And so we shall begin the next chapter. Sorry it's been some time since I updated this story, I've been trying to get the spark for it back. And it's taken a while, but I think I have it again. But enough about that, let's dive right in, shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Bionicle.


True to what they had claimed, the Kingdom had brought a Prothean in from a dimensional portal, one alive and rather annoyed at being trapped in a block of ice. When the Salarian Councilor asked why the last surviving Prothean had been frozen from the neck down, the only reply she got was;

"He was rather cranky when he woke up."

After the Prothean had been thawed out and more importantly, had been dissuaded from trying to attack the Kingdom representatives again, he identified himself as Javik, the Avatar of Vengeance for the Prothean species.

Almost immediately upon meeting the Council, he was dismissive, complaining that "This new Cycle is run by primitives. Naive primitives if you believe that any synthetic life can be trusted."

"You know we're standing right here, correct?" Balta said, glaring in annoyance at the Prothean. "And we're also the only reason you're even awake right now."

Tensions had seemed like they were about to flare again, only for Tevos, Dume and Onewa to step in to calm everyone down. Javik reluctantly continued his explanation and confirmed that what the Kingdom said was true; that the Reapers were real and they were coming. He also explained what the initial plan for him was.

"A Prothean Army, one million strong, would awake after the Reapers finished their harvest." Javik explained, a hint of determination entering his voice. "We would create a new Prothean Empire, and together we would fight back against the Reapers."

"A Prothean Empire?" The turian Councilor murmured, looking at his fellow Citadel Councilors. "It seems the Protheans were more militarized than we previously thought."

"And more imperialistic." The Salarian Councilor agreed.

"Well, this certainly does explain a few things." Tevos muttered. "Like what kind of things would have been stored on the Prothean Beacons."

"You've discovered our Beacons?" Javik asked, eyes widening in surprise. "Then why were our warnings not heeded?! You have had millennia to prepare for the coming of the Reapers and yet you've done nothing!"

The Councilors flinched at the anger in his tone, but it was Onewa who stepped in and answered for them.

"It appears that your Beacons were only really useful to your own species." The Turaga of Stone said. "No one has been able to get any messages or warnings from them."

"Then this Cycle is less advanced than we anticipated." Javik said in sorrow. "Our tracking of your evolution was in error." He then rounded on the Kingdom representatives. "As is your faith in synthetic creations. If we had discovered your Kingdom, there would be nothing left of you-" A sphere of water was suddenly around Javik's head, causing him to recoil and gasp in surprise.

"That's what the Reaper vanguard thought as well." Helryx said simply, even as Javik was drowning on dry land. The Toa of Water dispersed the sphere leaving Javik to cough up water onto the floor. "You can ask him how that worked out."

The Citadel guards looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what to do. Javik glared at Helryx in between bouts of coughing, while the Toa of Water simply crossed her arms and met his glare head on.

"This is pointless." The Turian councilor broke the silence, before turning to his compatriots. "It's become clear to me that the Reapers are what we need to be prepared for first and foremost. We need to prepare, however we can."

"I must agree." The Salarian Councilor shook her head. "If the Dalatrasses had any doubt, the testimony of the last Prothean will put them to rest. We will need to build up our fleets and prepare for war, however we can."

"There is a small problem with that." Tevos interjected, drawing all eyes to her. "What do we tell the people? If we reveal this information there will almost certainly be a massive panic over this knowledge."

"Then don't tell them." Dume replied, tapping his staff against the floor. "For the time being, we should hide this knowledge from the masses, and only reveal it once the time is right."

"It is pointless to waste time." Javik growled, once more drawing attention to him. "Tell the whole galaxy that the Reapers are coming, galvanize the people into action as we did in my Cycle. It is the only way to survive."

"Remind me, how did your Cycle turn out?" Balta snarked, but Helryx gestured for him to be quiet.

"At the moment, we definitely need to keep this secret." The Toa of Water said. "That said, I agree with Javik. We will reveal this information, but only after we finish most of our preparations."

"And you've already started, no doubt." The Salarian's eyes narrowed. "Exactly what kind of preparations have you completed so far?"

A smirk appeared on Helryx's mask.

...

The Shadowed One watched from the holoscreen as another mercenary band surrendered themselves to the Dark Hunters. It was to be expected of course; the psychological impact of watching an unstoppable warrior tear through your fortified compound could not be overstated.

Which was what Gladiator had done to this band, wrecking their compound and killing their leader. This left the survivors much more willing to listen to Lurker's previous offer, when before they had laughed in his face.

Another switch of the feeds changed to the video of a Blood Pack base. Charger tossed several Krogan aside like the Kane-Ra he had once been. Meanwhile, Firedracax held his shield up in the face of several flamethrowers of Krogan and Vorcha. His Rhotuka charged up, absorbing the flames before sending them right back at their firers. They all died as charred corpses.

The Shadowed One switched feeds again, this time to an Eclipse base on the planet Lorek. Gatherer held the Eclipse leader, Jona Sederis, by the throat, while the rest of her mercenaries suffocated from the noxious fumes around Spinner. One asari tried to rise up and throw a biotic warp at Gatherer, but a glance from Spinner caused her to undergo vertigo and collapse again.

"Good luck with her." The Shadowed One turned as Aria approached him, gesturing to the screen. "Sederis is insane, she's not going to join you so easily."

"I believe you'll find my Dark Hunters have some very... persuasive methods." The Shadowed One turned back to the screen. "One way or another, Eclipse will fall under our sway. Whether Sederis is leading it or not doesn't matter."

"And would you have used those same methods on me had I refused?" Aria crossed her arms, a hint of anger in her voice that would have made lesser beings back away in fright.

"Yes." The Shadowed One was not a lesser being. "As I told you, the Reapers are coming. If you don't fall in line, then you'd simply fall like them." He gestured to the screen at a Batarian Pirate Base being ransacked by Eliminator and Kraata-Kal. "Or should I desire, no one would ever know what happened to you." This time he pointed at a troublesome Terminus colony where Silence had abducted the Governor, leaving the populace in chaos.

"You really have no concept of tact in your Kingdom, do you?" Aria asked, then jumped as a voice spoke behind her.

"We do." Aria turned to Johmak, her biotics flaring instinctively as the Order agent regarded her calmly. "But that's for special occasions."

"In any event, I can't deny the effectiveness." Aria said after a moment. "In only a matter of weeks, your Dark Hunters have brought the Terminus even more under my control than ever before."

"And they will remain so, provided you hold up your end of the bargain." The Shadowed One turned back to her. "The Reapers are your priority. Any moves made against Citadel Space will be dealt with."

"Assuming they will do the same." Aria countered. "The Council and STG tend to react poorly when Terminus warlords start to unite."

"Oh don't worry about that." Johmak replied. "We've certainly got enough to keep them occupied."

...

The Citadel Council watched as several Dark Hunters ransacked entire criminal bases with ease, the video screens only showing glimpses of the lethality these assassins could unleash. For the thousandth time, Tevos was thankful that the first contact with the Kingdom had gone peacefully.

"It seems you've been busy." The Salarian councilor said quietly. "You've even gotten Aria T'Loak to listen to you."

"An impressive feat in and of itself." The turian Councilor noted. "And I assume that you had a similar hand in what's been going on with the Batarian Hegemony?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Helryx simply replied, causing the three Councilors to look at each other.

It was no secret that Batarian slave raids had gone down in the past few years, due to a strange series of assassinations among the Batarian leaders. No one had ever claimed credit for these attacks, nor had their been any trace of the assassins themselves.

"I'm sure." The Salarian Councilor said diplomatically.

"Whatever the case may be," Tevos interjected. "The Batarian slave trade has gone down the past few years thanks to the new leaders among the Hegemony. This can only be beneficial in the long run."

"A foolish notion." Javik interjected. "You will need all the combatants you can get when the Reapers arrive. The Prothean Empire knew this and expected it."

"And do tell, how did that work out for you?" Balta snarked, which drew a number of glares his way. "What? We're all thinking it."

"To get back to the topic at hand." Dume tapped his staff on the floor. "Javik's overall idea is desirable, though attempting to use slavery will only end badly. To that end, we still need to make sure we can present a united front when the time comes."

"We can certainly do that for our governments." The Turian Councilor said. "Same with every species that is currently part of the Citadel."

"And as we've already seen," The Salarian Councilor grumbled. "you've clearly been working on influencing the Krogan and the Terminus Systems. A fairly short-sighted decision, in the grand scheme of things-"

"Are you really one who should be talking about short-sighted decisions?" Helryx countered. "I wouldn't exactly call your decisions with the Rachni and Krogan as well thought out."

"We had no choice." Tevos started. "We had to stop-"

"I'm aware of your reasons." The First Toa said. "The point is that you go to war with the army you have, not the one you want. And for better or worse, we're going to need absolutely everyone in this fight. Whatever problems that may arise can be dealt with after the war is done."

"Wise words." The Turian Councilor nodded with approval. "Though there's still a lot of work ahead of us."

"Agreed." Tevos nodded. "What exactly are we going to do with the others? The Vorcha and the Quarians for instance?"

"The Vorcha have been... difficult." Was all Dume said in that regard. "As for the Quarians, well..."

...

Rael'Zorah certainly felt nervous as his ship returned to the flotilla. He also felt excited, having returned with a supply of Kanoka that would only benefit the Migrant Fleet for years to come.

But the nervousness that came with the package was due to what he had agreed to transport as well. Not for the first time, he glanced back at his passengers; Toa Lewa Nuva and Turaga Vakama of the Kingdom.

Also not for the first time, he couldn't help but wonder why he had agreed to this. Kapura and Dume had showed themselves to be pleasant individuals and hardly the monsters the Quarians might see them as, but they were still synthetic and the Admiralty's views on the subject were well known.

It had taken a lot of cajoling of a fellow Quarian to even transport them back to the fleet in the first place. The Kingdom representatives had offered to simply teleport them straight there, but Rael refused, partially because it was doubtful that the Conclave or Admiralty would react very well to that, and partially because he was still somewhat distrustful of their intentions.

And now they were here, at the Migrant Fleet. The Heavy fleet was already preparing to fire upon the unknown vessel, so Rael quickly transmitted the code phrase that identified him as a Quarian coming home to the fleet.

"Be prepared to receive a shipment of cargo." Rael told them, and hesitantly looked back at Lewa and Vakama. "Also, I'd like to request an audience with the Conclave. I'm bringing ambassadors from the Kingdom."

There was a brief moment of silence and static from the comms, and for a second Rael was worried that the Heavy Fleet was going to fire upon them anyway. Then the comms crackled once more.

"Rael'Zorah, be advised, there will be a security team waiting for you at the docking bay." The clipped military tone was much colder than it had been a minute ago. "Failure to comply will result in your ship being destroyed."

"Acknowledged." Rael closed the communications link and sighed.

"That could have been bad-worse." Lewa said, looking out of the viewport. "Are they usually this dark-serious?"

"Your people have been the boogeymen of mine ever since your first contact." Rael replied. "Frankly, I'm kind of amazed they didn't just blast us out of the sky when I told them you were aboard."

"Hardly the most ringing endorsement." Vakama noted, rubbing his hand over the bottom part of his mask. "I knew the Quarians had poor history with synthetics, but not like this."

"Perhaps we'll be able to win them over with our charming personalities." Lewa offered half-jokingly, which caused Rael to chuckle.

"I hope so." His mood became frosty once more. "I've already put my neck on the line for you."

...

When the ship docked, the vessel was greeted by a Quarian security team, just as promised. Several of them swept the interior of the ship, searching for any signs of stowaways and checking the shipment of disks that Rael brought for any sign of a trap.

The rest of the armed guards were scanning Rael himself, alongside the pilot, the Toa of Air and the Turaga of Fire. The guards had already confiscated Lewa's Air Katanas and Vakama's Firestaff, something the two had not protested on, knowing how vital it was to make a good first impression.

With the scans and decontamination complete, the Quarian guards gruffly escorted Rael and the Kingdom visitors through the ship, which drew a lot of narrowed eyes and suspicious glances from the other Quarians they passed.

Eventually they were led into a well appointed and lit chamber, where a number of Quarian representatives were waiting. This was the Conclave, the leaders of the Quarian people. The Admiralty Board was also present via hologram, and the mood was quite frosty upon their arrival.

"Rael'Zorah." One Admiral spoke calmly compared to her fellows. "Your gift to the flotilla is well received."

"Yes." Another Admiral was now glowering. "So could you explain to us why you brought these biosynthetics back to the fleet?!"

"It was part of the agreement I had in securing those Kanoka disks." Rael replied, managing to keep his gaze level and stance straight, as opposed to cowering like he was feeling. "The leaders of the Kingdom wished for an audience with you all."

"And you agreed?!" The Admiral growled. "You let enemies of the Quarians into our home?!"

"You forget your place, Admiral!" One civilian leader shouted back. "We are not enemies with the Kingdom, nor should we seek to be seen as such."

"They are a danger to the galaxy, and you know it!" The belligerent Admiral shouted in response. "We know the dangers of the Geth firsthand, and these biosynthetics are no different."

"They are not the Geth-" Rael tried to interject, but it seemed that a full blown argument was about to blow over.

What had been the discussion of debate in the Migrant Fleet since the inhabitants of the Kingdom emerged onto the galactic stage was now at a boiling point, and it seemed tensions were about to finally explode.

Before it could however, a tornado appeared in the middle of the chamber, silencing everyone. It rose up to the top and bottom, leaving a strong breeze around the room, but miraculously, no one was sucked in. Or rather not so miraculously, as Lewa could easily control the weather to leave everyone unharmed.

"You are aware that we are in the room?" Vakama asked as the Toa Nuva of Air dispersed the cyclone, leaving the room quiet. "We've been requesting an audience to speak with your leaders for some time now, and until Rael agreed, we've always been rebuffed. All we have wanted to do is talk, that's it."

"Talk about what?" Another civilian leader asked. "Why are you so interested in us?"

"Because the galaxy's fate may very well depend on it." Vakama replied. "So you can argue like Rahi over scraps, or you can listen to what we have to say. Then you can argue like Rahi over scraps if that's what you want." The room was silent for a long moment before the Admiral that had spoken first did so again.

"You have our attention."

...

The Collector General oversaw the process as thousands upon thousands of ships were being created. And through the eyes of their puppets, the Reapers also watched, their plan starting to come into effect.

The human species had adapted fairly quickly to the news, as well as the subsequent changes. There had been some initial distrust of course, but after the leaders had met with the Prothean Husks and undergone some rudimentary indoctrination, manipulating the populace proved to be rather easy.

Humanity was a fascinating species, that couldn't be denied. Genetically, they would certainly provide effective material for a new Reaper. Unfortunately, their numbers were fairly low, so that would have to wait.

And more to the point, they would first have to be prepared for war. The biosynthetic hold on the Council would not be easily broken, so the humans would have to make do for the time being.

Already they were developing quickly, adapting to the provided technology given by the Collectors at an impressive rate. Warships were being created, clones were being born to shore up humanity's numbers, and automation was quickly gaining traction among the newly formed "Systems Alliance" government.

More importantly, the populace was being taught of the beings of the Kingdom, and how they were an anathema to life. Humanity was already being riled up and preparing to fight for however it was necessary.

Things would go differently this time around. Where the attempt to subvert the Geth had failed, and the attempt to influence the Rachni had driven them into a more violent mindset than anticipated (the Reapers suspected that their creators had a hand in that, though there wasn't any hard evidence yet), but this time would be different.

This time, their use wouldn't be as a violent and rampaging army, but as a more... subtle scalpel. Humanity would be the tool that would give them this Cycle. It was only a matter of time.


And that's the end of this chapter. I'll admit, there's really not a whole lot that happened in it, and it's mostly set up for what's going to come later down the line.

Still, with that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.