Mass Effect: Bermuda

by WackoRelyk

The Bermuda Triangle is a fairly mysterious place, and many anomalies occur in that region. No one knows about what happens when someone enters the Bermuda Triangle, but one man decides to answer that question. What he finds will ultimately change his life, forever. FPoV-OC insert. There are many changes to the plot of Mass Effect, as well as many OCs.

16. Chapter 16: The Meeting With Aria T'Loak

Chapter 16:

Date: August 1st, 2077.

Xen looked to the viewport and immediately backed up at the sight of the Prothean ship that was now docked with the Vertilex. I turned my gaze to Xen, a sigh emitting out of my mouth. "If you are not coming with Vodnik and I back to the Bermuda, then we will be leaving now. The Quarian people can sort out Ferryn's trial and the Prothean's reintroduction into galactic society. I will return to you in a few months."

"You still have yet to explain to me why you are so scared of something so harmless." Xen slowly said, her body language indicating that she was confused.

"All that I will say is that Reaper Indoctrination is terrible," I said, then turned around to face Vodnik, who had not moved from his original position beside me. "Vodnik, you and Samara may take the XER-21 shuttle that is in the Bermuda. If you're going to be fighting alongside her, people will see you. Is that a risk that you are willing to take?"

Vodnik turned his gaze to me without moving his head. "I could ask you the same." He made a sweeping motion gesture towards the ships of the Migrant Fleet beyond a view-port that wasn't obstructed by a Prothean frigate. "You took the same exact risk by coming to this fleet. You took an even bigger risk by heading to their homeworld and putting your life on the line for species that you owe nothing to, all to forge an alliance that you weren't sure would even work. If you can take such risks, why shouldn't I?" Vodnik sighed. "I need to get out there. I'm a mercenary, I need action. I'm a killer, I need to kill. The entire galaxy has opened up to me, and staying with you is only holding me back from experiencing it all. If pursuing my desires means people will see me, then so be it. Keeping humanity a secret is of no concern to me."

I sighed, and looked towards Daro'Xen who was now walking away from Vodnik and I to investigate the newly docked Prothean frigate. I opened my mouth to call out to her, but closed it when she turned a corner. I turned my gaze to Vodnik, who seemed as impassive as ever. "Just follow Samara's orders from now on, okay? She'll kill anyone who commits a major crime, no matter who it is."

"You act like I'm an amateur, Terrah. I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but if not, I'll let you in on a small secret: I kill for a living. I'm a contract killer, a hitman, an assassin, a mercenary, whatever you want to call me. A damn good one too. I would've been killed at some point over the past two decades if I wasn't. Most importantly, I'm a professional. You don't have to tell me that non-target casualties should be avoided. I know from experience that doing such only complicates a job," Vodnik stated. He motioned towards the airlock that we entered and started to walk over to it.

I followed Vodnik and put my hand on his shoulder to stop him. "No matter how long you've been on the 'field,' you're not trained to be able to handle Samara."

Vodnik sighed and continued walking towards the airlock. It was obvious to me that he had his mind set on joining Samara, and I would not be able to convince him otherwise. "Do not be concerned with my wellbeing. If I end up dead, then I will probably have deserved it. But I will not die quietly. Besides, I'm smart enough to avoid getting on the wrong side of Samara's 'Code,' or whatever it is. We have the same view on how criminals should be treated. I think we'll get along rather well."

"Just try to stay safe. I wouldn't want to see you turn up as an experiment for the STG or a Batarian slaver group."

Vodnik stayed silent, and I did as well. We both waited until the decontamination process finished, and allowed us onto the Bermuda. I shook my head and walked away from Vodnik, as my conversation was over with him.

This isn't good, Sirius. I don't think Vodnik should go out with Samara like this..

'Vodnik is his own person. From what I've seen in him so far, he would have a better survival chance than you. We both know what needs to be done, and Vodnik would only be strengthening our cause.'

Yes, we need to prepare for the Reaper Invasion.

'It is up to us to rally whatever allies we can. Though I recommend that you train with Lyna for a few years and gather as much information about the current state of the Galaxy as possible.'

Got it. I'll send Ithera back to the Vertilex. As for Samara and Vodnik? They will take a shuttle to wherever they want to go.

'Sounds good, I'll continue to search for any traces of Morinth on the extranet. You may want to go talk to Lyna about our next destination.'

Well in that case, where is Lyna on the ship?

'She was last training her biotics in her quarters.'

Got it, thank you Sirius.

I made my way down the bridge to Lyna's room. I just wanted to catch up with Lyna and see how she was feeling. Mostly just to make sure that she was okay. I opened the door to her quarters, where I saw her with her omni-tool activated.

From what I could see, she was talking to another Asari on it. The other Asari had a face that I had seen many times before, and I stepped back a bit upon seeing her. Lyna quickly turned towards me as she heard the door open, her eyes widened when she caught sight of me.

"Kyle, I thought you were going to get Xen. Why isn't she with you?" Lyna asked with a very confused expression on her face.

"Xen's not coming with us, she's going to be helping with taking care of the Prothean crew from The Wrath of Emperor Ikaali. The training exercises that we were going to be doing have been canceled. Samara and Vodnik are going to be hunting down the unjust, and Ithera will be going aboard the Vertilex to return to his people. That leaves you and me," I calmly explained to Lyna.

Finally the person on Lyna's omni-tool spoke up. "How was I not informed of another one of these things being present?"

I almost instantly recognized her voice. I stood there, unmoving as I was in Aria's presence. Eventually I gathered the courage to speak. "I assume that you are Aria T'Loak. I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Really now?" Aria curiously asked. She paused for a few moments. "Rilac, I expect to see you both on Omega. Whatever plans you have at the moment, cancel them."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and looked towards Lyna. I didn't want to piss off Aria, but I also did not want to go on Omega just yet. "Oh, okay. We'll arrive at Omega as soon as possible in a Dystopia Class Corvette," Lyna nervously spoke.

"I'll be waiting for your arrival." Aria then shut off the 'call' to Lyna's omni-tool.

You got that, Sirius?

'Yes, I'm getting the coordinates of Omega now. We'll be there in six hours without delays.'

A few seconds after Aria's display disappeared, and Lyna sat down on the Bermuda's flooring shortly after that. She put her hands on her head, and started to rub it. "I'm mentally worn out, and I really don't have the energy to face Aria..."

I walked up and sat down in front of Lyna. I slowly took her wrists in my hands, then moved them so she could see me. When I moved Lyna's hands off her face, I noticed that her eyes were bloodshot, she looked very stressed out.

I stepped away from Lyna for a moment, leaning against a nearby wall. "The next century will be hard for the both of us. I can't predict the future, but I do know that our lives will be tough from here on out."

"Will we ever have a day of rest?" Lyna asked, sighing shortly afterwards.

"I'm sure that we'll get breaks every so often. I just want to say that I can't imagine doing this without you," I honestly spoke, putting my hand on Lyna's shoulder.

Lyna shook her head and looked to the side. "From all that we have done so far, I would think that we would be set. You reunited the Geth and the Quarians within a year of you being by my side, you solved a two century long war in just a few words."

I sighed and stood up, offering my hand to Lyna. She silently took it, allowing me to pull her up from the floor. I took the opportunity to pull her into a tight embrace when I pulled her up. "Lyna, there is no need to be stressed at what has happened in the last few days. Plans have already been set in motion, and we are the only ones to stop the events from happening. After we head to Omega, and see what Aria wants, we'll head to the Inusannon structure on Aite. I need to get some tech that I may have overlooked while I was treating Xen."

"I really don't want to go to Omega right now, Kyle. I need some rest, and I know that you do too," Lyna stretched her words out as much as possible. I could notice that the Asari was mentally and physically worn out from all the moving around at the time. She weakly wrapped her arms around me to return the hug.

'I really think that you should get some rest. You need it, and I can only keep your body awake for so long.'

Rest can come later, Sirius. There's too much to prepare for to waste it on a nightmarish sleep.

'Keep that attitude up, and you will die soon.'

Are you going to fry my implants if I don't lay down in a bed?

'All organic life requires rest. You are no exception to this.'

Fine… I'll try to get some rest. Moderate my dreams when I am asleep, I have had some very vivid dreams in the last few days.

'I can hear your thoughts, but I can't monitor your dreams. I'm not full of magic.'

Useless.

'I'll pretend I didn't hear that for now, I'll need you to tell the Quarian and Geth fleets that we're undocking from the Vertilex and heading out of the system before you drift into sleep.'

Fine, wake Lyna and I up if anything abnormal occurs on the way to Omega.

"Alright, just allow me to tell the Not-so Migrant Fleet that we are leaving the system. Get yourself some rest, and I'll do so myself after I give out some commands," I quietly replied to Lyna, and lightly pushed her away from me.

Lyna nodded her head, and walked over to her bed. She sat down on it, and let out a long sigh. "Promise me that you will take care of yourself. You may be a hybrid of two species, but you need to take breaks, just like every other species in this galaxy."

"I promise. I'll see you in less than six hours," I said, then waved a goodbye to Lyna. I exited her quarters and marched to the bridge. Sitting down in the pilot's chair, I browsed through a few holo-screens.

Send a few messages to Kapo'Xen and the rest of the Admiralty Board. Tell Ithera that he should get off of the Bermuda and board the Vertilex, then open the shuttle bay doors to allow Samara and Vodnik to exit via the Xer-21 Shuttle.

'I can do this on my own, Terrah. You need to get some rest immediately.'

I let out a long sigh and reclined in the pilot's chair. I closed my eyes and let myself drift into sleep. As the worries on my mind faded away, I began to feel almost at peace, but this peace soon changed to images of a war unfamiliar to me.

[-]

I was in a shuttle with Lyna and a Quarian that was out of their suit. The Quarian was holding an oddly shaped SMG that let off a soft green glow. I could see that the Quarian was female, who had burns all over her hands and wrists. She seemed to be inserting a molten green and yellow materials into the weapon.

I turned my head over to Lyna, who was piloting our shuttle down to the surface of the planet. From what I could see, there was a raging battle occurring on the ground below us. The Quarian turned her head towards me and began to speak. "I believe that I detect Reaper and pre-war Inusannon technology beneath the surface of Favique. This could be a cause of the battle on the surface."

"Then we need to destroy the Reaper tech and make sure that it does not fall into indoctrinated hands. Teval, I'll need you to guard the shuttle while Lyna and I try to locate the Reaper tech. If anything goes wrong, alert the Inusannon Fleet right outside of this system," I ordered the Quarian, who finished injecting the molten materials into her weapon.

"Understood."

I glanced out of the shuttle's window for a split second after we cleared the cloud coverage, and saw something that made me shake in fear. In the center of the battle, I saw a capital-class Reaper who I quickly identified as Sovereign. "Lyna! Alter our course! I'd rather not be-"

I was cut off by an explosion occurring on the outside of the shuttle, and I was thrown into the Quarian that sat beside me. I rolled off of her, and saw the ground quickly approaching. Lyna was desperately trying to regain control of the shuttle before we impacted with the ground.

I blacked out for a few seconds, then regained my consciousness and unsteadily pushed myself off of the metal flooring of the shuttle. I limped over to where Lyna was leaning over the flickering holographic displays of the Xer-21 shuttle that we were in. I put an unsteady hand on to Lyna's shoulder, and pulled her unconscious body up to face me.

Lyna's face was covered in her purple blood and I could see a few small cuts on her wrists. I rapidly took out a bit of medi-gel and smeared it over the wound on her wrist. She weakly flickered her eyelids looked down at her wound as she was only just coming out of an unconscious state. Her eyes widened at the deep cut that had been etched onto her carpals. "Goddess, what in the name of your hell happened?"

"Sovereign shot us out of the sky during our entry into Favique's atmosphere. From what I can tell, we're in some type of forest," the augmented Quarian answered Lyna's question for me, and gestured to the shuttle's doors. "I think we should get out of the shuttle, then split up to make ourselves a tinier target."

I blankly looked at the Quarian. "Split up? So Sovereign and his thralls can pick us off one by one? Or an even worse fate, capture us, indoctrinate us, and force us to join Saren on a journey of eliminating all life in the galaxy? Hell no."

"Our tech will rival the Reapers' soon, we'll be able to fend for ourselves."

"You may have developed the Bane of the Reapers and the T-43 Lavar SMG, but that mean that we all have better tech than Sovereign and his thralls."

I was cut off at the sound of a magnetohydrodynamic beam firing, and time seemed to slow down for me. I saw the shuttle's doors start to melt, and the beam forced itself into the shuttle's interior. I felt myself being ripped apart on a molecular level, and I saw Lyna's body being vaporized.

The Quarian that had stood by my side had already been burnt to ash, and I heard one thing before I joined Lyna in death. "You will serve us, Terrah."

[-]

I awoke with a gasp as my horrific dream ended. I looked around the Bermuda's bridge, confused as to where I was at for a few seconds. Lyna was patiently sitting by my side, and Sirius's hologram seemed to be speaking to her.

Lyna noticed that I was awake, and held her hand up to Sirius's hologram to stop him from speaking. "We're about ten minutes out from Omega. Sirius and I spoke of Omega as you were sleeping, and I'd like to lay down some ground rules before we board the station."

"Lay it on me. It can't be any worse than my dreams," I spoke with a hint of humor in my voice.

"I suggested that you and Lyna keep close to each other during your time on Omega. I know that you would have done this anyways, but maybe not as often. If you two are going to be on one of the most dangerous stations in the galaxy, you need to stick together at all times," Sirius interjected before Lyna could even open her mouth.

I rubbed my eyes, and pushed myself up in my seat to fix my posture. "I wasn't planning on straying far from Lyna's side anyways." I then turned my gaze to Lyna, who had been staring at me since I woke up. "You visited Omega in 2076, right?"

Lyna nodded her head. "Yep. That's where I picked up Vodnik and Ithera. You may know about the Omega in the 2180s, but I know about the Omega in this time period."

"Then it would be best to stick together every single second of the day, since you have more knowledge about this place than I do. Still, I don't feel like having to fight off Batarian slavers when I have little to no combat training," I mumbled, half awake.

Lyna let out a long sigh, and looked at Sirius's hologram. "To my knowledge, we're not going to stay on Omega for long. After all, it is the heart of evil."

As soon as Lyna stopped speaking, the Bermuda arrived in the Omega Nebula. I looked out one of the view ports to my left and saw the far-away glow of the Omega 4 Relay. I looked down to the Bermuda's flooring, and nervously rubbed my arms upon the realization that we weren't very far away from Omega. "I am not looking forwards to this. Not at all."

"We'll be fine. Aria and I owe a few favors to each other. She'll hopefully give us protection," Lyna replied. I turned my gaze from the faint glow of the Omega 4 Relay over to Lyna. I studied her features, and she looked relatively calm, despite our planned arrival onto Omega.

I arched a brow at Lyna's words. "What favors are you talking about?"

She looked away from me, over to the glow of the Omega-4 Relay. "It's complicated. I did a few things for Aria a couple of centuries ago while I was on a small break from training as a Huntress."

"And what were these things?" I calmly inquired. Curiosity was displayed on my face.

Lyna turned her head to gaze into my eyes. She blinked a few times before sighing and leaning back in her chair. She now stared at one of the omni-displays in front of her. "I eliminated those who opposed her after she gained control of the station."

I nervously exhaled, and attempted to change the subject. "Sorry if I seem overly nervous, but seeing Omega on a computer monitor is much different than stepping foot on it."

Lyna stood up, and offered her hand to help me get up out of the pilot's seat. I took her hand, and she helped me up to my feet. "I was just like you when I boarded Omega for the first time. You're only more likely to die if you are not armed. If you don't have a weapon on you, you'll be easy prey for the slavers."

"If you say so. I'm going to get my things together, and hopefully I can get some damn armor on Omega," I told Lyna, then started to walk away from her. I made my way down the bridge of the Bermuda, and over to where I had put the Phaeston.

I bent down, and inspected the Phaeston from where it was leaned against a wall. I heard Lyna walk past me, and I assumed that she was going to get her weaponry. I picked the Phaeston up, and searched for the safety of the weapon. I couldn't find any buttons or switches on either side of the Phaeston, so I opened up my omni-tool and began scanning it.

I stared at the Nexus IV's display screen, and eventually found out that the safety was a switch that was located on the weapon's grip.. I carefully deactivated the Phaeston's safety, and watched as the cyan LEDs on the sides of the Phaeston activated.

For my own protection, I turned the safety back on. I looked over the weapon one more time, seeing if it had been damaged in any way since the last time that I had it in my hands.

'We're about five minutes out from Omega. If there's anything that you need to grab before we dock, I recommend that you do it quickly.'

I believe that I'll be fine with the Phaeston. I'll be by Lyna's side at all times. I hope her huntress training is enough to protect both of us.

'All we will be doing is meeting Aria T'Loak, then immediately leaving Omega. We should be cautious about what we say around her..'

Yes Sirius, let's put all of our trust in a crime boss that we haven't even met yet.

'I'm not saying that you should put all of your trust in her, I'm just saying that you should not show that you're fearful of Aria. You won't make a good impression if you appear nervous.'

I'll try to be as calm as I can around her.

I immediately cut off the connection with Sirius when I heard Lyna approaching me from behind. I stood up with the Phaeston in my hand, and turned around to face Lyna. She held a Banshee III in her hands. "Are you ready, Kyle?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I'm not looking forwards to this, not one bit," I replied to Lyna. She quickly nodded, and started to walk down the bridge to the nearest airlock. I followed after her, and stumbled a bit when the Bermuda shook as it decelerated from traveling at sublight speeds.

I regained my balance, and gazed forwards. Through one of the main viewports on the bridge, I saw it. I let my jaw drop slightly, as the space station was the biggest thing that I had seen in my life.

"Omega, one of the worst places in the Terminus Systems. Ranking just above Korlus on the daily murder rate," mumbled Lyna.

I glared at Lyna. "Gee, that makes me feel so much better about stepping foot on Omega."

"It's not like you didn't know that already."

I took a moment to walk over to the holo-displays in front of the pilot's seat, and checked if we were being hailed by anyone from Omega. Oddly enough, I saw nothing that indicated that we were being contacted by Omega's control station, if there was one.

Lyna came up behind me and lightly pulled me away from the console. As she pulled me away, I saw that we were entering Omega's city-scape. A loud mechanical noise echoed inside of the Bermuda, signaling that we were docking with Omega.

I turned around to face the airlock, which had a green holo panel next to it instead of a red holo panel while in FTL. I gestured to the airlock with my Phaeston. "Let's get this over with, Lyna. I'd rather not keep Aria waiting."

I walked over to the airlock, taking the lead with Lyna following right behind me. I silently waited for the decontamination process to finish, then I noticed that the light on the airlock in front of me had turned from red to green. I slowly activated the door, letting it open right in front of me.

I was immediately greeted by a couple of Batarians in full armor. Most of the Batarians were armed with Executioner shotguns, and the leading Batarian had a scowl on his face. "Rilac, you and your 'Human' friend are to head to Afterlife immediately under our escort. If you refuse to comply, we will apprehend both of you and let Aria decide on what to do with you."

"Are you seriously suggesting that I am dumb enough to defy Aria's orders? Have you gotten into a fight with Gatatog Jurgek again, Frey?" Lyna jokingly asked.

"I may have been beaten by that Krogan in 2070, but that doesn't mean that you get to poke fun at it repeatedly," the Batarian known as 'Frey' smirked at Lyna. He then gestured down the hallway with his shotgun. "Enough joking around, I need to get you to Aria immediately or risk losing my limbs."

I just raised one of my eyebrows and kept quiet. I was smart enough to know when to open my mouth. "You lead the way, Frey," Lyna stated with a small smile on her face.

Frey nodded, then turned around and started to walk down the hallways of Omega. Lyna and I followed after him. I took in the 'scenery' of Omega, as it was something relatively new to me. I noticed that most of the people that we passed by gave me an odd look, more threatening than anything. I caught the eye of a Vorcha, who made the gesture of slitting my throat. My best course was to ignore him, as I didn't feel like getting in a fight any time soon.

I kept my calm attitude up, not showing any fear to the residents of Omega. In reality though, I felt fairly unsafe walking through the halls of the dreaded space station.

I finally caught a glimpse of the infamous Afterlife in all of its glory. The holographic lights and painfully loud music gave it away, though I did feel a bit nostalgic from hearing Saki Kaskas - Callista from the outside of the club. An Elcor bouncer was standing outside of the club, almost exactly like I had seen in Mass Effect 2.

I walked right past the Elcor bouncer, following behind Frey and Lyna. This obviously triggered some distaste in the people that were waiting in line. I had a small smile on my face from skipping the line.

I saw a couple of Vorcha and an Asari who was flipping around a dangerous looking blade in her blue hands. She glanced up to me, and one of the Vorcha let out a very low hissing noise at me.

Lyna turned her head over to the other Asari, and flared her biotics for a second. She cloaked herself shortly after that, only to appear behind one of the Vorcha a second later. Lyna grabbed ahold of the Vorcha's head, violently twisting it to the side, and breaking his neck. The Vorcha's limp body fell to the floor as the bladed Asari and her other Vorcha comrade watched on.

The bladed Asari quickly pushed herself off of the couch that she was sitting on, and stabbed out at Lyna, who quickly dodged the incoming blade. Lyna's biotics flared once again, and the bladed Asari was on the floor with blood pouring out of her nose. The secondary Vorcha's head had been blown off by Frey, who was a few steps away from me. I noticed that he was now carrying an Executioner X shotgun.

Lyna wordlessly stepped away from the bloodied Asari and turned her gaze towards me. She put a single hand on my shoulder, and motioned for Frey to move on. I was speechless as we moved on, flabbergasted at how quickly Lyna had eliminated the bladed Asari and her Vorcha minions.

Eventually, I entered Afterlife's main floor. I gazed around the club, and took in the very same view that I got the first time that I played Mass Effect 2. Seeing the club through my own eyes was unbelievable. I stopped in my tracks for a few moments, as I was distracted by all the flashing lights and noise of the club.

Lyna took my arm, and lightly pulled me forwards. I yanked my arm out of Lyna's grasp, and started to walk towards the staircase that led up to Aria's couch. I was careful to keep behind Frey and Lyna, as I did not want to screw up in any way.

A Turian guard stopped me, opening his omni-tool and activating a scanning program. "Hold still, whatever you are," the guard commanded. A few readings popped up on his omni-tool, which he widened his eyes at.

"Other than me being an unknown, is there something wrong?" I asked.

The guard shook his head from side to side, gesturing towards the staircase while looking at my Phaeston. "Just pop the heatsink out of that, and you may proceed."

I turned my Phaeston to the side, taking a small cylinder out of my weapon, then pocketing it. I made my way up the staircase, and stopped right in front of Aria. I tightly gripped my Phaeston, and looked the fairly powerful Asari over. She let out a light chuckle from seeing me in person.

"You look like a weaker version of that other Human. At least he could hold a weapon correctly, you look like you'd drop it after the first bit of recoil." Aria commented, breaking the silence with her bone-chilling voice.

"I may not be as efficient in combat as Vodnik, but I know how to hold a weapon." I replied to Aria in the native Asari language.

Aria got up from where she sat on her couch, then pushed past Lyna. She was an inch away from my face when she spoke again. "I hope that you were informed of the single rule of Omega."

I nodded my head, and refused to step back from Aria. "I know of it already. 'Don't fuck with Aria.'"

"Good, I don't have to repeat myself for the thousandth time."

"I've been traveling this galaxy for about a year now. I've done my research," I trailed off, my words became a whisper at the end of my sentence.

"Oh? Well tell me what you have researched. I'm interested to see what an uncategorized species can tell me about the galaxy when they've only been here for a year," Aria sarcastically spat. She then moved over to her couch and sat down on it.

Lyna finally butted into the conversation. "Some things are better left unsaid, let's not press too deep into this, Aria."

Aria turned her gaze over to Lyna, then rolled her eyes. "Look who's being siding with the unknown species… Tell me what you are hiding from me, Nithil."

"You want to know what is being hidden from you?" I asked in a shaky tone. "About a century from now, the galaxy will experience a mass extinction, caused by millions, maybe even billions of Reapers."

Aria blankly stared at me for a few seconds, then turned her head back to Lyna. "Did his translator glitch? Half of what he said there was gibberish."

"It may be hard to understand Terrah at first. It took me a while to understand what he was saying," Lyna whispered to Aria. She slowly stepped closer to Aria, then looked back. Lyna gestured for me to come a bit closer, which I did.

"No shit it took you a while to understand what he is saying, he's a new species that is attempting to speak Thessian. I grasped most of what came out of his mouth, except this 'Reaper.'"

"The Reapers aren't exactly common knowledge, any document on them is quite rare. From what I know, the only databases that contain these documents are Prothean, Inusannon, and anything before that," I gave a brief explanation to Aria.

My whole body showed that I was tense and nervous, making me appear weak. I was able to see that Aria had stood up again and walked behind me and Lyna.

She stopped a couple of meters behind us and turned around. "Well, I have no idea what you are talking about with these 'Inusannon,' and the Protheans are as mysterious as ever. I want information, and whether you two like it or not, you're going to give me what you have on these subjects."

Sirius, don't intervene. I'm not going to answer questions about you to Aria just yet.

'As if I would show my presence so soon.'

You seemed pretty eager to do so on the Migrant Fleet.

'That was different, we were in a closed room in a diplomatic meeting. Here, we're having a chit chat with an Asari ruler in a public nightclub.'

I let out a long sigh as I disconnected the link with Sirius. I turned around to face Aria shortly after Lyna did. I turned my head over to Lyna who had already started to speak. "Very well, Aria…" Lyna trailed off and she didn't look very happy upon receiving these orders. Lyna clenched her teeth and made it obvious to Aria that she was agitated. "We'll try to get the information to you in a solar month, how does that sound?"

"A solar month. That's reasonable enough, just make sure to deliver the data to me on time," Aria threatened.

Lyna held a cold stare with Aria for a few seconds before walking back down the staircase. She stopped mid-way, and motioned for me to follow her. I glanced over to Aria, who grinned at me as I looked at her.

I let out a long sigh and turned my head away from Aria. I stepped down the staircase right behind Lyna, then paused for half of a second.

Sirius, never mind about what I said, I'm really not feeling like having to travel to Omega twice in one year.

I received no response, so I turned around and heard my omni-tool activate. I made my way back towards Aria, and saw Sirius's projection come out of my omni-tool. "Asari Matron, ruler of Omega, infamous throughout the galaxy." Sirius's hologram appeared right in front of Aria, casting a neon blue hue through Afterlife.

"Oh, lookie here. A hologram listing out the most basic information in the galaxy. Did you really expect to scare me with this?"

Sirius only chuckled at Aria's statement. "Asari, please. I am not a mere hologram, I am a fully functioning Inusynthetic. If you must know, I hold a fraction of the data on my creators, the Inusannon."

Aria only raised a questioning eyebrow, then stepped forwards to inspect Sirius's hologram. "How about you give me some information on these 'Inusannon?'"

"For starters, they were a species that was previously thought to be extinct. The Inusannon are humanoid in appearance. Their average height was eight feet, or 2.4 meters. Most of my creators had very pale skin, though in some cases, an Inusannon was born with a grey skin tone. They were extensively fused with cybernetic enhancements and implementations from the time of their birth. The average Inusannon lived for 1,200 years. Is there anything else that you would wish to know, Asari?"

I looked over to Lyna, who simply stared at Sirius, Aria, and I. She seemed surprised, and began to advance up the steps once more. Aria nodded at Sirius and crossed her arms. "Of course I have more questions, we are talking about a species that has absolutely no reports on them after all. Tell me synthetic, what was their technology like?"

"The technology of the Inusannon was far more advanced than anything seen in this cycle. They created Artificial Intelligence that was not to be used for slavery or assistance, but instead to coexist with one another. The Inusynthetics invented cutting-edge nuclear, magnetohydrodynamic, and particle based weaponry. The Inusannon and their synthetic counterparts relied heavily on cybernetic implants and augmentations, most of which were used for medical and military needs," Sirius calmly explained. I was fairly shocked that he chose to reveal all of this to Aria at a moment's notice.

Aria appeared to be shocked as well, and Lyna had her mouth agape at all of this information. Aria regained her composure quickly. "AI coexisting with their creators, technology that triumphs the Protheans, implants? I find this all hard to believe, but I'll continue to play along. Why are the Inusannon no longer here?"

"They were pushed to near extinction by a genocidal armada of machines. These machines are called the Reapers, and are a threat to both Synthetic and Organic life. By the end of the Inusannon-Reaper war, the Inusannon had around 200,000 of their people left, with the numbers steadily dropping each day. The remaining Inusannon gathered their fleets, and rigged their homeworld with an unstable Pythet FTL drive capable of transforming their homeworld of Mertvyykamen into a fiery wasteland. Then they jumped out of the systems as the Reapers approached their colony, and entered an unknown system. Their current location is a mystery."

"How do I know that you are not lying? How do you expect me to believe all of this without solid proof?" Aria questioned, she looked a bit suspicious.

"If I must prove my word, then I will play a small video clip documenting the final moments of the Inusannon-Reaper War."

Aria nodded. "It could be fabricated, but play it. I could use some entertainment in the meantime."

Sirius's hologram held a cold stare with Aria for a few seconds. "Very well."

[-]

Date: December 21st, 109,368 years ago.

A planet's landscape was shown, and a burning metropolis was seen in the distance. Sovereign class Reapers were seen throughout the cityscape. A huge Inusannon vessel had crashed on the outskirts of the metropolis, and the Reapers were swarming the crash site.

An Inusannon carrying an ASAPC stepped in front of the camera. He bowed his head at the sight of the crashed vessel. "When will this war end? The Reapers continue to destroy our cities, corrupt our Inusynthetics, and indoctrinate our civilians…"

"And we'll find a way to stop the Reapers. If we are exterminated, I have a plan to bring our people back from the dead. A facility in the Phoenix Massing, filled to the brim with our technology and our DNA."

"What if the Reapers find that facility? I'm not exactly thrilled about the Reapers modifying our tech. They Just think about the devastation that a Reaper fleet with ISY-4 Rezanov cannons could do," the Inusannon stared at the ruins of the burning metropolis and gestured to it. "The cities that they have burned are bad enough, but if they got access to a Rezanov… We wouldn't have an escape plan."

The camera shifted around a bit before it looked around the surroundings. A cruiser could be seen battling a few Reapers in the distance. A blue beam shot from the front of the cruiser, burning a hole straight through a Sovereign class Reaper. Seconds later, the Reaper exploded in a ball of red flames.

The cruiser eventually fell from a swarm of the Reapers, and the camera looked down to the ground. "Evinatil, we need to leave the ruins of our home planet as soon as possible. An Inusynthetic vessel is preparing to detonate a Pythet Exploration FTL drive in this system."

"That's going… Tenokija, that's going to destroy everything! Millions will die!" Evinali stepped forwards, his eyes seemingly burning into Tenojika's soul.

"Sacrifices must be made in order to save our people…" Tenokija let out a long sigh. He looked back towards the debris of the cruiser falling towards the surface. "I'm not going to the fleet. I'm going to stay here, fighting for the Inusannon until the detonation of the Vonya FTL drive."

"I can't allow that to happen. Without you in the fleet… Things will fall apart."

The area around the camera was engulfed by a maroon biotic hue. "The fleet will survive without me! Now go, that's an order!"

Evinatil squinted, then turned around and was immediately shot in the head by a red particle beam. He fell to the ground with a thud. A hole was blasted through his head, and smoke was coming out if it.

A yellow glowing figure was seen by the camera, holding a seemingly modified ASAPC. The figure was heavily mutated by Reaper technology, and only grinned at Tenokija. "Ve'Skardi. You burn your own systems, killing billions in the process. You continue to fight an unstoppable force. So like the rest of your people, you will submit to us, or you will perish with the remainders of your race."

"Harbinger, you always seem to forget our previous conversations. The Inusannon will survive your cycle, and rebuild what was lost. We weren't fooled by the Crucible, and we will find another way to end your cycle."

As soon as Tenokija finished speaking, a blinding flash was seen over the horizon. A cleansing fireball swept over the relatively flattened terrain, burning everything that got in its path. The metropolis was completely vaporized, and the Reapers inside of it became nothing but debris.

The fireball eventually hit Tenokija and the possessed Inusannon, vaporizing the both of them instantly. Everything became black, and what used to be the proud Inusannon homeworld was now burnt to ash. A ghostly wasteland of old relics and burnt structures.

[-]

Aria stared at the ending of the video for a few seconds, she was clearly shocked. "How long did this war last? What was that mutation near the end of the video?"

"The war lasted for around 1,500 years, and that mutation was a possessed Inusannon. It was under the control of Harbinger, the oldest Reaper," Sirius replied to Aria in what seemed like a saddened tone.

"I'll need some time to think this over. If the three of you come across any information on the Inusannon or these Reapers, inform me of it immediately," Aria curtly told me, Lyna, and Sirius.

I nodded my head to Aria, and my omni-tool deactivated along with Sirius's hologram. "We'll be sure to do that when we find the location of the Inusannon."

Lyna stepped into the conversation after not talking for a fair bit of time. "If we actually find their location, that is. Even then, there's only a very small chance that we would even be able to reach it."

"If you find the Inusannon, I expect to be the first to know. This is one of the few things that have caught my interest," Aria sternly threatened. She walked back to her couch and sat on it with an arrogant expression on her face.

A/N: I really needed to end this chapter here, as it was getting a bit too big for my liking. I made sure to include the Inusannon video in much more detail than seen in Chapter 11. As time passes, I'll make sure to include more information on the Inusannon, as I have many plans for their technology and their species in general.

I look forward to any feedback that I might have on this chapter, because it was fairly hard for me to write. It's around 7000 words, which is a fairly big feat for me, as I usually want to average 5000 words per chapter.

I'll just say this now, both the Reapers and the species of the galaxy will be preparing for one another. When the Reapers finally arrive in the Galaxy, they will have more ships and more powerful technology than we saw in the games.