10/03/2018

Thank you to Pax Humana and Daisy Duck 39 for beta-ing.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you are the greatest!

Warning – There is a Trigger warning for this chapter regarding suicide. If it bothers you don't read, the actual warning is in the chapter title :P

Part 4 Empire
Chapter 51: Harper Pulls The Trigger

-cfr-

45686 Years after Human Ascension, 621 Years after the Rebirth of Humanity in the LMC

LMC Galaxy, Planet: Atto, Human Embassy, Ambassador's Office

"What do you mean I have to send it through your honoured Emperor?" Ahn'je asked.

She was what the Humans called the Attori Minister for Education, which should mean that she oversaw the budget for schools and maintain the standards of education across the Attori settlements. She didn't set the curriculum.

Except for one subject. And that one subject gave her more grief than the rest of her job combined.

Human languages! Human culture and history were fine, though their content was somewhat unbelievable but languages… Those were difficult.

Not the actual language. Some Human tongues were actually quite simple but the course work, that was a nightmare.

"The Emperor takes a personal interest in the education of all," Vern Manuel replied.

Manuel was the fifth Human Ambassador and while he did a good job, Ahn'je wasn't alone in thinking the other four had been better. Vern was very stiff and took a bit too much delight in pointing out Human rules and regulations. The others had been softer, somehow, more willing to explain and generally those explanations made sense.

The Humans didn't really have any more rules than the Attori, they were just different. Manuel made it seem like they lived completely bound by their loyalty to the Emperor. And he was a little too heavy in the emphasis of their military.

The first Ambassador had dismissed the Humans' military as a necessary precaution and once he'd explained their history, the Attori had been much more accepting. When you came from a war-torn galaxy, well, of course, you had military. Lawson had been very passionate with his descriptions, as if he personally remembered the past and, as they'd later found out, he did.

Vern seemed to have forgotten their history and seemed to treat the Human military as just a blunt force that could be applied and his attitude made it clear he considered the Attori one of the things that military could be applied to.

Ahn'je hoped he was replaced soon. "The Phoenix Emperor Harper is a blessing to your people but these are the language lesson plans for the Attori," she explained. "They are based on material provided by your people," she added, "so I do not understand why the lesson plan and content has to be personally approved by your Emperor."

"The Emperor takes a personal interest in the education of all," Manuel repeated and Ahn'je was hard pressed not to growl.

She couldn't control the control the colour of her frills though and they almost seemed to glow to show her frustration. "But why?" She asked, somehow keeping her voice controlled.

"It is the Emperor's orders," Vern replied, and Ahn'je suddenly realised that he didn't know.

Vern had his orders and regulations and that was good enough. Unlike the previous Ambassadors, he took no interest in the reasoning behind those laws.

It was probably because he was appointed just after that incident, she reflected. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened but the rumours said it involved an attack on the Human homeworld, somewhat boringly named 'Home'.

The attack had been supposedly been made by one of their mausoleum ships. There was some static filled footage that appeared to show jets of light streaming from one of the huge tombs. It was blurry and jerky but clear enough and there had been a pile of debris left on the Human homeworld.

The Humans had dismissed the footage, saying it was faked but they did admit there had been a precision military bombardment of a surface target. A military bombardment of a civilian area! Ahn'je still shivered just thinking about it but the Humans accepted it.

She wasn't sure what to think. The footage was long distance and none of the other mausoleum ships had moved. The Humans were even building a new one in their home system as proof that they did not move or attack. Still, she was forced to remind herself about Prime Minister Basim's comments. 'The Humans are alien. We cannot expect their norms to conform to ours.'

The scaremongers in the Attori stopped there but when dealing with Vern, Ahn'je had to think of the rest of the quote. 'But despite their militaristic seeming nature, they are friendly and willing to trade with good will. We should not try to change them but should instead embrace the differences of our neighbours to support both our peoples.' It was a pure political statement but it had some truth and it was the focus of one of the advanced philosophy classes, though Ahn'je was beginning to think that she could replace those questions with some about understanding the Humans' supposed Immortal Emperor. Like why does he need to personally confirm the course contents?

"Perhaps you can explain the requirement to me?" She prompted before Manuel could dismiss her.

He gave her a flat stare but Ahn'je wasn't backing down.

"Educator," Vern began, as if the word was an insult.

It wasn't and she managed to keep the amused flash of colour from her frills. Had Vern never looked at the pay rates within his own Empire? It was one of the points of similarity between their peoples. The top level educators earnt a lot and in the Empire they were taken from some of the best minds the Humans had. The position of Ambassador was only important because he had a direct line to the Phoenix Emperor but in terms of pay… quite a few other jobs earned more.

Ahn'je knew the very best minds of the Human Empire were involved in something that was just called the Project, though she and the rest of the Attori had no idea what that was.

"All curricula pertaining to the teaching of Human language, oral or written, are required to be approved by the Office of the Emperor. There are no exceptions to this rule," Vern finished and Ahn'je knew from his tone that he was quoting verbatim from some document.

"I understand that, Ambassador," she said. "I am however seeking to increase my own knowledge by asking why this must be. It seems to be a considerable drain on the Emperor's office."

"Educator," Manuel hissed it again. "I would have thought the reason obvious," he said and appeared to be waiting for her to nod and let the matter drop.

"Ambassador," Ahn'je said, "it isn't." She made sure her voice was calm but slightly deferential to put him in the position of power and thus feel obligated to explain. The colour of her frills displayed nothing but polite inquiry.

"Osvaldo, get in here!" Vern yelled.

Ahn'je jumped slightly at the noise but was not surprised or disappointed when Manuel's secretary quickly appeared. Finally, she'd get some answers!

"Pop question for you, Hamlin," Manuel said and Ahn'je resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was a habit she'd picked up from the Humans but it seemed so appropriate. Vern didn't know the answer but he'd try to cover up that fact.

"Sir?" Osvaldo asked.

"Why do all language curricula go through the Emperor's Office?" Vern asked.

"Sir," Hamlin nodded. "It is to ensure the continuity of language," he answered. "English, in particular is a fluid language. The addition of words simply requires enough usage and the sounds of words change over time. That fluidity is what the Emperor is seeking to control. By ensuring that the languages are taught in the same way, he slows down the change in those languages and promotes universal comprehension. That's why official communication can only use approved words and pronunciations."

Vern nodded. "Very good," he said by way of dismissing his secretary. After Hamlin had left, he looked towards her. "I trust that answers your questions, Educator?" he asked.

"It does," Ahn'je said lightly. "I'll be sure to thank Osvaldo," she added as she rose from the chair Vern preferred. She moved to the door before he could say anything. "I'll have the documents ready for you in the morning," she said, closing the door before he could answer.

-cfr-

45694 Years after Human Ascension, 629 Years after the Rebirth of Humanity in the LMC

LMC Galaxy, Planet: Home, City: Safehold, Emperor's Office

"So has Kai done anything useful lately?" Lawson asked Harper as he nursed his whiskey.

"After his last attempt to help, thankfully not," Harper replied.

"Oh come on, you know you would have authorised the strike. All the Underworld Heads, all together, all at once!"

"I would have," Harper agreed. "With the military! He fucking caused a diplomatic incident!" He said, before taking a sip from his glass.

"The Attori have almost forgotten," Lawson assured him. "No thanks to Vern," he muttered under his breath.

"They shouldn't have had to!" Harper replied. "As far as I know, Kai is still the Head of Heads and he's keeping them controlled. What worries me about that incident is not the Attori but the fact that someone knew."

"Knew?" Lawson questioned. He hadn't reincarnated yet, so hadn't seen Kai's memories. Actually, neither had Harper so how did he know?

"Kai said the former Head of Heads knew about Shepard."

"What? How?" Lawson demanded. This was not good and he understood why, fourteen years after, Harper was still concerned. "How do you know that? He could have been mistaken."

"No," Harper said firmly. "I had Williams check. The bastard definitely said Shepard." Harper frowned and Lawson could tell he was trying to remember the exact words. "It was some charming line. 'You are against Harper, which I encourage but you are against the Project, and so against Shepard and for that, you must die.'"

"That doesn't sound like something said to Kai," Lawson said.

"It wasn't. Well, sort of. I get the impression it was a memory of sorts. Williams couldn't really make it out and Kai wasn't around to clarify."

"Typical," Lawson said for Harper.

"Yes, but what was clear is that the former Head of Heads used that information to discern that there was an original in the Underworld but he could only have done that if he knew what Shepard is."

"There's only one way for an organic to know about Shepard," Lawson said slowly, setting his glass down.

"I am aware of that," Harper replied. "Williams is aware of it, which is one of the reasons she's delayed and Kai is aware of it. That's why I've let him remain. We'll see if whoever blabbed will contact the next Head of Heads."

"I doubt it."

"So do I but I don't have any other leads. Kai managed to kill them all."

"They'll eventually have to come forward," Lawson mused.

"I know and I'll deal with them then," Harper said, curling his fingers into claws. Someone had been naughty and if the organics thought he controlled the system heavily, that was because they hadn't seen the controls on the immortalised.

"True," Lawson agreed with perfect understanding. "So what are we at now?" he asked to change the subject.

Harper grinned. "115 billion population, 24 planets and 80 Ascended," he reported the numbers.

Lawson looked impressed but was slightly worried. "Are we going to be able to maintain those rates?" He asked.

"Not indefinitely," Harper answered immediately. He'd already crunched the numbers which had led to some rather startling conclusions.

The first surprise was that the cycles served to keep the galactic population small enough to be handled by the Ascended fleet. The Relay network actually directed species towards the best habitable planets so that they didn't think about terraforming. For all he knew, some of the so called garden worlds of the Milky Way had been terraformed by the Ascended or outright created.

In the LMC, true habitable garden worlds were not less abundant but without a network to take him almost directly to the planets, the Empire encountered a lot more unsuitable planets. Still, it meant he had multiple terraforming divisions actively working on several planets with active building teams on those planets in the last phases of terraforming. And all it took was a bit of planning. You just had to send the terraformers out a few hundred years before the colonists. Easy.

The second realisation was that even with a slow birth rate, by the time the Project was built there would be 717 billion Humans and 2180 Ascended. And by the time it actually hit, providing they could get it moving at close to light speed, the numbers would be completely and utterly untenable. Even if he took over every planet in the LMC, that type of minimal growth could not continue indefinitely but Harper had decided to focus on the time period until the Project was complete.

He'd deal with what happened after that closer to the date because no matter how much power he thought he had, that plan would require social input.

"But long enough?" Lawson asked.

"Oh yes, way long enough," Harper agreed.

"So is it time to remake them?"

Them were the cores that were still weighing down his Ascended form. When they were restarting Humanity, there had been some in his form who thought they should use the genetic material from those cores. They were far easier to reach than his own but Harper was sure and had no way of checking to see if their minds were intact and he'd had no desire to play nursemaid to the bodies. He had, however, taken time over the intervening centuries to reassess the damage to each core.

There were a couple he thought he could just install in new hulls and they should then wake up. They were written off, as it were, because the connections between their old hulls and their cores had been damaged too badly for them to self repair.

If Shepard and the rest of the fleet had been a little less angry, they might have figured that out because that was one advantage the Human fleet had. They could and would assist each other with repairs. No race wanted to be considered weak but the Humans could be self reliant on any of the four hundred and forty-two Ascended forms in their sub-fleet.

"Not yet," Harper replied to Lawson. "A couple should be easy but I'd probably need to do something painful."

Lawson looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened. "Oh. I would have thought he'd understand."

"He might," Harper said, "but his orders don't."

"Ah, that's interesting."

"That's painful," Harper corrected. "For some of the damaged cores, we can slip their avatars into the population and collect the material when they are immortalised," he continued.

"We probably should be ready to do that for all of them," Lawson said.

"Probably," Harper agreed, "which is why we aren't ready yet. We'll need to be a bit ahead with planet preparation and I'll have to introduce some sort of tagging system for immortalisation."

"Probably some social reforms, too," Lawson said. "The state takes care of orphans but it would be better to adopt some out."

Harper nodded. He hadn't thought of that which was just one more reason they were not ready to attempt to rebuild the fallen.

"How are you-"

"Harper!" The voice from the comm was stringent but he also recognised it as Williams. The slightly choral tone told them both that she had not yet reincarnated.

"What is it, Williams?" he asked. If she was calling then it was something urgent and his mind flashed through possibilities.

Invasion, coup d'etat, detection or theft from the Project stockpiles were those that were immediate.

"You better get up here," she said before he could think of more exotic possibilities.

"What?" Lawson asked for him, the frown on his face indicating he shared Harper's confusion.

"You are needed here now," she said. "He's calling."

The last two words froze them both.

"Shit!" Lawson said.

"Can't you patch him through?" Harper asked.

"With the security available?" Williams mocked. "He wants to talk to you, Harper, which means he wants to talk to us," she added, using the word to indicate their Ascended form.

"Well, start an uplink, I'll come up," Harper replied. If Shepard wanted to talk, as disruptive as it was, he would upload.

"That takes at least an hour," Williams said, "and he cannot risk that long."

"An hour out of all the centuries?" Harper was incredulous but at the silence he got from Williams, he knew he was going to be sorry for asking that question. He could already hear Shepard asking him if he wanted to deal with Harbinger.

"Well then how the hell is faster?" Harper demanded.

"There is a way," Lawson said. "I designed the implants to minimise death shock so that's why uploads take a little while but if you trigger the emergency upload it will only take a few seconds."

"Oh, fuck, no!" Harper said.

"You've got to get up there," Lawson retorted.

"I won't be in any condition to talk to him."

"You'll be lucid enough," Larson replied. "Kai was," he added.

"Don't remind me," Harper growled before he sighed. "Buckley," he snapped, calling the name of one of his ever present bodyguards. "Your side arm," Harper ordered, holding out his hand.

Lawson chuckled.

"You're enjoying this?" Harper demanded as Buckley somewhat hesitantly placed his weapon in Harper's hand.

"I've just added this to the list of reasons why I don't want to be the boss," Lawson replied, sitting back and taking a sip of his whiskey. "Williams, send down a shuttle," he added, directing his voice towards the comm as Harper quaffed the last of his drink before checking the weapon briefly. A round was chambered as per specifications and he clicked the safety off.

"Why am I sending a shuttle?" Williams asked.

"This is gonna hurt," Harper muttered before with a grimace he lifted the weapon quickly, putting it in his mouth at an upward angle. Then there was a bang.

Buckley leapt forward with a cry of denial, as did the other bodyguards, but it was too late. The spray of blood and other material said everything and Lawson was the only calm one.

"Because," he explained to Williams, "You are about to take me and Harper's team of bodyguards into protective custody for assassinating the Emperor," he announced.

There was silence for a few moments and Lawson felt the stares from the bodyguards. They knew that wasn't what had happened.

"At least, that's what some stupid pillock in the media will say and, until Harper's back, it will be far safer for us to be elsewhere," he concluded.

"One's on its way," Williams agreed.

"He got up okay?" Lawson asked.

"Yes," Williams said. "They are talking now," she added.

There was a note of contentment in her voice that Lawson hadn't heard for a while… well, ever since they had left the Milky Way. Actually, he realised that he'd never heard it before because now he could hear the difference but it reminded him that some of them still had ties back to the Human fleet.

He nodded to himself. That was a good thing. It would keep them focused.

"Now," he said to the bodyguards, "Let's arrange his body with some dignity and turn ourselves in," he laughed the last.

It was meant to calm the men but Lawson could tell instantly that it didn't. They really couldn't see the joke here. Organics… so focused on the now, though, Lawson admitted to himself, this was one memory he could secretly enjoy.

-cfr-

Buckley has stared at the body. He could feel every breath that he took. It was loud to his ears and the beat of his heart thundered through him and there was a tight pain in his ribcage. By the Emp… fuck no! He could not think that! Not when the Emperor's cooling body was at his feet, not when the blood dripping down the walls belonged to the man he had been trained to protect.

Not when it was his gun that had done the deed.

"What… What do I do now?" he asked. He'd never felt this lost.

"You sit down and have a drink," Lawson said, placing one hand between his shoulder blades to steer him towards the plush couch.

A glass of whiskey found its way into his hand and Buckley stared at it, looking at the body through the distortions in the glass.

"This wasn't meant to happen," he said.

"No, it was an oversight," Lawson agreed. "But an unavoidable one," he continued.

"Why did he do that?" Buckley asked.

"Because he had to," Lawson replied. "Now, don't worry, everything will be fine," he said soothingly. "You did everything you should have."

"No, I didn't," Buckley replied in a daze. He'd failed and he could almost see old man Weston Correa's face staring at him with disappointment.

"The shuttle will be down in ten," a woman's voice said and Buckley vaguely recognized it as Williams'.

The Grand Admiral of the Military seemed to be taking this as calmly as Lawson. Did they not understand? The Emperor was dead. He had failed.

Being selected as one of Harper's bodyguards was a huge honour. It meant he was the best. It meant his family didn't have to worry. The pay was worth it, even if he was risking his chance of immortalization but it was his chance to do something with his life.

But it did come at a cost. He was not stupid enough to think that it didn't. Long hours and frequent absences from home were the norm. His family was provided for but he barely saw them.

And silence. That was the other cost. He had seen and done things that… were better left unsaid.

But they had warned him. Training did more than just weed out those who failed the psych requirements. Training made it very clear as to how extensive their duties would be and it wasn't just guesswork.

Training was conducted by the Emperor Harper's former guards, both those who had retired and hadn't been immortalized yet, and some of the greats who came down from their immortal bodies to impart what they knew.

Buckley could remember their words now. He was sure all the guards present were remembering what was said after they had been selected. It was the final crucible of information with absolutely no sugar coating and it came from one of the greats.

'You have one job, and one job only,' Correa had said. 'To safeguard Emperor Harper's life,' he had continued. 'This does not mean taking a bullet for him. The Phoenix Emperor is far more pragmatic. He'd much rather that bullet be in the other man and if he ever asks you to shoot someone, you only have one question. Instant or slow?' Correa had looked around at that, judging their reactions and they were being monitored.

'If it comes to that, you will be able to shoot, and you will not be concerned. Obey the Emperor and he has your back. This is not a trite, trumped up statement for the masses. It is fact. No bodyguard of the Emperor has ever successfully been prosecuted for anything they did on the job. He won't let it happen.'

And at that, Buckley had wondered what Correa had done for Harper that he could be so certain. He didn't wonder now.

'Enough of that. Safeguarding Emperor Harper's life is far more than mere protection. It means you attend to everything. You will remind him to eat. You will remind him to sleep. And you will remind him to shit.' Weston had narrowed his eyes at that when there were some titters of laughter.

'You think I'm joking?' he asked softly, glaring. The laughter stopped with several audible gulps. 'You lot are getting the tail end but after reincarnation the Emperor does need help with all of them. Food is easy, as is sleep but once you know his digestive track better than you know your own, you will understand why we are so zealous about guarding him.

'At the age you are starting, you'll need to see to his other needs. You probably won't need to find a woman, there are more than enough who are happy to sleep with the Emperor.'

Yeah, all they'd needed to do was open the door and say that the Emperor felt a little horny and half the women everywhere they went dropped what they were doing and volunteered. It wasn't until the third time that had happened that Buckley had realized that at least some of them were paid to be on call.

'What matters is what you do then. You do not politely look away. You watch.

'The Emperor does not have performance issues with an audience. If the woman does, too bad, that's her problem, not yours, though I am told it's been happening less lately. Remember, you are not in the job of giving anyone a free shot at the Emperor and if you believe she is hurting him, you will draw your pistol and put it to her head.

'The Emperor will tell you to shoot or not but you do not need to worry. He is not into necrophilia or much else. If you shoot, it will be because she is attempting to kill him and after you've gone through raising his body, you will not hesitate.'

'There is one other thing to note. Never, under any circumstances give the Emperor a cigarette,' Correa's eyes had been dead serious when he said it. 'They do not affect the Emperor adversely, but it is not worth it. Admiral Williams will-' He didn't finish the sentence, but the shudder was enough for them all to imagine the worst. 'It is not worth it,' he repeated quietly.

Correa looked around, meeting the eyes of all in the room. 'That is the job. Obey Harper's orders but preserve and maintain his life. Is that understood?'

Buckley still remembered the way he'd shouted 'Sir, yes Sir!' with the others and the way Weston had looked at them. It said they would learn the exact truth of his words on the job and Buckley had. As Weston had said, having to remind the Emperor to eat was easy. You simply kept putting food in front of him and for sleep, Harper himself had set up a schedule they were expected to keep him on.

But it had been an unpleasant surprise for all involved the first time they'd missed having Harper take a toilet break and Buckley had never blushed harder than the first time he'd had to follow the Emperor into his bathroom. Harper hadn't even hesitated, stripping down for his shower without even looking at Buckley.

And the first time he'd watched the Emperor having sex, by then it had become a job. He hadn't felt aroused at all, even though the woman had been well endowed.

He had pulled the trigger, more than once, but he'd always clung to the knowledge that he was obeying the Emperor and nothing had ever happened. There had never been even a whisper of wrongdoing, either from his conscience or from the public or from his colleagues.

Until now.

Now, his mind was screaming at him and the hand holding the glass was shaking.

"Wait, how is the shuttle getting here?" he asked before swallowing the whiskey.

"It will land on the top," Lawson replied.

"The scanners," Buckley said. "We always put Williams through the scanner twice," he added.

"You do?" Lawson laughed. "Why?"

"Because no one gets to see the Emperor without going through a scan," Buckley said.

"And Williams always makes us go through it," another bodyguard muttered. "Lost my hunting knife to them."

"Ah," Lawson nodded his understanding. "That won't be an issue, this time," he assured them. "Though we should get going," he added, chuckling slightly. He could well imagine the ongoing tit for tat between the security forces. It had always annoyed Williams that Harper's bodyguards could carry whatever weapons they wanted, literally anything while she was restricted to the prescribed military supplied armaments.

"Now, let's go," Lawson said, standing.

"I can't," Buckley replied. "Not without the Emperor."

"He's dead," Lawson said slowly, as if explaining to a child.

"We do not go anywhere without the Emperor," Buckley said, repeating the instruction that had been drummed into them all. "Piss, shit, sex. Where he goes, we go."

Lawson sighed. "Then bring the body, but hurry up. We really don't need to be caught here now."

Buckley nodded and one of the other unsettled bodyguards' lifted Harper's body in a fireman's haul. Technically, they were the highest authority on security in this area but with the Emperor dead, even though he had taken his own life, there was bound to be some confusion. It was best to leave and his conscience agreed. So long as the Emperor was with him, it would all be okay.

-cfr-

45694 Years after Human Ascension, 629 Years after the Rebirth of Humanity in the LMC

Outside Milky Way Galaxy, Dark Space, Ascended Hibernation Area

Shepard came online instantly and then a moment later, he shuddered. It was too quiet. The phrase, the silence of his mind had never seemed so true and he had to resist the urge to wake the others merely to calm himself.

He was not some mewling brat that needed comfort and he did not want to be awake longer than he needed to, he reminded himself forcefully. He had no running lights active to betray his alert state but you could never be too careful, especially with the game he was playing.

He had set his wake up call for 400 years after Harbinger and the rest of the fleet had been in continuous hibernation. Presumably, the First One had reached some sort of end point with the slaves and Shepard forced himself to remain focused. Harbinger and the fleet were in hibernation but they could awaken at any moment so it was imperative that he be quick.

He suspected it was only because he was the Prime thought, and that his form was not homogenised that he could wake only himself. This part had been a risk, and if the others had awoken with him, he would have made up some story about wanting to check on the fleet before resuming hibernation. Cerberus had orders and would obey them. But he wanted to check. He needed to check. And the others weren't awake. He was alone.

His internal chrono told him it had been 874 years since he'd gone into hibernation but he was not about to sync with the network to confirm it. It really didn't matter how long it had been. He was not on a schedule.

Shepard moved to the comm controls. He didn't really move, he simply focused on them and the command lines were known to him but it was easier to think about it as movement. It was familiar and one of the ways he remained Human. He'd paid particular personal attention to these and knew how to operate his comms without the other minds awake. And because his comms used quantum entanglement, he didn't need to point in any direction, he just initiated a secure link and the one he wanted would answer.

Mentally, Shepard took a deep breath, bracing himself for the worst. There should be no alarm triggers on his comms but the Ascended hadn't lasted as long as they had by being stupid.

An immediate counter thought occurred. He was Ascended. He was loyal and there was no suspicion upon him. Shepard threw the switch.

"Cerberus," he said making the name a command for a reply.

"Cerberus," he repeated.

It was easy to imagine his signal racing through space at speeds he couldn't match as it sought out its target.

"Shepard," came the response in a slightly confused note. It was a woman's voice as well. "Oh my god, Shepard!" she cried happily and he was flooded with memory.

"Ashley?"

"Yes!"

"You're on Cerberus?" he asked, ignoring the connotations that went with that question.

"Yes," she replied. "Kaiden and I both wanted to be with you but Anderson and Hackett gave us new orders." Information was carried over the subchannels they had established and while Shepard knew what she was talking about in broad terms, he didn't have time to review the specifics.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "You made the right choice."

He had sacrificed himself to Harbinger for Humanity. His entire crew did not need to follow. He was honoured by those who had but they should have lived their lives and he did not resent those who had.

"So you are the Prime now?" he asked but even as he did he knew it was wrong and she confirmed it for him a moment later. He could sense her somewhat naughty smile and knew she was going to try to get a rise out of him.

"The Emperor is on the planet," Williams said.

"The Emperor?" Shepard asked, making sure to keep his voice mild. He had no doubt it was true but Williams was obviously after something. With Harper, though, there was always an explanation, however, it had better be good.

"Yes," Williams agreed. "He's on the planet."

"Get him," Shepard instructed. Quite a lot must have happened for Harper to be on a planet, calling himself an Emperor and while Williams would probably be happy to explain he thought it would be better to get it from the man himself.

"How long can you wait?" Williams asked.

"Not long," Shepard replied firmly. He would like to speak more but he couldn't. "The fleet is asleep but I have no wish to be caught," he added, unnecessarily highlighting the risks. There was no need to tempt fate.

Williams understood them. "I'll get him."

"I gather I will enjoy this explanation?" Shepard reflected.

"Oh, it is interesting," she agreed and he could hear her laughter but before he could ask anything further, there was a sense that Harper was there.

"Shepard," Harper greeted him, a note of extreme annoyance in his voice.

"Good morning," Shepard replied.

"Do you have any idea what I just had to do?"

Shepard was about to reply 'Not really' when several files were transferred to him. He looked at them, especially as one was labelled 'Harper's Suicide'. He was surprised to see a vid of Harper eating a bullet. Harper had never done that and it remained confusing until Williams whispered an explanatory word. 'Avatar.' Several things immediately came together for Shepard.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Harper," he said. He didn't specify what needed to be explained. It was something he'd learned to exploit during his time as a Commander. If you didn't specify they usually attempted to explain whatever it was they felt the most guilty about.

Though this was Harper. It was questionable that he felt guilt about anything and so it was a surprise when Harper sighed and said, "I do."

Shepard remained silent, allowing Harper to collect himself.

"Your orders weren't easy," Harper began. "I thought about them several ways and every way I could foresee, I could not do it."

Accompanying Harper's words were several memories and Shepard could see the flaws in each plan as he examined them.

"Put simply Shepard, I cannot do it," he concluded. "Because I am incapable of it but your orders were clear, do not come back until it is done and so I had to come up with alternatives."

"And it does seem to be an interesting alternative," Shepard mused.

"I could not do it, nor could I indoctrinate anything to do it but there was no reason I could not ask a Human to do it."

Shepard actually blinked. He had to have heard that wrong but there was no indication of untruth in Harper's tone and there was that vid of Harper committing suicide. There were other Humans present. "A Human?" he questioned.

"We are Ascended," Harper said. "Our genetic material is within our cores and you know that if we have a genetic template, we can clone."

"So you recreated your bodies?" Shepard asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Harper said.

"But you still could not kill the Catalyst, because you are indoctrinated," Shepard said.

Harper had to resist the urge to growl. How the fuck did Shepard do that because he knew, if he'd said it, he'd be out for thirty five days, seven hours and ten minutes. "None of us on board could do it," Harper agreed carefully. "But I could and I have bred further generations. They have no restrictions," he said triumphantly.

Shepard was silent for a few moments and Harper could feel the First Human Ascended thinking about what he'd been told. "Where are you?" came the eventual question.

"We are safe," Harper said. "The rest of the fleet won't find us," he hastened to assure Shepard but Harper mentally winced when he felt a twinge of pain. That did not answer Shepard's question. "We are in the Large Magellanic Cloud," he said quickly, before the pain escalated. "I'm currently in geostationary orbit around Home, over the city of Safehold."

"Thank you," Shepard said, his tone making it obvious that he knew Harper had been forced to obey. "The fifteen year journey can't have been easy," he observed.

"It wasn't," Harper growled out and on the sub-channels information came complaints about the lengths the consciousnesses on Harper's form had had to go to keep themselves entertained.

"So you can be killed but you can't die?" Shepard honed in on that information.

"It still hurts," Harper replied. He didn't like to remember that incident.

"Still, you only died once. I'm impressed," Shepard said not bothering to hide his amusement. Trapped with Harper and not much to do for fifteen years, he was pretty sure he'd have killed the man several times over.

"I was betrayed."

Shepard laughed. "I see," he managed to get out. One of Cerberus' assassins had killed Harper. That was just too much! No matter how much he wanted to be quick, he couldn't resist rooting through the sub-channel information further, seeking the cause. Ah, Harper, or rather the entire Ascended form of Cerberus, had only downloaded Xiao-Universal Studio's catalogue and over fifteen years, that had become rather limited. "You don't like The Blues Brothers?" Shepard asked.

"Hate doesn't begin to describe it."

"I think you need to be more thankful," Shepard replied. "You could have been stuck with Bring It On or that Waterworld crap."

Harper shuddered. Shepard had a point but it wasn't so much that the movie was bad, it was that it had been constant, inescapable. Surely no one felt the need to watch it twenty times in a row. But they had!

"So, each year, you are going to watch The Blues Brothers, to commemorate the journey," Shepard added.

Harper started. "You don't mean that?" he gasped.

Shepard seemed to think. "Maybe I don't," he agreed before again becoming serious. "So what is your solution?" He'd wasted enough time talking about the journey and he could get further details of this Home and Safehold after he attended to business. "What has the reborn Humanity deemed to be possible?" It made sense now, why Williams had called Harper an Emperor. The reborn Humans probably called him that and Shepard would seek further details shortly. For now, his original orders took precedence.

"We came up with many plans but there was only one we could guarantee," Harper replied. The previous exchange answered one question. Shepard was definitely aware that his orders had to be obeyed. And he had a sadistic streak.

"And that was?" Shepard prompted when Harper paused.

"To throw a very large rock at it."

Shepard considered it. If the rock was suitably large it would work but the Catalyst would see it coming or it the rock would be destroyed by the nebula. "It seems somewhat primitive," he said.

"This rock will be vastly engineered," Harper replied, giving details on his sub-channel. There were whole layers of conversation happening there, along with significant data transfer. While Harper didn't have access to the Ascended network, and it was inactive now due to the fleet being in hibernation, the Human fleet had made good progress on mapping it and Shepard had downloaded quite a bit of useful information.

It was one of the reasons the death of an Ascended was a travesty. All their cultural specific information was lost except for the relatively limited pieces of information others had duplicated. An Ascended death quite literally left a hole in the network.

"Will be?"

Harper could hear the testy note in Shepard's tone and he didn't even need the question to know that his next answer better be good.

"A rock sent at normal speeds would be seen, long before it could hit but if it is coming in at close to the speed of light, the speed itself greatly reduces the chance of it being spotted, to say nothing of the extra damage," Harper said, desperately hoping that it would satisfy Shepard.

The First Human Ascended considered it. "So how will you get it to near light speed?" came the follow up. The tone gave nothing away.

"Engines," Harper explained. "Once it's up to speed, we will be using ion engines but it will be towed by external ships until it reaches the required velocity."

"How large will this rock be?" Shepard asked.

"About 500 clicks," Harper said. "It will be composed of platinum group metals with diamond as the leading face. It is going to be very large and very heavy but it will absolutely destroy the target. I have stockpiles of metals already, just waiting to be forged but the designs keep altering. Building for every contingency takes time," Harper concluded, hoping Shepard would be satisfied.

'The numbers sound impressive,' Shepard admitted to himself and the plan was, at a glance, viable but he couldn't help but wonder where Harper could get sufficient materials. The platinum group metals, even for an Ascended, were valuable and rare. He hadn't put a time restraint on his orders but he couldn't wait forever. Harper could delay but could not stop yet rushing the job would lead to errors.

"Is there enough metal?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," Harper told him immediately. "If I strip several systems, then there is more than enough."

When Harper said strip, he meant it, Shepard realised, accepting further details of the plan but both he and Harper were more than willing to make such sacrifices. "How long will it take?" Shepard asked, giving tacit approval to the plan. It was what he had instructed Harper to do after all. Find a way and the businessman had, even if it appeared to be somewhat roundabout and if Shepard was honest, it also seemed to have given Harper some wish fulfilment. He could not complain about that. A viable plan was a viable plan.

Shepard could feel Harper thinking about his question.

"It's probably going to take at least another few centuries to gather the materials," Harper admitted. "I could go faster but I don't want to be detected, and then since it will be travelling at sub-light speed, it will take another 170,000 years to get to the Milky Way."

"Three cycles," Shepard said.

"About that," Harper agreed. "I couldn't do it in the Milky Way. There was too much chance of being found by the fleet," Harper explained further.

"Yes," Shepard said. "We should be able to hold out that long," he added, reflecting bitterly on the Catalyst's orders. They should not have been first but, before the rage could envelop him, Shepard forced himself to calm down. Anger would do nothing now, not when the solution was being created.

"Start building now," Shepard instructed. "The central core should be the same, no matter the engine design," he said. Shepard got the sense that Harper nodded. "Now, tell me about this empire of yours?"

"It's growing," Harper said proudly. "It is how the Systems Alliance should have been. Each populated planet has a defence fleet of five dreadnoughts and their support ships, while the trade lanes are patrolled by more. I do not allow growth onto planets I do not control."

"So no privateers or pirates?" Shepard seemed amused.

"No," Harper agreed, acknowledging the irony. "We have met an alien species and we maintain a peaceful relationship with them."

"There are no Relays?" Shepard asked as he considered the tactical implications. Without the ability to almost instantaneously shift forces, it made sense to heavily guard each planet.

"No, and nothing like them. We've found some evidence of an elder species but they are dead. Killed by AIs." Accompanying Harper's words was the feeling of irony. The very thing the Ascended fleet was created to prevent had happened in the LMC. Had possibly happened more than once.

Mentally, Shepard frowned as he considered something he vaguely remembered about Harper's organic self. He didn't think it would be possible for Harper, now that he was Ascended, but it was best to be sure. "You've not pursued the development of AI?" he asked.

"Of course not!" Harper scoffed.

"But you wanted to," he pressed when the information Cerberus was delivering to his subchannels confirmed his memories.

"My organic self wanted to but all of that research got scrapped when you made the deal with Harbinger. The Ascended are meant to preserve organics from being destroyed by their synthetic creations. The Empire will not sponsor the creation of an AI. The citizens find it amusing that on this the civil service and military agree." The explanation carried extra details about the Empire's organisation and history.

He was the Emperor to maintain control and to ensure that resources continued to flow towards the mission so Shepard could not fault him for that. Williams was in control of the military and sensibly, she remained steadfastly out of politics. Hackett would approve, and so did he, but as Harper explained, Shepard was thinking about the situation.

"In future, I plan to research and build Relays but the plan comes first," Harper was saying.

"Spend some time researching quantum shielding now," Shepard instructed. "If you can crack them, it will help this rock." Also, Shepard thought to himself, if Harper's new Humans managed to create them, it would be very sweet to enter the next cycle with the knowledge. And at least, from all the information Shepard was getting from the sub-channels, Harper hadn't made particle cannons. That would be insulting. He wondered if he should order their creation as well but felt that he wanted them to be his project. He enforced that desire via a simple command through the sub-channel.

"You didn't get anything from the network?" Harper asked.

"Not yet," Shepard said. "We got some interesting notes about the Relays, but the plans are further back and we haven't yet been able to catalogue the knowledge in the oldest Ascended."

"I'll see what we can do," Harper said. Williams wouldn't fight against the development of better shields.

Shepard sent the impression of a grin before he sobered. "Harper," he said, pitching his voice so that the man knew to listen and Shepard felt his entire form almost stretch towards him. "Launch within the next two thousand years," he instructed. Even with Harper's worst case scenario that was generous on the time. "And double the defence on each planet."

"What?" Harper demanded. "Ten dreadnoughts?" he questioned incredulously. "That's sheer overkill. There are Ascended as well," he explained.

"Double it," Shepard was implacable. "If you do not know what else is in that galaxy, you do not know what an adequate defence is." He didn't have to add that it was far better to be safe rather than sorry. "I would not have your new population die needlessly," he added. He cared nothing for them but they were the labour which would solve the problem. They deserved to be protected.

Shepard got the impression that Harper was grinding his teeth together. "I'll see to it," he said finally.

"Good," Shepard said. "I'll call back when I can with coordinates."

"Coordinates?" Harper asked.

"For the Catalyst," Shepard explained. "You don't want to miss."

Harper gulped. He did not want to miss but he could not think about that.

"Bye," Shepard said, as he cut the communication line and was once again alone with his sheer silence of his mind.

He allowed himself a few moments just to fully assimilate the information he had received from Harper. The layers of consciousness within the businessman's Ascended form had spent the entire time throwing additional files at him but to be fair, he had been providing information as well but the files allowed him to fully understand Harper's plans. They were, of course, self-serving but they were sound.

Harper had always been careful like that and Ashley and a few other, like-minded Humans on board were keeping the Emperor Harper relatively honest.

The important part was that his orders were being obeyed and that the problem the Catalyst presented would come to an end. Once it was inevitable, Shepard could consider what to do with Harper's Humans. He nodded to himself before erasing the comm log and setting the received files into an area of memory only he could access. As the Prime thought, it was his will which arranged the thoughts in his Ascended form, his will which set the priorities. He could dictate how much the others saw of his thoughts, but they had no such ability to protect their own thoughts. He respected them enough that he tried not to look but he could know them. He knew no one in his form would betray him, there was no need to tempt fate or the Catalyst's failsafes. Shepard opened one visual sensor to look at the majestic beauty of the Milky Way as he set his chrono again.

There, behind it was the almost smudged form of the Large Magellanic Cloud. There was justice.

Shepard shut off the sensor and started on an unconscious calculation process. The next time he awoke, he'd have the first of the coordinates for the Catalyst and they could begin to finish this.

"Instinct," Shepard thought to himself, activating the process to send himself into hibernation again, "Legacy, you will be avenged."

-cfr-

Well, Kai's little play time last chapter did have some wider consequences and Lawson wasn't as bad an Ambassador as he thought he was, not compared to at least some of those who came after.

The First Human Ascended has given his tacit approval to the plan as well as telling Harper to get on with it. In some ways it must be nice having a boss that gives so little oversight, don't you think? Well, you'll find out what Harper thinks next chapter ;)

Review please! Complete the trifecta of Fav, Follow and Review. Or just take out the review leg. I don't mind. :P

Remember, reviewers receive rewards!