Author's note: Not much to say here.

Daughter of Jehova, kinda? I wouldn't say mad. Freaked out a fair bit yes. A couple of the ships fleeing basically looked at the situation and said "nope" but otherwise they were mostly ideologues. Wanted to live their own way, which I can respect even if I disagree with the ideology they follow.

Webxro, that's kind of my thoughts on the matter. Reaper force is huge, and to conventionally win would take a huge amount of effort. But we shall see.

Kalimali, I remember that particular Reaper device, but dealing with that can be dealt with in the background.

Random guest who won't read this. I understand your concerns and admit it's a little weak. But it's the premise I took.

LayDown. Okay, whatever. Not all stories can be "original". This is my take on a theme. I chose the names because I'm a fan of the various series and thought they'd be fun shout-outs. Not everyone will enjoy that though. So yeah.

I don't own Mass Effect, Bioware does. And so with out further ado, here's the next chapter.

August 23rd, 2110
Asari Cruise Liner Harmonic Symphony
Earth Approach

It was a beautiful world. Blue oceans, green forests, golden plains, and snow white peaks merging and flowing together in harmony with one another. And here and there the multi-toned whites and grays that made up the various cities on the planet. Europe was already beginning to glow brightly from the city lights, a web of lines and balls shining in the dark. Humanity had been reaching to the stars for two centuries with those lights, and now their lunar counterpart shone with them as well. Two worlds bridging the gap of space with a light show centuries in the making

Liara T'Soni had visited France years ago with her mother on holiday. She remembered being enraptured by the historical artifacts in the Louvre and the cathedrals of stone which towered over the towns and villages throughout that country. It was a country millenia younger than her homeland, and yet she felt as though the history here was somehow richer.

It was probably because the cities felt lived in. Thessia had long ago modernized with whole regions changed and developed at once. Here however you could see the merging of new and old. Skyscrapers merging into older communities made of stone and wood. New and old mixing together.

She had made a list of the places she would love to visit during what little free-time her post-doc would leave her. The Forbidden City, Berlin, Jerusalem, Saint Petersburg and other hubs of culture and history were all there. The advantage of archaeological digs on a home world in modern times meant that you could travel to the ancient cities if you desired.

And then she caught a glimpse of the cold steel that was beginning to wrap itself around the planet. Of the twelve fortress worlds in humanity's possession, only Altera was more fortified. But it seemed that humanity was not going to leave their birthplace in second place for long. Already there were nearly a hundred orbital fortifications forming a web of defenses against any potential invader.

But humans, in their own unique way, were taking their precautions further. She'd heard about the Torus when she'd started applying to the various universities of Earth at her mother's suggestion, but it was another thing to see it up close. Over a kilometer wide and almost two-hundred meters deep, it was designed to wrap around the planet and provide a truly massive number of construction facilities, defenses, and shipyards.

If their cities were a testament to mankind's trials and triumphs, then the Torus was a testament to their ingenuity and power. She had heard calls on Thessia to begin similar projects, and she had no doubt they would be more aesthetically pleasing than the masses of armor and steel that surrounded Earth, but humanity's drive would continue to push them further. Always testing their boundaries.

"Enjoying the view?"

Liara had not heard the other passenger approaching behind her, and it took all her self-control to keep herself from jumping in fright. Turning to face her new companion, she found herself facing a darker-skinned human.

"Y-Yes, I suppose I am." She flushed slightly. Dammit! She was a Doctor of Xeno-archaeology, she'd spoken before dozens of meetings, and yet she was flustered every time someone talked to her one-on-one.

"We are very proud of her." She found herself struggling to follow some of the words through his accents. And apparently he noticed, "Ah, sorry, my accent can be a bit thick at times. I'm from Nigeria, in the heart of Africa. You can just barely make it out from our vantage point here. Right in the crook of Africa."

Following his arm, she quickly found the nation, it too was glowing brightly in the night. Though a little less than Europe to the north.

"You were one of the founding nations in the Alliance, correct?" Liara hoped she had her facts straight on this matter.

"One of the two African nations to help push humanity into the stars, yes." With a broad smile the large man gave a hearty chuckle. "So tell me, what brings a young asari such as yourself to the heart of human space? If you don't mind my asking."

"I'm spending a year in South America with an archaeological expedition studying the Olmec civilization. They share several traits with other galactic civilizations, reaching great heights then disappearing. It's part of my post-doc with Yale University. Then we'll be going off to the Exodus cluster and studying several of the prothean ruins alongside a team from Serrice University on Thessia."

The large man blinked several times. "Ah, so you are a xeno-archaeologist then? There must always be work for someone with your skills."

"Yes, I've studied the protheans extensively and the ruins of other species as well. I've only just started my work, but if you look closely enough a pattern begins to emerge. Given the sheer number of ruins we find across the galaxy, from different periods of time, there is always someone looking into these things." Pausing, Liara blushed again. Most people, regardless of their species got bored when she started going into details like this.

"Your pride in your work shows." Smiling, the man looked up as a chime made its way through the ship indicating they were about to dock. "Well I believe we better look to our things. Good luck on your journeys, Ms T'Soni."

It would only be several hours later, when she was in an air car from New York to Yale that Liara realized she had never mentioned her name.

2120
Unknown Space

Once more they awoke, stretching their mind into the galaxy. And immediately Nazara sought out information on the war species 30,425-D had begun with 30,425-J.

And for the second time in eons, they were surprised.

30,425-D had not taken their war to the rest of the galaxy. They had subsumed themselves into the galactic order and were spreading their technology peacefully. Alarmingly they had also forged peace between 30,425-A and their synthetic creations, the geth. 30,425-D had apparently already developed synthetic life and had managed to find some measure of peaceful coexistence with them.

This was unexpected. Very few species had come to temporary terms with their creations. The last had occurred two cycles before their own ascendance 350 million years ago.

Why had 30,425-D, these humans, taken these actions? Nazara tried probing the internal network that encompassed their space. Only to find its efforts interrogated by one of the human synthetics. Soon dozens more appeared, all working together to fight off its intrusion. Quickly they began tracing it back to the communications buoy used to infiltrate the extranet. Sensing the trouble this could bring, Nazara ended its efforts and jumped into hyperspace.

Once more they sent a message to the Citadel, and once more silence reigned. Sending a report to Harbinger, they continued to formulate their plans.

Perhaps it was time once more to send their latest tools to collect information. They had put up fierce resistance in the previous cycle, but they now provided an invaluable means of tracking the development of the younger races. An irony of sorts. They had observed their successors before their ascension, and their remnant continued to do so afterward.

A quick command to the hub and preparations began. A more subtle approach, Harbinger signaled its approval. The cycle may have been delayed, but it would continue.

But first Nazara needed to understand what had occurred.

November 3rd, 2124
Omega

"I'm telling you boyo, you're in the wrong place with your offer." Poking a finger in the large alien's face, Malcom Braden continued his tirade, "So pack up back into your ship, and fly back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

If Aria was the queen of Omega, then the Night Dragons controlled a fiefdom in her domain. A predominantly human organization, they found themselves dealing in all manner of illicit activities. Smuggling, drug dealing, weapons running, if they could earn a profit then you could find their fingers in it. Formed in the days after contact with the rest of the galaxy by rogues making their way out of Alliance space, they payed for their territory on Omega with blood.

But they were not slavers. And what the alien in front of the local leader was asking of them was incredibly close to slavery.

"We only require a few biotic individuals. We offer a wealth of technology you can use to your advantage."

"And I'm telling you, we don't trade in people. Especially for second-rate tech." Waving his hand dismissively at the crate of weapons to the side of the insectoid. "Our blasters can tear you apart. It's how we carved out our territory on this rock, and you damned well better get out of my sight before I decide to provide a demonstration."

Biotics flared on both sides as the Collector Captain leaned in towards the Irishman. "We will acquire what we want. With or without your aid."

Giving a fierce grin, Malcom laughed in the large creature's face, "Go ahead. See if the Blood Pack will trade with yah. Or perhaps the Remnant's agents will indulge your fancies? Either way, you'll find that this will be harder than you thought."

Turning around and walking away from the Collectors and their ship, he fired one final shot "So get the hell out of my dock before I have my boys slag you. And take your trash with you."

Five minutes later the Collector shuttle had left to dock at some other part of the massive station. And Malcom found himself being grilled by his boss.

"And they wanted human biotics?"

"That's correct ma'am." Tessa McDowell was not someone you wanted to cross. And the best way to avoid crossing her was to be quick and to the point.

"I assume Aria already knows about this little meeting of yours?"

"With all the cameras she has scattered around our dock, I assume so."

"Then she's probably already alerted Alliance Intelligence. Hell, she probably alerted them the second Omega-4 activated." Pausing she thumbed her chin. "Which means the Alliance is going to make our work a little more difficult. Dammit!" Swiping her hands across her desk the crime boss slumped back into her chair.

"Okay. Get our sources in Alliance territory to play legit for a while. We buckle down. No need to draw any attention to our operations when the Alliance is going to be on high alert for anything that might threaten human security." Frowning she turned her attention back on the lieutenant.

"It'll cut into our margins a bit, but we'll survive thanks to our ventures in other regions. Did you really have to threaten them that way?"

"Couldn't just let them walk around like that. You saw how those husks acted. Liked they owned the place."

"Hmmph." Shooting a glare at Malcom, she grinned subconsciously, "True. Double the guards we have patrolling Omega. Don't want some idiot krogan hoping to make a quick buck trying to snag one of our... charges."

"Yes ma'am. Is there anything else?"

"No. Not at the moment." With that the crime boss cut the line of communications.

"I wonder why she called the Collectors 'prothean husks'" Mused Aria as she cut her feed of that particular discussion. She wasn't concerned about the fact people knew about her... relationship with Alliance Intelligence. It was mutually profitable.

But this was unusual. Even for humanity. And that meant that perhaps it would be worth some effort to investigate things further.

May 8th, 2152
Arcturus System

Jamik Ovalis was one of the STG's best. He'd been assigned to monitor several outlying Terminus worlds, new ones colonized through hyperdrive technology. And then that behemoth had shown up on Khali, and within a week it and every other ship in the system had disappeared.

He'd delivered his report to his STG lead, including what photographs he'd taken of the massive vessel. And that was when his superiors had sent him to Alliance space to meet with some task force he'd never heard of.

And so he'd arrived two hours ago in the Arcturus system. And after a series of scans and background checks and more scans he'd disembarked from his vessel and been put on a shuttle that would bring him to Alliance Intelligence headquarters. Which would hopefully be close considering they were already on the edge of the system.

"How soon until we get to your headquarters?"

Leaning back the shuttle pilot gave a grin, "We just got the final clearance for approach just a few seconds ago."

At that a green light popped up on the shuttle control panel. Just one of the humans' wormholes swallowed the shuttle, transporting it to another system in an instant. Unlike the red giant they had left behind, this system was centered around a red dwarf.

"You couldn't just tell me where your headquarters was?" Jamik ground out after a moment.

"Sorry sir, Alliance HQ is on Chiron. This is something else entirely." Turning back to give his attention to the controls, the pilot plotted a course toward a nearby station. "Welcome to Blackwatch sir. You'll be briefed on the situation once you're aboard the station proper."

Five hours later and Jamik understood why Alliance Intelligence had secluded itself to this location. He'd been surprised upon disembarking to find all manner of species interacting together aboard the station. And then he'd been given the quick-version of their briefing. And that briefing had made him very concerned about what exactly he had uncovered.

Now he was seated in some sort of conference room along with a trio of Alliance Intelligence officers. And they were, in his mind at least, justifiably concerned by his report.

"So this ship is what you call a Reaper." He asked simply. "One of tens of thousands of similar vessels that wiped out the protheans fifty-thousand years ago. I understand now why the fact that it showed up out of the blue and cleared out a colony would be worrisome."

"It's not the first time that Sovereign has popped up on our radar." The youngest member of the Alliance officers said. "About 30 years ago we had a network intrusion unlike anything we'd ever experienced. The only comparable activity is our security tests with the geth. A couple dozen AI's tracked it back, including Loki here," gesturing towards the thin man to his right, "until it disappeared. Since then, not a single peep. The only thing we've gotten were Collectors hunting down human biotics. And since they do that with every species, while worrisome, that's not exactly much."

"What Lieutenant Harper is getting at," Commander Hu began saying, "Is that until now we were fairly confidant that Sovereign was playing through pre-existing Reaper proxies. Namely the Collectors. This is throwing us for a loop and has us seriously concerned. Fortunately, no humans were on that colony. Otherwise our cover might be blown and we'd be looking at an imminent invasion. But this is a major cause for concern."

"I understand." Jamik replied. "I take it then that you want me to stay on the lookout for any of the colonists in the Terminus systems. Try and discover what this, Sovereign, is trying to accomplish?"

"Precisely," Lieutenant Harper responded, even as he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. "If Sovereign is operating through them, then he has something planned. And whatever it is won't be good. We may know who are enemies are, but if we don't know where they're striking from or how they plan to do it we're doomed." Lighting it, he leaned back and grinned. "We can't stop their attack. But we can do our best to prepare."

For the first time the AI Loki spoke up, "We'll be upgrading your equipment extensively, as well as linking you with our own task groups in the Terminus. In addition, if you don't mind, we'll provide you with support from one of my brothers to manage all the information." Flashing a smile, the AI nodded towards the salarian.

"Very well then. That support will be very helpful. Especially since I can't be everywhere at once." Nodding to the trio before him, Jamik stood up, "Now then, I suppose I should get back to my ship and start my own preparations. It would appear I have some work to do."

And the plot thickens. Or moves forward. Or does something that wasn't happening originally.

Until next time folks!