Mass Effect: A Very Terran (Re)solution

by NihilMomentum

What would happen if someone with vast knowledge about the Mass Effect Universe, both official (wiki/Codex) and theoretical (fanfics), decent fighting ability and a plan was dropped into that Universe 13 years before Eden Prime? As it turns out, quite a lot! FemShep. Soft HFY. And a very different kind of self-insert.

13. Chapter 10: Relays Through Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or anything else referenced here. Those are the sole property of their writers/companies (Bioware/EA and such). I do not claim ownership of anything but my OC and original concepts.

List of track(s) used:

[1] – Highly Recommended Track: Kick Ass Banana Splits (part of the YT link: /watch?v=zkhe6cCUMe4).

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Chapter 10: Relays Through Time

---

Citadel, Zakera Ward, Shin Akiba. Early 2174 CE.

Tela Vasir, an asari Spectre recently on the rise and secret agent of the Shadow Broker, was enjoying her "shore leave" in a new human shop recently opened on the Citadel. They served a wide array of human foods, from Ramen – supposedly a delicacy from earth – to one that's been taking much of Council space by storm, ice cream. Apparently, VersaLife has also been developing a dextro version.

Humans, it seems, were becoming more "accepted" by the galactic community ever since some pre-interstellar human media started spreading like krogan without the genophage. How they did that was beyond Vasir's knowledge. Not that she would care anyway. The food they served was quite nice.

These peaceful moments were perfect opportunities for introspection. It was what she had been doing ever since she got here. Somehow, her gut told her that things were changing in the galaxy. Almost too much. For one, she felt that the Shadow Broker had become more active lately in regards to a few matters, even if he/she/it/they hadn't stopped being a neutral force in the galaxy.

Not that she really cared though. It was not a bad thing for her – on the contrary. She had been able to get a lot of jobs done and accomplish many deeds for the "greater good", one of which just so happened to be broadcasting right about now…

…

A few days ago, a mass arrest of over 200 suspected slavers in the city of Aegohr, on the planet Nasurn of the Salarian Union, was credited to Spectre Tela Vasir.

"There are cases that can't be talked about and ones that can.", said Supervisory Special Agent Yalson Sao. "We are pleased to say Ms. Vasir – may all her eggs hatch – was instrumental in breaking one of the ringleaders of this operation.".

The term "breaking" may not be entirely figurative, as the Batarian slaver in question is still recovering in an Aegohr hospital with injuries to three eyes and several small joint fractures. Vasir herself declined any lengthy comments about the operation, merely attributing her success to "good intel".

…

Still, there's a price to pay for all of that "good intel". Sometimes, it's just a little help here and there. Other times, she has to offer sensitive information of her own. But it's all worth it, given how scary accurate the Shadow Broker's information is. One such case was when she revealed that one of her fellow "colleagues" was sent into the Terminus to investigate rumors of new weapons – and her "associate partner" told her to stay far away, because it wouldn't succeed, likely ending badly for the Spectre. Then it happened as predicted. The pureblood bitch the Council sent never returned back!

And those weapons were later publicly revealed, and properly patented (to the Council's irritation), as the Thanix weaponry. The Council's response was to try to "get back" at the corporation responsible for basically forcing them into some undesirable concessions, like unrestricted hiring, effectively and legally bypassing their decrees against the quarians. It was no wonder, for those "in the know", that they wanted some payback.

This was nothing new, as she herself had done some questionable things during Spectre missions, but not as blatantly as their number one agent, Saren, who also tortured and coldly executed many innocent or semi-innocent people on his missions. In her view, the Spectres had actually been created to plunge their hands into the filth so that the Council could keep theirs clean.

Only, this time, their hands got burned. And that "mission" was almost dropped on her ass, but she had learned her lesson, so Tela also told the Shadow Broker about it, asking for an opinion/evaluation. The response? It was a pitfall. The result? The same happened to two other colleagues of hers that were sent to "punish" that corporation.

The Council's plan was to use those rapidly escalating conflicts going on throughout the Terminus, which many had already started calling "The Terminus Wars", as a cover for the infiltration of a Spectre. The goal was to either steal or destroy a lot of Thanix shipments, thereby forcing Ad Astra to capitulate while pulling some varren-shit "sanctions" for their "apparent ineptitude" at supplying the weapons or keeping them from criminals, while also inciting conflict between it and some other merc outfit.

But that plan went to shit, as the Spectre sent, a young salarian who worked together with a STG team, was tricked into attacking an enemy of the corporate hired security, Hell's Angels. In Tela's view, salarian over-reliance on tech makes it so that anyone with superior tech can make them run around in circles. So, a few very big explosions later, all they got out of the whole mess was a thrashed pirate base, one wiped out STG team, a very angry warlord and a dead Spectre.

But that failure didn't hamper their desires. No, they wanted blood now! So, they sent yet another Spectre, this time a cold-blooded turian, with the goal of causing many "accidents" with the workers of Ad Astra, most of them quarians, to cause a fracture to form between it and the Migrant Fleet. Clearly, the mere idea that the suit rats could be rapidly rising back up due to all the credits being funneled to their fleet was an affront to the Council.

The result of this operation, however, was equally disastrous. Tela didn't know the details, but rumors were that all that returned from the turian to Council space was a box with his head, his melted equipment and a datapad warning her bosses to be very careful of "rogue turian agents that might be planning to massacre innocent civilians", with attached proof of what the idiot (thought he) was doing sneakily.

Then, and only then, did the Council stop. It only happened due to the realization that they were dealing with an opponent that was very well equipped, well informed and completely ruthless when dealing with them – specifically, she added internally. Eventually, all of those failures were just "swept under the rug", as the humans liked to say. After all, her bosses were supposed to be agents of justice to the galaxy and all of that varren-shit, meaning they couldn't "retaliate" openly, especially when there were no justifications. And that was the end of that – at least for now.

After this, Tela Vasir kept herself even closer to the Shadow Broker, using his information to safely navigate the cloak and dagger world, even if it meant revealing her colleagues' movements every now and then. Sometimes, she wondered if she would ever go against a fellow Spectre in order to protect this source of information. Putting those dark thoughts in a neat little box inside of her head, the Spectre and part-time Broker agent began thinking about the next "mission" given by her associate. A long term one.

It was to analyze that corporation, especially the PMC hired by it, Hell's Angels, find any of their weaknesses and report on how to exploit them. But that was it: only finding those. A rather easy one that she would do in exchange for a massive amount of intel.

As she finished her ice cream with a tight squeeze of her eyes, Tela also wondered if that corporation and their damned mercs were finally done screwing with the Council.

---

Somewhere on the Terminus Systems. At the same time.

Mass Relays are said to be indestructible.

One of the facts used to prove this is their capability to survive a supernova's wake without any damaging effects, like the Mu Relay. This leads many to the idea that their material, the same kind of metal used in the Citadel, is the reason for it. Such is not the case. What gives their incredible protection is a quantum shield that renders them nearly impervious to damage by locking their structure in place at the subatomic level. And the myth persisted because no known attempts had been made to actually damage or destroy a Relay, since they're the only "known" means of long distance space travel – and, thus, being too vital to risk for curiosity's sake.

Well, that was so until a human scientist named Amanda Kenson threw a big rock at one of them in order to destroy it. Humans… we really love throwing rocks. From literal rocks to spears, arrows, bullets, missiles and, finally, neutrons at enriched uranium. And Kenson threw a really, really big ass rock at the Relay. This actually got the job done, resulting in a supernova-like explosion. But this was not what we were planning on doing today. No, our objective was much more subtle than just creating a supernova. It originated in response to a request from Hephaestus and my suggestion that there's these massive deposits of refined eezo just lying around, the Mass Relays.

Therefore, we hatched a plan to "decommission" a few of the dormant ones, which would result in, all at the same time, getting their eezo, learning how they worked and creating an "unreachable" region in the Terminus for anyone besides the Reapers and us, due to static charge build-up. For that, we brought a big fleet of… cargo freighters. They carried a lot of specialized heavy machinery, built by Hephaestus while he was out there playing Factorio with enemy mobs toggled off, to work as the "operating hands", and also something else.

"This is it. Let's begin, my children!", Gaia declared to the fleet.

This was such a daring move that we only brought the DSs for it. Each one of them could easily control a ship, just like EDI did the Normandy SR-2. They drove the freighters close to the Relay and opened their bays, letting some drones, their thrusters fueled up, drag the machines to encase the megastructure. All of those would be carefully controlled by Gaia, who temporarily shifted her focus here with a QB to make sure nothing went wrong. After a few minutes, the complex machinery coated the Relay, clustering around the joints of the rings to lock them in place and, therefore, prevent the massive structure from activating. Decommissioning could now begin in earnest.

With everything set, sharp blades of gravity slowly came to life to avoid creating ripples in spacetime. They could only be generated by these giant specialized machines for now, but I had already made a request to miniaturize them. Also, they were powered by direct current and extreme effort had gone into ensuring their power supplies were steady, constant and, therefore, stealthy – all to prevent an accidental activation. When the first cuts were made and there was no reaction, we knew for certain that the Mass Relay had been thoroughly disabled. Soon after, it was quickly carved apart by glowing blue blades which completely disrupted its shielding.

"Defending with quantum mass effect fields is great and all, but only until we bring a more concentrated field against yours.", I muttered quietly. "You have to cover yourself entirely, while our blades only need to cut what really matters until you stop functioning, no?". I was here in the event of an emergency boarding need, but the truth was that I really didn't want to miss this.

With many entryways open, it was time for the next stage. The drones began injecting lots of micro-machines onto the sleeping Relay through the cracks. These had been multiplied beforehand, were larger than our nanites and far, far tougher. With paranoia in mind, the nanobots were designed not to be hacked by any Reaper electronic warfare packages the Mass Relay might have had access to. It could only float powerlessly in space, obediently waiting as it was slowly analyzed and carved apart by a tide of well behaved gray goo.

"By the Goddess, this is an apocalyptic quantity of eezo!", Liara exclaimed at my side while fiddling with a datapad that showed the eezo readings. "The Council would skin us alive if they knew what we are doing here. How do you think they'll react when they find out?".

"Well… I don't really care what they have to say and neither should you, Liara.", I smiled at the thought of the Council losing their shit. "Besides, it's probably going to take quite some time for the sporadic turian patrols to notice. No wonder the First Contact War happened. If they'd built listening posts in the known dormant Relays, which don't really have to be as big as the one in the rachni System, things would've ended very differently…".

There were many of these dormant Mass Relays out there, especially after The Rachni Big Spook. So, we decided to finally put them to good use! It's not like we'd ever use them to escape/hide, because we had our Wormhole Gates (W-Gates), and all that eezo saved us from having to mine or buy it ourselves – possibly catching the attention of the intelligence agencies out there.

"Yes, that was a shame. Still, I'd like to see their stupefied faces when they try to figure out what happened here…", Liara said, pausing a bit while looking at what was around us with a small smirk. "Especially by using the light-delay trick. Now that should be fun to see!".

We concurred with her, nodding with bright smiles. The outside was also bright – blindingly so. A few specialized devices made it look like a Star had spontaneously appeared around this whole area. We then went back to watching with some kind of primal satisfaction as the massive 15 kilometer long structure was slowly eaten away by nanobots, which slowly and categorically studied it for us until only the eezo "core" was left standing.

"Gaia, do you think this amount of eezo will let us synthesize our own supplies of the stuff? With those particle accelerators Hephaestus' been playing with, I mean…", I crossed my arms while turning to the holographic woman at my other side.

"With just this one Relay? We can only start some real tests. But if we include the other ones on the list? Definitely!", she gave me a thumbs up.

"Nice! Still, even if this is the Terminus, we should be quick about it. There's still a chance we can get caught if we take too long.", I never let my guard down.

We'd even considered moving the Relays first with a few Wormholes, but the risk of some hidden Reaper system inside of them monitoring us was too big a gamble. If the nanites were revealed, that could, at most, get the Reapers' interest; while revealing that alternate type of FTL would certainly spook them into action, because we'd be escaping the Cycles' design very thoroughly.

"But the Council isn't the only polity we should give something to think about…", I muttered while the work continued. "Maybe I really should accept that show host's offer…".

---

Citadel, Kithoi Ward, inside of a studio. Mid 2174 CE.

"Hello everyone. You already know me. I'm your host, Mila're P'líthos, and today we have a special guest here, Mr. Sam Skywalker. Let's give him a warm welcome.", the talk show's host, a famous asari in Council space, introduced me as her audience clapped and I entered the set. "He's better known as the representative of a corporation with a few companies that have been taking the market by the crests. However, on this occasion, our interview will be centered around its less shocking company, one widely known as Retro Media.".

"I'm also happy to be here, Mrs. Mila're.", I replied with a respendat smile as I finally sat in the guest's chair. This entire setup was quite similar to talk shows back on Earth.

"Now that you're here, come on, tell us a little about yourself.", she didn't waste any time.

"Ah, this story is public knowledge today. I grew up in the Terminus as an orphan and didn't have many credits to my name, so I just made do with old retro media, from my species.", I recounted part of my forged background, which even had witnesses nowadays. "Then, I had the luck of meeting incredible people, with the capital to make some of my ideas real. They saw my vision, shared it eventually and we managed to accomplish a lot together. Now we're here!".

"Indeed and what results! Yours is one of the few multi-species corporations around, a feat we should all strive to learn from. Most belong to just one race, like the Serrice Council.", Mila're praised, pausing a bit. "Still, why don't you tell us more about your work with the company Old but Gold, more popularly known as Retro Media?".

"That company was actually the first one we really started. Few people know about that fact. We used some funds to buy the rights to re-publish a lot of old media on the cheap. It was a test to see how the market would take it. The result was a big success, so we kept going.", I mentioned. "The interesting thing is that it was just a small project of mine whose goal was to help the integration of humans into the galactic community. And the method I'd chosen was to release some of our best artistic works from a bygone era…".

"And that it did!", she exclaimed. "Despite being a newcomer, the galaxy is becoming more accepting of humanity in general, a situation you helped create.".

"If you say so… I'm just trying to spread some of the best parts about us as a species.", I casually stated. "One good thing you should know about humans is that we can pack-bond with almost anything – even objects. It's how we turned one of our predators, the wolves, into our best friends, the dogs. Now, I'm sure those don't need further explanation after all of VersaLife's work…".

"Yeah, but I still can't believe how those cute fluffy varren could have been your predators once…", she said incredulously. "Or that humans thought about domesticating them in the first place. Only the krogan would dare try something like that!".

"Oh, you don't know the half of it!", I leaned forward a bit, imitating Palpy. "Have you ever heard the tale of Stabby, the Space Roomba?".

"No, I haven't, but it sounds… amusing.", Mila're smiled at that.

"It is not a story the Alliance would tell you… Just joking.", I quipped. "It basically goes like this: a human ship had these little cleaning robots called roombas, with not even VI level intelligence. They would only travel on the floor, go straight in one direction and, when they hit something, they'd turn towards another direction. So, a human engineer by the name of Kevin looked at that, thought himself a comedian and then duct taped a knife in one of the units, calling it Stabby…".

"Why would he do such a thing?", she questioned, completely bewildered. "Wouldn't it just keep stabbing them in the legs?".

"That's the point!", I barely restrained a silly smile. "In fact, the story's high point is when an alien friend of the crew comes inside the ship, sees Stabby and asks a series of questions about the utility of that. The humans then explain to their confused friend that there's no practical reason at all for doing it. Basically, it was done just because it was funny and they developed affection for the little robot, even giving it full access to their ship.".

"That… humans would do something silly like that?", she asked incredulously.

"You think we wouldn't? There has got to be at least one Stabby somewhere out there. I'm sure there will certainly be one after today's interview!", I quipped while also creating a self fulfilling prophecy. "And the story gets better in the sequel, when the crew gets taken down by pirates. After Kevin's meddling, Stabby managed to overwrite his code, then launched a rescue operation against the pirates, because he: likes the crew, good robots help those they like and he's a good robot. His army of roombas then stab the enemies long enough for them to defeat the pirates and escape. Afterwards, the crew promotes him to co-captain.".

As I finished my tale, the host had a little dumbfounded expression. Just a silly story from the HFY community had this effect, so it made me question if it was wise to mention the pancakes trope. Maybe not.

"This is just a silly story to show shenanigans humans can be up to. It was our first contact, I believe, that soured much of this fun spirit.", I decided to put an end to the topic. "So, my work is geared towards undoing some of that. And, of course, sharing good entertainment all around too!".

"I see. There's something I've been wondering about…", she recovered and prepared to ask a question, but I figured she was looking for some controversy. Fortunately, this was exactly what I wanted. "Contrary to your other work, this project of yours doesn't seem to have any ties with the Alliance at all. Could you tell us why that is?".

"That's because the Alliance, as it currently stands, does not make a good partner for this kind of work. In my view, there's something… I wouldn't say exactly wrong, but far from ideal in the current main human polity.", was my controversial response.

"Could you clarify that for our viewers?", she questioned, eager to see a bit of drama.

"Of course. Look, I know that everyone only hears about the Systems Alliance, which was, sure, created to be the face of humanity to the galaxy, but the truth is that Earth is still divided among nation-states. And those are very unlike the asari principalities, Mila're.", I began by pointing out something not many knew. "They'd hoard resources, turn barter into a form of conflict, attack one another over differing philosophies and almost never sought mutual understanding. Once, the two biggest nations almost followed the example of the krogan, ending humanity with nuclear bombs, but that stopped after one of them ended up broke. Tell me, from your perspective as an asari, how would you see those humans demonizing each other over ideology, while really just wearing different costumes?".

"I-, I think they would all look like crazy people to me, not one bit different from each other. The galaxy is too big for just a few illusory ideas. It can accomodate everyone, it's what I believe…", she answered. "But how does that relate to the Systems Alliance?".

"Oh, it does by telling us that the formation of the Alliance was mired in problems, with no true unification of our species. As such, its foundation is weak.", I revealed a weak point of this Universe's humanity, one they'd either try to patch up after this interview or leave wide open for antagonist forces to exploit. "The hint is in the name. An 'alliance' is just the union of sovereign powers for a common goal, usually mutual defense. One consequence of that shaky foundation was felt on Shanxi, during the First Contact War. And it's still felt to this day. Just look up the Reykjavik Compromise, of the planet Watson, and you'd see it…".

"But how come?", she wrinkled her eyebrows in evident confusion. "Isn't it because of that incident that humans were seen as a competent species, militarily speaking at least, since you actually managed to fight off the turians?".

"This isn't the real issue. When humanity finally met alien life for the first time and, from all indications given, it wanted us dead, it took months for the so-called 'leaders' of humanity back then to finish their squabbling, blame-shifting and fence-sitting, get their collective head out of the sand and send a proper fleet to Shanxi.", I spoke brazenly. Other corporate representatives would flinch at the idea of making these kinds of comments, but I was the owner of the whole thing and those who could claim their share of it wouldn't care either way. "If we had a governing body like the ones imagined in our old sci-fi vids, just as an example, the response fleet would have been sent the same day. Or the next one…".

This was a truly appalling delay for what effectively looked like a genocidal alien invasion. If it was humanity from back in my former Universe, then there'd be nukes flying around all over the place. And it'd definitely not quickly subject itself to a polity whose member was that very same invading alien species, in the hope of maybe, perhaps, someday, getting to leave the "kids table" and sit with the "adults" (only to get into a constant 3x1 vote situation, in which any proposal can only pass if the other three members allow it, not much different from how it worked before…).

After a short pause, I continued…

"And they haven't improved much since then. Just look at Mindoir, a little human farming colony in the Attican Traverse that was hit by batarian slavers back in 2170. If it wasn't for someone informing the Alliance about the raid beforehand, plus the presence of powerful individuals there, such as Justicar Samara and the Commander of Hell's Angels, that raid would've ended in utter tragedy.", I declared firmly. "And this can become a reality in many other colonies, because the colonists aren't allowed to have a proper garrison or defense force. Some would even resort to smuggling for protection!".

"Unfortunately, this is all true.", Mila're said, then added her own experience. "Many of my audience, including my fellow asari, have criticized some of the Alliance's colonization efforts, especially the whole prefab aspect of it, which is… not very nice to look at.".

"Ah, this reminds me of an Alliance PR that I once saw. Let me see….", I began searching my Omni-tool for an official ad I almost didn't believe really existed. "Ah, here it is!". I pulled up the picture and showed it to her and the audience.

The ground was filled with rocks, dirt and trash, and the only buildings were some prefabs that looked like repurposed containers. In the upper part, "COLONY LIFE" was written in bold letters and, in the lower part, "IT'S NOT THAT BAD" was also seen.

"That was the original ad from the Alliance. I'm not joking. This is real.", I declared, almost not holding a laugh. "But this is the better version.", I switched the image.

It was basically the same, except the middle part had some crossed out words: "From the slums of Earth to the barely functional, soulless mass-produced prefabs stuck on barren rocks in the middle of bumfuck nowhere pirate/slaver territory that we threw together before we had the funds or ships to properly defend them!".

My augmented senses actually managed to catch a small twitch of her face, maybe trying to hold a laugh due to the absurdity of this ad.

"With campaigns like that, I wonder how they've been so successful at all…", she finally squeezed a smile. "Seriously, if it's like that, how come there are so many humans joining colonization efforts?".

"Now that you mention it, this brings to mind another fact about humans: we're paranoid war apes!", I took a sip from a nearby cup of water, letting the statement sink in. "What do I mean? Well… much of our history was defined by conflict amongst ourselves, something which turned us into pretty good combatants. From that, we also learned two proverbs: 'hope for the best, but prepare for the worst' and 'if you want peace, prepare for war (si vis pacem, para bellum)'.".

"I can see the wisdom in them, if not a tad extreme.", Mila're evaluated with a nod. "Why did you mention them though?".

"Because I find it baffling that, upon learning that we had been observed by the Protheans 50.000 years ago, who then vanished mysteriously, the Alliance back then thought it was a pretty brilliant idea to activate the Charon Relay, a doorway leading anyone directly into our home System, that we didn't even understand the first thing of how it worked…", I took a moment to gather my thoughts and mercilessly lay it all down. "No, not only that, but they continued to open Relays one after another and send ill prepared and poorly defended colonization teams, as if they were thinking 'what could possibly go wrong?'. Well, it did go wrong. Out of all the species we could've made first contact with, it was the turians who got to Shanxi. And they welcomed us by killing our explorers with no communications being attempted at all, shortly followed by an invasion and a lot of unnecessary deaths!".

The host was a little surprised at my response. It wasn't usual for both the Alliance and the Hierarchy to be trashed in the same speech. Usually, people would take a side and ignore everything the other one had to say. So, just like most online discussions.

"The whole Relay 314 situation was indeed an unfortunate event. I'm glad we seem to be moving beyond it nowadays.", Mila're P'líthos commented. "However, some people defend turian intervention by saying that it was akin to stopping a child who was moving to grab a loaded, dangerous gun. What would you say about that?".

"That it's a poorly made and incredibly insulting analogy to begin with…", I said curtly, not mincing words. "Even if we ignore the fact that it is equating an entire species – who beat all of the Great Filters of the Fermi Paradox up until the interstellar age, I might add – to an ignorant child, there's the very big and real problem of a stellar nation forcing its own laws on people who didn't even know they existed in the first place! And outside of their territory to boot. If, say, someone activates a Mass Relay in the Terminus Systems, for example, you don't have the legal grounds to go kill them, much less invade the nearest colony of the species that did it!".

"Eh… I never thought about it like that…", she was a little startled by the quick response, but I didn't let her recover.

"Moreover, even if you want to teach the 'ignorant child' about the 'dangerous gun', you do that by acting like an adult and communicating with him/her. By showing how or why such an act is or might be bad. So, in the case of the turians, they could've simply moved their ship between the human science team and the Relay they were trying to activate. I bet they'd be much more interested in literal aliens than a known object!", I prepared to finish my reply rather brusquely. "Basically, you don't teach a 'child' by blowing his/her head off with a mass accelerator. Can't learn shit if you're dead…".

The host, Mila're P'líthos, now looked like she was starting to regret bringing up this topic, so I gave a fake cough and started returning to her initial question…

"Let's leave that discussion aside and wrap up the topic about the Alliance.", I said with a dismissive small wave. "You've asked me why I didn't look for them and the short answer is that their profile doesn't match with what I'm doing regarding entertainment media. They don't have much of the spirit shown in the vids we've republished. Or maybe they've just forgotten it. It's why the gap between the rich and poor widens daily, the less 'fortunate' regions of Earth haven't progressed beyond 20th century technology, often being nothing more than smog-choked, overpopulated slums, and the environmental damage inflicted during the 21st century hasn't been recovered yet, just to name a few problems that still persists today, when they should've been mostly fixed by now.".

"Have ever considered running for politics?", she interjected curiously.

"Oh no! I'm already one of the Great Evils of the Universe: a businessman.", I responded jokingly. "If I decided to try a career in politics on top of that, wouldn't that make me like the ultimate evil?".

That got a reserved chuckle out of her. Still, rather than just list problems, I began using my experience and perspective to offer some suggestions on how to improve the situation. I'd hoped this would shake up the Alliance a bit, speeding up some things they'd have to do anyway in the future. And, of course, that Earth would become an even bigger inspiration to alien cultures than it was becoming during the ME3 period.

Then the interview continued much more peacefully after we returned to the entertainment aspects of the talk…

---

In a little paradise world of the Amada System. A week later.

Two individuals sat on the ground in a meditative stance, facing each other. One was blue, while the other one was small and definitely not blue. Around them was a landscape that had been overtaken by hardy flora, the result of being "poisoned" by refined Element Zero long ago, but debris from ancient starships could also be seen off in the distance.

This was a planet once fought over by two predecessors of the Protheans, the Thoi'han and the Inusannon, with the only result of their conflict being the destruction of hundreds of ships, followed by a wave of extinctions of its wildlife. It was a hot and equal parts beautiful and deadly place. But there was something else it was: a good place for one to train biotics, if only they could handle its energetic and aggressive ecology…

"Clear your mind of all irrelevant thoughts and concentrate. Feel your biotics flow through you…", the older one guided with a soothing voice. "Do not let them just haphazardly form in your mind, but learn to consciously control them, shape them into a clear form, then let your emotions fuel it…".

The younger one, however, didn't seem to be too interested in the lesson. She waited for a moment and furtively opened her left eye a bit, checking the one opposite her, then closed it quickly. A few seconds later, she slowly opened both, figuring her teacher hadn't noticed. Then, she began making funny faces, while getting closer and closer, until the blue one's eyes flashed open, the bright eezo-induced light in them going away.

"You're not taking this seriously!", she rebuked the definately not blue one.

"But this is boring…!", the 12 years old complained with an annoyed tone. "Uncle Cookies said we almost won't need to train to use these powers in the future.".

"How many times do I have to say it… don't call him that. And he also said practice will still improve your abilities and control.", the older one, Samara, corrected her. "So, young lady, concentrate and pull your biotic power. Guide it in the patterns I've taught you.".

Jon Grissom Academy, home to the Alliance's new biotic training program (Ascension Project), had already been commissioned over Elysium, almost three years before it was due. Moreover, because of the use of VIs in the L4 biotic implants (and newer), Kahlee Sanders had already been offered a position on its board of directors, an event only meant to happen in 2178 CE. Still, none of that beat having a veteran Justicar as a personal mentor.

"Ugh… ok!", the young girl, Jennifer, relented, then mumbled quietly. "I'll do it, mom…".

Samara shook her head in vexation. Jennifer didn't take meditation too seriously. They told her nothing about "Jack", not because they didn't trust or care for her, but because, in the Commander's words, she should grow up unfettered by that possible future. After reaching the age of adulthood for humans, they'd reveal everything to her.

For now, Samara would teach her everything she had learned over a Justicar's lifetime, at least while computers hadn't superseded that kind of teaching yet. So, they continued the practice for a few more minutes…

However, their meditation was interrupted by a sudden message. One sent by an old QB used when they were still thrifty with quantum entangled particles. The message was short and simple.

[We've located her.]

Samara checked it, double checked and finally just kept staring at it.

"Prepare your things. We're visiting your Uncle Samael in his new home.", she declared.

"Really? Yay!", Jennifer jumped up, immediately letting go of her training. Samara did not have the state of mind to reproach her, so she just let it go… this time.

Then, the two of them boarded a starship and left. It was a personal ship, capable of giving a Frigate a run for its credits. Despite the Code, she accepted it because it could protect her apprentice from the likes of Cerberus. Still, one too many times she had to cut down on ideas of playing as Space Robin Hood with pirates, though she wondered where the little brat had learned about that. A few Mass Relay jumps later, they reached the end of the line.

It was an utterly average System. The only thing of note was a Fuel Depot, one controlled by Hell's Angels and used as an excuse for the influx of many ships (for "smuggling"). After refueling her ship, free of charge due to her status, Samara engaged its FTL drive in the direction of a remote System of this cluster – one a few light-years away. This one had nothing of note. At least, that was the idea.

Looking for a few random, inconsequential bits of information on her Omni-tool, she pieced together a precise coordinate in the asteroid belt and set course for it, immediately deleting the ship's cache of the data. Arriving there, an empty place with nothing but a relatively big asteroid, she did something that would baffle anyone else: she sent a specific signal to it. Surprisingly, however, there was a response…

PASSWORD appeared on her ship's screen.

"La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo.", Samara spoke up the phrase in response to the message. She did not understand its meaning, but felt there was a powerful one behind it.

A few drones suddenly revealed themselves from inside of the asteroid, moving "behind" it from the point of view of the System's Star, thereby staying completely hidden from anyone there, and began directing themselves into a gate-like shape. After a lengthy process, one deliberately slow to hide the generation of any gravitational waves, an Einstein-Rosen Bridge finally began forming and connecting with its companion 20 light-years away.

"WOW! I never get tired of seeing what Uncle Mordin made.", Jennifer sneaked in the CIC who knows when and exclaimed. The passage/shortcut through spacetime curved it like a black hole, and was spherical just the same. Afterwards, their ship began flying inside the length of its throat. "This is so trippy!".

Samara smiled at the little one's reaction. After a while, they popped out of the other side, a System that was completely different from the place they came from.

"They're building a super-secret base, right? How big is it?", the little one asked.

"I've heard it's quite impressive…", the Justicar answered mysteriously.

They flew through the System using normal FTL and, after a while, at sublight speed, the point at which one could see some of the craziness going on around them. They passed an asteroid being mined by an army of mechs and massive machinery, with all of the material being sent to another area via a wormhole, and Samara also swore she saw a few dark spots in the Star. It didn't take long for them to start approaching the HQ.

"No way… It's inside an asteroid. That's so cool…!", Jennifer exclaimed while the HQ got closer to them. A few unmanned craft patrolled its perimeter, but ignored them.

The supporting structure had been completed, with many rooms inside in the hollowed out areas also finished, but the asteroid was still covering the HQ's true form and some robots were still mining away at it. Samara was almost scared at how fast the DSs could build… anything. It made her feel a bit worthless, like she would be replaced tomorrow, but the Commander probably had a plan to deal with that issue too.

She steered her ship towards one of the entrances, an open hangar waiting for them, and landed it there. After a careful series of processes, such as equalizing the atmospheric pressure, the duo walked through the corridors of the base and Samara left her apprentice with a guide, to show the place to her. Following the directions given by Heaphestus, she entered a restricted room and finally saw the feared Commander of Hell's Angels, The Devil of the Terminus, who was lying in an operating table while wearing casual wear.

"Ah, Samara. There you are!", he greeted her cheerfully and with a cheeky smile. "Could you wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some… operations.".

"Hello, Commander. It's good to see you're still not fazed by anything.", the Justicar replied with mild amusement. "And no. It's not a problem. I've waited centuries for this. I can wait a few moments more.".

Samara then began meditating while Jennifer had gone to the training room to "play". An hour or a day would not be any different from each other while in that state. After a certain amount of time passed, her senses caught an increase in movement. The procedure was over and the Commander was already up and about, feeling whatever new augmentations had been done.

"How is it compared to Shepard's heavy bone weave? That skeletal lattice one, I mean?", he suddenly asked Mordin.

"Difficult to say. Synthetic weave used not specified. Neither method of implementation. All things relevant to determine effectiveness.", Mordin said. "Still, likely better than Cerberus' method. Also, good enough compared to true solution, even as temporary one. Work on improving bone density showing promise!".

"Nice! Maybe it's time we start looking towards the other areas. I'm thinking we should try to encode digital data by using DNA.", the Commander proposed. "I mean, DNA molecules are just a few atoms big and we can easily encode them with nanites. Only by doing directly to atomic storage would it be better, but that's much harder to do. And we can even try to synthesize new DNA bases, to improve its efficiency as a data-storage method!".

"I see... Less expensive, more energy-efficient. Longer lasting too…", Mordin began one of his famous rambling sessions, which Samara just blocked mentally.

"Mordin, you first try creating a DNA storage device prototype and we'll talk about creating something better than a graybox later.", he declared, turned to face her and finally said the words she was waiting for. "I'm ready here. Let's go?".

She replied with a nod and they soon departed to the most recent hideout of her fugitive.

---

On an undisclosed planet out of bumfuck nowhere. Some time later.

A few days ago, I got to this place, did some scouting… then, one thing led to another and now I was pointing my rifle at a very dangerous individual: a member of a certain group who embodied the idea of "coming and going at the same time". She looked like a stripper parody of a cross between a Nazgûl and a nun, exactly like in my memory.

That, without a doubt, was Morinth, one of Samara's three daughters, all of them Ardat Yakshis. Even by using the Network, it took some years to pin down her location. All of our other priorities, and Samara's efforts towards more productive goals, had contributed to that.

"So, the bitch herself found a little helper.", Morinth almost spat the words.

Samara entered the building soon after she said that, immediately throwing a blast of biotic energy that threw the Ardat Yakshi into a wall, forcing her there.

"Mother…", Morinth sneered despite being suspended in mid-air by Samara.

"Do not call me that!", Samara responded harshly, pain and emotional anguish leaking in her tone.

"I can't choose to stop being your daughter… Mother.", Morinth replied mockingly while trying to struggle free from the biotic hold.

"You made your choice long ago…", Samara declared. "And now I will put an end to all the suffering you have caused!".

"What choice?", questioned Morinth after freeing herself with an omni-directional biotic blast. "My only crime was being born with the gifts you gave me.".

Samara threw her far away, then shouted: "Enough, Morinth!".

They both got up and started a biotic stalemate, with both stuck in place.

"I am the genetic destiny of the asari. They are not ready to reveal this, so I must die.", the Ardat Yakshi declared.

"You are a disease to be purged, nothing more!", the Justicar retorted.

The items in the general vicinity, and even some of the furniture, were floating all around them. While all of this was going on, I just watched on the sideline, my arms crossed. After Samara entered the room, there was no more need for my rifle.

That lasted until Morinth remembered my presence there…

"I'm almost as strong as she is and will do anything you ask. Let me join you!", she figured out the situation and proposed.

"You don't know a thing about the Commander. I'm already sworn to help him. Let us finish this.", Samara quickly countered.

This scene was almost the same as the final one during Samara's loyalty mission. Some things, it seems, were just meant to be. However, she clearly had the advantage this time around, a fact attributed to our breakthrough with artificial eezo nodules. Finally, I put down the metaphorical popcorn and began closing the distance to Morinth.

"The genetic destiny of the asari?", I asked her while approaching. After all, I couldn't really beat the shit out of Morinth without getting closer. Then, I took her arm and bent it back, blocking her biotic mnemonics. "More like their genetic dead-end – or bump on the road. Your genes will never be passed down because all of your mates die, stupid bitch!".

While Morinth was still trying to process what I'd just stated, Samara didn't let opportunity go and threw her to the ground biotically. She then moved closer to the knocked down Ardat Yakshi, preparing to finish her off.

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess.", she said compassionately.

"Wait! Just knock her out…", I suddenly interrupted her. Samara looked like she really didn't want to. "Trust me.". But she still did it, after which I also moved closer and injected a sedative made by Mordin to put an asari to sleep for a long time.

"Commander, I know my oath, but this must be done.", the Justicar began defending her desired course of action. "She cannot be allowed to live. The Code demands it. There's too much blood on her hands!".

"True. I agree with you.", I promptly replied. "She needs to pay for her crimes and we need to ensure that she can't kill anyone ever again. And I doubt prison, even one with the goal of rehabilitation, would work on her.".

"If that is so, then why did you stop me?", Samara asked, more curious than perplexed.

"You know, I've been thinking about these demons of the night winds lately…", I told her a conclusion I'd reached recently. "And it all just… made zero sense to me. They're congenitally sterile, so no passing on of genes, they reduce the species' numbers, which also gets them addicted to mating and, finally, leads to serial killer behavior. This kind of stuff that only harms the species gets yeeted out by evolution pretty fucking fast. However, they just keep on popping back up, again and again. In fact, it's even on a spectrum, of 1% of all asari!".

"You… you have found a way to cure them?", was what she took from my half-ramblings, in one of the rare moments when she showed an emotion – in this case, hope. "But the Matriarchs have been looking for one for millenia. None have ever been found…".

"Cure? No, there is no 'cure', because it's not a disease in the first place!", I declared something really unexpected. "Yes, Samara. While you two were shouting slogans at each other, I was amazed that every word of what you two said was wrong. They're not the destiny of jack shit, but neither are they a disease. I mean, it was right there, in the fact that only pureblood asari pairs cause it, and I almost missed it!".

At this moment, the main door of the place opened up to admit a squad of Hell's Angels veterans, a backup in case Morinth managed to slip away, who were carrying something that looked like an oversized coffin. It was a stasis pod not unlike Javik's former bed.

"So, we'll be putting Morinth in stasis for now.", I asserted while looking Samara firmly in the eyes. "She's the best opportunity to confirm something, since she went pretty far into the Sex Vampire thing…".

Samara just stared at their work for a while, up until the lifepod was fully activated, before finally nodding.

"But let me make one thing very clear: even if I had no 'eureka' moment, I wouldn't let you do this, because no mother should ever be forced to kill their child.", I spoke to her softly. "And don't forget that you still have things to live for, Falere and Rila, who have isolated themselves in a monastery. They could be free to walk the galaxy some day. And we might cut down one fearsome enemy, the Banshees, while doing a good deed.".

"My children…", Samara muttered, finally breaking down her facade.

The squadron, a four-man team consisting of a mix of species, carefully lifted the Ardat Yakshi and laid her down on the lifepod, activating the device soon after and freezing the dangerous individual for a long time, then took it to our main ship. The Justicar just stood there, lost and looking at what had been her daughter's home, now trashed.

"It's over…", I said, thinking of asking something that might lift the mood. "By the way, how's Jennifer doing?". Sure enough, this brought a small smile to her face.

"She's a feisty one.", Samara confessed without batting an eye. "The Cerberus goons that came after us would certainly agree with that…".

Although TIM didn't come after us with a vengeance because of the Teltin Rescue, he did send some hit squads and mercenaries after Jennifer to "recover the asset", an endeavor that always failed miserably, mostly because of Samara. As always, Cerberus continued to protect their very low standards of competence. It's still in the air if they'll stop these futile attempts before they run out of stupid manpower/cannon fodder or we make them stop.

"Ah, I think I've heard something about that…", I jogged up my memories a bit. "...but, apparently, you didn't need our help, so I didn't get the details.".

"How about a deal then?", she proposed with a hint of mischief. "I'll tell you the details and you'll reveal your conjectures…".

"You drive a hard bargain, eh? It's a deal!", I replied instantly.

"Let me see… It all started when we were…", Samara began storytelling.

---

Headquarters. Later.

"I'm telling you, I totally kicked their butts!", Jennifer asserted with bravado, puffed up chest and all.

"And I'm saying that I doubt it…", Loki, who had finally chosen to "grow up", though it was only physically, doubted her. "You're still too young for a meatbag!".

"That's not true! Let me show you what I did and then you'll believe me!", Jennifer stated.

…

On a random colony of the Traverse. One month prior (flashback).

Jennifer was casually walking on the streets while her mentor dealt with Justicar business (aka, ruining some unlucky bastard's day). There weren't many people walking there, at least when compared to colonies protected by her uncles. Eventually, the little girl noticed she was being tailed by some suspicious guys, all of them human. So, she sent a signal to Samara and casually led them to an abandoned alley, to "play"…

"Little girl, you look lost…", one of the goons spewed the usual villain lines (that could be found in any respectable villain guidebook), as his friends slowly encircled her. "The galaxy is a dangerous place for us humans. Why don't you come with us?".

"Ok, you Cerberus bitches… now that mom isn't here, let's see what you can do!", Jennifer declared, stunning the grunts with the reveal of their identities and the coarse language used by the little girl, then pointed at each one of them saying: "Eeny, meeny, miny…".

One of the goons finally reacted and prepared to shoot a high-tech taser at her…

[1]

"Moe!", she cheerfully declared to him, as the barbs, attached by wires to some batteries, hit her biotic shield and bounced off right into the guy's partner, who started convulsing in utter SHOCK.

Another tried to swing a baton at her, but she dodge it with a cartwheel to the side. After that, it was utter MAYHEM! They all tried to scramble to catch the little girl, but only one got close enough to actually try.

In response, Jennifer pushed a blast of gravity at a nearby wall, bouncing backwards and sliding between his legs, then KICKED him with all the love shown during Pragia. The guy felt the pain immediately and began holding his jewels, while his legs buckled.

Two more came at her, this time with some syringe looking thing, so she used her biotics to pull them together and made them kiss each other, VIOLENTLY! That was not enough, as they began recovering, so she did it again.

Flipping herself back up, another goon finally couldn't hold back any longer and started to flare up his biotics, grabbing all the aggro of the little monster. Protected by the biotics, she couldn't just toss him aside like the others. Thus, she had to get creative…

"So you wanna play?", she challenged him, drawing the guy over a thin mattress, probably used by the poor folk of this place.

Then, all of a sudden, she pulled on the thing with all her biotic power, making him stumble and hit his head on the ground, hard. Following that, she did another cartwheel, this time forward, and broke his arms with her biotics, preventing him from doing any mnemonics.

The jewels guy began to recover, which got the little devil's attention. He noticed it, starting to shake his head rapidly, begging not to have his family jewels broken again. That got her to pause for a moment. But it was a brief one, making the guy shake his head even more desperately, while she replied with a sweet innocent smile, then KICKED him again in the balls! It was an instant K.O.

A sneaky bugger tried to shock her with an Omni-tools program, which made some shield emitters hidden in her clothes pop up for a second, only for the guy to be countered by an unexpected backwards flip, getting KNOCKED into the ground.

Done with playing around now, the little monster began throwing biotics blasts all over the place, as well as throwing the whole place itself at the goons, just for the heck of it. Trash? Thrown at them! Their weapons? Grabbed and thrown at them! Their partners? Thrown too! Everything and everyone became a weapon.

When she got tired of that too, Jennifer showed her talents and training by creating a big ass Singularity right in the middle of those still conscious, which began pulling them in the air. Naturally, she also began a round of free-style snooker, with unlimited tries.

Cerberus never developed thrusters or jetpacks, but their grunts still learned how it felt to fly on that day. They hit the walls, the prefabs or ground, eachother, some with a THUMP, others with a dangerous crunchy sound. But there was plenty of flying for all of them! One by one, they became incapable of lifting a single finger, with the ground being covered by groaning bodies. So, still better than many other Cerberus endeavors!

[1]

When Samara had finally reached the alley and Jennifer was done, the whole place was…

…

Thrashed! Everything in the training room was destroyed, half-broken or in a mess. Then, the door opened for Samara and I, who just looked at the result of a war with stupefied expressions.

"It was him. He did it.", Jennifer said with no shame whatsoever, pointing towards where Loki had been standing a few seconds ago. But he was… gone! Disappeared the moment we got inside.

After a stern scolding, some ear pulling and having Jennifer clean the place up with biotics only, it was the Justicar who really got our attention.

"I'm going to meet my daughters… after all this time.", she declared.

"Hey, let me come!", the little one begged, much more reserved now, but still pulling the cutest face she could wield against the hardened asari. "Please, pretty please?".

Samara hesitated for a moment, but only a brief one.

"Alright, young lady. But behave!", Samara agreed sternly. "And no speaking about any of this… It's our little secret, ok?", to which Jennifer nodded as if her life depended on it.

Not much later, they left, plotting a course for the planet Lessus, of the Mesana System. It was quite an unremarkable place, inhabited only by a small asari colony. On it, there was a quiet monastery. That was their destination, where they parked their ship. Coming inside the place, the duo was stopped by a serious-looking asari.

"It's good to see that you're still going strong, sister.", greeted Matriarch Gallae, the leader of the monastery. She was an asari with a few connections to Asari High Command and the Council itself. "And I see you've brought an extra visitor. Will there be an issue?".

"There won't be a problem. Please, sister, I would like to meet my daughters…", Samara asked.

"Very well. I'll call them.", the Matriarch agreed without further inquiry. "You can wait here or come inside if you want.".

They stayed in the greeting hall. After a few minutes, Samara's daughters, Rila and Falere, showed up. Accompanying them were two other asari, Tolae and Yanis.

"Mother. It's been so long, I'd thought you'd forgotten us…", Falere asserted rashly. "But, if you're back, then that means sister…".

"Falere, it is as it seems.", Samara answered with an emotionless voice. "Morinth will not take any more lives ever again.".

"I see…", Falere simply stated, holding on to the depressing news with the other three, but only until she noticed something peculiar. "Mother, what are you hiding behind you?".

Upon being noticed by her, the little devil threw away any shyness and showed herself.

"My name is Jennifer and I'm going to be the strongest human biotic in the galaxy…!", she boasted with a puffed up chest and hands on her hips. "After Uncle Cookies, of course.".

"Pff, where did you find this… little treasure?", asked Rila, the second daughter she'd lose.

"Aw, how cute!", Yanis, who had once been described as impulsive, cunning and a bit of a romantic, also made herself known. "Can we keep her? Can we?".

After that little show, the depressive atmosphere seemed to have evaporated completely. The five of them gathered together and began chatting like old friends, talking just about anything, from life here to the outside world. Samara barely restrained a smile.

Unknowingly, she also began looking around her Omni-tool's contacts and a list sent to her via QB. It had the name of a new Digital Sentience: Themis, in reference to the arbiter of oaths, justice and law. She stared at it in deep thought, then looked towards the group.

After centuries of searching and hunting, it was finally over.

She was not a broken vessel of sorrow and regret.

But she was free.

---

Arcturus Station, inside the Prime Minister's cabinet. Two weeks later.

While the Council would be having heart attacks in the near future, the Systems Alliance was having some very different kinds of problems right now.

"Okay. Can anyone explain to me why our support seems to be going down while support for humanity is up?", asked the current Prime Minister of the Alliance.

"It appears to be related to a big increase in old human media being shown to the greater public, alien audiences included – or specially.", his adjutant explained. "Basically, they've been comparing us to the fictional human leadership and finding us, well, lacking. But it did help with our integration in the galactic community by a lot. Positive feelings and sympathy towards humanity are steadily growing.".

"For example, sir, this one is kind of a joke, but the turians loved Starship Troopers.", his secretary complemented the information. "They said we should aspire to be more like the United Citizen Federation.".

"Isn't that listed off as parody and satire?", another voice butted in.

"Yes, it is. It's even specified on the extranet page. Maybe they didn't get the memo?", the adjutant responded. "Apparently, audiences back then also took it way too seriously…".

"Did you know that the Prime Minister of Japan got a call from some krogan clan's warlord back in Tuchanka asking for an anime adaptation of the Rachni Wars?", a bodyguard suddenly disclosed to them. "I heard it from a friend. According to him, the Minister didn't know if it was a prank or if his life now depended on making it…".

"Wait a moment…! Our image, our support has been suffering because of what… old vids from our own people?", their boss asked incredulously.

"Yes, sir. I almost didn't believe it myself!", his secretary said. "And this situation was made worse after an interview with Mr. Skywalker, with whom we've signed many deals recently, the L4s being the latest purchase. This only makes things more complicated…".

"Well, you can't deny that they're quickly becoming key suppliers of our military. The idea of using VI precision for biotics was a stroke of genius!", another adjutant commented, not realizing how he was getting close to a scary truth. "And have you seen their code? Kahlee Sanders, one of our top computer and systems technicians, even described it as 'almost too perfect'.".

"Their work bridging the older implants to the L4s helped us out a lot.", mentioned a more military-minded member of the discussion. "The L2 reparations folks stopped opposing us and complaining at every damned turn. I've also heard many of them got a 'new life' after joining Hell's Angels, especially those with severe health problems.".

"And the Thanix series allowed us to deal with the pirate menace in the Traverse almost uncontested.", one navy officer stated. "Pardon the expression, but they made our Carriers and their fighters fly!".

"I don't care about that right now. What did he say in that interview?", the Prime Minister stopped their derailed discussion and questioned.

"Actually, it would be easier to show you, sir.", the secretary said while pulling a vid with her Omni-tool to show it to the entire room.

At first, they smiled at the pack bonding and Space Roomba part, wondering how such an innocuous talk could damage the Alliance's reputation, but then the topics surrounding the First Contact War started playing. The audience's expressions got uglier and uglier, more so on regarding the parts that detailed the many problems still present on Earth itself, only easing up on the "suggestions" segment.

"Ok, I can see it now. So, what are we going to do about it?", asked the Prime Minister.

"Threaten to pull some contracts if he doesn't retract his statements?", the guy who was responsible for the finances offered.

"Maybe bribe him to say more positive things about the Alliance?", the intelligence officer added.

"What if we just started listening to his suggestions?", a daring fella proposed. Immediately after, they all turned to stare at him, noticing he was an intern.

If those present had been born in the 21st century, they might have realized that this scene looked like the Boardroom Suggestion Meme, minus the throwing out of the window part.

"What do you mean, son?", calmly inquired the Prime Minister.

"Firstly, the issue of only placing token garrisons on our colonies, who are really there just for scouting rather than combat, is a serious one and it damages our image in the eyes of the colonists…", the guy sat straighter. "Who would feel safe in their place?".

"We do that because our fleets are stationed at Mass Relay Nexuses. They can respond with overwhelming force in the event of an attack.", the Prime Minister quickly justified. "It's an effective defense tactic.".

"Only if the raid is light. Very often, the cavalry only arrives once the damage has already been done…", countered the daring guy. "Imagine if our colonies are hit by a huge fleet of pirates or, who knows, an army of killer robots. Well, I'm not saying we stretch our limited military everywhere, but maybe we could try building a local garrison or something, like Mr. Skywalker suggested…".

"But then we run the risk of open revolt or insurgencies.", the Minister replied. "If we arm the colonies too well, they may start getting ideas about going independent, as a Terminus world, or how it's not in their interest to send riches to the homeworld, despite the fact their colony only exists because of Earth's investment…!".

"This may only happen if we treat our colonies like vassals or second class citizens…", the daredevil didn't give in. "With all due respect, sir, we should learn from history and try not to do colonialism 2.0, but in space this time around. Maybe this is an opportunity to really turn ourselves into an actual alliance of star systems.".

There was a sudden pause, but the silence was broken by one of the bodyguards.

"You know, uh, that recently popular old game, Halo I think is the name, details problems like insurrectionists due to perceived tyranny.", he mentioned. "But they counter that with a few supersoldiers that can really get people to rally behind them…".

"People really seem to like a hero.", a military guy added, getting an idea. "Maybe we need one of our own. A symbol, to offset this negative image they're getting of the Alliance…".

"What about David Anderson?", suggested the intelligence officer.

"He can't do it. We need someone young… a new face!", the military guy said. "Anderson had his chance with the Spectres and he blew it!".

"Saren blew it for him, for us!", retorted the spook.

"Doesn't matter either way. It wouldn't have the desired effect if it was him.", was the reply.

"The Williams' granddaughter enlisted this year, right?", the intelligence officer switched the topic. "She's bound to have a hard time. Should we do something about that? Maybe try to foster her into this symbol?".

"Now that's just crossing the line!", the military guy asserted. "This would only lose us even more support. We need to look for someone in the new recruits who doesn't have any bad baggage…".

The Prime Minister mulled over these suggestions with a thoughtful expression.

"Son, what's your name?", he suddenly asked the intern.

"Amul Shastri, sir.", the young man promptly responded.

The Prime Minister looked around his retinue, who all nodded, and stated: "We shall watch your career with great interest. Now, let's hear what else you have to say…", with a friendly smile. But then he turned to his secretary, ordering. "Oh… and make sure to find and fire whoever was responsible for that colony ad… Seriously, how did that pass screening?".

While the Alliance was due a few changes, other people were having transformations of their own…

---

Tuchanka, Hollows. Late 2174 CE.

I was standing on the krogan homeworld. And it was a pile of rubble just as Wrex admitted. Even its Star, Aralakh, "The Eye of Wrath", was on another level. Personally, I thought that was a title straight out of some WH40K story. Just as well, this place was a deathworld, even what remained of the vegetation was carnivorous, 'cause why the fuck not?

"Look at this place. Remnants of a failed species…", Javik commented on it too.

"Ah, always a bundle of positivity with you.", I mocked his attitude.

"I am merely stating the truth.", he stated. "In my Cycle, they would not have been targeted by a sterility plague. We would have simply destroyed them where they stood.".

"You know, I wish I'd brought you along the first time we'd fucked around with the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission.", I lamented that we took too long to dig up this trollish bastard.

"What happened back then?", he asked me.

"Let's see…", I began telling him about the time we almost un-deminitalized this zone.

…

Same place. Two years earlier.

"Unknown vessels entering the Krogan DMZ, power down any weapons and your kinetic barriers, and prepare to be boarded!", ordered a turian upon our entry into the System, not even bothering to say hello. "Failure to comply will result in a hostile response. Any selling of starship-mounted weapons to the clans on Tuchanka is punishable by spacing.".

"There are two mistakes you seem to be making.", I snapped at the guy. "One, we are all equipped with even better weapons than your ships, but those are not for selling to the krogan. Two, our business here has been greenlit by your governments with no harassment allowed. I'm sending you the document as we speak.".

"The CDEM has the right to log and board any ships passing through here, for any reason. There are no exceptions!", he shouted back, apparently not liking being denied.

"Correction: there will be one after today. Just read the damned document!", I lost my patience with the guy. "It's been authorized by your Primarch, Fedorian I believe is his name, so it'd really suck having to explain to your superior why we trashed your pitiful Frigates when we were just hired to help VersaLife conduct its business, as per the agreement!".

"Even if you got past us, our orbital battlestations are mounted with Cruiser level weapons and they would shred your fleet.", the turian didn't relent.

"Not if we shoot at them from half a light-second away and just dodge any slowpoke slug they shoot back at us.", I refuted, pointing directly to the weakness of these kinds of orbital defense platforms. "In that case, your pals there could only count the seconds of their life left. It wouldn't be much more than a minute, I assure you.".

There was a long pause from the other side of the communication. I bet he finally started reading the docs.

"So, which is it going to be?", I put the nail in the coffin. "Are you going to obey the Hierarchy's arrangements, your own Primarch authorization, and go away, or are you going to follow the example of the idiot who started the First Contact War and gain your very own Darwin Award?".

"I've contacted my superiors…", he finally replied after a while. "...you're allowed to go, but we're watching you!".

"Works for me. We're escorting the representatives from VersaLife, but a few ships will stay here, to keep you honest…", I asserted with a warning tone. "...but the terms we signed with your governments also stipulate you can bring a few 'investigators' to see that we're not selling starship weapons. Wanna send anyone?".

"Where exactly are you going?", he asked after a long pause.

"The gathering holy grounds of the clans, the Hollows.", I revealed. "The kakliosaur are being revived, so it's a big event for them.".

"Actually, we're ok with watching from orbit.", the turian said immediately. "I'm also obliged to warn you that you may land at their own risk and that the CDEM will not attempt to extract citizens threatened by clan warfare.".

…

Coming back to the present, I began assessing what was going on around us and noticed some subtle changes had taken place here. For one, there was at least one guy with a minigun and I swore I saw a chainsaw somewhere. Bet what's left of their "scientists" were trying to make eezo miniguns that don't melt steel beams.

Our presence here was public knowledge and the clans sent at least one representative. Each clan entrance was followed by their own battle-songs, which would've been nothing particularly exciting by itself, but then some of their entrances were accompanied by music from the likes of Megadeth, Metallica and Manowar, which came all of nowhere. With the way things were going, I half-expected the winged hussars to arrive.

Jokes aside, they had actually been treating us well, which just went to show how bad they wanted to fight dinos. Loki came out of his self-imposed exile and took the reins of this one deal. He was currently speaking with Urdnot Galem, clan media director, about how to turn this venture into a popular show on the extranet, but I didn't really care about the details of this particular arrangement.

The krogan all shared something in common, their Rite of Passage, meaning this was one platform Uncle Urdnot could use in the future for true unity.

"Your friend has a big head.", one of Galem's krantt commented regarding Javik.

"Don't worry about him. It's a… birth condition.", I spoke the truth and nothing but the truth, making Javik growl unhappily.

"Whatever you say…", the krogan muttered.

After a while, the hardest parts of the talks had passed. With things progressing in a good way, the two of us left the protection detail and took an armored shuttle, which was more like a gunship, to a small tribe of krogan hailing from the Kraddack Wastes. It was time for the real reason for me being here.

"Thoughts on who we're going to meet?", I had the urge to ask while we were still on the way.

"Not exactly, but I do not know if it's alright to befriend him.", Javik stated. "Morality and friendship do not matter now. Only securing their usefulness matters.".

"Really? I thought you'd fit right in with the krogan.", I raised an eyebrow. "After all, you consider them primitives and they… well, they consider you prey.".

"They are simply resources and useful cannon fodder to use against the enemy. Nothing more.", he said bluntly.

"Dude, have you ever tried chilling for just a moment?", I asked him for once.

"I have been 'chilling' for over 50.000 years, Commander.", Javik didn't waste the opportunity. "I'd rather not repeat it.".

"Oh, that's right, bad choice of words…", I realized my mistake. "Maybe you should try pizza sometime. And booze. That seemed to work on you.". This time, he just gave me a side glare. We soon landed near the entrance to the clan.

"Halt, outsider!", shouted one of the guards in a demanding tone. "State your business or leave!". He was blocking us from passing.

"I seek an audience with the leader of clan Nakmor. That's all you need to know.", I replied in the same tone. "Anything else is none of your goddamn business!". The krogan don't respect those who bargain, plead or beg, only those who can talk as tough as them or, at least, try to.

"Our leader will not meet just about any random merc.", the other guard said.

"That's good then, because I'm the Commander of Hell's Angels.", I responded. "And I'll be going inside now. Move away or be moved!". A crowd began gathering around us, watching the show.

"Move me? I'd like to see you try…", the first one challenged, still blocking our path.

So, on impulse, I pulled my bad back a lot and headbutted him, then we both staggered backwards. Fuck! Just because I had my skeleton reinforced to not break easily didn't mean it stopped hurting.

"Damn, you've got a really hard head, for a human!", he exclaimed in shock.

Despite being taken aback, the other one took a swing at me, but I recovered fast enough to dodge it and threw him into a wall with my biotics. The first guard then rebounded from the headbutt, pulling a gun on us. But he didn't appear preapred to shoot, only being taken aback by what just happened.

"Stand down! This is not the way to greet guests who have been friends with our people.", Nakmor Qronak, current clan leader, ordered while parting the crowd. "Commander, I see that your reputation as a fearsome foe in the Terminus precedes you. But this is not the Terminus. Don't forget that. And you should've informed your coming earlier… Anyways, what is your business with clan Nakmor?".

"I'm here to recruit a few warriors for my krantt.", I said one of the objectives. "But, before that, there's a capable engineer I'd like to meet, one who goes by the name Kesh.".

"Ah, the frail, useless one. I can have a guide take you to her place.", he mentioned. "She likes explosions just as any krogan, but it's the… other one you should be careful about.".

"I'll take you up on the offer.", I replied curtly, as we were guided towards Kesh's home.

"You ain't bad, outsider.", spoke the guard with an approving nod.

Reaching the place, the guide just went in to talk to her. It seemed that the krogan weren't big on privacy. Or it was just this particular clan/krogan. The place was empty, except for a note informing her grandpa that she would be late. So, we decided to wait a bit.

Eventually, the quiet was broken by a shout from the outside. This was Drack throwing a big ass animal on the ground after arriving home. Knowing what I do now about Tuchanka, this one only passed off as a prey species here. He got all up in my face and questioned: "I've heard you've been looking for my ru'shan. Who are you?".

"Just a guy who can give you a whole new array of stuff to shoot… old man.", I said provokingly.

"Who says I'm old?", he replied immediately, ignoring my response. Ah, Drack… The Jolee Bindo of the Mass Effect Universe.

"Your face does.", Javik interjected, answering in my stead. "As do your DNA traces here.".

"You don't smell right. What are you?", Drack asked, then remembered my reply. "Wait, what do you mean by new stuff to shoot?".

"Geth and the Collectors, just to name a few…", I casually stated. "Oh, and another thing: an enemy with something like a 20.000 to 0 score over the galaxy!".

"The Geth have never left the Perseus Veil and those so-called Collectors are more myth than real. Are you trying to make fun of me?", he questioned.

"Uh, this is just a waste of time…", Javik declared, grabbing the old merc before he could react. After a few moments, in which I just stood there awkwardly, they finally came back.

"What th-, you're not just mercs! And you…", Drack recovered and turned to Javik. "I knew there was something weird about you… You smelled wrong, 'cause you're a Prothean! But then, what I saw… it was…".

"All true. So, let us start talking about what actually matters.", said Javik, finishing the line.

"The… Reapers. Your visions showed they took down your people and will also come for ours. My ru'shan… Wait, there's something you haven't shown: why are you looking for me specifically?", Drack questioned us. It seemed Javik had been quite thorough with him, passing a lot of information.

"You made it through the 'Krogan Rebellions', watched your culture disintegrate, survived a lot of centuries as a merc…", I answered. "You, Drack, are a relic of a time when the krogan had some semblance of Civilization, not only the dregs of archaic tribes they have today. And I know you are stubborn, but loyal. So, wanna help us do some good? And save the galaxy while at it?".

"Say I join this… cause of yours, what would I be doing ?", Drack entertained the idea for a while, pointed right at me. "Don't even think about putting my ru'shan in danger!".

"Oh, don't worry about Kesh. All she'd get to do was build some stuff, then join a certain Initiative. It's pretty safe all around…", I gave a dismissive wave. "As for you, the story is different, but it's still quite simple. The Blood Pack. I want it replaced. Gone, if there's no other way…".

"Ha, now that's quite a tall order!", he exclaimed almost in mockery, of himself. "But let me remind you I'm not exactly fit for this kind of activity anymore. Due to my… long career, I have extensive prosthetics and synthetic organ replacements everywhere.".

"It's fine. We can rebuild you. We have the technology.", I reassured him, not wasting this reference opportunity while smiling inside the helmet.

After that, we began the real discussions, waiting for Kesh to come back, to get in on it too. The Blue Suns were already firmly in Zaaed's hands. Afterwards, Aria's forces had joined us as well in secret. Now, The Blood Pack was in for a world of trouble. Then, it would be the Eclipse's turn, though I wasn't very sure of what to do with them yet…

Just like so, we were slowly carving out the Terminus Systems with no one being the wiser.

Still, we could only do so much before the world pushed back against us.

And I felt things would get heated in the coming year…

---

[Starship Troopers]

Turian Vid Reviews

This is yet another human work that just seems to resonate with the turian spirit. At the end of the day, it's all about doing your part. And service does guarantee citizenship, at least in the Hierarchy. After watching this vid, I began wondering how it would have been if we had the humans to help fight with the Rachni instead of the krogan…

Many say that the Council regards the Alliance as a sleeping giant, usually because only 3% of humans volunteer to serve in their military, a lower proportion than any other race. To me, this vid illustrates that point much clearer than anything else. I feel like the Alliance would be like this Federation if they really decided to "wake up".

Apparently, this was based on a novel that influenced much of the humans' science fiction. I would actually like to know more about it… And you should too!

Salarian Vid Reviews

This vid does not show it, but this work had an utterly insane concept behind it. The human author of this fiction had the idea of putting on a suit of power armor capable of hugging a krogan to death, with nuclear rockets mounted on his shoulders, then literally dropping into battle from orbit. Who would agree to do something crazy like that? But it seems that many human authors took this idea to heart and put it in their works later on…

I enjoyed all the subtle (and not so subtle) satire present here. It must have gone way over the turians' head. In my view, the best part was when they were going in guns blazing, in typical war vid style, with action flick lines and battle quotes being thrown all around, then the reality sets in and the music just stops, while you only hear sounds of soldiers dying and being routed. This contrast (of "let's kick some ass!" to "let's get outta here!") is one I had never seen being so well executed before in cinema.

Great vid!

[Kick-Ass]

Krogan Vid Reviews

This vid was kinda boring at the start, with nothing happening, but let me tell you that it really gets awesome. Still, at least you get to see what would happen if a normal guy tried to play hero. I mean, kick ass? More like, ass kicked. If you're gonna put on some costume to go save the world or something at least have some powers, like biotics. Then shit gets really cool when the real ass kickers show up. That hit girl was my favorite, by the way, with the big daddy guy coming a close second. But human female runts ain't that kick ass (ha! see what I did there?). Not gonna spoil it for you, but that entire final showdown was awesome.

[Kill la Kill]

Asari Anime Reviews

Don't let the name trick you. This isn't about murder or anything. It's… I don't even know how to explain it actually. Let's just say that I've never thought I would get hyped about people fighting clothing, with clothing, or not wearing clothing at all. Crazy? You don't even know the half of it! This over the top anime was made by studio Trigger. Apparently, it had saved anime, many times in fact. And the music, by Hiroyuki Sawano, is just phenomenal. To me, that human is the Hans Zimmer of anime. Or Hans Zimmer is the Hiroyuki Sawano of the vid industry. One of those.

Also, everyone needs a Mako in their lives. EVERYONE! She's just a bundle of friendship in a cute human girl that'll light your day. Speaking of cute, this show introduced me to this genre called "yuri", but I don't understand why it is also called "cute anime girls doing cute things"... Anyway, you should watch this anime if you're also utterly incomprehensible!

And always remember…

DON'T LOSE YOUR WAAAAY!

Salarian Anime Reviews

This is an anime you just have to turn your brain off to watch. And your Omni-tool, in case someone walks in when you're doing it. Yea, I learned that the hard way. It would be better to be caught reading Fornax. Easier to explain too! This show takes the term scissoring to a whole new level. It might look utterly crazy to most, but there are some rules here. For one, I've figured out that their power is proportional to the quantity of skin being shown. Also, screaming a big move makes it stronger! And be ready for a show where everyone introduces themselves by their full name.

Anyway, this was an intense wild ride, accompanied by some of the best in music, comedy, epic fights and artstyle!

[One Punch Man]

Krogan Anime Reviews

Gotta be honest here, when I read the name of this weird vid, I thought this was gonna be boring. I mean, it's cool to see a guy strong enough to kick ass with one punch, but whats the fun if every fight immediately ends after it, right? WRONG! The bald guy is like Kalros, a force of nature, and the story happens around him, with these crazy heroes and villains popping up everywhere. Cyborg guy is kind of a joke, but would probably kick anyone's ass around the galaxy, and that showdown with the starship guy gave me like, the mother of all erections. So yea, they really sell this show besides the main character. And let me tell you something, not only are MCs punches strong but the guy is also tougher than a Mass Relay and the things are indestructible!

This kind of vid is interesting… Maybe the humans could try making a rachni wars version? I mean, the graphics of these anime aren't all that compared to the stuff we have now but they look really cool anyways.

Guess I'll talk to my clan leader and see if he can think of something…

Salarian Anime Reviews

Most heroic stories have an origin story, showing the journey and struggle of the hero, the stakes in the conflict with the villain and conclude with a (hopefully) satisfying payoff after all the challenges had been defeated. And then we have this guy who can one-shot every bad guy/ultimate villain, sometimes not even noticing he did it! Plus, his origin story is the most… opposite of engaging, gaining his godlike powers by doing basic exercises. It's the complete deconstruction of the hero vs villain archetypes and tropes of storytelling. And I loved every moment of it!

Basically, this show is an unapologetic satire of the hero genre of entertainment media that doesn't care about established rules and ends up being amazing.

---

Author's Notes: This ended up becoming something of a wish fulfillment for some in the Reviews section. I mean, there's a bit of mama Samara, some of best grandpa krogan, the Alliance's response… But the actual reason for this is due to a simple fact: the only thing that happened during 2174 CE was Ashley joining the Alliance. Look up the timeline in the wiki. It's one of the "compasses" I'd used to make these First Act chapters.

Still, this one ended up becoming way bigger than I'd anticipated. Let's go over its scenes…

Tela Vasir makes an appearance. Many fanfic writers, especially the SI type, kinda redeem her character, making her an ally of their MC, at least in some way. To be honest, I didn't really know what to do with her. There's only one good thing she ever did and it's already mentioned in this Chapter. Still, even if we don't turn her into an ally, there's plenty of use in a Spectre inside "man". Oh, rather than just handwave the Network as an answer to why we knew Spectre movements, this is yet another way to do it – one that only requires the realization of its possibility.

As for the Relays… As LittleSeraphim once wrote, if you want to understand something, take it apart and put it back together. If you can't put it back together, then you either broke it or didn't understand it well enough, so you should keep trying. The fact that none of the Council species decided to do this shows just how oddly limited their minds were. Sure, a Relay is valuable, but learning how to build your own was well worth losing one or two of them. Last Chapter, I showed how to "mass-produce" biotics with ethical science. In this one, I've hopefully shown how to do some destructive studying of them. Fundamentally, no matter how "quantum-locked" they supposedly are, you just need to create a little chink in their defense to "flood" and "eat" it from the inside.

By the way, here's a little extra info (and reward for those who read this section): the entire fleet of freighters was unrecognizable, so any Reaper notice would shift to a previously "unknown" faction (now at play). This is human paranoia at work of course. Nothing in the lore indicates Mass Relays can actively "monitor" things around them. They're just these automated megastructures. But, as always, better safe than sorry.

That interview was just something I'd thought about to spur the Alliance into doing more preparation. To do that, I thought about shaking up things a bit. In a way, it's a bit like being Lelouch, Zero and Suzaku all at the same time (working in the system, with the system and somewhat opposite it). I can't actually show many of the suggestions the MC gave the Alliance, since only he can see the problems in person, and some of the more important advice can't be said, as they would derail things pretty badly.

One such suggestion would be to only build "military colonies" (outposts in reality) on those Systems they wanted to claim and focus the colonization population on a smaller number of planets. The pirates wouldn't have much incentive to hit the outposts, which are properly defended places, and attacking a large population colony would be a nightmare (even if they were only dealing with militia). This is just a rough sketch of it.

The part about the cold war was just there to show something I'd thought about. No matter what political side we're dealing with, an alien passing by with his ship would just see a bunch of insane apes, fighting over "nothing" and flinging shit at each other while wearing different "costumes". Ideologies some of us might take as almost sacred might be worthless to one who has left all that shit behind after going interstellar. I figured this train of thought would be said by an alien (asari).

Samara. I didn't waste time writing an entire Morinth chase sequence just to end where we know it would, given how many resources we can pull to find one very *unique* individual. To be honest, even though I didn't have a "plan" about the Ardent Yoshis, just hand waving a "cure" just because of our setup wasn't very satisfying to me. Then, during the re-work, I began thinking about it some more and everything just "clicked": how to deal with Ardent Yoshis and this asari issue forever. This will be revealed in the future.

I hope I did this new Jennifer (Jack) justice. Originally, she was just going to appear again during ME2. Then, you guys asked, and asked some more, so I did it. Knowing TIM, he'd still keep trying to get his "subject" back. Moreover, Cerberus, at least during this period, was full of Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains, so I had some fun and wrote their goons that way too! And then had Jennifer go biotic Hit-Girl on their asses.

You guys finally have my take on the Alliance. Keep in mind that it's not the entirety of it, but I hope it conveys enough of their general feel for the future. The truth is that only a few of their members are actually decent, such as Anderson and Hackett. Most are a bunch of morons, like a Rear Admiral of a Scout Fleet not understanding the value of a stealth ship. Remember those three random stooges at the start of ME3? Who, despite putting Shepard on house arrest for six months, calls him/her over to ask what they should do? And then our hero has nothing concrete to say, so they respond with a "That's it!?", like it was his/her fault he/she was dead for two (completely wasted) years and then six more months 'cause of idiots like them. From what we get, they seem to represent much of the Alliance…

This Drack scene is new. It almost didn't happen, because I'd just say it in a short mention. It was a bit rushed, because this Chapter was already too massive and I wanted to post it already, but now we have the best grandpa krogan in the Inner Circle. We also get to see some of the changes and butterfly effects brought by the MC to the krogan.

And damn Spacemonkey777! You really went full "Mad Ape" on us. Calm down, my friend. I have a general plan for this story all the way to the end of the Reaper War. The MC has his very own "holy shit" cards to play. Don't worry. But there are two points regarding which you should take heed:

1) Those "W-Gates" are not "Warp" Gates, as you called them, but Wormholes, as in the mathematically predicted things from Einstein's theory of relativity, but not yet proven, just like black holes once were; and

2) You seem to be "buffing" the wormholes. They aren't like quantum entangled particles, which can work regardless of distance. They are, at least on this story, affected by how far they connect to, meaning the farther they are, the more energy/eezo is required to keep them open/offset the effects of gravity (it forces them to close, one reason Traversable Wormholes are just theoretical for us, who don't have element zero). What this all means is that those W-Gates probably can't be casually opened from one end of the galaxy to the other with no worry for cost. I'd love for someone with profound knowledge about them and the math around it all to verify it for us!

…

Questions for my readers:

1) Tela Vasir… Do we make her a member of the Inner Circle or, at the very least, a "core" member? I don't have any other plans for her right now besides this one Chapter.

2) What's the name of our Corporation? There's three companies: Ad Astra, for weapons, armor, implants and so on; VersaLife, for bionanotech, etc.; and Old But Gold, also known as the Retro Media company. But what about the name of the Corporation they all belong to? I'm asking for suggestions!

3) What kind of nicknames would Jennifer give to everyone?

…

When is the next Chapter coming? When it's ready!