"Captain John Shepard, you are under arrest for breach of Citadel Law and crimes against sentient life. Namely the destruction of the Bahak System and interfering with the state of a mass relay."
Rear Admiral Mikhailovich seemed almost smug as he recited the charges as Shepard led his team down the Normandy's ramp at the Alliance Naval HQ in Vancouver.
The rest of the team where scowling at the many cameras and reporters that were assembled around the landing pad. Shepard remained stoic as he allowed the team of Military Police (MP) to cuff him.
Harry pushed his way forward, grabbed the cuffs and snapped them. "You are a disgusting piece of work." Harry snarled at the man as he tossed the remains of the cuffs to the floor.
"Emissary-"
"Not now John." Harry snapped. "These trumped up charges hold no water and when this is all over I will have you charged with corruption. You'll spend the rest of your life in the stockade."
"This is an Alliance matter, Potter." The Rear Admiral sneered. "If I had my way you would be joining him."
"Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. You are being reassigned."
Everyone, including the reporters, turned to see Admiral Hackett storming up. He slapped an OSD on the man's chest.
"I don't understand… what about my duties here?" The man was confused before he got a glimpse at the orders on the OSD. "The Terminus systems?" He asked in shock.
"Most of the ships in that region of space have been recalled." Hackett said calmly. "There are only five older model frigates but they need a commander whilst they patrol the area for pirates and the like. You leave immediately."
"I'm needed here!" The Rear Admiral argued angrily. "I'm in charge of-"
"Are you questioning your orders? Rear Admiral?" Hackett challenged as he reminded him of his place.
Mikhailovich straightened, but scowled. "What about my duties on the War Crimes Tribunal?"
"They have been reassigned." Hackett responded. "You are dismissed, Admiral." Hackett said with finality.
The Rear Admiral stewed on the spot for a moment. "I will be raising my objections to this posting." He said before storming off without a salute.
"You enjoyed that." Harry smirked.
Hackett looked at the younger man with a raised eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that I would abuse my position, Emissary?"
"Abuse it? Merlin no!" Harry scoffed. "But you aren't the man's superior for nothing." He smirked.
Admiral Steven Hackett was quite used to the Emissary's… eccentricities. He simply straightened his jacket and turned to walk to the reporters. The team followed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, as I am sure you have heard, Captain John Shepard of the Citadel Spectres has been charged with various crimes that include the destruction of a solar system and interfering with a mass relay.
"As a Council Spectre he is generally immune from prosecution by bodies such as the Alliance. However, Captain Shepard has graciously agreed to return to Earth to answer the charges put forward by the Alliance."
"Admiral, if Captain Shepard is immune from prosecution then why is the Alliance being allowed to continue with this action? What is the response of the Council?" A reporter asked.
"The Alliance felt that, as Captain Shepard is still a serving member of the Alliance Navy, they needed to investigate. They petitioned Councillor Escheel for permission to start proceedings."
"So the Council is also prosecuting Captain Shepard?" Another reporter asked curiously.
"No, they are not." Everyone turned to see Councillor Aethyta storming up in her long tight dress. "The Council is divided three to one over this issue." She stated bluntly. "Unfortunately Councillor Escheel is within her rights to assign the case to an independent body.
"Fortunately, the rest of the Council is within their rights to defend Spectre Shepard." She said with a dark smile.
"But if the evidence is enough to warrant an investigation, shouldn't the Council remain neutral?" The first reporter asked.
"The Council and the Alliance has seen the evidence. We have days of recordings and hundreds of thousands of witnesses that lay out the facts.
"Whilst Spectre Shepard did destroy a solar system and mass relay, he did so with the sole intention of protecting the galaxy. Furthermore, the event took place beyond Council space. We have no jurisdiction there. In the view of the majority of the Council this whole investigation is a farce." She sneered.
"As Emissary of the Free People, I should point out that John Shepard is recognised as a hero. The government of the Free People have created a committee to determine an appropriate week that can be designated as a public holiday in honour of what John Shepard and his people have achieved.
"A whole week!" Harry smirked. "They only have one day named after me." He grinned at Shepard.
"Captain Shepard, do you have any comments on the charges against you?" A reporter queried.
Shepard looked at Hackett, Aethyta and Harry to see if he was under restrictions. They all gave consenting nods.
He gave a deep sigh. "The evidence will speak for itself. Hopefully, either the Alliance, the Council or the Free People will release the appropriate footage to show the public what happened.
"Whilst we saved all inhabitants of the Bahak System, I issued the command to destroy the sun and mass relay before the Emissary developed the plan to save them.
"I knew that I was condemning them to death but I had no choice as the Reapers were already arriving and they were not effected enough by the destructive power of the sun they were arriving in. After the Battle of the Citadel, I knew I couldn't afford to let them arrive."
"Reapers? I thought they were deemed a myth?"
"Only by political cowards who are afraid of the truth." Harry said derisively. "The evidence is there. It is irrefutable. Dr. Liara T'Soni of Shepard's own team has been searching for more evidence and she will be presenting that evidence during this farce of a trial and at a conference on the Citadel in a month or so."
"Matriarch Aethyta, what is the Council's response?" Someone challenged.
"The Council has yet to review the evidence. Dr. T'Soni hasn't presented us with advanced copies of her work so I can't comment on that." She shrugged. "As for the existence of Reapers… I don't know who or what they are but I do know that there isn't a single expert, from any race, that has positively identified them as a Heretic Geth construct.
"We have managed to determine that the geth themselves don't possess the ability to be imaginative enough to create a unique vessel like the Reaper vessels."
"Couldn't another race have created them?"
Aethyta looked at the reporter like he was a bug. "That is exactly what the Emissary and Spectre Shepard have been saying you idiot." She snapped. "Of course the Reapers were created by someone else!"
"Do you know what bothers me?" Harry spoke up. "All this time the idiots in government have been calling Shepard and myself delusional because we claimed that the Reapers were coming. They kept saying that the geth or the heretics created it. They kept saying that there were no more Reapers.
"Well, the evidence we have presented the Council and all the galactic governments shows that at least three Reapers emerged from the Bahak System Relay. Each one was able to survive the destructive power of the sun.
"Well… the idiots were wrong about there only being one. Having seen three more, why would they assume there aren't more?
"Just one of those ships was capable of taking out a good chunk of the Human Alliance Navy. The Asari dreadnought, the Destiny Ascension, only survived because the Alliance arrived in the nick of time.
"The turian and salarian ships were decimated.
"So why are their governments quibbling over where they came from instead of dedicating everything to figuring out how to stop them?" Harry demanded of the reporters.
There was a flurry of fingers over omni-tools as the reporters made notes even though they were recording. This little event would produce journalistic gold.
"Anyway, you know what questions to ask. You know that we have a lot of answers and are willing to give them to you. I suggest you go and ask the rest of the parties involved for their answers. Those are the ones that are putting the galaxy in danger. Next time it might not be the Citadel that the Reapers attack, or a remote batarian colony… next time it might be Earth."
Everywhere Shepard went in Alliance HQ, he was met with proud salutes.
His arm was literally aching by the time they reached the quarters that had been set aside for him during his stay on Earth.
The two soldiers standing outside snapped to attention as the group, led by Admiral Hackett, arrived.
"You are dismissed."
The two guards shared a nervous look. "Sir, we have orders from the JMC to remain on guard duty for the prisoner."
"Then you have a lot of free time on your hands as there is no prisoner." Harry said dryly.
The Admiral looked livid… despite trying to control his emotions. "I won't attempt to countermand your orders… but I will be keeping a close eye on you and your relief. If I find that Captain Shepard has been treated with anything less than the utmost respect… you will feel my displeasure." He breathed tightly.
The men snapped a salute.
Hackett led the group into the room but Harry paused outside and waved his hand over the door a few times. He grinned mischievously at the two confused guards before entering.
"Bloody hell! Are they gonna put you on bread and water too?" Harry exclaimed as he finally saw Shepard's new quarters.
To say it was barren was to say the sun was hot.
The only thing in the room was a bed, a very thin mattress a toilet and a sink.
Even the window had been sealed off.
"Emissary-"
"Oh do lay off Admiral." Harry snapped irritably. "I know you had nothing to do with this and I refuse to accept any attempt to placate me that actually comes from you. If this is how the Alliance treats its heroes then just remember that I have several fleets that could use an experienced Admiral and you come highly recommended."
Hackett was still not sure if Harry blamed him.
"Harry, conjure some chairs, would you?" Ashley asked as she looked around 'room' in distaste.
"Chairs?" Harry asked incredulously. "Screw that! All of you wait outside." He ordered.
Rather than have the Admiral get even more confused, Shiala grabbed him by the arm and hooked her arm in his elbow and escorted him out.
The two guards outside looked quite shamed as they exited.
They didn't say anything though as they were on duty and didn't want to get in anymore trouble.
Not being able to do anything about the room or the current guard situation, Hackett decided to do what he could do. "Men, despite the orders you have been given, Spectre John Shepard still holds the Alliance rank of Captain. He still holds command of the SSV SR-1 Normandy. He is still the man who led the team that defeated the Reaper and saved several colonies from the Collectors.
"I expect you to salute when he appears. I expect you to have your boots shined like mirrors when you are on duty. You may be on guard duty… but you are guarding a galactic hero… am I clear?"
"Sir! Yes Sir!" The two men snapped a salute.
"Good. Make sure your relief knows as well. I would hate to have to return for anything other than a personal visit with the Captain."
"Alright, I'm done." Harry said as he poked his head out the door.
Hackett followed the others into the room… and froze.
Steven Hackett was quite familiar with magic. He had toured the Dog Star, the Tiger-Lilly, the magical tents, the Stingray, Diagon Alley…
But Harry had gone all out.
The room was nearly twenty times the size, maybe more. There were three levels, the furniture looked very inviting and had a common oak theme. The whole room looked out of place in the fairly sterile halls of Alliance HQ.
And then there was the window.
Every room in the building, barring prison cells and storage rooms, had a window. The window in the room assigned to Shepard had been sealed up. Probably another attempt to make him feel like a prisoner.
Now the entire wall, all three levels, was a fine clear window that looked out onto the city of Vancouver. It was a beautiful sight.
Hackett coughed slightly as he tried to regain his voice. "I realise I shouldn't need to ask but… this doesn't affect the structural stability of the building does it?"
Harry smiled widely at him. "This is why I like you Admiral. Your first concern was for the safety of your people and not the fact that I had just turned a prison cell into a palace. But no, this room has no real affect on the rest of the building. The geth made sure I reinforced the wall, floor and ceiling.
"Harry, you were only in here for five minutes." Ashley said with a great deal of confusion.
"Weeeell…"
"Harry James Potter… what did you do?" Karin Chakwas growled.
"It is so cool!" Harry said happily, seemingly unaffected by the Doctor's attitude. "The geth have figured out a rune system that can be powered by biotic energy! Well, any energy really."
"So you just had to apply a set of pre-written runes and power them to create the room." Liara nodded. She had studied magic a fair bit.
"No."
But that didn't mean she had spent enough time studying Harry.
"I spent the five minutes writing runes that would let me alter time in this room. I then spent two days in here fixing the place up."
There was a short pause as they processed that.
"You can manipulate space and time?" Liara asked carefully.
"Sure. I've used a time turner before, but that just took me back in time a few hours." Harry nodded.
"So… you altered the flow of time in this… 'room', just so you could give Shepard a better place to live?"
"Well… that and to snub my nose at the fools trying to get him." He said with a scowl.
"Harry, if you can go back in time why-"
"Time paradox." Harry interrupted Ashley's question. "Reapers and Alliance gits not withstanding, how much do you like your life right now?" He asked the Lieutenant.
She glanced at Shepard. "A lot."
"Right, so if I go back in time to any significant event and attempt to interfere then I will alter the present. You might be stuck as a private or you might never meet me… the Reapers might be replaced by someone worse… Cerberus could enslave the galaxy!
"There are a whole bunch of other reasons not to go back in time and mess with things but that would be the biggest."
"You could save billions of lives." Samara tried to reason.
"I could save galaxies." Harry shrugged. "But… would it really be considered saving people or exchanging them for others?" He put to her.
"I do not understand." She frowned.
"Simple protocols exist for the possibility of time travel even amongst the Salarians." Mordin spoke up. "Harry is saying that if he saves people in the past, those that exist now may never be born. In effect; he would have to sacrifice them to save others."
"Bottom line: I go back in time and kill Saren just as he goes rogue… I cause Liara never to be born." Harry said pointedly.
"You definitely won't be doing that." Aethyta glared at him.
"I still can't believe you altered time in this room just to… decorate." Kaiden said in exasperation.
"Not just to decorate. The geth and I have been experimenting with time rooms for a few days now. They are currently rolling out better ships and platforms because they have created several rooms filled with servers and low level programs that are operating outside of time."
"We should stop talking about this." Aethyta said quickly. "I have oaths I have to uphold as a Councillor. I won't be able to keep this from Escheel. If the Council Races hear about this then you might have to fight a whole different war."
"I want to know what the plan is now." Ash spoke up. "The Collectors are gone but the Reapers and Cerberus are still out there. Why is the Alliance so gung-ho about prosecuting Shepard?"
"Because promises were made between the Salarians and the Alliance." Hackett answered grimly. "Promises of new technology and support for future endeavours if the Alliance agreed to silence Shepard about the Reapers."
"Is it possible the Salarian government has been indoctrinated?" Miranda queried.
"We won't know until the last second. Possibly ever." Harry admitted. "Other than them openly declaring their love for genocidal alien machines… the only way to tell is to examine their brains."
"I can live with that." Ashley shrugged.
"I Believe Harry is referring to nanite retrieved data as opposed to open cranial invasive techniques." Mordin chuckled.
"Look, we can debate what the Salarians and the Alliance are up to all day… but we are running out of time. The Reapers will get here and we need to be ready." Harry said seriously.
"Don't you just love when he gets all commanding like that? Oof!" Kasumi grunted as Tali elbowed her in the gut.
"Samara and I have to take a little trip. We won't be gone long but we will be going dark."
"Is this one of those missions you can't tell us about?" Shepard asked.
"Yes. But we will have back up." He promised. "Liara needs to go back to the Citadel to prepare for her conference. She could use some protection. The geth will be present as always but an organic or two wouldn't be amiss."
"I can handle that if someone wants to join me." Jacob offered.
"I will accompany you." Thane stated. "It will give me the opportunity to spend time with my son."
"Before you head to the Citadel I need Dr. T'Soni to look at some of the latest Prothean findings on Mars." Hackett said.
"Kaiden, take command of the Utah." Shepard ordered. "The Alliance can't claim that ship as it is registered as property of the Emissary.
"I'll take the Normandy… if I ever get out of this."
"If I'm not needed for anything then I would like to take the time to return to Palaven." Garrus spoke up. "I have some… family things I need to take care of."
"Take Grunt, Tank and the Dog Star." Harry offered. "The Reapers could strike anytime, any place. Boys, Garrus has the command, but make sure you speak up and advise him."
Both krogans gave a grunt and a nod.
"I would like to spend some time with my sister before we go off on another suicide mission." Miranda admitted.
"You can come with us." Tali offered. "We need to head back to make a few appearances. It seems the Free People have taken someone's joke too seriously." She glared at her fiancé. "They are now asking me to make decisions."
"What will you be doing, Harry?" Kaiden asked the wizard.
"The geth are close to a breakthrough on magic. They will be setting up a lab in here to test me. When they aren't poking me with needles I will be trying to make alliances with the magical species around the planet. I need to prepare the goblins for a possible invasion. I need to warn the centaurs and see if they know anything. The mer-people also need warning as do vampires, werewolves, giants… Merlin… there's a long list!" Harry said breathlessly.
"You guys suck." Harry was sitting on the grass at Hogwarts in front of several centaurs. They had just finished telling him of what they saw in the stars.
Namely a great battle in which the Child of Lightning and The Shepherd would work together to drive back the Dark Harvest.
"We have no control over the stars, Harry Potter." Palaise, the Centaur Chief, chided.
"Yeah, but you never give me good news." Harry pouted.
"The stars speak of what will come, but not what will happen." Palaise frowned. "There will be a great battle, but how that battle is fought and what the outcome will be they do not say. You could win with ease or fall after a prolonged fight… all that is clear is that you will be pivotal."
"Fine." Harry sulked. "What about you and the Centaurs? Will you fight?"
"Our bows and swords will be at your disposal." Palaise inclined his head.
"Bows and swords might not be enough." Harry warned. "I'd like it if you would speak with some of my friends, they can supply you with weapons that will be more effective."
"We will listen… but we will not commit ourselves to using your tools." He allowed.
"YOU" *THWACK* "WILL" *SLAP* "FOLLOW" *THWIP* "MY" *SHWICK* "INSTRUCTIONS!"
*THUD*
Harry breathed heavily as he stepped back and hopped off the massive body he had just single handedly beaten to a pulp.
After the Centaurs and Mer-People, both of whom had agreed to help fight, he had approached the giants.
They responded by trying to squash him.
He responded by killing their chief and then beating the next biggest giant into a coma.
"Anyone else?" He asked the twenty or so arrayed giants watching.
"You big little chief." One of them said with clear horror on his face. "We follow you."
"Alright arseholes! First one to say 'no' to me loses his head!"
Three decapitated vampires later and Harry walked out of the Romanian pub with the allegiance of one of the largest clans of vampires and a promise to approach the werewolves to save him the trouble.
Anything to get the mad man out killing range of themselves.
"Calm yourself young human. I know why you have come." The large sphinx greeted him as he arrived in Egypt near a cave the goblins had sent him to. "I have already spoken with the phoenixes and dragons. They will answer your call.
"You may also cease your reign of terror on the remnants of the magical species." She said in amusement. "I will rally the rest in your name."
"How do you know my name?" Harry asked.
"I do not know your human name. But I know what you are. You are the spark that will reignite magic. You are the progenitor of the next wave."
"And again I feel the need to hit something." Harry mumbled.
"Soon you will have all the targets you could desire. So many that you will regret your blood lust." She warned.
Having been sent packing by the sphinx in order to prevent him terrorising more magical species, Harry headed off with Samara to deal with their secret mission.
In short, the asari government refused to allow the Ardat Yakshi to be released from their seclusion and threatened to exterminate them if any one attempted contact.
Harry had to be manhandled by Samara into calming down and not ordering the Emissary's Third Fleet to the planet of Lessus where the monastery housing the Ardat Yakshi resided.
Instead she had convinced him to make use of his own personal abilities and neutralise the asari guards and convince the secluded asari to leave with them.
They had a few days until Harry needed to be back to deal with the trial so they had taken the Normandy (much to the Alliance's ire) and had the crew drop them at the edge of the Mesana System whilst they continued on the Stingray.
As they headed for Lessus at sub-light speeds they discussed a few things.
"Samara, when the Reapers are dealt with, you may want to either have Shepard keep you bound by your oath or make sure you are far away from this galaxy. I recommend joining the Second Fleet on their expeditions."
"Why?" She asked with a frown.
"Because I intend to stomp out this discrimination against Purebloods. It is completely irrational. In the process, I might have to gut a few people."
"Purebloods are the route cause Ardat-Yakshi though." She tried to reason. "Had I not mated with another asari my daughters might not have suffered."
"Bullshit." Harry spat.
Samara looked very offended but he ploughed on.
"How long have the Ardat-Yakshi existed?" He challenged.
"They have been mentioned in our earliest writings."
"Right… long before the asari left Thessia, correct?"
"Of course."
"Then why aren't there more of them?" Harry asked. "The asari spent thousands of years on Thessia with no other species to reproduce with. By that logic the Ardat-Yakshi should make up nearly fifty percent of the asari species."
"The Ardat-Yakshi are sterile. They are incapable of reproducing."
"I have a wild hunch that they might be able to reproduce with some of the magical species on Earth… or each other." He said pointedly.
Samara ruminated on that for a moment before it hit her. "You believe the Ardat-Yakshi are asari equivalents of magicals!"
"Right. There isn't a way to test that without seeing if you daughters would be willing to try but I'd rather just introduce them to various people and let things happen naturally."
"But why would they need this 'magic' to make children?"
Harry sighed. "Despite the fact that there are millions of magical creatures on Earth right now, I am the only being in the galaxy who is capable of using magic.
"The geth have been working towards a conclusion that the reason the others have lost the ability is because something about Dark Energy has altered their DNA."
"But you spend most of your time around high levels of Dark Energy."
"And the geth are keeping my body in a constant state of health." Harry nodded. "They have a baseline for my genetic profile and part of their efforts to keeping me safe involve preventing genetic modification.
"An easy way to test their hypothesis would be to allow the Dark Energy to make changes, but as we are preparing for war, we agreed it wouldn't be smart to try that now.
"Hopefully your daughters will be willing to let the geth examine them. They might be able to provide them with the missing piece of the puzzle."
"Matriarch Gallae, I have come for my daughters." Samara declared as she and Harry marched into the entrance foyer of the monastery.
"Justicar Samara?" The Matriarch said in surprise. "I thought you swore to never visit until Morinth was dealt with."
"Morinth has been neutralised." Samara informed her. "This is The Emissary."
The Matriarch inclined her head respectfully. "We stay up to date as best we can. During our recent outing to Thessia it was clear that you have had a huge impact on asari culture. We even saw several of The Liberated asari there." She said with a proud smile.
But then she frowned. "But why have you come here? Justicar, you know that the monastery is off limits to all."
"Of course Matriarch. But that is only due to the threat the Ardat-Yakshi pose to visitors. Emissary Potter has the means to make them safe and enable them to live as free asari. He also believes he can establish the true nature of the Ardat-Yakshi."
Gallae was not expecting that. "If this were true, why did you not- oh." She stalled in realisation. "You did approach the Matriarchs and they turned you away." She said sadly.
"They did." Samara nodded gravely.
"Foolish girls." She spat. She then sighed and shook herself. "It doesn't matter. We are not under the auspices of the government. We are an independent institution. Our girls submit themselves voluntarily, knowing that they are a danger to others if they remain amongst the galactic population."
She then looked at them warningly. "Remember, they are free to decline your help."
"As long as they are free to accept we won't have a problem. If nothing else we want to relocate them to a geth planet. They aren't a threat to the geth and it would give them more people to talk to." Harry offered. "Plus we have much better planets that aren't so hard to live on."
Lessus might look nice on the brochures but its gravity was fairly high and it contained a fair amount of diseases.
"So you think you can cure us?" Falere, Samara's youngest daughter asked sceptically.
"You aren't diseased." Harry rolled his eyes. "You are just different. Once we've got the addictive side of you under control then I will introduce you to a species that is very similar to yourselves on Earth."
"A species that kills if they mate?" She scoffed.
"Sister, he is trying to help us." The middle child of Samara's three daughters chided.
"They are called 'Succubae'. Or 'Succubus' for singular. The difference between you and them is that they actually need the sexual energies to survive. If they mate with someone and they lose control they kill their partner. If they mate too often they can also kill them."
"Where as we kill if we even try. There is no chance of our partner surviving." Falere spat, she was clearly insulted that this human was trying to compare them.
"You have a choice. They don't. You don't have to mate to live. They do." Harry glared. "Listen, if you don't want to get some help, to be able to walk freely amongst other asari or to even find a partner, then fine. Stay here in solitude for the rest of your life.
"I've got bigger fish to fry and only came here because I thought you deserved help after you willingly imprisoned yourselves."
"Falere, shut up and back off." Rila hissed at her younger sister as she pulled him away.
"I apologise Emissary-"
"Harry."
"Harry then. This has been a trying time as we recently visited Thessia and, although it reminds us of why chose solitude, it does raise resentment in us. We are seen as monsters and it hurts."
"Right, and as I was discussing with your mum on the way here, the bitches on Thessia are bigoted fools." Harry nodded. "Come with me and you can meet the geth (who are completely immune to you) and then you can eventually meet the rest of the Free People. You'll probably find that they will consider you part of the Liberated."
"The freed slaves?" She asked in confusion.
"You might have chosen imprisonment, but we both know what the alternative is." Harry pointed out. "I did help Samara capture your sister and had to stop her from killing her when I had an alternative."
"Morinth is alive?" Falere asked in shock as she stepped back up.
"In the custody of the geth." Samara nodded. "Her powers have been neutralised permanently. The geth have used her confinement to refine their methods and now they can make it so your biotics are unaffected but you will be unable to kill with your mating process."
"We are hoping that one of you will submit to a physical examination of your brain so we can try and figure out a better way of dealing with it. You may also be the key to reviving magic." Harry explained.
"Magic?" Rila queried.
"This is going to be a long story." Harry sighed.
Despite Falere's initial abrasive and combative nature, both women were willing to help the geth overcome their condition. The Matriarchs of the monastery also accompanied them claiming that: 'Where so ever the girls go, there resides the monastery'.
There was a bit of disconcertment as they realised they were being dropped off on Rannoch, but it was explained that they would be in a remote area and only the geth would be with them until they were ready to be introduced to their fellow citizens.