Before settling on the fact that this wasn't a figment of her sick imagination, Max replayed the video two times. She had been making a lot of difficult decisions after gaining the abilities. She knew well that any minor decision could bite her back with major consequences. And a few years ago, she had been forced to choose between a friend and a town. One precious life against many strangers. But now it seemed like a rehearsal before the final act.

Cause and effect. If she hadn't gotten her abilities, she wouldn't have met Chloe again. But at the same she wouldn't have to go through all that shit. She wouldn't have to look for Rachel, to see her dead body and to watch Kate die. She wouldn't have been drugged and violated by that sick fuck Jefferson. She wouldn't have to remember all those people dying in the storm. She wouldn't have to make the cruel choice and she wouldn't have ended up in the future only to be thrown into a fight against a horrible enemy.

She would have become a mediocre photographer at best. Max wasn't so naive to believe that she would have become a successful photographer anymore. She had been shy and insecure, but to succeed in photography one had to be confident. A photographer had to convince people to buy their photography. Max wasn't Victoria Chase. She smiled as she thought about her old classmate. They had been so childish back then.

Now Max was responsible for the fate of the whole galaxy and she didn't know how to deal with it. She wasn't ready to bear the responsibility. But was there a choice? Ten years. In ten years, she would have to win a war. For the first time, Max felt as if her abilities weren't her own, as if she was just a marionette made to fight this war. If she had to choose a superpower to fight the Reapers it would be her ability to manipulate time. Flight? Telekinesis? Telepathy? Useless against the enemy. She had to admit, her ability was perfect.

But why me?!

She grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it far into the ocean.

The other Max had provided lots of useful intel, and she knew she couldn't keep it. No matter how secure an omni-tool was, there were ways to hack it. But there was a perfect solution. She could always go back in time to this exact moment. The most secure way to hide the data was to hide it in the past. She took a selfie and waited a few minutes to give her future-self time to memorize information she would need.

Finally, she looked at her friends and gestured to them, asking to come.

"Well," Fokin said. "I think it's time you explained everything."

"I know," Max said. "You have to know, that there's nobody I trust more than you two, but gaining trust takes time. I would have told you earlier, but... I wasn't ready to talk about it. You have to know that nobody is allowed to learn about-"

"Max," Reyes said, interrupting her. "If this is your long-winded way to tell us that you love sex with hanars, we won't blame you. Their tentacles must be fucking awesome."

"What? I'm not-" Max blushed. "I hate you, Reyes."

"Stop wavering like a fart in the wind, and tell us."

"I have superpowers."

"What?" Nikita and Taylor said at the same time.

"I'll show you."

She stopped time and walked a few dozen feet away.

"I'm here," she said as time's flow turned normal.

It reminded her of the time she had told Chole about her abilities. Chloe hadn't believed her until she had proven it. But she hadn't freaked out.

"Is this some kind of trick?" Nikita asked.

Max stopped time and walked back to them.

"Not a trick," she answered as time sped up again.

"Bullshit!" he exclaimed.

"Are you biotic?" Taylor asked.

"No," Max answered. "It's time-manipulation. I can speed it up or slow it down. I can stop it and I can rewind. Sometimes I have future visions. What I did wasn't teleportation. I just stopped time and walked."

"That's-"

"Insane?" Max asked. "I know. Let me show you, how it looks when I slow time down."

Max slowed time down to quarter speed and ran around her friends. Nikita was speechless. Taylor, on the other hand, seemed to take it as if she weren't surprised. She grinned.

"Now I know how you do all those ninja tricks," Taylor said.

"You don't look surprised," Max said.

"There's a lot of weird stuff in the galaxy."

Max laughed. Typical Taylor.

"Did you faint because of your powers?" Nikita asked.

"Yeah. It's like biotics. If I use it too much, it causes fatigue, nose bleeds and severe headaches. I had a future vision."

"How often do you have visions? Can you control them?"

"They're very rare and no, I just see them."

They stood in silence for a few seconds. Max let them think.

"I can rationalize some of your abilities, but I still can't believe you can rewind time. Can you prove it?" Fokin asked.

"Maybe," she answered as she thought about the way to prove it. "Think of something, but don't tell me. A word, number or a poem. Anything you want. Ready?"

"Yes."

"Now, tell me what it is."

"What's the point?" he asked.

"I'll go to the past once I know the answer."

"Bullshit," he muttered. "It's the Fibbonaci numbers."

Max rewound time.

"Yes," Fokin said.

"It's the Fibbonaci numbers."

"Wait, you can read minds?"

"Nah, I just asked you and then rewound time," Max explained.

"Bullshit."

"Yeah, you've already said that."

"I think I need a drink."

Max shook her head. "Sure, but later," she said. "I need to show you a video. It wasn't me back at the lighthouse, or rather it was me from 2201. Before you ask, I can't go years to the past, I can only temporarily send my consciousness to the past to change it. Then my power throws me back to the future. I don't remember how we got here, but she said that we had some malware on our omni-tools and she cleaned them up. Then she recorded a message for me."

Jane Shepard knew that she neither had a satisfactory service record nor she was a perfect soldier. She had been commissioned in 2172 and it had taken her years to come in terms with the fact that she wasn't a street rat anymore and her ties with the Reds were finally severed. The Alliance wanted a disciplined soldier, but her gang experiences led her to ignoring stupid orders and inciting lots of fights with her platoon mates. At the same time, nobody would dare to claim that she couldn't get things done. She would accomplish any given objective. Sometimes not quite as expected, but accomplish nonetheless.

She had always wanted to be something more than a common thug. She had worked hard to get a good education in spite of the circumstances. By the time she turned eighteen, she was two years into college, which allowed her to start her career as a Second Lieutenant. It took her four years to be promoted though. Most officers needed half the time and some of them had been promoted twice in four years. Jane knew the reason, but wasn't willing to give in, to become something she wasn't or to suck some captain's cock to get a fucking promotion.

Elysium had changed everything. Someone up top had noticed her and soon she had been invited to the Interplanetary Combative Training program. For the first time since her commission she could just focus on her missions and getting things done. At all costs. Jane succeeded where other gave up. Most officers considered an invitation to the villa a great achievement. Some of them thought that qualifying for N1 was enough, but Jane went through the whole program and received the N7 designation. She didn't care about fame that followed the graduation, but Jane was glad that her hard work was paying off.

Her omni-tool beeped as a new message came.

From: Lt. Maxine Caulfield

Shepard,

saw on the feed that you graduated the CTS. CONGRATS! I can't think of anyone who deserves it more than you. I hope you're doing fine, wherever you are. I was a bit worried when the Alliance put your face pretty much everywhere.

Max

P.S. I'm starting at the villa tomorrow.

P.P.S. Fokin and Reyes are too drunk to send a message, but they're happy for you too.

Jane smiled as she read the message. They were quite a trio. No matter what some people thought, she wasn't sure she would have been able to hold off the attack without them. She had been exhausted and their help had come at the critical moment. Despite their initial success at the landing, Jane had been rather skeptical when she'd realized that only three Marines had come to help. They had proven her wrong. Caulfield was as fast as a salarian and could shoot like machine. Reyes, who could probably win a fistfight against a krogan. And Fokin, who came up with the insane idea to do an orbital drop inside a Goblin.

They were excellent Marines. She hadn't seen a better fireteam. They worked together like a well-oiled machine. She had made some inquiries after the Battle for Elysium and it had turned out that they had been serving together at the furthest fringes of the Alliance space since the School of Infantry, participating in a few dozen combat ops. Unlike most of other Marines, they had plenty of combat experience. It came as no surprise to her, that Caulfield had been invited to the CTS.

Jane sent a reply and opened a browser. The Alliance shifted their PR campaign towards promoting the Jon Grissom Academy. Every news agency was telling a story about the school founded in orbit over Elysium. The colony was undoubtedly chosen to enhance the effect of the Alliance victory on the planet. It was rarely mentioned that the academy would serve as a new school for biotics, which replaced the BAaT. Jane was lucky to begin her training after the program had been shut down. She had been trained by an asari, who had proven to be a very good teacher.

Amidst the news about the school, reports about Akuze got lost. It was unjust to the colonists and Marines, who had died, but the Alliance couldn't afford to acknowledge its failures. Probably the incident was the main reason behind the PR campaign promoting the academy. It was a good distraction. Just like new articles about her actions on Elysium. Jane wasn't shy to acknowledge that she had helped to defend the colony, but was sick and tired of the ads with her face. It was especially frustrating that almost everybody ignored the fact that lots of people died on Elysium. Her friends died. The news agencies had been suspiciously silent about four ships that had left the colony before the main forces arrived. They were full of people who would be sold as cattle.

Her omni-tool beeped again. A message from Commander Jurgen Eichel, the CO of the new scout frigate SSV Vitoria. Jane had been appointed XO and she would be in command of a squad of Marines. The ship's purpose would be deep reconnaissance in the Terminus Systems, close to the known slaver bases. Despite the PR campaign, the Alliance couldn't let the attack on Elysium slide. Something big was brewing and Jane couldn't wait to shoot the fuckers who were behind the attack on Elysium.

Kaunus knew that mistakes were inevitable, but he prided himself on the fact that he could always minimize the fallout. Money, blackmail and mercs could solve any problem and as a head of security of the Fernalis Fabrications he had never failed his brother. Until this day. His brother, Taesalus Larenian, owned a fifteen percent of all voting shares of the company. He wasn't the largest shareholder, but all of the major shareholders were fully under his control. They couldn't act against Taesalus, because Kaunus had enough blackmail materials to bury them, not to mention that he would dispose of anyone who would ignore his threats.

He threw his datapad against the wall. Somehow not only his omni-tool had been stolen right out of his pocket, but all blackmail materials out of three separate vaults. No-one had been in or out. He had double-checked all security systems and footages. One moment the materials were there, the other they were gone. Just like his omni-tool. Spirits take him, it was impossible! Things couldn't just vanish!

The terminal signaled him about a call from his brother. Spirits, how would he explain this?

"Taesalus, there's a-" he spoke when he answered the call.

"They voted to remove me as CEO!" Taesalus roared. "And then they sold my company to some barefaced hairy primitive."

His mandibles twitched. "A human?"

"Yes. A representative of the Arkadia Bay Group. I want you to destroy them. Release everything you-"

"About that, brother," Kaunus interrupted him. "Someone stole all the dirt we have on the shareholders."

Taesalus froze and didn't utter a word for a few seconds. "What do you mean everything?"

"We don't have anything."

"Spirits, how could you let this happen?"

"No idea how it happened. Everything's just vanished from the vaults."

His brother's mandibles flared. "Deal with it. I want my company back. Don't fail me again, brother."

Kaunus wasted no time contacting mercs and calling a skycar. As he flew to the randevous point, he read about the Arcadia Bay Group. It had sprung up out of nowhere a few months ago and had absorbed a few dozen small and medium-sized companies. The CEO was some human named Jane Smith, a graduate of Earth-based Harvard University. As he read more, he came to conclusion that these upstarts hadn't dealt with a company of the Fernalis Fabrications' caliber yet. Soon these humans would learn to respect their betters, even if that would be the last thing they learned in their lives.

His acquaintances were already waiting for him when he arrived. Kaunus had been working with them for sixteen years and they had yet to disappoint him. They knew how to get things done. He was a few feet away from them when something exploded. His shields flared. In his last moment Kaunus realized that he'd been had by the upstarts.

How did they know I'd be here?

A moment later his shield failed and he was torn to pieces.

Sarah Westers or Myla Chiu? Jack wasn't sure if he wanted to spend the night with the Fornax Dream Girl or the rising pop star. Maybe both? He put his cigarette out.

Jack Harper was neither an optimist nor a pessimist. People were more complex than that. When humanity had stumbled upon the first evidences of alien races, he had been hopeful, but at the same time he had known that humanity had been in grave danger. He was proven right during the First Contact War. No matter how turians tried to explain their aggression, Jack knew that it was neither a mistake nor a police action. If the Council hadn't stepped in, turians wouldn't stop at Shanxi. They would have gone to Arcturus and Earth. As for asari and salarians... There were evidences that the reason behind the Council's help was entirely pragmatic. Humanity had proven themselves as capable fighters and the Council needed someone to act as a counterbalance to turians. No other race was up to the task.

Despite the death of his friends during and soon after the First Contact War, Jack didn't hate turians and other aliens. He didn't consider himself a racist. There were fools who compared the Cerberus to nazis of the twentieth century. They thought that the situation was similar, but they were wrong. Asari, turians and humans had a lot more differences than just skin color, eye shape and religion. They weren't the same species. They wouldn't merge. The status-quo wouldn't last. Sooner or later one race would become the dominant species in the galaxy. Other races would be at their mercy. Jack had promised to himself that it would be humanity who would win the invisible war.

He hadn't forgotten about the monolith and the things he had learned. He had been lucky twenty years ago during the First Contact War. He hadn't touched the artifact unlike his friend Ben. The contact was short and indirect and the monolith didn't change Jack like it changed Ben. It didn't enslave him. For years Jack feared that he would fall victim of the artifact too, but time went on and he didn't feel any different. He hadn't heard the monolith's whispers after its destruction on Palaven. The incident had left him with knowledge, that there was something terrible out there. An enemy that wouldn't stop before destroying everything.

It was the real reason behind creation of Cerberus. Jack believed in that humanity was strong and refused to believe that humanity was inferior to turians or asari. Humanity was perfect in its diversity. One light nudge in the right direction would be enough to overcome all obstacles no matter what the Council thought. However, the true enemy was keeping to the shadows. Humanity needed a special weapon against the foe. Cerberus would keep humanity safe, because Cerberus was humanity.

Any sufficiently advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic. Technologies used by the enemy looked like magic, but Jack knew that they weren't magic. They could be recreated. There were many Cerberus sympathizers in the Alliance. They didn't know about true goals of the organizations, and Jack wasn't in a rush to educate them. Powerful politicians and some of the wealthiest people of the Alliance, high-ranking Alliance officers and criminals. Cerberus had access to tremendous amount of resources and Jack used all of it to reduce the technological gap between the enemy and humanity. Jack was pushing humanity further and further to the top no matter what he had to sacrifice and how many aliens and humans, friends and enemies would lose their lives. He had the blood of many thousands of victims on his hands, but every atrocity had had done was worth it, because he was making humanity stronger. With his help humanity was expanding to the space, that the Hegemony had considered theirs. He provided the Alliance with an access to the most advanced technologies of the Council races. He made the first human biotics and the latest reports from the Pragia facility were very promising. It was possible to create human biotics on par with asari. And yet... he felt as if his time was running out.

He lighted another cigarette as he continued to read reports from Cerberus cells and agents.

Pirates and slaver were licking their wounds after their defeat on Elysium. It reduced the number of attacks on colonies, giving both the Alliance and the Hierarchy much needed respite. Turians were using the freed resources too clean up the Council Space, and the Alliance was preparing an assault on Torfan, which would make life on colonies much safer. Although a slight reduction of pirate activity was desirable, the complete annihilation of the Hegemony wasn't part of Jack's plan. Safe human colonies meant less funding for the Alliance Navy, but Jack needed a powerful and combat-ready Alliance Navy.

Although the sighting of the Collectors in the Terminus Systems was interesting, Jack wasn't sure how to use them. They could provide advanced technologies, but there was no telling, when they would crawl out of their hiding place. Nobody knew where their homeworld was.

The Jon Grissom Academy was finally welcoming the first batch of students. Some kids were promising, especially young Gillian. The Ascension Project had a lot of potential, but he feared that they didn't have enough time left to develop the program. It wasn't useless, otherwise he wouldn't have operatives infiltrate the academy, but there would be very little chance to use the children in combat. Still, he was hopeful to see some results from various experiments conducted by the operative.

Maxine Caulfield had finished the ICT program with flying colors. Her sudden request for transfer to Mars had been unexpected and it wasn't surprising that the request had been denied. Keeping a Marine of her caliber on Mars would be a waste. He was curious why she had made the request, but she hadn't provided an adequate explanation. Jack had big plans for Caulfield and her wish to be stationed on Mars had been worrying him for some time. Fortunately, the latest report seemed to imply that she was still committed to continue her service. The Alliance needed a human Spectre and Caulfield was the prime candidate. The other was Jane Shepard, but unlike Caulfield, Shepard's service record was, well, for lack of a better word, lacking. Despite her actions during the Skyllian Blitz, it would take some years for Shepard to get onto the list of candidates.

He smiled as he read the next report. One of the Cerberus front companies stuck a deal with Light Shadow Pictures. Acquisition of "RealityPlus" video editing machine was a very promising investment.

The last report was about a new human-owned company. Arkadia Bay Group. Their rapid growth was astounding. Its market capitalization had already reached two trillion credits. Not the largest human company; it wouldn't even make it to the top hundred, but the Arkadia Bay Group was founded little more than a few months ago. Its CEO was Jane Smith. He wondered who she was and looked her up in the Cerberus database.

Jack froze as he saw the name on the list of identitags forged by Cerberus. Why he hadn't known about it? Cerberus owned Arkadia Bay Group and he was clueless. What the fuck? A rogue faction? He checked the access code, which had been used to request the identitag, and frowned. It didn't make sense. A security breach? It didn't seem like he would have time for a sexual liaison today.