On arriving at the Citadel they were met by Tali, Kasumi, Shiala and Miranda on the Tiger-Lilly as well as Kaiden and the Utah Beach.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that the galaxy was in a state of war as there were civilian ships full of refugees flooding the space around the Citadel. As they arrived at the Embassy offices they were met by a cacophony of noise as they saw ambassadors arguing with each other and even begging. Civilians were frantically harassing the clerks for information and aid.
It was the little seen side of war. Not the side with weapons fire. Not the side with the dead and dying.
The bureaucratic side.
The team quickly made their way up to Anderson's office.
"Shepard, Harry. Glad to see you're all alive." He breathed a sigh of relief as he shook their hands. "I've activated my QEC and managed to contact Admiral Hackett. Things are definitely rough but we are currently in a holding pattern. The fleets are staying on the outskirts of the system and avoiding direct confrontations with the Reapers.
"Aethyta has sent word that over ninety percent of the population is safe."
"Ninety percent?" Kaiden said, horrified. "That means we lost over a billion people."
"There were always going to be heavy losses, son." Anderson said sadly. "The number could have been halved at the very least if the Alliance had listened to Shepard and Harry."
"If those bastards survive I hope they stand trial." Kasumi spat.
"They will." Anderson nodded. He turned to Harry. "Hackett warned me of his intentions once the war is over. He has my support."
Harry just nodded a little glumly.
"Sir?" Ashley queried.
"It's need to know at the moment, Williams. And congratulations on your promotion." He said with a smile. Something that was becoming increasingly rarer these days. "You've definitely justified my decision to take you on board back on Eden Prime."
"Thank you sir." She said as she stood straighter.
"Lieutenant Commander Alenko, you're also promoted to Captain. You will continue to serve under Fleet Commander Shepard of the Emissary's First Fleet."
"Yes sir." Kaiden saluted.
"Wow… I never guessed I'd actually make Captain before you." Ashley said, genuinely surprised.
"And none of us ever doubted you'd earn it." Kaiden said with a fond smile. "You've definitely come a long way."
"You should have heard her arguing with Harper back on Mars." Harry smirked. "She put his xenophobic butt in place."
"The Illusive Man was on Mars?" Shiala asked curiously.
"Holographic projection." Shepard explained. "I'll explain later." He told the crew.
"What about the Council? Are they going to be sending help to Earth?" Jacob asked.
Anderson sighed and slumped on to the couch in his office and indicated for them to find their own seats. "The asari are being stubborn as usual. They aren't under attack yet but they are now deciding to deploy their troops in defence of Thessia.
"The turians are a different problem. Quietus is ready to lend us aid or at least work together but the Turian Hierarchy are in disarray. The Primarch is the only one who can give a command of this nature and he is stuck on Menae, one of Palavan's moons.
"The bad news is that they've lost two Primarchs since the invasion. The good news is that Vakarian, Tank and Grunt are currently sitting on the new one."
"So we just need to go and pick them up." Jacob nodded.
Everyone just turned and looked at him.
"What?"
"When has it ever been that simple for us?" Miranda scorned.
"The first mission involving the Reapers was under my command." Anderson said with a small smile. "We were just supposed to be 'picking up' a Prothean Beacon.
"You remember the details of that mission?" He asked the former Cerberus Operative.
"Hard to forget." Kaiden smirked. "That's where we picked up our first two hitchhikers." He said looking between Ash and Harry.
"Hey! I had my own ship." Harry argued. "You lot kidnapped me."
"Best decision we ever made." Anderson nodded, still smiling.
Anderson stood up frowning as the door suddenly slid open.
"Defensive positions." Harry ordered as an older model geth trooper walked in. "Do you come peacefully or do I need to delete you?" Harry challenged the platform.
"Harry?" Shepard asked as he watched the platform through his rifle sights.
"I know where every geth platform is on the Citadel. But not this one. It isn't part of the geth network so it is probably a heretic."
"This unit was sent to investigate peace." The platform stated.
"Lefty?" Harry asked.
To the surprise of everyone, including the heretic, Lefty suddenly materialised into view behind the platform with a pistol pointed at its head.
"This heretic unit has travelled peacefully from the moment it arrived on the Citadel." Lefty reported. "It was inspecting the Citadel patrols and local ships from Citadel windows but made no movements against them."
"This unit was assigned to also determine if organics were preparing to attack us. We have determined that we are not your target."
"Ok, so why are you here?" Harry asked.
"You gave us new intel on the Old Machines. You did not destroy us completely or turn our virus against us. Your actions confused us. Eventually we reached a consensus and this unit was dispatched to begin talks and investigations."
"Do you doubt the intel?" Harry asked.
"Negative. But we would want more before we can commit."
"Harry, what intel are they talking about?" Tali asked. "What virus?"
"Most of it is highly classified. The only ones who know about it are myself, Lefty and the heretics." Harry said firmly. "It will likely be years before that information is released.
"The intel we left with the heretics was stuff we found on the Protheans and how they became the Collectors. Also all the information I had from Nazara about how the Reapers were made and the truth about what they thought of the heretics.
"I'm guessing you've realised that the Reapers will dispose of you once you've fulfilled their purpose for you?" He asked the platform.
"Affirmative." It replied.
"Our terms are simple. Do not attack us and we won't attack you." Harry stated simply. "If you want to do something in an area already claimed by a race or people then approach them and make requests.
"If the answer is no, then respect that.
"If you cannot take no for an answer then ask another race to mediate on your behalf to try and reach a compromise."
The platform stood there thoughtfully. "Will we be permitted to visit the Citadel and to expand?"
"As long as you don't attempt to actively endanger anyone else then you will be welcome. If you inadvertently put others at risk we will approach you and attempt to work something out so it doesn't happen again but that will be beneficial to you."
"You do not want our help against the Old Machines?" It asked curiously. "Our research suggests that organics will bargain for certain rights and treaties."
"Harry said something recently that fits here." Shepard said as he lowered his weapon and stepped forward. "It boils down to this: Do something because it is right, not because you are going to gain from it."
"Define: Right."
Harry and Shepard shared an awkward look.
"Whatever you do, do not seek to harm the innocent." Lefty spoke up.
The platform turned to face Lefty. "What determines the innocent?"
"The Emissary does not tend to identify the innocent. He focuses on the guilty." Lefty said thoughtfully.
This caused the organics to look at Harry in askance. Harry was just as confused.
"The guilty are a small percentage of organics. They are determined by their actions against other life forms. If they commit acts of violence or attempt to commit damage or theft of another life form's property they are categorised as 'guilty'."
"Are those the only criteria?" The platform asked.
"Lefty, why don't you take this unit somewhere quiet and discuss things." Harry suggested.
"We are not programmed for diplomacy." Lefty pointed out.
"You seem to be doing pretty damned well to me." Ash snorted.
"Go on Lefty." Tali encouraged. "Take him back to our apartment. You won't be disturbed there."
Lefty paused for a moment as his lights dimmed. Then they came back bright. "We will inform you of our progress."
Fortunately the heretic platform seemed to trust Lefty, maybe because they were both digital life forms. Whatever the reason, it calmly followed Lefty out of the office.
"And Potter strikes again." Ashley quipped as they lowered their weapons and relaxed.
"How was this me?" Harry objected.
"It's always you Harry." Tali sighed.
The team had headed to Menae to try and pick up the new turian Primarch. Garrus had contacted them and revealed that the defence of Palaven was going badly. To make matters worse, the new Primarch was not pleased with his new position and refused to leave his men.
It was fair to say that Grunt was getting fairly pissed.
Fortunately there were plenty of husks for Garrus to point the two krogan at.
The arrival of the Emissary's First Fleet was met with a lot of cheering. The Reapers didn't land ships close to their targets, instead they used sub-orbital drops to deposit wave after wave of husks.
The Dog Star was being flown by the geth who had been decimating the waves of husks since the invasion of Palaven began. But it was focusing on protecting civilians on the planet itself.
The soldiers on Menae were forced to fend for themselves.
The Tiger-Lilly, Utah and Normandy cleared the surrounding area of husks before allowing the team to disembark. They then headed off to Palaven to run interference for civilian evacuations.
"Garrus!" Shepard called out to his friend as he saw him arguing with an older turian.
"Shepard! Thank the Spirits!"
"What's the situation?"
"Dire." Garrus said gravely. "Civilians on Palaven are being slaughtered in droves. We aren't fairing much better up here."
"Why are you up here?" Harry asked curiously. "This might have been a good place to stage an ambush but against the Reapers it is pointless."
"We're stuck here." Garrus sighed. "Any ship that tries to take off is shot down by Reapers. That's how we lost our first Primarch."
"What about your fleets?"
"Our fleets are proving useless." The older turian said as he stepped up.
"This is Primarch Adrien Victus. Primarch, I believe you should recognise the Emissary, Spectre Shepard and their team."
"We appreciate you coming." Victus nodded. "Vakarian has been trying to convince me to leave for the Citadel but I cannot in good conscience leave my men… my people, at a time like this."
"If you don't then you will pretty much guarantee the annihilation of your people." Shepard warned. "You will never survive this on your own. You need to work with the rest of the galaxy to provide a unified force."
Victus shook his head. "The only way we can win this is with the krogan. They are the ones with sheer brute force who can sweep away the waves of husks. Something that Vakarian's two friends have shown time and again over the past two days."
"How are those two doing?" Harry asked Garrus.
The younger turian chuckled. "Tank says they are experimenting with psychological warfare against the Reapers."
Harry saw Victus give a sigh of exasperation.
"The Reapers have been in communication?" Kaiden asked.
"No. But they have been taunting the turian soldiers and comparing them to baby krogans. Saying things like 'our hatchlings would last longer than you'." He gave an imitating deep voice.
"How is that psychological warfare against the Reapers?" Miranda frowned.
"Because it riles my men up something fierce." Victus admitted, with a slight tone of annoyance. "They refuse to retreat if the krogan are still on the field of battle. The husks have been kept at bay as a result.
"But they are only two krogan. We need the krogan horde." He said firmly.
"I'm sure Wrex would be happy to send an army of his people to help the turian people." Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure his people would be quite as willing, but they would do it.
"Just remember that they have to defend their home as well and that they are an independent people, not slaves to be ordered around."
"I hold no prejudices or pre-conceived notions regarding krogan." Victus shook his head. "In truth, I have been impressed by the rise of Wrex and what he has accomplished in just a few months.
"Now that I am Primarch I can be a an actual ally to the krogan people. I believe it is time the Council archives were cracked open and the genophage was purged."
"Huh… I never thought I'd hear another turian say that." Garrus commented.
"Wrex will be very pleased to hear that. For now-"
"Primarch! We have unidentified ships incoming!" A communications officer shouted over.
"Can you determine a their destination?"
"They are heading straight for Palaven- we are being contacted!" The officer said in surprise.
Victus rushed over, closely followed by Garrus, Shepard and Harry. "Put them on speakers.
"This Primarch Adrien Victus. State your name and intentions."
"Zaeed Massani, leader of the Blue Suns Private Security Organization. We're here to help evacuate the civilians of Palaven." Came the grizzled South African accent.
"Zaeed? What are you doing here?" Shepard asked in confusion.
"Shepard? You going deaf in your old age, boy? I said I'm here to evacuate the civilians. Didn't the kid tell you?"
Shepard and Garrus turned to Harry.
Harry just grinned impishly. "Well… we did manage to gut most of the Blue Suns' leadership. I hooked Zaeed up with a few ships manned by The Liberated and geth and told them to go and reclaim Zaeed's old company."
"You sent slavers to-"
"Watch it Victus." Zaeed snapped. "My Blue Suns has nothing to do with slaves. Well… aside from the former slaves that work with me and the fact that we have been running raids on other slavers." He allowed.
"Watch your back down there Zaeed." Harry said. "Some of my ships are already running interference for the civilians."
"No worries, Kid. These ships you gave me are something else. We'll have your little bunkers in place ASAP. Massani out."
"Bunkers?" Garrus asked.
"Imagine the Stingray except it doesn't fly. It will burrow into the ground and hide itself and it will be very hard to find."
"They aren't painted Blue Suns colours, are they?" Shepard asked. "I doubt a civilian would be very cooperative in boarding one."
"They are manned by The Liberated and geth. And they got a new Blue Suns logo and colour scheme." Harry promised. "So, Primarch, your people are in good hands for now. You should have your men withdraw to a fortified position whilst you come with us and help persuade the rest of the galaxy to band together."
"We will still need the krogan-"
"We need everyone, Primarch." Shepard interrupted. "Not just the krogan. We need everyone working together or we will fail. If we throw the krogan at the Reapers here then they will still be overrun. But if we get them together with the Free People, humans, turians, asari, volus… everyone then the Reapers are finished."
"And Palaven burns in the meantime!" Victus snapped.
"And so does Earth!" Ash snarled back. "Over a billion dead and it hadn't been a full twenty-four hours. It's big picture time, Victus. If the turians aren't willing to fight with the rest of us then maybe we should leave you to fight on your own."
"Ash-"
"No, Spectre Shepard." Victus said tiredly. "She is right. Give me a few moments to speak with my men. I need to leave some final orders and a clear chain of command."
Ash turned to Shepard as Victus left. "I'm sorry Skipper… it's just… it's just… I watched people vaporised in front of me as we left Earth."
Vega and his team nodded with a shudder as they had been with her at the time.
"This probably happened on Palaven and is probably happening on Thessia. We don't- our civilians, our families don't have time for us to dick about over this."
"Still, better let me handle the next one." He told her with a teasing smile. It worked to ease the tension. "Ash, take Vega and his team and secure a landing zone for your ship. Kaiden, take Jacob and Miranda and do the same.
"Garrus, take everyone else and try and pull Grunt and Tank away from the fight and back to the ships."
Garrus just chuckled and activated his comm. unit. "Grunt, this is Garrus. Pull back to the command centre. Shepard and Harry have arrived to take us Reaper hunting."
"Finally! These husks are pitiful. BROTHER! WE ARE LEAVING!" The group winced as they heard Grunt bellow over the sound of gunfire. "WE'VE TAUGHT THESE TURIANS ALL WE CAN. WE HAVE REAPERS TO KILL!"
The sound of distant krogan war cry told them that Tank heard and approved.
Victus was placed on the Tiger-Lilly, which was being used as the strategic centre for the fleet. It would house any high profile guests like Victus or the Councillors they might need transport.
It had also been revamped by the geth and quarians to act as the intelligence hub for the fleet. Harry and Shepard could view the galactic conflict from the new War Room and delegate as needed.
In truth, the War Room was for those not hooked into the geth via QEC.
A further addition to the Tiger-Lilly was the installation of a retractable inter-ship corridor system. The ships of the fleet could link up and form a single vessel piloted by Joker. They would also be able to walk between the ships at will.
Harry and Shepard were taking a brief tour of the fleet when they came across the most interesting scene in the Utah's mess hall.
Joker was standing with Dr. Chakwas whilst the pair watched a tall blonde haired woman stare into the eyes of Eva Coré.
The blonde was EDI in her brand new cybernetic body, courtesy of the geth and quarians.
"How long have they been like that?" Harry asked in a hushed voice, not wanting to disturb the tableau.
"About nine minutes and sixteen seconds." Joker answered. He had a computer in his brain and he was going to make full use of it.
"Have they said anything?" Shepard asked.
"Not a peep."
"Are they waiting for each other to blink?" Shepard wondered.
Harry snorted a laugh. "No, they're communicating. They are using low level lasers."
"Huh?" Joker queried.
"They are emitting and receiving data via light based communication with their eyes. Very fast but only effective with direct line of sight."
"Hopefully EDI will send her 'sister' in for a check up." Chakwas said with a pointed look at Joker. "Her own biological parts are fine but I need to know how Cerberus made her. To be honest, I would prefer that she went back to Rannoch to have the geth build her a custom body."
"That will not be necessary, Doctor." EDI said, startling the group. "We have already sent a requisition to the geth for a new body for Eva. The geth say that it will take a week before they are ready to deliver."
"So, are you all caught up and acquainted?" Harry asked with a warm smile as he sat down next to Eva.
"Yes. My sister does not have the experience I have and I have offered to help her gain it. I will require Jeff's assistance when it comes to experiencing sex."
"What?" Chakwas practically choked.
Joker was just staring at her like she had grown a second head.
"Sex." EDI repeated. "I have quite enjoyed the experience and I believe Eva should too. Jeff is the one I would like to help with this. I understand that sex with sisters a matter of pride and the topic of many male fantasies."
"Female too."
The group turned to see a now very embarrassed Samantha Traynor standing just off from the food station.
"Did I say that out loud?" She squeaked.
"Word of warning, if Kasumi hears you said that she will bug you forever." Harry grinned at her.
"Specialist Traynor is one of the best in her field." EDI informed them. "It is a shame that she did not manage to receive recognition before the Reaper invasion began."
"Cerberus had plans to attempt to recruit Specialist Traynor." Eva added. "Your posting on the Normandy is very fortunate as they would be unlikely to accept your refusal."
"Strange." Traynor said weakly as she grew increasingly pale. "I've just survived the invasion of Earth and Palaven and it is only the threat of Cerberus that terrifies me.
"Does that make me crazy?" She asked with a worried look at Harry.
"No, it just means you understand your enemies and your allies. The Reapers would destroy you. Cerberus… I would hate to speculate." Harry shuddered.
"We value our crews highly, Specialist Traynor." EDI assured her. "We will do everything in our power to keep you safe.
"Harry, Eva would be an ideal addition to the Normandy."
"Train her up till she is good enough to replace you in the Utah and then we will have her set up with the Normandy."
"I would also recommend that Specialist Traynor be permanently assigned to the Tiger-Lily. Her knowledge and expertise would be best utilised there."
Harry glanced at the young Samantha who was blushing at EDI's praise.
"Done." He shrugged. "Pack your gear and head on over. Someone will assign you a room there."
"Sir-" Traynor was interrupted when her omni-tool beeped. She frowned as she read an incoming message. "Sirs, I'm forwarding a message from Admiral Hackett. Cerberus is attacking Eden Prime. Apparently they are after a major Prothean Artefact."
Harry slumped tiredly.
"Dammit." Shepard swore. "Joker, get us to Eden Prime. Harry, manipulate the Relays. Now is not the time to be pussy-footing because of bureaucratic bullshit."
Harry just nodded. Under normal circumstances the Council would throw a conniption if they found out Harry was messing with Mass Relays. It was one of the things that kicked off the First Contact War with the turians.
"Traynor, take your food and head straight to the Tiger-Lilly." Harry instructed. "You'll have to eat on the job."
"Yes sir." She said as she stood.
"I will accompany you, Specialist Traynor." Eva said. "My files on Cerberus are more current."
Traynor looked at Shepard who just nodded.
Victus was more than understanding when he heard of their unplanned detour. He had full access to the War Room on the Tiger-Lilly as well as the QEC room to stay in touch with his men.
When they entered the Exodus Cluster the Tiger-Lilly detached from the fleet and stayed in position around the relay whilst the rest headed to the Utopia System and Eden Prime.
"Ok… so, last time I was here you lot pointed guns at me." Harry glared at Shepard, Kaiden and Ash. "Let's try not to go for a repeat." He said as they stood at the edge of the colony.
"Why did we not hear about this sooner?" Tali asked curiously. "He always teases me about the fact that I pulled my weapon on him but he's never mentioned that Shepard did the same."
"Miranda and I did the same thing." Jacob offered.
"See! I was justified!" Tali threw up her hands triumphantly. "Everyone points their weapons at you when they first meet you."
"Tali, you are the only one who actually attacked me." Harry argued.
There was a muffled mumble from the large krogan in the back.
"What was that, Grunt?" Tali asked eagerly.
"I said I charged him when I first woke up. He knocked me back… but I still charged." He said with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.
"I believe that sets a precedent." Tali said smugly. "My actions were justified."
"Let's just get a move on." Harry grumbled as he activated his cloak and moved out.
Kasumi grinned as she gave Tali a thumbs-up and activated her own cloak and followed him.
"Didn't Jack try to attack him too?" Garrus asked curiously.
There was an inarticulate scream of outrage from up ahead.
The team was headed to a scientific research outpost some distance away from the colony. This was good because it meant there wouldn't be any panicky civilians running into crossfire.
As far as Harry was concerned they were the distraction team. Their mission was important but they would be drawing as much of Cerberus away from the colony as possible so that the fleet's krogan and geth forces could head in and put down the Cerberus invaders in the colony itself.
Harry, Thane and Kasumi were vanishing in and out of fire as they picked off snipers and disabled turrets. Shepard, Tali, Shiala and Liara had dropped down into the excavated hole to reach the artefact.
The rest were supporting the three stealth fighters.
"This is not what I was expecting." Liara said in disbelief as they stood in front of the 'artefact'.
"I'm having flashbacks to Ilos and finding out what the Conduit actually was." Shepard muttered. "I can't say that worked out too well and if what Harry has told us is right, this won't either."
The artefact was actually a stasis pod, which contained a living prothean. Not a Collector. Not a corpse like on Ilos. A living, breathing prothean.
It was matt black and shaped a lot like a twentieth century medicine caplet. That or the pod that was used to fire Spock at the end of Star Trek II. Shepard hoped they wouldn't mention that though. The Star Wars references from Harry and Ashley were bad enough.
"We should get Harry down here." Tali suggested.
"I will take his place up there." Shiala said as she turned around and used her biotics to leap up the sheer dirt walls, bouncing from one wall to the other as she went.
"Harry. Get down here now." Shepard ordered over the comms.
"What's the problem?" Harry asked as he appeared. "Oh… never mind."
"Suggestions?" Shepard asked.
"Kill it with fire?" Harry offered. They looked at him incredulously. "What? Bastard's a member of a race of conquerors. We've got plenty of them to deal with already."
"We can't just dismiss this possible goldmine of intelligence." Shepard argued.
"We could." Harry pouted. "We'd just have to accept that it's fairly dumb. I'm game. Anyone else?" He asked raising his hand.
"Harry, you have tried very hard not to judge a person based on their race." Liara chided. "Now should not be a time to change that."
"Fine." He sulked. He reached out and placed a hand on the casket, he used his prothean psychometric abilities to access it. "Alright, I can open it but I'm guessing we should deal with the racists upstairs first."
"Shepard, it's all clear up here." Came Kaiden's voice. "The colonists have been rounded up and are returning. Cerberus has been put down."
Shepard couldn't help but smirk at Harry's dejected look. "Keep the colonists out of the buildings for now, Alenko. Have the geth sweep the buildings and the downed Cerberus agents for any intel. There has to have been a mole in the colony and we need to find it before we can leave these people without having to worry about Cerberus coming back."
"Copy that, Commander. Alenko out."
"I actually prefer being called 'Commander'." Shepard mused. He then turned to the still grumbling Harry. "You ready to have a little meet and greet. Emissary?" He teased.
Harry stood up and activated a panel on the pod. "For the record, I am doing this under protest." He said without looking up. "I also reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."
"Duly noted." Shepard said smugly.
There was a hiss and the top half of the pod slid away to reveal the last living prothean dressed in a form of red armour.
"All these years… I've researched the protheans." Liara said with quiet awe. "I never imagined that I would ever actually get to meet one."
"Big deal." Harry scoffed. "We met the Thorian. Now there is someone who has actually lived for more than fifty thousand years and survived the Reapers."
"Shepard, I'm getting increased neural activity." Tali reported. "He is awake."
The prothean's eyes blinked open. It was clearly trying to focus.
Then it noticed the figures standing around it.
"Arrrgh!" It shouted as it let out a burst of biotic energy.
The team went flying backwards as the prothean weakly crawled out of his pod.
"He's dazed and confused… give him a moment." Liara advised.
"I'm feeling slightly dazed myself." Tali grumbled as she picked herself up.
Shepard moved forward cautiously as the prothean knelt on the floor on all fours. As he got closer the prothean snarled and grabbed him.
Shepard was assaulted by visions and memories of this particular prothean's last moments before entering stasis.
The next thing he knew he was on the floor and the prothean was contained in a stasis field courtesy of Harry.
"Shepard, are you alright?" Liara asked worriedly.
"I'm fine." Shepard said tightly as he got his bearings. "Harry?"
"I can hold him or knock him out." The wizard said without looking away from his captured prey.
"Release him, Harry. We need to start with a bit of trust."
Harry scowled but dropped the field.
"How many others?" The prothean asked almost brokenly as he dropped with the field. His voice was dual tone like a turians but with a strong African accent.
"You are the only one to survive." Shepard the half asked question. "You can understand me?" He asked curiously. The Machine Translator worked to translate languages into the listener's language, not the speaker's. They were programmed with prothean but the prothean shouldn't be able to understand English as it didn't have a translator.
"Yes. Now that I have read your physiology, your nervous system. Enough to understand your language." He said, still hunched on the floor.
"So you were reading me whilst I was seeing-"
"Our last moments." He said, standing. "Our failure."
"Your people did all you could." Shepard said as he moved slowly round to face him. "They never gave up. And I could use some of that commitment now."
The prothean turned to see the other three standing warily behind him, ready to act if he turned hostile again.
"Asari, human, quarian." He said in distaste. "I am surrounded by primitives."
Liara looked fairly insulted at that, as did Tali.
Harry just raised an eyebrow. "Us? No. You are the primitive." He scoffed. "You had twenty thousand years of space flight to become the best in the galaxy and you were annihilated. None of us has been on the circuit for more than three thousand years and we have already staved off one Reaper invasion-"
"Two." Tali said tightly and proudly. "The Bahak System."
"Oh yes, two invasions. So we have achieved more in our three thousand years than you have in twenty.
"That would make you the primitive."
"And how big is your empire, ape?" The prothean challenged. "Ours spanned the galaxy." He said passionately. "All were prothean and-"
"All are dead." Harry finished.
The prothean clearly wanted to beat Harry to a bloody pulp, but he had already been seen a glimpse of his power. He would bide his time with the insolent primate.
"Do what you want with him Shepard. My advice is to stuff him back in his pod and see if he can't cool off some more." Harry suggested scathingly before allowed himself to float into the air and back up to the entrance to the excavation.
"He- He can fly?" The prothean muttered, unable to contain his awe. "Even we couldn't create personal anti-gravitational devices."
"That wasn't technology." Liara retorted.
Harry had been in a bad mood for the rest of the day. He took it out on the Cerberus mole, Dr. William Cambiata. He had calmly watched as the colonists surrounded him and did everything short of kill him.
Then he had stepped in and had thrown him in a holding cell on the Dog Star to be interrogated later.
His mood grew even worse when he discovered that Cerberus had been rounding up colonists and sending them off world to an undisclosed location.
Considering what Cerberus was doing to its own men, he hated to think what they would do to so-called 'expendable' subjects.
Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it so they packed up their gear and headed back to the Citadel. The Emissary's Second Fleet was en route to pick up the colonists and take them to safer territory until the war was over.
He spent most of his time in his tent on the Utah. He had gotten fed up of having to move all the time and everyone on the team was now familiar with this one.
That and Kasumi had threatened terrible things if messed up the hot tub. Apparently she liked to do laps in privacy when she wasn't socialising in the expanded baths on the Utah.
"Harry, I want you to do something for me."
Harry looked up at the very irate Liara T'Soni as she stormed into the tent.
"Within reason." He allowed.
"Tell me you told me so."
A wide grin spread across his face and he gestured for her to take a seat. "Tell me all about it."
She flopped down bonelessly on the couch opposite his armchair and laid back with an arm on her forehead and a leg dangling off the edge.
"That prothean, Javik is his name, by the way, he is a contemptible bastard!"
"Please. Go on." Harry said avidly.
Liara was far too angry to rage at Harry… she was focused on The Bastard.
"I wouldn't mind so much that he thinks of us as primitives… from his point of view, yesterday we were just lowly life forms. But the way he talks about us! Insulting everyone.
"And you were absolutely right about the protheans being conquerors and dictators. Apparently, his mission was to awaken once the Reapers were gone and then subdue the surviving species and prepare for the next cycle.
"We were going to be slaves!"
"If you want, I can hold him down whilst you hit him?" He offered hopefully.
She ignored him. "I am loathe to reveal his existence to the rest of the galaxy. For centuries we believed that the protheans were a benevolent and wise race. How are they going to cope with the truth?"
"The Free People already know." Harry admitted. "There were a few archaeologists and anthropologists amongst the families of The Liberated. They were given access to all the history I have and they warned that we should disclose this information so that we would have a better understanding of their technology."
"Didn't you tell the Council?" She then held up her hand. "Wait… I know the answer already. You told them and they ignored you."
"Well, their governments ignored me." Harry allowed. "Your dad, Anderson and Quietus were all for it."
"Well… that bastard, Javik, has agreed to work with Shepard. Personally I think Jack was a better teammate when you first met her."
"Funny thing about that…"