…
"Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict."
(Louise Banks)
…
UCV Saint Luke, November 20th, 7:19 AM, 2186
…
Finishing my morning shower, I continued to listen to music as I dried off. Right now, I was listening to Michael Kamen's score to Band of Brothers, specifically "Suite One". Staring at myself in the steam-covered mirror for a moment, I started to give my hair the usual trim in the mirror. It was hard to do by myself, but I managed to keep my lines clean. I noticed more grey hairs had replaced my chocolate brown ones, slowly creeping up the sides of my head. The edges of my goatee had also begun to turn, leaving me with an ever-growing resemblance to my father.
Taking a deep sigh, I hung my towel back up and put on some fresh underwear and a tank top, followed immediately by a freshly-cleaned jumpsuit. I decided not to zip it up past my waistline for now, enjoying the cool air against my skin as I sat back to read the overnight reports.
The Flotilla had experienced no issues during transit, and in two hours we'd be arriving at the coordinates I ordered them to. Dixon had been... reluctant to take us to such an isolated location near the edge of the galactic core, and considering its proximity to the Nemean Abyss. Seeing nothing of consequence in the reports, I turned my attention to one forwarded to us by Hackett's Fifth Fleet. It was a classified intelligence update on the current situation in Alliance space, and it was just as dark and depressing as I expected it to be. The resistance on Earth was still holding together, but months after the initial invasion, the cracks were clearly there.
Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the music once more, hearing it ramp up in intensity. It was joyful, adventurous, and melancholy all at once, with a hopeful spirit. It always made me tear up slightly, even before I had received this strange "gift" from the Rachni Queen. By the time Dan and I had our accident back in Area 51, the vast majority of World War Two veterans had passed away, with barely more than 100,000 still alive out of the 16 million who fought and died in the conflict. I knew the media in my time tended to romanticise and borderline fetishize the conflict in many ways, but there was no denying that spirit. The Greatest Generation, soldiers with a single goal, all working together to fight those that wished to take away our freedom. I could only wonder how much we could accomplish today with those kinds of people.
There was also, of course, my personal connection to the conflict. It was my Dad's favorite subject, and not a week would go by without him watching, reading, or playing something related to WWII. Growing up, I'd fall asleep in our living room as he'd watch Danger UXB or some documentary, but watching Band of Brothers with him as it originally aired was a special experience. Sure, I was only six at the time and really shouldn't have been watching, but it glued itself into my psyche for the rest of my life. It was odd thinking about it, even now. The first two episodes of the series aired two days before 9/11 happened, and that day shaped my generation in ways I still can't describe.
Years removed from any real human nationality, I could still say I was proud to have grown up in a country like the United States of America. Even with all its flaws and missteps, I still wouldn't have wanted to live anywhere else. It was the perfect place to grow up.
It was hard to let go of it, the thought of Earth. The place, no, the planet where I grew up, being ripped apart by the Reapers. All that history, culture, and knowledge… reduced to a pile of rubble. These machines had no respect for anything we considered valuable, nothing is sacred.
We needed to end this war before everything was gone.
…
UCV Saint Luke, November 20th, 9:02 AM, 2186
…
"Six minutes out, sir." The helmsman announced from his station as I stood at the center console, examining our holographic galaxy map donned once more in full armor.
"Good." I replied, turning back to Dixon. "Tell the ORIONs to prep for ground deployment, starboard hangar."
"Yes'sir." He replied simply, still sounding rather downtrodden after yesterday.
"Wait… talk to me, XO. What's on your mind?" I urged before he could make the announcement, wanting to clear the air before we did anything else.
"Well… it's just strange, sir. Coming all the way out here on a hunch when we're supposed to be out there searching for the Director and his cronies." He explained in a lowered tone, not wanting the entire CIC to hear us. "Even if we do find these Rachni, what good are a bunch of bugs going to do for the war effort?"
"They're more than bugs, Dixon. If you had been the one down there yesterday talking to that Queen, you'd be looking at them in a much different light." I defended, seeing another tired expression cross his face. "Maybe I'll be able to prove that to you soon."
"If you really do pull off some kind of deal with the Rachni, I owe you a whole year's worth of drinks." He joked, finally regaining some of his enthusiasm.
"I'll settle for a few barrels of Jameson, or one bottle of Bushmills if you can afford it." I smirked, getting him to do the same as he shook his head, picking up the phone.
"Attention ORION team, please prep for immediate ground deployment and proceed to the starboard hangar." He spoke with the usual announcement tone, looking back to the external monitors as we exited FTL, dropping right in view of a planet. "Well, you've been right so far. I better start saving up my credits."
I smiled, giving him two good pats on the shoulder as we began scanning the planet for signs of life. Based on the surface scans, there was next to nothing, but it was well known that the Rachni could easily thrive off toxic worlds inhospitable to oxygen breathers such as myself.
"It seems to be primarily oxygen, with trace amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. A regular vacation spot if it wasn't so arid." Dixon joked, his eyebrows shooting up as the radar station suddenly began blaring.
"Uh, sir? I'm reading contacts, unknown classification!" One of my crewmen announced as the signatures popped up on the projector.
I looked at the distant image, seeing an odd shape that was both incredibly alien and… familiar. As I gazed at it, I felt something "click" in my brain, immediately getting me into action.
"Morgan, I want you to broadcast on all frequencies. Keep it open until I'm sure someone down there heard us." I ordered, picking up the phone as I heard the click. "This is Admiral Sean Michaels of the United Confederation Naval Fleet. We come in peace, please do not approach our vessels. I carry the final song of one of your Queens, and wish to sing it to you."
Watching the screen, I saw the ships were still coming, and my people were beginning to look nervous.
"If you will hear her song, please halt your approach and allow us to sing to your Queen in person." I urged, hoping they would finally get the message. "I am one of Commander Shepard's allies. Please."
Thankfully, the ships finally stopped accelerating, instead moving to and holding defensive positions around the planet.
"The Queen has agreed to see you, to hear the song you carry." A female voice replied on the other end, genuinely surprising me. "Please follow the escort to a suitable landing site. We shall meet you on the ground."
The line went dead as I stood there for a moment, pondering our next move as a single Rachni ship idled between us and the ship. I turned to Dixon, getting another smile out of him.
"She sounds pretty normal for a bug." He joked as I shook my head, walking out of the CIC towards the hangar.
I had no way of knowing if the Queen was actually capable of emulating our form of speech without an intermediary, meaning these were either highly evolved compared to the one I communicated with, or there was someone else down there with them.
By the time I walked into the starboard hangar, the ORIONs had finished their prep and were just waiting on my orders, helmets under their arms as per usual before missions.
"Hello again, ORIONs. I won't bore you with the details of what just happened, so I'll keep this brief. We've made contact with the Rachni, and are going to follow a nearby escort down to their planet to meet with their Queen." I explained, getting looks of confusion and shock out of them. "I know what you're thinking, but don't. I expect this to go perfectly well, and I simply want you there just in case."
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Reegar asked, getting me to stand straighter.
"Granted." I nodded, ready for what I knew was coming.
"Not to sound… defeatist, sir, but we're going into this situation with no plan, backup, or any kind of contingency in place." He went on, getting me to nod along with what he was saying. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I think the risk is well worth the potential reward." I defended, getting Reegar to stand straighter as he put his helmet back on.
"Then we'll follow your lead, sir." He agreed as the rest of them put their helmets on as well, getting me to smile as I donned my breathing mask.
"All aboard!" I urged, walking up the ramp of Challenger 3 and to the cockpit where the Geth pilot was waiting for my instructions. "Proceed 45 degrees out starboard and follow the ship closest to us to the surface."
"Yes Admiral." He quickly and borderline violently nodded, retracting the ramp as the last member of the team secured themselves in their seats.
We lifted off as one of several large hangar doors slid down in front of us, an environmental field filling the gap as we slid through into space once more. I continued to stand in the cockpit, watching as we closed in on the unknown planet. The ship we followed was an odd design, almost Geth-like in the way it curved and overlapped in some places, even having what looked like rocky elements in its design similar to the Collector ship we destroyed. I had a vague understanding of the Rachni as the galaxy knew them, their tactics, capabilities, and plenty of documentaries I've watched in my free time, but having "communicated" with one of their Queens, I wondered how much of that was true.
Eventually, we hit the atmosphere as we continued to follow the Rachni ship, hitting us with a surprisingly large amount of turbulence.
"This is quite the soup we're flying into." I joked, holding the top of the bulkhead with both hands to keep myself steady.
"Atmospheric pressures are above average, but nominal. Current surface temperature fluctuating between 36.6 and 42.9 celsius." The pilot added as we broke the cloud cover, revealing a surprising sight.
There was a… city of sorts stretched out in front of us, looking like wasp nests that had been turned upside down, jutting out of the rocky landscape. Instead of paper, it was all acid-carved rock, having a ridged, segmented look similar to the ship we were following. Below us, I spotted even more of these hives, with thousands of Rachni moving between them all. In one section, it appeared they were building more ships similar in style to the one we were following, though much bigger. The one I was able to see looked nearly as big as a Turian cruiser.
"Wow…" Was all I could say, watching all of this as our escort came in for a landing. "There's our landing zone. Take us in gently."
"Yes Admiral." The pilot confirmed as I turned back to Reegar and his ORIONs.
"No point in starting a fight out there, gentlemen. There's thousands of them." I tempered, managing to spot the uneasy body language of several of them as I turned back to Reegar specifically. "You, Son, and Jora will come with me. The rest of you will stay here with the shuttle."
"Why not all of us, sir?" Yaelo asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
"If we bring too many people, we might spook their Queen." I reasoned, not wanting to take any unnecessary risks. "Besides, if we start a fight out there, we'll be dead before we can put up any major resistance. Just relax for now, marine."
She grumbled, sitting back down with Gata and Jina as the ramp lowered, letting in a gust of hot, dry air. My suit quickly adjusted for temperature as I walked out, coming face-to-face with a purple-skinned Asari wearing a tight environmental suit. Her head was uncovered unlike mine, seemingly acclimatized to the heat of this world.
"Welcome to Sythia, Admiral Sean Michaels. I am Jallere, emissary to the Rachni Queen." She greeted, clearly the same voice we had heard on the radio. "She has expressed interest in the song you claim to carry, though your fleet has given her… cause for concern. She is worried you come here with ulterior motives."
"That was not our intention, emissary." I reasoned, knowing there was probably a better way I could have handled our arrival in hindsight. "My people, the Confederation, were infiltrating a Cerberus lab when we discovered one of your "lesser" Queens. She… they had done terrible things to her. She gave me her final song, and begged me to end her suffering."
Jallere closed her eyes, a sad look crossing her face as she looked down in silent retrospect for a moment.
"That is… very sad to hear. The Queen had sent three of her lesser offspring to other systems to watch the movements of other races, though her connection with one was... severed." She further elaborated, taking a few steps towards me. "If I may, Admiral?"
"Uh, what are you doing?" I reeled back slightly, unsure how to feel about all of this.
"A brief meld will allow me to confirm your story." She explained, putting one of her hands under my mask. "May I remove this, Admiral?"
"Sure, I guess..." I reluctantly agreed, feeling the heat rush over my face as it was lifted off my head.
"Please relax, Admiral. This will only last a moment." She urged as she closed her eyes tightly, opening them a moment later to reveal they had gone black.
As soon as I noticed the color of her eyes, I saw my memories of the previous day flash in front of me at a speed I couldn't process. Melding with an Asari was certainly different than it had been with the Lesser Queen I encountered. With her, it was like listening to music being performed. With this Jallere woman, it was more like we were briefly sharing minds. As she viewed my most recent memories, I saw some of hers too.
She was a former mercenary who decided to change careers, surveying uncharted worlds. She was struck by debris entering the system and crash landed here, only to be found half-dead by the Rachni. She panicked initially, but after the Queen spoke to her, they both came to understand each other. She now willingly served the Queen as her emissary.
The world came back into focus as she ended the meld, her eyes having returned to normal. I felt slightly light-headed, though whether it was the meld itself or the heat I wasn't sure.
"Wow, so that's what that's like." I muttered, rubbing my forehead as I shook off the subtle sense of vertigo I felt. "Not to sound crass, but I think I prefer the music."
"That was unusual. Normally non-Asari are unable to see into the thoughts of those they meld with." She remarked, sounding incredibly confused. "How… are you really Human?"
"That could be the implant in my brain, sorry." I explained, tapping the side of my head where Richard had cut my skull open. "We developed it to counteract and reverse Reaper indoctrination. So far, it works like a charm."
"Interesting, though ultimately irrelevant. Through studying the mistakes of her ancestors, the Queen has developed her own natural resistance to the sour note." She refocused, standing straight once again. "You are indeed telling the truth, Admiral. She will see you… alone."
"Alone? I'm sorry lady, but I'm not letting our commanding officer go down there alone." Reegar defended, taking a step forward and pointing at her. "It's our job to protect him."
"Perhaps you can make a concession for the Lieutenant here?" I suggested, wanting to keep this moving smoothly as I pointed my thumb back at him.
"Hm… only if he leaves his weapons on your ship." She agreed, giving me a stern look. "That is all I will grant you."
I turned back to Reegar, giving him a raised eyebrow as he sighed and shook his head.
"Fine. We'll die if something goes wrong anyways." He shrugged with clear reluctance in his voice, handing his Pulse Rifle, Carnifex, and grenades over to Son. "Stow these next to my seat, Private."
"Yes'sir." Son nodded as he and Jora walked back up the ramp, leaving just me, Reegar, and Jallere on the smooth stone landing pad.
"Please follow me, Admiral." She urged, walking towards a long staircase that led deep into the rocky terrain, carefully carved with acid from the looks of it. After several minutes of quietly walking deeper, the walls became illuminated with this odd bluish fluorescence, several smaller "worker" Rachni of some sort moving back and forth along it to keep it maintained.
"This is… I've never seen anything like this before." I remarked, feeling an odd sense of peace as we continued further down.
"The Queen specifically built this to allow myself and other bipedal organisms easier access to her nesting chamber." She explained as we walked, running her finger along the glow, creating a gentle ripple across its entire length.
"Your Queen expected people such as myself to arrive?" I questioned, picking up on its subtle connotation.
"She saw it as an eventuality. Given the galaxy's perception of the Rachni and the current Reaper invasion, she believed it would be best to prepare, just in case." She went on as we neared the bottom of the long stairwell, opening up into a large cavern.
The underground space was massive, supported by sturdy stone columns that stretched up farther than I could see, given the darkness. It was also incredibly humid, with an odd, earthy smell to the air. Around us, below the stone pathway we were currently walking on, were hundreds of thousands of Rachni eggs, also being attended to by the same "workers" I had spotted in the stairwell.
"Unbelievable… one Queen managed to do all of this?" Reegar remarked, sounding just as awestruck as me.
"These are the offspring of her own "lesser" Queens, as you call them. I suppose that would make her somewhat of a "senior." Jallere clarified as more light could be seen in the distance. "Her nesting chamber is further ahead. Please, let's not keep her waiting."
"Sir, I'd like to remind you I still don't like this." Reegar spoke in my earpiece over our comm channel, getting me to shake my head as I kept my eyes focused forward. "We may still be able to leave on our own terms."
I turned back to him as we walked, gesturing a sharp "cut" across my throat as he nodded. I wasn't in the mood to debate this with him, though I could understand his hesitation. The Krogans were uplifted specifically to fight the Rachni, there was little he could do if the worst was to happen… even with his cybernetic enhancements and specialized armor.
More of that bioluminescent light flooded in, finally revealing the "senior" Queen. I was completely awestruck by what I was seeing, unable to even formulate words. She was massive, easily bigger than one of our Dragoon mechs. Staring up at her huge, bulbous eyes, I could feel the restraint she was keeping herself under to not enter my mind right then and there. Jallere walked towards her, sitting down cross-legged in front of the Queen on a small pedestal as she leaned her head back with her eyes closed.
Her head flipped forward, her eyes wide open again as she stared into open space.
"This one serves as our voice." She spoke in a strained tone similar to that dead scientist back in the Cerberus facility, jittering slightly as if she were a marionette. "You claim to bring the final song, the tone of one of our own."
"She believed it was important that I bring it to you. She was in an incredible amount of pain, and was filled much regret over failing her mission." I explained, focusing up one the Queen herself. "I know about Noveria, the second chance Commander Shepard gave you. I'm willing to work with you, do whatever is needed to secure an alliance between us."
"Our emissary sings of truths, a nocturne tone you now carry. Will you allow us to listen?" She asked as I took a deep breath, nodding in affirmation.
"Yes." I agreed, feeling the resistance from before lift as the Queen's mind bore into mine, filling me with many of the same images as before, though… different. Instead of my own, I was seeing the dead Queen's. All the awful things they had done, the poking, prodding, and torture… it was far more visceral than it had been previously. One stuck in my mind for a moment, the visage of the Director talking to one of his men.
"We're running out of time here, doctor. I want to know if you have something I can use here or not." He spoke in a weird echo as the Queen eavesdropped on them, the suppression field either being damaged or disabled at this point.
"Nothing that'll make taking out Reapers any easier. There are some rudimentary readings that point to possible, but mild control of individual minds, but nothing on the scale needed to pacify a population as numerous as the Citadel's. Even then, it would require the construction of a device many times bigger than what we're currently capable of realizing." The scientist, the same one I had shot, explained in great detail, filling me with a genuine sense of shock. "For all intents and purposes, this is a dead end sir."
"Regrettable, but not entirely unexpected. We'll be abandoning this site in a few days, doctor. I want you to begin packing up your materials and moving them to the ship. When you're done, you are to purge the subject." The Director went out, sounding more distracted than anything else as he handed Aaron the key I had used before. "We'll be initiating the operation not long after we regroup with the rest of our forces in the Eagle Nebula, so be prepared to move fast. We'll need all hands on deck for this one."
"Yes'sir!" He saluted, the Queen's vision going blurry as I felt my head snap back, followed by the sensation of falling.
My eyes shot open as I felt my breathing go shallow, forcing me to my knees. Everything felt like it was spinning, as a trickle of blood could be felt coming out of my nose, dripping onto the stone floor. The Queen shrieked in anguish at hearing the final song of one of her own, shaking the cavern as many of her offspring did the same.
"Sir! Sir! Are you alright?!" Reegar asked in a slightly panicked tone, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me as he turned back to Jallere. "I swear, if you've hurt the Admiral I'll-"
"Stand down, Lieutenant!" I yelled, pushing him back slightly and coughing as I forced air over my dry throat. "Geez, that's… that's…"
I focused, wiping the blood from my nose as the world began to slow down. My brain finished processing my thoughts. I remembered the conversation.
"I have seen it too." Jallere spoke in an alarmed tone, having been released by the Queen. "Those men intend to do something with the Citadel. It is hazy, their tone cold and motionless, but the intention is clear."
"The Queen, she wanted to warn us. All of us." I realized, feeling that familiar sense of weight on my shoulders again. "My god…"
"You must inform your leadership, Admiral. They need to be warned that there is a plot in motion." Jallere urged, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Please, allow me to come with you."
"What? Why?" I questioned, confused by her sudden request.
"If I accompany you, I can relay messages from the Queen anywhere in the galaxy, and negotiate with the other organics." She explained, another stern look clear in her eyes. "Whatever plot is in motion here threatens to jeopardize the war against the Reapers, and if the cycle is allowed to continue, none will survive. Not even the Queen and her offspring."
I thought about it for a moment, forcing my breathing to slow as I looked back to her with a newfound sense of determination.
"Fine, as long as your Queen is alright with this decision." I agreed, looking back up at her as she closed her mandibles, lowering her head.
"It is what I have been prepared to do." She nodded, closing her eyes again as her body went slightly limp. "As a... gesture of good faith, we will give you command of one of our ships. Our emissary will sing to them as we have sung to you. Be warned, if she or their song is silenced, the victim of subterfuge, you will no longer be welcomed here."
She genuinely surprised me with this gesture, grabbing my hands.
"Please inform Commander Shepard that we thank him for giving us this second chance. We wish to repay this impossible debt in any way possible." She finished as she righted herself, standing straight again as she let go of my hands. "We are done here. Shall we return to your ship?"
I nodded silently, wasting no time running back through the breeding chambers and up the stairway.
Though it was still vague what exactly the Director's plans were, I suspected it had something to do with Sovereign's computer core. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
…
UCV Saint Luke, November 20th, 11:19 AM, 2186
…
Pacing back and forth in the CIC's War Room, I waited impatiently for our emergency diplomatic codes to go through to the Citadel Council. They had been slow to adopt the QEC technology we shared with them, meaning we were lucky to get ahold of them even during the best of times. Even so, I knew this was still taking too long.
"Dammit… to hell with proper protocol right now, this is too important." I remarked in a frustrated tone, cancelling the call to the Council and immediately calling up Koris, Mal, Hackett, and Commander Shepard with an emergency tone attached to the transmission.
"Are you sure about this, sir?" Dixon questioned, not sure about the information I had received or our new guest. "We could end up in a lot of heat if this turns out to be inaccurate information."
"It is accurate. Why does he feel the need to question everything I say?" Jallere remarked, having become as frustrated as me the past fifteen minutes.
"It's part of his job." I answered as they all began queuing up, eventually finishing with Shepard connecting. They all flashed into view in the holotank, some looking none too pleased.
"Good to see you, Sean." Shepard greeted with a nod, getting the same from me as Koris cleared his throat.
"Michaels, this had better be good." Koris remarked, sounding rather annoyed compared to his usual, neutral self. "You've broken more than a few communication protocols to get us all here on such short notice."
"It's incredibly serious and could involve our plans for the Crucible." I immediately replied, getting various glances from all of them. "Do I have your attention now?"
"By all means, doctor." Hackett urged, glancing over at Shepard as he folded his arms.
"I have information that points to a possible Cerberus military build-up in the Eagle Nebula, with the objective of possibly capturing or destroying the Citadel." I went on, getting the most serious look from Shepard. "I've been trying to contact them on the emergency diplomatic channels, but so far I've gotten nothing but static. Do we know if there's something going on in the Serpent Nebula right now?"
Hackett turned to someone off-screen as Mal and Koris both tried to enter their own codes. After almost a minute, none seemed to have any more luck than me.
"Commander, you're a Council SPECTRE. Don't you have your own codes, too?" I asked, watching him type something into his omni-tool, only to get nothing just as they did.
"This is serious. Either all our codes were suddenly invalidated, or the Citadel's communications have been taken offline." Hackett remarked in a grave tone, shaking his head. "None of my people have been able to hail their civilian or C-SEC channels either."
"Then we may already be too late." Mal grimly stated, his tone having grown dark. "If this attack of yours is actually the Reapers, and it's already underway-"
"It's never too late." Shepard shot down, waving his hand defiantly. "Me and my team can be there in less than an hour. We can find out what the situation is and warn you before going in."
"That's incredibly risky, Shepard. If Cerberus or the Reapers have control of the station, they can easily turn its defenses against the Normandy." Hackett warned, not sounding entirely convinced.
"If this news hasn't spread yet, then we still have time to hit them before they take full control." He reiterated, not willing to back down. "Besides, with our stealth drive they won't even know we're there."
"Fine… you'll be our advanced warning. I'll pull together what ships I can for an assault, but it won't be much." Hackett nodded, knowing he wouldn't change Shepard's mind. "Can we count on the Confederation for support?"
"Currently, most of our forces are still engaged on the edges of the Traverse." Mal remarked, sounding more exacerbated than anything else now. "It would take us at least four hours to jump our reserves around the galactic core, avoiding Reaper forces."
"My forces can be there in a little over an hour." I immediately jumped in, getting surprised eyes from Koris and Mal.
"A little over an hour? I thought you were still in the Terminus Systems, Admiral." Koris pointed out, obviously confused.
"We made a detour through the Nemean Abyss to… negotiate with some new friends." I half-explained, not wanting to fully reveal the nature of our meeting today with everything else going on right now. "Short story short, we're in a position to help."
"Any help is appreciated, Admiral. We'll begin moving out as soon as possible, though it could still be hours before we can fully deploy in force." Hackett began wrapping up, holding his chin in thought. "Good luck out there, Shepard. You too, Michaels."
"Thank you." I finished as the QEC shut off, leaving us with new objectives to follow. "I assume you heard all that, Dixon?"
"I'll begin our preparations, Admiral." He nodded, walking back into the CIC as I lingered at the edge of the holotank, staring into space. Jallere remained next to me, an unsure look on her face.
"Are you sure your Queen is really up for this?" I asked, looking back at her.
"If we are to defeat the Reapers, we must all work together. She knew this day would eventually come." She said in a higher tone, getting me to smile.
The next few hours could very well determine the veracity of her words. Maybe with the Rachni on our side, lusting to avenge a fallen Queen, we'd surprise them.
…
A/N: Surprise! I broke out of another writer's block to finally get the ball rolling on something I've been planning on for a long time. Things'll start going pretty fast from this point on, so as they say… expect the unexpectable. I just hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and will stick around for what comes next.