27/08/2020

Another possible outcome if the Andromeda mission succeeded in the Catalyst universe. The conversation that Harper has with them has so many possibilities, and so many outcomes.

The Catalyst For Revenge: Andromeda
Familiar Faces, Possibility 4

-cfr:a-

Harper smiled pleasantly at the women sitting across from him. He used the word advisedly. They were blue and had firm tendrils on their head. Asari.

Not what he had been expecting to find in Andromeda. But it was not just Asari. There was a Krogan also represented and a Human. They were staring fixedly at him and his party.

"I must say, it is a surprise to find," he paused, "well, you, here," he said with good humour.

They'd detected the comm signals when they'd stopped in the void to scan Andromeda. That had allowed them to put forward a more 'human' face over Ascended. It gave them time to think and they would not discover the truth.

Shepard was listening to the conversation. Harper could feel him via his implants. There were many Human Ascended watching and he wouldn't be surprised if some of the audience he could feel comprised of Harbinger and the other elder Ascended such as Arshan and Fruben.

Still, the commentary was not distracting. After five or so years in his Ascended form, on the journey over, he was used to it again.

"It was a surprise for us as well," the leading Asari matriarch replied.

"I take it we have both learned to record history well," Harper said, fishing for their real answer.

"Indeed," the woman replied. She seemed to understand his unspoken question. "I'll be blunt, our records unfortunately didn't hold much hope for Humanity," she said.

"She really was blunt," Shepard muttered, voicing the surprise most felt. The Asari were usually prepared to dance around a subject for hours, or days even. Ascension hadn't changed that.

"She still didn't say why," Harper countered. He gave the Matriarch a lopsided smile. It let her know he was still waiting.

"We thought you'd be dead," it was the Krogan that spoke. "The idiot Council…"

The Krogan didn't have to say anything else.

"They tried," Harper replied. He nodded at the Krogan but his focus was on the Asari. They didn't seem offended. That was a surprise. The Asari were generally protective of their Council.

"Indeed, the records we have indicate that while the Council might not have pursued a specific war of extinction, they were going to subjugate your species." The Matriarch was scrolling through some information on a datapad.

"They tried," Harper repeated. He wanted to hack the datapad, but that wouldn't be polite and at the moment they were being polite.

"We'll get it later," Shepard assured him.

"There was a war," Harper told them what their records had probably told them already. "It ended when an outside force attacked." That was sort of the truth. Almost.

"The Reapers," the Human spoke. They held up a hologram. It was blurry but it was definitely a Reaper form.

Harper nodded. He tapped at his datapad, allowing it project a similar hologram. It would have projected if he just thought at it. The tapping was to add filters to the image so that it appeared aged, as if the record had been preserved all that time, much like theirs. It was a contemporary image of Shepard. He laughed in his mind.

"The Reapers," he repeated the term. "When they appeared, the Council knew we had been telling the truth. The Traverse knew as did the Terminus systems."

"They should never have doubted," the Asari matriarch sighed. The other Asari with her nodded. "They knew," she said. "Our records are clear! That's why we're here! We knew what was coming! The Asari were the keepers of a Prothean beacon. It told us what was coming.

"That's why we are here. We knew Shepard wasn't lying. We knew we shouldn't be fighting the Humans, or the Krogan or anyone else. We should have been preparing yet they were too concerned with peace.

"When it became obvious to us that the Council would not fight, a group of Matriarch's sponsored what we know as the Andromeda mission. It's unclear but we think parts of the Systems Alliance sponsored it as well. We took everyone we could. But we couldn't take many."

"Did we sponsor this?" Shepard asked, directing the question towards Hackett and Anderson. Udina was included but only peripherally.

"If we did it was completely off the books." Anderson replied without even pausing. He'd probably already checked.

"It could have been someone's pet project," Udina offered the alternative. His subchannels provided reasoning. In the early days of the war, if you could have been known as the one who managed to secure peace, that would have been automatic power for any politician. In a weird way the project would have been one way of suing for peace. Except it never became public.

Harper dismissed it. It didn't matter.

The Asari sighed heavily again. "For what it's worth, six hundred thousand years after the fact, I am sorry." The Asari bowed her head.

Harper stared. Through his implants he wasn't the only one.

"Darn," Shepard murmured. It was heartfelt. Harper understood the reasoning. They'd been prepared to fight for Andromeda. Discovering Milky Way species here hadn't changed that. But discovering Asari that were showing contrition for the past, even if it was the distant past, that was a surprise. If they were truly this sensible…

"We can ascend them," Harper gave the possibility.

"I've tried how many experiments with Asari to see if they can be sensible… All it takes is isolation?"

"Six hundred thousand years after the fact, I thank you," Harper replied using the same terminology.

"I take it, it ended well, at least?" the human asked.

Harper lowered his eyes, looking to the side. "It was a bloodbath," he replied. The Asari might be saying sensible things but he was not prepared to be merciful. "The galaxy was not prepared. Hundreds of millions died that didn't need to."

The Asari lowered their heads. Cultural guilt.

"Or good acting," Shepard gave the pessimistic alternative.

"Idiots," the Krogan muttered. "But you survived." There was a note of pride colouring the Krogan's tone.

"We did what we had to," Harper admitted. He leaned back, crossing his legs as he looked over at the delegation. "As I'm sure you had to," he added.

"You speak as if it's personal for you?" The Krogan noted.

Harper's lips twitched. He didn't know exactly what they knew about Ascension but he suspected he'd find out shortly. "It was," he said.

"What?" The demand came immediately.

The Asari tensed. He thought he could smell the ozone of biotics. Those with him similarly tensed. It was odd to then watch the Krogan wave everyone down.

Harper looked at them carefully, keeping his expression open. "No species remains the same for 600,000 years." He offered the explanation.

The Human shared a long look with the Asari. "No Human lives that long either," she spoke.

"Memories do," Harper countered before he rose. "I think this is far enough for a first meeting," he announced. "I believe we both have things to think about."

He could see the way the Asari wanted to object. They needed more information to truly think. He knew what they'd be assuming. Well, he knew what they should have been assuming. It would be interesting to see if they drew the correct conclusions.

"You remember the Reapers?" The Asari Matriarch asked. She wasn't prepared to be dismissed. "Are you an AI?"

Harper shook his head. He drew the very small ceremonial dagger from his belt and slashed at his wrist. Blood dripped onto the table. "I am not an AI," he stated firmly. His eyes screamed his disgust to the Matriarch, that she should have known better than to make that accusation.

The Asari watched the blood drip. He fisted his hand, catching the blood as his healing activated.

"The Reapers were a bloodbath," he continued. "But we did benefit from the outcome."

"Just Humans?"

"No one survived the Reapers unchanged," Harper said. The others who had been sitting with him rose. "Until tomorrow," he added before sending the mental signal for them to be transported out of there.

"That was interesting," he said aloud as the familiar weight of Cerberus' mind pressed into his organic shell.

"It was," Shepard said, a hologram appearing to take the place of the man. "Do we bother with tomorrow?"

"You don't want to find out their full history?" Harper asked, bringing his palm to his mouth to lick the blood. The cut had healed completely.

"They can tell me after they are processed."

"Oh, but think of the fun if the current Asari got to meet them," Harper joked.

Shepard's expression became thoughtful. Harper chuckled. He recognised the change. "I think we can spin some sort of tale," Harper told the First Human Ascended.

He nodded. "The ships will be waiting for any slip," he announced his acceptance. He would allow Harper to attempt it, but the final outcome was already known.

Andromeda would be theirs. The fact that there were Humans, Asari and Krogan here already did not change that. It simply offered a more interesting encounter.

And the Ascended were always willing to play.

-cfr:a-

Thanks for reading. :D