14/04/2015

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Mass Effect: Synthesis
Jade Tatsu
Chapter 37 Loose Ends

June 18th 2193, Tevura

Aleena slipped into her room. Instinct made her examine every corner to check for ambushes. It was clear so she entered fully and quickly bolted the door before she relaxed slightly. She sat on her sleeping pallet, putting her handgun within easy reach on the small table beside it. The last few years had taught every asari to never be without a weapon. She'd been a mercenary once, so that had been an easy adjustment, but the complete hostility of the galaxy had not been a welcome development.

So much had changed in the last few years, none of it good. Three years ago, she'd never even heard of the species human, now they were all she knew and hated. No matter how bad the situation had been while she'd been a commando or a mercenary, she had never hated those trying to kill her. She hated humans, though, with a passion that was only rivaled by her hatred for the Turians. Those metal-headed traitors! How many years had the asari supported them, covered for them, and then they just walked away.

They surrendered to the humans! Turian cowards! They were meant to be the Council's army yet they capitulated in less than a day! And then, they just watched as billions of asari were slaughtered. They were hunted and exterminated and the turians turned a blind eye. Death was probably the kindest thing that could happen to her people.

Aleena hadn't been on Thessia when the humans came but she'd seen the vids. Matriarch Benezia had personally surrendered, attempting to pacify the new species and it seemed for a moment that they would accept her gesture. The human leader agreed to meet the Matriarch and had walked up to the venerated asari and shot her. No questions, no emotions and no chance to stop her. It had been so swift that the Matriarch's bodyguards hadn't even had time to react. The humans did though. They shot the other asari there without pause.

And then the rest of the attack had begun.

It didn't matter how the asari begged, how they had pleaded, human ears had been deaf to their cries. Though no one was sure if their signals had made it to Earth. They had only ever seen mutated humans attacking while those who appeared on messages all had glowing eyes. There were hints that they were not fully human, that they were CEuman, a human melded with a terror machine.

Some asari had survived. There were records of a few asari being taken into custody and what happened then was an abomination. Aleena had seen some of them. They were so well protected that it remained a dream to take one of them out. The humans called them CEsari now. Asari melded with one of the human's terror ships and they were completely devoted to Shepard Harbinger. They committed more of the atrocities that the humans supported.

"Clear from indoctrination," the VI in her room reported.

Aleena breathed a sigh of relief as she sat back on her bed.

The scan was run on everyone at random intervals. You never knew who might have been indoctrinated. They didn't show any symptoms and they didn't know it had happened. Scanning was the only way to be sure and the results were public. That was another thing they had learned in the past years.

The indoctrinated were dangerous and they were everywhere. They could wait to kill you, unlike the Ardat-Yakshi. Aleena remembered the screams of the controlled biotics. If they managed to see you, they just kept coming and Aleena had only seen one thing capable of holding them back. She growled with the memory.

She'd been on long range reconnaissance. They'd gotten a frantic call from a small group of salarian and asari refugees and she'd been sent to see if the area was safe. The area had been safe, and it wasn't an ambush but the humans had found the group anyway.

It had been a slaughter.

Aleena had held back. There was nothing she could do and she'd watched as the humans' troops attacked. From that distance, she couldn't possibly have heard the screams from the Ardat-Yakshi but it seemed as if she could.

The human troops had ripped through the refugees but then something weird had happened. A human stepped forward and the Ardat-Yakshi had stopped, holding back at human command to allow the bastard to walk through the refugees. She'd watched then as the human had paused briefly at each refugee and had done something. Two of the refugees had been dragged out from the others and the slaughter had begun anew.

Aleena had continued watching, trying to ignore the death as she focused on the two who had been spared. What had made them special? Guards had held the captive asari tightly but even with that, they had cringed away from the human who stood with them and, after everyone else was dead, she watched as those guards dragged the two back into the hold of a shuttle. The human hadn't even spared a look for the bodies before the bastard turned away but just as the human reached the shuttle, it looked back.

Straight at her.

And a moment later, two of the things that had been Ardat-Yakshi were after her. She'd never run so fast in her life.

That was her life for the last few years. That was life for all of them. They scavenged food from wherever they could and they ran and hid. There was organized resistance but every time they gathered in large groups they were found. The indoctrinated were everywhere and no resistance had time to gather speed. No matter how much they tried to hide it, it was the beginning of the end. The scans were the only thing keeping them going, weeding out the indoctrinated.

The salarians… It was odd to think that the salarians were better placed to fight back. If they could. A lot had fallen into depression. But their shorter lives meant much faster reproduction.

Asari could bear children only once they entered their matron phase, which took at least two hundred years. Sex was an enjoyable pastime before that but the mental trigger, which allowed fertility, did not occur until they reached their matron stage.

Barely three years since Thessia had fallen and already they had been reduced to scattered pockets, surviving where they could. They just didn't reproduce fast enough and the humans bred with abandon. Not that they needed them as troops! She'd seen the abominations they used to fight. Reanimated dead… Billions of asari and salarians had been desecrated and reanimated to hunt down their own kind.

Aleena closed her eyes briefly before looking over at her gun. It would be so easy to reach over and end it all. She closed her eyes again.

Not today.

She'd gone through so many situations as a mercenary that it was not in her to give up.

Besides, the time to do that would have been when she learned exactly how much of the galaxy stood against them. Ten months had passed after the fall of Thessia and through some convoluted means, she'd managed to get a clear channel through to Tuchanka.

The idea had been broached by a salarian to hire the Krogan. The logic was typically salarian. With the invasion of the humans, the salarians had been unable to continue their maintenance of the genophage, so there was every chance that the Krogan would evolve around it. They could use that as a bargaining tool. The removal of the genophage in exchange for their services fighting the humans.

It had taken them two weeks to get a secure channel and the infamous battlemaster Wrex had clumped his way on to the screen. She hadn't even gotten a word out before he spoke.

"Say nothing, Aleena."

"Wrex?"

"Nothing!" he had hissed. "You are about to offer me a deal, removal of the genophage if we fight these humans. Nod if that's correct."

She'd nodded.

Wrex had seemed to sigh. "I like you, Aleena," he said and alarm bells started in her head. "You're fun and you know not to take things personally, so I'll give you this advice." He paused to fix his eyes firmly on hers. "Run."

"What?"

"Run," Wrex repeated. "A human fleet has already locked on to your location and are en route."

"What? You traitor!" She'd screamed.

"I did nothing Aleena, the trace is from your end but don't bother to try again." From his end, the screen panned backwards and Aleena could see that Wrex had been surrounded by what looked to be juvenile krogan. "The humans arrived here the same day the Citadel fell. They cured genophage within one month and a full treaty was signed two weeks after that. You have nothing to offer us and I cannot help you."

She just looked at him and she felt herself tremble.

"Good-bye," Wrex said the last when he cut the signal.

"No!"

There was nothing she could do. She'd looked around the room. There were several salarians and asari with her. None of them looked like traitors but that was already proving to be an issue. At that time, there was nothing to identify those who were indoctrinated.

Aleena had risen, one hand on her side arm. "You heard him," she said. "Run!"

That had been near the beginning and nothing had gone right since. They still didn't know who had sold them out but most had assumed it was the Krogan. Aleena didn't believe that. Wrex wouldn't lie about that. If he said the leak was on their end, then it was, but she didn't know what she could do to find them, just as she didn't really know what she could do to fight.

Aleena sighed. It might be futile but she had to continue to try.

July 31st 2214, Arcturus

"He's awake?"

"Waking."

The voices were unfamiliar but he could easily guess what they were saying. His mind analyzed them. They were not Prothean. He could hear that immediately and while the language wasn't familiar, he couldn't hear any tone of indoctrination. No matter the situation, that was always comforting.

"Prothean," one of the voices prompted and despite feeling as if his limbs were held down by the weight of the world, he felt himself respond to the unconscious authority he could hear. "Prothean."

He blinked his outer eyes. The light was dim which was a relief. Whoever they were, they had anticipated that he would be sensitive to light. The speakers were a blur though, one that came into focus as he continued blinking.

Bipedal. Female. Pale skin, colored fur on their heads and… he breathed again, focusing on the scent. Augmented. That was interesting. But only one of them was augmented. The other smelled of medicine and antiseptic. He tried to separate them.

"Prothean." It was the augmented one urging him to awaken.

He sat up slowly before opening his inner eyes. The medic one rushed forward, intent on reading several numbers on a data pad on her wrist. The augmented one watched and he knew suddenly with absolute certainty she would sacrifice the medic if he attempted anything.

"I'm awake." His voice was dry and the medic set a cup of water on to a mobile table in front of him.

"Good."

It took him a moment to realize the augmented one had spoken Prothean. He stared at her. She looked back, her green eyes somehow managing to hold both sets of his. "You've been asleep for quite some time," she answered his unvoiced question, again speaking prothean. Her enunciation was good.

"How long?" He'd deal with the mystery of how she spoke his language later.

"About fifty thousand years."

He couldn't help but breathe hard at that. The medic backed away, saying something he didn't understand to the other woman before she left.

"Comrades?"

The woman lowered her eyes slightly, shaking her head. No… those sacrificed were gone, even those who would fight with him…

"My name is Shepard. Your pod was on one of our colony worlds."

He nodded to show his understanding, not trusting his voice again. Pain washed through him but he pushed it aside. If he slept fifty thousand years, then the destroyers were coming.

"We know about the Reapers," the woman said, once again anticipating his question.

"Prothean," he said. "Why do you speak it?"

The woman's lips creased. "We found enough of your artefacts to learn the language," she said easily.

"Then you know I am Vengeance?"

"Yes. And I hope that that will let you continue even though your men are dead."

She was blunt, strong. There was no show of false sympathy and that made him feel better.

"I will consider it," he said as his eyes closed. The lethargy in his limbs pulling his consciousness into darkness.

August 1st 2214, Arcturus

Shepard's shell watched the Prothean sleep. It was nostalgic. The Collectors were so far removed from Prothean that they could be considered a new race so it had been a while since she had seen one and it was ironic that the Prothean was the last of their final strike. The part of her that was Harbinger had thought they were all dead and had begrudgingly admired the Prothean attempts to survive.

The find had been fortuitous. Almost every SIL had undergone synthesis but when they'd delved further into the DNA strands they'd found one that didn't match others. It had been mistakenly put in with the batarian group because the scientist who'd sorted it had focused on the parts that suggested four eyes but a closer inspection had shown that it was not batarian.

That had led to some issues. Mith had been distraught. Understandable when it became known that the organic he needed for synthesis was Prothean, a race that had been dead since the last cycle. They couldn't even breed a Prothean acceptable for Mith, as the protheans had lost the genetic diversity required to create a SIL before the cycle had come and the race hadn't even been preserved as one of them.

They'd known for decades that there were Prothean Ruins on Eden Prime but it wasn't until they'd performed a deep scan that they'd realized the extent of the ruins. The deep scan had shown a faint life sign and the Prothean before her was the result. A Prothean which was a genetic match to Mith.

"Be patient," she said to the air, knowing that the SIL would hear through the neural network.

"I can be, now," Mith replied.

Shepard chuckled. Most of the SIL said that. As the years had passed and more and more had embraced synthesis, it had become a catch cry of those who remained but it held so much more meaning once they found the one they needed. Harbinger had said much the same to her. A SIL could be patient when their partner was found because it was only a matter of time before they agreed.

The years had been interesting. The asari and salarians had been predictable. It had taken four or five years to exterminate them all. The asari hadn't been suited for guerrilla warfare, whatever the galaxy had believed. Their lifespans worked against them and the salarians had been defeated before the war began. They had had no hope, especially once they realized that she'd already bought off almost every other race.

The Yagh had followed them into oblivion but she blamed the salarians for that. They'd done everything but formally uplift the race and while several Yagh had been found and convinced into synthesis, as a whole, the race was just too underdeveloped. They had been too aggressive and unable to control those urges. They had been wiped out. There was no malice in the action, it just was.

Much of humanity had objected to her actions against the asari and salarians. Most agreed that punishment was required, especially once their list of crimes over the centuries was released, but most thought extinction was a step too far.

In the intervening years, most of the hostility against her had been removed by a very well structured campaign from Harper's organization. He'd managed to avoid prosecution for Watchdog Games' release of their little 'hack the SIL' quest, by sacrificing the entire branch of his organization that had been behind it. That combined with testimony from various asari and some salarians had greatly reduced animosity, especially as they had confirmed that unless they were brought to heel, their species would continue on the path they had taken for millennia.

The fact remained, though, that she had ordered their extermination and had then seen it carried out. Some suggested she be prosecuted under human law which, while being something she had laughed at, had led to several advancements in the oft-outmoded laws of humanity. They had been good enough for planetary situations but they needed updating to reflect the galaxy. The Yagh had been a test of those rules and while the decision had been reluctant, the proof was in evolution.

The new laws included dealing with First Contact. No one was to contact any race until that race was capable of getting itself to interstellar flight. There would be no more uplifting. There would not be another Raloi where idiots like the asari were caught by a pre-space race. There would not be another Yagh or Krogan, either. They either got themselves into space or they didn't. That was the end of the matter. There'd been a few complaints but she had held firm. The SIL and SOCL understood. It was just a variation of the rules they followed during the cycle.

There was a caveat. It was recognized that it was still possible for an aggressive, genocidal race to get themselves to space, though the chances were better that they would wipe themselves out before reaching that point. In the event that one did get to space, and could not live with the rest of the galaxy, then they would met the same fate as the Yagh.

Humans understood co-existence. They would try it with almost anything but they weren't about to sacrifice themselves.

In reality, most humans didn't care.

They had the run of the galaxy and the respect of most species, though it was becoming a more frequent complaint that no one had seen Earth. It didn't matter. Eventually, after dealing with the citizens, finding several SIL partners, they'd moved the Citadel back to the Serpent Nebula and it had continued being a hub for trade and travel but there was no longer a Council. There was no need. The races of the galaxy knew who the dominant power was. In many ways, Humanity was now like the Prothean Empire had been.

The thought brought a smile to Shepard Harbinger's face. Yes. That's how she'd explain the galaxy to the prothean in front of her who appeared to be waking again.

"Prothean," she greeted the four eyed alien.

He blinked at her as he sat up. "Shepard."

"Very good, you remembered." She didn't push for his name. It hardly mattered and it was a sign of trust on her part. He stared at her for a while, slowly sipping water from the cup that had been put on the wheeled table earlier.

"Why here?" The connotations in his voice indicated he believed her to be highly ranked which was a very astute observation.

"Information," Shepard replied. His left eyes blinked and Shepard was reminded of a how a lizard might clean its eyes. "How many Reapers are there?"

"A million," the prothean replied.

"Where do they go?" she asked another question.

It was an old curiosity, to know how much the protheans had determined before their fall. The information was superfluous to her but it would be the kind of information someone who was preparing to face the Reapers would want to know.

"Between galaxies," the answer was straight forward but hardly helpful. The area was far too large to search which was one of the reasons Harbinger had chosen it as the place to hibernate. "What size is your military?"

"Large enough," she said truthfully and was gratified to see the prothean's expression of doubt. After all, their military hadn't been large enough.

"I doubt that," the prothean said finally.

"I represent Humanity," Shepard replied. "We are the dominant species, much like the Protheans were," she explained. "There are several species living within our Empire and there is no territory within this galaxy that we do not control." This prothean had to have been born during the cycle but he would have been taught history and would know of a time when such a thing was true for his people. "We did not gain ascendancy through diplomacy."

"The Citadel?"

That was a trickier question. Shepard didn't want to lie outright but since the Citadel was the method of Reaper attack then it was a prime target. "Even the Citadel."

"It is a trap."

"How?"

"Gate. Relay. Beacon for the Reapers."

Shepard was impressed but outwardly, she frowned, continuing her role as someone high ranked in the military organization of the dominant species. She wasn't prothean but he would recognize the power she represented. Organic minds tried to link things to what they knew. "There's not enough eezo on it."

"It happened before I was born," the Prothean elaborated. "They came through it."

"Divide and conquer."

"Yes."

"We'll look into it," she promised. "What else can you tell me, Prothean?"

"Javik."

"Prothean?"

"My name is Javik."

"Well then, Javik, would you like to see a part of my fleet?"

The prothean looked at her oddly but Shepard just smiled. "You are currently on Arcturus Station. Part of my fleet is outside. And besides, the medical staff said you should try to walk."

Javik nodded and Shepard rose. "I'll wait for you outside," she said, indicating towards the armor he had been found in. It would no doubt put the newly awakened alien at ease to be in his own clothing. "Mith," she instructed once she was outside, "come into view only once he is under Juak's influence." Her communication was silent and shortly the prothean emerged from the room.

His armor was red with a black under suit. Gold accents highlighted parts but it was clearly designed for functionality over form. It did enhance his appearance, though physical attraction was something Shepard had long been immune to. "Comfortable?" she asked.

"Yes."

She detected his annoyance that his weapons were not present. It wouldn't change anything if they were but it was a precaution any race would engage in. She didn't miss the slight deformation in the line of his under suit from where he had slipped something. If a makeshift holdout weapon made him feel better, she would allow it. "This way."

They walked through the station. Arcturus had never been a purely military station. Sections of it were but the majority was now a major trading point. It was one of the closest points to Earth and so most goods were exchanged here before being ferried into or out of the Sol system by human traders. They passed several quarians and a drell talking quietly as well as a couple of small groups of soldiers who stood back, all of them saluting as she passed. Shepard returned their salutes without breaking stride.

"What rank are you?" Javik finally asked. He was politely keeping two eyes upon her but she could see the way his outer eyes scanned the station around him.

She'd watched the Prothean counting the aliens and concealing his surprise when he realized how many were here. The majority of people on the station were human but almost every other species was represented.

"I believe the prothean equivalent would be Commandant-in-Chief."

Both sets of prothean eyes snapped to her in disbelief. She turned to him with a soft smile. She had just named herself to be of supreme rank. "Your artefacts were very clear and your species was not known for exaggeration," Shepard explained, telling the prothean why someone of such rank would be overseeing his recovery. "The fact we have a living prothean makes you another resource I intend to use."

Javik took in her words and then nodded sharply. She had known that Prothean military culture was straightforward, so the blatant announcement of intent would not be offensive. They walked into a large room, the target of Juak's sphere of influence and Shepard suppressed a slight shiver as the will of the SOCL pressed against her. Javik showed no reaction. The room had been cleared earlier and the far wall was a floor-to-ceiling window which looked out to space. The stars speckled the background but amongst them were the blinking lights of the fleet which waited outside.

Shepard allowed Javik a few moments just to look. Even with his eyesight, he would not be able to see any of the ships clearly but this viewing room compensated for that. Shepard pressed her fingertips to the window activating several features embedded in it. An electronic square appeared, surrounding a small portion of space before it zoomed in and ships became visible. The prothean remained silent but she could see the way he was examining the vessels.

"The SAV Einstein," she identified the ship. "An older vessel, in the foreground. Behind it is the SAV Oberon, one of the newest dreadnoughts." Before he could ask about their military specs she tapped the window again, this time bringing up another group of ships. "A Quarian destroyer group. I believe that's the RDF Zorah, Rannoch and Kaddi." Another tap and another group of ships appeared. All the designs were different and she could see Javik fast coming to several conclusions. "Oh," she said as the third group of ships appeared. "Those are Volus merchant ships."

"You let the lesser species maintain war fleets?" the prothean asked, blinking his outer eyes.

"Yes," Shepard replied easily, switching the view of the volus ships to some turian cruisers. "Each race is responsible for the defense of their own home worlds."

She watched as the prothean breathed hard, obviously trying to control his disbelief. "You will not remain in control for long," he said finally.

"I disagree," she said. "Their ships are responsible for the defense of their home worlds. My fleets are responsible for the defense of the Relays, all of the Relays and all colony worlds," she added the qualification.

Javik was silent again as he ran through several calculations, obviously estimating the minimum size of her fleet. "How large a fleet for each colony?"

"One thousand ships for every colony above fifty million, though there are one hundred thousand around my home world." As time had gone on, the fleet had split to maintain supremacy through the galaxy. Not that that was difficult but it did mean fewer ships to guard each settlement. However, there were compensations. With ships spread into each system, pirates and others had a hard time finding anywhere they could set up a base. It meant there were fewer things to protect against, though everyone knew that the Human home fleet outnumbered them all.

"You still don't have enough ships," Javik said. "Spread out they will be picked off, and I very much doubt they can go head to head with a Reaper."

"Oh, those ships, I agree. The Oberon would have a chance, with its attendant fleet, against one dreadnought class Reaper but not a group of them, and not a dreadnought class Reaper with its fleet."

Javik's eyes narrowed. "You said the Reapers had not come, yet you imply you know their strengths."

Shepard nodded to acknowledge his point. "We fought one," she explained. "The vanguard." She pulled up the footage of Harbinger destroying Nazara and smiled as it played. It still induced a shot of satisfaction to see the traitor destroyed with such violence.

It also ended the charade. While Harbinger's form had altered with synthesis, to someone like Javik, who had spent his entire life fighting those he named the Reapers, it was obvious what Harbinger was.

The prothean jumped away from her, his eyes searching the room more intently. Shepard flicked her fingers over the controls, bringing up view of some of the SOCL surrounding the station. Harbinger was in their midst.

"I know about the race you call the Reapers because they came to us sixty two years ago." Shepard let modulations from Harbinger slip into her voice.

"You!" the prothean spat the word as an accusation.

"I am Shepard Harbinger, CEuman of the SILO Harbinger Shepard. I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Systems Alliance fleet and all allied forces."

"No! You are indoctrinated," Javik snarled. He had the good sense not to attack her but she was ready if he did.

"I am not indoctrinated, and you will come to understand that in time."

"I will not be indoctrinated!" he snapped and Shepard watched as Javik tried to reach for his hidden weapon, no doubt with the intention of doing self-injury. She felt Juak's mental presence intervene, halting the prothean's movements. He glared at his arms and then up at her as horrified understanding dawned in his eyes.

"It's already too late, Javik." She spoke his name to drive home her point. "You are far more important than you think, so you will not be permitted to harm yourself. The galaxy is not how you left it. The Reapers were not the destroyers you spoke of, rather they were deliverance, as you shall learn." She paused. "You will need to recover further, then one of the ships your people called Reapers will ask you a question. Just one. You will answer yes. And then Javik, Avatar of Vengeance, you will be a party to the final defeat of your people and witness to their embrace of eternity."

"No! Kill me now." His eyes were wide with distress and Shepard could see the marks of it on his skin as his muscles strained against Juak's control.

"No, Javik," she said more gently this time. "That would be a waste. Sleep now, and rest, with the knowledge that understanding will come." As she said the last, Shepard felt Juak command the prothean to sleep and she caught his body as he fell. She laid him out on the floor and left, casting one last look towards him.

"Understanding will come," she repeated as the door sealed behind her.

And with that, the last hope of the Protheans faded.

Next chapter: She could order the death of the synthesized humans. … Or she could let humans die.

I apologize to everyone who reviewed chapter 36, I have not finished the review replies, but I will definitely be doing it in the next day or so! I figured posting was better.

So everyone... Javik... who some people have been waiting ages for! And I didn't kill him! So as thank you, review please? :D