Author's Note: Congratulations you've made it though the first section of the book, I hope it wasn't too grueling. As you will see the book is divided into 5 sections, each starting with a flashback from Anderson's past like the one below, enjoy!

P.S. If anyone can spare the time to review this I would really appreciate the feedback.

Understanding the Threat

It was three days after the battle of the Citadel when I finally managed to get a sit down with Commander Sheppard. Needing somewhere private to speak but also wanting to unwind after everything we'd been though we ended up in Flux, a bar in the upper Wards. Unsurprisingly it was still closed due to the damage caused by Sovereign's destruction but quite frankly we both felt we were owed a quiet drink so we snuck in with some of Sheppard's crew and left credits behind the counter.

We had a good laugh that evening, my first since the battle to be honest but we all knew why we were really here. I wanted to hear exactly what had happened during their time chasing down Saren and everything they could tell me about the Reapers. Up until that point I'd had only three things to go on: Sheppard's vision, the first time I saw a Reaper for myself and the battle that had one wiped out a third of our fleets just to destroy a single ship.

Once we got started on that topic the revelations came thick and fast.

"So you're saying that huge ship we saw actually was a Reaper?"

The Commander nodded

"They're a race of machines each driven by their own individual AI. We actually spoke to this one ourselves though a virtual interface."

"What did it say?"

"Sovereign threatened to bring about the extinction of every intelligent race in the galaxy. He said- wait how did it go again?"

"You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."

We all turned to stare at Tali, the young Quarian the Commander had recruited on his mission. The recreation had been delivered with a creepy (and I assumed authentic) inflection.

"Sorry," she said self-consciously. "I can't help it if I happen to have a good memory for words prophesying galactic annihilation."

"Sure." replied Garrus a Turian C-Sec officer who had been investigating Saren until he decided joining Sheppard was the best way of bringing him down. "Just remind me never to watch a horror movie with you."

"I have to admit I having a hard time wrapping my head around all of this. As tough as Sovereign was to defeat it still wasn't nearly up to the task of wiping out every race in the galaxy. I don't suppose you have any idea how the Reapers planned to accomplish that?"

"Actually they almost succeeded until we stopped it. Well I say we but it was mostly just the Krogan as always." chuckled Wrex, a seven foot tall Krogan who loomed over the rest of us while drinking ryncol. Like most Krogan he was physically intimidating but I got the sense it ran deeper with this one. Although the line was delivered casually there was just a hint of anger as he dropped the reference, an anger that went beyond the normal Krogan male posturing.

"I hate to say this Wrex but one of these days you're going to have to stop making references to the Rachni War," pointed out Gunnery Chief Williams.

"Ah you know you like my stories Williams. Anyways it's true, at least the part about Sovereign almost succeeding."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm still not even sure what it was trying to accomplish."

"Sovereign was trying to activate the Mass Relay that's built into the Citadel," Sheppard explained. "It leads out beyond the edge of our galaxy, where the rest of the Reapers are hiding in dark space. We destroyed it just in time to prevent that from happening."

"Then the Reapers could have flooded right into the heart of Citadel space. We would never have stood a chance against them."

"That's what happened to the Protheans 50,000 years ago and to those that came before them. They too used the Citadel as a center of galactic government just as we have. When the Reapers took control they crippled the leadership, seized control of the Relays and learned everything there was to know about the Prothean Empire in one stroke," explained the Asari Liara, a Prothean expert and the final member of Sheppard's group.

"I still can't understand why Saren would throw his lot in with the Reapers. I mean I always knew he was ruthless, hell I'd even call him sadistic now that I've been granted access to his mission reports but he still tried to be a good Spectre. It's hard to imagine him bowing to some robotic overlord."

"He was indoctrinated by Sovereign."

"Indoctrinated? What does that mean?"

"The Reapers seem to emit a signal that makes people obey them. At first Saren probably just saw Sovereign as a tool for getting what he wanted. More power, more wealth, more influence but over time it turned him into its tool," explained Garrus.

"Are you sure? Seems like a good excuse to hide behind. Maybe he just said that to justify his crimes."

"That's not true, my mother got drawn in by the same signal. She originally went to Saren so that she could act as a calming influence on him, offering help so that she could moderate his actions or sabotage them if he was too far gone. Instead I had to watch her die still fighting the effects of indoctrination," said Liara, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," I replied, feeling guilty to have been so dismissive.

"Don't get us wrong though none of us are claiming that Saren was a saint," Garrus continued.

"I've been back over his files since his death and the signs are that he was already branching out and abusing his power long before he ever encountered Sovereign. He had his fingers in a lot of different pies, mainly smuggling illegal weapons for personal use and an extended intelligence network. Not unheard of for a Spectre but he also had agents in several criminal gangs and by the sound of it they'd stopped trying to bring the gangs down. Now they were just fronts for Saren's increasing influence, he was building a big network under his control and using his Spectre authority to cover it up."

"You don't need to remind me what Saren was, I saw enough of it first hand," I pointed out.

"Right, of course. But the point is when he found Sovereign it changed him. Made him believe that the Reapers were going to win regardless of whether or not he agreed to help them. When he decided victory was impossible he tried to cut a deal that would save us. Not that the Reapers would have honored it obviously."

"Sounds like the Reapers have all the best tricks, we're lucky you stopped them.."

"I'm not convinced we stopped the Reapers for good. It's possible we've only bought ourselves some more time," the Command said.

"You really think they could still make a comeback? I thought they needed the Citadel Relay to do it."

"That might not necessarily be true. Logically speaking it doesn't make much sense for the Reapers to send themselves into dark space if they weren't confident they'd be able to make it back again. As a machine race they may be capable of feats we couldn't imagine. Even if it takes years, or centuries to get back it might not deter them," Liara pointed out.

"But they've lost their ace in the hole. That first strike against the Citadel that crippled the Protheans won't work against us now. So they'd have to face us on our terms."

"That's true but given how many of them Sovereign claimed there were not to mention what we've seen of the strength of just one Reaper..." she fell silence, not having to explain that against an armada that strong she didn't think we could win.

"So what can we do?"

"Well Liara's learned about something that might give us a chance."

"What is it?"

"Well, while I was attending my mother's funeral I ran into a lot of her old friends. She was a very influential woman in her own right before she joined Saren and so many of them were key players in Asari society. It seems I have a skill for getting information out of people because I managed to find out about a reward the Council has planned for Humanity."

"A reward?"

"To thank the Alliance for saving them during the battle of the Citadel. They plan to offer your species a seat on the Council."

"Really?"

I was astonished at this news. Although many species had joined the Citadel and were subject to its laws, few races actually had a seat on the Council itself (only four in history and currently just three). The rest were represented by their embassies only. A seat on the Council had long been the Alliance's ultimate ambition but as a newly joined species many feared it might even be centuries before we achieved it.

"They plan to ask Sheppard for a recommendation for the role."

"And who are you planning to nominate?" I asked, my attention now focusing on the Commander.

"I'm planning on choosing you sir. We need someone on the council who never doubted the Reapers existence."

It was a lot to take in, overwhelming. Any Council member has an enormous responsibility to face, the leadership of an entire galaxy. And more than that I would be responsible for ensuring their survival in the coming war. But as a soldier I always had a response ready when duty called, no matter the stakes.

"You can count on me Commander, I'll always have your back."