Chapter 5: The Matriarch, The Thief and The Ancients
Armali, in Thessia. Two days after what was known as the Teltin Rescue.
Matriarch Benezia's entire worldview had been shattered.
It wasn't a gentle or slow process, but like getting headbutted by a bloodraged krogan. One moment she knew everything that there was to know about the galaxy, past, present and future, with a few surprises coming every once in a century. In the next moment, nothing was certain, especially what the future held. But the most surprising thing was that it came from the last person she would have imagined: her daughter, Liara.
It wasn't easy being part of House T'Soni. The household wasn't something just restricted to Benezia's direct family members, but something greater which many people depend on to live. Thus, just like everywhere in asari society, she had expected Liara to do her duties and assume her position in the family, like any good daughter would. Sure, she didn't need to inherit the entirety of the household, since there were more experienced members for that, but a small part was not a problem. And all contacts and relationships fostered had to be kept.
However, despite knowing all this, Liara had chosen to "rebel", which she considered to be a life that was chosen for her, not by herself. So, as years stretched on and Liara took on more obsessive and dead-end paths, they grew distant from each other. Being a scientist was not the problem; it was her daughter's obsession with what was publicly considered to be a field of study without a future: the Prothean extinction. No, she went beyond that and began theorizing a cyclical extinction pattern. Benezia knew, from the asari's deepest held secret, that the Protheans had likely all died, rather than just left or "ascended" to some other plane of existence, as many would believe. But the theory studied by her daughter was simply absurd. After all, if someone, or something, had wiped out all life in the galaxy, why were they (asari, turians, salarians…) still here, right?
Therefore, as the Matriarch of House T'Soni, Benezia had only one choice: she had to let go of her daughter, Liara; her little wing. She hated it, just like when she had lost her bondmate. And it could be said that also hated herself for probably setting her on this path when she bought that history book. Every cell of her body that had grown and nurtured that child also hated this situation. However, that had to be done; the household was more than the two of them. Therefore, a seamless endless gulf was created between them.
Then, out of nowhere, it came crashing down in just one day, all because of a human that was literally out of this Universe, or so he claimed, telling and showing tall tales of a threat that had been wiping out all advanced life in the galaxy for ages, only to be defeated, in a horrible conclusion, by heroism and a begrudgingly united galactic community. And her Liara was (almost) at the center of it all, from the quest of stopping the "Vanguard of our Destruction" to the discovery of the "Prothean superweapon" that ended the cycles, even becoming the biggest information broker of the galaxy along the way. Sure, why wouldn't she? Benezia couldn't help but reminisce about the reunion with her daughter…
...
"Hello, mother.", Liara greeted confidently, but still with a disappointed look.
"Hello, Liara.", Benezia greeted back. "It's been a few years since we last talked like this, right? It's good to see that you are still fine despite everything.".
"Is it really?", retorted Liara. "You never called. Clearly, you didn't seem to mind much.".
"Little wing, we've already talked about this.", the Matriarch defended herself, feeling hurt and conflicted. "As the household leader, I can't support your obsession. You know that."
"Oh, but you don't need to worry about me anymore. I'm more than just fine.", said Liara teasingly. "Did you know that I'm not 'obsessed' about the Prothean extinction anymore?".
"Really? Are you finally ready to abandon that dead-end field of study and come back to us?", Benezia asked, surprise and expectation filling her tone and expression.
"That's not it, mother.", Liara responded slowly, a small smile hanging on her face. "I'm not as preoccupied about it as I once was because I've already got all the answers I wanted; more than I bargained for in fact.".
Now, that got Benezia's full attention. It was simply not possible… unless her daughter got her hands on a Prothean Beacon like the one on Athame's Temple. But there was no news of any discoveries and the asari were thorough in hiding theirs.
"That's not a funny joke, daughter.", she said dismissively. "No one has ever presented or found evidence about the Prothean vanishing. You know that better than most.".
"No, it's… forget it; it's much easier to show you.", Liara responded. "You better cancel all your appointments for the day, because it will take very long to go through everything.".
"I already did that, Liara, to spend time with the daughter I've not seen in years.", Benezia shot back, surprising Liara a little bit. "Despite your doubts, I've always cared for you. So, let's see what got you so… spirited.".
"That's… good then.", Liara said as they got closer on a couch. "Prepare for the shock of your life and… Embrace Eternity!".
...
For the first time in all of her life, the Matriarch didn't know how to react. Perhaps, beside the horror of it all, another strong feeling could be described with a human saying: "it was too good to be true". Her discredited, but indisputably brilliant daughter, not only being right all along, but also one of the "heroes" that would help unite and lead the galaxy to defeat a terrible threat that has been destroying all galactic civilizations for almost one billion years. For the sake of her daughter, she almost wanted those tales of horror to be true.
Goddess, no! It wasn't a good thing. In truth, it was all terrible, horrifying and nightmarish: her own death under that kind of "mind control", all the countless of deaths and murdered species, all that it'd mean for trillions more. And the scales were of such a magnitude that she had trouble grasping it. Coincidentally, however, such a tale was just what could bring the two of them together. What had already brought them together. And she felt that it all fit perfectly together, scariest of all was the turian Spectre, Saren Arterius, which had become even more insane lately, to the point where she was actually thinking about trying to help him into a better path.
Therefore, in spite of a few lingering doubts, she helped Liara get in contact with the thief from those visions: Kasumi Goto. That was for the daring mission of retrieving a Prothean VI that supposedly resided in Athame's Beacon. And, surprisingly, most of the persuasion necessary to get the human girl on their side was a mention of the nickname "Little Bird", a little melding to pass some memories, such as how her boyfriend was supposed to die in the near future, and a promise to help her become the number one thief. In what would've been one of the craziest ideas she would've come up with before, the mission to steal that VI was actually appearing to be possible.
Still, those doubts ate her up from deep inside. Maybe it was all a conspiracy? Maybe this was some sort of scheme made by someone at the same level as the Shadow Broker or the figure him/herself? Then, it happened: Mindoir was raided by batarian slavers. Just like her daughter said it would be, just like those "memories" showed it would happen, only for the tragedy to be completely averted by the actions and manipulations of that human, as he, once again, promised it would be. The leaked footage of the raid was… brutal; though mostly for the slavers.
Thus, since proof of those foretold events came to pass, she had to accept reality and prepare one of the galaxy's biggest heists ever. But, as if that wasn't enough, only a few days later, that human "Commander" made it to the news by rescuing many biotic children from Cerberus, that horrible terrorist group from the "visions", which were kept in the planet named Pragia, just like the story of the biotic girl "Jack" showed they'd be. This is what she was watching right now in a holovid…
...
…in Mindoir, but the Commander wasn't done yet. Merely a few days after that stunt, dozens of biotic kids have been rescued by the trio, who shocked the officials of Arcturus Station by releasing them without expecting rewards, an act not customary of PMCs.
Luckily, we managed to get a short interview with the leader of Hell's Angels about it:
"A friend once said that there are 'Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way helps.'. Now, I'm no doctor, so I decided to help people the only way I could: by creating an 'Army Without Borders'. Those events, Mindoir and Teltin, are how I want my organization to be recognized and trusted going forward.
As for the rescue, it all started after we met and befriended Justicar Samara. She came to us with an offer: a mysterious individual, or group, had information about some kids that had been kidnapped by terrorists and wanted to hire us to rescue them. After listening to the whole story, we resupplied and went to the facility, where we finally learned of the culprit behind the abductions, Cerberus. Supposedly, they claim to be pro-human. Trust me, there was nothing pro-anything in that hellhole but the sick pseudo-science experiments of sadistic and deranged 'doctors'. In a way, they might have been worse than the batarian slavers who raided Mindoir. So, we did the galaxy a favor and got rid of them.".
The kidnappen children will be receiving the Alliance's protection and rehabilitation efforts to undo the trauma they suffered at the hands of the terrorist organization named Cerberus. Furthermore, some famous names in the military have shown public support for the establishment of a special institution to train and integrate biotic individuals into normal society.
...
She couldn't deny it. It was all real. There were no more excuses to be made.
Now, the next step was simple: she only had to talk and persuade a giant sentient plant, more ancient than the Protheans, to offer something called a "Cipher", so that the essence of what it was to be a Prothean could be given to that thief, who would then activate the asari's most guarded secret, awakening an ancient Prothean VI for her to take away. Oh, and all of that needed to be done covertly.
She was beginning to miss when her life was just having to deal with everyday cutthroat business and the sneering politicking of her fellow asari…
Feros, atmosphere. Almost a week after the Teltin Rescue.
Two-thirds of the habitable surface of this planet was covered with the ruins of a crumbling Prothean megatropolis. There was no Zhu's Hope settlement yet, a pilot colony that would appear in 2178 CE, with funding done by the ExoGeni Corporation. Right now, this place only received sporadic visits by looters, which they also counted as, from a certain point of view, Benezia thought.
"By the Goddess, this place is incredible!", Liara shouted out as she stared out the shuttle window. The massive skyscrapers seemed to cover so much of the landscape in front of her. It was still an impressive display of engineering, despite the fact that everything was in complete ruins. Pausing a bit to gather her thoughts, the young archeologist muttered out loud a rhetorical question. "It really makes one wonder: how could someone ever look at this and think that any Civilization would ever just vanish or leave after expending all the time and resources to make this place?".
Benezia winced at the jab, not sure if it was personally aimed at her. However, she had to admit, the sight of the abandoned megalopolis was a compelling argument in Liara's favor that the Protheans hadn't left the galaxy willingly. At their current level of engineering and design, something like this would've taken centuries, if not millennia, to build. No matter what the species was, people don't invest so much time, effort and money into a particular place only to abandon things on a whim.
"Is this what Thessia would look like in the future if they win?", asked the Matriarch in a private comm channel.
"This cycle will be the last, he promised. It would've been so even if he didn't show up.", Liara declared, her tone filled with conviction. "It's just that, in his own words, he can give us a 'fifth, happy ending' now that he's here." And muttered quietly: "At least, I won't lose you this time.".
The people of House T'Soni had been investigating this place for almost a month already. Unknowingly, they had to locate the nest of the Thorian. The good thing was that Benezia had some information about Zhu's Hope. The pioneer settlement would be placed on the upper levels of several intact skyscrapers, using the surviving Prothean aqueducts and rooftop hydroponic gardens to support the population. There were only so many places on the planet that would fit that use-case. So, this info, allied with the rough memories of the site's location, allowed them to find the probable location of the ancient creature.
After a few minutes of flying, they landed in the closest location. The only people that'd meet the "Old Growth" would be Benezia, Liara and Shiala, who had been persuaded to join them, though was not privy to the whole picture. That was to prevent any info leaks to the Thorian. She was very confused with it all, only knowing that their mission was to get a priceless Prothean relic, and was especially disturbed by the asari and turian corpses they were carrying, but her mistress promised to explain everything after the fact and that those two were criminals that had been sentenced to death.
The ground team was wearing full EVA suits, helmet included, in order to prevent spore infection. They led the way down a hole in the ground. Liara couldn't help feeling a little gross with how disgusting everything was. After all, filth accumulated over millennia was strewn everywhere. At least the pathway had enough room to walk through. Eventually, the path opened up to a large room, where a monstrously large thing was hanging over an open area which went a long way down. There were several long and thick appendages that snaked their way to different parts of the building, mostly for support.
"By the goddess.", Shiala gasped in pure shock. "Mistress, what is that thing?".
"This, my dear, is one of the oldest intelligent beings in the galaxy and the creature that has what we seek.", calmly announced Benezia, preparing to explain it to her acolyte. "We call it the Thorian, but it refers to itself as the Old Growth, something that was old even when the Protheans came here. It absorbs the body of the dead and the willing who gave themselves to it, and, by doing so, gained sentience and, most important of all, the Prothean ability to touch minds.".
"Actually, Shiala, this is the reason that we asked you to come here today…", Liara spoke in their private comms. "In order to obtain the Cipher, the essence of what it is to be a Prothean. For some… important reasons we can't tell you yet, but will reveal later, we can't do it, but you can.".
"W-what?", the blue asari stammered in fear. "Mistress, you aren't going to sacrifice me, are you?".
"No, silly child. Nothing of the sort.", the Matriarch chuckled, correcting the mistake. "I only ask for you to meld with it, see if you can communicate and receive the Cipher. The dead bodies are the sacrifice; the price in exchange for it.".
"Oh… Goddess, you should have told me that before.", Shiala replied, looking a little sheepish. "Well, I'll give it a try.".
"Also, while you are in its mind, try to find out if there is a place or a node we can give the corpses, so that it can create a copy and talk with us.", Liara interjected.
"I'll try.", promised Shiala, wondering how did Liara know to ask that or when had the mother-daughter duo made up.
Despite the assurances, Benezia couldn't help but feel extremely apprehensive as her acolyte moved over towards what looked like the "head" of the creature. In the way they were going to do it, by using the corpses of some random criminals as the "offerings", they should prevent any side effects from manifesting on Shiala. However, nothing was 100% certain in life except that batarians are batarians (i.e. they will always do some stupidly evil act).
The blue asari hesitantly raised her gloved hand to the thing and touched it. "Well, here it goes. Embrace Eternity.". Her eyes turned completely black and stood still, showing that the meld was likely to be successful.
"Will it really work, mother? You know how arrogant this creature is.", Liara inquired.
"Daughter, there's nothing to worry about.", Benezia reassured with a smile. "It's an alien whose thinking is that, just because it is older than us, it means that it is wiser and that we are lesser beings. So, just like every other upper-class asari I've ever met.".
Liara's mouth dropped open in shock at what her mother so casually proclaimed, before she thought about trying to refute that statement. Unfortunately, she really couldn't. Her experiences in the scientific community, especially the asari-led parts of it, proved that fact countless times.
Shiala gasped, drawing their attention as she finished the meld with the massive creature.
"Goddess!", she exclaimed. "That was… I mean… there was so much to process.".
"Are you alright?", Benezia moved over, steadying Shiala and putting one hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, I'm fine.", Shiala responded, rubbing her head for a bit, and pointed towards a certain part of the wall. "There was just… a lot of information there. But those sacs on the wall there will be sufficient for the bodies to be placed for the Old Growth to feed.".
"You called it the Old Growth.", Benezia pointed out with a worried tone, frowning. "Did it change anything in you?".
"No, nothing like that.", she quickly denied, thinking about an explanation. "It's just how it refers to itself in its mind. I got used to it.".
That calmed the Matriarch down, but she still pulled her acolyte away slightly from the Thorian. Liara trudged over to the weird membrane on the wall that Shiala had gestured to, feeling grossed out that the wall moved on its own and covered up the asari body, the first "offering" they'd give. There was a long pause.
"Mistress, now what?", Shiala inquired.
"From my information, it will use the body that we fed it to make a clone from its own biomatter in a few minutes.", Benezia responded.
The Thorian started making groaning noises and convulsing. Those convulsions reached a feverish pitch and then it shuddered. Suddenly, with a rush of fluids, a green asari fell out of the gap in the mouth. This green being stood up slowly and they could immediately see the resemblance between the green one and the dead one that had been fed into it.
"I speak for the Old Growth. You are within and before it. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. It commands that you be in awe.", the green asari spoke up, gesturing dramatically. "What is it that the ones that scurry like you want from the Old Growth?".
"Greetings, Old Growth.", Benezia said after stepping forward, as if she was speaking to any other asari. "I am Benezia T'Soni and these people belong to my household. We come seeking knowledge of those who are gone, something only a being truly deserving of awe could offer.".
"What knowledge do you seek from the Old Growth?", the green asari asked, apparently falling for the pride/ego bait.
"You have within your genetic memories the ability to share the essences of those you have absorbed.", the Matriarch explained. "I merely propose a trade, that you share the knowledge of those that came before, the Protheans, with my acolyte here so that we may have access to this essence.".
"You ask for a favor from the Old Growth. What do you offer in return?", the green clone inquired.
"We have already given you meat to consume, allowing you to create this extension of yourself.", Benezia mentioned, not letting the plant take advantage of them, and pointed towards the turian corpse Shiala had carried there. "As I am sure you can tell right now, this meat had special abilities that had enabled her to defend herself. Powerful abilities which are now available to you, for defense. And we have another one here, to be offered after this trade is completed.".
"The Old Growth has existed long before your memories were formed, but it still knows the faithlessness of the things that scurry, that the air they push can be lies. Why should the Old Growth heed your words?", responded the green asari.
Benezia went silent for a moment. "While I will not lie and pretend that we in this Long Cycle are all honest and trustworthy, House T'Soni will keep a promise once it is made. As the Matriarch of the household, that promise is as good as the law and my actions should show that I am worthy of trust. I have already provided meat, very capable meat, to tend for you in this Long Cycle, which is nearly finished.".
The giant plant/creature shuffled a little before the green asari spoke again: "You know of the Long Cycle, yet still persist. There is something different about you. Very well. The Old Growth will give you the favor you seek. Step forward and receive it.".
Benezia gestured to Shiala, who stepped forward and put a gloved hand on the Thorian. Another "Embrace Eternity" and it was all over.
"Thank you, Old Growth.", Benezia said, while Liara also dragged the turian corpse to its destination. "Before leaving, and as a gesture of goodwill for a trade well struck, I wish to give you some advice. In a few years, others 'that scurry' will eventually come here to build a home. A few of them will find you and try to experiment on you, but not in a detrimental way. Thus, my advice is to hide these offerings from their eyes. Also, because of this, a being with a metal arm will learn about you and try to 'trade' in the same way we did. However, he is a faithless one and will send cold ones to harm you, so that no one else can receive your great knowledge.".
"The Old Growth would question how you know what is still to come, but it understands you wish for it to deny the trade to this other meat?", the green clone asked.
"No, on the contrary.", the Matriarch replied, grinning for the first time in a long while. "That being with the metal arm won't leave you alone until he obtains what he wants. What I'm suggesting is for you to play along and fool him. I'll have Shiala come here and pretend that it's the first time you've met her. After he leaves and sends the cold ones to harm you, she'll organize the defense of the settlement and protect you. At the same time, others will arrive and destroy the cold ones. You only need to let them do it, not harming the colonists in any way, and to remember that we did not betray or try to harm you. We parted with a successful deal struck; not all of us are faithless.".
"The Old Growth will consider the air you push.", the green asari nodded.
"Farewell then.", Benezia finished.
With that done, they all left, going back up the tunnel they came through. Shiala was very confused about everything in the conversation at the end. That, however, lasted only until she received the "Collectors/Deluxe Edition" of memories. Needless to say, she was even more scared of her possible future than when first meeting the creature. And she had even turned green! That wouldn't happen this time, right?
Back in Thessia. Weeks later.
Kasumi could swear that this had been the craziest month of her life. And a literal guy from another Universe with visions of the future wasn't even all of it. The fact that she received the essence of the Protheans from a sentient plant more ancient than them (Thorian, it's called), all so that she could "obtain" an equally old Prothean VI from the biggest asari dirty little secret was what actually took the top spot of insane things. She was going crazy considering all of it. Crazy excited, that is!
This would probably be the biggest heist yet in her whole career. She didn't even mind that there was help from one of the most powerful Matriarchs of asari society, from the Shadow Broker and a literal cheat in the form of foreknowledge. Much better than losing her boyfriend to a bastard like Donovan Hock. Damn him, she'd get her revenge in the future! Even though nothing happened yet, she'd make him pay anyway. Maybe by "rescuing" Lady Liberty's head? Why not everything in his collection too? Yeah…
Coming back to the present and the mission, Kasumi noticed what the otherworldly guy called "The Hidden Beacon Dilemma": the asari couldn't put too many defenses/guards in the Temple, as that would alert the rest of the galaxy that they were hiding something very valuable there (more than some old relics); however, at the same time, they couldn't put too few guards, due to how important a Prothean Beacon was. Going over the plans, she maneuvered through the blind spots of the guards. That was made very easy by having people "on the inside".
Any technological barriers and/or cameras were dealt with by her boyfriend, Keiji Okuda, who was also brought into their insanity. Now that she recalled, his "persuasion" was a bit funny. He was somewhat doubtful of their claims until Liara revealed one of the Alliance's little secrets: a black ops raid, helped by the hanar, on a batarian group studying Reaper technology. Apparently, it was for intel like this that he had his graybox removed by that Hock bastard. After that, he shut up and started to worry about the implications, especially of the Reaper stuff they almost brought back without knowing what it really was.
Speaking of technology, Kasumi was pretty satisfied with her new equipment and gadgets. It was the best one could expect when a retired STG guy and the Shadow Broker worked together on something, resulting in cloaking tech that made her vanish from the world for a long time. Even the hacking Omni-tool and software were top-of-the-line stuff, making her just breeze through most problems, even though this place was supposed to have military grade encryption. Not that it meant much. Contrary to popular belief, she found that most "military grade" stuff was actually subpar when compared to, say, special forces gear, often merely coming from the lowest bidder.
Kasumi dodged a few more patrol guards, making sure she wasn't just walking in from the front entrance, and climbed an elevation on the side. Even with her now improved cloaking abilities, she didn't rely purely on it. Sound, positioning, timing. Every step was measured to perfection, evey surface carefully touched and she always hid from the guard's line of sight, even while invisible.
The inside of the Temple was very spacious and vast, although, luckily, the same could not be said about the number of asari patrols. Kasumi stayed clocked in an advantageous position and studied the patrol routes, keeping an eye on the scientists present. Then, sent a signal for Keiji to jam all the cameras in the area, only showing looped images.
What followed was a series of meticulous applications of kinetic force on the neck of the asari, in a carefully laid out pattern, with almost no sound being made. Then, she would inject a solution into the knocked out blue women that gave them sweet dreams for an hour; rinse and repeat for the next one.
Immediately after dealing with everyone in the vicinity, Kasumi threw a few floating devices around Athame's statue that had been specifically created for the mission. Their purpose was to create mass effect fields to keep the pieces of the statue together for a while, she wasn't sure exactly how (if by creating pockets of antigravity or by using repulsive gravity), and to muffle any sounds the statue might make after breaking apart. With that done, she started activating the same relics shown by Liara in those "visions", moving ever closer to the center. After the last one was activated, only a tiny little noise was made and a glowing green orb floated to the center of the Temple.
"Obtaining chronological marker. Hold…", it said. "Timescale established. Post-Prothean cycle confirmed. No Reaper or indoctrinated forces detected. Pre-invasion cycle.".
Instead of answering or even acknowledging it, Kasumi worked her Omni-tool, sending the Prothean VI a pre-arranged packet of information which included all current languages, an overview of the galactic community and, especially, the social, cultural and academic response of the asari to any and all "theories of cyclical extinction", more than enough for the rather limited algorithms of the VI to reach an evident conclusion: their chosen species, the asari, failed to prepare the galaxy for the Reapers.
With that done, a holographic message lit the place further and started playing.
"Hello, Vendetta.", my pre-recorded message suddenly said. "We don't have much time, so I'll have to be brief. Yes, I know your name as well as your purpose, the Crucible and the Catalyst. I also know that the Protheans selected and guided the asari to be the dominant species of this Cycle, as the warriors for your vengeance. I'm sorry to tell you this, but they have failed you. For millennia, they've hid your Beacon, merely scavenging a few pieces of technology to keep themselves ahead of everyone else, but never truly preparing for the Reaper's return.".
While this was happening, Kasumi, who had already heard the entire thing, began thinking about how the situation was pretty much how the otherworldly guy had predicted. Only one with a Prothean-like ability to communicate/think could really activate this Beacon, which was why the asari had never managed it (after all, a public temple wasn't the best place to hide a glowing device that blows up its cover after being activated). Either that or a proper Prothean was needed. She wouldn't be surprised, considering they had a plan to "guide" the species of the next cycle. And, if this hadn't turned out this way, "None of this Universe would make any goddamn sense!", in his own words. As for the need for a slow message, rather than just a text file? It was to gather the VI's attention and give it time to process all its new information for…
"So, as the representative of those who are preparing for the fight, I have a proposition for you.", the message continued. "Transfer yourself and all the Beacon's information on the Reapers to a device we've prepared, but just make a copy of everything else, focusing on advanced technology. That's a necessary precaution so that the asari do not panic and reveal the Crucible plans to sleeper agents. You can see that the one before you is not indoctrinated and neither is anyone else with us. Besides, even without the information on the Reapers, the Beacon has finally been fully activated, so the asari will still have many new technologies to strengthen themselves and the galaxy with.".
"I was designed to assist the next cycle. Asari's failure to lead this cycle is noted. Your proposition is sound and aligned with my purpose.", Vendetta announced its verdict after sifting through the information and began connecting to a compatible device in the organic's hand. "Beginning transfer of critical information and copy of remaining data.".
5%...
"Little Bird, there's not much time I can give you, even with the Broker's tech.", Keiji told her over private comms.
17%...
41%...
66%…
"The guards have started to get suspicious about their friends not responding.", her boyfriend stated. "I'm distracting them to another area of the Temple.".
85%...
98%...
"It's almost done.", said Kasumi. The wait was stifling her, as she began wondering just how many seconds of time there are in eternity. However, it wasn't a surprise; by merely salvaging some scraps, the asari had kept their technological edge over the galaxy, so one could only imagine how much information was stored here.
"And… done!", Kasumi exclaimed, making sure the VI was safely transferred to the special device Liara had prepared beforehand. "Let's go.".
After that, she stuffed the smallest relic she could grab inside of her outfit and took back those floating gadgets. Evidently, this disabled the mass effect fields and caused Athame's pieces to fall to the ground in much the same way that objects in space don't. Also, a lot of loud noise was made as a result of that, making it look like a thief came for those items on display and, only by chance, ended up activating the Beacon, which spooked him/her and made the burglar run away before the heist was truly done.
Not even one minute later, more asari guards reached the place. Interestingly enough, most of them belonged to House T'Soni and they were very quick to isolate/lockdown the area, preventing any leaks about the Prothean Beacon. Later on, Benezia used that fact to suppress the other Matriarchs and take leadership of the new research on the now truly gold mine of technologies, while also selling the story about the "heist gone wrong".
As for the darn thief? That one escaped the planet on a volus trading vessel as part of its "goods" long before the asari's governments had bickered enough to lockdown and scrub Thessia for the assailant. They didn't get the memo that it's almost always the volus' vessels that should be checked first. What calmed down the Republics later on was that no blackmail threat was made about the existence of the Beacon, though some huntresses were always on the lookout for the thief.
As for Vendetta? He got himself a brand new home on the Shadow Broker's ship.
Arcturus Station. Roughly a week after the Teltin Rescue.
Outside the airlock of a starship almost the size of a Frigate, one heavily armored figure, with a symbol of two flaming red wings on his chest and helmet, stood opposite two other figures with military-looking attire. Those two looked to be angry and exasperated, while the first one conveyed nonchalance, as could be seen by his crossed arms, but was clearly not as relaxed as he appeared, evidence of this being the many weapons he carried.
"I'm only going to ask one more time: from where did you get the intel? Who informed you of the biotic kids?", one of the duo, evidently a spook, asked with a demanding tone. "Don't think those weapons grant you free reign on this station. We only let you carry them as a small gesture of goodwill and trust for what you've done.".
"Despite not owning explanations to anyone, especially not about where our intel comes from, I've already answered anyone who asked nicely: we were contacted by some shadowy figure, which paid half upfront upon taking the job and the other half after finishing it.", the armored one replied dismissively, his gravelly voice synthesized. Yep, that was me, being harassed by some spooks. Actually, they were mostly harmless in this situation, but I was so fed up that I decided to just tell the truth. "You know what? Want a different answer? Fine! A videogame developer from another Universe told us. How 'bout that?".
"Y-you! Maybe we should bring you in for questioning.", the other spook flared up, his body language emanating hostility. "I'm sure you'd take us seriously after some… persuasion.".
"And I'm sure those journalists would just love to hear that.", I replied sarcastically to the idiot. "A few of the big ones are still here. Maybe we should continue this chat with them, no?".
"Gentleman, there's no need for this. We're all on the same side here.", a voice smooth as silk, yet deep and booming, said, turning to the spooks. "Besides, things would look bad if we started mistreating our 'heroes', no?".
"Lieutenant David Anderson, sir.", one of the spooks recognized the once aspiring Spectre, though a kicked out one. "We were just making sure no leaks of intel happened.". Yup, that was the legendary figure, Shepard's Space Dad.
"Those kidnappings right under our noses already made the Alliance lose credibility. Let's not make it worse.", Anderson stated firmly. "Or will I have to talk with your superiors?".
"That'd be a good idea, actually. Then, we could find out if they are Cerberus' agents or just frustrated spooks.", I added fuel to the fire, hinting at their failure to notice the biotic children being taken from all over Alliance space, just to see if they'd bite. "Besides, talking about intel leaks, are you even authorized to investigate this? Where's your 'judicial warrant'? Come on, I'm curious to see it.".
"Forget it. There's no point in forcing the issue.", the first spook, the calmer one, said to his partner, patting him on the shoulder. "Let's go.". The duo began walking away while I wondered if they really were spies infiltrated by Cerberus or just some idiots. You couldn't really be sure when this Universe's humans were involved. Turning away from them, I saw one of the three pillars of the Alliance just staring at me with a smiling expression.
"Anderson! It's good to see you again.", I finally got around to greeting him. We had met when I came here roughly a week ago and he also helped smooth things over back then. "So, what brings you here?".
"Just passing by to say goodbye. I'm going to be deployed again soon.", he replied. "Don't worry about those guys. They can't do anything to you besides being annoying.".
"I know. I was just messing with them.", I nodded. "Could've just stayed inside the ship; pretended to be dead. Too bad it doesn't work with tax collectors, though…". We chuckled a bit at my lame joke.
"Still, hell of a thing you did there. But don't let your guard down. I've got a feeling this isn't the last we've seen of those terrorists.", Anderson advised me, not knowing just how right he was. "So, what are your plans now?".
"I'm thinking about doing some recruiting and completing a few jobs, maybe even paying a visit to batarians in the Traverse and Terminus. It's not like the Hegemony would be on good terms with us after Mindoir...", I told him just a wide stroke of what we'd be doing. "We only opened the PMC's site on the extranet recently, but you wouldn't believe how many applications we are getting. So, there's a lot of work.".
"Perhaps we'll have a chance to work together then.", Anderson spoke casually. "There's always some… less savory things the Alliance would rather not deal with personally. You know how these things are.".
"Unfortunately, I do. But I'm not interested in being a 'deniable asset'.", I made sure my position was very clear to him. "My group is all about protection and safeguarding a better future for the galaxy. I hope people will see that in time.".
"Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it. And I hope you can keep your ideals.", the soldier sighed. "The galaxy has too many 'private security companies' as is. Most of them are not much better than the pirates we usually deal with… That's it then! I gotta go.".
"Oh, one more thing before you go. Those kids will need a proper place to grow up in.", I held my right hand up to catch his attention. "Maybe you should talk with your superiors about establishing some kind of academy for that. Just an idea…".
"That's… actually a good idea. I'll see what I can do.", Anderson complimented, offering me a handshake, which I took immediately. "Farewell, Samael. Hopefully, when we meet again, I'll be a 'Commander' too!".
After this little banter, he also walked away, leaving me alone. Not wasting a second more, I walked back inside the ship through the airlock. Thane was waiting for me, but left quickly to do his thing after seeing everything was alright. We had expected some sort of reprisal from Cerberus or for them to make a move against our newest "crew member", but none of it happened. Maybe they just didn't care much. After all, Zaeed himself once said he had lost count after killing 50 or so Cerberus operatives/agents, yet TIM didn't give a damn. He even hired the guy in ME2. Either that or they hadn't yet infected the Alliance as much as they would in the future.
And who was our newest addition? Of course, it was "Jack". Or Jennifer, as I made it clear. For reasons such as not being able to locate her parents on Eden Prime, the other kids' resentment against her and Cerberus' possible drive to pursue the kid for her biotic talents, Samara ended up "adopting" her. The Alliance approved of an "interspecies apprenticeship initiative" with a Justicar, sorta like what they scrambled together for Cora Harper (which she wouldn't shut up about…), though also promised they'd try to find the parents. I found that unlikely, as the terrorist organization would usually just murder the parents of their subjects, but "canon" never specified if Jack's parents still lived.
Although she didn't make a fuss, Samara questioned why I hadn't destroyed the Teltin facility and its salvageable data. Instead of invoking her pledge and leaving it at that, or merely summoning the "nazi human experimentation" card, I sat down with her and had a serious discussion. In summary, the conclusions were that: 1) the "damage" (vile experiments) had been done already, so destroying the resulting "research" would not change it; 2) erasing everything those mad "scientists" did could be worse, because many might look at this lack of information and wonder "What were the results? What if they found something? What if they had the right idea?"; 3) deleting the data might paint a target on us, as they'd surely be people thinking we kept a copy to ourselves; and 4) we could use it for our own future research, to use it for good, to make it all mean something, because there's no such thing as "forbidden data" (for one, we'd be trying to turn the Reapers' technology against them…).
Therefore, I decided to download everything we could take from there and "sell" it to the Alliance (let them deal with Cerberus in our place), but not without doing some "alterations" first. Yeah, I got Mordin, who's a specialist in the area of genetics, to modify the overall "feel" of the research to one whose conclusion was that those brutal experiments had minimal results at best, if not just disappointing findings. This would probably prevent other stupid experiments from being conducted in the future. And what were the Cerberus goons and "doctors" going to do about it? Lazarus up from the dead to sue us in court?
And we'd surely do our own research on the creation and training of biotics. However, we would do it the right/scientific way; not the Cerberus Way™ of doing science. The difference, I thought, was that TIM's idea of science was to just blow up a starship engine to scatter dust-form eezo over colonies, hoping for the best, while not even monitoring the changes, then kidnap the biotic kids to inject random stuff on them and have them fight gladiatorial battles. A true scientist, however, would do things such as: 1) clone tissue/neuron samples and run tests of eezo exposure on them; 2) create experiments to figure out how and why eezo-bonds with the nervous system of certain people (and why it doesn't with others), especially comparing their genome with those of an entire biotic species (asari), while running simulations about it all with his QUANTUM computers; 3) do high-level tests on rats (or varren), who have a breeding rate high enough to show the results of subsequent generations; 4) if anger and pain really have a positive effects on the training of biotics, use "electrodes" or synthesized chemicals on consenting adults to induce the same effect directly on the brain, while also monitoring it to figure out why "emotions" might affect bonded eezo; and 5) try to bond eezo with neurons artificially. And so on.
Basically, I wasn't a biologist, not even something of a scientist myself, yet I could still come up with all those better ways to do "research". So, the brute force approach just meant being grossly incompetent at basic science. No, the way Cerberus does science can't even be explained as "brute force"; it's more apt to call it "bludgeon force".
With that said, I stayed in Arcturus until now to meet a certain elite marine that would be dishonorably discharged from N7 in the future. By coincidence, he was scheduled to come to this station today, maybe to temporarily join the protection detail of the biotic kids. Otherwise, I'd have to return to the Citadel to meet and recruit him into our "Inner Circle". Still, rather than take any chances with any "private" accomodations (and run the risk of being targeted by certain terrorists or not have any privacy at all), I never left our ship. It also prevented anyone of this station from sabotaging it while we waited.
An hour later, our comms buzzed. My contact had arrived and I set out to meet him.
"Hello, Commander Samael of Hell's Angels.", he greeted cordially. "It's a pleasure to meet you, though I'm curious why you asked for a talk with me. We've never met before.".
"You can just call me Samael, Mr. Ryder.", I answered. "And I have a life changing proposition for you. Please, come inside.".
While we were walking inside, I was thinking about the guy we were going to recruit, the iconic Alec Ryder. As for derailing Andromeda? Besides the fact that I didn't really care about it, we could still do the Initiative after the war, but properly this time around. Opening a Wormhole from here to there would also solve a lot of future issues and headaches, for one… He still hadn't been "dishonorably discharged" yet. That happened (or will happen) when one of his twins, Scott Ryder, born in 2163, had joined the SA military. So, sometime after 2181 (he'd be 18 years old by then). Knowing how "competent" the Alliance was, there were bound to be other guys like him, discharged for BS reasons. We'd go looking for them, just as we would those who had been retired due to issues such as PTSD (if you have the tech to "fix" neurons, then you can do so much more…). Hey, if the Alliance doesn't want capable and trained soldiers, I'll take them.
After walking a bit towards a private room, I put down and turned on an all-spectrum frequency jammer before sitting with him.
"You're being quite careful. It's unnecessary, though.", Alec commented, shaking his head, then started some small talk. "So, you are all the talk lately. Did one hell of a good job in Mindoir and by rescuing those kids. Does your 'offer' have anything to do with that?".
"Thanks for the compliment, but not exactly. What I have in mind is way bigger than that.", I answered, thinking about teasing him a bit. "After all, it's still not as ambitious as, say, the goal of creating 'artificial intelligence that avoids the creator-construct gap seen in other AIs', wouldn't you say?".
"What the hell are you talking about?", he asked, flaring up a little, maybe to hide his actual thoughts. "The development of AIs is illegal in Council space, Commander.". Or maybe he was considering that I wanted to blackmail him? Anyway…
"Except that didn't stop you from secretly researching 'AIs' for that very purpose.", I crushed his attempted deflection, taking off my helmet as a show of faith before this could become a misunderstanding. He got distracted momentarily by my age, forgetting what I had just stated. "Yes, I know you've become interested in 'AI' as a means of 'human advancement'. Not only that, but I know that the possible benefits this would bring to humanity, such as eliminating the technology gap with the other races, is not the main goal. Finding a cure for your wife, Ellen Ryder, is. Tell me, due to repeated exposure to eezo, she must be showing symptoms of a rare terminal neuro-degenerative disorder, right? By the way, it'll be called AEND. I can help you, Mr. Ryder. No, I want to help you. And the whole galaxy too, even if they'd be set against us, at first…".
He just stood there, either stunned or petrified. Too many revelations were rapid-fired at him in a short time. More alarming was how right I'd been when talking about his wife. She had been pioneering the design of biotic implants ever since the 50s, even creating the first human one, but that came at the cost of her health. The nature of her research led to constant exposure to Element Zero, one of which happened when she'd been pregnant, in 2163. This spurred the old marine to develop his own "AI" research more desperately with each passing year, using Ellen's own implant research to interface with it, all in attempts to save her.
"Assuming you are right, and I'm not admitting anything here, why would you look for me specifically?", Alec asked warily after recovering.
"You are a dreamer, Mr. Ryder, one who hopes to explore the unknown, find the edge of the map and then discover what lies beyond that.", I told him with a genuine smile. "I know many things about you and one of them is that you will succeed.".
"You really seem to know me well…", Alec admitted, but not without pointing something out. "However, pardon me for saying this, but it can't be just you. A small mercenary band does not have the resources required to research AIs – or to get away with it.".
"That's right, I'm not just representing Hell's Angels here. Backing me is an organization with contacts, information, armed forces, agents throughout the whole galaxy and billions of credits.", I casually revealed, as if this wasn't some crazy talk, while handing a datapad with information on the Reapers. "Besides, I'm not just offering you those resources, but also an invitation to join our 'Inner Circle', if you will. That's because your research won't just be necessary for 'human advancement', but also to give us the edge required to face a galactic threat. One that wiped out the Protheans and all those that came before them. One that was due a thousand years ago already…".
He took the datapad with a deadpan expression on his face, trying to hide his emotions, but I could somewhat tell that he was spooked with the last bit of my speech. The more he "scrolled", the gloomier his expression became, with a mix of fear and horror, mostly due to the info on indoctrination and the expected numbers of Reapers. The climax was when he reached the part about Steve. As a military-career man, he knew very well what the "specs" of the dead guy represented in space combat terms.
"Steve there is in a very reachable place.", I commented. "If you don't believe or trust the recordings, we could take you there to check out. No touching, though. Unless you want to start worshiping Space Cthulhu, of course.".
"The Alliance…", he began saying, but I interrupted. "Will neither believe that there's an armada of those cuttlefish out there nor do something about it. Instead, they will probably botch any attempts done by people like us, who actually know what the fuck we are doing, to get the galaxy prepared for their coming.", I spat, then decided to throw a seemingly unrelated question. "Tell me, what would someone like ambassador Anita Goyle say about your aspirations?".
There was no exact date given to when he talked with Anita Goyle about SAM, but it occurred when Ellen's AEND was diagnosed to be terminal (i.e. close to the final stages). So, at this time, I figured he hadn't revealed his secret research to anyone. This was one of the reasons why he got so alarmed at me. On the other hand, this also meant the former ambassador would never be able to leak this "future" conversation to anyone and corroborate the reports made against him (ultimately causing Alec's dismissal from the Alliance), like she did.
"I don't know how you got the information that I was 'dabbling' with AI.", he finally admitted, somewhat. "But she'd probably deny my proposal, maybe even citing the laws making it extremely illegal and how the discovery of this kind of research would set humanity's standing in Council space back decades.".
"Exactly! That is the Alliance's current position in the galaxy: held back by the Council, who will do almost anything to put humanity down and to keep us in control, even denying the existence of such a galactic threat if that's what it took. Therefore, it falls on us, the people who dare think outside of the box and dream big, to do what needs to be done.", I declared firmly. "And it's not just incompetence that I'm worried about. You must've learned about the 'terrorist organization' called Cerberus after our rescue of those kids, right?".
He just nodded to me and returned the datapad.
"Well, they are not just terrorists, but a black ops group formed by the SA immediatly after the First Contact War, which went rogue shortly after, a fact which is kept hidden due to the obvious negative implications.", I told him, but kept some of the details I'd learned from the lore of Mass Effect: Evolution. "And here's a truth even scarier than that: they have infiltrated every single layer of the Alliance. Many higher-ups on it even support them for their alleged 'pro-human' stances and goals. Do you think we'd be able to prepare in peace, more so considering that Cerberus likes to mess around irresponsibly with Reaper tech and that their leader is slowly being indoctrinated?".
"If that is true, shouldn't we do something about it?", Alec inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"We will, in due time. Know that my associates and I have considered extensively pretty much anything that has to be dealt with. We can do this. By the end of it, we'll probably have a truly united galaxy, one in which humanity is treated with respect.", I assured him, while getting up and extending my hand for a handshake. "The real question is: are you willing to join us? Are you willing to tread our path and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes, Pathfinder?".
"Alright, I'm in.", he got up after a while and stared at me. "But I want full disclosure, understand?".
"That's a given.", I agreed readily. "As for this meeting, you don't need to worry. You can go with a cover story that I met you to ask for some contacts, like people who didn't fit in the Alliance, to recruit. And it's not just a cover, because I'd appreciate it if you could actually do that.".
"You thought it all through, huh?", commented Alec, extending his hands towards mine.
"We try our best. And welcome to Project Child of Humanity, Mr. Ryder.", I said as we shook hands.
Not long after, I left with the CSV Lightbringer. Alec Ryder completed his duties in Arcturus Station before returning to the Citadel, to continue his role as a military attaché, but chose to retire from the Systems Alliance military a while later, citing his worries about his wife's deteriorating health issues as one of the main reasons. The couple moved into a secluded place on Earth, where they'd stay for alleged treatments.
The Alliance's Intelligence Services found the move strange, but nothing more than that – not even large movements from Alec's savings account. And his wife, known creator of the first human biotic implant, really was reported to have developed serious problems due to eezo exposure. The nail in the coffin was the hiring of a salarian Dr. named Mordin Solus to develop a cure, who had an extensive bibliography of published works, enjoyed a challenge and delivered some "medical equipment" for the treatment of this new disorder, which he named as AEND. Moreover, no one knew of Alec's dabbling with "AI" research, as he had never pitched it to anyone. Therefore, all of this combined meant no one came to Ryder Island to bother the family, not even with basic monitoring.
As for why I'd go so far to recruit Alec Ryder? Because I knew he created the third-ish example of "friendly AI" in the lore – and did it mostly with his own savings to boot! Basically, in Mass Effect Universe terms, he achieved the equivalent of building his "AI" in a cave… with a box of scraps. The Shadow Broker only gave him a bit of help while the "Benefactor" gave mostly some funding. However, he now had the full backing of the Broker (us), of an asari Matriarch and an entire "Legacy-class" Prothean Beacon (fully translated with the Cipher). Besides that, he was the "buy one, get one free" kind of deal, as his brilliant wife would likely join us too, helping with the development of all kinds of implants.
This was the benefit of hindsight!
[Hello, dear extranet user. On this page, you'll find entertainment media reviews of old human artistic works being adapted to Omni-tools by a recently founded small Company in Citadel space. We wish you'll be able to find something to enjoy!]
...
[The Terminator and Terminator 2]
Asari Vid Reviews
It's good to see that humans have known about the dangers of artificial intelligence even before they started exploring space properly. Perhaps, if the Quarians had the same kind of hindsight, maybe the Geth Uprising could have been prevented. I hope they've learned from the geth example and never make the same mistake. Recommended!
Salarian Vid Reviews
Interesting, if somewhat outdated, take on time travel. The humans didn't know you can go faster than light without creating paradoxes. Impossible to have someone with knowledge from the future then. The creation of a loop was a nice touch, though, as were the use of directed energy weapons. Nice vids for the time.
Krogan Vid Reviews
Those were some helluva vids. Makes one wonder if that's how a fight against geth would go down if they just wanted to kill us all like the Counsil keeps saying. Come to think about it, why don't they? And who knows what's behind those Quanrians suits? Could be a killbot and now your dead, ha! 'Course, we krogan would be fine. We love a good scrap! Anyway, great action and effects for the time, humans. And I've already ordered a minigun from some guy on earth. Just don't see a geth fighting together with humans to stop other killbots and then killing itself to make sure everyone wins.
[The Matrix]
Salarian Vid Reviews
What is really real? Am I real? What if all of this is just a story in someone's head? What if it just… stops some day? Can't stop thinking about ramifications. This vid will cause you to have an existential crisis. A must watch if you want to have your mind blown! Or if you just want to mess with someone you know…
[Independence Day]
Krogan Vid Reviews
That kicked ass. Ya know, If my clan's warlord back on tuchanka was like that president guy, I might've never left his krant. He would whip up fighters better than during the rachni war with just a speech. In fact, maybe he could have united all the krogan clans under a single banner. On second thought, probably not. The Counsil would send a Specter or somethin and off him.
[Saving Private Ryan]
Turian Vid Reviews
War is hell. This vid, based on the humans' second planet-wide war, shows that very well. None of that romanticized image of war can be found here, only brutal and visceral battles, with unapologetic action and violence to accurately reflect what conflict looks like. This is the kind of entertainment work we turians can appreciate. At the same time, it's a tale of brotherhood among soldiers, of a squadron seeking to locate a single comrade of theirs lost in a combat zone. If you don't think humans are capable of fighting a real war, or that small skirmishes with pirates is all they can do, you should watch it. I bet you'll respect the human spirit in war afterwards!
[Jurassic Park and Jurassic World]
Krogan Vid Reviews
This is it! I've decided to get back to my clan and find a way to make dinosaurs. I wanna fight a tryrannsauros wrex. Thing look more intimidating than a maw. Don't get me started on the V-raptors. Dunno how to spell it but I want one as a pet. Hey, STG guys who go through my stuff, why don't you get on this instead? You don't need the genofage. Just clone these things and put them somewhere. Don't even have to be on tuchanka, 'cause we'll go where it is to hunt. It'd be the perfect predator to help keep the krogan population down like you want so much! And you don't even need to get your hands dirty or pass the blame to someone else, like you did the Turians…
[DC Extended Universe – Justice League]
Asari Vid Reviews
Flash rewinding time to save the world;
Wonder Woman in no man's land;
Batman saving Martha;
Superman's first flight;
Aquaman escaping the trench.
Those scenes are simply pure cinema. Today's entertainment media is too obsessed with the next simulstims, the next high, and has forgotten what it's all about.
Hanar Vid Reviews
This one appreciates the human representation of the deep and its life. Too few works in this age offer epic adventures below the surface level of worlds as Aquaman does. It kindly asks for the release of other such works that give the oceans the care it deserves. It would be most grateful.
[Marvel Cinematic Universe]
Salarian Vid Reviews
While we "older races" tend to think of "superpowers" only in relation to eezo, always trying to one up each other by merely coming up with a new biotic ability, humans seem to have an almost endless imagination to conjure all sorts of powers and abilities, no matter how absurd, and have them define unique individuals. This comes to a crescendo in the form of an expensive universe of superheroes and villains, with universe ending stakes and a nice touch of comedy. Maybe we should strive to have this drive of "thinking outside of the box", as the humans call it?
Turian Vid Reviews
When we think of "superheroes", Spectres and powerful biotics are what comes to mind, most notably Justicars. The humans, however, appear to never have been locked into this worldview, so they created this vast, expanded universe of colorful characters and powers. This is an experience you can have only once and will probably never find anywhere else in the galaxy. The industry nowadays is just too focused on making sequels to the same vid franchise or just single stories and then moving on to the next project. Too bad we can't have many of the things shown. I mean, how cool would it be to hop through a portal and be somewhere else in an instant? And how much it would revolutionize warfare, on all levels, if it were possible… Sadly, we can only experience these things through vids such as these ones, which is why I recommend them a lot.
[The Soul Series]
Krogan Game Reviews
This series of games teaches you about patience, anger management, and especially about taking care of your omni-tool. I went through two of the things before calming down to finally beat the boss. Recommended to any krogan who wants to learn how to control Blood Rage, 'cause you'll be feeling like breaking stuff after a few deaths to the same guy.
Turian Game Reviews
At first, I thought these games were made only to torture the player. But then I discovered that they contain a different message, one we turians can relate to: never giving up. It's not just your character that gets stronger by trying again and again, you do too. When that boss you've been fighting for so long has been defeated, you can feel yourself change a little. Few games today give you this sense of… accomplishment. Of beating a truly powerful opponent with your own claws. Highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a challenge.
Salarian Game Reviews
Don't be too focused on challenging and innovative combat. Behind it lies an amazingly crafted world and story. You could spend many hours just immersed in its storytelling, told through bits here and there, and items' descriptions. Most species have difficulty noticing this, but we salarians have an advantage with our photographic memory.
Asari Game Reviews
These games are evil. Just… pure evil. But I'm definitely going to recommend it to a few of my "friends" and see if they can pass what I later learned was just the "Tutorial Boss". If you want some paypack against that annoying coworker or person you just can't stand in general, you should do it too!
[DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal]
Krogan Game Reviews
HA HA HA, now this is what I'm talking 'bout! Everything about this game was made for true krogans. The guns, the monsters, the explosions, the gore, the finishes, the music. Even that hell looks like a cool place to fight stuff in. And have you wondered what a krogan in a human body would be like? Here's the answer. If you've got a little runt, this is so much better than Firebreathing Thresher Maws of Doom, so go buy it! Me? Ima buy a chainsaw.
Turian Game Reviews
I once thought our "titans", enormous beings who strode across Palaven, reaching for the heavens, were some the peak of myths and legends, but this "doomguy" would probably butcher them easily just to get some more health, armor and ammo back. And hell makes Tuchanka look like a nice place to take a vacation to. I'm recommending this game to any turians who just wants unapologetic violence and mayhem from start to finish.
[Synth/Retrowave]
Asari Music Reviews
For the first time in my rather long life, I've felt nostalgic about a time that never was. Of a possible future that we may have missed and will never be able to experience. How is it even possible? Is that just the usual magic of music or is there something more, something special about humans?
Author's Notes: This entertainment review section is an idea that I've borrowed from the fanfic "Plan for the Galaxy" (so go check it out if you want to read other "reviews"). It's there to show the aliens current perspective on many things, contrast it with the things we are doing, hint at some changes we made to the galaxy and will probably only be present in the First Act. This, I found, is a good worldbuilding tool.
On another note, according to the wiki, Kasumi Goto was born in 2160. That would make her 10 years old here. Moreover, her boyfriend, Keiji Okuda, known as Abraham Rumoi by the Alliance, was introduced to the story and died in 2175, which would make her 15 years old by then and even younger when "working" as a master thief, since Kasumi stated that "We worked together for a long time, before Hock killed him". Pedophilia, much? So, yeah, I'm making it so that Kasumi was old enough to be recruited by 2170-ish, ok? Maybe she was born in 2150… The interesting thing is that the wiki also says that Jack was "an infant at the time" of her kidnapping, in 2165, which is complete BS, because she was born in 2161 and, as such, four years old already at the time. Therefore, because someone goofed up a little, I needed to make these slight adjustments to the timeline.
The next Chapter will take place over a little more than a year, so it's going to be a bit bigger than normal. It's impact in the story is going to be equally important, as its central actor will be... unique and its consequences are going to affect everyting else going forward. This will show the gradual progress we could realistically make to amass "power" and set in motion other plans, all the while trying to meld my take on a certain theme of the Mass Effect Universe in relation to its own reality.