundreds of thousands of years ago. I don't know about you, but that's many, many millennia away from when I was born. So basically, I was implanted before I was even a sperm cell. Yeah. Great logic there."

"You're an interloper, or rather a last-ditch effort by the Mertvyykamen Federation to defeat the Reapers. They assumed that we wouldn't survive the Reaper wars, so they experimented with wormholes. You are one of the 'subjects' that they pulled out of a different dimension. As for how you retained your physical state, it can only be assumed that they used another sort of astronomical object to transport you to Thessia," Sirius spoke from behind me.

"Bullshit. When he appeared out of nowhere, flying that-" Lyna paused, slightly squinting at me.

Xen harshly elbowed Lyna in her side, to which the Asari responded by growling at the Quarian. "Honestly, I believe it's completely possible. There's not another theory other than he somehow obtained those implants through 'magic.' What a pitiful explanation that'd be." Daro turned her head towards Sirius, who had moved right up to Kochinan Vez'da. She started to speak again, "I was there when Kyle discovered and even absorbed you into his omni-tool, why didn't you just tell us then?"

"More pressing matters occurred...Such as you being shot by a Geth Heretic," Sirius retorted.

Kochinan held one of his hands up, as if to silence the conversation. Everyone stared at him as if they were confused, just as I was. "Let's move on from this. We've found an answer. Let us leave it at that. Now, Interloper, before we move on, I'd like to know what the future holds for us."

"The future? I'm not sure about what you think I am, but I can most certainly tell you that I'm not a fortune teller. I know that the rest of my race will enter galactic society in the late 2150's and the Reapers will invade in the 2180's. That is what I know and understand," I told Kochinan, but I didn't just stop there. "I've already altered the timeline drastically, so honestly, there is no telling what the future holds for us."

Kochinan's eyes lit up. The Inusannon admiral, or Pervichalomar as his people called him, seemed to jump as soon as I told him the dates that the Reapers would try to invade. "So we have just under a century to prepare. Understood. It's better than no time at all, but we'll have to act quickly. Sirius, after we're done here, tell me all of the worlds that can be mined for sufficient resources. I'll need a full list once we're done mobilizing our fleets. As for you, Asari, could you perhaps explain the galactic governments to me?"

"Well… There's the URG, the United Rannoch Government… That is comprised of the Quarians, Geth, and the Protheans. Past that, we have the Citadel Council, which is made up of Asari, Turian, and Salarian. Under them are the Hanar, Batarians, Elcor, Volus, and Drell. In the Terminus, you'll have Omega, the Eclipse, and the Blood Pack. Everything in that region is looked over by Aria T'Loak and is also where the Vorcha mainly stay. There's many Krogan there. In short, there will be a lot of species that you're dealing with," Lyna listed out to the Inusannon commander. She was quite confident with what she was speaking of. "Kyle and I have already convinced Aria with the help of Sirius, showing the last moments of Tenojika Ve'Skardi."

"And Humanity is on Earth… Which is in the Orion arm of our galaxy," I added in.

Soon after Lyna had finished her monologuing, Xen had tapped me on my shoulder. "Kyle, I'm going to head down to wherever that Khara person is… I wish to learn more about the Inusynthetics. The current ones. I'll return as soon as I'm finished."

I nodded my head in confirmation, allowing Xen to exit the room silently. I knew that I could easily trust her and that she wouldn't contribute much to the conversation anyways. Xen wasn't as much of a political figure as I was, which I didn't mind all that much. Kochinan of course noticed Xen slowly sneaking out of the room, but didn't protest. Instead, he just continued listening to Lyna, his full, undivided attention now resting on the Asari huntress. "That's certainly a lot of species, Asari… A lot of species to help prepare for the incoming invasion," Kochinan mused.

"I highly doubt any race would appreciate you sending a fleet into their territory. They would most likely see it as an invasion force," Lyna replied, her voice as still as stone.

Kochinan sighed, opening up a small display in the middle of the room. It floated there as a hologram in the Inusannon leader's hands. He whisked a part of the hologram over to us, causing Lyna to visibly recoil. "Then go to the current galactic leaders, the Citadel Council, and tell them to start their preparations. I don't care how you do it, but you must convince them to prepare for the Reapers."

Sirius' projection passed right through Lyna and I as he grabbed onto the hologram, slowly absorbing it into my omni-tool. I was a bit creeped out by the projection passing through Lyna and I like a ghost, but that wasn't my key concern. "From what I've seen, the Citadel Council is a stubborn bunch. It'd be best if we had at least one Inusannon ship with us, instead of just an outlawed AI, me, and an Asari huntress..."

"No, no, no, I completely disagree. If the Inusannon come with us, it will spell out war. Complete war until the Reapers only have humanity left to destroy," Lyna protested.

"If the Inusannon come with us, we'll have a solid foundation for our proof. For all we know, they'd disregard us otherwise, Lyna. They'd say that it was some sort of fabrication. We do not want that, I assure you."

The Asari sighed, looking over to Sirius and Kochinan for a form of support. Kochinan caught her gaze and spoke up. "You will go there in your own ship. If your councilors refuse to believe the proof, then I'll be happy to provide you with the presence of one of our fleets."

"A destroyer. Why not just send an envoy ship? Seeing a fully armed ship burst out of a Mass Relay in front of the Citadel would most definitely trigger an unneeded war," Lyna replied, challenging the Inusannon leader.

Raising his hand, Sirius finally came back into the conversation. "That's only if they don't believe us. I'm sure that they have enough sense to see our proof. If they can't see past that, we could just point them in the direction of Mertvyykamen. Reaper corpses litter that barren wasteland of our old homeworld."

I paused for a few seconds, bringing my hand up to my head and rubbing one of my temples. "You have to be kidding… The Council… Every single race of the Citadel hates artificial intelligence. We reveal Sirius and it's all over for us."

"They don't use AIs? How foolish," Kochinan growled. He was a bit outraged to say the least. "I suggest that all of you relax for at least four years, think of what you're going to say to the Council. We'll have a physical body for Sirius created within that time. Anyways, we all should head to the bridge. I hear that Svesa has just finished briefing the others and we'll be dropping out of FTL near Prasodetol soon."

[-]

"-The Inusannon Federation will be watching over you from now on," Svesa sighed, staring down at both of the Quarian Admirals.

"I promise you, this will be good for all of us. Having the Inusannon in our society will advance us by millennia. Think of it this way, if the Inusannon share their medical technologies with us, we won't even have to wear these suits anymore." Kapo'Xen turned his head over to Raan. The Geth platforms were idly standing at the table where the two admirals were sitting. Svesa, the Sannokar, was pacing from side to side, trying to convince Shala agree to everything that she was promising.

Shala turned her head towards Kapo'Xen, shaking it vigorously. "It's all about technology with you… Have you even thought about what changes they'll make to our gover-"

"I assure you, Admiral Raan, my federation does not want to alter your 'United Rannoch Government' in any way. Understand that we have one single goal in all of this: Defeating the Reapers," Svesa growled, "and their indoctrinated slaves."

Nomanye, the Geth Destroyer, walked up to Raan and lightly tapped her shoulder. "We believe that it would be in the best interests of the URG to trust the Inusannon Federation, Creator Shala'Raan. That's why we, the Quarians and the Consensus, came all the way out to the Lidera Kop'ye cluster, to forge an alliance with the Inusannon Federation."

Raan clenched her fists, scratching her suit against the table's metal alloy. "Fine, I've argued my side long enough. I'll agree with Kapo'Xen to let you into the Tikkun system, but know this: If and when the Reapers come, you'd better be ready to help protect our territory."

"That's the purpose of this alliance, Admiral Raan. To assist you as well as the galaxy as a whole when the Reapers eventually invade. We'll start sending ships to Rannoch as soon as you get back to your home system." Svesa smiled at the Quarian admirals, happily looking over to another male Sannokar that was in the room. He had identified himself as Lygieran Naka'ruynel earlier on. "Since that has been settled, I'm going to ask that you order your little fleet onwards into Novayazemira… One of our cruisers will be there to greet them."

Almost immediately, Kapo'Xen pulled up his omni-tool and contacted the current URG flagship, the Vekaani. "Captain Pela'Terza…"

From the speaker on the admiral's omni-tool, the flagship's captain responded in a rather astonished voice, "Admiral Kapo'Xen, it's a pleasure to hear your voice, sir. We've been trying to contact you, but unable to get through. I presume you've found our targets?"

"As much as Raan wishes that we found nothing, we definitely found them. They want us to bring the fleet into Novayazemira," the Quarian admiral calmly murmured out. His gaze was laying directly on Svesa, who had her arms crossed underneath her chest, still pacing from side to side. His little quip towards Raan earned a growl from the other admiral.

"Sir? The entire fleet? Are you sure?"

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be contacting you, Pela. Bring our people into Novayazemira immediately. You already know that I don't enjoy repeating myself, so I suggest that you hurry up and move our fleet."

The other end of the line was quiet for a few seconds, creating tension between Kapo'Xen and Pela'Terza. Eventually, the captain of the other vessel sighed. "Very well. The Vekaani and her children will drop in shortly."

"Thank you, Pela. Keelah Se'Lai," Kapo'Xen blankly stated, putting his hand down while his omni-tool was still active. He was waiting for Pela'Terza to end the conversation.

"Keelah Se'Lai, Admiral…" Pela was silent for a few seconds and an idle tapping of metal against metal was emitted from Kapo'Xen's omni-tool. This was how Pela made a decision, tapping her fingers against the metal armrests of her seat. After a few moments of the tapping from the other line, it was eventually cut.

Clasping her hands together, Svesa finally stopped pacing around the room. A bright smile stretched across her face as she finally gestured for the admirals to stand up. "I'm glad we see eye-to-eye, Kapo'Xen," the Sannokar beamed, taking Kapo's waist in her hands and hugging him tightly. "May this be the blossoming alliance that we so desperately need in order to defeat those that threaten all organic life with extinction."

Awkwardly re-embracing the Sannokar Admiral, Kapo'Xen looked up to the much taller woman. "Indeed, for a new age for our people, Inusannon, Sannokar, Inusynthetic, Quarian, Geth, and Prothean alike."

Kapo'Xen let go of Svesa's hand, turning back to Shala'Raan, who was standing near one of the Geth platforms. The Sannokar followed his gaze, letting her own rest on the other Admiral. "You'll come to understand, Shala'Raan, that all of our people will greatly benefit from this meeting, I promise you that much," Svesa lightly spoke, her voice taking on a smaller tone. She moved past Kapo'Xen, walking right up to Shala'Raan and putting one of her massive hands onto the admiral's shoulder. "My people didn't have a choice in joining the Inusannon Federation. They uplifted us, gave our species a name and a spot on their high council. Before their intervention, the average Sannokar only lived for fifty years. I'm in my thousands. You made the right decision for your people in allying with us. If I were you, I'd not mope about that."

Short, shallow breathing came from the female admiral. Raan wasn't sure quite sure on what to say. "I'll start believing you when you manufacture a means to heal our weak immune systems and get us out of these damn suits."

"I'll be sure to inform our medical officers to start manufacturing high amounts Avtizana for your people. Of course, we'll probably need samples of Quarian DNA to manufacture a version for your biology. As for now, I need to contact Kochinan. We'll head up to the bridge after he's done with those other three and after Khara has finished dealing with the Protheans."

[-]

I exited the room right after Sirius and Kamen. Lyna followed close behind me, and Xen? Xen was still off finding the Inusynthetic Admiral. I adjusted the sling of my ISYLR on my shoulder, feeling a bit uneasy as we walked through the halls. I didn't know entirely what it was, but the feeling was cold, unnatural. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I slowed my pace for a moment, to where I was walking right by Lyna's side yet again. Before a word even left my mouth, she cut me off, "I can't help but feel as if something or someone is following us."

"I was about to say the same thing," I whispered, taking a small glance behind me. "Sometimes I hear a fourth pair of footsteps. Am I going crazy?"

Lyna glanced down to her omni-tool, staring at it for a good few seconds. "I hear it too, but it may be another Inusannon going the same way. We're probably just being paranoid."

"You might be right. I still can't shake this feeling of unease."

The Asari Huntress dismissively shrugged, "You're paranoid. There. Now shut up and keep walking."

I turned my head towards Lyna, cocking it to the side sarcastically. I copied her shrug and moved on shortly afterwards. Either way, I couldn't shake the feeling, no matter what I tried to think about. It lingered and now I was determined to find out what it was.

Sirius, I seriously feel like we're not alone here.

'We're on a ship that sports more than a hundred thousand crew members. It's quite obvious that we're not alone.'

No, you ass. There's someone or something following us. Use the internal sensors of the vessel to run a scan. See if there's anyone following us. Maybe infrared?

'Cloaked figure, fifteen meters behind us. They might be armed. I don't know who they are, but they have the stature of a female Quarian. It could be Daro'Xen. Continue walking, do not engage unless otherwise notified. You may tell Lyna if you wish.'

First off, Daro doesn't own a cloak, nor would she have reason to sneak around behind our backs. Secondly, how the hell would I engage something that I can't see?

I abided by Sirius's words, though I did hold onto the strap of my ISYLR a little bit tighter. I wrapped my left arm around Lyna, pulling her close to me. This earned me a scowl from the Asari, but I ultimately ignored it. "Someone is behind us. Sirius is attempting to find out who they are," I whispered, such things being barely audible to the Asari while we walked throughout the halls. To make my actions a little more believable to anyone following us, I kissed Lyna on her forehead. "Once we get into the bridge, be ready to face anyone."

"Are you sure?" Lyna whispered back in a hushed tone. She was as quiet as I was, obviously taking the situation seriously. She snuggled into me, finally understanding what I was doing.

I nodded. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be bringing this up."

A minute passed on, with whoever was behind us keeping their distance as we made our way onto the bridge. I took in my surroundings for a moment. All around the room were computer systems and various holographic interfaces. Inusannon, Inusynthetics, and the occasional Sannokar were scattered about. Once entering the room, almost all of the working stopped, save for one person. An Inusynthetic pilot, seated directly at one of the holographic 'windows' was continuing to do her tasks. "Pervichalomar Vez'da. You have great timing with our guests. We'll enter Zarkin's orbit in two, maybe three minutes."

"Very good, Cygnus. I trust that you have informed the Kolomkorable of the fleet of our visitors?" Kochinan questioned the Inusynthetic pilot. He stood straight and had his arms intertwined behind his back.

The Kolomkorable?

'As far as I can tell, it's one of the Inusannon carriers. It could act as its own battlegroup with the destroyers that it has in its hull.'

Cygnus pressed a few holographic buttons and dragged a pink-hued display down. "Yes, though I hear Svesa wanted an entire fleet to greet them."

Right as Cygnus finished speaking, I heard the all too familiar sound of a Geth-manufactured weapon being activated. I had enough time to react to this, as a shot was fired right as I stepped in front of where I thought the weapon would fire. I presumed it was a shot intended for the back of Kochinan's head. Instead of hitting its original target, it tore right into my right shoulder, exiting out of my shoulder shortly afterwards and striking Kochinan in his spinal armor. It bounced off of the metal, only making a ping on it. The pulse round just missed my artery, which was good news for me. Gritting my teeth, I stepped forwards, using my non-injured arm to unsling my ISYLR. When it came off of my shoulder, I heard a ping echo off of the weapon, signifying that a bullet had penetrated my rifle, completely destroying it in the process. All the while, Lyna had summoned her biotics and put my assailant into a biotic stasis. I was able to get a good look at the person, who I recognized almost immediately. There she was, Lera'Gerrel, the same Quarian that had helped me find and converse with the Geth before the United Rannoch Government came to be. She was frozen in a dark energy field, holding a Geth Heretic's pulse rifle. I dropped my ISYLR onto the floor, staring directly at the girl. I formed a fist with my left hand, squinting at the girl who had served me all that time ago. My shoulder was dripping blood and my clothing had been scorched around my wound. "Reaper-worshipping bitch," I yelled out, using my dwindling strength to strike Lera right in her mask with my clenched fist. Her mask didn't shatter on the first blow, but my fist did hit her right as the stasis wore off, causing her to crumble to the ground in shock. I straddled her on the ground, using my strength to break the glass in with my fist. It took about nine hits before the thing finally broke. With glass sticking out of my hand, I delivered yet another punch to the woman's now bloodied face. She was stunned, so I took that time to grab onto Lera's rifle and skid it across the floor. Shortly after that, I was pulled off of the traitorous Quarian by Lyna, who immediately started putting pressure on my shoulder with her hands. "Someone grab that rifle," I ordered while trying to break free of the Asari's grasp. Lyna wouldn't let me go, as I heard the tearing of cloth behind me and a bit of cloth being pressed to my wound.

"Gladly," Svesa said, walking into the room with the Quarian admirals and the Geth in tow. A shotgun was in her hands, pointed directly at the Quarian on the ground. She kept it aimed at Lera'Gerrel while bending down to grab the Heretic's pulse rifle. Svesa took the time to look over it for a few seconds, but ultimately placed it on a magnetic clamp attached to her thigh.

Lera turned over, holding her face in her hands, whimpering at her current predicament. Kochinan had already turned around, looking down at the Quarian traitor. He turned his head to me moments later, noticing the hole in my shoulder. "How very interesting…"

[-]

"We need to move, now. There's been an incident on the bridge," Khara ordered, gesturing towards Avenali, the Inusannon medical officer who had treated Teval. The Inusynthetic held a long rifle which looked similar to Kyle's weapon, at least in Xen's eyes. She was still tending to Teval in Kamen's arms as they strode along the halls, where the poor Inuquarian was shaken by her surgeries. Daro'Xen was aware of the impacts of previous experiments that Teval had been forced to go through, but nothing had quite altered Teval's behavior like this.

Every little sound startled the Inuquarian and when alarms began to blare throughout the corridors, she clutched her ears while in Kamen's arms. "Come on child, come on. The machines will no longer hurt you." Xen ran her fingers through Teval's hair. She was still plugging her ears as she was being carried by Kamen. Daro ran alongside Kamen, desperately trying to catch up with the Inusynthetic leader and her medical officer.

"Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, what is going on?" Avenali asked, jogging beside Khara.

"Our visitors either had a stow-away, or they purposefully brought an indoctrinated slave to us. It tried to assassinate Kochinan, but the feeds show that the human, Kyle Terrah, took the round that was originally intended for our Pervichalomar."

Daro'Xen coughed as she followed behind Khara, shocked by the woman's words. "Kyle was shot? Is he alive?!"

"For now, yes. As far as I'm concerned, he'll be okay," Khara responded.

Panting, Xen ran just a bit faster. She was concerned and she nearly stumbled a few times from running so fast inside of the giant Inusannon Flagship. She'd be at the bridge soon, but maybe not soon enough.

[-]

"Ah fucking hell. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," I muttered, holding Lyna's hand on my shoulder as I watched Kochinan lift Lera off of the ground by her neck. Lyna was still tending to my wound and I was watching on, wondering what exactly Lera's fate would be.

Lyna patted me on the face, as a way to get my attention. "Hey Kyle, do me a favor: Shut up, remove your hand from the wound and let me put pressure on the damn thing. You could have been poisoned for all that we know."

I slowly revealed my bullet wound to Lyna. Where skin would have been, there was burnt skin in a four meter diameter. "Seriously? Can pulse weapons even carry poison in their ammunition?"

"Don't be so whiny about it, I'm just going to check the wound, that's all." Lyna rolled her eyes for a second, taking the time to scan over the entry wound with her omni-tool. While she was doing her little scan, I focused majorly on Kochinan. The tendrils on the back of Kochinan's head were diving into Lera's open orifices. Some amount of blood was seeping out of her nose as Kochinan opened his mouth, small metallic twigs pierced Lera's skull, wiggling around as they dove past the bone cartilage and into her brain. I was completely and utterly shocked. The holes became larger, blood and grey goop seeping out of them. Fluid was sucked through Kochinan's tendrils, to which I could only assume that it was Lera's brain. Moments later, Kochinan's metallic twigs suddenly pulled back, taking what seemed to be the last bit of grey matter with them. The Pervichalomar yanked all of his bodily additions out of Lera. The color was drained from Lera's body, her eyes being completely white. No pupils, no irises. He let go of the Quarian's body, where it fell onto the ground and blood started to pour out of her pores. Hell, the remainders of her brain even fell out of her nose.

The 'tentacles' returned to their original positions and a small chuckle came directly from the Inusannon leader. "You're lucky that she was a stowaway, though I'm surprised that you didn't detect her. She was indeed indoctrinated and the ammunition from that so-called 'pulse rifle' was sterile. Kyle Terrah, you should be fine."

"I was just shot! I don't think that counts as 'fine.' Also, what in the absolute fuck did you do to her?!" I gazed at Kochinan for a few seconds, flinching as Lyna poked at my wound. He didn't directly answer me as he turned around and stared out of the holographic displays all around the room. The Asari was doing a poor job at treating my wound, so I glanced at her, giving her a fine look of disapproval.

She shrugged for a moment, but then Svesa walked up alongside the Asari. Lyna was forcefully pulled away from me by the Sannokar, who assumed Lyna's position of tending to my gunshot wound shortly afterwards. Since the woman was taller than I was, she had to bend down to focus on my slightly charred skin. The Sannokar wordlessly pressed a hand up to my burnt flesh, running her fingers right over it. "Uh. What exactly is going on?" Lyna asked, rubbing the back of her neck in great confusion. She turned back to see Lera's completely bloodied body, to which she gasped and visibly recoiled. "In the name of Athame…"

Unfortunately, Lyna didn't get a single response from Svesa, as the woman was entirely focused on applying some sort of liquid based substance to my wound. I wasn't sure if this woman was trying to kill me or not. She didn't even know if it would work with my biology! Once the stinging of whatever this crap was hit me, I tried to break away from Svesa, but her iron grip held me in place. "Quit it. The daonna will help you if you stop resisting against it," Svesa ordered, dripping some more of that odd grey liquid onto my flesh wound.

I protested against the Sannokar, jerking back once again. Though it was no use, as the medicine was already in my body. "You quit it, are you trying to kill em with that stuff? How the hell do you even know if it'll work with my body?!"

"I get that you're angry, but please. This will not kill you. If you're an Interloper, what Kochinan says you are, you will be fine," Svesa tried to reassure me, but words wouldn't work for me right now.

At this point, Kapo'Xen walked forwards and bent over Lera'Gerrel's body, staring at it while cocking his head to the side. "She was acting completely normal before this, I don't understand…"

"And I don't understand how or why your people were experimenting with Reaper tech," Kochinan turned his head back, staring at Kapo'Xen through his peripheral vision. "You didn't even take the necessary precautions to prevent indoctrination! Not only that, but you also have an indoctrinated Quarian running across the galaxy!"

Just as Kochinan yelled that, Khara Venatici, the synthetic from before, entered the room. Another Inusannon trailed right behind her, with Daro, Delaki, Korlib, and Kamen with Teval following right behind the Inusannon. The bridge was becoming relatively crowded and many emotions were filling the room. Teval was the first one to shriek from seeing Lera'Gerrel's dead body and she held onto the metal arm out of pure fear. Daro'Xen's head turned towards me, where she could see my rapidly healing wound. "Kyle, what even happened here?"

"Lera was apparently indoctrinated. She tried to shoot Kochinan. Good news is that I blocked the bullet. Bad news is that I was shot," I joked, trying to at least raise the mood a bit in here. "I believe that she was indoctrinated alongside Ferryn'Artrem…"

Daro'Xen put a hand to her mask, her other hand resting on her hip. "I suspected as much. How did you subdue her?"

"I was shot. Lyna put her into stasis and then I broke her mask with multiple punches… Kochinan did… Did… I'm not sure what he did… She's dead now…"

"And how exactly did this indoctrinated primitive die?" Korlib asked, blinking all four of his eyes curiously. He was one of the only Protheans that described species of this cycle as primitives. "Clearly, just your little slug thrower would not do what we're seeing here."

Kochinan turned back around, squinting at the much smaller Protheans. "Whoever would keep an indoctrinated person alive would be a complete and utter fool. I liquefied her brain after I was done with the data that her mind held," Kochinan explained, staring directly at Korlib. He stepped over to the Prothean, who took an instinctive step back. "You will also stop naming the ones in the younger cycles as primitives. It's 'primitive' of yourself to do such a thing."

Korlib growled at the Inusannon commander, "These primitives don't deserve such an honor! What have they done to earn our respect?"

"Very well," chuckled the Inusannon, turning his gaze back to Khara and giving her a small nod. The Inusynthetic put some sort of device onto Korlib's back, effectively freezing him where he stood. I noted that Teval was clutching onto Kamen's metal arm tighter, as he took a step back for the sake of the Inuquarian. Delaki stood there, glaring at Kochinan. Shala'Raan, Kapo'Xen and Svesa were all staring at the debacle, while the Geth platforms stood there idly, not doing anything. "During the days of the Mertvyykamen Federation, we commonly held Prothean slaves. Now, that's a dated practice, an outlawed one, but I'm willing to make an exception just for you." Kochinan strode forwards, running a single finger over Korlib's chin. He then snapped his fingers and Korlib fell to the floor, the device sitting right beside him.

Korlib began to cough up some odd dark-grey fluids as he stared up to Kochinan, who smiled down at the Prothean. Delaki suddenly rushed up, helping her comrade up off of the floor. "What was that? What happened to Korlib?" I asked, gazing at the Prothean who was coughing up the goop.

"An internal device used to keep the former slave Protheans in line. It's usually transmitted sexually, festering inside of the fetus during its development. Don't worry, we have no intentions to take slaves anymore. Korlib is actually coughing up the device right now," Svesa answered me, patting my shoulder and turning around. She made her way over to Kochinan shortly after that, while Lyna and I sat back against a wall. The Sannokar had obviously finished patching up my shoulder after explaining that unneeded bit of information.

I turned my head over to Lyna, still holding the wound on my shoulder. "So. We're here, we're on an Inusannon ship… Question is, would you rather deal with this, or the Council?"

"We're already dealing with one. Their leader has ordered us to actually meet the Council. It's not like we have much of a choice anymore," she sighed, pressing her back up against the wall.

I rolled my eyes, leaning myself against the wall and wrapping my working arm around Lyna's waist. "How pissed do you think Aria will be once she finds out that absolutely massive ships are cruising around the Terminus?"

Lyna turned her gaze over to me, to where I looked into those wonderful purple eyes of hers. "She'll definitely be displeased. I can only imagine how the Councilors will react. 'A species that doesn't fully use element zero? Impossible, it has to be,'" Lyna quoted, giggling a fair bit. "You know, I'm glad you're here. I'd be on the path to serving under Benezia if it wasn't for you. Not that it'd be a bad thing, but I'm much happier journeying throughout the galaxy, meeting new species... All of that."

"If I wasn't here, the crucible would be utilized, and sentient life as we know it would cease to exist.."

"Do you honestly think that we'll win against the Reapers? With their numbers, their size, their tech… I don't know, Kyle. Our chances of victory look slim," Lyna trailed off, gazing around the room once again. Sirius was talking to Cygnus, the Inusynthetic pilot. Delaki and Korlib were keeping their distance from Kochinan, who was speaking with Svesa. Most of the Quarians and Geth were huddled together in a group.

Moving my hand back a bit, I softly held the back of Lyna's neck, which caused her to calm down by an extremely small margin. I heard a slow and shaky breath exit her lungs. Without thinking too far into what I was doing, I wrapped a hand around Lyna's waist and brought her just a bit closer to me. She rested her head on my shoulder, holding me in her arms. Just as we embraced each other, the ship spun down its in-system drive, entering normal space and passing right by an absolutely massive planetoid. I watched on as my eyes landed on Trivon, with multiple man-made worlds scattered around it. "We'll win, no matter what. I promise," I told the Asari. I sighed to myself as I kissed her directly on the top of her head. I couldn't predict the future, not anymore at least. Whereas I had a clear head on the future just about twenty years ago, now? Now I wasn't too sure.

A/N: From this point forwards, many things will be different and the timeline has been changed permanently.