…

"The world won't change, all it does is turn."

(Kun Lan)

…

UCV Discovery, November 9th, 7:04 PM, 2186

…

I pulled forward slightly as we exited FTL, putting us just within orbit of Śnieg. I smiled, getting out of my chair and walking to the windows to take a better look.

Śnieg was just on the outer edge of the system's habitable zone, and was constantly wracked by snowstorms that covered the whole planet due to the frequent tilting of its poles as it orbited the star, Endar. It wasn't a pleasant vacation spot, considering being on the surface without sufficient protection could lead to the near-instant freezing of bodily extremities depending on your location. On the night-side of the planet, the temperatures regularly dropped below -80°F, and the day wasn't much warmer at a frosty -50°F. I was too focused on the view to do the Celsius conversions in my head.

There were brief periods every few months where the planet would warm up to almost -10°F, but those only lasted about seven weeks before it all froze over again. I suspected those brief "thawing" periods were the only reason why there was a breathable atmosphere at all.

"UCV Discovery, this is HIGHCOM Control. Please identify yourselves." The radio buzzed, getting Lenlo to look at me from my old, suspended command chair.

"HIGHCOM, this is Admiral Michaels, clearance Delta-Echo-Alpha 11." I spoke out loud as Lenlo held down the transmit button on his armrest. "Requesting permission to land, over."

"Clearance and voice authentication confirmed. Welcome, Admiral." The operator on the other end replied, getting Lenlo to nod. "Please proceed to Bay 8."

"Thank you, Control." I finished as Lenlo took his finger off the button, letting out a huff of amusement. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing… it just seems out of place, you standing there and me being here." He joked, getting me to smile as I stood next to him with my arm on the chair.

With the rocking of the ship as we began our descent, we quickly broke the atmosphere and plunged into the storm. I watched the sensor screen, seeing how quickly we went from re-entry heat to the frigid, sub-zero temperatures. It was quite the experience.

"You enjoying the ride, sir?" Lenlo asked, rocking slightly as the ship shook from the vibrations.

"Trust me, the ride is the last thing on my mind right now." I joked as we dropped below the clouds into a roaring snowstorm. Even through the snow I could see the lights on the external buildings. They were at the base of Mt. Duży, the brand-new home of UCNF HIGHCOM.

"Admiral, doesn't it kinda remind you of Xawin?" Kirva mentioned from her console, turning to look at me as I chuckled.

"I haven't thought about that place in a long time…" I shook my head, remembering everything we went through to get Sterling, Miranda, and the others out of that wasteland.

Remembering my brief time with Nathan Sterling and Luciano Keller always sent a pang to my heart, and our failure to protect them always left me shaking my head, wondering if there was more I could have done to protect them. My thoughts were cut off as we fired the forward thrusters, slowing ourselves down as we came in for a landing. Given the planet's climate, we had large sections of the land at the base of the mountain excavated so ship and shuttle bays could be installed with large, overhead blast doors. As they sealed above us, large vents lining the large hangar bay opened, blasting in warm air to get it up to at least 30°F. Certainly chilly, but good enough to be handled by a good jacket.

"Alright…" I remarked to myself, happy with how smooth the trip was. "Get some supplies and rest for awhile, guys. This might take awhile."

"Those are some standing orders if I've ever heard them." Kirva joked, leaning back in her chair. "Good luck, sir."

I nodded to her, walking over and climbing back down into the pit. As I zipped up my jacket and prepared to go into the airlock, I heard quick footsteps above me.

"Admiral… would you like some backup in there?" Lenlo asked, holding the railing with both hands.

"What about your crew, Captain?" I inquired, slightly confused with his sudden request.

"They can take care of themselves here for awhile." He argued, pointing his thumb back towards them. "Besides, if you're going swimming with the sharks, it never hurts to have someone you trust by your side."

I couldn't help but grin, remembering when I had taught him the meaning of that idiom.

"You have a point there… very well. Come on." I urged, watching him grab both ends of the ladder and slide down. Even after everything we'd both gone through, he still had all that enthusiasm.

Both of us went through the airlock into the frigid air, just barely able to tolerate it as we strolled across the floor of the hangar to the doors ahead. The crews had already begun hooking up fuel lines as we walked, and several guards stood waiting for us.

"Hello Admiral. Captain." The lead guard greeted both of us, another walking over and scanning us with a Snooper. "The Admiralty is waiting for you. Please follow me."

We walked through the long hallway and to the elevators, making our way deeper under the mountain. Unlike CASTLE Base, neither me or my team had anything to do with the design or construction of HIGHCOM. That task had gone to the UCNF Engineer Corps, who pulled out all the stops when designing this place. Every room was mounted on massive shock absorbers, and being buried under tons of rock and titanium, we could survive anything short of a direct mass accelerator round. The only thing I didn't like was how dark and cold it was compared to CASTLE Base.

Once at the bottom of the elevator shaft, we walked through another checkpoint into the massive War Room. It reminded me of the one from Dr. Strangelove in a weird way, mostly the slope of the ceiling and the size of the room itself. A massive holographic galaxy map floated in the center of the room, flanked by over a dozen emitters. Dozens of people worked tirelessly to transmit, receive, and decode all the data that poured in from the front lines. We had developed the quantum entanglement communicators to the point where we could link each ship in the Confederation to HIGHCOM with zero latency, allowing for an unparalleled view of our forces. From what I could currently see just from glancing at the map, there was a lot of Reaper activity around Citadel space right now.

"Whatever's happening can't be good." Lenlo remarked as we walked towards the other side of the chamber, looking up at the map with me. "They've pulled over a hundred ships back from the Traverse to Citadel space."

"Either we spooked them more than I thought, or they've decided to go all-in." I shook my head, knowing it was likely the latter.

The guard opened the door to the conference room, revealing Koris, Pistis, Iolin, and another face I hadn't seen in a while. A holographic QEC image of Hackett. It was quite the power team in front of me.

"Good to see you, Sean." Koris greeted as we walked to the large table. I grabbed one of the seats, feeling its head cushion as I soaked in the atmosphere. "I see you've brought Captain Firma with you."

"He's been with me through thick and thin." I defended, guessing what he was thinking as I quickly tapped my fingers. "Don't worry, he'll keep anything we talk about in this room confidential."

"OK then… since we're all here, let's take our seats." He replied, changing the subject rather quickly, almost as if he was distracted. "Admiral Hackett, you may begin."

"Very well." He grumbled over the fuzzy connection, flicking his datapad towards the center of the table and creating a hologram similar to the one we'd seen back in the war room. "In the last few hours, Reaper forces have pushed hard into Citadel space without warning, tearing apart many of their forward positions and abandoning minor systems behind them in the process. We believe that they're trying to destabilize the Council's forces in the wake of their failed attack on your world."

"The timing does appear to match, though I do not understand why they would do this after losing so many of their own forces so quickly." Iolin chimed in, holding his hands together as he focused in on. "Is this meant to be a retaliatory action of some kind?"

"Perhaps they view the Confederation as a severe threat, and aim to eliminate our largest ally first to consolidate their forces." Pistis pointed out, quickly narrowing and widening his aperture. "If you are unable to directly attack Confederation worlds, destroy their allies to weaken them over long periods of time."

"Hm, doesn't it seem rather uncharacteristic for the Reapers to do this?" I pointed out, leaning against the table with both elbows and I held my hands together. "They've been perfectly content with staying back and harvesting the populations of whole planets before moving on to new systems. They must know about something we don't, and it's got them worried enough to overextend their forces right after a major defeat."

"If that's the case, then why did they dedicate so many of their own forces towards an attack on your planet? Reach is hardly as accessible as the rest of the Confederation worlds." Hackett questioned as everyone turned to focus on me.

"We believe they somehow discovered the existence of the XR-4, an experimental implant one of my team members has recently constructed and tested." I remarked, deciding now was as good a time as ever to spill the beans on the project. "Though it was originally developed to treat mental conditions, we discovered it could be modified to block out the Reaper signals used for indoctrination."

"I read the documentation, but I had no idea it had already been tested." Koris remarked, sounding equal parts confused and curious. "Who was this "volunteer" it mentioned, and how was it tested?"

"Better yet, how did the Reapers discover its existence?" Iolin also jumped in, sounding far more interested in one of my projects than usual.

"Under doctor-patient confidentiality, I can't reveal the identity of a volunteer who explicitly didn't want to be named, but I can assure you it's been tested and it works." I reassured, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms as I did my best not to show any hints of lying in my body language. "The big problem is that we've learned through our tests that even an individual with minor exposure to Reaper signals, especially one of their conduits, can have their mind accessed over great distances."

"That's troubling, considering how many of our men are fighting on the front lines around them." Hackett shook his head, not liking that idea at all. "Still, that doesn't explain their push into Council space. If we can find out what they're looking for and stop them, we might just prolong their advance long enough to finish the Crucible."

"If the Council loses control of their Citadel, the Crucible won't matter much in the long run." Iolin jeered in his usual, snippy fashion as he held his head up higher.

"Sir, if I may?" Lenlo requested in a lowered, getting a surprised look from me as I gestured towards the men in front of me. "Uh, forgive me for throwing in my opinion, but from the looks of that map, they aren't trying to break the Council's forces. With their access to the relay network, they could easily accomplish such a task in a week or two, maybe less if they dedicated all their forces. They're… meandering, for lack of a better word."

"Creator-Firma has made an important observation." Pistis supported, narrowing his aperture on him before looking back to the rest of us. "The current invasion pattern does not match any previously utilized. Given the current state of their forces, Council lines would already be broken if extermination was the intended result."

"Hm… this requires more investigation." Hackett nodded, sounding like he had more to say. "I'll send two N7 teams to shadow the Reapers, perhaps they'll discover something we haven't been able to gleam yet. In the meantime, I'm going to speak to Commander Shepard about this implant of yours. Considering his heavy exposure to Reaper forces the last few months, this might be a good option for him to consider."

"Well, considering my medical team rebuilt him, he's welcomed to come for a visit." I joked, remembering the day he woke up after being dead for so long. "Now that we know it works, we're happy to share everything with you. I'll get a copy of the schematics tomorrow, and instructions on how your people in the field can get it implanted."

"Sounds good." Hackett nodded, adjusting the brim of his hat as I smiled.

From that point on, we delved into more specifics for an hour before ending the meeting on a bit of a sour note. No matter what happened in Council space, they weren't ready for whatever was about to happen to them, and nothing we could say or do would change that fact.

We needed to get a clue, and soon.

…

CASTLE Base, November 10th, 9:04 AM, 2186

…

Walking back into a slightly more crowded CASTLE Base, I noticed the dozens of medical tents that had been lined outside of the facility on the tarmac to help keep up with all the cases from yesterday. Crews were still on high alert after everything that had happened, but that was nothing compared to the sheer energy that Richard's near-frantic message to me earlier this morning gave off. He practically demanded to see me in his lab below. I rolled my shoulders as I walked into the elevator, having switched over to a pair of pants and a t-shirt for the occasion. I figured the usual jumpsuit was a bit stuffy for a ground visit.

Walking out of the elevator to the near-empty sublevel, it didn't take long to make it to Richard's lab. Inside, I found him, Watterson, and Powell talking to one another, immediately stopping as I walked into the room.

"Not to sound rude, but this better be good gentlemen." I immediately stated, adjusting my belt. "There's still a lot of damage in orbit that needs to be dealt with, and our other problems aren't making anything easier."

"You're one to talk, practically volunteering me to perform that implant surgery on Shepard after what you went through." He immediately shot back, sounding just as annoyed as me.

"The operation was quite sound, Richard." Powell chimed in, getting Richard to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Either way, I think we can both agree we have problems." He finished, obviously tired.

"Whatever. What did you call me down here for on such short notice?" I said, changing the subject as quickly as possible.

Richard wrinkled his brow, looking over to Watterson instead.

"Something strange happened when the Reapers breached the orbit of Reach. A faint energy signal was detected coming from the region where the Reapers touched down, and now it's sending out sequential pulses." Watterson explained, handing me a printout he had been waiting to show me. "Whatever it is, it isn't of Reaper origin, and it's just powerful enough to be detected outside of the atmosphere."

"Well what else could it be then, and why is it only now doing this?" I asked, unsure how I felt about this at a time when the Reapers were beginning to push violently into Council space.

"If we knew the answers to those questions, we wouldn't have come to you about it." Richard shook his head, crossing his arms. "We want you to come along with us to check out the site in person. You know more about this kind of stuff than either of us, and we might need help if we find whatever's causing this."

I stood there for a moment, thinking the proposal over in my head. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't detected during our initial surveys of the planet, and it only started pulsing once the Reapers arrived. That couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Fine. I'm in." I agreed, zipping up my jacket and smiling.

I was always a sucker for a classic mystery.

…

Uncharted Territory, November 10th, 10:21 AM, 2186

...

Following Richard, Powell, and Watterson as they scanned for this "faint signal", I kept my hands in my pockets, the air growing cold as another front moved in from the north. I was loaded down with some basic hiking supplies, knowing we could be out here for a while. We were climbing up one of the few rocky portions of the region, which led to a small summit of sorts. It reminded me a lot of Appalachia, with trees all over growing out between the rocks when possible.

"How much farther to the source of the signal?" I asked from the rear of our little expedition, climbing over several more rocks as I silently thanked my father for all that hiking experience he left me with as a child.

"According to this, we should be right on top of it." Watterson remarked, looking frustrated as he turned around with the scanner, tapping the side of it to see if there was anything wrong with it. "Maybe it's some kind of interference."

"It would seem that the readings are quite widespread, possibly a thousand meters or more." Powell suggested, looking around and "squinting" with his aperture. "Perhaps we should disperse and look for signs of activity on the surface."

"I doubt we'll find much in a place like this." Richard said in an uncomfortable tone, pulling his wool cap down tighter over his head. "Nevermind. What he said."

"Right." I nodded, walking further down the hill as everyone moved in different directions.

This place was, admittedly, a bit of an anomaly. In a flat region with little to no tectonic activity, we had a bunch of boulders and rocks, all situated under heavy tree cover. There was a small water spring around here, but that wasn't a significant signifier of anything. Whatever was emitting this signal must have been very old, that much was certain. I lifted up my own handheld sensor, seeing we were technically right on top of this signal's location. I looked up again, shaking my head.

"Either this is a really small needle or a really big hay bale." I muttered to myself, walking down into a small ravine. The rocks here were built like a shelf, mostly being flimsy shale that's been eroded by moss and other lichens over many decades.

I sat down on one of the bigger rocks, staring into the shale as I thought about what we might be missing here. As I looked at it harder, I began to notice a faint pattern in it, made up of perfectly straight lines. I knew straight lines in nature weren't a sign of something natural. I stood up and began pulling at the pieces of shale, discovering they came out of the wall far more easily than they would normally. As I kept pulling it apart, I began to notice an old wall behind it that was made out of metal. I couldn't help but smirk.

"Guys, I think I may have found something." I announced over my omni-tool as I took a few steps forward, feeling the ground shift and give way beneath my feet. "Oh shit!"

I grabbed a small cluster of roots to stop myself for a few moments, looking down only to see darkness beneath me. There was no way to tell how deep it was.

"Sean? Sean?! Hey, are you alright?" Richard called out on the other end of the comm channel as the roots finally gave way, sending me falling down into the darkness.

I hit the ground a second or two later, landing on a hard, metal floor. I yelled out in pain, feeling what must have been two or three of my ribs cracking in the impact.

"Son of a bitch… not again." I groaned, forcing myself back to my feet. "I'm here. I fell down a hole into some kind of underground structure… guys? Are you still reading me?"

I pulled off my hiking pack and my coat to look at my arm, checking to see if I had somehow managed to smash my omni-tool in the fall. I couldn't immediately find anything wrong with it, but failed to turn it back on as I waved my arm in front of myself multiple times to no avail.

"Goddamn it." I exclaimed, slinging my coat over my shoulder as I pulled up my shirt to make sure I hadn't suffered a compound fracture. Seeing I had gotten off lucky, I instead gave myself some painkillers, not ready to give myself an injection. "Well, at least I'm only mostly mostly screwed…"

I pulled out a small flashlight that I always kept on my belt, aiming it into the darkness. It appeared I had landed on a platform of some kind, missing some nearby railings in my fall. Tree roots had grown deeply into the structure, covering all the walls. They were likely the only thing keeping all this dirt and stone from collapsing in on my head.

"Guys?! Is anyone up there?!" I yelled up at the hole in the ceiling, hearing and seeing nothing but some more loose dirt falling from the edges of the hole. "So much for that."

With little else I could do, I pulled a small electric lantern out of my hiking pack and lit it, knowing it would last longer than the two flares. It lit up a much wider area, allowing me to see where I was going. Knowing I still had a job to do, I threw my pack back on and stuffed my coat inside, realizing it was noticeably warmer in here than it was on the surface. Hopefully, my friends would be able to eventually triangulate where I had transmitted from and get help down here.

I began walking deeper inside the structure, noticing that the walls didn't appear to be Prothean in nature. I was aware that this could possibly be a major archaeological find, but if we came across another archive or possibly even a beacon… who knows what could have been waiting down here. This place was certainly better preserved than the archive had been, and eventually I reached the point where I had gone down farther than the roots of the massive Pollock trees above. I continued walking down farther, unable to shake the feeling that I was being watched somehow.

Turning a corner into a larger chamber, I finally spotted something interesting. It was an ancient console of some kind, covered in dust and completely dark at first glance. I walked up to it, blowing a thick layer of the dust off only to realize the console was still active.

"Well well well, looks like we may have found our little energy signature." I smirked, putting my lantern down as I blew more of the dust off, revealing the full console. I stared at it for a few moments, trying and failing to decipher the symbols.

If I were in the archive chamber beneath CASTLE Base, I'd have a full Prothean translation suite at my disposal, but without it or the chart on my omni-tool, this was essentially Egyptian hieroglyphics to me. I was certainly no linguist, and no amount of willing would turn me into Daniel Jackson. I narrowed my eyes in minor frustration, waving my arm several more times in an attempt to turn the thing on again.

"Durable and versatile brand, huh?" I mocked, remembering when I bought this thing on the Citadel years ago. As I held my hand over the console, I was surprised as a small electric arc jumped from it to my omni-tool, getting me to jump and back up.

Suddenly, my omni-tool turned back on, flashing erratically and playing seemingly random noises. I stared at it in confusion, trying to figure out what had just happened as my library of music began playing, snapping quickly between tracks. The focus seemed to narrow on my lyrical tracks in particular as various voices could be heard playing together, including Jim Morrison, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson, Jay Kay, and Pat Benatar.

"What the hell?" I whispered to myself, watching my omni-tool flash as the voices began to almost "melt together" into an odd blend of one another.

"Twelve-point-seven to the eighth power. Six-seven-six-seven-five-two-three-four-two point four-one-zero-one-nine." The console suddenly began spouting in a monotone, beginning to worry me… but also enticing me all the same. "All come in pairs, pairs move in twos. Repeating. Repeat."

I couldn't find any meaning in what the machine was saying until I remembered the report I had written regarding the battle. Twelve Destroyer-class Reapers had attacked our battle group, and each one could spit out eight transport pods loaded with husks. I wasn't sure what the ".7" or the last part meant, or even if I was right at all.

"Can you understand me?" I asked out loud as the console lit up and lights around the room turned on bathing me in a strange, warm glow.

"Micheals. Human. Admiral. Military. Doctor." It replied back, a distorted hologram appearing above the console as several emitters warmed up.

"Yes, my name is Sean Michaels. I am a human, a scientist, and an Admiral in the United Confederation." I repeated back to it, trying to gauge its responses. "We… me and several of my colleagues detected your energy signal when the Reapers-"

"Reapers. Threat. Deadly. Extinction." It immediately interrupted as all the light suddenly went out again, only to slowly come back on a few seconds later.

"Um… are you still there?" I questioned, taking a few steps back towards the console.

"Yes. It is good to meet you, Admiral Sean Michaels of the United Confederation Naval Fleet." The voice now spoke in perfect English, the hologram reappearing and taking on a bipedal form I had never seen before. "I am Nethinim, Overseer of the Crucible."

The hologram's image appeared to resemble some sort of tentacle-faced being, reminding me of those old depictions of Cthulhu. Unlike those grim depictions, however, this being had no wings, and was cloaked in what looked like a robe of some kind. He, she, or whatever it was had a… refined look to them, surprising me as I noticed all the little details.

"Um… nice to meet you, Nethinim. You can just call me Sean." I greeted in a humble tone, putting my hand against my chest and nodding my head slightly. "How can you understand me, and vice versa?"

"I scanned the contents of your wrist device, reverse-engineering your language based off the Prothean translator you had stored there." It answered matter-of-factly, glowing brighter.

"What are you? Some kind of ancient Prothean A.I. program?" I questioned, trying to keep my imagination from running away with me.

"No. I am of the Inusannon, the precursors to the Protheans." It replied, getting my eyes to light up like a fascinated child. "I am an artificial matrix, a construct created for the sole purpose of overseeing the construction of the Crucible."

"The Crucible? The one that we're currently building?" I continued to ask, amazed that I was talking to an A.I. that could very well be over 100,000 years old.

"Yes. According to the files I found on your wrist device, you have managed to locate the designs the Protheans tried to hide during their cycle." He nodded, holding his "hands" together across his lower half. "Unlike our people before them, they succeeded in constructing the Crucible, but made fatal errors in its deployment."

"What did they do wrong? How did they fail?" I asked, wanting to know as much as possible so we could avoid making the same mistakes.

"During the initial invasion, the Reapers enslaved and mutated a cybernetic race known as the Zha'til, turning them into monstrosities that stripped entire worlds clean." It explained further, creating several small holographic images depicting the battle the Protheans had waged against them. "Initially, the Protheans had been building the Crucible in secret before the invasion, having recognized its value as a Inusannon design. When the war began, military commanders in the Prothean leadership appropriated the Crucible, using it to stop the Zha'til threat. They rationalized that eliminating them was more important than risking their remaining forces retaking the Citadel."

"They used it to cause a supernova in the Zha'til home system." I guessed, getting Nethinim to slowly bow its head in confirmation. "They destroyed their only chance of eradicating the Reapers."

"After the Crucible was destroyed, the same military commanders turned against the project leaders, having been indoctrinated spies the entire time." It continued, creating a holographic image of a much different-looking Reach. "They scorched the planet, killing all those left on the surface. Only a scant few who remained in underground locations survived. They hibernated for decades, convincing the Reapers that they had wiped out all traces of the project."

"But they didn't… the researchers on Ilos did the same thing, going into cryogenic hibernation until the Reapers had left the galaxy." I remarked, getting it to tilt its head slightly as I tried to refocus myself. "So what happened to those that survived?"

"The surviving Protheans decided storing the Crucible design in one place was too risky, and spread it across the galaxy in three parts. Only with the races united against the Reapers could the design be completed, and if one piece was found, the whole project would not be destroyed." He went on, getting me to nod my head as the pain in my chest started coming back. "I was put on standby mode for the next 57,182 years, only reactivating once my passive sensor net detected Reaper ships in orbit."

"Passive… so that's what the energy signature was." I pieced together, rubbing my chin as I looked around at the walls, another thought crossing into my mind. "How big is this place?"

"My construct extends three point five of your "miles" below the planet's surface." It answered, surprising me with how willing it was to part with all this information. "Though many have been damaged by tectonic activity and erosion, I still possess sophisticated defense systems and the capacity to discover and disseminate new data."

"Incredible…" I exclaimed, feeling the weight of this new discovery on my shoulders as I heard rocks falling against the hard metal floor a few halls above.

"It appears your companions have located you." He pointed out, getting me to flip back around to face him. "I shall disable the suppression field keeping your wrist device inactive, but I must warn you. You may speak to me on any subject you wish, but any attempts to dismantle, disable, or damage my construct will be met with instant retaliation."

"That's good to know." I nodded, hearing the footsteps getting closer. "Hold on for a minute."

I ran back the way I came, acutely aware of the pain in my side once more as I finally ran into my friends again.

"Damn, you gave us quite the scare." Richard exclaimed as he spotted me, looking relieved as he pulled the wool cap off his sweat-soaked head. "What the heck happened, and… what is this place?"

"You have no idea what we've lucked into." I smirked, putting my hands on my hips.

...

A/N: Well, things continue to move fast as we progress further and further into the Reaper War. I've been trying to subtly hint at this reveal for awhile now, but I may have been too vague with some of that. I apologize. Either way, we'll have to wait and see what happens next with our new friend, Nethinim, and see what the Reapers are doing in Council space.