Note:

Present day bit 1: A Lannister Always Pays His Debts - Ramin Djawadi

Present day bit 2: Watch the world Burn - Hans Zimmer

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Epilogue: Lazarus Rising

Feron was struggling with the urge to break down and cry from what he had done. Not only did he abandon Jack and the other members of the Normandy just as that..thing..arrived on the scene, he betrayed what could've potentially been the love of his life in Miranda. Her recent words were echoing in his ears yet again, "Do you know why I trusted you? Why I didn't kill you even though I knew you were really working for the Alliance all along? It was because I knew what you were after. Out of everyone in Cerberus, you were the one person who I could trust not to stab me in the back without me seeing it coming." He had betrayed that trust when Leng ordered him to take her in. Was killing The Illusive Man really worth tossing her aside just after he gained her affection? The best way she could give it out anyway. That kind of question was why the Alliance trained their agents for months to avoid forming attachments with targets, after two and a half years that was easier said than done.

Even if he wanted to change his mind for her, it was too late now. He was piloting the damaged Normandy, which was barely repaired, to Cronos Station for the first time. Seeing the dying star on a hologram had been one thing, seeing it out of the cockpit just made everything more real. A part of him had thought that the office The Illusive Man presented himself in was just a hologram in itself to give him a stronger ego, but it was the truth. All the sacrifices he had made over this period were finally going to pay off, he just had to not get emotional. To not dwell on the fact that Miranda had shown more care towards his father then he had. Feron just needed to focus on the now, the past could come later.

Leng slapped Miranda's face to wake her up, "Come on traitor, we're here."

Miranda groaned probably still suffering from a concussion, "What the hell are you talking about? Where is here exactly?"

Leng bent down so they were at 'eye' level with her since she was strapped into an empty staff chair, "Don't give me that, I know what you've been up to. Looking into things that don't concern you. What do you honestly think the Turians are going to do when they get there? They're only two people."

Miranda gave him an expression of bewilderment, "Have you gone insane?! I can't even understand what your talking about."

Leng turned to him with a shrug and a smirk, "Why don't you remind her of what you caught her doing? You have the best memory out of all of us froggy."

Feron hesitated to not to snap at him for the racist remark and to get any other emotion out of his voice snapping into a memory, "I go to Kai in the cargo hold urgently, 'I was looking through the Cerberus archives curious about Shepard's father when I was side tracked because I noticed several deletions. Take a look at what I found in Miranda's room.' I send a copy of all the Andromeda Initiative information Miranda must have gathered. 'A few days after the original date of deletion, the Turian sisters left to the Viper Nebula and their ship sent a message to the Alliance's high command.'"

She understood immediately what he had done from the look in her eyes while she stared at him. Her expression was full of pain and the realization that she was going to take the fall for something he did. Judging by the fact that Leng had abandoned his personal mission of revenge to make sure she was captured for this deed she supposedly committed, the Andromeda Initiative was extremely important to Cerberus. He was thankful Leng's optical sensor didn't seem to catch subtle movements so that he could give her an apologetic stare. The Illusive Man didn't tolerate traitors if Wilson and Cora were anything to go by. If she really wanted to, Miranda could've outed him as the one to get the data on the Initiative from Kasumi but, she stayed silent. His heart stopped at the realization she was willing to die rather than betray him. Why couldn't he give everything up for her?

The glance she gave Leng was a cool sarcastic smile, "Did you think I ever really cared about Cerberus' mission? I just used you people to save my sister, after that you racist fucks could go to hell."

Even though Feron wished that were true, he knew her for the past two years enough to realize it was more complicated than that. To be clear, he didn't consider her to be the same type of racist as Leng, she wouldn't be sacrificing herself for him if that was the case. However, Miranda believed Humanity needed more power in the galactic community and the Alliance didn't have the spine to fight for it. She had also destroyed the Shellen, jeopardizing the entire Quarian population if they didn't find a new planet to settle on, just because of her anger. Miranda was a complicated person and, it was one of the reasons he had fallen for her. The real reason she was saying that was she knew it would make Leng infuriated and more prone to make mistakes. Despite the probability she was going to die, Miranda was still trying to escape and save her own life without outing him.

Leng thrusted the tip of his sword to the nape of her neck in a speeding flash, "Oh, you are going to regret that when I cut you apart piece by piece. Then I'm going to find the people taking care of your sister and do the same to them. When they're just barely recognizable I'll send the bits to your sister and make sure she has plenty of time to contemplate them before I kill her too."

Feron felt a stab of pain to the chest from the horror spreading across her face but, to her credit, Miranda spat in his face, "You'll never find them even if you spend every waking moment of the rest of your life on that."

He had a feeling Leng was about to strike when a mechanical voice came through the radio, "We are detecting the Normandy is drifting to close to the radiation field. Please readjust course to docking bay 94."

With that declaration, Feron realized he had been paying too much attention to the scene playing out rather than flying the ship. He had taken for granted Joker and EDI, whose AI chip had been mysteriously unplugged when they got here. The nature of the voice also confused him, it wasn't Human but, one of the stereotypical LOKI mech's that Cora was developing for security. Did any Human other than The Illusive Man actually live on this station? What kind of life did the man have if his only interactions with other people were through a hologram device? A fear started to creep into his mind after hearing that voice: what if The Illusive Man never visited this station at all? The holographic technology he had could allow him to transmit himself twice from another location. Was he throwing Miranda away for nothing?

After pushing those doubts out of his mind, Feron twisted the ship back in the right direction, "Roger that docking control, we're on our way. Inform The Illusive Man we will be there shortly."

Leng hoisted Miranda to her feet and dragged her towards the airlock, "Just a few minutes left and then your going to be in a lot of pain for what you've done."

Feron made a split second decision standing up, "I've never been here before so why don't you lead the way and I'll make sure the prisoner doesn't get away? I wouldn't want something to happen because your attention was divided."

Leng turned his head between them for a few seconds and he was worried he had gone too far, "Good idea, I never realized neither of you have never been here before. The Illusive Man only gives his best agents that honor. Follow me."

While he was busy leading the way, Feron deactivated her cuffs and whispered in her ear, "Do you trust me?"

The next words out of her mouth made his knees buckle, "I used to."

He forced himself to push her forward behind Leng knowing he had to focus. Lazarus Station and the old ExoGeni building on the Kithoi Ward of the Citadel prepared him for the maze like halls Leng dragged them through. What he wasn't prepared for was only seeing LOKI mechs all through the halls and in the glass enceased offices. Not a single organic could be seen in any of the rooms they passed making his stomach chill with fear. Cerberus had plenty of loyalists all across the galaxy, why weren't any of them here to protect their leader? One answer seemed obvious, The Illusive Man didn't trust any of his followers enough to provide them with the location of his hideout. A sinking feeling at the back of spine told Feron something was wrong and he should get out. He couldn't though, if The Illusive Man was here he had to kill him.

A strangly familiar Human voice came through the door in front of Leng, "Losing the Collector facility will handicap us going forward. It is a shame Shepard fell back on old habits, we could've used him further."

The Illusive Man responded with a sigh, "He was always too idealistic. We should've known he would turn on us, he was married to a Quarian after all. I had hoped he would see the data's potential to secure Human dominance in the galaxy. Still, he's given us time to address the greater threat."

Leng took the opportunity that the pause provided and pushed himself through the door only to take a knee, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I've come with two traitors."

Feron froze at the door still holding Miranda's wrist, did Leng just say, 'two traitors?' He was about to defend himself when he looked up to see who was standing in the hologram projector next to a very real The Illusive Man, Oleg Petrovsky.

Three years ago, Arcturus Station:

_o0o_

Feron had applied to the Alliance war effort against the Batarian threat only for it to be over by the time someone got back to him. His Hanar master had released him from their service on the one condition that he would do good for the galaxy. What was more good than to try and stop the enslavement of an entire species? Luckily, the Alliance recruiter informed him that the Drell's unique memory talents would still be useful in any of the wars to come. So, Feron had reported to Earth for training to become an agent of the AIA. He had excelled at the art of deception more than any of the Human trainees. Some of them had been jealous that an alien got all of the top marks instead of them but, most stayed professional and even congratulated him for his skills.

That's what brought him here, to the office of the head to the AIA, Oleg Petrovsky. Apparently, the Alliance general hand picked him for a mission of prime importance to the Alliance. He had been waiting for twenty minutes but, he didn't mind it gave him time to take in the details of the office. It was surprisingly spotless with a back wall covered in real books. That told him Oleg was a traditionalist for having the desire to have a real book in his hand since they had quit producing them decades ago. The sheer amount of them indicated the Petrovsky family had to come from credits to be able to afford all of these books. He was tempted to stand up and look at the pages of a random book only for movement to catch his eye.

On a small table to the far right was a virtual chess set moved a pawn on it's own. Feron knew these sets had been developed recently with the idea that people could play the game from across the galaxy. Yet again, it was another sign that Oleg came from credits since these sets were expensive. He was surprised to see a photo behind the chess board of who he assumed was Oleg with several Alliance soldiers. Most notably, the now infamous Alec Ryder who had been disgraced for a racist rant on the side of the road, pulled over by CSEC officers. That was years ago, leaving no indication that Oleg approved of what Alec had said but, it was something to keep in mind. Not all Humans were like his friends who accepted him for what he was.

The door opened and a warm voice called from behind him, "Ah Kolyat, I'm sorry I was so late. Admiral Kahoku's celebration party for his work in the Torfan campaign went longer than I expected and I couldn't get away."

Feron winced at the use of his biological name, he had been trying to avoid it for years now, "Kolyat may be my soul name but I go by Feron now."

Oleg had the same smile moving around the desk to his own seat, "I apologize, I haven't had the pleasure to know very many Drell since the Hanar like to keep you all on Rakhana. I hope the wait wasn't too long?"

He shook his head quickly to be polite, "No, I was just admiring your office." Feron motioned to the chess board, "I've always wanted one of those, I have a friend on the Citadel I'd play with all the time."

Oleg stood up and stared at the board, "It can certainly stimulate the mind when you spend most of your days trapped on a space station like this one.." Feron noted he moved his own pawn forward before turning back around, "I'll be honest with you Feron, Admiral Hackett recommended you for this mission but, I want to be sure your comfortable with it first."

Feron shifted in his seat to get himself relaxed, "I'm here to help maintain peace in the galaxy sir, not to be comfortable. If you think I can get the job done then I want to do it."

Oleg grabbed the edge of the chess board behind him calmly and smiled, "I do." The bookcase suddenly fell to the floor revealing a picture of a young Human male sucking on a cigarette, "This is Jack Harper, you may have heard of him in your history class if you were paying close attention."

Feron immediately nodded, "He tried to start another war with the Turians ten years after Relay 314. He failed but escaped from prison two weeks later killing his wife, unborn child and, the Leng's a family that unfortunately happened to be in the same clinic at the time. Him and the Leng's five year old son were never to be seen from again."

Oleg shrugged appearing to be a little amused, "That is the story, unless you believe the XO of the Einstein who just lost her husband and announced she was pregnant two weeks later.. She was too shook to be taken seriously by the way. Anyways, I'm sure your curious as to why I'm bringing up such ancient history," He handed Feron a datapad, "Read this, it was just released last month."

Feron's eyes flashed down to what he was just handed which stated, "Dear concerned members of Humanity,

Humanity has always been curious about our surroundings since the first cave dweller discovered how to start a fire. The earliest nomads were constantly challenging themselves to see what was behind the next mountain, or across the next sea. Throughout our history, mankind as a whole has been focused on discovery of the unknown, even if the definition of unknown was merely about understanding the nature of insect life spans. However, even before discovering the New World, great philosophers and scientists were looking to the stars to answer the bigger questions like, 'Why were we here?' and 'Where did we come from?' While religions would try and answer those questions with vague answers about a divine power, other, smarter individuals among us looked to more tangible explanations that only science could provide.

Even though it took several thousand years, Humans finally reached for the stars to start getting answers. The moon landing was indeed just a first step for a growing interest of the cosmos to the people on Earth. Telescopes became a commonplace household item, and schools educated the importance of discovery and technological advancement. However, for a time the thirst for knowledge to know what was up there stalled, while people were more concerned with material wealth. A new era of space flight and colonial expansion began when the societies on Earth realized that one planet alone could no longer sustain our needs, and in 2069 the first Lunar colony was established. Things moved at a rapid pace after that crowning achievement and others quickly followed suit, grabbing other planets in the Sol system to start living on. These new bases allowed Humans to explore new environments with a fresh sense of wonder and excitement that had been lost after centuries of living on Earth.

This enthusiasm led to the first discovery of our true destiny, ancient alien life had been uncovered in the Martian wastelands. On January 4th, 2076, two miners digging for mineral deposits located a large structure that they knew could not be Human. It was made with a shiny metal that they had never seen before, and the angles making up the structure seemed impossible to modern Human engineering. The archaeological find shook Humanity to it's foundation, suddenly people were aware that we were truly not alone in the universe. Scientists from all over the Sol system gathered on the red planet, like it was a holy site, hoping that this mysterious structure would finally give them answers to their most burning questions. Unfortunately, the site only provided more questions that needed to be addressed immediately. The language was easy enough for experts to decipher in it's written form but, they couldn't directly connect garbled voice recordings to the text which was becoming a problem.

Back on Earth, radical religious communities were starting to rise up and openly protest looking into the alien technology, seeing it as the devil's work. They believed that knowing the truth about these mysterious beings would inevitably destroy their faith and all of our way of life forever. What if the god or gods they had worshipped since the beginning of time were actually just aliens that had mastered space flight before them? It would invalidate the power of the gods and remove the fear some people had to defy religious practices. Tensions only grew worse overtime to the point that many people started fearing an inter-planetary civil war that had the potential to wipe Humanity from the face of the Milky Way. We were at our lowest point in our history. Terrorist attacks became common once again, and secret societies rose in popularity, some even went to the extremes of trying to take down entire governments across the globe to try and stop the progress on Mars.

The growing conflicts back home didn't shake scientists' resolve to learn more, and soon they came up with a name for the beings they were researching, the Protheans. Three years after the Prothean data cache had been found on Mars, scientists realized that most of the data was actually referring to a network of faster than light travel devices we have come to call 'Mass Relays.' According to the data, these devices were capable of transporting ships across entire star systems within hours rather than decades and, as if that miracle wasn't enough, one just happened to be in the Sol system. This stunned the people on Earth and our natural ambition to expand started to take hold of the public conversation. Governments started making new powerful coalitions to try and be the first ones to control travel through our Mass Relay, even though it's exact location hadn't been determined yet. In this time of need, Humanities competitive, determined, and resilient spirit would win the day.

Radical religious movements took full advantage of the growing chaos and on December 3rd, 2079, they successfully assassinated the President of the United States the great Abraham Stolwart. The group boldly tried to throw the guilt of the assassination onto a geopolitical rival of the U.S. but, their involvement was discovered before a global war could begin. However, a smaller war with the terrorists started as a result of the assassination, ending in the cult's ultimate destruction. In the aftermath of the chaos, Humanity decided that if we were going to travel the stars we needed a unified vision to present to the galaxy and thus created the Systems Alliance of Humanity. Some criticized the formation of the new government as a way for the rich and powerful to create a, 'One World Order,' but the majority would see the immediate need for the Alliance soon enough despite it's stagnation in recent decades.

During the time of the Alliance's rise, scientists were able to triangulate data for the Mass Relay in Sol, realizing that the planet of Pluto was actually just a giant ice formation hiding the Relay. It wasn't until 2130 that Pluto was able to be broken apart because of it's distance from Earth, but once the last layer of ice had been removed from the massive Prothean structure, Humans were already volunteering to be the first to travel through it. The honor to lead the journey ultimately landed on Admiral John Grissom, who fought in the earlier civil war against religious radicals in America. He personally led the first wave of around 300,000 Humans out of the Sol system, and into the wider Milky Way galaxy. At first people had mixed feelings about the trip since every world they colonized appeared to have no indication that the Prothean's, or any other alien civilization still existed. This caused many to have the misguided belief that they had been too late and were indeed the last living beings in the universe. It wasn't as if extinctions were unheard of on Earth, and so the general consensus was that some galactic event caused the Protheans to be wiped out making Humanity the last true superpower in the galaxy.

This foolish assumption would cost Humanity greatly when they made first contact with intelligent alien life on the desert planet, Shanxi. As modern day historians tell the story, the colony on Shanxi created a visual beacon for itself when the colonists were celebrating, Alliance Day, on April 16th of 2142 by setting off fireworks. They did not realize that the planet was already inhabited before their arrival. The species living on the planet later identified as the Turians, a militaristic and racist species, saw the fireworks as poorly aimed projectiles towards their own settlements and responded with ruthless force against the colony instead of attempting to understand what was going on. Admiral Grissom was not prepared for the sudden, organized, and methodical attack and died saving as many people as he could from the colony. The death was a huge blow to the Alliance's colonial command structure, and the damage was compounded by the fact that communications back to Earth hadn't been fully implemented yet. Unfortunately, the tragedy on Shanxi led to Admiral Jack Connig Williams taking control of the military for all of the colonies. Unlike Grissom, Williams had no sense for widespread military command and in a desperate act of short sightedness used all of his nuclear weapons on Shanxi thinking that the planet was the only place where Turians lived, he was clearly wrong.

The Turians were an extremely military minded race and saw Williams' actions as an act of war that we are now forced to call the Relay 314 Incident. Make no mistake, this was an act of unprovoked aggression that could have been avoided. The Turian military machine quickly mobilized preparing to entirely exterminate Humanity, while also trying to avoid the watchful eyes of the rest of the more peacefully ignorant and complacent intergalactic community. After several bloody battles on Human controlled colonies, it became clear that the Turians would eventually win with pure brute force and a numbers advantage. However, communications with Earth became a reality and a second wave of Alliance reinforcements arrived on June 8th, 2142 tipping the balance of power to a stalemate. The Turians couldn't hide their actions forever, and eventually their military movements caught the attention of the Citadel Council who became aware of the conflict and demanded an immediate cease fire between the two races. Both sides were supposedly punished for the conflict but, in the last forty years the Turians have faced zero consequences for their brutality. Humanity should have been able to become a galactic superpower but, I am here to tell you we have not.

When the Thresher Maws started destroying our colonies, where was this supposed galactic community? When the Turians killed innocent women and children on Klendagon, where was the galactic community? When the Batarians put collars on and starved our son's and daughters, where was the galactic community? When a SPECTRE, a supposed peacekeeper for us all, gives speeches to 'death to Humanity' rallies, where is the galactic community? They will always protect their own, it is in their nature. The better question is, where is Humanities voice at the table? Surely not with the Alliance who gives in to any of the Council demands on a whim. Why else would Ambassador Goyle be removed from her post when her only crime was exercising caution when a Turian accused a Human of an unspeakable act. We need a new voice, one that will take our best interests to heart, and I am here to offer a solution. Cerberus.

Stay strong my brothers and sisters, for the time is coming for our rise.

The Illusive Man."

He reread the manifesto several times over before looking back up to Oleg, "It's the codex entry on Humanities history with a racist slant. What do you want me to do sir?"

Oleg pointed to the picture of Jack Harper, "I want you to kill him before he can do something truly terrible with that kind of idealism..."

_o0o_

Present day:

Feron stared at a smirking Oleg in the hologram, "Hello Kolyat..."

It was like a splash of ice cold water hit him in the face from the revelation. The man that assigned him to this job, the former head of the AIA, was a part of Cerberus. In retrospect, it made perfect sense. They would be able to track the progress of the Alliance and be able to legitimately transfer data back and forth between the two groups, having complete control over everything. From the very beginning, he had been set up to never be able to assassinate The Illusive Man. The only thing that gave him any comfort was the fact that Miranda seemed to be just as surprised as he was. She had genuinely believed he had a chance to kill her boss and hadn't tried to stop him. He noted however that now she was taking his pistol from the back of his waistband but, she did it carefully still trying to pretend she was handcuffed with her hands behind her back.

The Illusive Man stood up from his chair, "I will contact you when I am done here Oleg. Prepare for the war that is to come." Once Oleg disappeared, he started playing with his lighter while walking towards them, "Miranda, I am disappointed in you. I thought I could count on you to not interfere with another cell's affairs. Do you know what you could have potentially done to our plans?"

Miranda was surprisingly defiant, "Maybe if I understood what the plan was I wouldn't have interfered. You have left me in the dark where Cora is concerned, how do I know your making the right decisions?"

The Illusive Man bellowed in anger for the first time he had ever seen, "Since when have YOU gotten to decide what the right decisions were?"

Miranda still stood her ground glaring at him, "When have we ever disagreed on what was right or wrong for Humanity?"

Leng started to approach her, "Let me deal with her now, then I'll kill the frog."

Feron took a deep breath knowing if it was over for him, he could try and save her first. "I did it... I told the Turian sisters about the Andromeda Initiative from data I received in Donovan Hock's vault. I lied to get to you..."

The Illusive Man and Leng spun to face him in shock, having not suspected he was ultimately responsible. Feron was expecting to have Leng stab him on the spot but, BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. He turned his head to see Miranda was holding his gun and the muzzle was smoking. Turning his head in the other direction, Feron could see The Illusive Man was bleeding in several places before starting to crumple on the floor. Miranda had just done something he hadn't thought was possible, kill her mentor to save them. The question immediately running through his head was whether or not she had done that for the both of them or just herself?

Leng twisted to slide down next to his body laying on the ground, "NOOO! Father, father no. Please stay with me, . . ..."

His relief that his mission was finally over disappeared as he watched Leng's hand go through The Illusive Man's body. He looked up to see bullet holes in the wall and then back to the body realizing the pattern of the entry wounds didn't match Miranda's firing arcs. The only conclusion he could come up with was that The Illusive Man was murdered but, not by Miranda and not here. How the hell did that happen? It was an awfully strange coincidence that was keeping him in place. Did it happen at the same time? Had it been recorded some time ago? If that was the case, how long ago had he died and more importantly, who would kill him without bragging about it later? There were just too many questions and not enough time to answer them.

Leng's shout was terrifying, like he was a wounded animal, his rage blinding him from the fact that he couldn't be physically feeling anything, "I'm going to kill you for that!"

In one fluid motion, Leng stood up and thrusted his sword forward to stab Miranda's chest. With the knowledge that The Illusive Man was dead, somewhere, Feron used his biotics to warp in front of her and take the blow. The sword's edge cut into his belly like butter but, she was going to be ok. His only regret was not even attempting to have a reconciliation with his father, he had just assumed they had time after the mission was complete. Feron chose to believe Thane would be proud of him in this moment for doing what he never could, saving his siha. She would be able to see her sister again one of these days and keep her promise.

With another biotic blast, Feron sent Leng flying across the office, "Run."

Miranda fired the last of his clip at Leng who ducked behind The Illusive Man's chair, "Thank you..." She gave him a sad smile and started running down the hall.

As soon as she was gone Leng stood up and called his sword back into his armored hand with magnets making Feron stumble towards a wall for support, "You think your saving her right now? Guards, shut down all escape pods an-"

Cora Harper appeared alive and well on the hologram projector to interrupt him, "No, let her go."

Leng turned to face her, "What?! She just killed father! We have to make her pay for that!"

Cora's expression was one of sadness and loss, "Oh Kai, I wish that were true... Father has been dead for two years now."

Feron groaned in pain but, needed to stay awake to be part of the conversation, "That's... That's not possible."

She moved through Leng's body ignoring his confused face to kneel down in front of Feron, "And why is that? Just because you've talked to him in that time...?"

Feron shook his head ignoring the pain, "No, because you've been afraid of him...and recently." He let himself slip into the memory, "I listen to the recording desperately looking for an answer. 'December 4th, 2184 and finally we can wake him up. After putting so much time on freezing his brain in cryo, the transplant, scanning for indoctrination, all of it! I can happily say I brought Saren Arterius back to life with all of his memories and minus the Reaper indoctrination. The tech I traded with the Collectors really made all the difference in the world. And to top it all off, all they wanted in exchange was for me to keep Shepard in his cryo pod. Hopefully, this will be a big enough present to dad, otherwise I'm screwed.'" The memory snapped away, "Why would you be screwed months ago.. if you killed him two years ago...?"

Cora gave him a wild smile, "Did you not think I could've made those recordings much later? Specifically for your benefit Feron?"

Leng spoke a single word as he turned around to face her, "Why?"

The look on her face was one of pain and exhaustion as she stood up to face him, "For you Kai.. Everything I've ever done I've done it for you. When you were captured on Luna I wanted to go after you, but father wouldn't have it. He believed Miranda that you got caught by your own mistakes and not her making a move for power. I tried to get evidence she was behind everything but, Golo failed me on Noveria thinking about his own skin... Then, she took Virmire away from me so I panicked. I went to see father to try and tell him he was wrong about her, that you deserved better. We fought, I killed him.. Like he always said, 'Who we keep closest to us can hurt us the worst.'"

Leng was shaking now in anguish, "I...I just talked to him. I watched him die, and he's been ordering Shepard around for months. How is that possible?"

Feron knew the answer like a lightbulb coming on above his head, "Golo.."

Cora smiled down at him like he was a student who got the right answer for the first time, "Quarians are fascinating beings aren't they? They have the need to preserve the past even though it was their doom. Before the Morning War they would save copies of their ancestors knowledge onto artificial intelligence chips in order to receive their wisdom even after they had died." She stroked Feron's cheek with the hologram, "You never questioned why someone like me would have a Quarian as their second in command? According to you, I'm a racist."

Feron kept as much pressure on his wound so he would stay awake, "Why go through all the trouble? If you had all the power anyways?"

She was looking in his eyes now, "When I killed him, Miranda was more popular and had a stronger cell. Cerberus wouldn't have survived a civil war so, I made a copy of him. It wasn't perfect, wore the same suit, always stayed in this room, took a drink whenever he lied, worked against me occasionally but he was dad. Now, I have the video evidence of Miranda killing him." She stood back up to face Leng, "So you can take over all of the cells while I'm gone."

Leng took a few steps back, "Cerberus belongs to you. I am here to serve you, we were supposed to leave together..."

Cora sighed and gave him a virtual hug, "The Hyperion is making the final jump in twenty minutes. I'm sorry but, I need to do this last part of the journey alone. When I get back, everything will be different. I promised you a utopia without aliens remember? I'm going to give you that, I just don't know if I'll be there to see it."

Leng looked down at him, "What do I do with him? I could make the death slow."

Her hand wandered down to his pocket, "You know exactly what to do with him.. Think of it like a test run for what we talked about... Imagine her face when she sees." She gave Feron a sweet smile, "Cerberus thanks you for your service Feron."

She disappeared and Leng swept a hand over the chair that was going to be his, "No, Cerberus was weak... Lazarus will rise from it's ashes." He pulled a small dead mechanical insect from his pocket, "And everyone that ever crossed me is going to pay, in the worst way possible."

Note:

When I started this series, I had no idea I was going to get any kudos or bookmarks. I want to say to all of you that have gotten this far, thank you. This story is far from over and I intend to see it through till the very end of Mass Effect 6 (you read that right not a typo 6.) For everyone just interested in the story stop here and know Mass Effect 2.9: Arrival should be...arriving...soon. However, I thought I'd talk a little about myself to explain the occasional long delays.

I am actually physically disabled with Arthrogryposis (it's similar to CP) and I can't move my arms and legs. I've typed up this entire story with my mouth and a stylus in my free time. That can be a lot of hunting and pecking especially for completely original chapters like this one. I'm not telling you this for clicks or anything else, I just want to explain the lack of updates in certain stretches. I ask everyone to be patient and know this story is my baby and I'm not going to stop until everything is released.

To that end, I have a few spinoff ideas just rattling around my head that I don't feel like I can personally get to and respect the main stories. So I would be happy to collaborate with someone on spinoffs if people are interested in playing with me in my sandbox! Examples include an Archangel retelling, Hannah/Adrien relationship story and a fluffy Kal pilgrimage story. PM me only if you feel like it and are interested and we'll see if we can work something out! Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the next step of the saga. As a squidy friend once said, "Prepare for the Arrival!"